Start from scratch in development

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33454, 8 February 1974, Page 6

Start from scratch in development

There is almost a pioneering atmosphere about the 634 acres of country in coastal South Canterbury’ between Morven and the Waitaki River which is being developed by the Elworthy brothers — Jonathon, Robin and Peter for irrigation with intensive deer farming in view.

The property actually includes two farms and when taken over was in browntop, except for about 100 acres of reasonable pasture and about 15 acres in gorse. Fences were old, and these and an old woolshed were removed to enable a fresh start to be made in planning the property for border dyke irrigation. Mr Peter Elworthy hopes that as a result of this the farm when developed will be easier and more economic to run, and in the meantime it is also facilitating development. Initially a contractor was brought in to give the whole property two workings with a chisel plough and then it was grubbed. A second-hand tractor acquired by the Elworthys has given yeoman service. It. has been used to grub the country ahead of Aviemore Irrigation Company Ltd who have been engaged to prepare the land for irrigation. They have been on the job for two months now with a big motorised scraper being constantly available and up to five graders being used. Last week they were at the stage of having completed the border dyking of 324 acres, and by the end of this month it is expected that. the whole property will have been bordered at a cost for earth movement of about §BO an acre. Then virtually the Tvhole of the farm will be able to be irrigated, apart from the site for a new house, but it will not be ready to take water until the spring. In preparing the first half of the property for irrigation a plan prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture has been largely followed, but by shifting a little more soil than originally intended it has been possible to eliminate about 7000 ft of headraces, and their associated structures, and to reduce fencing by about three miles, so that it is possible that overall costs may be less than initially expected. The cost of irrigation structures on the property including sills, dams and bridges is estimated to amount to about $25 an acre. Up till last week about 20 acres had been sown to pasture. This was done early in December after two workings with the grubber and a harrowing and then a

spell of about two weeks with a further grubbing and harrowing—the harrowings being to conserve moisture. Prior to sowing a ton of lime was spread to the acre by bulk truck, and on all but 30 acres. 3cwt of borated superphosphate was applied by the same method. The mixture drilled included the equivalent of 201 b of 100 per cent germination perennial ryegrass, 31b of white clover and 21b of crested dogstail and two handfuls of rape to every box of seed — the idea of the rape being to provide shelter for the grass in the early stages of growth. Although it has been dry the grass and rape have struck very well and up until last week there had been little difference between the performance on the area that received the super and that which did not, and because of this it has been decided not to apply further super until the need is seen for it. However, there were signs last week that the area sowed without super might not be holding on so well in the recent dry spell. On the basis of the latest information it is also not intended to include dogstail in further sowings. The cost of sowing, including seed and working, is put at about $8.50 per acre. On the basis of experience at Winchmore irrigation research station, Mr Elworthy says that except for about 20 acres they are going to put in lucerne, they plan to sow wholly to grass on the grounds that given adequate water this sort of cover will outproduce any other. A big fencing programme lies ahead and happily in a period of shortages and rising prices for materials of all kinds the Elworthys are well placed, for materials for this, and other purposes, and for this and purchases of materials in bulk on favourable terms and for the progress of development to date Mr Peter Elworthy gives much credit to Mr Robert King, the farm manager who was brought up across the Waitaki River on the lower Waitaki Plains. Thinnings from the Elworthy’s Craigmore property are providing the 9000 posts needed. Altogether 15 miles of fencing will be re-

quired, including seven miles of high perimeter fencing to keep the deer in. The perimeter fence has to be 6ft 6in high and every 15ft there has to be a post 9 feet long and of 3 Jin diameter and strainer posts must be 10ft long and of "in diameter. Intermediate fences will be about 4ft high with 32in high netting having also three electric wires and 36in high netting having two such wires. On the first block of some 300 acres to be fenced the internal fences will subdivide it into paddocks of from 15 to 23 acres. The expected cost of fencing is equivalent to about 340 per acre. By the spring it is hoped that there will be 200 odd red deer on the property. Mr Tim Wallace of Luggate Game Packers has contracted to catch the deer for the enterprise. According to Mr Elworthy he is forming three deer-catching teams and initially one of these will be working exclusively for the Elworthys. The deer are to be caught in the Canterbury high country so that the travelling distance to the property is kept down to a minimum. The deer will be tranquillised and then carried out in a sling under a helicopter to a special truck in which they will be transported to the farm. Delivery of the deer is expected 'to start in April. The running of the 200 deer on the farm will be treated as an experiment and after two or three months Mr Elworthy says that it will have been determined whether they can be managed satisfactorily and by then it will also probably have been decided whether the enterprise is worth proceeding with from an economic point of view. Mr Peter Elworthy is optimistic about the economics of deer farming although returns from venison have recently declined. He says that other byproducts have also to be taken into account and at the moment, for instance, the velvets from a stag are worth as much as the venison. Mr Elworthy looks on deer farming as a useful form of diversification in the framework of the family farming enterprise. He says that in the past when lamb and beef prices have been low venison has frequently been commanding a very profitable market in West Germany. He also says that deer seem to be very efficient converters of grass and he thinks that they will be relatively easy to manage. It is now considered that one deer will eat the equivalent of a sheep and a half. If all goes well the enterprise could develop into a substantial deer farming

one — it has been mooted that the property could carry at least 2000 deer. Mr Elworthy attributes their interest in deer to his association with Professor I. E. Coop, of Lincoln College, with whom he has sat on a committee. Mr N. Cullen and his staff at Invermay research station on the Taieri — both institutions have been interested in deer farming — and also, existing deer farmers. However until deer numbers build up sheep and cattle will be run on the property and female stock in the form of ewe hoggets are being built up on Craigmore to go on to the irrigation farm, where it is anticipated that under good management stocking could eventually reach eight stock units to the acre. The sheep build-up is in the hands of Mr Jonathon Elworthy. Actually Mr Elworthy considers’that setting up a property from scratch as they are doing for deer, and for sheep and cattle temporarily, will probably cost no more than if it was being established for sheep and cattle alone. The cost of fencing is being kept in check by use of materials from Craigmore and the yards erected to handle deer will, with a little modification, be able to be used for cattle also. Should the deer be less attractive to run and less economic than their investigations have. indicated, then they will be able quite easily to turn to sheep and cattle farming. At the moment there is little shelter on the place — only a handful of pines and gums — and flax and rushes may have to be platted into the perimeter

fence to provide some temporary shelter. However consideration is being given to planting some 20,000 trees this winter. The intention is to use poplars in shelter belts and also Pinus radiata where poplars do not do so well and to keep these trees topped to a height of 20ft. Within a half mile of the sea — the property runs to' the coast where there is a 30 or 40ft' cliff — it is planned to use: salt-resistant species such as Ngaios and also Norfolk Island pines. Mr Peter Elworthy’s wife is participat-■ ing in the planning of tree planting on the property. To help in the establishment of the trees it is pos-j sible that some better soil may have to be brought ini from outside. Another advantage of replanning the property right from scratch, provi-i sion has been made to! plant trees in borders, sol that they at least will not go short of water. For stock water it is planned to put in a 5000 gallon underground tank, into which the existing water race supply will be diverted and from there water will be pumped about the property. This is expected to cost another SlO per acre. There are plans for a piped supply in the district and if this eventuates this will also go into the tank. Overall Mr Elworthy expects that development costs on the property, including all those associated with irrigation and sowing down of the land and also stocking and building a house and associated buildings, will reach something like $3OO an acre. And on the question ofl the acquisition of the prop-1 erty by he and his broth-i ers, when they already! have a substantial holding,' Mr Elworthy said that there were three brothers! involved and another gen-1

eration was coming up. They wanted the family enterprise to continue and to that end it needed to be an expanding one. They felt that they had the experience and expertise to handle the development of the new property and they had a property to provide the resources to undertake this programme.