HILL COUNTRY FARMING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 April 1938, Page 3

HILL COUNTRY FARMING

» — DETERIORATION OF LAND PERCEIVED. VIEWS OF MR H. MORRISON. Touching on hill country farming in his statement read at yesterday’s meeting of the Masterton branch of the Farmers’ Union, the Provincial President, Mr Hugh Morrison, stated: “1936-37 was one of the most difficult periods that I have experienced, owing to mortality, inferior condition of stock, particularly sheep and hoggets. During last winter and spring, with the heavy loss of lambs at lambing time, my own experience as a farmer of this class of country and speaking for myself only, is that there is a certain amount of deterioration going on. Land that formerly was in English grasses and clover has for the past two years reverted to brown top, partly owing to climatic conditions, and this grass is gradually replacing the more valuable English grasses. . . . “In the past when we had the drysheep country, the big wether was a profitable proposition with his good wool clip, and a sound store market. But of later years we have been forced to use this class of country for breeding purposes, and breeding on this class of country is not, so profitable, as the mature wether was, and with so much milk production being taken off this land, it is bound to deteriorate. “There is much more I ought to say in relation to the hill farmer’s problem, but I will curtail my remarks on this subject by again pointing out that the fat lamb raiser or the majority of them must look to the hili farmer for his supply of ewes. Therefore the success of 'the hill farmer is absolutely essential to the carrying on of the fat lamb trade. “The difficulty facing the hill country farmer today, is the cost of maintenance, scrub cutting and destruction of other noxious weeds, and this becomes a costly and difficult matter on the present price of wool and continually increasing costs. Further subdivisional fencing is essential and the cost of that in back country today is approximately £250 per mile. A measure of relief through the Government subsidy on wages for this particular work is now to be done away with. This subsidy afforded a great deal of relief to farmers who were not in a position to undertake big improvement schemes. It will mean that eventually many thousands of acres will have to be abandoned, resulting in a loss of thousands of sheep, and a reversion in many areas to a state of noxious weeds which creates a still further menace to the industry.”