Dairy Farming in Kaikoura

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 99, Issue 6, 15 December 1959, Page 506

Dairy Farming in Kaikoura

KAIKOURA, some 120 miles north-east of Christchurch on the main highway and railway to Picton, is well known to travellers. The backdrop formed by the 4,000 and 5,000 ft peaks of the Mt. Fyffe Range, some 4 miles north-west of the township, is an impressive feature, and in addition the visitor frequently takes away pleasant memories of the first-class sea fishing to be had along the coast. However, he probably knows very little about the main industry which helps support the township, that of dairying, from which the local dairy factory produces over 600 tons of butter per annum. To gather some facts about the production from dairy farms on the Kaikoura Flat, officers of the economics section of the Department of Agriculture at Christchurch made a farm survey of the district early in 1958, and this article by G. Mason, Farm Advisory Officer (Economics), sets out the salient features of the survey.

DAIRY farms of the district are mainly on the Kaikoura Flat, a highly fertile area to the west and north of the township which was once known as “The Swamp”, as it then grew little but raupo, niggerheads, flax, rushes, and tutu. The development of this swamp dates from about 1860, when the superintendent of the newly constituted Marlborough Province authorised a survey to be made of the area and a township to be laid out. Many settlers of Irish origin were attracted to the new sections, and the story of settlement of the area is one of hard work by these people. Essential to the development of the swampy area was the construction of an all-weather road through it. The new access, called the Mt. Fyffe Road, was formed in the early 1870 s by prospective settlers, who provided their services in part payment for the land they were to buy. With improved access and prospects of further amenities, the sale of land speeded up so that most of the sections were taken up by the late 1870 s. Not until the development of the factory system of butter production did dairying become important. At first farmers depended on uncertain incomes from the shipment of potatoes to the gold workings of the West Coast, and later from growing, wheat. Employment on road construction and on bush felling supplemented many farming incomes. Today the economy of the plain is firmly based on dairy production with some sheep fattening and a limited amount of cash cropping. The Kaikoura Co-operative Dairy Company was formed in 1894, and at present it has about 220 suppliers. Topography and Soils Dairying in the area is carried out mainly on soils of recent origin which have been formed by river deposits and accretion from the shingle fans of the flanks of the Mt. Fyffe Range. The area divides roughly into the sloping fan formation, where soils are sometimes very stony and gravelly, and the flatter area, where good silt loams have developed. The latter merges into the sandy and stony flats formed by relatively recent flooding of the Kowhai River. The soil types are: 1. Hapuku loams. 2. Waimangarara silt loams and mottled silt loams (impeded drainage). 3. Wairau and Upper Wairau gravelly sand. The stony and sandy loam soils of the sloping fans (Hapuku types) are generally less fertile than the river flats and require more liberal topdressing with superphosphate and lime. The slow-draining silt loams (Wai>iangarara types) of the flats carry excellent dairying pastures. Where flooding has been less recent and the soils are consequently older, the

organic matter content is higher, but the calcium and available phosphate lower. The free-draining soils near the Kowhai River (Wairau types) are high in phosphate and calcium, but productivity is limited during periods of drought where the soils are stony. On the silt and sandy loams production is more constant. The Survey The main object of the survey was to collect management data to serve as background material for farm advisory work in the area. At the same time some financial material was collected to give an indication of the net returns being obtained by farmers.

It was decided to collect data from only full-time dairy units, and for the purposes of the survey a full-time unit was taken as one which produced over 5,000 lb of butterfat for the 1956-57 season. There were actually 81 farms producing more than this quantity of butterfat and the sample comprised 48 of these farms. The 81 suppliers contributed 91 per cent of the butterfat to the factory and the 48 sample farms about 55 per cent. The average butterfat production for the 1956-57 season for the classified full-time farms was 13,500 lb, and the 48 sample farms had a similar average annual production. The sample farms were thus considered to be fairly representative of the full-time dairy units. Size of Farms The majority of the farms were really family units, 45 of the 48 farms being operated by the owner with varying amounts of family assistance but with no outside permanent labour. The size of farms was measured in “effective area”, this being the area of the farm less areas of bush, scrub, waste, etc., which could not be used by stock for any part of the year. Twenty-four or 50 per cent of the

farms had effective areas between 50 and 100 acres and seven or 14.6 per cent were below 50 acres. The balance of 17 farms had areas of 100 acres or over. The average effective area of the farms was 111 acres.

Stock on Farms The average number of cows milked on the survey farms for the 1956-57 season was 48 and most of the herds contained between 25 and 50 cows. Thirty-four of the herds or 71 per cent were of the Jersey breed.

TABLE I—HERD SIZE IN 1956-57 SEASON FOR 48 FARMS PRODUCING OVER 5,000 LB BUTTERFAT

No. of Dairy cows herds Under 25 . . .. . . . . , 1 25 and under 50 . . .. ..30 50 and under 75 . . . . .. 11 75 and under 100 . . .. . . 5 100 and over .. .. .. .. 1 48

The average herd size (48 cows) was small compared with that of the major dairying districts of the North Island. In the 1956-57 season the average herd size in the South Auckland district and in Taranaki was 69 cows. The North Island figure quoted was based on herds of 10 or more cows. If all herds of 10 or more cows in the Kaikoura district had been included, the average herd size would actually have been less than 48 cows. The average effective area per cow milked was 2.3 acres, but this figure does not show the real position, since some sheep and a few beef cattle were run on some of the farms. Also seasonal fattening of store lambs was a common practice. Another complicating factor was that, some 1 farmers wintered their cows on : run-offs.

Production The average butterfat production per farm for the 1956-57 season was 13,500 lb, but there was a considerable deviation from this figure.

TABLE 2—BUTTERFAT PRODUCTION IN 1956-57 SEASON FOR THE 48 SURVEY FARMS

Per cent of Butterfat production survey farms lb 5,000 and under 10,000 .. . . 25 10,000 and under 15,000 . . .. 46 15,000 and under 20,000 . . . . 17 20,000 and over .. . . . . 12 100

Though 46 per cent of the farms produced between 10,000 and 15,000 lb of butterfat, 25 per cent produced less than 10,000 lb. As 10,000 lb of butterfat per annum is usually considered to be the minimum production for a sound unit, there is the impression that Kaikoura has a considerable number of farms which in other districts would be considered doubtful

economic units. However, other factors must be taken into account when assessing whether or not a unit is economic, as will be seen from the brief discussion on the financial returns being obtained by Kaikoura farmers.

The average production of 124 lb of butterfat per effective acre is low when compared with some of the main dairying areas of the North Island. The lowest average per-acre production for any of the Taranaki farm-improvement groups (groups of farmers cooperating with the Department of Agriculture) is 166 lb, 42 lb greater than for Kaikoura. The highest average per acre production -for the Taranaki groups was 209 lb per acre. Differences in climate naturally account for part of the discrepancy in production.

TABLE 3—BUTTERFAT PRODUCTION PER EFFECTIVE AREA FOR 1956-57 SEASON FOR THE 48 SURVEY FARMS

Butterfat production No. of Per acre farms lb 50 and under 100 .. . . .. 12 100 and under 150 .. .. . . 14 150 and under 200 . . .. .. 10 200 and under 250 . . ... .. 9 250 and under 300 .. . . .. 3 48

Though over half the farms produced less than 150 lb of butterfat per acre, average butterfat production per cow was 284 lb, which was 20 lb per cow higher than the Dominion average for 1956-57. Nearly 80 per cent of the herds produced above an average of 250 lb per cow.

TABLE 4—AVERAGE BUTTERFAT PRODUCTION PER COW FOR THE 48 HERDS FOR 1956-57 SEASON

Average butterfat No. of per cow herds lb Under 150 . . . . . . .. 1 150 and under 200 . . .. .. 1 200 and under 250 .. .. .. 8 250 and under 300 .. . . .. 22 300 and under 350 .. . . .. 13 350 and over .. .. . . .. 3 48

Pig Production Pig raising provided a valuable contribution to farm incomes in the district. On only two farms in the survey were pigs not kept as a subsidiary enterprise. A recorded average of 9 milking cows per sow and a gross financial return of 61 d. per pound of butterfat for pig meat indicate the significance of pig raising.

Supplementary Feed; Pasture Renewal

The growing of supplementary fodder crops is confined practically to the lighter soils bordering the flanks of the Mt. Fyffe Range and the more recently developed farms along the inland road to Waiau. Only seven of the 48 farms grew winter fodder crops

in the 1956-57 season and the same number grew summer fodder crops. The average acreages of these crops grown per farm were 3.8 acres and 4.1 acres respectively. Winter feed requirements are met mainly with hay and the use of runoffs for herds at the end of the season. Renewal of pasture was at a fairly low level, only 19 of the 48 properties sowing an average of 6.4 acres to new pasture during the 1956-57 season.

Finances The level of returns earned by the dairy farmers in the survey during 1956-57 was looked at firstly from the point of view of net incomes earned and secondly from the . viewpoint of net returns as a percentage of the total farm capital. A comparison has been made (Table 5) between the figures for the survey farms and those of a sample of dairy farms representative of the Dominion as a whole. This sample is taken from

the Department of Statistics “Survey of Dairy Farm Incomes for 1956-57”. The figures relate to 663 suppliers of cream to butter factories. Every endeavour has been made to make the two sets of figures comparable.

TABLE S—AVERAGE NET INCOME FOR 48 KAIKOURA DAIRY FARMS FOR 1956-57 COMPARED WITH THE AVERAGE FOR 663 DAIRY FARMS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DOMINION

Dominion Kaikoura sample Number of farms .. .. 48 663 Average cows per farm . . 48 62 Average butterfat per farm (lb) 13,500 15,550 * Average gross income . . £2,844 £3,063 Average gross income per cow £59.3 £49.4 Average expenditure .. £1,254 £1,723 Average expenditure per cow £26.1 £27.8 tAverage net income .. £1,590 £1,340 Average net income per cow £33.2 £21.6

The net income for the Kaikoura farms. compares favourably with the Dominion figures. The Kaikoura farms earned an additional £5 per cow from nigs, £4 for sale of other livestock (mainly from sale of fat lambs and wool, this being a subsidiary source of income on about half of the properties), and £1 from other sources. A number of minor differences contributed to the expenditure of nearly £2 less per cow. Payments for wages, repairs and maintenance, seeds, and manures were smaller, but contractors’ charges, rent, and interest were higher. Net Returns as Percentage of Total Farm Capital By expressing net returns as a percentage of the total capitalisation of the farm an indication' is gained of the earning capacity of this capitilisation. In arriving at the percentage return the following explanation is given: Net return = net income plus any rent and interest payments minus an allowance for the owner’s labour and management. To arrive at the wages and management allowance £625 per annum was taken as a wage to the owner, and to this was added an arbitrary amount

of 10 per cent of the gross income; for the 48 farms this came to an average of £284. Thus the total wage and management allowance was £909. Total farm capitalisation is the total valuation of land and improvements, livestock, and plant. The latest Government valuations were used for land and improvements and livestock were valued at £2O for milking cows, £l5 for other cattle, and £3 for sheep. Plant was assessed at current resale values. The computation of the average return on capitalisation for the 48 farms is as follows: £ Average gross income . . 2,844 Average expenditure . . 1,254 Average net income . . 1,590 Add interest and/or rent . . 124 1,714 Less wages and management allowance . . 909 Average net return . . 805 Average total farm capitalisation . . .. . . 10,400 Average net return as percentage of farm capitalisation .. 7.7 per cent

For 1956-57 this return could be considered quite favourable. Though the financial data have lost some significance as a result of the reduction in the guaranteed price for butter since the 1956-57 season, the figures nevertheless show a healthy level of farm incomes for Kaikoura in comparison with Dominion figures. A contributing factor to this was the rather low cost structure which had been achieved in the district, coupled with a high return from the sale of livestock, particularly pigs. Main Features of Survey The main features of the survey were: © Most farms are run as family units, the average number of cows milked being 48 on an average effective area of 111 acres. The average production of the full-time units was 13,500 lb of butterfat. © Pig raising provided a valuable addition to income, gross returns from this source being 6|d. per lb of butterfat for the 1956-57 season. © Few supplementary fodder crops were grown, winter requirements being met mainly by hay and run-off areas. © Financial data for 1956-57 show favourable net incomes when compared with those for similar farms in other areas. References “History of Kaikoura District’’ (unpublished thesis), J. McA. Sherrard, Canterbury University College 1948. • “Soils and Agriculture of Awatere, Kaikoura, and Part of Marlborough Counties”, Soil Bureau Bulletin 9, H. S. Gibbs and J. P. Beggs.

Harvesting Ryegrass Seed

IN the harvesting of ryegrass seed the aim should be to obtain the maximum quantity of seed with the best possible germination. This means that the crop must be windrowed at the right time and the seed must go into the bag in a fit condition.

Most crops are windrowed with either a mower or a binder and this should be done when the seed is beginning to fall. At this stage at least two-thirds of the stem should have lost its green colour. Care must be taken not to windrow too soon, as the crop will come to more harm on the ground than it will standing.

The windrow should be narrower than the pick-up on the header and should be of an even density. Even threshing is good threshing. Threshing can begin when the seed has lost its green colour and the whole windrow is dry. The air blast on the header should be used to remove straw and light seed. There is no reason why the header sample should not be almost up to machine-dressed standards.

—B. J. McSWEENEY,

Farm Advisory Officer, Department of Agriculture, Timaru

* Gross income: Includes all items of farming income plus the excess of closing over opening values of livestock and less the purchases of livestock. t Net income: Corresponds to the accountant’s net profit figure and is the gross income less all farm expenditure and depreciation.