Profit From Topdressing On Gisborne Hill Country

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19124, 19 September 1936, Page 13

Profit From Topdressing On Gisborne Hill Country

AN expenditure of 10s per acre for superphosphate .returned a Gisborne hill country farmer nearly £2 an acre by trebling sheep carrying, tinning off more fat lambs, improving Hie wool and increasing the number of cattle.

This has been secured by Mr. J. K. Roberts, Wharekopae, who slates that on very light pumice over a subsoil of yellow clay, hi'; farm of poor grass was changed from a hopeless proposition to something worth while.

lie recounts his experiences in a letter which won a second prize of £lO in a competition organised by the Fertiliser Advisory Service. He states that his soil has a very thin layer of light pumice above a layer of yellow brown and grey pumice, with a subsoil mainly of yellow clay. "This district," lie says, "has an average altitude of 'lßooft. The rainfall is fairly heavy, ami in the winter there are frequent falls of snow and also heavy frosts. Owing io Hie abundant rainfall the district is never short of feed supplies in summer no matter how dry and parched Hie adjacent districts may be. Farm Deteriorating.

"My place was all in grass by 1914. Unfortunately it had been laid down with cheap seed. The neighbouring places were nearly all sown down with good seed, and consequently wore producing good swards of grass for a far longer period than this place. "The entire placo of 1000 acres was deteriorating rapidly. In the home paddocks the dairy cows were poor and the amount of milk given was scarcely enough to keep the liouse going. Tho riding horses were always poor and in winter could hardly carry a man about the placo. In the other paddocks tho hoggets died like Hies in winter. Ewes with lambs at foot could not make enough milk to rear their lambs, and many died a, i'o.w weeks after birth from malnutrition. Everything seemed hopeless. We decided that to carry on under existing; conditions would ultimately mean, bankruptcy. The only remedy was to rejuvenato the land.

"Our first move was to get a home paddock of good quality for the dairy cows and hacks, etc.; 10 acres were stumped and ploughed. An excellent crop of swedes was grown which provided supplementary feed at a time ■when it was most needed. The manures used were basic super, 2 cwt. per acre; super 44-46, 2 e.wt. per acre; and blood and bone, 1J- cwt. per acre. The swedes were fed oil* in breaks and the sheep wero given a good run off on grass every night. Good Quality Seed. Following on the swedes the paddock was ploughed and laid down with good quality seed. Super, I cwt. per acre, was used to give the. seed a -kick off. The resultant sward was marvellous, everything did well. Every two years since this 10-acre paddock was first laid down after t,he swedes, it has received 2 cwt. of super per aero and the quality of the grasw is still excellent.

"The growing period is longer than the untopdressed paddocks, and all tho animals are thriving. Every year since then wo have stumped tibout 10 to 12 acres, ploughed it, manured it, grown swedes, and laid it down _ in good grass seed. We used fertiliser liberally and each paddock was topdressed regularly once it was laid down. We did not want; the retrograde movement to start, again once we had a good sward to work upon. These new paddocks were used as hospital paddocks, sheep brought to them soon fattened. Yi r o are also aide to carry more cattle to control the rank summer growth. "We have tried all the fertilisers on the market; and obtain the best results from superphosphates 44-10. Our swede topdressing is a mixture .of basicsuperphosphate, 2 cwt;. per acre; superphosphate, 2 cwt. per acre; blood and bone, .H Cwt. per acre. The grass paddocks receive 2 cwt. of super per acre.

Help In Early Spring. 1 ' We find the best results come from super sown in autumn (March and April) and that it takes from :i month to six weeks to act. This gives the grass a big help when early spring feed is scarce. All the steep broken ground is done by hand. "I have noticed that the better grasses make a more rapid growth after fopdressing than inferior grasses. Not only is tho growing period extended but the sward becomes denser, the grass leaves broader and a darker green—this is most noticeable—even after the first application! I have found that stock grazing on topdressed pastures are thrifty—they fatten quickly and resist diseases and parasites hotter than sheep grazing on untopdrosscd pastures. "Our carrying capacity was raised from uno sheep per acre to three sheep per acre per year. Thus the gross profit is the two extra sheep.

"I can state, definitely that an expenditure of 10s per acre in topdressing brought about a trebling in sheep carrying and an increase in cattle lu control the surplus feed.. The wool improved and more fat lambs were turned off. An expenditure of 10s per acre for super returned us nearly £2 per acre! "