The Soil Bureau tells me that there are at least eight million acres of greywacke derived soils in New Zealand. The greywacke clay hills form one of the oldest and largest soil groups in the country. In the Raglan County alone they account for about 91,000 acres or a sixth of the county area. As an Advisory Officer appointed in that district I soon became acquainted with the typical thin, dark grey topsoil formed over a weathered, sticky yellow subsoil. Well watered, but hard baked in summer, greasy in winter, these hills, with their characteristics of steepness, low natural fertility, and steady reversion to second growth, had proved the most difficult class of land to handle, and as such they offered a real challenge to the property owner and to myself as the new adviser.
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(275 KB)We are confining our definition of the Bay of Plenty to the land covered by the Tauranga, Whakatane, and Opotiki Counties. It comprises a narrow coastal strip extending from Athenree, near Katikati in the north to Cape Runaway in the south-east, and is bounded inland by low ranges of hills rising up to 1,500 ft. The topography varies from easy rolling to hilly, with two large areas of swamp, one centred on Te Puke and the other, the Rangitaiki Plains, near Whakatane
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(53 KB)The basic aim in an efficient system of pastoral farming must be the highest possible sustained yields of animal products consistent with the maintenance and improvement of soil fertility. This involves the maximum production of dry matter of the right quality. This paper does not deal exhaustively with quality, but it is necessary to remind ourselves that quantity and quality are not necessarily highly correlated. Both yield and quality of dry matter depend on the soil, climate, herbage species and strains, stock and pasture management and fertiliser applications.
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(51 KB)Just on four years ago E. H. Arnold, Assistant Fields Superintendent, Department of Agriculture, Auckland, presented a paper to this Association’s conference at Hamilton on the “Establishment and Maintenance of Swards on Airstrips on Farms in the Auckland Province”. The survey he conducted on 132 airstrips selected at random revealed ‘a very unhappy state of affairs, particularly with regard to the maintenance of a good grass sward. Within the last month or two we have seen in the daily press and national newspapers such headlines as “Ignorance Causes Dangerous Airstrips”, “Lack of Care Main Fault”, “Need for Improvement of Airstrips for Agricultural Aviation”, “Air Accidents can be Prevented”.
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(55 KB)Nowadays it is fashionable to emphasise how skilful and knowledgeable the farmer has to be. It is said that he has to be a botanist, chemist, engineer, carpenter, stockbreeder, and a competent accountant. A combination of all the qualifications held by these experts might sound very desirable, but they are not at all necessary to make a good farmer. He can hire the services of a trained technical officer from a competent firm selling herbicides and insecticides, employ the local blacksmith and a carpenter, and take the advice of his bank manager and accountant on financial matters. One quality, however, he cannot buy or hire is managerial skill which will enable him to feed his cows efficiently over 365 days a year without doing damage to his pasture and his pocket.
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(35 KB)At least 1,500,OOO acres of grassland in the Auckland Province suffers to greater or less degree from pugging because of winter wetness. Severe problems are experienced on 293,000 acres of this area, so that it is certainly time a start was made in solving the managerial difficulties on the various soils involved
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(32 KB)In viewing the problem set me by the executive of this SSoocciieettyy -- to provide a talk on modern trends in grassland farming-l found myself faced with formidable difficulties. The canvas is so huge, the picture so complex, and my knowledge so limited that I do not feel able to do justice to a subject which could be adequately covered only by contributions from a large number of specialists. All that I can hope to do in the course of the 20 minutes available to me is to give a very personal view of the present situation of grassland farming and of the new factors, knowledge, and techniques that must be given proper consideration if it is to continue to develop satisfactorily.
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(131 KB)Twenty-six miles south of Rotorua on the Taupo Main Highway you pass through the Mihi Farm’ Settlement Scheme where pumice land has been developed by the Department of Lands and Survey. The stunted manuka, fern, and areas of larger manuka and tussock were crushed early in 1952, cultivated, and sown in grass in spring 1952.
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(55 KB)Because the initial establishment of grass on swamp country today generally follows a set pattern, with the use of heavy machinery, most of this paper will be concerned with the maintenance of pasture on such land. This latter aspect is the keynote to efficient grassland farming on wet country. It requires constant vigilance by the occupier; if there is any easing up, the pasture will soon revert to rushes and weed grasses and the soil will become waterlogged.
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(26 KB)The Auckland Province can be divided into two main climatic regions : ( 1) The, Central Plateau (2) The Lower and Coastal Regions The central plateau is characterised by fairly cold winters with severe frost at times, while the lower-lying and coastal regions lying to the north almost fall into the sub-tropical zone. This region, which includes the Waikato Basin, is reasonably suited to the growing of paspalum species and the frost-free areas suit kikuyu, a tropical grass. In parts of the central plateau the soils are so coarse in texture that in some seasons there is not sufficient moisture to support a high-producing sward of grasses and clovers. Here lucerne can, with advantage, replace much of the pasture for hay and for grazing. Apart from such small exceptions, the region is very well suited to the growth of red and white clover, cocksfoot, and ryegrass, provided the fertility is increased to the extent needed to support these pasture plants. Other grasses and clover may grow in association or in place of those generally desirable pasture plants. These include Yorkshire fog, Poa pratensis, Poa trivialis, Poa annua, browntop, sweet vernal among the grasses and Lotus major (pedunculatus), subterranean clover, and suckling clover among the clovers.
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(91 KB)The main reason for the committee asking me for this paper was to hear some information on Grasslands Division’s new longrotation ryegrass. At the outset let me say that although this new strain is still at the field testing and early seed multiplication stage, I am sure that in it New Zealand has another outstanding string to its agricultural bow. This ryegrass strain has been developed over the past 15 years or so by appropriate crosses between perennial and short-rotation ryegrass, with the selection emphasis towards the dense perennial ryegrass type of plant. In other words the effort has been to develop a perennial ryegrass with more palatability and with more winter growth than the true perennial. It is the final step in Sir Bruce Levy’s concept of a series of true New Zealand ryegrass strains, from the Western Wolths, Italian, and true perennial to the rotation types suitable for different farming systems. These have all now been produced largely by the genius and painstaking green fingers of Dr Corkill and his team, which team is now led by his protege Dr Barclay. To me it is a classic example of how great a contribution to agriculture can be made by a small group of very high quality scientists provided with good assistance and facilities and knowing what they are looking for. Dr Corkill will, however, agree that the associated pasture and chemical studies at Grasslands, Plant Chemistry Division, and other research centres, and by extension workers and farms throughout the country, have all added their more indirect help, even if only in defining merits and demerits of the various models, and thus in assisting the plant breeder in his clarification of breeding objectives.
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(59 KB)Prairie grass (Bromus catharticus) has been recognised as a valuable species in dairying pastures for many years in the warmer and more fertile areas of New Zealand.
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(55 KB)The Bay of Plenty is a crescent-shaped strip of land facing northward into the Pacific Ocean between East Cape and Coromandel Peninsulas. These two peninsulas are the coastal ends of two high ridges that are more than 100 miles apart across the Bay of Plenty but converge southward at right angles. The triangular area between the two ridges was a crustal depression in which a very active zone of volcanism developed, and during the Quaternary, lava, pumice, ashes, and dust were erupted at many different times and places. The lava spread out in flattish sheets that form a series of plateaux rising in irregular steps towards the Taupo district. There is no clear topographic division for the southern boundary of the Bay of Plenty district, and for purposes of this paper the district is the watershed of the streams and rivers draining into the Bay of Plenty between Waihi Beach on the west and Waihau Bay on the east. The headwaters of the Rangitaiki, Whakatane, and Motu Rivers are excluded, as they extend deeply into adjacent districts
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(872 KB)A good deal of study into the effects of stock excrement on pastures has been carried out by Sears and his co-workers ( 1942, 1948, 1953), and Doak (1952) has investigated chemical changes in sheep urine. Little recent work, however, has been published on certain aspects of naturally voided sheep urine. This paper sets out some preliminary observations of the effects of sheep urine on pasture and its influence on soil test.
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(65 KB)This paper tells something of the story of the development of a low-producing, partially developed property in the Tauranga County. It is probably representative of hundreds of farms in this area which were in this backward condition at the end of the Second World War and have been brought to a reasonable state of productivity by the present occupiers.
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