DISTRICT FARMING

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXVI, Issue 7899, 7 September 1929, Page 2

DISTRICT FARMING

PROGRESS IN WAITAWHETA VALLEY GROWTH OF DAIRYING BRIGHT PROSPECTS AHEAD It was in the late ’eighties that the possibilities of the land lying in the Waitawheta Valley for farming purposes were first recognised, this being the time when Mr Charles Franklin, now retired and living in Auckland, was cutting out bush timber under contract for the Waihi Gold Mining Company. The valley and surrounding hills were then clothed with heavy kauri forests and other timber suitable for building and mining purposes and as these were cut out in the basin Mr Franklin gradually converted the denuded areas to agricultural purposes, the ultimate result being a fine farm on which, in those days, he devoted his attention largely to cattle and sheep raising—dairy farming following many years later. Impressed by results, for the grass took well and the land was good, others followed the pioneer’s example, but progress was slow and it was not until about fifteen years ago that Waitawheta really began to come into its own as a farming district. Since then more rapid strides’, have been made, mainly in the last six or seven years, and to-day the valley and adjacent areas are dotted about with smiling dairy farms, clad with excellent pastures.

HIDDEN FARMS Behind the range of hills skirting the far side of the main Waihi-Pae-roa road, commencing at the point a few miles on the Waihi side of Waikino and extending to Karangahake, hidden from the view of travellers by road, will be found some of the finest dairying country the eye could wish to see The valley itself is about three miles long and the whole area is to-day in grass. On the far side it slopes up into the bush, and that which is not already under cultivation is being brought in, while on the opposite side a large area of tableland and undulating country is also in pasture, with more being broken in. Access to this fine tract of coutnry is given from the main Waihi-Paeroa road at Owharoa, where a traflfc bridge crosses over the Ohinemuri River and by a road leading from Franklin road on the Waihi Plains into the valley. The latter is the main outlet to the settlement, and it is to this route that the settlers are looking forward as a means of traffic communication with Waihi. A deviation of the old road leading up from Owharoa and providing a better grade has been completed, but pending metalling It can only be used in the summer season.

RIGHT TYPE OF SETTLERS •That the settlement is comprised of the right kind of settlers, bearing the stamp and spirit of the pioneers, is demonstrated in many ways. A chat with some of them revealed this spirit to a “Telegraph” representative on the occasion of a visit on Thursday in company with Mr Otto Bjerring. “We must help ourselves,” said one settler of four or five years’ standing. “We know the Ohinemuri County Council is doing what it can for us and if we want to. get on with the job we must do something ourselves, and we are doing it.” The farmer in question, with the help of his sons, undertook to form several chains of road connecting with the main outlet to Waihi, and to patch up the worst parts with metal. This’has been carried out and recently he got together a working bee to effect further improvements. Despite all this extra work he and his sons have in a few years transformed a neglected and ferncovered holding into a comparatively prosperous dairy farm with up-to-date milking sheds. The good lady of the house at the time of the visit was busy preparing a vegetable patch. Inside the home she said: “We make no apologies” and the roomy comfortable kitchen made it clear that there was no call for apology. “We are putting all our earnings hack on to the land, the house can wait,” added the hostess. The two immediate neighbours apparently held the same views. The partners on one of these holdings, Messrs Grant and Lynch, comparatively new arrivals, tackled a badly neglected property, and in a very short time removed acres of blackberry, some of which was eight oxten feet high. In the process they had to pull up chains of fencing to get rid of the pest, afterwards replacing it.

OVER 600 COWS MILKED Of the thirty settlers in the district there is not one who is not on the up-grade with his farm, and all are looking hopefully forward to the future. Butterfat is being produced from upwards of 600 cows and supplied to the various factories, the principal receiving company being the New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company at its Thames Valley factory. Mr C. Harris, an English farmer, who purchased from Messrs J. M. Cullen and Son, eight years ago, a farm in the heart of the valley-—• one time owned by Mr C. Franklin — is milking the largest individual herd, 80 in number. “During the past three or four years I have greatly Increased top-dressing with very satisfactory results. There is plenty of room in this dairy Eldorado for expansion for the right type of settler,” said Mr Harris.