Flood Waters Play Havoc On Farm

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30212, 17 August 1963, Page 6

Flood Waters Play Havoc On Farm

Mr R. P. Steele, who farms 330 acres about four miles from Waiau, has had more than his share of bad luck in the last few weeks. About five years ago he took over the property, which

is bounded on one side by the Waiau river and on another by the normally inoffensive Bourne stream which serves a catchment of 3.1 square miles above his property. Last month, after a fall of 3 inches of rain, which was the first significant fall for about a year, nearly 6 inches fell in a night and over four days there was more than 11 inches. The rain brought the creek down in a torrent. It broke through the silt bank in Mr Steele's property and spilled out over his land on to the property of a neighbour and then into the holding paddocks on the Lands and Survey Department’s Cheddar Valley block. Over 70 acres of the 100 acres of his property, which lies on the river side of the road between Waiau and Parnassus, the stream dropped pieces of timber and debris,

but worse still it left a coat* | ing of silt varying in depth ] from an inch to 2ft At the « same time the Waiau also 1 flowed over adjacent land but J it left the country relatively 1 clean compared with the j Bourne. The flood in the t Waiau helped to aggravate 1 the position in the Bourne | by causing water to back up. 1 The flood waters played | havoc with the fences. Of 15 ] paddocks on the river side | of the road only one was left 1 with fences standing on the 1 four sides. About a mile of 1 fencing was either buried or 1 swept away. Some of the I fences have virtually disap- 1 peared under silt and rub- I bish. A six-acre block of lucerne, I which has given up to 100 1 bales of hay to the acre, is I a virtual write-off, Mr Steele 1 says that he does not expect | to cut a bale from it in the 1 coming season. What is left J will probably be grazed. Only 1 about half an acre of a 12- 1 acre paddock of wheat has I been buried or washed out, 1 and turnips had been eaten I before the flood in a paddock 1 of turnips and greenfeed bar- I ley, but the barley, which is 1 still showing above the silt, i looks to be flghtmg an up* 1 bill battle. J Problem The problem facing Mr " Steele is how to make good I the damage without loading I the farm with more expense. I which he says it cannot eco- I nominally carry. Already he ■ has managed to pull up some . of the fences, and had it not bean for the snow in the district last week working bees organised by the Waiau branch of Federated Farmers would have helped to recover more of the fencing, Mr Steele says that he may be able to borrow a blade to gather together the willow wood, which is scattered across the farm, before it starts to strike. After the silt dries during the summer he may use heavy harrows on it to try and break down the ridges that have formed in the lea of undulations jn the ground and behind fence lines. It should probably be either carted off or spread over the farm, he says, but it has been estimated that it would take a bulldozer a week to do the job. Since 10 inches of snow fell on the lower part of the property last week and 14 inches on the higher ground across the road, the creek again threatened to spill out over the farm when the snow began to thaw and sand-bagging was necessary to prevent this from happening. After the initial breakthrough the Lands and Survey Department made a bulldozer available to repair the bank. A scheme to deepen the Bourne stream and erect banks has been officially approved, with Mr Steel and a neighbour's share of the cost being the clearing of willows in the creek area. Mr Steel carries 976 ewes. 400 dry sheep and 30 beef cows on the property. Some lightening of stock numbers may now be necesary. Since the enow, sleepy sickness had shown up in some 20 to 25 of his ewes by the middle of this week.