In 1863 a surveyor, a Mr A. Tuckett, was sent south in search of a settlement for the Church of Scotland. He came as far as what is now Bluff, sailed into the Oreti estuary, and apparently looked with disfavour at the land on which Invercargill now stands. He reported that it was a mere bog totally unfit for human habitation.
This paper describes the research work undertaken in the last two and a ‘half years into the improvement of run country in Central Otago. The district covers 4,500 square miles of the Clutha and Taieri catchments stretching from the Lakes in the west and Miller’s FIX and Middlemarch in the east. About twothirds of the area lies above 1,500 ft and is the run or pastoral country.
The tussock grasslands of Southland play an important role in the agriculture of the province, both directly and indirectly. This paper aims therefore to focus some light on the improvement of the tussock grasslands in relation to run management and soil and water conservation. The area under discussion is in the northern Southland district and comprises the Eyre, Takitimo, GZvie, ‘Thm-,- a& Livingston Mountains- The h& w+r catchments of the main river systems of Southland originate in this higher altitude tussock country, with the Aparima commencing in the Takitimos, the Oreti and Mataura in the Eyre, the Waikaia in the Garvies, and the Mararoa in the Thomson and Livingston Ranges.
An eminent writer has said “Opinions must be judged like coins, by their metal and not by their superscription.” If therefore the title of this address appears presumptuous to you, as it certainly does to me, let us pass it by and concentrate on the metal, in the hope that it will in some measure bear scrutiny.
The sowing of a grass with lucerne is not a common practice in the south and is confined largely to the drier districts of Canterbury, Marlborough, and Otago.
With the advent of the forage harvester, several changes in the accepted practice of silagc making become possible if these can be shown to be justified. For instance, it would be a simple matter with most machines to adjust them to cut higher above the ground, or again instead of waiting for the sward to attain silage height it-would-befeasibletotakese_veral cuts over the same period when the pasture reached an optimum height. Or another approach would be to use it to “top” after lenient grazings and in this way gather the material required as silage
Some of the Association’s sponsored delegates to the Congress presented reports to the conference and expressed thanks for the privilege of attending the Congress
In the early days biologists viewed Southland with interest, if with some concern, but as time passed European plants and animals were found to be well suited to the environment. With the help of technical advice, man with his ingenuity and energy continues to transform tussockland, forest, and swamp. With the pastures which he has developed, a farming pattern has evolved, of high stocking rate and complete utilisation of herbage, which is conventionally accepted as being first class. Is it good enough?
The Agricultural and Pastoral Statistics for the 1958-59 season show that at 31 January 1959 the total number of cattle per IO0 sheep shorn in Southland was 3, while in the North and South Auckland districts combined the figure was 42. This paper will, then, refer to pastures used for grazing sheep.
The pedologist should concern himself not only with mapping and classification of soils; he should examine the use to which soils are put and the changes that take place under varying kinds of use or misuse. The soil survey is only the starting point; it shows the physical, chemical and genetic characteristics of soils, their distribution and relationship to environment.
In the “New Zealand Meat Producer” for May 1960 R. H. Bcvin discusses the remarkable development of the sheep industry in Southland. As he puts it, “40 years ago there were roughly 1 t million sheep in the Southland Land District. Today there are 53 million”. He goes on to trace the change from a farm economy-which-in-l~9~~~d~pendcd~ largelym oat crops and dairying to one which is now predominantly concerned with the production of fat lambs for export. The Southland-Wallace Plain carries one of the greatest sheep concentrations in the world. Lambs killed at the four Southland freezing works each year now top the 3 million mark
Problems of storing pasture from periods of ample growth to periods of little or no growth, whether it be in winter or a droughty summer, have always been with farming communities all over the world. Haymaking, for example, goes back to antiquity when the origin of natural drying has been lost in the mists of the past; maybe in the same way as it is often lost in the mists of today.
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