STUDIES IN FARM MANAGEMENT

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 71, Issue 4, 15 October 1945, Page 349

STUDIES IN FARM MANAGEMENT

A Heretaunga Plains Farm

THE rich alluvial silt lands of the Heretaunga Plains, of which Hastings in Hawke’s Bay is the centre, lend themselves to diversified farming, writes R. P. Hill, Fields Instructor, Hastings. The soils are fertile and easily worked, and the climate-with dry cold in the winter with plenty of frosts and clear sunny days, a good spring and early summer rainfall, and a dry, sunny, late summer and autumn — specially suited to the cultivation of all kinds of crops and their safe harvest.

r T“’HE Heretaunga Plains, which inTHE Heretaunga Plains, which inJL . elude an area of approximately 85,000 acres, were described in the “Journal” of December, 1944, page 521. Briefly the flat lands round Hastings extend from the sea between Haumoana, Napier, and Petane, inland to the low hills at Taradale to Fernhill, Ngatarawa, and Paki Paki, and back to Havelock North. While the bulk of the plains consist of deep alluvial soils, there are considerable areas of light, sandy, and in places shingly soils, while the recently-reclaimed inner harbour at Napier of some 7,000 acres adds materially to the area of sandy silt marine soils. Much of the land of the plains was swamp, and drainage has played an important part in/the preparation of the alluvial land for cultivation and production. The plains are extremely well roaded, and the land is devoted to fat lamb raising, orchards and small fruit growing, grass seed production, dairying, vegetable culture, and wool production. The average annual rainfall is approximately 32in., January, February, and March ’ being usually the dry months. A very extensive fruit and vegetable canning industry has been developed at Hastings in recent years, and during the war a dehydration plant has been in operation, while large quantities of fresh vegetables have been shipped from the deep-sea port of Napier. Many of the farmers on the smaller holdings have taken advantage of these developments,

and the following description of the operations during the past season on one such holding will serve to indicate the possibilities of diversified farming on the large area of fair to good cropping lands of the plains. Farm and Equipment The farm consists of 132 acres, the soils varying from sandy silts ,to clayey silts. The land is all flat and easily drained, and is subdivided into 16 well-sheltered paddocks. A plentiful water supply is derived from artesian bores and natural streams. The holding is well equipped with farm buildings, including a cow shed, wool shed, dip and yards, an implement shed, and hay sheds. Electric power is available. The farm is specially equipped for cultivation work and the harvesting of crops, and in addition to two draught horses for odd work the main tractive power is supplied by two tractors, a 30 h.p. wheel tractor and trailer and a 12 h.p. tractor together with a farm truck. In addition to a full range of cultivation equipment for the preparation of the land and sowing of crops, inter-row cultivation is provided for with the cultivators, and a potato digger and hay press are also available. Grass seed harvesting with the header harvester and hay harvesting with' the hay loader are done on contract. Farm Labour The farm is worked by the farmer, his wife, and one permanent hand,

who assists with all farm work. For special rush harvesting periods the services of two neighbours are, available, and this service is repaid in kind. In addition to activities on his own property, the owner finds time to contract for potato digging in his district and for other contract work with his equipment. Livestock A herd of 43 cows is milked by machines, the majority of the cows being Friesians. Three bulls are at present on the property. The butterfat average for the herd/ is about 3001 b. per cow, and the butterfat production this season will be in excess of 12,5001 b., giving a gross return at 1/7 per lb. of approximately £l,OOO. Several sows are kept, the litters being sold as baconers and heavy stores. Some weaners are disposed of in the spring when prices are attractive. The pigs are fed on skimmilk and vegetable and crop waste. No figures are available for pig returns this season. A stud of 110 Southdown ewes and two pedigree rams of this breed are carried, the average lambing percentage being well over 100 per cent. Some selected ewe lambs are required for replacements, the balance being sold in a lucrative market. This season 38 ram shearlings were sold for £9 9s. each, realising £359, and the wool clip was worth £6O. Gross returns ' from livestock, now a minor part of the farming operations, .were in excess of £1,500. Farm Management Harrowing of pastures to spread animal droppings is regularly practised. Topdressing of cow pastures with the limited supply of phosphatic fertiliser available is carried out, lcwt. . per acre being used . this year. Ample supplies of lucerne hay are harvested for winter feed, and winter grass is saved by closing paddocks in the autumn. No root crops are grown for

Views Of The Farm

stock, but silage is made from the green haulms of pea crops grown for canning. Normal practice is to winter the dairy herd on the farm, but during this winter 35 cows are being grazed out for some weeks and 200 breeding ewes have been bought to take their place; these will be retained until sold with their lambs in the spring. Cropping The interesting and important feature of this, farm from the financial aspect is undoubtedly the cropping programme, which has been developed in recent years to . take advantage of the demand for special vegetable crops for canning, dehydration, and for chilling for export. Canning Peas:— Thirteen acres of canning peas (William Massey) were grown. Sown in August (which is early for this district), the crop was harvested at the end of November. It was a late spring, such a crop being harvested usually by mid-November. The harvesting was done by contract. After cutting with the mower the green peas are lifted with a hay loader into a truck and carted to the mechanical viner owned and operated by the canning factory. Here the vines with peapods attached pass through a machine not unlike a big grain thresher and the green peas are shelled out, the vines and empty pods passing over an elevator to be carted away to .be made into silage on the farm. The whole operation of sowing, inter-row cultivation, and harvesting in the case of the pea crop being done mechanically, a minimum amount of labour is required. Whereas an average crop of peas for canning will yield about 2 tons of shelled peas per acre, the crop in this instance was sown early so that the land could be got ready. for another crop, ' and the

yield was only 1 ton per acre. At 2->d. per lb. at the cannery, a gross return for the 13 tons of £303 6s. Bd. was obtained. Harvesting costs in the field for cutting and loading are £3 per acre and for carting and shelling £5 per acre.

Beans;—

Immediately following the harvest of the pea crop the land, which is left quite clean, was ploughed and disced and a crop of Black Valentine Dwarf beans was sown. On February 18 . a start , was made to harvest green beans'from 6 acres of the crop for the local market. Picking was done by hand on contract, the pickers going through the crop once. It is found that it does not pay with the late bean crop tp pick more than once, and the picking is generally light, the crop being left to grow on for seed. The 6 acres yielded 4 tons of green beans per acre, which were readily sold at

2|d. per lb., returning £525 gross. The cost of picking by contract was Id. per lb. The remaining 7 acres not picked over, together with the 6 acres picked, were later harvested in early April for seed and stacked. The yield of seed is estimated at 20 bushels per acre, a light crop due to the harvest of green beans. The average crop on this land is from 30 to 40 bushels. The Black Valentine seed is worth 22/6 per bushel, so that it is expected this 13-acre paddock will produce a further £292 10s. gross, a total of over £ 1,100. After the harvest of the bean seed the paddock was sown in certified ryegrass for the production of seed next summer.

A further 4| acres of table beans were grown for an earlier crop in another paddock, producing 15 tons of beans, which also realised 2|d. per lb., a gross return of £350.

Potatoes:—

A total of 16 acres of potatoes were grown. An area of 9| acres was planted in the spring in Aucklander Short Top and harvested in February. A total of 145 tons of table -'otatoes was dug from this crop and sold at £ll per ton, giving a gross return of £1,595. A further area of 6J acres of Dakota Red was grown. This crop was badly affected by late blight, and only 3 tons per acre were dug in March and sold for £lO per ton, giving a gross yield of £195. The potatoes are planted with a mechanical planter and dug with a digger, which reduces the labour costs as much as possible. After digging the crop is picked up by contract at 1/per cwt. As soon as the potatoes were lifted the land was sown in Algerian oats for greenfeed in the winter. This land will be planted to cabbages in the spring. ’

Certified Perennial Ryegrass Seed: — Some 20 acres of pasture sown to certified seed the previous autumn was. closed for a seed crop of perennial ryegrass in early November. The crop was heavy, and with wet weather in December much of it was badly lodged at harvest time in early January. After mowing the crop was harvested with the pick-up harvester. In spite of the bad season and difficult harvest conditions, the crop yielded 38 bushels per acre of machinedressed seed. The 760 bushels was sold for 15/6 per bushel, giving a gross turn, of £589. After threshing the usual practice in the district was followed of taking up and baling the straw, which, if not required on the farm as additional feed in a difficult or severe winter, is always saleable.

Lucerne:— There are two paddocks of lucerne on the farm, one recently sown down after cropping and the other an older stand invaded by grasses and weeds to some extent. The 12 acres of the younger stand had produced 60 tons of baled hay from four cuts up to April of this season. The other area is used mainly for hay and grazing as greenfeed for the herd, the production of hay in this case being much less. Some of the surplus hay, which is worth £6-£7 per ton, will be sold in the winter. < Other Crops:Small areas of cash vegetable crops suited to the district and which find a ready sale under present conditions (and which will no doubt be required for one purpose or another after the war) are grown as payable side-lines.

This season these included 3 acres of carrots (Chantenay) sown in August and harvested in December. The crop, though a-.light one, yielded 15 tons, which were sold at £3l per ton, giving a gross return of £465. Harvesting, which was done by hand, is relatively costly with this crop, but labour is available if the crop is early. Two acres of cabbage were planted out in September and lifted in December and early January. The variety was Copenhagen Market and the yield 22 tons per acre. The crop was sold for £lO 10s. per ton, giving a total return of £462 gross. This crop is a cheap one to grow and harvest and the net return is particularly good. Finally, 3 acres of tomatoes were attempted, but wet weather in December and early January hindered spraying operations and blight was troublesome. Usually tomatoes can be grown in this district with little, if any, spraying. This season the tomatoes were not worth harvesting. From the foregoing it will vbe seen that an energetic farmer with a small property on these fertile Heretaunga Plains has plenty of scope for diversification in his farming activities, and, under present conditions, exceptional opportunities in the profitable use of his land. While it is regretted that no details of production costs are available, a general knowledge of such costs in relation to the various farming operations will indicate that there should be a considerable margin of profit in the gross returns as summarised below:

SUMMARY OF GROSS RETURNS. £ s. d. Dairying, plus returns from pigs ..1,000 0 0 Sheep, plus returns from surplus ewe lambs .. •• •• ■■ 419 0 0 Peas, from 13 acres .. • •• •• 303 6 8 Beans, from 13 acres .. •• 525 0 0 Beans, from 4| acres 350 0 0 Potatoes, from 16 acres .. .. 1,790 0 .0 Grass seed, from 20 acres 589 0 0 Carrots, from 3 acres 465 0 0 Cabbage, from 2 acres . • • • 462 0 0 Tomatoes, from 2 acres .. .. £6,105 6 8 These figures and the management practices described show that there is scope on the Heretaunga Plains for something more than just dairying or fat lamb production.

WEEDS. Weeds, their means of , dispersal, and cost and methods of control are dealt with in Bulletin 202, “Weeds,” which is available free from offices of the Department of Agriculture. Much farm land has deteriorated through lack of control of weeds, and this bulletin contains invaluable information on the recognition of weeds and their properties.