In presenting some of the outstanding advances which have been made in grassland farming in the Province of Taranaki, a somewhat artificial subdivision of the subject seems advisable.
The Taranaki district, as covered in this paper, comprises the Taranaki, Egmont, Inglewood, Stratf,ord, Eltham, Waimate West, Hawera, Patea, Whangamomona, and Clifton Counties. Dairying predominates in the first seven counties mentioned ; in the last three sheep farming is the more important
When I was asked to give a paper on farm drainage at the 1951 Grassland Conference my first thought was that Taranaki, with its pervious volcanic soils, was hardly the place in which such a paper would be of interest. I have since changed my mind in this connection after having had a quick visit to the Uruti district to inspect draina.ge carried out by Mr Butler near Inglewood, to see some excellent results of drainage by Mr Fox (Okahu Rd., Okato), whose herd has been increased from 35 cows to 130 over the past 26 years, largely, and basically, as a result of drainage, and also to inspect, somewhat hurriedly, a very large area on the western side of Mt. Egmont where drainage is the key to the development of country which, in its present condition is contributing little or nothing to production.
In recent years the fauna of the soil has been receiving more attention and interest has centred especially on earthworms and the functions they subserve. A number of experiments have been devised in order to learn more of their influence on the relations between plant and soil, and among the accounts of recent work that of Hopp and Slater (1) is one of the more important. These two workers in a series ’ of five pot experiments showed that with different crops and soils of varying fertility the earthworms consistently increased the plant yields. The increases varied between 43 per cent. for millet in one soil and 350 per cent. for wheat in another. The addition of dead earthworms also significantly increased the yields, but to a less degree than was the case with living ones.
Research at Grasslands into earthworm activities dates from September 1947, when Sears and staff did a determination of the weight and number of earthworms per square foot in a series of 24 grass and clover plots at Palmerston North. Since then these; 24 plots under mowing have been sampled twice more, a series of 36 similar plots under grazing once, a corresponding 24-plot series at Gore once, and a corresponding 36-plot series at Gore once.
With our system of grassland farming in New Zealand, and with the emphasis placed on the relationship between the grazing animals and the pasture in which they run, we have been tending in recent years to modify our farm-management methods. We have to some extent forgotten or temporarily mislaid some of the older traditional practices. In particular there has been an evident avoidance of the need for forage crop provision, and today, in the North Island, only 1 acre in 30 of our arable land is under the plough each year. This means in effect that our pastures on the average are 20 to 30 years old before they are broken up and resown.
To stimulate discussion I have divided the subject into three sections, the first dealing with grasses and pasture establishment and’ maintenance, the second dealing with soil fertility, and the third with finance.
The discussion this evening is an extremely important one from many aspects. Probably we, as farmers, are apt to look mainly on the economic side without giving much thought to any other angle. Admittedly a practical farmer must run his farm as a sound business proposition, otherwise he is failing in his duty to his family and himself, but one must not forget that today, as never before, the welfare and economy of our country is dependent on what we as farmers are doing with our grasslands.
Recentlv officers of the Extension Division of the Department of Agriculture carried out a county by county survey of the Dominion to define what increases in carrying capacity were both possible and probable by 1975, and what the ultimate potential carrying capacity was likely to be. They based their estimates on past trends in livestock numbers on each soil type and probable developments in farm management methods and their summarised conclusions indicate that in 1975 our most likely increase would be about 27 per cent. but that it would be possible to increase by 45 per cent. and that our ultimate potential increase might be 67 per cent. This estimate covers all land in the Dominion and, of course, includes large areas of pastoral land which with our present knowledge and economic conditions is not improvable. Some of you may think these’estimates too high; others will certainly, think them too low. As grassland workers I think we should analyse the basic conceptions underlying these estimates and discuss methods by which we may attain as rapid an increase as possible. For I may mention that this forecasting work was undertaken in view of the fact that the population of the Dominion is likely to be 2,750,OOO by 1975 and if the productive capacity of our farming lands is not increased at a rate comparable with our population growth our wealth and well-being are likely to suffer.
I do not intend to review the techniques of grassland production measurement (1) (2), but to present the results to date from some measurement trials at the Rukuhia Soil Research Station, Hamilton, and the Marton E,xperimental Area. These trials can be considered under two headings: First, the comparison of different techniques of cutting, and, secondly the comparison of different methods of field experimentation as applied to grassland production records.
When laying down new pasture on the pumice soils of the North Island, it is common practice to apply Scwt. of superphosphate per acre and thenceforth to support the pasture with dressings of about 3cwt. of superphosphate per acre per year.
It is becoming increasingly obvious to all that the economic and national destiny of New Zealand must lie in a whole-hearted development of our agriculture, and a major intensification of our grassland practice in all its branches.
In this paper it is proposed to discuss briefly the principal reasons for failures or indifferent results in pasture establishment on hill country observed. from. time to time in Southern Hawke’s Bay,, Northern Manawatu, and the King Country. This will, best be done by separating the principal methods of sowing, namely, after cultivation by giant discs, sowing on the ash, and oversowing the existing poor grass sward.
The three properties with which I am going to deal belong to the marginal land group and were taken over about 1906-10, the main incentive being free rent for 4 years and the low unimproved value, namely 12s. 6d. to 25s. per acre. The tenure was L.I.P. or O.R.P. and the rent about 4 per cent. of the unimproved value.
Surface ‘sowing of hill-country pastures with clovers has been practised in New .Zealand for many years and it is undisputed that the introduction of new and improved strains of clovers will assist in pasture improvement and increased production. Today with new facilities, such as the aeroplane and blower, available for topdressing and oversowing an enormous -increase is taking place in the area of hill country topdressed with phosphate. To achieve the maximum benefit from this topdressing it is essential that sufficient clover,is present in the sward to utilise the added phosphate. On large areas of hill country where topdressing is practised clovers are sparse, and under these conditions little response and benefit is derived from phosphate applications. With this fact in view considerable interest has been aroused regarding the most satisfactory methods of introducing clovers into unploughable pastures.
A description of the soils of the district was given in the first p&er of the Conference and here it is necessary only to repeat that the soils of Taranaki can be divided into the following groups:- (a) The volcanic soils of the easy, rolling and hilly country in the western part of the district. (b) The steep hilly soils of the eastern part of the district, coniposed of papa and sandstone. (c) The swampy soils in the Rahotu-Oaonui, Pihama- Kapuni, and Tariki-Inglewood areas. (d) The peaty loams at Ngarere, Stratford, and Ratapiko. (e) The recent soils of the river flats.
In considering this problem, it is necessary to define the conditions under discussion. Reference will be made in this paper to raw peat, decomposed peat,, and overdrained peat, and in order to clarify the position the following descriptions will apply.
The influence of the grazing animal on the composition and productivity of the pasture sward has been a major subject for investigation by Grasslands Division over the past 10 to 12 years (l), (2), (3). In particular we have been interested in the effect of dung and urine on pasture growth, and at previous conferences of this association (4) papers have been presented to show that the quantities of plant nutrients returned to high-producing pastures are . equivalent in nitrogen to over a ton of sulphate of ammonia per acre per year, in phosphorus to over 6cwt. of superphosphate, and in potash to nearly a ton of 30 per cent. potash salts.
In his presidential address our chairman stressed the necessity for increasing our exports of foodstuffs to Britain. The purpose of this paper is to indicate one; method by which our dairy production can be increased by the better utilisation of our pastures.
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