Development In Leader Valley

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30466, 13 June 1964, Page 9

Development In Leader Valley

A STORY of rabbit destruc- “■ tion and development of tussock country was told to nearly 60 North Canterbury farmers this week when the Cheviot branch of Federated ! Farmers held a field day on | lona, the property of Mr Paul Bush, in the Leader Valley. The property runs in a i narrow strip from the Leader !to the Waiau, a distance of I eight miles, and. the-tussock ! country runs up to a height ;of about 2000 ft. The annual ' rainfall is about 30 inches. Rabbits Standing in the middle of an improved tussock block with healthy fescue and silver tussocks joined by a dense mat of danthonia, dogstail, cocksfoot and clover, Mr Bush said that his father had taken over the 3890 acres in 1929. In the previous year 40,000 rabbits had been taken off the property and the local people had given his father two years before he was bankrupt There were then 2500 ewes clipping 71b of wool each on the plaice. Fortunately the boundaries were rabbit-fenced and Mr Bush set to work and just before the war got rid of almost the last rabbit. Excellent kills were obtained from the first poisoning with strychnine. The rest was done with trap, dog and gun. No more poisoning was done until after the war. The reduction in rabbits alone had resulted in considerable improvement even though no subdivision had been done. The tussock comprised three blocks of about 1000 acres each, a small block of 400 acres was used mainly as a transit area for shifting stock, and there were 200 acres of ploughable country at the Leader end. The present owner said he started sowing and topdressing the fuse xk country in 1958 and in 1960 commenced subdivision into smaller blocks to enable him to control the grazing. Ewe numbers were now 3100 (all Corriedales) and there were 120 breeding cows, including a small Hereford stud. Supplementary feed consisted of between 4000 and 5000 bales of hay made from 60 acres of lucerne and cocksfoot. Only the two-tooths were wintered on hay in the paddocks; the hoggets and ewes were wintered on the hill.

Wool weights were now up to 101 b, with 71b from hoggets which were shorn as lambs. Pre-lamb shearing had been practised for the last 18 years and had proved entirely satisfactory, quite apart from obviating the long drive across the unusually long property. Mr P. Thaine, farm advisory officer, Department of Agriculture, Rangiora, who organised the field day, ex-

plained the trials he had laid down on lona to determine the fertiliser requirements. As a result Mr Bush was advised to use lewt of the 4001 b mix of sulphur superphosphate with 31b of white clover and 21b of red clover —no response had been obtained to molybdenum in the trials.

This was applied to the 400 acre block in 1958 and followed by lewt in 1959 and another lewt in 1963. The. block, which up to 1957 had previously carried few stock (and even these went back in condition) during the period 1958-1964 carried 350 ewes, set stocked all the year round. They were lambed on the block and most of the lambs went away fat, the actual percentage going away dropping a little in the last two years.

. The other blocks had the same initial treatment but only lewt extra in the fourth year. Mr Thaine said this was really not enough to maintain a good percentage of clover. His advice today would be to give an initial dressing of 2cwt of sulphur super followed by another lewt a year later. Subdivision The subdivision necessary to enable proper management of the improved tussock country was done initially with four miles of electric fence costing a total of about £5OO for materials. Labour, if paid for, would have entailed about another £5OO. The latest fence, which was inspected by the party, consisted of high tensile netting and an explanation was given of the method of erection, including taking it across a large deep gully.

Mr Bush explained that he originally used electric fencing because it was so cheap, but it was so far from the homestead it was always a worry and he used the other type as soon as he could afford it He thought the high-tensile netting was quite satisfactory, provided it was kept off the ground and “you don’t put a fire through it.” For the 2800 yards just erected it cost just under £5OO for the materials.

Asked to comment, Mr J. G. Hughes, management officer of the Tussock Grasslands Institute, said that netting gave a good stock-proof fence, but it was not a cheap fence. However, it was possible to save on posts on firm country, but this could not be done in soft going. Where snow was a problem there was a risk that enough snow might accumulate to cause a snow slide and carry the netting away. It was suggested that two barbs above the netting were desirable where cattle were used.

Asked if the development programme had proved economic, Mr Thaine produced a table comparing stock figures before and after treatment It showed that between 1957 and 1964 ewe equivalents represented by sheep and cattle had increased from 3451 to 4422.

He estimated the initial cost of improvement (not including the capital outlay for stock) at 45s an acre, including fencing. He considered that Mr Bush had not yet felt the full effect of the topdressing and fencing and that the increase in ewe equivalents of nearly 1000, together with the increased wool weights and numbers of fat lambs, fully justified the expenditure.

Mr F. L. Ward, of the Meat and Wool Boards’ Economic Service, spoke on the place of cattle in the foothills tussock country. He considered this type of country would make the most immediate contribution to ‘increased sheep and cattle numbers in Canterbury.

The amount of oversowing and topdressing already done had resulted in what was almost an explosion in cattle numbers, and sheep numbers as well as their wool weights had also increased. He considered that production from sheep and cattle on the foothills of Canterbury could be doubled if finance were made available for fertiliser, for stock purchase, for subdivision and for water supply. Increases of the order envisaged meant the use of more labour if breeding ewes were involved. He wondered whether farmers should consider using a high proportion of dry sheep,, paying particular attention to wool production. Good Years Mr Ward reminded his audience that the increases in the recent past had been due to an increase in returns to the farmer in 1950-51 and 1957-58. The good returns of 1963-64 should result in a further increase in production because they had the money for fertiliser. An endeavour should be made to develop a financial system, by which there could be built into farming a regular and increasing fertiliser application. The Australians were getting over this by a straightout subsidy on fertiliser. However it was done here, it was the most dominant factor in getting increased production on the hill country.

Mr Ward predicted that a greater use of beef cattle could be an important factor in controlling costs. The value of cattle relative to sheep had increased in recent years and at present was quite high.