Dryland Farming At Westerfield

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30937, 18 December 1965, Page 8

Dryland Farming At Westerfield

In 1939 when the Ross Brothers took over 1139 acres of light country at Westerfield, about 11 miles from Ashburton, they carried 900 halfbred to three-quarterbred ewes and 250 hoggets and shore 67501 b of wool—about 61b a head. This year with their acreage at 1400 they are carrying 3670 sheep which have shorn a total of 47,2451 b of wool—almost 131 b a head—and there are also more than 150 cattle on their country.

A number of factors have been responsible for the great upsurge in production on this dryland property. Among these are the wool boom in the early 1950*s which helped to provide the finance for development, subterranean clover and improved pastures, DDT to control grass grub, the use of the heavy roller to flatten out the stones, adequate stock water and subdivision and the provision of storage for hay.

The brothers, D. L. (Don) and C. A. (Alister), had no money when they bought the first 1139 acres of their property in 1939—they borrowed the £5OO they had to put down from their father —and they say that they probably went into this light Merino wether country in browntop and sweet vernal with scattered gorse over it because their resources were strictly limited. The first 1139 acres actually cost £5 an acre with some buildings on it, and an adjoining 261 acres without buildings, which they purchased in 1950, cost £4 16s an acre. It is flat country, with about two to four inches of soil over shingle and has an annual rainfall of 30 to 32 inches.

It had been cropped out with oats when they came in and was in a low state of fertility. Sown pastures would hardly persist for a year and two paddocks in subterranean clover, without lime or superphosphate, were struggling. The 11 i miles of gorse fences included three miles of what the brothers described as "plantation gorse"—gorse up to 10ft high and a chain wide. Their friends were extremely pessimistic about the outcome of their venture and offered them their sincere sympathy. It was really not until the second block had been bought in 1950 and the better returns from wool began to flow in in the early 1950’s that development of Rushford, as the property is known, really got under way, but between 1940 and 1950 progress was made in removing gorse by hand and also in fencing the place. In a single year under the impact of the higher wool prices 600 tons of lime was applied. When the brothers took over their property there seemed to be no-one to whom they could turn for advice as to how they should handle this country, so they had to make their own way, and a clue to how they should move was given when they sowed 13 acres down in lucerne with some cowgrass in it and lib of subterranean clover with one ton of lime and lewt of superphosphate with the idea of making hay out of it. The subterranean clover grew magnificently with runners up to 6ft long and individual plants having a diameter of 10ft The lesson from this area seemed to be that to establish a young pasture it needed to be spelled from September onwards to allow seeding and subsequently reseeding of the country. Since then the aim has been to use a pasture mixture with a light weight of grass to encourage early clover establishment so that ultimately the grass lasts longer. Up until three years ago the pasture mixture included a bushel of Algerian oats, 31b of perennial ryegrass, 31b of short rotation ryegrass, 21b of cocksfoot, 21b of red clover, 21b of subterranean clover and lib of white clover.

Over the last three years the perennial element of the mixture has been raised to 61b giving a ryegrass component of 91b instead of 61b. It has been found that following the establishment of a good clover sward grass will last for eight or nine years compared with barely a year in the earlier stages. The practice is to sow down in early February after a month or six week’s fallow. The chisel plough is used in all cultivation with the idea of using only the top two inches of fertility. For the last year or two cultivation for sowing down has been preceded a year earlier by renovation of the subterranean clover involving working and rolling down and then spreading lewt of serpentine super about February. The object of this earlier working has been to help break up the turf. Lime Now a ton of lime is used when new pastures are sown and the whole property has had close to two tons of lime to the acre. A hundredweight of serpentine super is sown with new pastures and in the first season about the end of March a further lewt is sown with D.D.T. superphosphate. No trouble has been experienced with grass grub and DJJ.T. is regarded as one of the most important factors contributing to the upsurge of carrying capacity on the property. About 1000 acres a year are topdressed with lewt of serpentine super and D.D.T. is used over about a third of the area annually. New pasture is grazed with ewes and lambs in the autumn and winter and then it is shut up from about the end of September and in a favourable season a hay crop may be taken.

To provide extra feed in January and February for ewe hoggets to help them to grow out at this vital early stage in their lives some 50 acres is now sown down in the spring with the standard pasture mixture except for the oats, but with the addition of 1 to

l*lb of rape. This is in addition to about 100 acres sown down annually in February and renovation of another 100 acres of subterranean clover. No turnips have been sown since early in the 1950's and although swedes were tried a few years ago no root crops are grown now for winter feed. The stock are wintered soleij- on hay and grass. Since 1954 six hay barns have been built and today there is accommodation for 16.000 bales. Sometimes for up to three years no hay may be made, but about once in every four years there is a bumper season for growth and the supplies are replenished. Quite a lot of ryegrass straw is made for use by the cattle. This is made on heavier land where fanners are pleased to [allow the brothers to bale the straw after grass has been threshed for seed and similarly they have a source of oat straw. Sometimes hay is needed in summer as well as in the winter but. normally only about 2000 bales are needed for wintering the sheep. Usually about 3000 to 4000 bales of ryegrass straw and oat straw are made. Lucerne Attempts to grow lucerne liave not been successful and the brothers have found that they are able to make enough meadow hay for their requirements. They also prefer subterranean clover hay for long tenn storage to lucerne hay. By 1956-57, after sowing down at the rate of about 200 acres annually, practically the whole farm had been covered, but it was still far from being in full production. Since the early 1950 s as the country has improved the practice has been to use the Romney ram over Romney-Corriedale ewes and now the sheep are almost straight Romneys. The rams used were from the stud flock of the late Mr F. P. Cookson, at Eiffelton, and when Mr Cookson died the brothers took over his flock and now have a stud of a strength of about 98 sheep. This year, including tupping crutching. the total wool turned out of the three-stand shed on the property has been 47,2451 b or a little less than 131 b a head. Under conditions of good feed the brothers say that the average clip is now approaching this figure. About two years ago more than 121 b a head was clipped. This year ewe hoggets clipped 31b as lambs and then more than 101 b again in early November. The brothers are reluctant to say how their carrying capacity has improved on a ewe equivalent basis, for they say that quite apart from increases in numbers account has also to be taken of the extra production now being achieved per head, and to give a true picture they say that this is difficult to reconcile. All of the ewes go to the Romney ram. There are now 2432 ewes. They begin lambing about the middle of August and the average larnb-

ing percentage is about 110 to 115 per cent. For the last four years it has been possible to get about 1000 wether lambs away off the mothers before Christmas at about the 28 to 301 b mark. This is hardly the sort of country on which it might have been expected to see cattle a few years ago, but in 1949 the brothers found that lambs were fattening in the cow paddock and in 195253 they were faced with a pasture control problem with grass growing 2ft tall. Now the cattle are used to top improved pastures in periods of lush growth and it is felt that their use has also contributed to the life of pastures. It has been found that they utilise hay not good enough for sheep and help to build up fertility. In association with sheep it has been the experience that more lambs go away fat off the mothers and the cattle themselves are easy to manage.

The brothers started buying cattle in 1953 when they acquired at Temuka 22 18 months old Aberdeen Angus heifers from Mount Peel station. Another 40 Mount Peel cattle were bought in 1954 and 20 again in 1955. Now they have 94 cows with calves.

24 rising three-year-old heifers. and 35 yearling heifers. They have used almost exclusively Fraser bulls from Pleasant Point-and they have found that their steer calves have been in ready demand. In 1961 they sold at the Ashburton County breeders' fair at Tinwald for £33 15s each. The brothers say that the cattle venture has paid handsomely. The gorse has now gone almost altogether from the property. Since 1939 33 miles of fencing has been erected — equivalent to about half the distance to Christchurch—and 215 metal framed gates have been swung. The number of paddocks has been increased from 21 to 63—another important factor in increased stock carrying. Stock water is vital on this country and in this respect the property is well served. Four stock water races of some five miles and a half in length run through the property. The brothers have put in two new races of about four miles in length and there is water in every paddock There are also two alleyways of a total length of two miles and a half to facilitate movement of stock. Shelter is almost as import-

ant in the summer as it is in the winter. As plantations have been cut the brothers have planted 12,000 more pines and more recently they have established cedars and arizonicas. Nineteen hundred and fifty-four was an important year for physical improvements. That year a new brick house was built for the married couple, a new three-stand woolshed and the brothers pioneered the erection of cyclone metal-framed sheepyards, erecting themselves the sections which were prefabricated in Christchurch to their specifications. The following year they erected cyclone cattle yards. A hay shed was also erected in 1954, and since then another five more have been put up. All of these improvements have been provided out of income. The labour force on Rushford is three, including the brothers, and they also operate a 250-acre medium land sheep and cropping property at Lagmhor with the same personnel. Rushford is surrounded on all sides by country under irrigation. The brothers say, however, that they are essentially dryland farmers. They are still learning about dryland fanning and increasing their carrying capacity under this system of farming. They say that there is still plenty of room for development, using for instance further subdivision, and the time has not yet come when they should consider using irrigation.

Like elsewhere in the province this has been a wonderful season for growth on Rushford and cattle and sheep have been wading deep in grass and clover. For six weeks in the spring 1100 ewe hoggets were running on 30 acres of three-year-old pasture saved from the autumn. Already some 4000 bales of hay have been saved.