AROUND THE FARMS

Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms. Around the farms.

In the winter of 1905, the Great Southern Herald produced a number of interesting reports on a number of farms in the district. These reports paint a picture of agriculture at the time and show the diversity that was required for farmers and their families to develop and grow their properties.

That they managed to do so through trying conditions, primitive equipment, lack of transport and very limited fresh water shows the tenacity of our pioneering families. Today’s successful farming enterprises are a result of their hard labour.

Wheat being loaded onto a horse-drawn cart from a field in Katanning c1905

AROUND THE FARMS – 1905

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No. 1. MR W. TRIMMING’S ESTATE.

Great Southern Herald
10 June 1905 – P3

Following the main road for three and a half miles from Woodanilling, one comes to the valuable property of Mr W. Trimming. This gentleman came from South Australia and, when I visited him, gave me some interesting notes concerning what he has done since his arrival here eight years ago.

I readily accepted Mr Trimming’s invitation to dinner, which was excellent, and later was escorted by his two sons over his large holding of between 5,000 and 6,000 acres (the timber being mostly jam and York gum), of which 500 acres have been cleared. This year the majority of a 250-acre paddock has been ploughed and every inch of this will be drilled as Mr Trimming is strongly in favour of using manure.

The crop looks exceedingly well and is in very straight rows owing to the use of a “Superior” drill. “I do not believe much in fallowing,” said Mr Trimming, Jnr. Nevertheless, when an example of fallowed and unfallowed ground was shown me, I could not help noticing that the former looked much the better, though comparisons are no test at this time of the year. Around this paddock is a fence of six wires linked together in such a way that if an obstacle presses on one wire the others support it.

About 350 acres will be under crop this year, all wheat with the exception of a little oats. English barley, Mr Trimming thinks, is worth growing on land that has just been cleared but not afterwards as there would be too many weeds, &c., mixed with it. The other cleared portion of the farm is contained in another 250-acre paddock which has not yet been touched by the plough this year and on it natural grasses are growing. They are particularly green and are evenly distributed over the whole area which is a good test of the fertility of its dark chocolate soil.

Most of the uncleared land is very suitable for grazing, being comparatively free from poison, and at present over 400 sheep feed on it, among them being three fine Shropshire rams which were purchased last year.

In one of these paddocks 1 saw what at first sight appeared to be a mammoth or some prehistoric animal. On closer inspection I found it to be a mare of enormous height, measuring over 19 hands. Nearby were some perfect specimens of draught horses which were particularly quiet, having been well educated. The family cow is also of a sociable disposition, but the geese and fowls keep at a safe distance, knowing perhaps how their fatness tempts the killer.

With regard to out-houses there are a well fitted up blacksmith’s shop, a machinery shed and a grain store. Near the stable, which is a big one, is a soak of 6ft deep, capable of supplying 20 head of stock for nine months of the year, and close by a hole of 60ft has been dug and affords a permanent supply of clear water.

On the north side of the dwelling house is a small orchard containing 100 apples trees, whose boughs have been broken by the weight of the fruit produced this season, and 50 trees of assorted fruits including apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums and almonds, which, however, don’t grow so well, especially the last two named. I was presented with some samples of the apples which were delicious, and Mr Trimming thinks that they would grow even more luxuriantly it the orchard was upon the slope of the hill as there is too much wet to allow of their full development. “My orchard,” said Mr Trimming,” would be considered in an ideal position by a South Australian who was not aware of this district’s peculiar fault of having too much rain.”

On the south side of the house is a small stone-fruit orchard, and various other fruit trees, containing loquats, oranges, lemons, “Wortley Hall” and muscatel grapes, &c., surround the house, and the two orchards are separated by a vegetable garden.

The homestead is close to the road but cannot be seen from it on account of the undulating nature of the country and it is made more cosy by a variety of flowers planted in little plots of ground on all sides of the house.

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No. 2. PROPERTIES OF MESSRS P. CUNNEEN, E. QUARTERMAINE AND H. & J. BEECK.

Great Southern Herald
17 June, 1905 – P3

MR P. CUNNEEN

The property of Mr P. Cunneen is situated 7 miles to the east of Katanning, and comprises 3,000 acres, of which 900 are cleared and 1,500 uncleared. So far as water supply is concerned, abundance can be found at shallow depths and a large artificial dam has been made in one of the paddocks near the house.

At the time of my visit two ploughs and two drills were actively at work putting in the 500 acres of wheat that is to be sown this year. Every acre is drilled and superphosphates used. Each year there is a lot of fallowing done and on one occasion as much as 400 acres were fallowed.

The great care taken to give the wheat a good chance has not been unrewarded. No particular kind of wheat is grown, but each year has been a success. Last season, though so wet, averaged between 9 and 10 bushels per acre but other cereals are not grown, except oats, the sale for which is not sufficient to induce Mr Cunneen to grow them to any mentionable extent.

The holding may be almost termed a station for its owner is now in possession of over 1,000 sheep which have the run of three paddocks, two of which are surrounded by six wire fences and contain 800 and 600 acres respectively. The remaining paddock is one of 600 acres with vermin-proof netting around it.

Mr Cunneen, like many others about here, thinks sheep breeding more profitable than wheat growing, and prefers merino rams to Shropshire. He also keeps pigs and has, at the time of writing, about 50 Berkshires and others. There are 37 horses on the farm, 22 being workers, and also 15 head of cattle, including milking cows.

Eighteen months ago Mr Cunneen commenced a dairy on a large scale but it turned out a failure, mainly through the following reasons:

1. The natural grasses on the paddocks are not of a nourishing kind for cattle. Of these the best is the corkscrew grass, whose good properties can only be relied on during July and August.
2. The poor sale for butter of local production. One cannot rely on getting even 1s per lb for it as most people seem to prefer the imported butter.
3. The farm is 7 1/2 miles from Katanning, which distance is inconvenient for the dispatch of dairy produce.
4. The presence of poison.

After hearing these reasons I asked Mr Cunneen why he kept as many as 15 head of cattle now. He replied that the majority of them were steers and the milk obtained from the cows was for home use only. With this smaller number the cattle could be kept near the house and the chances of consuming poison practically eliminated in consequence, as the land near the house was poison free.

Mr P. Cunneen is a 13 year resident here and his experiences help to prove that sheep and wheat are our mainstays.

MR ELI QUARTERMAINE

Another farm similar in nature to that of Mr P. Cunneen belongs to Mr Eli Quartermaine and it is situated two miles nearer to Katanning. His views coincide almost exactly with Mr Cunneen’s. He keeps 1,050 sheep and prefers the merino rams to the Shropshire. He goes in extensively for wheat culture but only obtained 8 bushels per acre last season.

He says milk is spoilt during September on account of cows consuming poison – a kind of wild water-cress growing during this month. In consequence he grows feed for his cows. He keeps a few pigs but does not send them to market. For brumbies he has no respect. “They’re not worth their feed,” says Mr Quartermaine.

Though he has been nearly 20 years on the farm here, this is the first season Mr Quartermaine has used manure. The farm consists of 1,500 acres, of which 800 are cleared.

Amongst Victorian farms it is very difficult to find one that does not have on it a few pigs as they give such good returns, but here, it is the exception, not the rule, to breed them.

H. & J. BEECK

Messrs H. and J. Beeck go in extensively for mixed farming. Accordingly they keep a score or so of pigs and are satisfied with the price at which they can be sold, especially as not much money is expended on their keep. Ten acres of the farm are set apart for an orchard and vegetable garden, which produce fine specimens of melons, pumpkins and various kinds of apples, besides grapes, Japanese plums, cherries, &c. The farm itself is characteristic of the Katanning district, a locality of wheat, sheep and apple production.

Of its 1,400 acres, 800 are cleared for wheat cultivation, though a certain amount of oats are grown and last year off 100 acres 300 bags of oats were obtained besides 30 tons of oaten hay. Messrs H. and J. Beeck are not believers in fallowing but every bushel of seed is drilled in with manure. The 600 uncleared acres are well able to maintain the 500 sheep kept whose number has lately been increased by the addition of 45 well-bred merino ewes and two Koonoona rams. The land is singularly free from poison and each acre has a different degree of wetness than the adjoining ones, the country being so hilly. The farm itself lies in a westerly direction and is about two miles from Katanning.

Koonoona Stud Ram No. 27 – 1908
(Not necessarily Beeck’s ram – ed.)

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No. 3. Mr J. GULLEY’S ESTATE.

Great Southern Herald
1 July 1905 – P3

Situated between the farms of Mr Alex. Quartermaine and Mr P. Cunneen is that of Mr J. Gulley, which is a splendid illustration of the result of hard work and a fine advertisement for the district. Mr Gulley came to this district from Victoria about seven years ago without money but with plenty of heart, and consequently he soon got on his feet. He has added to his property from time to time and now possesses 1,700 acres, of which 600 have been made ready for the plough.

His farm here, like his former one in the mallee districts of Victoria, contains rich chocolate and black soil with a big percentage of loam, and either would be models for wheat production if the rainfall on each were reversed. Last year 300 acres of wheat were put in and yielded over 1,000 bags, including 500 from a 100 acre paddock which had neither been manured nor previously fallowed, but had been recently cleared of jam and York gum, which timbers are of a very heavy nature in this locality. The year before last the yield averaged 12 bushels per acre, the White Tuskan (which produces a bread baking flour – ed.) producing the best results, though it is more subject to smut than other varieties. Hudson’s Early Purple seems another good wheat in this district, judging by results.

Mr Gulley has had such good success with other cereals that he has put in this year 100 acres of oats. Three years ago from 30 acres of oats he obtained 1,200 bushels odd. He says Cape barley grows splendidly on this land if put in just after it has been cleared of its heavy timber.

Thirty acres of land near the house have recently been sown with rape and barley mixed. This will be used as food for the pigs, there being about 50 Berkshires who enjoy the run of a large paddock, and thrive so well that Mr Gulley intends to go in for breeding them. When he feeds them with wheat seed he sprinkles it on the ground so that it cannot be eaten too fast, thus allowing the pigs to derive the full benefit of it.

With regard to sheep, Mr Gulley has none at present, his money having been invested in other things but he believes they will pay better than wheat and intends buying them in the future. He has done 14 miles of fencing, though more wires would have to be inserted to make the paddocks sheep proof.

One advantage his new farm has over his former one is that, on the cleared land shoots are rarely seen, whilst in the mallee they grow so quickly that a certain period of the year, generally in July and August, is devoted to shoot cutting. Consequently in ploughing, the shares are continually coming in contact with mallee roots, shoots, &c., and a great deal of time is lost in lifting up the jumps to be free of these.

I remember my first experience of farming in the mallee. I was working a three-furrow stump-jumper and directing my attention solely to the horses since there were two young ones in the team, one of which I was endeavoring to make walk in the furrow. I had been going along like this for about a quarter of a mile when looking round, I discovered that two of the jumps were resting upon two very small stumps, the third being the only one doing any good.

At the time of writing there were over 200 acres of wheat drilled in with superphosphates. In sowing this good brumbies were used as a substitute for draught horses. Being lighter, Mr Gulley says they do very well on boggy ground, and do not require so much stable feed.

There is abundance of water at Mr GuIIey’s farm, and the soaks last almost throughout the summer.

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No. 4. MR HUEPPAUFF’S PROPERTY

Great Southern Herald
1 July 1905 – P3

Land, like that around Katanning, offers exceptional opportunities to the agriculturist who believes in mixed farming. The property of Mr Hueppauff, which was some little time ago purchased from Mr J. C. Cook, gives a good example of the various soil products that can be grown here with success. Of cereals, Mr Heuppauff has sown over 100 acres of wheat, eight acres of oats and the same amount of barley this year, the recent rains preventing him from putting in more, for he has 300 acres cleared of his holding of 527 acres.

Last season he sowed nearly 200 acres of purple straw wheat which, however, only yielded an average of eight bushels per acre. He says the land that he is now working on is very similar in composition to that which he possessed in South Australia, forty miles from Adelaide. Peppermint gum there is similar to our York gum. He came here eighteen months ago, his reason for leaving his home, like so many other settlers, being the opportunity of securing a much larger holding.

The quality, however, is not so good and, consequently, this year he has drilled with manure every acre but never fallows any. In South Australia Marshall’s wheat is very popular, but he has not tried it in W. A. yet.

Of his orchard, which is 17 acres, apples – needless to add – grow in profusion. Last season splendid peaches were grown, also nectarines in great quantities. He believes that certain kinds of vegetables can be produced with equal reward, judging by his last crop of onions, but he has obtained practically no return from potatoes. This fact was mainly his own fault, however, because he planted them when the ground was wet and hot, and dry weather came on at a time when rain would have been beneficial.

Mr Hueppauff keeps a few pigs but not in sufficient numbers for sale, though he believes that a big profit can be had from them. He also keeps cows and asserts there is no poison in any of his paddocks, and this is a further inducement to keep sheep, though he has not any at present, being hardly settled down yet.

Like most farmers he has little respect for brumbies, though they often do well enough as hacks. His workers are all draught horses, and some of them fine specimens of such.

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No. 5. MESSRS F. & C. PIESSE’S PIGGERY.

Great Southern Herald
8 July 1905 – P3

Situated a mile to the south of Katanning is one of the properties of Messrs F. and C. Piesse, consisting of about 350 acres for the maintenance of cows and pigs. At the time of my visit the manager, Mr W. J. Wise, was busily engaged with the pigs which number 376, including 45 breeding sows who enjoy the freedom of a 9-acre paddock, which is surrounded with pig-proof fences consisting of four barbed and two or three ordinary wires. Three other paddocks also possess the same fence system.

There are 176 porkers which are killed when they weigh from 50 to 80 lb, but, at present, like their sisters, enjoy the run of a large paddock. They are practically all Berkshires or Yorkshires or a mixture of both. Mr Wise says the fastest growing pigs are those produced from a Berkshire boar and a Yorkshire sow.

Mr W. S. McKimiey, in his book entitled “The Swine Industry in Australia” says the breeds that thrive the best in Australia are the Berkshire, Yorkshire, Tamworth and the China pig, but the first named surpasses the others and its good points are :
1. Great muscular power and vitality which renders it less liable to disease than any other pig.
2. Activity, combined with strong digestive and assimilating powers; hence it returns a maximum amount of flesh and fat, for the food consumed.
3. The sows are unequalled for prolificacy, and are careful nurses and good suckers.
4. The pigs are strong, smart and active at birth, and consequently are less liable to mishaps.
5. They can be fattened for market at any time, while they may be fed to any reasonable weight desired.
6. Their flesh, although very fat, is the highest quality of pork.
7. Power of the boar to transmit the valuable qualities of the breed to his progeny more strongly than any other breed.
8. Their unsurpassed uniformity in color, marking and quality.

Concerning their feed Mr Wise obtains a great deal of the waste flour and wheat from the mill. Rape has been grown this year and field turnips, whilst field peas have been sown for the little pigs. One year an enormous quantity of melons were obtained off six acres. Maize has been tried but the experiment proved unsuccessful. Mangels would grow well, Mr Wise thinks.

Concerning water, there is a large artificial dam and a river (?) runs for six months of the year through the property. A well was sunk to a depth of 32 feet but the water was so salt that it was useless for practical purposes. A windmill pumps the water from the dam into a tank situated in the midst of the many sties.

In these sties are seen many contented, healthy, little pigs, whilst in adjoining sties are their bigger but sadder brothers who are going through one of the most trying periods of their life – the weaning stage. Mr “Wise informed me that there have been some very large litters, 17 in number being not a very uncommon occurrence and as many as 18 and 19.

From 10 to 14 pigs are killed every week and those weighing over 100 lb are made into bacon. This process is done on the farm. After the pig has been killed and hung tor 12 hours or until the animal heat is gone, a needle-shaped syringe is inserted and salt pumped into various parts of the body so that it is circulated throughout. The salted pork then remains in canvas vats of brine for eight days if it weighs 100 lb and longer according to greater weight. After this it is taken out and soaked in cold water for eight hours and hung up to drain for another four hours when brown sugar is rubbed in. It is then put in the smoke house for about a fortnight to dry and after that the bacon – for it has now become such – is ready for market. Holes and crevices in the meat where flies are likely to attack are stuffed up with lard and pollard.

At the present time the pig is not a general favorite on the farms about here, but I have no doubt that there will come a time when he will be regarded, by many as the “gintleman who pays the rint.”

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No. 6. MR WANKE’S ESTATE

Great Southern Herald
12 July 1905 – P3

Perhaps the highest part of our district east is where the Boyerine River takes its source, four and a half miles east of Katanning, at “Moojepin,” the property of Mr C. F. Wanke. Mr Wanke does not suffer through excessive rain, as much as his neighbors, for he digs little drains to carry off the superfluous water and this can be done to great advantage since the locality is so hilly.

He can see the immense possibilities of irrigation in this district for almost everywhere water can be found a little below the surface if not actually on it throughout the year. The dam near his house is 10 ft deep, and he has four other dams of considerable depth all containing water perfectly pure.

Mr Wanke has lived four years on his holding of 1, 500 acres all of which, excepting 400 acres, is cleared, 300 acres having been cleared previous to his taking possession. On the uncleared portion one sees very heavy timber, jam and York gum. On the cleared, sand is conspicuous by its absence and the soil is not patchy but of a rich-chocolate color throughout, but the sub-soil, says Mr Wanke, is not so deep as in the other States.

He considers the best time to sow is between May 14 and June 20. In Northern Victoria the favorite period is from April 10 to May 20. He intends, weather permitting, to put in more wheat, having already sown 500 acres of Purple Straw, Bluey and Goldsmith varieties.

Each season he fallows from 100 to 200 acres as he strongly believes in it and considers the yield is increased quite five bushels an acre in consequence. The soil is so rich it hardly needs the use of chemical manure though he uses superphosphate in some of the paddocks.

“My crops,” says Mr Wanke, “have never been a failure. Last year I averaged 12 bushels though the season was so bad, and the yields during the previous seasons have averaged five bags, whilst three years ago a small plot gave 32 bushels per acre, and the grain has always been free from smut.

One year my oats gave three tons to the acre and the standing crop has attained a height of 8ft. He has put in 40 acres of Algerian oats this year and 20 acres of rape. The Government distributed maize two years ago but the dryness of the summer made it a failure. The same cause makes mangel production a failure, but he tried it once with irrigation, exceedingly successful results ensuing. If a person can afford the expense that irrigation necessarily involves, many cereals, he believes, will grow with great success in these parts.

But sheep is what Mr Wanke chiefly devotes himself to and on his land one acre can maintain, at least one sheep. His land is free from poison and there are 20 miles of fencing which surrounds paddocks of 100 acres. He intends to fence more with wire-netting than just ordinary wares though he has not much of the former done at present.

One of his objections to Shropshires’ is that they squeeze through wire fences very easily. He has now 700 sheep and, when all his sheep are home-bred merinos, he intends to purchase Lincoln rams and so obtain the popular cross. He intends to experiment with various grasses since the natural ones grow so well.

Concerning pigs, Mr Wanke possesses 130, for the most part Berkshires, the remainder being of the China breed. He acknowledges that the Berkshire surpasses other breeds, but says the China pig when crossed with the Berkshire gives satisfaction. The China pig runs to fat very easily and gives but modified satisfaction as a producer of its own kind. He thinks oats better food for them than barley and wheat better than both.

Within the limits of the homestead is a three-acre orchard which produces in abundance fruit of many varieties including apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches, apricots, figs, mulberries and almonds. Apricots are shy bearers, but the other fruits grow uncommonly well, especially apples, more trees of which fruit he is going to buy in order to export apples, for his present yearly fruit supply is mostly for home use.

Vegetables also help to make the farm a more mixed and complete one. Cabbages, cauliflowers, turnips, beetroot, and water and pie melons grow well. When he first bought the property he applied Eastern States formulae in selecting a spot to grow potatoes upon. This spot – what would be deemed a choice one in another State – was in a gully with the result that the potatoes were swamped. The next year he grew them on top of a hill, but this was too dry. He is going to make another experiment with them and adopt the happy medium of wet and dry.

He had three cows in milking at the time of my visit, but is not very favorably impressed with their returns, nor has he had much success with his poultry, though the birds are of the right kinds, including Leghorns, Orpingtons, Indian game and silver wyaudottes.

In one of the paddocks I saw a four and five-furrow plough, both of these Mr Wanke made himself, for he is an engineer by profession having gone on the land owing to ill health some years ago. He also made the harrows used on his farm, and the buggies and waggons.

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FARMING AT BROOMEHILL

Great Southern Herald
17 June 1905 – P3
(From our resident correspondent.)

The wet weather prevailing for weeks seems to have at last broken. Farming operations are at a standstill, farmers as usual being caught napping. It is safe to say one third of the area intended to be cropped will be left out through the boggy state of the ground. The season is now far advanced and crops that should be breaking through are not yet sown, nor are likely to be for some time.

During a recent trip through the Beverley district, I was much struck with the advanced farming methods adopted there as compared with ours. There, during May on all sides, the crops were above ground, and in many pad docks were being eaten down by sheep, while round our own district farmers were only sharpening their shares for a start at ploughing, the difference being our neighbours were working fallow almost wholly whereas there is not more than 100 acres of fallow in the whole district.

On each of two farms at Pingelly, I saw upwards of 400 acres that had been fallow being eaten down by sheep. There is a great deal that could be said on the respective methods of farming in these districts, but the most noticeable feature to a t’othersider is the up-to-date and thorough method of farming of the old settlers who, by the way, seem to have also had an eye for good ground as well.

I am pleased to report for the second time this season that Broomehill has topped the market for W.A. wools, the successful grower on this occasion being Mr P. Garrity Sen., one of the pioneer settlers and graziers of the G.S.R. At the May series of sales of Messrs Jacobson and Co., of London, Mr Garrity secured the top price of 1s.1p per lb for 19 bales of greasy wool, merino and 11d for crossbred; 7 1/2d for pieces, 9 1/2d for bellies and 10d for lambs. This is indeed a splendid result, and also a fine advertisement for our district. It, at the same time, demonstrates the value of the Lincoln merino cross, which also produces an animal of a robust constitution and large frame.

While I admit it requires more country for a given number of comebacks than merino and that more weight of fleece is obtained from the merino, the extra weight of carcass gives the crossbred the preference in what is here a meat market.

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