IRRIGATION AND SHEEP-FEEDING

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXIX, Issue 7242, 30 July 1907, Page 1

IRRIGATION AND SHEEP-FEEDING

A SUCCESSFUL EXPERIMENT

' Owing to doubts expressed as to the authenticity of v.'hat is spoken of as the "Gatenby sheep-feeding test," the j Leader, in response to enquiries for the exact particulars, thus recalls the cir- { cumstances .in which this interesting experiment "originated. At a meeting of tbe Forbes Agriciilitval Society, Nev.South "Wales, held during their annua 1 show in August, 1902, Mr Gatenby, of Jemalong, in an address alluded to _the terrible, drought, and its. devastation? within that district and the State generally.! He spoke of the value of irrigation, and urged that every, station should have its irrigated patch of greater or lesser extent; that with even 200 acres of lucerne sheepowners might save their stud and best sheep to the number of, 15,000 through the summer months. The Minister of Agriculture, j 'who was present, was struck by the J foi'-o of the assertion, while otherst .openly derided the statement. 1

L Subsequently the Minister asked if Mr ! Gatenby could prove what he said, and ; Mr Gatenby replied that he would prove j it by sustaining without deterioration for a period of four months at least 75 j sheep for each acre of lucerne, and invited the Minister to send a represenj tative to the station. Upon this the test'was begun and carried out under 'the supervision of a representative of I the Department of Agriculture. In j October, 1902, a paddock of 22i acre, was handed over for the experiment. I That there had been no provision made j beforehand is shown by the fact thai ! just previous to this a flock of 55C I sheep had been depasturing oil tin; 'paddock, and for the purpose of ol> J taining uniform and successful growth j 10 acres of original herbage had to b. j. cut and carted off the ground. Twr i'flocks of sheep, mixed sexes and all [ ages, one of merinos and the other of ! crossbreds, were brought in from.a bacl- [ station, whore they were existing im j der starving drought conditions. Fivr | hundred and sixty-two sheep from eacl | of these flocks were put in two sopor I ate paddocks of 30 acres each, and r ; mixed flock of the same number put in ! ■to a similar third paddock. Neither i lot had the slightest sign of edible vegi etatton-within their enclosure, excepi j what was given to them from the timr i they, went in. The merinos were gen-' j eraly in fair store condition. Many of j the crossbred sheep were so weak thai ; they could hardly crawl, but they wer< ! retained and included in the test .froir j the consideration that such sheei j would probably be found on any station | tion in time of drought. All the shoel j had been recently shorn, by machine I The need of suitable shade and shelter , added to tank water, was severely fel' jby the sheep.in December and January I when intense heat, hot winds, and dusi stormy wore the rule.

j The lucerne test paddock was divid ] ed into seven lands, and each made it j successive growth ready for cutting ir | about 35 days, giving frequently 10 t<--112 tons of green feed per acre. Thi' j was cut daily and carted out to tb. j- sheep twice each.day, thus giving eac* j of the 1685 sheep two lots of nice fres. j food daily. The total loss by death wa' ! only one sheep. ! At the end of February, 1903, thr | sheep were generally in good healtl ■ and doing well, having a growth o' '{ clean, bright wool, and had gained ove\ i 31b in weight per sheep, whilst the In ) cerne paddock contained as much feer | for cutting as when the test commenc- ( ed, that is, including , about six ton | taken from the land and held in rr ' servo. The test had been against th ! sheep at.every point from the begir j ning, as Mr Gatenby desired the te? ■• should be as crucial as possible, beiiv i confident that under normal condition : he would do more than he had state ' i by feeding 75 sheep per acre.