Pastures Past: When petrol price rises in 1939 sent farmers back to horses

In 1939, the Waikato Independent pondered whether farmers would use more horses due to a petrol price increase. Photo / 123rf

Kem Ormond takes a look at the world of farming back in the day. In this week’s Pastures Past, she’s found newspaper articles from 1939 and 1950 on farmers and their horses.

In 1939, the Waikato Independent reported that a 4d‑a‑gallon increase in petrol tax had driven up fuel prices, prompting some farmers to dust off their saddles and return to using horses.

It is a scenario that, in some respects, may feel familiar again as fuel prices continue to climb in the coming months.

This has prompted renewed discussion around alternative and traditional methods of transport.

Even as mechanised farming equipment became more common, many farmers remained unconvinced that machinery could ever truly replace the capability, reliability, and companionship offered by a horse.

For countless farmers, a horse was not merely a working animal but a trusted partner and, indeed, a valued friend.

Even today, in 2026, many horse owners would still wholeheartedly share that sentiment, valuing the enduring bond between human and horse.

Below is a selection of historical stories from the Waikato Independent (1939) and Hawke’s Bay Herald-Tribune (1950).

Petrol costs more

Farmers may use more horses

Waikato Independent, August 29, 1939

Several farmers who own motor lorries and petrol-driven tractors and other mechanically-driven farm equipment have expressed the view that the increase of 4d a gallon in the petrol tax may mean some swinging back to the use of the horse.

One farmer stated that he was now using “the old horse” to cart out feed to his stock and has “laid up” his lorry.

He kept a horse team in conjunction with his tractor, and there is much of the lighter work that he intends to do with horses in future.

“It might take a little longer,” the farmer said, “but you can grow your own ‘petrol’ for the horse on the farm, and a few hundred gallons of petrol every few months can eat up a fair amount of money which farmers can ill afford to spare in these times.”

In conjunction with other disabilities the aggregate result might mean a reduction in his production, this farmer continued, but the way things were this did not perturb him very much.

Whether the increased petrol tax will have a marked effect on the use of horses is doubtful, as so many farmers have no horse teams left, and it would cost a large sum to buy them now.

The annual horse fair at Cambridge next month may give some indication of the trend.

Farmers want better quality horseshoe iron

Hawke’s Bay Herald-Tribune, August 16, 1950

Tractors are the farmers’ best investment, but the horse is still his best friend.

Mindful of this, the Waipukurau branch of Federated Farmers is endeavouring to see that the horse does not go unshod.

At the branch’s meeting yesterday, mention was made by Mr. R. E. Stratford of a “desperate shortage of horseshoe iron and nails.”

Not only is today’s iron scarce, but in the opinion of Mr. Stratford and others it is soft and quick-wearing.

Six nails to a shoe are now being used, where formerly the blacksmith used seven, and the branch decided to inform the Federated Farmers provincial secretary of the need for action.

- Source: Papers Past