A review of advances in tussock grassland
Abstract
In September 1962 the Tussock Grasslands and Mountain Lands
Institute produced a Directory of Research listing projects and
personnel concerned with the tussock grasslands and mountain
lands. The number of people involved was about 100 and the
number of separate projects more than 150. It is obvious that, in
trying to survey advances being made in the tussock grasslands,
I cannot mention more than a few of these workers.
Everyone has his own definition of tussock grassland and the
area involved, but I am discussing some 11 ,000,000 acres, mainly
in the South Island, carrying about two and a half million sheep
and 40,000 cattle and having an importance to the New Zealand
economy which cannot be assessed in stock numbers alone. In
sheep equivalents these lands could be claimed to carry about
one to four acres but in places so much of the area is devoid
of vegetation that stocking rates in the conventional sense mean
little. Wool is the basic product, yielding at least 80 per cent of
the gross return, and the flocks consist of over half Merinos, a
little less than one-third half-breds, and one-sixth Corriedales.
I propose to review only some of the advances made since
1950. In that year a statement was made at this Association’s conference
that “to New Zealand as a whole the tussock grasslands
are of value for one purpose only, that is, the feeding of livestock”.
That statement went unchallenged. I think most people
in New Zealand would now agree on the importance of the
tussock grasslands from the point of view of soil and water
conservation, of their value in regulating stream-flow for stock
water on the plains, for the generation of hydro-electricity, and
for irrigation.
Another statement made was not challenged either. I quote:
“It is, however, necessary to consider carefully whether or not a
legume should be introduced into unploughable tussock country. That it is possible has been demonstrated on a number of
occasions. It is, however, doubtful if it is advisable. It is unlikely
to be profitable. . . .”
The year 1950 is also important because by then the trials on
aerial sowing of seed and fertiliser organised and financed by the
Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Council, urged on by D. A.
Campbell, had culminated in the organisation of aerial farming
on a large scale.
