Gympie and District Farming and Grazing 1905 – Kilkivan – Part 2

This story is Part 2 of a 3 part series about the Farming and Grazing in the Kilkivan area.  The Article was published over several weeks in The Gympie Times and Mary River Mining Gazette and we will also publish the stories in several parts with this second part part features the farms of Mr George Elderfield, Mrs C. E. Ray and Mr Frederick Schollick.  You can find Part 1 of the story here.

“GYMPIE AND DISTRICT FARMING AND GRAZING.
No XXIII.
-— (By Our Special Reporter).
Kilklvan District

Mr. George Elderfield owns the “Berk Farm” of 175 acres of ring barked ridges and flats, on Serpentine Creek, with frontage to the Kilkivan road. Owing to the drought and other causes, nearly all the cattle were lost, and farming and pig raising are relied on to keep the house and find money to lay by.  Twenty acres are under cultivation with maize, pumpkins, potatoes, etc., and another piece of land is being paled in for lucerne. At the time of my visit the pigs, of which there are about 30, including 5 breeding bows and a Berkshire boar, were being fed on corn stalks just beginning to turn brown.

The next dairy and grazing farm is that of Mrs. C. E. Ray, called “Cotswold.”  This lady had about 1,000 acres, nearly all of which is ringbarked. A small patch of a little over 5 acres is under cultivation on the flat on the bank of Serpentine Creek, the crops of which are utilised to feed the pigs and horses. In the summer months there are generally about 50 cows being milked once a day, which form about half the entire herd at the present time. The redwater worked havoc among the cattle for 32 milk-ers, and 50 others died in a month or six weeks, the total losses amounting to over 100 head. The drought was also responsible for 20 deaths. The ticks were not nearly as numerous as in past years, but the whole herd is still regularly dipped on the farm.

A track leads through Mrs. Ray’s prop-erty, from the Gympie-Kilkivan road up to the Serpentine Creek to the home of Mr. Frederick S. Schollick, who is one of the residents who takes a keen interest in matters that affect the local in-terests. Although his friends have been un-successful in placing him on the Shire Coun-cil, there is no reason to doubt that in the near future that body will have the as-sistance of his experience and sound com-mon sense. As a good judge of dairy cat-tle he has long been known, and when called upon to fulfil the difficult duties of judge at the late Gympie show, his decisions gave satisfaction to the exhibitors, which is no mean praise. He has also ably filled the position of honorary-secretary to the local Race Club, and on resigning that position this year, his services were still retained by members as a committeeman. The home farm consists of 554 acres of good sound ridges and flats, with a fair proportion ot scrub, which when felled and put under grass will considerably increase the grazing capa-bilities of the place.

Mr. Schollick has also lately selected 360 acres of land on Bungmillar Creek; most of which has been ring-barked, although the fencing is not yet completed. Near the house there are 18 acres under cultivation with maize, sor-ghum, and cape barley for ensilage, about an acre of lucerne, and general crops for feed, including mangel-wurzel, swede turnips, sugar beet, etc. He is a thorough believer in the system of rotation of crops, and carries this out whenever possible. Of the root crops, sugar beet is considered the best for both cows and pigs, but it does not yield so many tons to the acre as swedes or mangals. Seven years ago Mr. Schollick commenced making ensilage, and was so sat-isfied with the results that he has continued storing up feed in his two silos, 15 feet by 15 feet by 18 feet deep, every year since.  As he is the only farm-er I have visited who has had practical experience in this important fodder for many years, his views and experience on the subject will be of great interest. The silos that have been used in the past are strong rough structures, the frames built of round posts, morticed into round top plates and lined with planks, not by any means air tight. The steep bank near the creek has been cut away sufficiently to leave a level surface on which the silos stand; the fill-ing of same being done from the upper ground so as to save pitching or elevating, and they are emptied from a removable sec-tion on the opposite side; the ensilage be-ing carried away to the “benches,” from which the cattle feed, by a trolly running on hardwood rails.

Ensilage can be made from any good grass or practically any green fodder ; M. Schollick has made it from maize teosinte, amber cane, imphee, caffre corn, cape barley, lucerne and oats, but he gives the preference to maize cut when the grain is in the milk stage; or it can be put in the silo as late as when the grain is three parts ripe, with good re-sults. Amber cane comes a good second to maize, for the purpose of making ensilage. If the crop that is being put into the silo is at all dry, it should be well damped, particularly round the edges. Ensilage is certainly better if the stuff is chaffed, but no chaffing has been done on this farm, which shows that it is not essential: when ever long stuff is put in it must be pro-perly packed to lie evenly. The filling should be done slowly, say 10 tons a day, so as to give the ensilage time to heat evenly, and if a day is missed while filling is going on it will not do any harm. The silo can be filled also when the crop is quite wet from rain— it is better wet than dry — and no roof nor cover is needed. Weighting has to be done with judgment and the ensilage must not be allowed to get plied about a week after the silo has been filled.

When weighting Mr. Schollick pro-ceeds as follows: the top of the ensilage is covered with saplings, about 3 inches in diameter at the small end, then hardwood logs are put evenly on the saplings, about 5 tons being allowed for a silo such as he has. When feeding a thin layer should be taken off the top (a pick may be required to loosen it) and given to the stock fresh and warm. Give the cows, after milking, as much as they will eat in winter, and they will then go away and graze on the dry grass in the paddock. Ensilage is a good ration for growing pigs and they are very fond of it: Calves do well on it after weaning: in fact every kind of stock, with the exception of horses, including the poul-try, will eat ensilage readily. Mr. Schol-lick has exhibited ensilage at Gympie, Bris-bane, and Bundaberg Shows (not for com-petition) where the quality has in every place been favourably spoken of ; in Brisbane it attracted the notice of the late Agricultural Adviser, Mr. Peter McLean, who asked how it was prepared.

Among the cattle it was only to be expected that there would be a fair proportion of good milkers, and to judge by appearances this is the case for of course, the cows are not yielding well in the middle of winter. The herd consists of about 100 head. 50 of the cows being broken in, and endeavours are made to have an average of 40 milking ; al-though there are at present only 18 going through the bails, twice a day. Only the female calves are reared, and all of them are dehorned by the caustic potash process. The losses from redwater have not been as severe on this farm as in some places, but a few deaths have been constantly occurring, and all the cows that should have come in to be milked last winter died from this dis-ease. The herd was built up originally from cows of any breed that showed good milking points, and the first bull was an Ayrshire. For the last five years only Jer-sey bulls have been used, the results being satisfactory as the small type of the pro-geny suits the ridgy country.

Among the pigs are three breeding sows and a Berk-shire boar of good size and quality ; a Yorkshire boar, to be used as a cross, that had been purchased from the Agricultural College, arrived on the 1st June in dis-gracefully poor condition, but is beginning to improve with a liberal ration of skimmed milk. This is not by any means the only case of complaint about the condition of the stock from the College, for which good prices had been paid, and in many cases the quality, particularly the boar pigs, is not such as should be sent away from a Government stud farm to improve the breed in the far districts.

Update: George Elderfield died in September 1931 and is buried at the Gympie Cemetery.  Mrs Catherine Elizabeth Ray married Archibald McCormack in 1908 and she died in 1948 and is buried in the Kilkivan Cemetery.  Frederick Schollick died October on 1952 and is buried at the Gympie Cemetery.  

 This story was compiled by Kathy Punter.

Sources:  Trove; Qld BDM; Gympie Cemetery Trust;