Gross Understocking In Oregon

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31762, 20 August 1968, Page 8

Gross Understocking In Oregon

Canterbury farmers had nothing to learn from pastoral farmers in Oregon, Professor T. W. Walker, professor of soil science at Lincoln College, said recently. Professor Walker, who recently returned to New Zealand after spending six months at Oregon State University, expressed disappointment at the standard of pasture management on some of the farms he visited.

“They grossly understock their pastures,” he told the annual meeting of the Ashburton Farm Improvement Club. “They let their pastures run to 15in high, then if they don’t require them, they put a match to them. They are carrying one sheep to the acre where we could carry five. “They don't know how to utilise and manage their pastures. One farm I went on had 650 ewes and 100 cattle. The owner could have run 3000 ewes. Without hesitation, he told me he was making $12,000 a year, and did not need to run any more sheep.” Professor Walker said Oregon had two million acres, on which virtually nothing was being done. Another 10 million sheep could be produced, but the sheep population was actually declining. In 1940 there were 1,500.000 ewes in Oregon: now there were only 650,000.

Lamb was not popular. The average American preferred a juicy steak. One saw very little lamb in the shops. It cost about $1 per lb, and beef cost as much. Professor Walker said one farm he visited was getting a 150 per cent lambing. The lambs were taken to 1001 b live-weight, for which the farmer was paid 27c a lb. A ewe which produced twins would return $5O. “So if you had four or five ewes to the acre you would do very well,” Professor Walker said. Professor Walker said he knew of one young New Zealander working his way round the world, who had been “grabbed” by a county agent in Oregon, and asked to work on a demonstration farm. This young man was a Godfrey Bowen trainee, and beside working on the demonstration farm, was able to put his knowledge of shearing to good use.

During one week end at the time of Professor Walker’s visit he sheared 500 sheep, being paid 60c a head. “He made $3OO for a week-end’s work,” Professor Walker said. “I’ve no doubt he will be able to bring back a very smart car when he returns to New Zealand." Professor Walker was impressed with the diversity of cropping, and the prodigious use of fertilisers, on the arable country of Oregon. One of the impressions of his visit overseas was that arable farming was becoming more important. Old rotations were no longer being

carried out With the use of nitrogenous fertilisers, rotational systems were no longer necessary over large parts of the world. The only real thing stopping cropping year after year was the incidence of pests or disease. Professor Walker said fertiliser costs in Oregon would “stagger” farmers in New Zealand. Some wheat growers used anything up to five or six hundredweight of super to the acre, two hundredweight of potash, and if a 100 bushel crop was wanted, as much as half a ton of sulphate of ammonia to the acre. Professor Walker said that although Oregon soils did not have the organic content of New Zealand soils, excellent yields were obtained. Plant breeders in Oregon had developed a short-strawed variety of wheat which yielded very well under high nitrogen levels.

Discussing the diversity of cropping. Professor Walker said he visited one farm where 700 acres of peppermint were being grown. This would yield 501 b to 1001 b an acre, at $6 a lb, but costs would be as as high as $2OO an acre. This crop required heavy amounts of fertiliser and irrigation. Professor Walker said he was amazed to find that farmers were subsidised to keep land out of production. When such land was not cropped, it was simply left to decline into rubbishy grasses, until wanted for cropping again.