Tara Hills Future

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29744, 10 February 1962, Page 6

Tara Hills Future

An appreciation of the future role of Tara Hills run at Omarama, which is operated by the Department of Agriculture for the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council, will be given to the next meeting of the Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands Institute by its director, Mr L. W. McCaskill. Mr MacCaskill has been asked to make this report fol’owing a visit members of the institute committee recently paid to the Station of 8260 acres. Mr MacCaskill said this week that members of the institute committee had frequently been asked about the future of the station and what type of work it should i>e asked to do that would be of interest to runholders. The visit had been made to allow them to see the station, its facilities, the work •hat had been done on it and hear what work was proposed. According to advice received by the committee from the Director-General of Agriculture it is proposed to develop investigational work, particularly in the field of nlant-animal relationships. New projects being either undertaken or under consideration include effects of Snelling on reseeding, the effect on grassland of different rates of stocking on both sunny and shady faces, the effect on grassland of various techniques of stock manipulation, the effectiveness of various types of electric fences, the economics of the winter feeding of cattle, the effects of early and late weaning of lambs and the use of various types of feed for weaned lambs, the effects of high and low plane feeding of Merino ewes, the effects on subsequent lambing of shearing two-tooth ewes immediately before tupping and studies of .breeds of sheep and the grazing habits of sheep.