Adventures with cattle 3

Albert used to hand milk his cow, take off enough milk for household use and then add water to the remainder for the rearing of extra calves.

I bought older cows - preferably ones that had been house cows and I found that that they could rear four calves at once. Sometimes by rotation, she could rear more.

It was reasonably easy - just yard the cow and her calf and introduce the new one (bought in from a dairy farmer) and make sure the new calf has at least three feeds a day. Within three days the cow accepts the new calf and all is ok.

It became a little more difficult when I used heifers that I decided were good to breed from. While they were quiet, they had not been milked so were more work.

My mate Lindsay, who did much the same on his farm, told me of the success he had with chaining the introduced calf to the cow/heifer's calf. I had noticed he did that.

Lindsay loaned me the chain and collars for a young black and white heifer - now cow - and her new calf.

I 'coupled' the new calf to one that I had bought in and stood back to watch them have a drink.

Well the young cow went mad! She attacked the new calf and because it was chained to her own, that calf too was being trampled and butted!

Well I had to do something and realized that it was dangerous to be between the calves and the cow! There was a grubber/mattock nearby so I grabbed it and hit the cow with it  across her hind quarters - she took no notice.
There was a stick of timber - macrocarpa 2"x2" - and I hit the cow with it between her horns.
She fell to her knees and rolled over on her back, legs in the air and her eyelashes flickering like a giraffe on heat!
While she was out to it, I undid the calves.

I put the other calf onto another cow - without the chain, and I never used it again.

But you know, within a week, that bought in calf was stealing a feed from that cow, and I added calves to her as time went on - she must have settled down.

Adventures with cattle 2

I used to leave the bull calves entire because they seemed to grow quicker and the price for bull meat was higher.

I noticed that one particular bull was becoming a bit angry, and I found out later that some young lads had fired slug gun pellets at it.

The first time the bull attacked me was when I was opening the gate to drive my ute into the paddock to spray gorse. The bull came running up and as I sat in the truck to drive into the paddock, he rattled the radiator grill with his horns and pushed. This did not phase me too much and I began spraying the gorse.

Above the noise of the pump. I heard a bellow and the thunder of hooves causing me to turn to see the bull a few metres away 'on the charge'! My only option was to turn the hose onto the bull - full into his face. This caused him to stop to reassess the situation giving me the time to sprint the thirty metres to the electric fence and bounded over it - actually I did bounder over it.

The pump pumped on and when the bull was a good distance away I retrieved the ute and its load.

Of course I could not put up with a looney bull on the place - you never know who would walk through the property!

But I was a bit afraid of him so yarding and loading him onto the stock truck was, I thought, a little dangerous.

I made a run with electric fence each side, to drive him into the yard and I conscripted Colin with his rifle and beady eye to be ready to shoot the animal if he made a step towards me - just one step!

The electric fence must have made the bull nervous (and he was with other cattle) because he gave me no trouble at all and he was trucked away to the freezing works.

I was happy that he left the property.

Adventures with cattle 1

When I first bought our property on the Herbert Hill, there was a lot of grass and it was a surprise to the local that I decided to run cattle. The reason for their surprise was that we were on the back of a five year drought and they were apprehensive to believe that the drought was actually over.

I recall Phil (Snow) Wilkie telling me that super phosphate that he applied on his hill country had not dissolved  during those five years.

Sometime I will post pictures taken in 1916 that show that the farmland on the lower Kakanui Range was very hungry and farming was indeed a struggle.

The climate has changed because those severe droughts no longer seem to happen and I believe it is because of increased precipitation due to the forest - some may argue about that - and they are welcome. 

This is Albert Stringer who was the Forest Clerk who I have already wrote a little about - he is now 80 years old and still tends the gardens of several elderly ladies.

I often talked over things with Albert, and he was a constant help to me. I mention him now because he was interested in cattle, and milked a cow called Polly.

I bought a bobby calf [day old] from Tubby Stewartson, an early dairy farmer from Kakanui. Albert had offered to rear it for me as he had a surplus of milk from Polly. The calf grew steadily due to Polly's rich milk and Albert's care.

The calf was strong and healthy and it was time to release it in my paddock. I had the exuberance (foolhardiness) of youth and told Albert that it was a simple matter of tying the calf's feet (hog tying) and lifting it into my Commer Cob.

Hand reared calves are quiet and this one was no different, but it did object to me trying to drop it onto the ground so I could tie its legs. It took off down the hill! It had a rope around it's neck which I hung on to and tried to stop its' progress.
I lost my balance and the calf dragged me down the hill through thistles,  through cow pats and over stones!
Determined, I held on and eventually I managed to halt the animal and turn it over so I could tie its' legs.
Albert had the rope and he was up the hill laughing his head off, so I had to hold the writhing animal until he settled down and brought the rope.

I made a very secure job of tying the legs and the calf could not move [save for its' head].
Albert took one side of the animal and I the other - on my command we lifted! It was too heavy we could not even clear it off the ground! Albert laughed again!

We had to let the calf go and I had to borrow a stock trailer to move the calf as Albert had suggested in the first place! It all went smoothly.

Differences in Pholosophy when it comes to Conservation

This is the Waianakarua River in flood - taken from Frame's Crossing just below my property

near the center of the picture is the iconic Lombardy Poplar.

Along with my forestry colleagues I have been responsible of converting poor, gorse infested land into productive forestry. Along the way we have protected indigenous flora and fauna and we have opened areas up to the public, so they can experience the uniqueness of the Lower Kakanui Range.

The use of pine trees to control gorse is a well established practice, as gorse does not thrive when daylight has been excluded. Indeed on my own property I have successfully controlled gorse by planting Poplar androscoggin.  

We have had our share of critics over the years:

Monoculture causing an exodus of indigenous wildlife. Ha! I see more native birds in an hour than I saw in a day's trip to Mount Cook and walking up to the Hooker Glacier Lake.

Our bulldozer formed a firebreak on a boundary on the property purchased from Kemp. Lands and Survey demanded that we plant the firebreak with native plants, as some Manuka were pushed out. Well we needed the firebreak but anyone with a smidgen of intelligence would know that establishing native plants on what was almost bedrock, was nigh on impossible. The plantings were a waste of time and resources. We have protected far larger areas of native bush than a  few metres of blade-width bedrock!

The Kemp block was adjacent to the Trotters Gorge Scenic Reserve and there was solid gorse on the common boundary. So the gorse was cleared to the fenceline during land preparation and to suppress the gorse, we planted trees right to the boundary. Well Lands and Survey demanded that we remove the trees 20 metres back as was the legal requirement. So we pulled the trees out and the jungle of gorse returned to the boundary - creating a fire hazard.

Submissions responded to after our invitation

Another submission was that the top of South Peak was to be left unplanted  - so people could climb up and look out. One of the lads planted his initials up there and the trees [now over 25 years old] can still be seen. Nobody ever climbed up there.

 

This picture taken 1916 shows the lower end of Mount Misery Road and up into the hills. The area is either barren or gorse-covered showing the aggressiveness of the gorse which has escaped from hedges. So clothing the area in forest has been successful.

In the foreground is the North Branch of the Waianakarua River - just downstream from my property.

When I purchased the property in 1967, the river looked beautiful with Crack Willow growing each side of the river. Catchment Board & later, the Regional Council did/do not like Crack Willow, so they were sprayed over the years and the old adage - remove one weed and you get another - so Old man's Beard, Buddleia davidii, broom and blackberry crept in.

Because the forest controls runoff, there are not the real flushes when the river floods, unless logging causes a clear catchment area.

I asked a contractor to remove a Pussy Willow that had been washed and jammed in the center of the river bed - but he told me he would be fined by the Regional Council.

Well a few weeks ago, a helicopter flew down the river spraying the gravel areas and killing grasses and other weeds - the Pussy Willow seems still to be healthy.

Last year a helicopter with an elephant thingi spot sprayed Old Man's Beard but the weed was already in winter dormancy so the effectiveness was below par.

Another guy up the river installed gabion baskets to protect his property from erosion, but the Regional Council forced him to remove them.

In the early 1980's there was a big flood and slipping on the main road. The [now extinct] Ministry of Works dumped truckloads of clay in the middle of the flooded river - expecting it to be washed to sea. Not so, the gravels need to roll in the river bed and so the flood took away the south bank with a crop of turnips!

So a lot has happened to the Waianakarua River and I was happy to provide some advice and participate in the planting project at the mouth of the river and under the auspices of the Herbert Heritage Group.

Donning my other hat - that of a nurseryman - one of the great challenges was supplying tree and shrub species to people requiring shelter in coastal areas. The options are very limited.

To customers, the most important thing is good plant survival and performance.

The other great challenge was this ting called 'Eco-sourcing'  - that is plants to be planted in an area are to be progeny of plants already there. Easy to say and difficult to do [for reasons that don't need to be spelled out here]. But there are times when perhaps it is appropriate and others that just cause an extra cost for no gain.

The area at the Waianakarua River mouth is gorse infested [not vigourous on account of the coastal conditions] and broom [which was quite healthy].

Blakely Pacific Limited sponsored some of the trees or shrubs and Oregon Nurseries supplied and donated some as well. I encourage the participants to grow on plants that appeared in their gardens.

The idea was to grow as many endemic species as possible and perching or bird-feeding species to attract birds and their payload of other species. Basic shelter to start the project off.

The most successful has been Chatham Island Ake Ake, Olearia traversii.

Wayne called me the other day, a representative of Forest and Bird, who may well take over the plantings at the river mouth.

He has a strict philosophy that the Waianakarua River mouth is a special area [we all knew that] and only Eco-sourced plants should be planted there.

Wayne told me that he had spent twenty days removing wildling pines in North Otago. My philosophy is that wildling could be an opportunity - though not Pinus contorta.

Further, he enjoyed destroying plants that were growing where he thought they should not be, and high on his list are Chatham Island Ake Ake, Olearia paniculata (H H Allan records the natural range to be North of Oamaru - 25 km to the North) and any other exotic species. He did not mention gorse, Buddleia  or broom.

Actually the weeds have proliferated with land change - Browns farmed sheep to the river edge and the present dairy farmers have fenced off the area which is now ungrazed.

So the Waianakarua River mouth might well be under the care of Forest and Bird and a different philosophy, but I wonder if this would happen if that original meeting of the Herbert Heritage Group had not been called.

By the way, who was that guy Kerr?