THE IMPORTANCE OF SUBDIVISION AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN IMPROVING HILL COUNTRY PRODUCTIVITY

Abstract

The association between subdivision and other management resource inputs and levels of hill country sheep productive performance are reported in this paper. An analysis of computer simulated grazing systems and practices adopted by a sample of thirty farmers in North-East Wairarapa indicates that high levels of production were achieved with variable levels of subdivision. Appropriate grazing systems were often limited by poor planning and implementation rather than inadequate permanent fencing. Although subdivision was associated with higher autumn sheep liveweights on the survey farms, similar or larger increases could be achieved by refinmg existing management systems. Further increases in subdivision therefore may not lead to increases in productivity on many hill country farms. Keywords: Subdivision, hill country, management, computer simulation, survey, grazing systems.