tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post17326183903271653..comments2024-03-29T00:44:42.046+13:00Comments on Bowalley Road: Anticipating TroubleChris Trotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-63230180034909977592015-01-23T13:37:07.174+13:002015-01-23T13:37:07.174+13:00I guess you got your wish for tawny brown hills in...I guess you got your wish for tawny brown hills in North Otago. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-78418843074213706872014-10-20T19:39:02.813+13:002014-10-20T19:39:02.813+13:00I won't reveal my identity because I am not hi...I won't reveal my identity because I am not high enough in my career to risk making my political views known lest they offend someone who is looking to hire me. You will have to accept my word that I am not elected or in public life. I have links to dairying obviously, but it's not the industry of my profession (or that of my wife). Not even linked to my industry.<br />I checked the river at the mouth and caught a fish and cooked it on a camp fire. The good life!<br />As for the sustainability question - farmers are awake to this and nutrient budgeting is done. Independently audited environmental plans are required to have irrigation. Effluent is actively managed daily to ensure maximum nutrients stay on farm. Waitaki plains farms have been irrigating since the mid-seventies and are still excellent grass growing farms so that seems sustainable to me. Improvements in technology can only improve this. I could go on, but I think I have made my point that the industry is responding positively to the fair criticisms leveled at it.<br />I agree that Rogernomics helped some farmers along the track to suicide in the 80's but you will recall it was a dry decade.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-74005582181784303402014-10-16T16:42:45.096+13:002014-10-16T16:42:45.096+13:00Exactly where did you check it, Anonymous@14:44? W...Exactly where did you check it, Anonymous@14:44? Was it at the Old Stone Bridge by the Millhouse - where the flow is barely 5cm deep!<br /><br />And, of course your population is recovering. Dairying is much more labour intensive than raising sheep or growing wheat and barley.<br /><br />What's more, it wasn't farming to the geography that drove farmers to suicide in the 80s - it was the actions of the Fourth Labour Government which almost overnight stripped away the decades-old economic assistance that had made such farming sustainable.<br /><br />And that's the great curse of intensified dairy farming - it is simply unsustainable. The mode of farming you celebrate is wantonly asset-stripping the environment on which it ultimately depends. <br /><br />Those same young persons' grandchildren will curse them for their greed and short-sightedness.<br /><br />Oh, and one more thing. Pronouncing so authoritatively on the benefits of dairying in North Otago suggests to me that you have access to some form of specialist knowledge. <br /><br />To confirm this, I think you should tell Bowalley Road's readers who you are.<br /><br />Maybe you're a farmer, maybe not. My best guess is your a regional councillor, politically committed to serving people with a vested interest in destroying the very landscape you were elected to protect.<br /><br />I sincerely hope you're getting on in years because, believe me, a day of reckoning is comingChris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-25926812657503671642014-10-16T14:44:12.986+13:002014-10-16T14:44:12.986+13:00I just checked the Waianakarua. It's no trickl...I just checked the Waianakarua. It's no trickle. Stage Two will come from the Waitaki. Also no trickle. I note 40 new houses being built between Tokarahi and Oamaru. I note that the population is becoming younger and wealthier. The sports club decline has been halted. Where farmers previously farmed to the geography the climate and banks drove many to suicide in the 80's. Now the banks are driving to them. Young people no longer have to move away from North Otago to use their education. To lament the loss of the dry hills is to lament the loss of poverty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-84035933239522794692014-10-11T18:36:06.235+13:002014-10-11T18:36:06.235+13:00and the overabundance of moos is sadly not just in...and the overabundance of moos is sadly not just in Bowalley Road...pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08727942156598555852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-51362259956103208712014-10-11T16:45:31.315+13:002014-10-11T16:45:31.315+13:00To: Anonymous@13:16
I am well aware of what has h...To: Anonymous@13:16<br /><br />I am well aware of what has happened to the countryside in which I was raised.<br /><br />North Otago's tawny hills have turned an unnatural shade of green and the Waianakarua has been reduced to a trickle.<br /><br />Where once farmers farmed to the geography, raising sheep and harvesting fields of wheat, oats and barley, there are only cows, cows and more cows.<br /><br />A sad picture.Chris Trotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09081613281183460899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-74988544534624093102014-10-11T13:16:09.481+13:002014-10-11T13:16:09.481+13:00Don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoy your b...Don't get me wrong - I thoroughly enjoy your blog sir, however I take issue with your passing reference to "dirty dairy" and irrigation schemes of dubious financial value. Next time you are in North Otago where Bowalley Road is then have a look at how irrigation has transformed the region into a wealthy area. Bowalley Road itself is in line for stage two of the local irrigation scheme.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-69162728608079454742014-10-11T12:30:06.110+13:002014-10-11T12:30:06.110+13:00There was a time, Guerilla Surgeon, when most of t...There was a time, Guerilla Surgeon, when most of the population at least had respect for teachers as the hard-working professionals most of them were, don't you think?<br /> That all underwent a drastic change in the 80/90s when people were openly encouraged to regard teachers as servants answerable to parents and their wishes. The 'Tomorrow's Schools' policy has wrought much damage in this area. I have seen some great teachers being treated appallingly. All part of the plot, of course - the rich don't want the poor to be seriously educated; they might start asking questions!<br />Teaching is/was my profession, but wild horses wouldn't drag me to it now. JanMnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-25246027188615012672014-10-10T12:47:35.299+13:002014-10-10T12:47:35.299+13:00I'm not so sure that the public has ever "...I'm not so sure that the public has ever "risen up" in defence of teachers. Most working-class parents keep relatively quiet, and many middle-class parents regard teachers are simply some kind of servant – particularly if you work in an upmarket private school. The old stereotypes about lots of holidays and "those who can do" still abound – largely put about by those who wouldn't survive 5 minutes in a low decile secondary school, but they are never put to the test :-). If you are correct no it will be interesting – as in the Chinese "interesting times".Guerilla Surgeonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03427876447124021423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3753486518085091399.post-35232812658200314762014-10-10T12:40:11.657+13:002014-10-10T12:40:11.657+13:00Believe National will continue their war on the Un...Believe National will continue their war on the Unions and in particular the educational varieties but suspect their tactics have already been well outlined and they indicate a longer game...the well proven method of divide and rule as premised by their "leadership roles" which fit perfectly with their elitist view of life...but suspect that will take more than the current term to be completely effective though am equally sure it will ultimately succeed if not undone by a change of government....yet another good reason for Labour to get its act together and really if they cant or dont the future for those of us who are not 'the cream that rises to the top" (or the scum that floats on the surface, depending upon your viewpoint) have a very foreign future in front of us.pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08727942156598555852noreply@blogger.com