2nd Progress Report - Part 1

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10526. By Mr CLARKSON : Do you grow fodder grasses for your cows ? - I have not done so this year. Lucerne and maize do well with me . I milk the cows all the year round.

10527. By Mr VENN : Is the labour available here satisfactory ? - No , there is a lack of skilled labour.

10528. By the CHAIRMAN : Will not your Country carry more than 300 sheep ? - I have carried 800 sheep but the place is eaten out. The best of my country would carry more sheep that that. I have four acres this year carrying six cows with subterranean clover. It suits this district very well. An other grass that does very well here in the flats is Paspalum. It is not highly nutritious but it grows when you have nothing else in the summer time and it is green in the hottest weather.

10529. Have you found your orchard remunerative ? - It is the most remunerative part the farm. I go in for apples of the export varieties. The country is getting into a bad state through lack of work on it . Most of it has been ringbarked and suckers are coming up everywhere worse than ever. The result is that the country is going back. I suggest that the Government should advance money to settlers and let them pay it back over a number of years. My own land has been rung and suckered twice and to day it is worse than ever it has been. If I could have had money three years ago to grub the seedlings out I could have had that done for 4s 6d an acre. Last year I paid £1 an acre to get it grubbed and then it was not half done . If this kind of thing is allowed to go on year after year the country will become useless. ( The witness retired)

EDMUND MOORE, Farmer, sworn and examined:

10530. To the CHAIRMAIN : I have been established on the land I now hold for 22 years. I have 1,100 acres and about two-thirds of it is freehold. With regard to the rest I have three years in which to pay it off. I am 3 ½ miles from a railway station. The land is all fenced and there are 14 padlocks. There are 200 acres cleared for cultivation. About 140 acres have been ploughed. The farm is well equipped with buildings. The area in orchard is eight acres. I have a set of implements but I have not a full plant because my place has been leased until lately. On an average I carry about 600 sheep 10 horses and three milking cows. I used to live in Balingup and kept the hotel there and made about £1,500 which was my capital when starting . That was 15 or 20 years ago. I think a settler should hold 500 or 600 acres in order to be successful. I have never tried clearing green country . Clearing old rung country costs about £8

10531. By Mr VENN : You are the oldest resident here ? - yes

10532. Do you think the ring barked country has been suckering more during the past three years than ever before ? - I do. When killing out the old timber I suppose a certain number of the gum nuts fell on the ground and the suckers have sprung up from the seeds. In the past the seedlings did not come up. I have noticed on some of the properties about here that where there was simply jarrah in the first place , it was the red gum suckers which have come up.

10533. Do you think the carrying capacity of this rung country is improving each year ? - Yes , a lot. There are so many different clovers which have come up very thickly. I have planted Paspalum in the damp flats. I like that grass for summer feed. It is at its best just now. I have not done much dairying.

10534. Do you find the British breeds of sheep suit this district best? - The Shropshire were great sheep when they came first but they have fallen off and everybody has gone in for Border Leicesters which are doing very well. I do not think any particularly pure breeds would do as well as the cross.

10535. How many sheep to the acre could you carry on those flats all the year round ? - About five.

10536. By the CHAIRMAN : What is the average return from your orchard year in and year out ? - I can not give you the exact figures because it has been leased during the past five or six years and in that period I do not know what it produced. It would be just about the usual crop of the district. A fair return from an acre of orchard here would be 100 acres equalling a case to the tree. In good seasons there would be more. There are many farmers in this district on 200 to 300 acres who are all doing well. (The witness retired)

CHARLES MAUGER , Farmer , Balingup , sworn and examined :

10537. To the CHAIRMAN : I have been in this district for 12 months. I was here for two years previously. I hold 160 acres of which are freehold. The remainder of the area consists of suburban blocks. I am two miles from the railway station. The land is all fenced and there are about 60 acres cleared : the 60 acres have all been cultivated. There are the usual buildings on the property and we are just erecting a milking shed. There are 15 acres of orchard . I have not a full set of implements to work the land. I have four horses , 70 sheep and10 head of cattle. I estimate it costs £6 to clear old rung country. I have come from Jersey Islands and ever since I can remember I have been connected with dairying ,. I am now getting a herd of Jerseys together.

10538. To Mr VENN : A fair weekly average over the whole year for a cow in this district is 6lbs of butter. If a cow does not produce that quantity I do not keep it. In the height of the season when clovers are in their prime , there are instances of higher yields. A cow I have has been yielding for the last two months an average of 12lbs of butter every week. The farmers generally are going in for dairying more than they have done in the past. The time will come when dairying will be the mainstay of the South-West , because the land is there. You can grow summer feed on most of the farms in the district. At the present time I am milking five cows and the average yield is 1lb of butter per day per cow.

10539. Do you think that type of cow in this district is a fair average cow ? - In some instances some of the cross breeds are , but the Jersey breed is capable of improvement. I judged the Jerseys at the royal show. They compared very favourably with those we have at home. I think this district is suitable for Jerseys. It is not too cold in the winter.