PEOPLE, SHEEP AND NATURE CONSERVATION 020701•People, Sheep and Nature 1 1 23/4/07 12:39:33 020701•People, Sheep and Nature 2 2 23/4/07 12:39:33 PEOPLE, SHEEP AND NATURE CONSERVATION The Tasmanian Experience Editors: Jamie Kirkpatrick and Kerry Bridle 020701•People, Sheep and Nature 3 3 23/4/07 13:59:34 © Jamie Kirkpatrick and Kerry Bridle 2007 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for all permission requests. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry People, sheep and nature conservation: the Tasmanian experience. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 9780643093720. 1. Environmental protection – Tasmania. 2. Sheep industry – Environmental aspects – Tasmania. 3. Sheep industry – Tasmania. I. Kirkpatrick, J. B. (James Barrie). II. Bridle, Kerry Lynn. III. CSIRO. 333.731609946 Published by CSIRO PUBLISHING 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia Telephone: Local call: Fax: Email: Web site: +61 3 9662 7666 1300 788 000 (Australia only) +61 3 9662 7555
[email protected] www.publish.csiro.com Front cover photo by Diana Cameron Back cover photo by Jamie Kirkpatrick Set in 11/14 Adobe Minion and ITC Stone Sans Edited by Anne Findlay Cover and text design by James Kelly Typeset by Desktop Concepts Pty Ltd, Melbourne Printed in Australia by BPA Print Group 020701•People, Sheep and Nature 4 4 23/4/07 12:39:33 Contents Preface ix J.B. Kirkpatrick and K.L. Bridle Chapter 1 History 1 J.B. Kirkpatrick Summary 1 Introduction 1 The grazing lands in gathering and hunting times 2 The first sheep and their people 3 Sheep and the Black War 9 Early environmental impacts of sheep 10 Two-legged dogs 11 Yeomen graziers 11 Firing the landscape 15 Rabbits, scab and other pestilences 21 Breeding for environment, purpose and fashion 27 Transhumance 32 Technology 36 Markets 39 Climate 41 Conclusions 42 Chapter 2 Managing the run country for production 45 J.B. Kirkpatrick, K.L. Bridle and P. Leith 020701•People, Sheep and Nature 5 5 Summary 45 Introduction 45 23/4/07 12:39:34 vi Contents Runs, native pasture and bush Sources of information 50 51 The microeconomics of run country 51 Economic uses of run country 53 Managing the run country for profit The enterprise classification 55 55 Grazing regimes Introduction Influence of environment on pasture management Set stocking Rotational systems Cell grazing Mixed systems Spelling Type of stock Stocking rates Fire management Increasing productivity through inputs Disease management Wild animal management Weed management Conclusions Notes Chapter 3 Conserving on the run country 56 56 59 60 61 64 68 68 69 70 71 75 80 83 90 97 97 99 J.B. Kirkpatrick, K.L. Bridle, J. Edwards and J. Vercoe Summary 99 Introduction 9