TOO MANY SHEEP ON EAST COAST HOLDINGS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22655, 4 June 1948, Page 6

TOO MANY SHEEP ON EAST COAST HOLDINGS

Too many sheep and not enough cattle were being carried on East Coast holdings at present, said Mr. Roland Graham. Gisborne, in a paper read on Wednesday at the eleventh annual meeting of sheepfarmers at Massey College, Palmerston North.

The, district was capable of producing a vastly greater weight of high quality beef, lie said. This could be done with little, if any, reduction in the output of wool or meat.

The present ratio of cattle to sheep varied from one to four or five up to one to 25 on the hill sheep runs, with an average of about one to 10 or 12. Such a variation indicated that areas were too light in cattle for efficient pasture management. Overstocking with cattle could be as dangerous as overstocking with sheep, and occasional droughts took their toll of the herds, he added. To produce the best meat, cattle must thrive from birth to the works With careful management rotational grazing, and frequent shifts this could be done without detriment to their functions of cleaning up the pastures.

Land stocked to capacity with sheep only would deteriorate, he said. Land stocked with cattle only would not loose fertility, but the pasture would deteriorate by the intrusion of weeds. Dairy farms where no sheep were grazed generally became infected with buttercup, and docks became prevalent when horses were grazed exclusively.