Grassland Conference in Northland

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 87, Issue 6, 15 December 1953, Page 512

Grassland Conference in Northland

By

G. J. NEALE,

Editor, Department of Agriculture, Wellington

LAND development in Northland dominated papers and discussions at the 15th conference of the New Zealand Grassland Association held at Whangarei early in November. "One of the two principal remaining pioneer fringes of New Zealand" was the description applied to the district by Mr. S. W. Smith, M.P., Parliamentary Undersecretary to the Minister of Agriculture, in his opening address to the conference; and in mentioning the 798,000 acres of readily developable unimproved land in North Auckland today Mr. J. Bruce Brown, Lands and Survey Department, remarked that "somebody said recently that New Zealand was almost fully developed".

MOST of the papers at the conference dealt with specific aspects of grassland development in the North Auckland Peninsula and the agenda included visits to a town-supply dairy farm near Whangarei owned by the Mayor of Whangarei, Mr. W. H. James, and managed by his son-in-law and to a Lands Department development

block at Puketitoi and to an earlier experimental area known as the Puwera Farm. At 4. J \ • Attendances of local people were very good and there were large numbers of visitors from as far as Southland. Papers and discussions will be printed in the proceedings of the con-

ference, which are sent on publication to full members of the association. A o f speakers and their subjects appears elsewhere in this article and non-members requiring copies of the proceedings should place orders early with the secretary to the association, c/0 OX 4298, Wellington. Land Development The Puketitoi Block visited by the conference is part of the 93,000 acres a t present under development by the Lands and Survey Department in the 9 northern counties of Northland, Blocks totalling another 228,000 acres have been selected for closer investigation for development. Portion of the 93,000 acres at present being developed is expected to yield 150 dairy farms and 80 sheep farms.

The main soil types under development are volcanic clay, gum clay, ironstone, peat, and consolidated sand.

“As a result of the combined efforts of those who carried out experiments in the past no real difficulties are now apparent in developing and establishing pasture on all these types of soil,” Mr. Brown said in his review of the Department’s development schemes. “Provided the contour is reasonable, by far the largest proportion of the soils of Northland which were termed ‘problem’ soils in the past can now be developed for farming.”

The presence at the conference of all four Instructors in Agriculture at Whangarei since there has been a resident instructor there Messrs. C. J. Hamblyn (1926-36), E. ,B. Glanville (1936-41), E. H. Arnold (1941-49), and C. E. Ballinger (1949- —o—lent interest to discussion of grassland development in the district.

Early Search for Pastures In describing on the Puwera Farm work started there in 1912 with “dozens and dozens of grasses to see what would grow” Mr. P. W. Smallfield, Director of the Extension Division, Department of Agriculture, and

previously Fields Superintendent in Auckland, said that it had been shown that “you could go into very poor land and could sow perennial ryegrass and white clover without previous cropping. Previously the general conception was that you had to crop or plough in green manure. It was demonstrated that you can build up fertility on the surface once grass is established. If the original people who did that early work could see this gathering today and could see the large-scale development of gumland that is going on they would feel the work put in here was well worth while.” Mr. Smallfield referred to the appropriateness of the conference’s finishing up its viewing- of the gumlands with a view of Puwera, the history of which cast an interesting light on the history of grassland farming in Northland. / . . • The mixture generally recommended for gumland pastures today was 201 b. of perennial ryegrass, 31b. of white clover, 51b. of Italian or short-rotation ryegrass, and some cocksfoot and timothy. “If you had given that advice 30 years ago no one would have believed it,” said Mr. Smallfield. “They believed in cultivation; they used some lime, but they thought phosphate was frills. In North Auck-

land 30 years ago you would have found some perennial ryegrass at Helensville and Ruawai, but not much. When work started at Puwera to see what could be done with the gumlands perennial ryegrass did not enter into the thoughts of the people doing it. The war intervened in the early work, but in 1920 the Government said we had better 1 get ahead and see if a dairy farm could be developed at Puwera; active land development had to take place.

“There were not many grasses that could be used. The best thing to try for was paspalum. It had low winter production and nothing in the spring. It was questionable whether it was possible to develop the land for dairying.

“It was known that in some parts of New Zealand there were much better strains of ryegrass. W. Dibble secured

some from the east coast. After a crop of soft turnips they sowed at Puwera a perennial ryegrass-paspalum-white clover pasture. Everybody thought that by tomorrow the ryegrass would vanish, but it persisted; it was a perennial strain. By the time it was definitely known that it was worth sowing, certification came in to provide reliable strains of

perennial ryegrass. This opened up the prospect that you could confidently develop marginal land and use perennial ryegrass in its development. It was found that you could take up virgin gumland, cultivate it properly, sow it in perennial ryegrass and paspalum, and get pastures reasonably, good for dairying.” In referring to the two schools of thought about seed-bed preparation surface cultivation and deep ploughing— Smallfield said it became obvious that the best seed-bed was secured with ploughing and proper working down. “A bit more cultivation and smoothing and levelling

would be to advantage today in the establishment of pastures on gumland,” he added. Puwera had shown how gumland could be grassed and it provided a new conception in marginal land development. Agricultural Research Stating that by far the greatest contribution to research comes from Government funds, Professor A. W. Hudson in his presidential address to the conference suggested that the time had come when the primary industries themselves should give serious thought to the contribution they are making and should make to research into problems concerning their own welfare. “My experience of farmers,” he said, “is that they are willing to pay for good service and I am sure that payment of a contribution to research would be no exception to this. . . . Unfortunately this willingness is too often exploited unfairly to the disadvantage of the farmer . . . insufficiently informed in many cases concerning matters of moment to himself and in particular those of a technical nature. It is not surprising therefore that not infrequently he is a victim of his lack of knowledge.” As an example of the consequences of this Professor Hudson then quoted from a Press report the reply by the Minister of Agriculture to a question by Mr. T. P. Shand, M.P., whether the Minister was aware that Vitex Proprietary was selling mixed fertiliser without attaching to the container any certificate of analysis of its contents and whether he could confirm that on a recent analysis the constituents of a mixture selling at about £llO a ton were worth less than £2O a ton. Professor Hudson said he had quoted the Minister’s reply giving ingredient costs ranging from £2l to £36 to illustrate farmers’ readiness to pay for something which they think is going to benefit their land and stock. “How much better it would be,” he said, “for money to be spent on acquiring information through research

which would enable them to know hnw and what thov chmild ” now and what they should uset—Jill Country ' . There appeared to be some disappointment among local farmers that the conference programme offered so little to the man on hill country. In his paper O n “Increasing Production from p Northland Hill Country” Mr. A. Briscoe Moore, Pipiwai, estimated that 75 per cen t o f the sheen and beef Sttle in the 9 northern counties were carried on hill country, of which there were 1,127,000 acres amenable to modern techniques of improvement, The prospects of increased production nn this area were enhanced bv the development of topdresSng S aikraft an j blowers. Obstacles he quoted were lack of the right kind of phosphate (basic phosphate) pelleted or granulated for aerial spreading and problems in the replacement of aircraft and 4-wheel drive vehicles of the type needed. His suggestion during subsequent discussion that “superphosphate seems to be to some extent in the discard”

drew from Mr. R. B. Tennent, Assistant Director-General of Agriculture, the remark that he “didn’t think Mr. Moore was serious”. Mr. Tennent told the conference of the plans to bring fertiliser experts from Scotland .to advise the Government and said that the prototype of a Californian-built aerial topdressing aeroplane specially designed for New Zealand was due to arrive in January. The prototype of a topdressing plane produced by a British firm would not be ready for 9 months. If officers who had gone to study the Californian machine and its specifications reported that it was suitable for New Zealand conditions, he had no doubt that the Government would see that the planes could be purchased as replacements for Tiger Moths so that aerial topdressing would not be hampered for lack of aircraft. Molybdenum Describing molybdenum as a weapon presented to farmers for increasing fertility, Mr. J. E. Bell, Fields Superintendent, Department of Agriculture, Auckland, during the visit to Mr. James’s farm told of the responses from trials with molybdenum in the Auckland Province. On the newer volcanic soils near Whangarei— younger soils-there was practically no response. On the more leached soils there was a small response. On the more mature soils of the volcanic order there was more response. In one trial on the volcanic hills there had been a very high response. On the lower greywacke soils there was quite considerable response. On sandstone the response was slight, but on other sandstone soils further south there were quite considerable responses. When it was considered that volcanic hills form the bulk of the country in North Auckland the implications were great. The introduction of

molybdenum might mean a turning point in country at present reverting. It was generally found . that responses were got on soils that respond to lime, North African phosphate, and basic slag, but there were a lot of other gumland soils where lime and basic slag are not used and responses were being secured. In giving a warning that on soils over-supplied with molybdenum digestive troubles can arise in ' stock, Mr. Bell said, “A farmer can carry out a test fairly simply by applying some molybdenum on a small strip of pasture. If he sees results, then make a small applicationup to 2joz. per acre. He should not apply any more until he has shown a further response.” A farmer who referred to the wonderful results he was getting“a mass of subterranean clover” —on sandstone country extremely acid and extremely short of phosphate led to Professor Hudson repeating the warning he

gave in his presidential address about “molybdenum being included in some of the concoctions being sold to gullible farmers”. “You could get the same results with molybdenum costing about Is. 6d. per acre. Go and ask your Instructor,” he advised. Manuka Blight An invitation by the president to raise the contentious question of manuka blight was accepted by Mr. E. A. Madden, Agrostologist, Department of Agriculture, Palmerston North, who said “the insect is doing marvellous. work and has already done it in some places. It is well established in some parts of Northland”. He referred to farmers who were wise enough to bring the blight to the district being wary of discussing it with their neighbours and reluctantly confessing to “having some on their places”. “Where the manuka is dying other more useful plants are taking up the running— many places grasses and clovers and in others trees of a more useful type,” he said.

Drainage Pugging and poaching of pastures and the impossibility frequently of getting on to the land in the north in winter were subjects that arose so often in papers and discussions that it was not surprising when a symposium on drainage provoked keen questioning and discussion. In a paper on the farm drainage service operated by Massey Agricultural College it was stated: “Many of the problems encountered in southern districts may also be found in abundance in Northland and this justifies the establishment of a small unit. There are problems also peculiar to the locality for which no standard technique is available. . . . The gumlands are, of course, a good example.” Another speaker concluded that there might be a place in Northland for the surface drain on rolling country where the existence of a pan formation close to the surface precluded the use of more orthodox methods.

Freight charges more than doubled the price of tiles made at Plimmerton and sold at Whangarei, Professor Hudson revealed. “It is absurd that tiles should be brought 540 miles when they are being manufactured at New Lynn and could be manufactured in North Auckland,” he said. In mentioning that the Kamo works would shortly be turning out tiles in considerable quantities he said, “local demand may be met for a short time by a supply from this source, but I feel sure that with the increased supply of suitable machines for digging tile trenches and a better appreciation of the value of drainage, the inevitable growth in the use of tile drainage will be such that production at some place north of Kamo may be highly desirable.”

Pasture Production

A yield of 19,0301 b. of dry matter per acre secured in 1952-53 on the

Dargaville Demonstration Farm was described in a paper by Mr. P. B. Lynch, Crop Experimentalist, Department of Agriculture, as “the highest yearly production secured to date in Extension Division trials and, as far as I have been able to ascertain, is higher than any yield secured to date in New Zealand”. Butterfat production on the farm in the same season was about 1601 b. per acre, secured partly from the highly productive Kaipara clay and partly from the lowproducing Te Kopuru sand, which occupies about 35 acres of the 125 acres of the farm. The generally satisfactory production from Northland pastures but the comparatively low returns in butterfat were freely commented on by visitors, who were inclined to see a need for better management and utilisation. The absence of silage stacks was particularly noted by southerners during a post-conference tour.

Several papers dealt with pasture species of value in Northland and there was particular interest in one on strains of strawberry clover, for which seed a merchant said there was a definite demand but supplies of which appeared to be of inferior quality. Next Conference at Nelson The association’s 1954 conference is to be held in Nelson. The following executive committee was appointed:— President, Mr. G. A. Holmes; vice-president, Dr. J. F. Filmer; Professor A. W. Hudson, Messrs. C. C. Leitch and L. Corkill; secretary, Mr. S. H. Saxby. Post-conference Bus Tour A most successful innovation this year was a postconference bus tour of a large part of Northland which included visits to further land development blocks and the Dargaville Demonstration Farm.

Conference Papers "Soils of Northland", N. H. Taylor and C. F. Sutherland. "An Introduction to Northland", E. H. Arnold and R. H. Scott. i "Development of Unimproved Scrubland", J. B. Brown. "Breaking in Scrub Gumland", C. E. Ballinger. "Increasing Production from Northland Hill Country", A. Briscoe Moore. Presidential address, Professor A. W. Hudson. "Some Subtropical and other Grasses in Northland", E. H. Arnold. ■ "Paspalum and its Place in the Bay of Plenty", A. V. Allo. "Records of Production from Kikuyu Grass", C. E. Ballinger. . . "Possibilities of Drainage by Mechanical Means in ■ Northland", D. F. Scott. "The Organisation and Function of a Land Drainage Service", D. G. Bowler. "Surface Drainage", G. L. Banfield. . "Some Suggestions for the Encouragement of Farm Drainage in Northland", A. W. Hudson. "Caterpillars in Pastures", C. M. Blick. . "Pasture Production .at the ■ Dargaville Demonstration Farm", P. B. Lynch. "Results, of Pasture Establishment Trials", P. D. Sears. "Strains of Strawberry Clover", L. W. Gorman. "Pasture Measurement Techniques as Applied to Strain Testing", A. J. McNeur. The printed proceedings (15s. per copy) may be ordered from the Secretary to the Association, Box 2298, Wellington.