Topdressing Hill Country

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 74, 28 March 1936, Page 12

Topdressing Hill Country

Signs of. Depleted Fertility

Big Possibilities

Tremoudous strides have been made in New Zealand in the improvement of pastures and crops on land that is easily brought under cultivation. The level or comparatively level land throughout the North Island is carrying, for the most part, excellent pastures and these pastures are capable of carrying large numbers of live stock. As a result of concentrating their attention on the “easy” country, farmers have substantially increased tho carrying capacity and productivity of the Dominion as a whole. Even now the limit has not been reached as far as production from this “easy” country is concerned; there is still much room for improvement but that room is small compared with tho almost untouched li ill country which forms so large a proportion of the occupied land in New Zealand. When those men w ho hold the higher grazing count; y take it seriously upon themselves to improve their holdings, we will see a marvellous increase in the head of stock carried and equally marvellous increases in wool, mutton, lamb and beef production.

Hill Country Problems There are between 14 and 15 million acres of hill country in New Zealand that still carries native grasses and tus sock and nearly as much more that haa been cleared of bush, fern, ti-lree, etc, and sown out in grass mixtures. There are, no doubt, small portions of this huge total area that could be ploughed or surface cultivated and sown out in better grasses and clovers but in the main, the present occupiers of hill country have to put up with the existing state of the grazing or endeavour to improve the position by the use of stock and fertilisers. At one time it was commonly accepted that once a piece of felled bush country was burnt and sown to grass it was Jinished with, and that time alouo would determine whether or not the land was good enough to carry good pastures, but in any case the changing of the pasture afterwards was beyond tho control of man. Wo do not accept that theory today as it has been amply proved that man can still exercise complete control and that he can build his pastures up to a higher standard or he can let them slip, according to his capacity for pasture management. Signs are not wanting that some of our good hill country has lost some ot its original fertility. This is not to be wondered at as that same country has been producing meat and wool for export for many years without having had anything in return. Signs of Depleted Fertility

Amongst the most noticeable signs of decreasing fertility in hill country we have these:—

1. Disappearance of good qualitj grasses and the complete dominance ol danthonia and brown top. 2. Loss of carrying capacity—this ir. some districts is heavy, having fallen from '3 to 11 sheep per acre. 3. Loss of fattening capacity—store wethers and lambs now going off where fats were produced a few years ago. 4. Lower lambing percentages. 5. Lighter wool clips. These are tangible facts and the; touch the pocket of every man farming hill country. There arc other facts, not so easily assessed but nevertheless of grave importance in the handling of this class of country. For instance, we cannot even roughly measure the losses sustained through stock having to live on the one type of poor quality grass like danthonia; we cannot measure at all the area, (hat reverts to fern and bidi-bidi each year, and we cannot separate deaths from starvation front those from indigestion. Restoring Fertility. Most of those settlers who liavs stayed on their holdings for a lifetime; those who felled the bush and sowed out the first luscious pastures aro unanimous in their opinion that if they could only get back to tho carrying capacity of twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, all would be well. Three or four decades of continuous outgoing of fertility have certainly Jeft a mark on the land and it is, or should be, the duty of present occupiers to remove that mark. It can bo done, in fact it is being done in individual cases even now, but much more remains to be done before the old order returns. The restoration of fertility is mostly a matter of restoring to tho soil the phosphates and calcium that have steadily drained off. These elements of fertility have been going out of the country altogether and consequently no part of them is available for return. These aro the essential ingredients for the manufacture of bone, tissues, blood and energy. To a land naturally poor in available phosphates wo have applied a sort of suction pump that has succeeded in extracting almost the last drop so that to-day we aro facing a condition of phosphate starvation. Calcium is in an almost similar position, and in any programme arranged for the purpose of restorng fertility it must receive consideration. Calcium (or lime) is equally necessary with phosphates for bone formation and without an adequate supply of calcium stock will find it difficult to assimilate mtiicient phosphates. The hill country farmer is restricted |

in his choice of ways and means of restoring fertility. Ho cannot plough and cultivate prior to re-sowing; he can do much by altering his grazing programme from sheep to cattle, and vice versa, but he can do more by top-dressing with suitable fertilisers. He can apply to every acre of hill country, a dressing of phosphates and lime that will, within a remarkably short space of time, restore the ryegrass, cocksfoot and clovers to his pasture, the old-time carrying capacity, the old-time fat wethers ami lambs and send up his count of wool bales. There is no gamble about it and lie only wants to be assured that this measure of improvement can be secured at an economic price. Working on a System. Taking all the main factors into consideration, it definitely looks as though tho most satisfactory system to adopt ou hill country is to divide the whole area into three separate blocks and topdress ono block each year, coming back ou No. 1 the fourth year. There arc many sheepmen working on smaller holdings who top dress every acre every year and they iind it pays them, but it i all occupiers of sheep country decided | to follow suit and topdress their entire holdings this year, the fertiliser manufacturers could not cope with the demand for topdressing manures and the station owners could not possibly control the resultant growth of feed. Far better it is for the work to be undertaken systematically and progressively-

Allowing 3cwt. of superphosphate per acre as being a suitable topdressing for most hill country, and spreading the effect of this 3cwt. per acre over three years, we arrive at the average of lewt. per acre each year. Superphosphate costs at the works 4/- a cwt., to which must be added costs of transport and application both of which costs vary in the different districts. By the time the super is applied the average cost will be somewhere between 5/- and 6/- per acre per year and that expenditure can be depended upon to increase the carrying capacity of reasonably good country by 100 per cent. It would be considered sufficient by many hill country farmers if as a direct result of topdressing they could fatten the present surplus of stock instead of having only stores tc sell, but the fertiliser can be depended upon for more than that —it will increase both carrying capacity and fattening capacity. Pasture Control Important It is essential to the successful use ot fertilisers that pastures be kept under strict control. As soon as possible after an area has been topdressed, it should be stocked with additional sheep to the acre and if that is not enough to keep the grass down short, then more stock must be added. Jtank feed is of no use to any class of stock and even the fact of it having been topdressed will not help it much if it gets away to seed Short, succulent grass lias a feeding value equal to oil-cake when grown on topdressed country and the aim of the sheepman should be to keep it short for as long a period as possible. The very few so-called failures with fertilisers on hill country are almost certainly due to under-stocking with its consequent flush of feed and lowering of quality. What Alternative? The position with the hill country farmer is that he must topdress if ho wants to bring about an all-round improvement. He cannot use the plough; as a matter of fact he cannot reasonably use an implement of any sort over his country. It is true lie can do much with cattle but even they cost money when used solely as implements. Superphosphate, or its close relation —• basic superphosphate—is his best aid By this means he can bring back the better grasses and clovers, he can ro gain afl the old-time carrying capacity and he will see fat stock once more. What is (he alternative? Bit still and and sec the danthouia flourish, the wool clip shrink, lower lambing percentages, and more mortality amongst store conditioned stock and the fern and bidifaidi gaining ground year by year. The alternative is tho mose costly way,