GORSE AND BLACKBERRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 2 December 1927, Page 4

GORSE AND BLACKBERRY

THE extent of good land given over to blackberry, gorso and bracken in the Nelson district is considerable. A successful demonstration of the, complete elimination of these noxious weeds by means of goats in conjunction with heavy stocking, chiefly'with sheep, has been given by Mr E. J. Carthcw, of Barrett road, near New Plymouth. The scheme, carefully inquired into by Mr R. Wright, Principal Inspector, Live-Stock Division, is set out in the current issue of tho New Zealand “Journal of Agriculture.” A blackberry and gorse-in-fested holding of 131 acres has been converted into one of tho cleanest farms in the Taranaki district. When tho holding was acquired by its present'owner its carrying capacity was some thirty cows, while during the past three years or more the farm (of which an area of about 100 acres is in pasture and the remainder in bush, etc.), lias carried a Hock of- sheep numbering six hundred wethers during the summer months, reduced to four hundred during the winter season, as well as several horses and a score or move of cattle. This is in addition to the goats, some two hundred of which were kept on the. place for the first year or two.

When Mr Wright visited the farm in January last, the number of stock was six hundred wethers, eight horses, twenty-three cattle, and forty goats, all of which had been grazing for somo months on the 100 acres of pasture. On acquiring the farm the present- owner made an attempt at hand-clearing, hut found this a, very slaw and costly method, without any guarantee that the cutting and grubbing would have a permanent. effect. The land is of a broken and ! ridgy nature, and thus control by means of tillage could not, be adopted. After the roughage of gorso had been cleared and burned, it was decided to Try the effect of a large herd of goats. The method adopted was to first, put, on in one. paddock forty or fifty cattle for a day to clean up any grass roughage and trample down some of the. growth of rough weeds. As the cattle were moved on to another paddock, several hundred sheep were brought in immediately following for one day, and as they in turn were moved t.o a paddock further on, the goats were brought in to tho first paddoclc (by then bare of all pasture), to get to work on the blackberry and govse, etc. This process was continued through the whole series of paddocks—first rattle, then sheep, then goats, end following the other from paddock to paddock, day after day, and month after month. Mr Carthew soon found that for early success small paddocks were essential, and the farm was then further subdivided into fifteen paddocks. Each paddock had fourteen days’

spell till the .stock got round to it again,.

After carrying on this system for some time, Mr Carthew, decided .to run all the stock together, with the usual daily spell of one paddock ahead, and he states that tho results of this latter method were equally satisfactory. “On the farm to-day,” says Mr Wright, "there is not a blackberry-vine nor a gorsebush to be seen, all having been cleared out of even iho steepest, and most inaccessible creekbeds. Mr Carthew firmly holds thereneed be no separation of tho goats and sheep. .Mr Wright’s opinion is that better results and earlier riddance of blackberry, etc., will be effected by navirig each paddock eaten bare of pasture before tho goats are turned in. The subdivision of .the area into smaller (taddocks was done by the erection of temporary fences, all the lower wires being barbed. This wire was also put round the boundary, fences of the farm. The sheep were found to keep in excellent condition, many being fit for tho butcher. Many Nelson farmers with good Tilly or broken land would derive benefit by following the example given.