Hare today ... export tomorrow

Exports worth S4 million a year are being wasted on New Zealand's grasslands where hare carcasses are left to rot, claimed Dr Flux in an article in 'New Zealand Agricultural Science'. Hares are in demand in Europe, frozen whole and shipped as game, a source of overseas funds not restricted by EEC regulations or levies. Even more profitable could be the export of live hares. In France live hares for stocking shooting estates brought S45 each in 1977. The French spend more than S4 million a year importing live hares from other countries.

Dr Flux considers Canterbury the best area for hare cropping, based on overseas techniques, though lucerne growers could also profit. In his article he suggests fencing off five to ten hectare lucerne stands with wire netting to exclude hares during the summer. If small trapdoors in the fence were left open in the autumn after harvesting, hares would soon be drawn by the fresh feed. When the crop was being grazed regularly the trapdoors could be sprung one night and the animals collected next morning by driving them into a funnel trap in one corner.

Sounds familiar? Present day farmers would probably enjoy this sport and the profits it could bring—as much as their grandfathers did.