BOOK 03

In BOB BOOK 02 there is some mention of my previous experiences with goats in the jonhny walker chapter

This carousel holds not only the excerpt from BOB BK03, but also the synopsis and the e-book data. They are all set out in the same fashion using four sections. 1 - EXCERPT. 2 - SOME of the defining occurrences and incidents not mentioned elsewhere from the period the book covers. 3 - SYNOPSES. 4 - e-BOOK data.

It was during this period that the trucks and livestock became more than something to do on the the weekends etc, and eventually launched us out into the world of the self employed.

But SHIT-OH-DEAR that all changed when the COLLEGE BOYS got hold of the stick. Managers were coming and going pretty fast, and I think my predecessor at Edgecumbe was one of the first some buggers stick landed on, the fact that he was ready to retire was just coincidental, no matter what spin they put on it.

Another twist to this is that particularly in Edgecumbe’s case the township of Kawerau was actually built on it and as in most urban areas dogs are not in short supply, and he just seemed to accept the losses as a fait atccompli.

However until the late seventies when we started getting college educated FIELD OFFICER'S, I think if the paper work was looking right the Field Officers who in the main were X FARM MANAGERS and close to retirement didn't want to rock the boat, so these old buggers got away with it.

All the blocks that were close to towns or bush blocks were subjected to a fair amount of dog worrying. I think over the years as the population of Kawerau increased the problem became worse, especially as the manager saw it being more a Council problem and looked to the Dog Ranger to get it under control. While appearing to be coping as best he could with the problem in fact from what I could gather did buggeral about it, except to pick up the dead sheep and send a exaggerated BODY COUNT to ROTORUA. The extra fictitious deaths from the dogs went some way to concealing the BLOCKS poor performance, and subsequently his management was not queried.

While I was on the ball with eliminating roaming dogs by adopting the US military’s idea of PRE EMPTIVE STRIKES against any loose dog I saw, I will admit and know, lowering the death rate had more to do with management than dog control. Here is a bit copied from the Superintendents’ letter regarding worrying dogs from this book.

THE FARM MANAGER, EDGECUMBE BLOCK. Bob, While we appreciate the way you have got control of the dog problem over there we can not condone some of the methods of which we have been informed you are using.
Yours Eric Gibson.
SUPERINTENDENT L&S ROTORUA.