WESTERN LAKE DISTRICT

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 45, 16 November 1940, Page 5

WESTERN LAKE DISTRICT

A Little Known Wairarapa AREA OF MANY INTERESTS

Here is an account of a journey made through a. comparatively little known part of the Wairarapa, on days following the Carterton show —the district of Western Lake lying south of heatherston. between the Riinutakas and Lake Wairarapa, a narrow strip ol country, 30 miles long, naturally of low fertility and rigorous in climate, but 'possessing wonderful ability to breed Romneys and other sheep.

First a call was made at the "Titree” property of -Mr. R. R. P. Hardy. Featherston. two miles down the 'Western Lake Road. Mr. Hardy has a 170-acre farni devoted to dairying and the raising of Romneys. The flock is of ••Wairougomai” strain, with a strong infusion of "Hiuaburn” blood. The sheep showed goodquality, even hixids. The ewe hoggets were exceptionally well-grown on nothing but grass all winter; they were unshorn, so one was able to appreciate the qyeji quality of their wool. The flock is evidently" prolific. as the lambing this season has given 130 per cent, average. A natural condition flock, progeny were this year put. to a real test, for the twotooth ewes were wintered at the head of the River, on rocky, hard country, j’o lit iu with stocking demands of the'farm, they were sent up there in the early autumn and not brought out till shortly before lambing; Mr. Hardy reported that he had never had an easier or better lambing season from two-tooths, and the quality of the lambs was firstclass.

A season or two ago, some "Titree” Romneys were exported to the Whalla Whalla district in Australia, and recently a letter was received from a bank manager there asking that a selection of 10 ewes and two rams be again provided. Apparently. the first shipment had given every satisfaction. The farm is not easy to work because of the mixed nature of its soil and the seepages of water, and over the years developmental work has been necessary to bring it to its present state of high productivity. The dyiiry returns illustrated what has been accomplished. The first season was 70001 b. of fat, and last season that figure had been raised to 22.000 lb. Additional to this, the farm had, of course, produced 10 bales of wool, which . gave a ’production of 1501 b. of butter-fat or wool an acre, besides which was the production of rams. Supplementary feeding is on a modest scale and this season’s programme provides for two acres of mangels, four acres of soft turnips, IS acres of ensilage and 13 acres of hay, not a great total to provide for 100 head of dairy stock and the stud Romney flock. Lakeside Country. At about seven miles from Featherston, 1 came to llinaburn, the property of Mr. C. C. Wilkinson, where is maintained the two well-known stud flocks of Romneys and Southdowns. This is very stony country and this farm, like almost all hereabouts, is definitely man-made. The country has one splendid feature from a farming viewpoint, and this is the water supply,, which is of high quality and readily available. On the lake frontage water is obtained from that source and elsewhere by gravity from creeks in the hills. Never on any other country visit have 1 seen such a response to liming as here. Mr." Wilkinson showed me examples of this, and one case iu particular proved outstanding. On this paddock, one ton of lime an acre 'bad been applied two or three years ago, and when the application was made the contractor had missed patches here and there. In the ensuing years the padduck has had, over all, two 3cwt. dressings of high-grade proprietary fertilizer, and, despite this, the patches not receiving lime originally are still clearly indicated by' the weak pasture thereon. The policy now followed is to lime at rate of oue ton an acre when ploughing the pasture for regrassing and to give a further’s-lOcwts. when sowing Another feature of pastures here is the respect shown for cocksfoot. On one pasture that impressed, the mixture sown had been 251 b. perenial rye, two white clover and three of Montgomery Red (all three certified), 31b. sub. and IDJIb. cocksfoot. • This latter grass was given up some years ago, but is now being returned to, as iu Mr. Wilkinson's words, it is aJiealthy grass—“no staggers, ergot or rust —and again it is the only grass that really grows during the dry spell.” Grass-grub damage has been rather bad here during the last two years, ami it. is interesting to find that sub. clover and cocksfoot best withstood the devastation of this pest. Because of the gravel sub. soil —indeed, gravel comprises’ a big proportion of the top soil —this country dries out very badly. Sub. clover, therefore, has a weakness in the lack of greenfeed provided from December onward, and to overcome this to some extent a sowing of Tallarook, a late flowering variety, is under trial. As yet it is too early to determine what improvement this will give, but I gained the impression that it is close to one month later flowering than the ordinary Mt. Barker. At this season a cattle beast to five acres is required, and to maintain the cattle numbers an A.A. breeding-herd is kept. In a good season cattle are fatten-' cd at two years off, and if the season is unfavourable, they are sold at this same age as stores. The property is in splendid order and the fences were particularly good. When I remarked upon this I ’learnt that a great deal of the timber in them had been obtained from logs washed up on the lake shore. Unfortunately this supply gradually diminished ami is now negligible. M v impression of the Romney flock was very favourable. The Romney ram hoggets showed' excellent heads; solid and low-set sheep, even in character and fleece, of good bone, and particularly deep from tail to crutch. No coarseness show•cd in any feature, and the body was short-coupled. In this regard I consider that no further shortening should take place. The whole line of Romney ewe hoggets was also inspected ; these, freshly shorn, showed clearly confirmation of the Hinaburn type, and here was observed’ an exceedingly good spring of rib; both lines of hoggets were very well grown.’ The tribute bot,h to farming and breeding is this season’s lambing percentage, for from the GOO Romney ewes put out on Marek 1, have been docked more than 800 lambs. The "Downs” percentage was over 100 per cent. On first coming upon the Southdown ram hoggets 1 remarked, “Ford Christian.'’ This breeding was verified as correct and Mr. 'Wilkinson also commented that the line was a shade backward. Certainly these ram hoggets were not to be classed as big, though they were not small: they were, however, a quality lot, —low-set and showing specially good lines in the hindquarters; what we termed ‘‘a ■well-hammed” type. I remarked that these would make ideal sires of lambs for a fat lamb competition, and then learned that they had been widely used , through the 'Wairarapa to this purpose , with considerable successes. Waiorongomai Shearing. Continuing down the same road-1 came ar 15 miles from Featherston, to what eno would almost term the township of 'Waiorongomai ami calleiFin at the shearing shed. Ewes were being shorn and , (Pining out of the wool in great condition. Both Mr. It. W. Matthews ami bis .sun. Mr. .'Jack Matthews observed that , it had been a great season and a splen- , did lambing had resulted. Rather a , nuisance to shearing were the very heavy ■ dews experienced that week, which was , the Carterton Show Week, and these at t times caused delay in getting a start.

11l the little spare time at his disposal, J had a chat with Mr. It. W. Matthews upon the Romney breed, in Course of which lie mentioned the two rams he sent to England. Because of prejudice at Home, these were Jost to breeders there and evidently were sent to Uruguay, liven so, Mr. Matthews lias fulfilled in part a life-long, ambition to send Romtieys to Kent; I regard it as a great pity

that they should not have remained there, in this regard the Lincoln breeders at Home acted much more wisely for they sought and secured two top-notch rams from New Zealand at about the same time. . . I referred to a previous visit when Mr. Matthews was culling bis ewe flock and mentioned the heavily leather-bound ledgers in which records were being kept, which had given proceedings quite an air of accountancy. 'lbis led Mr.. Mat■ thews to tell me that Waiorongomai kept oue man almost wholly employed the year round on entering up pedigrees. He had just recently finished last year s. Incidentally, the pedigrees of the two rams sent Home took almost a week apiece to prepare. . , Between tho road and the wooished the paddock was being put into millet for green feed and sight ot this ground made me realize that Waiorongomai was barn country. .It really was a bed ol stones, and I know that a very great proportion of the property is so. With Its Jake foreground and background ot bushclad hills the area about the homestead is a very’ beautiful spot. A perfect setting, for that which is probably the greatest stud-farm in New Zealand. "Back-Blocks” 24 Miles From Wellington. ’ For just on foui - years I have been engaged in visiting farms oyer all the lower North Island and many iu the Auckland province. Yet, still J come on fresh scenes. So it was when I headed south from Wairougomai, for AV harekauhau, at the end of Western Lake road, and 30 miles from Featherston, llere was a region rich in interests, historical, geological, farming, and stock-breeding. The road is a lonely one, the country restricted in area, lying between mountains and Lake Wairarapa for a time, and then the great open Palliser Bay. Soil is largely infertile and settlement is consequently sparse, and likely to remain so. That which arouses geological interest is that through this region runs the great earthquake fault line of New Zealand and many evidences of ’quake effects are to be seen. For example, Miss Bessie Donald’s Papatohi appears obviously to have been at one time an island. A few miles on the end of Lake Wairarapaj an enormous bank of boulders, gravel and sand is passed and then one looks out over the ocean. It is hardy, vigorous country, and great game country —-deer, pig, goats, small game and birds are abundant.' Settled 80 Years Ago. I had arrived at Wharekauhau, estate of the late H. Hglinton, and was greeted by Mr. R. D. Eglinton; a third generation of the family occupying the property which was taken up by his grandfather in 1860, SO years ago. Only for the last two years has road access been provided, for 78 years the' wool went out by boat. And this isolation reigned within 24 miles of Parliament Buildings as the crow flies; but by road, 71 miles via Featherston. Here is a real hill station, just 2000 acres, but six miles long and .three deep. Carrying capacity is one sheep an acre and 300 cattle; the iStockzrun in many little odd valleys, reaching back from th-* seafront into the bold, hard hills. Southward the nearest homestead is Orongoronga, 12 miles distant along the beach; a beach very like that beneath the Paekakariki cliffs.

Northward, separated by a deep gorge is one neighbour a mile away, and then about six miles of no-man’s land, so far as appearance goes. Here one can see just what a pest tawhini can be. The road in is one only for a competent driver, a very deep and steeply-roaded gorge must be traversed and at its bed, the river to be forded is a considerable .one. The climb out was the steepest I had tackled for years. In view of this, plus six or seven gates met with, I was agreeably surprised at the cartage rate ruling on fertilizers, 18/- a ton (for a. 30-miles trip). Though, as Air. Eglinton pointed out, it was severe enough on lime worth only 13/6 a ton. And speaking of costs, complaint .was made that woolpacks, at 6/6 each, were pretty dear this season. Decidedly one would not expect here to find a stud flock: But here is the second oldest Romney flock in the North Island, the “Wharekauhau,” founded in 1878. The story of its establishment reads as an early history of the breed. Firstly were purchased 20 ewes from a Mr. Campbell, a New Zealand pioneer with Kent sheep. This was followed by the importation of two ewes from Thomas Cobb, Ivy Church, Kent. Other Kent references are to sires from T. Finn and T. Neame. On such foundation has been developed a sturdy flock of true Romney qualities, of unquestionable constitution, ami excellent fleece, of 44/46s wool The whole district is a Hereford stronghold and this station is no exception. A run breeding herd is kept and served by two bulls bred by Air. J. Matthews, “Waiorongomai” stud herd. The grown cattle are got away fat, in good years and in not so favourable seasons, dry summers ipd autumns go off as good forward stores. I noted, too, that both here and generally about, the Foiled Hereford predominated. , Winters are hard, the fullest force of southerlies being felt. This necessitates cropping, and 60 acres of chon moellier has been sown; at 31b. an acre and with 2cwts. of super. The crop grows to 20-24 inches height. No wonder, for the ground is absolutely a bed of gravel. 'To most this would appear a lonely, isolated area in which to farm ami live. Yet the district’s charm is undeniable.