Story: Beef farming

The New Zealand Herd Book, 1886

The New Zealand Herd Book, 1886

The world’s first herd book for pedigree cattle was started in England in 1822 for the Shorthorn breed. In New Zealand in the 1860s, Colonel Whitmore of Rissington in Hawke’s Bay started a Shorthorn herd book. Robert Wilkin, a Canterbury landowner and entrepreneur, took over editing the herd book in the early 1870s. Wilkin was a leading member of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, which began the New Zealand Herd Book for other beef breeds in 1886.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: S-L 848-COVER

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Robert Peden, 'Beef farming - Main beef cattle breeds', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/document/17329/the-new-zealand-herd-book-1886 (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Robert Peden, published 24 Nov 2008