Irrigation development on large scale

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32786, 10 December 1971, Page 16

Irrigation development on large scale

It has been a criticism of irrigation practice in Canterbury that development on many farms within irrigation schemes has proceeded much too slowly. Availability of capital for development has no doubt been an obstacle in many cases but in neighbouring North Otago some farmers are taking up the challenge and are quickly transforming the face of dry, low producing country.

One such enterprise is Te Wai Holdings Ltd, at Papakaio about 14 miles from Oamaru and five or six miles west of the main highway. Here 600 acres out of 1400 acres is now in borders for irrigation and of this about 400 acres have been prepared for irrigation in the last two years and a half. Te Wai, which appropriately means “the water,” is a sign of the times in more than one way. It is a collaborative enterprise between a group of farmers with an Oamaru accountant, Mr L. J. Ross, the chairman and secretary of the company. The working directors are Mr D. J. Finlay, who is the manager, and Mr G. A. Farmer, and other directors are Mr A. Farmer, who is Mr G. A. Fanner’s

father and who is also a fanner at Windsor, and Mr S. M. Hurst, who- comes from a family who have been pioneers of irrigation in North Otago and on the the Waitaki plain and who is already associated with another young farmer in the district who is engaged in large scale border-dyke irrigation. Mr Finlay also previously had a farm of about 400 acres in the Windsor district, where his father and other relatives have also been fanning for many years. The project was launched a little more than two years ago with adjacent blocks of 1050 acres and 372 acres being taken over. On each area about 90 acres had already been prepared for watering when they were acquired. On the 1050 acre area there were then about 1200 ewes and replacements. The country is close to the Waitaki river and tends to fall away from the river

so lending itself to irrigation from that source and it also has an impermeable under-layer, which means that the water does not disappear and can be carried across country fairly readily. The 1400 acres is actually on three terraces with one close to the river being of Tai Tapu soil, which with a high water table will produce four or five cuts of lucerne a season, then a second terrace with a Waimakariri stony silt loam and finally a third terrace with a Steward stony soil which has a poor structure, is acid, low in phosphate and low in humus, and which for years has carried no more than a sheep to the acre so that the build up of fertility has been negligible and it certainly does not lend itself to cropping.

Within the terraces the terrain is slightly undulating. It is on the top terrace, where there seemed to be the largest opportunity for increasing production, that the irrigation development has so far taken place. The first 223 acres to be border dyked in the winter of 1969 and summer of 1970 were only carrying about 70 or 80 dry sheep and rams when the work started. Aviemore Irrigation Company Ltd, of Waimate, have done the land preparation and head race formation for the irrigation development. The pegging out of the levels and the installation of the dam structures and sills has been done by the fanners themselves, with a “ready-mix” concrete truck bringing concrete to enable about 10 dam structures to be put in at a time in about an hour. Mr Finlay says that they have profited by the irrigation development al-

ready done in planning their further extensions of the system. They had to restructure head races and alter paddock sizes to reduce the wastage of water and the time involved in watering, as they had to have a system that would water two acres an hour as it was on 'this basis that they Were rostered for watering. Mr Finlay said that the average cost up to this stage and prior to sowing down the borders and fencing had been about $43 an acre, and at current costs he added that it would be about $53. Immediately after land preparation the practice has been to apply a ton of lime and the initial superphosphate dressing has been 6cwt. Quite a lot of the country now under irrigation has been sown with barley or oats and also wheat and then undersown with Ariki rygrass at 151 b to the acre and white clover at 31b. Ariki has been used in the pasture mixture because it has seemed to do best under irrigation on a nearby Department of Agriculture demonstration area and has also appeared to be more palatable to stock. The growing of a cereal crop has been to earn income to provide extra funds for irrigation development and also to delay some of the extra costs involved in stock and fencing

where the area is sown directly to grass and clover. Yields of about 40 bushels of oats and barley have been obtained and the cereals have aided the early growth of the young pasture by sheltering it. Mr Finlay incidentally rates shelter highly and maintains that shelter planting should be an integral part of irrigation development on country like theirs. He says that ft could lead to a doubling of production. The fences on the property comprise six 12J gauge high tensile steel wires with three being electrified and three earths, and 2in by 2in tanalised stakes which are 4ft 6in high. Together with bridges, culverts and stock races these fences have cost about $lO per acre. It has been found that paddocks are ideally, about 20 to 25 acres in area and one or two electric

wires have been used to break feed cattle. The total costs including fencing and sowing down are put at about $BO an acre, including about $3 for labour. Apart from the partners' own funds, State Advances Corporation funds have helped with development prior to the installation of the dams and sills, and State funds were also used to help buy 90 breeding COWS* A point that Mr Finlay makes strongly is that if the Government is to invest heavily in irrigation schemes, it will be a pointless exercise unless adequate finance also is made available for use of the water on farms and for the purchase of stock to make use of the extra growth. Te Wai belongs to a group called Mutual Implements, that owns machinery jointly for use on four farms and which also hires it out to other farmers. It means that extra capital is available for development and subsequent stocking. Now the property has been developed to the point where it is using the maximum amount of water that is available under the Waitaki County Council’s scheme on the lower Waitaki, but by about this time next year Mr Finlay expects that water will begin to flow into the enlarged Government scheme to water about 35,000 acres. Then Te Wai will initially, at least receive its water for only a fraction of the present $1.75 . per acre. The property is now carrying about 3000 ewes and 1000 hoggets and including calves about 400 head of cattle. The immediate intention is to hold sheep numbers at about present levels and push up cattle numbers and by next year it is expected that breeding cow numbers will go up from 90 to about 120 and there will be about 300 weaners on the property. On the sheep side Te Wai is moving from a Romney type ewe flock to a Border- • Romney one not only be- - cause the Border Romneys produce more lambs but because the ewes can rear their lambs. Next year with 1000 two-tooths going into the flock the number of Bor-der-Romneys will reach 1200.

The policy is to set stock ewes and lambs at up to seven ewes to the acre up until about early November when the lambs are beginning to. eat more and then they are moved around as lambs are finished off for slaughter. This also fits in with the closing of pastures tor a clover seed crop. The area closed for white clover has increased from 25 acres in 1969 to 150 acres last year a d 200 acres this year

and the aim is a bag to two bags of dressed seed to the acre. On the cattle side some 30 Friesian cows out of 38 at present in the herd have been used for multiple suckling and there is interest in extending this side of the operation and Mr Finlay can forsee a day when a dairy herd of Friesians may be run on the place for whole milk production, with an associated multiple suckling enterprise. Now the two partners run the property on their own with some casual labour. A development along the lines indicated would involve more labour. Apart from the Friesians the cow herd includes Angus cattle and the Hereford bull is being put across these and also over heifers. Mr Finlay particularly likes the FriesianHereford cross cow with its high milking ability. Further irrigation development is likely to be spread over another 10 years with about 100 acres being done at a time. The total irrigable area on the property is about 1200 acres. Hence forth with funds expected to be available for the job it is anticipated that the areas will be sown directly to grass and clover and crops will not need to be grown. Indeed it is felt that cropping is not likely to be part of the practice under irrigation on this type of land, with the main enterprises being sheep and cattle with catch crops of white clover and the expec-

tation is that this should return a gross of $lOO per acre. Ultimate carrying capacity over the whole property is expected to be of the order of about eight ewe equivalents, although a higher level may be attained over much of the country. To raise fertility on some of the light dryland, which is not in lucerne, a policy of growing crops of cereals and greenfeed is being followed to get the pressure of stock numbers. Barley and oats are being grown with cereal crops being followed by greenfeed crops and the straws from the cereals are being baled. Cattie are playing an important part in this exercise in feeding on straws and hay. There are some 400 acres in lucerne. At a time when farming is under something of a shadow it is pleasing to see evidence of confidence in the future. The directors meet monthly to review the progress of the enterprise and budgets and cash flows enable a close check to be kept on the position from month to month so that stock holdings can be adjusted accordingly. The aim is maximum return. Acres of clover, a mass of white flowers, and cattle almost knee deep in pasture are a striking contrast today to the dried-up, low producing sweet vernal country to be seen at this time of the year in earlier years in an area with an average rainfall of 13 or 14 inches over the last seven years or so.