Hill Country Improvement Scheme Prepared

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30442, 16 May 1964, Page 9

Hill Country Improvement Scheme Prepared

Further development of a North Canterbury hill country property, resulting in a lift of 1.4 ewe equivalents an acre in carrying capacity over a period of five years, will boost income in the final year by an estimated £2213, it is expected, and return an estimated 13 per cent on the additional capital invested. The following year, however, taxation is expected to rise by £BOO based on the final year’s high profits.

At a field day held this week by the Cheviot Farm Improvement Club, in collaboration with the farm management department of Lincoln College, a development programme drawn up by Mr G. Frengley, of the farm management department of the college, for the property of the club chairman, Mr C. T. White, was presented. This envisages the carrying capacity increasing from the present 2.2 ewe equivalents to the acre to 3.6 in the next five years—an increase of 63 per cent. But of even more vital interest, the policy envisages a swing away from fat lamb production to greater emphasis on wool and cattle. The present yield of wool is 17.71 b per acre, and it is expected that this will move up to 32.31 b—an increase of more than 80 per cent.

and running a herd of run cattle with replacements being bought in as in-calf cows of Aberdeen Angus breed. Stock carried this winter will comprise 1196 Corriedale flock ewes, 410 ewe hoggets, 136 wether hoggets and 87 breeding cows. Apart from saved grass no winter feed crops have been grown and 400 bales of lucerne hay have been bought in more as an insurance policy than actual requirement.

Stock performances have been reasonably good. Lambing beginning on August 10 has been averaging 109 per cent A move away from the practice of mating a portion of the ewe flock to a Down ram was made this season and the practice of pre-lamb shearing is being dropped. The flock is now shorn in November and last year it clipped an average of 111 b and previously 121 b per head. The wool count on average is 56-58’s. The flock death rate is between 3 and 4 per cent. Development is concentrated on improving the hill county with the introduction of improved grass species and improving the soil fertility with topdressing, clover establishment and stocking. Mr Frengley’s objective is to have an equally good sward on the hill as is established on the arable country. With adequate subdivision, stock water and the required level of sward improvement on the hills, a flexible stocking system and adequate feed reserves in the form of hay, the level of improvement envisaged is well within the anticipated response from this country. Lucerne On the free draining flats, of which there are about 35 acres, lucerne establishment is the objective for the provision of hay. Initially 26 acres are to be established after a root crop of chou moellier and swedes sown next October or November. Meanwhile the present rate of buying in hay will be maintained for the next two years. Eventually, however, something like 1500 bales of hay will be made on the farm.

Mr White’s 952-acre property lies in the hill country just to the west of Cheviot and rises from 600 to 1100 feet above sea level. With about 350 acres of arable country, nearly all requiring a crawler tractor, the farm has a good balance of shady and sunny country,. The rainfall averages 37 to 40 inches a year, with a drought-prone season typical of much of Canterbury. The recent policy has been one of producing fat lambs and breeding replacements,

Initially this will require some fencing. An electric fence of alternate live and earthed 12j-gauge wires is ideal and most effective on this hill country. The cost is £lBO a mile, excluding labour. Fence lines, where necessary, are bulldozed for clearing and waratah and T-iron standards are used with porcelain insulators where the strain requires it.

This type of fence, without the more expensive T-iron standards, will be used elsewhere. It is essential that ade-! quate subdivision should keep pace with development of over-sowing and topdressing and cultivation, for without grazing control much of this expense could be wasted. Because of the problem in feed availability during August and September at present, oversowing of sunny faces basically with subterranean clover has been concentrated on initially. This first year 115 acres will be tackled. The treatment here is to remove the browntop cover by concentrated stocking. Hoof cultivation or the trampling action of hooves will be used to work in the sub-clover oversown in May, and likewise on the shady faces the white and red clover oversown from the air in June and July at about 6} to 71b of inoculated seed per acre. Because of the possibility that superphosphate may kill the inoculum, and also the better spread obtained with seed alone, the seed is flown on on its own. Fertiliser The manure flown on initially will consist of 2cwt each of straight superphosphate and sulphur super, with a follow-up dressing of 3cwt of straight super, and then maintenance dressings of 2cwt alternately of sulphur super and straight super. Increased fertility does not increase growth performance at the peak of the spring growth period, but has the effect of ironing out the imbalance of seasonal supply in giving greater over-all yearly production. A problem of as yet unknown importance with the improvement of these hill country swards is the incidence of porina and grass grub damage, and steps may have to be taken to combat these pests. Reseeding is vital for the furtherance of improvement of this country. Under North Island conditions, Mr Frengley said, only six weeks closing of hill country was necessary for this. His observations were that only 17 days were necessary after the peak

of clover flowering to enable a sufficient setting of hard seed before resuming stocking again. Both ewes and lambs are capable of spreading clover seed and sheep will give a better spread of seed than cattle. Thereafter an area will be treated each year to Improve gradually all the hill country which at present has a reasonable density of cocksfoot.

To benefit from all this work and maintain control of! the cover, stock numbers will be increased by breeding the necessary sheep on the farm and buying in cattle. The Corriedale ewe flock will be maintained at 1200 and dry sheep numbers stepped up. By the end of the five-year period it is the aim that there should be 600 ewe hoggets. 600 wether hoggets. 835 mixed-age wethers and 125 breeding cows in addition to the 1200 ewes. Hence all the lambs are being retained. A wether flock built up over the years will be starting to discard some cast-for-age sheep by the end of five years. By this time, it is envisaged, income will be coming threefifths from wool and one-fifth from each of cattle and sheep sales. This is assuming there is an average of 4s per lb for wool, 40s for lambs, £l7 for a weaner steer and £l3 for a weaner heifer, which according to Professor B. P. Philpott of the college, are reasonable prices and what have been received up to 1962-63. This is a method of development financed entirely out of income and during the fiveyear period the budgeted allowance for labour is increased by £5OO. The property is at present a one-man unit.