Problem Of Stock Thrift

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29820, 12 May 1962, Page 7

Problem Of Stock Thrift

VARMERS in the Oberon A district on the central tablelands of New South Wales believe that their country with a 30-inch rainfall or better is among the highest carrying capacity land in Australia and for that reason some of them feel that they have strong ties with New Zealand. At least two in this area have visited New Zealand and both of these men are avid readers of the “New Zealand Journal of Agriculture ”

Mr Bruce Turner, who farms Winton Park, about 17 miles south of Oberon, until recently had 1760 acres of undulating mixed slate, shale and basalt country at the 3600 to 3900 ft level. A few years ago he was running 4000 breeding ewes and mating 140 cows and also fattening varying numbers of beef cattle. He was getting up to 60 and 70 per cent, of his lambs away off the mothers, then six or seven years ago like many a New Zealand farmer he ran into trouble with stock thrift and for five years he drafted no lambs off the mothers at all and even after that had difficulty in getting the lambs to thrive. Happily he now seems to have found a partial solution to this problem. In the past season the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation has been conducting an intensive drenching trial on his place. Ewes were drenched with phenothiazine three or four weeks before lambing and the lambs were drenched with the same material at two months, and then a month later with the new thiabendazole drench. This season some 40 per cent, were drafted off the mothers and only a handful of lambs have yet to go off the place. But Mr Turner says that parasites are only one angle of the confused thrift story. Mr Turner puts the average return from lambs sold on the | farm this season at 76s a

head, which even allowing for the difference in currency between New Zealand and Australia would be a return that would please New Zealand farmers this season. The secret is, of course, that New South Wales farmers’ prices are largely governed by internal demand. Of course the lambs off Winton Park are a good deal heavier than most drafted in Canterbury this season. He says that the trade can take lambs ranging from 34 to 441 b and his aim is to produce a lamb of about 361 b. In the face of the stock thrift problem this farmer has cut back on ewes and run wethers and more cattle. He has just recently taken up another 760 acres and this year he will have 3500 ewes, 2600 wethers, and will be mating close to 200 beef cows as well as fattening cattle. The ewes are Border Leicester Merino cross and these are mated with the Dorset Horn to start lambing in midSeptember. Generally the percentage of lambs marked is not less than 110 per cent. Mr Turner buys in ewe lambs from the western part of the state as flock replacements. These are the most readily available flock replacements and are also less likely to have footrot which is a problem here also. These lambs born in May are mated the following April and lamb at 16 or 17 months of age and when a few years ago they were kept separate from other ewes they gave a 60 or 70 per cent, lambing.

Wether Flock The wether flock is naturally of Merinos which clip about 121 b compared with about 91b from the crossbred ewes. On another farm in this district Merino wethers only are being run at seven to the acre with hay being brought in for winter feeding. Shearing is done on Winton Park in early March but fly strike this season has suggested that it may be necessary to shear earlier.

As m New Zealand cattle are not such good money these days. Mr Turner said that a two-year-old steer was at present only bringing what was paid for it as a weaner calf.

This farm has been brought in out of timber, with at first one or two crops of peas, with pasture then being sown under a crop of oats. Apart from areas of phalaris and cocksfoot, pastures are mainly of perennial ryegrass, subterranean clover and white clover. New sowings include short rotation ryegrass, with short rotation and white clover forming an experimental pasture for a hay crop after Christmas when perennial has dried off.

Some 65 acres is at present in turnips and about 100 acres is in oats, of which some 35 acres has been sown with a pasture mixture. This is mainly for sheep feed. Some 300 tons of hay is held in reserve, also 250 tons of silage and 1000 to 2000 bushels of oats This and another farm in the district were the first to use the aeroplane for topdressing about nine or 10 years ago and Hi cwt of superphosphate is applied to the acre from the air using an airstrip on the place. Like many a New Zealand farmer Mr Turner' is also planting shelter and to counter competition from grass around his young trees he is using old brown paper superphosphate bags with considerable success.