Waimea Plains

From Grain and Cows... to Vegetables and Wine

Over the years land use on the Waimea Plains has changed to meet changing markets and lifestyles. In the early days of Pākehā settlement, grains, particularly barley, were grown as cash crops. After harvesting, grains were “stooked” – propped up in sheaves to dry – then made into stacks and later threshed to get the grain. These processes were community affairs, with men, women and children all involved. Barley was transported to Nelson either in a boat or by horse and dray. As numbers of livestock increased, grasses, hay and oats were produced to feed them. Later peas took over from barley as a cash crop.

Threshing at Winn’s property in Dovedale, a typical threshing photograph of the early 1900s. Traction engines, as the power source for machinery, were rarely used after the 1930s. Nelson Provincial Museum. Tyree Studio Collections 180685
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“Pea Shelling Made Easy”. The Pea Viner corner on Cotterell Road was where peas were taken off their vines before being transported to Kirkpatrick's cannery in Nelson. NPM BARRY SIMPSON NELSON PHOTO NEWS COLLECTION 302_fr15
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Before the establishment of processing factories, most milk was churned into butter. Some of this was sent to the goldfields on the West Coast during the 1870s and ‘80s. However the Wells family of Lower Queen Street produced milk that they sold to homes around Richmond and Nelson. The Waimea Dairy Company was established in Appleby in 1914 (the buildings on the corner of McShanes Road and the coastal highway can still be seen there) for processing of cheese and butter. In 1931 the Company moved to Brightwater. After the Nelson “town milk” factory was set up in the 1940s, town supply dairy farms dominated the plains. Today there are very few dairy farms left on the Plains. Horticulture and vineyards are now the predominant land use.

Pigs were to dairying as poultry was to grains; they could be raised on the lower quality product. After the establishment of the freezing works in the early 20th century, many farms ran sheep as a sideline. Horses were an essential part of all farming operations until the 1940s. The art and science of ploughing was celebrated in “ploughing matches”.  Henry Redwood, “The father of the New Zealand Turf”, established one of the first racing stables in the country on the present coastal highway along with training stables on Moturoa/Rabbit Island. Racehorses became an important part of the local economy and entertainment scene.

Written by Janet Bathgate.

The text from this story came from the Tasman District Council/NZ Cycle Trail Heritage Panel 2012.

Updated August 16, 2022

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