Sheep Graze Where High Gorse Grew

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30823, 7 August 1965, Page 8

Sheep Graze Where High Gorse Grew

This is another story of a farmer—a returned serviceman—and his employers bring- i ing into production a block of country under the shadow of the Southern Alps covered with i gorse and providing only some summer grazing.

The property lies about, i eight miles from Methven. | When it was taken over by dr D. R. Barlass in 1958, lit comprised 830 acres. With the Crown having since taken ] over 250 acres of bush and' i inaccessible hill country it is ! now 580 acres in area and I ranges in altitude from about! ’OOO to 2500 ft. Some 200: acres of hill country is still included in the holding and it is mostly in clean tussock with a little bush. When t was taken over, the: ; property was not completely ring fenced and about 80 peri 'cent of the flats or roughly! ;300 acres were covered by! igorse up to Bft high. It was! : not altogether a very savoury i i prospect, but Mr Barlass re ' cognised the potential of the] I country with a high rainfall! of 55 to 00 odd inches a year' land being of Ruapuna silt I [loam with nine to 10 inches] of soil over about 3ft of I •day. but with some boulders! Ito make cultivation a little] i interesting. j Mr Barlass was already] ] farming in the district with I la 508-aere property on the| j Mount Hutt road five miles ] ; from Methven and eight I ‘miles from his new property, land the two have worked in| I very well together.

Attack On Gorse The initial operation was ]an onslaught on the gorse [with three seven-ton rollers [being used to break it down. I With the gorse being so high [ the operation presented ■something of a navigation problem and the tractor drivers had to sight onto some landmark like Mount Hutt. The area was rolled in lands. This is in a region of northwest winds although the particular block is reasonably ! well sheltered from the • north-west. However, where I the gorse was rolled into the i north-west a good job was! I made, but working in the i other direction the windblown gorse just sprang back | and the result was not so | satisfactory. j After three months a match [ was put to the whole area and then grass seed was sown into the hot ash from an aeroplane. It was realised that not all of th« country could he brought into production at once but it was felt that by this process some grazing al least would be obtained. Next discing was tried to develop a seed bed. A good bed was, in fact, established and a good strike obtained, but there were still too many roots in the country and regrowth of gorse was a problem. Ploughing was compared with discing—part of paddocks being disced and part ploughed—and it was evident that ploughing was the only way. At first a big [ bush breaker plough making a 24-inch furrow was used but it was found that it was hard to break this, furrow down again. A big swamp plough was then used. It had two 16-inch furrows and was convertible to a three furrow. A 60 horsepower tractor was used

I to pull it . In doing the first ; [cultivation two furrows were! [used and on the second time] [round three furrows. I* was found that it had an advant-! [age over a single furrow in. [that if the plough struck an obstruction with one furrow [the other furrow would hold! [it in the ground. This work-; [ing in the summer and’ autumn was immediately followed by rolling with the; seven-ton roller and then the; country was left until the; spring for working by 3')-inch! ! giant discs and then 20-inch [blade discs. A 12ft-wide level-! [ler made of tramway lines! i operated on the hydraulic system of the tractor was next [ put over the country nd it [ [was finally drilled in January [and February. > Now all of the flat country [I [has been sown down at least;’ I once and in the case of three;’ ;paddoeks a second time. I The practice has been to : * itow two tons of lime before; 1 (drilling and then another ton’! as soon as the paddock is suf-1 ’ [ficiently stable to get over;’ iigain, with 2cwt to 3cwt of [I superphosphate also being put 1 [on at sowing down. Until fer-ii [tility is sufficiently, built up [I ! Mr Barless expects that the i i maintenance topdressing will 1 It>e at the rate of about 3cwf ■ [to the acre. < An indication of how this j [country will respond to this | sort of treatment was given ; this week by Mr Bar lass. On | one paddock three tons of j lime was put on before sow ( ng down, 3cwt of super- . phosphate at sowing and the ‘ tame quantity almost im-L nediately afterwards—a total;] rf 6cwt. In the second sea-[ ton this paddock carried 10 [{ jwes and their lambs to the[ icre all the summer until [ 1 he lambs were sold. The basic pasture mixture 1 used in sowing down has been t II bushels of perennial rye- 1 grass and 31b of white clover. • In the early stages while it 1

.was uncertain whether the regrowth of gorse would oyer- ; whelm the young pastures | mixtures have been kept pretty simple! However in one ease 31 b of Montgomery red elover has been included with It bushels of perennial and lib white elover. Mr Barlass says that this country with a high rainfall and not too much wind so that the bumble bees ■an work is ideal. Montgomery red clover country and he is looking forward to being able to take some clover seed crops on what will most likely be otherwise a predominantly sheep property. The expectation is that once permanent pastures are established they will be down for about seven year’s with 40 or 50 acres being worked up a year for sowing to turnips and then to turnips and grass or back to a straight grass mixture. Timothy is likely to be included in the permanent pasture mixture and also crested dogstail to fill in any gaps in a pasture. Both have been included in the mixture used in one paddock. Perennial ryegrass and white clover are. however, likely to remain important for the reason that it will be necessary to graze hard and bare down pastures pretty closely at least once a year to keep on top of gorse regrowth. There are patches now where gorse is showing up pretty strongly. Several factors have been found important in keeping the gorse under control. A quick establishment of new pasture is essential and it has also been found that this is aided by good consolidation of the country. Where it is too rough going for a conventional roller, rolling using the wheels of the tractor has proved well worthwhile. There is a good example of the bene fits of consolidation from lasi autumn's sowing down. Here in one paddock where part was rolled before the weather broke the new pasture on this area is much superior, at this stage, to the area that had to be left unrolled. The ewes on this property might not please the eye of the connoisseur, for they have had to work as implements as well as produce and rear lambs. Mr Barlass has been

impressed with the punishment that Romney ewes will take if they are kindly treated at tupping and in late pregnancy. They have been crammed on to areas to nibble down the seedling gorse.

The property was carrying 1000 Romney ewes, 300 hog[gets and 50 breeding cows last summer, and a further 120 acres has been sown to grass since. The ewes are pre-lamb shorn before lambing starts in the third week of September. Lambing percentages and wool weights are now at modest levels due tn the main to the use that is made of the stock. The 50 breeding cows are blacks and are mated with a black bull with the calves being sold as stores. The Aberdeen Angus seem to do better than other breeds in this location where they are being used on 15 acres of swamp and to clean up some rough hill country.

Hill Country i On the 200 acres of hill country 30 tons of superphosphate have been spread in the last year from the air, and in the previous five years a similar weight was also used, including one application of sulphur super. It has also been oversown with white clover. Following the most re .-ent heavy applications of fertiliser very marked re sponses to the treatment arc expected and it is anticipated that this area will carry some 500 ewe equivalents. Mr Barlass expects that the property will eventually be carrying overall five ewe equivalents and possibly more The objective is about 1500 ewes, 500 hoggets and supplementary cattle. There is some feeling in some quarters that ewe numbers could be taken quite substantially higher than this.

A few forays have been made into cropping but it seems likely that sheep farming will be the main pursuit. A linseed crop grown as a cover crop was quite successful but Mr Barlass said he did not think it would be as profitable as sheep. A 25 bushel to the acre wheat crop was also grown after a greenfeed oats crop, but Mr Barlass sees some harvesting difficulty on this country with its early autumn and high rainfall and also a problem with birds congregating on one of the latest crops in the district. It would incidentally. he believes, be one of the highest wheat crops in the province. Superphosphate was sown with these crops

and where extras super was I spilt it was found that they were markedly better.

Considerable subdivisions! !and boundary fencing has | been necessary’. Five paddocks are now of 20 acres jeach and the balance is in 140 to 50 acre blocks due to jbe split eventually into pad- ' docks of about 25 acres. Some ! two and a half miles of fencing has also been done at the top end of the property by the South Canterbury Catchment Board to protect an area of bush and encourage regrowth. Water for most of the fiats ' Hows by gravity from a concrete tank by polythene pipe to concrete troughs. The source of the supply is the swamp where a windmill draws ofi’ the water. The cost of developing this country to sowing down would be about £2O an acre, says Mr Barlass, but with axation concessions he adds hat the actual cost has | been much less than this. Within three years he says ithat there is little doubt that |it will have paid for itself. !He has found the whole project a very challenging and satisfying hobby. Tractors and implements have speeded progress but there has been quite a lot of trial and error. In it he has had the assistance of a very good team of men. Al times be

[tween his two properties lie has had a labour force of four men. At present it is I down to two. including the ! owner Three of the men !who have worked for him are • now on their own farms.

The two holdings in close proximity to each other have worked well together. Movement of .stock from his property on Mt. Hutt road in the late spring and early summer has enabled the closing of areas for small seeds to be greatly extended and lambs from the higher property have been fattened on the lower country and an inter change of stock has also facilitated closing of areas for autumn-saved grass. But now it is the aim to run the higher property as a separate unit. A cottage, woolshed and now a hay barn there have all been built with farm labour.