SCOPE FOR CATTLE

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30977, 5 February 1966, Page 8

SCOPE FOR CATTLE

i Mr John Acland, of Mount Peel, said he felt that there was a vast scope for running more cattle. They were running cattle at up to 3500 and! ■ 4000 ft. and they were topdres- ; I sing to 3500 ft. “I think we : i are only touching the fringe i i of the use of cattle and I sheep.” On Mount Peel, he I said, that they had about one J cattle beast to seven sheep. They had a big demand for I heifers all over the South ' Island and as they had good "fattening country they were carrying steer calves to 18 I months old and this year ! these sort of cattle were ■ fetching £4O. There could be a feed probj lent in the winter but vacuum silage could be the answer ■ here. Mr Chapman said that in I this particular valley there was a lot of snow tussock that ! the cattle would not touch. This was a basic difference between this and other country. Referring to the wintering of calves on the cows on Mount Possession and also on Molesworth, Mr Chapman said he thought that on Molesworth and Mount Possession there was feed far ahead of the capacity of the! cattle to deal with it. | Mr Acland said that after’ they weaned in March thej cows went out on to the! tougher country' for a start! and as they cleaned up the' subdivided blocks they moved! I down on to the better blocks j

by the end of the winter. They might reach the stage where the roughage was cleaned up before the end of !the winter. I Mr R. M. D. Johnson said ; that a lot of people were (trying to run breeding cows 1 as' their entire herd, but when (they had to deal with more difficult blocks they needed dry cattle. He thought that it was a mistake to go in for cattle fattening. The greatest benefit from cows and calves was to be obtained on the better country. Where a block was retired from grazing. Mr Johnson said, he did .not regard this as final. If it was spelled and an improvement could be seen he felt it was essential that it be used again by the property that it served. Mr Dick said he was interested in the potential of i the 50,000 acres of Mount ! Possession that was outside ! the category of problem couni try and which must now be ■ providing the bulk of the ifeed. He said he had been (surprised how little fencing ! there was on the property I and would like to know that I what amount of fencing might ! be needed on the 50,000 acres. Mr Chaffey said he could not see the economics of building up the hill country! i until a balance was achieved! (with the valley floor below.: ! As 100 acres was improved i on the valley floor, he said ; I that they could move out and I ! deal with the adjacent "hill |

country more efficiently. More production would be obtained from 100 acres well developed than from 900 acres poorly developed. To a question about the ultimate stock carrying on the 50.000 acres if it was all developed. Mr J. G. Hughes, management officer of the Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands Institute, said he would think in terms of 50.000 sheep. Mr Rowell said he agreed with that — some of the better country would do better than that average, but some would only carry a sheep to two acres. As to how the winter and summer grazing would be balanced under these conditions. Mr Chaffey said that he did not think it was out of the question. A lot of things that were done today would have seemed impossible 30 years ago.

Mr Chaffey said that the area where they were cairying cattle was improving under the influence of the animals and with fencing, and he felt that they could go to 1000 cows without doing anything further. Mr P. C. Ensor, chairman of the South Island High Country Committee of Federated Farmers, said that some run plans were used to get cheap money for the personal benefit of the runholder. He did not know who was responsible for allowing this to bei done—it was perhaps that ■ some people were pushing

run plans. When Mr Rowell said that the idea of delaying grazing on the Harper block to February was to allow seeding of the country; Mr Chapman observed that if there was browntop in the country it developed into a mat by' the autumn-winter period and he had found it necessary to graze quite hard with cattle ! and sheep up to December. Summing- up. Dr. M. M. Burns said that the run plan on Mount Possession as outlined and modified had been beneficial from a conservation i angle and also for manage’ment of the run and the ( stock. IHe praised the co-operation ;of Mr Chaffey as the run i manager and Mr Rowell, of I the Catchment Board. Doubt had been expressed about the Big Hill block. On the one hand it had been advocated that it be destocked completely, but there was also evidence that streams draining that area did not show evidence of accelerated erosion. In the lower areas of the station, he said there was evidence of great scope for. development. I