Meat works vital to Chathams

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32666, 23 July 1971, Page 18

Meat works vital to Chathams

The retention of the meat works in the Chathams was vital to the welfare of the farming community on the islands, Mr L. Galloway, sheep and wool instructor of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch, told a meeting of the Canterbury section of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural Science this week.

The future of the works is at present uncertain. The works have recently been offered for sale by tender but assurances have been given that no positive action will be taken until after an economic survey of the islands is completed. In the event of the works elosing down Mr Galloway believes that island farmers may have to walk off their farms and come to New Zealand to live. He told questioners that they did not want to leave the islands and it was his personal view that they should be helped to stay there. Mr Galloway, who has visited the islands five times in the course of his duties, said that the island farmers had been thrilled about it when the works had opened, although there had been quite a lot of problems with its operation and with meat sales. They had felt that at last they had conditions similar to those of the mainland. The producers, he said, were being paid about 25c for old ewes and wethers. This was at least better than when they were getting nothing. For twotooth ewes and wethers and prime lambs or hoggets they were getting about $2.50, or at the most about $3 per head. For a 2|-year-old cattle beast the payment was about $35 or $4O, but there was some variation depending on condition.

Although there was a meat inspector stationed at the works, Mr Galloway said it seemed from this point onwards that meat produced by the works could only be sold in New Zealand and he understood that several hundred tons of the product was now in store at Lyttelton. He could not see why this meat should not be sold within this country’. He had sampled it and it was his personal opinion that it was better than a lot of meat produced in New Zealand. If this meat was sold in New Zealand it would make all the difference to the Chathams farmers’ future. If the meat works closed he could not foresee the island fanners staying there. They would have to walk off their farms. They were getting now only 13c to 15c per lb for their wool after expenses were paid, but he believed

that something could be done to help the islanders with this commodity, too, at no very great expense. He believed that by converting an existing building a wool store could be set up on the islands with a small staff of one or two to class up the islands wool into crossbred lines which could be dumped for shipping to Lyttelton or alternatively when better harbour facilities were provided in the islands it could be shipped direct from there to a country like Japan. From figures that had been taken out on stock numbers, Mr Galloway said it was his opinion that the islands could "produce the goods” if the meat works remained open. Otherwise quite a lot of the island producers would be coming to New Zealand to live. One of the answers to the Chathams problems, he felt, was that properties would have to become bigger so that some of the smaller holdings might have to be sold to the larger farmers. He could not see how some of the smaller farmers' incomes could exceed $lOOO a year, after meeting expenses. They only had about 15 bales of wool to sell and a few ewes and lambs. Up until about 1968 he said that wool had been a payable proposition, but then they had net had to face the same expenses that they did today. While quite a few problems had been associated

with the meat works, Mr Galloway said he believed that it how had reached a throughput that would make it a profitable proposition and he told a questioner that he believed that the islands could produce enough stock for slaughter that could be an embarrassment to the works. Recently Mr Galloway said he had been working with another colleague in the department, Mr A. R. Diack, in seeking to upgrade production in the islands by both better breeding and also better internal and external parasite control in livestock. Mr Diack had a dipping programme coming up. At the last count Mr Galloway said that there were 54.000 ewes and 47,000 wethers on the islands and a total of 141,000 sheep and 126 dairy cattle and 5500 beef cattle, including 2000 cows. Mr Galloway said he felt “at a very rough stab” that it would be possible to raise ewe numbers to 100,000 by control of parasites, better management breeding and a reduction of wether numbers.

With a suitably located airfield on the islands he said it would even be possible to fly beef and mutton for sale on the Wellington market.

Earlier Mr Galloway recalled that the Chathams comprised 10 islands situated about 500 miles from Christchurch. The main island had an area of 224,000 acres, Pitt Island an area of 15,000 acres and South East island 640 acres. Only 38,000 acres had been developed and sown down in pasture and only 71 acres

had been planted in trees. In spite of the winds there were some beautiful trees on the islands and tree planting was another possible avenue for development on the islands. The islands’ cropping programme would amount to only a few acres. On the basis of recent figures only 680 acres had been topdressed per year, there were 47 tractors and only one hay baler and one drill. The population totalled about 500 and included about 79 fanners. Recalling that fanning on the islands had started about 1877, Mr Galloway said that a magnificent job had been done then with the facilities that were available. Techniques had then been used that were very close to modern development methods. He said he believed that the fishing and crayfishing boom in the islands waters had been both good and bad for the islands. It had saved a lot of farmers, he said, and meant that they had made some money and now had funds to put into farming. Of his own work in flock improvement in the islands, Mr Galloway recalled that before this had started with high cartage costs some island fanners had been shipping their best sheep to Addington market for sale so that they were left with poorer sheep for breeding. And as they were running large wether flocks the rams were put out with only a certain number of ewes and these were not necessarily the best ewes—they tended rather to mate on an age group basis. Over the last two years Mr Galloway said he had been concentrating on • group breeding scheme. He had selected 500 ewes from five good flocks and these had been mated with good New Zealand rams. He had managed to select two rams in Canterbury that had high performance under recording and one of these was the highest performer in the stud from which it came and it had been mated with quite a number of ewes to obtain a good weight gain and wool growth. He said that he had been able to arrange last March for four farmers to take up ram breeding on the islands both for their own purposes and also for sale to others. It was hoped to have 150 to 160 two-tooth rams available for sale at the first Chatham Islands ram fair in February next year. He said that he had been amazed at the size and type of sheep that they were breeding. They were not only big but also had excellent wool on them. Mr Galloway said he was aiming at seeing the islands become self-sufficient in rams. He felt that this would be in the islands farmers’ interest.

In moving a vote of thanks to Mr Galloway Dr I. D. Blair, of Lincoln College, likened the Chathams to the western isles of Scotland where people were living under conditions of adversity but who had a contribution to make in their culture and in the qualities developed under such conditions.