BLACKBERRY CONTROL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3780, 17 April 1928, Page 4

BLACKBERRY CONTROL.

GOATS. AS. GRUBBERS. Blackberry control is a serious problem in many districts to-day, and especially so in the northern Hawke’s Bay district, where thousands of acres are steadily .going, back (states a. correspondent of .the Napier Telegraph). Ploughable land does not offer any serious difficulties as. constant working up eventually kills out both blackberry and gorse, but hill country always presents a problem, and if the area is large, successful control is well nigh impossible. Goats have been tried with some success, and the results on a Taranaki farm would seem to indicate that where the paddocks are of reasonable size both blackberry and gorse can be got under control with goats. For a number of years a farmer in the New Plymouth district has kept his 100 acre farm in perfect order by means of goats, and as his land Avas heavily infested when he first took it over, it seems that goats offer one of the best possible measures of control. The method he adopted when he took over the farm was to get a large herd of goats —over 200 —in addition to sheep and cattle. After dividing the farm into small paddocks he stocked them heavily with cattle, followed up with sheep and then turned the goats in. By the time they got there, the grass had been completely eaten, leaving only the blackberry and gorse for the goats. So effectively did they tackle these weeds that in two years the farm was practically free from them. Since then this farmer has kept about 40 goats on his farm in addition to sheep, and to-day his 100 acres are among the most productive areas of the listrict. The method undoubtedly offers great pissibilities to the farmer with limited area to handle, especially as goats can usually be obtained for very little. The ones used on this farm cost 5/- each, and the £SO expended on them very soon returned in the added profits from the clean farm.