Pastures Past: How cattle and truck shortages reshaped farm life in the 1930s and 1940s

In 1949, a Gisborne sale was held up by a shortage of cattle trucks. Photo / Lucy Davidson

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 the 1930s and 1940s dealing with shortages — not just of cattle, but of the trucks needed to move them.

In the mid‑1930s, farmers were already having to cope with a shortage of cattle, a problem highlighted in a 1934 report from Hawke’s Bay that showed the effects rippling into Gisborne as stock was shifted north.

By the late 1930s, another article reveals that a shortage of station cattle led to farmers needing fewer bulls for breeding.

There was also no interest in store sheep, with vendors reluctant to set prices and buyers unsure what they should pay amid uncertainty over future values.

A decade later, the problem hadn’t disappeared.

A 1949 Gisborne cattle fair was disrupted not by a lack of buyers but by a shortage of cattle trucks, leaving stock movements at a standstill.

Below is a selection of historical stories from the Daily Telegraph (Napier) in 1934, the New Zealand Herald in 1939 and the Central Hawke’s Bay Press in 1949.

Cattle shortage

Hawke’s Bay’s position reflected in Gisborne

Drafts on the move Northwards

Daily Telegraph (Napier), August 14, 1934

In an article published on this page last week, the fact that the cattle shortage in the North Island was affecting the Hawke’s Bay beef cattle market was the subject of comment, and advice from other centres bears out the fact that a definite shortage does exist.

In addition to the fat cattle drafts trucked to the Waikato from Hawke’s Bay, store cattle have also been moving from the Gisborne and coastal districts to the northern district.

A Gisborne writer states that the shortage of cattle in Hawke’s Bay is reflected in the Gisborne district.

The droughty seasons of a few years ago were responsible for exceptionally heavy slaughtering of calves and also of grown stock, and many of the stations have not yet built up their herds to their full carrying capacity.

Market anomaly

Bulls and store stock

Station cattle shortage

[By Telegraph — own correspondent]

Gisborne, Thursday

New Zealand Herald, September 29, 1939

Although one set of cattle prices usually moves in sympathy with another, experience in the Gisborne district during the past few weeks has been exactly the opposite.

Stud bulls of beef breeds at sales since the outbreak of war have sold at values considerably below those of last year, but this week ordinary types of station cattle brought values that were an improvement on those of last spring.

The war has not been the direct cause of the anomaly, and the reason for the downward trend on one hand and the upward movement on the other is mainly that there is a shortage of station cattle in the district.

As a result of this shortage fewer bulls have been required for breeding purposes, and consequently the high prices of last year were not being offered.

The same shortage caused the upward trend in values for ordinary station cattle, for there is anxiety on the part of station owners now to build up their cattle herds.

Store sheep have aroused no interest yet except for immediate requirements.

Vendors are reluctant to set values on those which they are likely to have for sale and buyers are at a loss to know what they should pay, for there is much uncertainty regarding the values of the coming season’s meat and wool.

Gisborne sale held up by shortage of cattle trucks

Central Hawke’s Bay Press, May 6, 1949

Gisborne, This Day.

The hands of buyers from Waikato, Hawke’s Bay and Manawatu attending the Gisborne cattle fair were tied this week owing to the serious shortage of cattle trucks.

Many restricted their bidding on the second day of the fair, and others did not operate because of the uncertainty of securing bookings on the rail.

This is the second occasion this year when stock movement has been affected by a shortage of rolling stock.

- Source: Papers Past