BUSH FARMING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 50, 28 February 1923, Page 9

BUSH FARMING.

KING COUNTRY PRACTICE.

(By ANCHORITE.) VI—YARDS AND SHEARING SHEDS The settler having his first year's bush felled, gTa-sed, fenced, and stocked. and hi» homestead garden, etc., in order, will now require to erect stockyards to handle his cattle in; also sheep yards, should he have etoc'ked up with sheep as well as cattle. If his flock of sheep js small, he would not require to /build a shearing shed, the first season at anyratc, as a small nuqtber could toe shorn on board- laid down in his yards, with a tent fly over the top. The magnitude of his yards, of course, must be regulated to the nnmJber of stock he ha_ and contemplates punning on his holding, and also to the amount of cash he has at command.

Many early settlers make the mistake of erecting their yards in a hollow or flat piece of ground. This is an error to' be avoided if possible, as yards built in low places are almost always damp and muddy and unpleasant for drafting and working stock in. Yards should toe built on high ground, Where the drainage is ample and rainfall disappears naturally without artificial aid. It is necessary, of course, to take care to select a site where the approaches to it from all sides are reasonalbly level and handy. All the gates of a yard should toe on the_ corners of the subdivisions to facilitate the easy handling of stock at all times. The outside gates—front and iback—could be in the middle, with wings leading from them for a distance into the paddocks. This is generally known as a "lead." For cattle one requires to erect a strong race or ••crush" for branding, earmarkin,?, and castrating, etc. A "crush" should toe touilt to the average width of the stock yeu contemplate running on the place, and should not ihe for cattle more than three feet wide. You can have it as long as you like, tout olbout twenty feet is ample for small bush farm requirements. The "crush" must toe of the width that will prevent the stock you generally handle from turning round in it, as when this does occur it gives endless trouble. Thrails must be smooth, and wired on to the posts from the inside to provide a clear run through the race.

CONSTRUCTION METHOHS. Practically the same thing •apples to the erection of a sheep race, 'but the length of a sheep race should toe albout thirty feet from y°ur crushing,or forcing yard at one end of it, and the bottom of tooth races should be gravelled or packed with pungas, in the event of metal not lieißg handy, the idea being to prevent the slipping albout and falling of the stodk you are handling. A cattle yard should be six feet high, and a bush Biieep yard four feet high, On a new clearing it is advisalble 'to use what timbers are handiest for your rails, as tliey are easily renewed. It, however, pays one well to have their stockyard posts more solid and ing. and also to use timbers, where pos= sible, that are not highly inflammable. The bast stockyard posts are ibladk heart ef these will last upwards of forty years—and they are excellent fire resistors. You can generally get them without splitting, as the medium-sized hinati is just about right for stockyards or fencing strainer*. They should Ibe sawn off about nine feet long, leaving you three .feet in the ground md six out, the height of your yard. It is always a good plan—4n fact, it is absolutely imperative—that you 'log up and burn off as much of the loose valueless timbers as you conveniently can 'alongside and ardund your yards, also your house (the bigger space y°u clean the better), in order to be safe from future fires, and that your stock may be worked easily ipto the stockade at all times.

SHEARING SHEDS. Bush shearing sheds, when required on your holding, need not Ibe elaborate affairs as long as they are erected correctly on the outside and built for convenience inside. For a small flock one can ibuild a substantial shed, with round timbers for the sides and ends—unburnt logs, of about, six inches in diameter are excellent, providing you select straight spar? of about twelve feet in length. These could Ibe let into the ground two feet, and the height of your sides would ibe ten feet. If at all possible to set iron in to your holding it Is advisable to use this for the roof, as it makes a permanent and secure jab of your shed, the dimensions ef which should Ibe forty feet by eighteen, acr cording to your requirements. you will require a double door front and back, and as many side trap doors as you propose to employ shearers. The shearing "board" would be on the side of the exit doors (where the sheep ere shorn is always called the "iboard"). The catchine pens would be up the centre of the shed, as far as the trap or exit doors go.

VALUE OF THE WOOLPRESS. * Atny epa*e left above is used for your wool tatoles, where the wool is classed and rolled into fleeces preparatory to its going ihto the wool press. As woolpresses are usually hard to get into i_U_h clearings, it generally devolves upop the "handy man" of the tiew locality to prepare a home-made one. This' is very frequently done, and often with splendid results. Of course, it maikes harder work pressing the wool in this crude manner, but necessity knows no law. and the resourceful man will be. hard to "stick" on a new farm out back. The writer has 'built these bush presses, and lost a very considerable amount of sweat working them. 1 have put wool into home-spun presses with a spade as the only tool. If you I have the money to buy a good wool-1 press—and can get it in to your holding—let it ibe your first outlay if you ! are gning to run sheep continuously, as j with' a good press you s»ve the price of it the first season in la>bour alone. Then if your neighbours are also running sheep, one press will do for a dozen of you, always provided you work amioaWy together, whiah should be the aiim of all isolated bus-h farmers.

I am well aware that large operators on bush country would eonsitler my plans for a "starter" too small, whilst the very "little" man of little or no capital would consider them too elaborate for his means. T am endeavouring to give a ceneral idea of what the average man should do to get going on bush country. In my next article I will explain the usual methods of shearing, constructing sbeep-dips, dipping yards, and the marketing of wool.