Farming in Karamea

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 95, Issue 1, 15 July 1957, Page 2

Farming in Karamea

By

H. H. TOCKER,

Farm Management Officer, Department of Agriculture, Christchurch “THERE are few areas in New Zealand where isolation has been such a hindrance to ® progress as in the small farming district of Karamea, about 68 miles north of Westport and 38 miles from the railhead at Seddonville. Some information on the farming problems of the district was obtained in a survey made in 1955 by officers of the Economics Section of the Department of Agriculture, and this article presents some of the results of this survey.

THOUGH gold originally attracted people, to the district in the 1860 s, the first organised settlement did not occur until 1874, when, under a scheme sponsored by . the Nelson . Provincial Council, settlers. arrived .to take" up a block of 4000 acres on the south bank of the Karamea River. Reports of the early 1900 s show that dairying had begun, and by 1906 the local dairy factory manufactured 27 tons of butter. ; Development appears to have been steady until the considerable setback caused by the Murchison earthquake in 1929. Karamea then lost its . main outlet through the destruction of its river port by the silting up of the river estuary with tremendous quantities of sand brought down by the river from slips in .the mountainous interior. A considerable drainage problem was also created by a rise in the watertable over much of the area. Drain-

age is still a problem . and is a . major factor limiting farm" production. Land Utilisation ; ; - Of the 92 farms in the district, with a total area of 27,070 acres, the survey covered 76 farms comprising 20,948

acres, or 77 per cent, of the area occupied for farming. Of the farms visited, 50 per cent, of the land, or about 10,400 acres, was classified as bush-clad hills, too steep for farming, or high, scrub-covered terraces; 40 per cent, comprised alluvial flats or easy terraces; and 10 per cent, comprised coastal sand dune country. The broad land-use pattern is set out in Table 1. TABLE I— LAND UTILISATION ON 76 FARMS IN KARAMEA \ •> :/■. Percentage of total . Area area . acres Fallow, . crop, buildings . 194 ; . 1 Swamp .. .. ... 1,417 7 Pasture . .. .. 7,323. 35 Scrub and bush .. ... r... 12,014 57 .20,948 100 The .. figures show the small, area actually used for farming, under 40 per cent, of the occupied acreage. Though 7323 acres were in pasture, only 1500 acres were classed as improved pasture, the remainder being : infested with rushes, flat weeds, buttercup, and Yorkshire fog. Clovers were generally ‘absent.

Farming Systems and Management Because access to the railhead is over a winding hill road and freight charges to bring in supplies and to get stock to west coast and Canterbury markets are consequently high, few sheep are run and dairying has developed as the predominant system of farming. Also mild temperatures and an annual rainfall between 75in. and lOOin. are suitable to pasture growth. About. 90 per cent, of the farmers are engaged in dairy farming. In the 1953-54 season, for which management data were obtained, only 47 of the ,76 farmers sowed any new pastures, a total of 150 acres or a little over 3 acres per farm being sown. With an average farm size of 276 acres, of which about 105 acres was effective farm area, the acreage of new pasture was a very light pasture renewal programme. Generally the pasture was sown directly out of old grass; about onethird of the . area sown was on ground newly cleared of logs and stumps and later cultivated. This latter practice resulted in poor pasture establishment. Nearly all seed mixtures were broadcast by hand, the most common mixture per acre comprising 101 b. to 151 b. of perennial ryegrass, 101 b. of shortrotation ryegrass, 31b. to 51b. of red clover, and 21b. to 31b. of white clover, with timothy sometimes added. Though Certified seed was sown, the resulting pastures were generally not good. .

Some form of rotational grazing was favoured by nearly 60 per cent, of the farmers, though 14 of the 76 farmers preferred set paddocks for day and night grazing. Electric fences were used on 27 farms to ration graze paddocks in spring, but on only one farm was strip grazing used all the year. Forty-four farms saved hay, about 7 acres per farm being set aside, and silage was made on 15 farms. Cropping for supplementary forage was negligible, only 3 farmers having any crop. The amount of lime and superphosphate used during the year of ' the survey was not great, and 16 farmers did not use either. The high cost of £l5 per ton for superphosphate landed at Karamea is probably the reason for the small amount used. Lime from Westport cost £3 per ton, but the position is much improved with the opening of a lime works in the district: Stock Management Of the 74 dairy herds in the survey, 48 were of mixed breeds, 20 were predominantly Jerseys, 4 Ayrshires, and 2 Shorthorns. Table 2 shows herd sizes. TABLE 2—NUMBER OF DAIRY HERDS BY SIZE GROUPS Percentage No. of of total No. of cows herds herds 10 and under 20 . . . . 5 7 20 and under 30 . . . 20 27 30 and under 40 . . . .21 28 40 and under 50 .. .13 18 50 and over .. ~ 15 20 f .. § ?. 74 100 The average size of the dairy units was 258 acres, with an effective area of about 98 acres, and the average carrying capacity was 38 cows and replacements. The smallest herd had 12 cows and the largest 70 cows. Usually about 20 .per cent, of the herds were replaced annually with heifers reared on the'farms? For winter supplementary feed seven farmers used hay, and 37 farmers used hay in conjunction with silage and run-off areas. Run-off areas were used by 53 dairy farmers, 16 of whom made no other provision for wintering. Actually, this use of run-off areas for

wintering means that when the cows are dried off they are turned into the bush to fossick for themselves until next calving. Though the practice has merit in that the farm is spelled in winter, it results in quite heavy losses from accidents in the bush, and. frequently in poor production as a result of cows calving in low condition. The majority of herds began calving in August, though a few began a month later, but calving was spread over 2 to 3 months in many cases owing to infertility. Production The average production per cow in 1953-54 was 2521 b., with half the herds producing less than 2501 b. per cow and three herds having an average production of less than 1501 b. per cow. Twelve herds, or slightly over 16 per cent, of those in the survey, produced between 3001 b and 3501 b. per cow. TABLE 3—BUTTERFAT PRODUCTION PER COW Percentage Butterfat No. of of total per cow herds herds lb. 100 and under 150 .. .3 .4 150 and under 200 .. .13 18 200 and under 250 .. . .21 28 250 and under 300 . . .25 34 300 and under 350 .. .12 16 74 100 On a per acre basis production was low, and 78 per cent, of the farms visited produced less than 1501 b. of butterfat per acre of effective farm area. With a large percentage of the farm areas in bush and scrub, the area on which the cows grazed (exclusive of run-off areas) was taken as the effective farm area for computing butterfat per acre. TABLE 4—BUTTERFAT PRODUCTION PER ACRE OF EFFECTIVE FARM AREA Percentage No. of of total Butterfat farms farms lb. 50 and under 100 . . ... 32 43. 100 ■ and under 150 . . . . 26 35 150 and under 200 .. ... 11 15 200 and under 250 .. . . 4 6 250 and over 1 ; 1 74 100

The production of pig meat was the only sideline of farms. Breeding sows were run on 61 of the 76 farms visited, and there was an average of one breeding sow to 12 cows milked. The number of sows per farm ranged from 1 to 26. Usually the sows were farrowed twice a year and the first litter carried to baconers and the second sold as porkers. Potential of District Though it is a small district, Karamea has a considerable potential as a dairying area. The present effective dairying area is estimated at ,7000 acres, but with drainage and other land improvement work it is considered that this can be increased to about 16,000 acres. With a possible carrying capacity of one cow to two effective acres and a production of 3001 b. of butterfat per cow, or 1501 b. per acre, it should be possible for the butter production from the district to be increased from the present output of 415 tons per annum to about 1200 tons. Of course a number of problems have to be overcome. The 3000-acre Kongahu swamp will have to be drained, and this will be a large-scale project. Drainage is also required on some of the alluvial flats, but where this is done high-producing pastures can be established. More attention will have to be given to pasture establishment and maintenance and to the provision of more hay and silage as supplementary feed for winter. The layout of a number of farms needs to be improved. To enable much of this land-im-provement work to be undertaken additional capital will be necessary, and until recently there appears to have been a reluctance on the part of local farmers to borrow money for development work. However, the injection of capital into the area and the adoption of sound land-improve-ment techniques and good farm management should enable the district nearly to treble its present production.