PASTURE LANDS

Waikato Independent, Volume XXX, Issue 2316, 27 March 1930, Page 3

PASTURE LANDS

TARANAKI AND WAIKATO COMPARED. WHY THOSE IN THE NORTH ARE SUPERIOR. A correspondent with an intimate knowledge of Taranaki and Waikato pastures writes to the Taranaki Herald as follows: — "That the pasture lands of the Waikato arc superior to those of Taranaki, as stated in your sub-leader of Saturday, is only too true, but it is doubtful if the reasons you give have been instrumental in bringing this state of affairs about. Analysing the position one finds that the chief difference is in the percentage of ryegrass, and as this valuable grass is recognised as the foundation grass of a pasture for butterfat production its absence from or presence in a pasture means the difference between .a low production and high production pasture. It has been amply demonstrated during the past few seasons that a great deal of the perennial rye sold throughout this country is seed from short-rotation pastures, and not from old-established grazing land. This short-rotation Tyc is not very permanent, going out after a few years, whereas the seed' from old-established pasture carries with it this permanent habit and is truly perennial. The Waikato, in the past, has obtained the bulk of its rye seed from Poverty Bay and Hawkc's Bay, which districts are famed for their rye pastures, while, a great deal of the Taranaki ryes originally came from the South Island, where the seed was produced under the short-rotation system. Occasionally lines of true perennial seed have been handled in Taranaki, and where these lines have been used and the paddocks. Just farmed in the ordinary Taranaki way the pastures are to-day equal to anything in the Waikato. It is admitted that the Waikato farmers top-dress at a heavier rate than do the Taranaki people, but as for their greater readiness to adopt new ideas and scientific methods, this is not admitted. It is felt that the whole of the pasture business pivots on the rye question, and it is a great pity that the growers of seed in Hawke's Bay and other districts have taken advantage of the Department of Agriculture's findings and reports to practically double the price of the seed. The certification of the seed and all the incidentals thereto by the Department of Agriculture have not cost the growers a single penny, and it is hardly fair that the buyer should be exploited. This will have the effect of driving the buyer to purchase poorer seed, with the result that low production pastures will be the order of the day, for no amount of manuring or correct pasture management will make a temporary rye permanent."

[Our object in writing as we did is served by the attention thus attracted to the subject. We did not discuss the varieties of seed used, that being a matter for. experts, while in saying that in the Waikato there seemed to be a greater readiness to adopt new ideas and scientific methods than in Taranaki we were merely recording opinions expressed by visiting farmers. As a matter of fact there are Taranaki men who are in the forefront of advancement in this respect, though it may be that this spirit is more general in the Waikato than here.—Ed., T.H.]