NORTH OTAGO CONDITIONS.
BACKWARD SPRING AND POOR GROWTH.
For the farmers of Otago, in common with the rest of the Dominion, the pastoral year has opened like not a few before it in the lifetime of the present generation, an unevenly compounded blend of promise and disappointment. The weather on the whole has been against them. Hopes have not been so much deferred as upset by the abnormal conditions that have led up to an unsatisfactory spring. In no part of the province is this more exactly the case than in North. Otago. Both autumn and winter were discouraging, doing nothing to break the long period .of dry conditions that extended practically from late January to early August. When drenching, revivifying showers were most needed they did not come, and the result has been a September in which growth has been very backward in respect to both crops and pastures. The visitor to country districts at the present time cannot fail to be impressed with the gloomy outlook which farmers are facing at this season of the year. The position in North Otago after so much unsatisfactory weather is not very hopeful, although there are many corners that appear to be making excellent headway with the new season. Prices, generally speaking, are, from the farmer’s point of view, all wrong, and there seems to be little prospect of any great improvement.
There is one feature of North Otago farming, however, that glistens like”a silver lining in the cloud of depression. There is ample cause for pride in the high standard of the stock throughout the country, especially where
attention is devoted to pedigree stock breeding. Even in the ordinary flocks and herds there are unmistakable signs of a desire for something better than mere roughage. This fact, together with the general advance of scientific methods and ideas, affords unquestionable evidence of slow but certain progress towards a better agricultural and pastoral standard. Conditions during seeding’ time weie. better than most people anticipated, and spring cereals were sown in good time.... The-■ normal rotation of crops militates against any great changes in the varieties of cerea.s sown. Wheat has the usual large following, and growers appear to be tackiing the problem of fertilisers in the wheat field in a much more satisfactory manner this year. It may be conjectured that the general adoption of one or other of the methods of seed pickling has been the cause of the reducing incidence of disease in cereal Drops in North Otago, and the widespread use of such preventives this season may be expected to eliminate -this source of loss in the comin" harvest.
A crop that is making considerable headway in the North Otago district, and one which should do exceedingly well in most parts, is lucerne. Some large areas have been laid down this year, and ’t is expected that this valuable"fodder crop will come more and more into prominence in the next year or two. One farmer is taking up lucerne seriously this year by sowing down no fewer than 50 acres. Lambing has been well under way in some districts for several weeks, but there are a good many regions still to go through this trying period. Those flock. owners who have arranged for lambing to commence about thp beginning of October are congratulating themselves on a postponement that gives the feed time to come away. Naturally theie have been some losses of lambs as a. result of unfavourable weather conditions, and many sheep owners report more or less heavy losses from antelambing troubles, but as far as can be ascertained these have for the most part been merely the seasonal losses that are always to be expected and can scarcely be avoided. The proportion of. early lambs this year, lambs which can be expected to catch the pre-Christmas market for milk-fed lambs, shows no variation. /
The stranger to the district is somewhat at a loss to account for the wide difference of appearance in many virtually contiguous areas. Around Enfield and Ngapara there are some fresh green expanses of country that are showing the new season to excellent effect, but up. around Tokarahi and Livingstone things appear to be very much further behind. In the Maerewhenua region the land looks to be in exceptionally good heart, and yet, as the road drops down into Duntroon, there is a swift change to far less encouraging conditions. From the appearance of much of this semirough undulating land it is clear that farmers owed a great deal in the last season to the sidelings and gulches that resisted the near drought conditions The flat country of Papakaio and the surrounding areas present a picture of a much different colour, and in contrast with many other corners gives an impression of an excellent spring and a hint of a good season to follow. Whatever else current conditions have done for the farmer, there can be no doubt as to their effect on the position in regard to agricultural labour. Everywhere one goes one hears the same story’ in respect of the management and working of farms. Where twe and three men could be comfortably employed at one time, landholders have had to dispense with such services and carry on themselves with the assistance of their fami lies. The costs of production remain the same as in the boom days,' despite all fluctuations in market values, and the farmer's only means of reducing his expenses to date has been a reduction of his wages bill. Most of them admit that their land should be supporting more people, but with things as they are at the present time it is almost impossible to reconcile 'costs and returns even with one’s entire family working the farm.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 15
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960NORTH OTAGO CONDITIONS. Otago Witness, Issue 3995, 7 October 1930, Page 15
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