Challenges of Mid-Canterbury farming

To those who know little about the problems faced by the farmers who developed the land, the Mid-Canterbury plains look like an easy place to farm. In reality Ron and Judith Armstrong were faced with serious problems as they toiled to upgrade a neglected farm. The recurring drought, the light soil, the strong winds, the need for shelter belts, the high cost of irrigation, changes in Government policies affecting farmers, and the reduction of services for rural communities made their years on the farm seem like a constant battle.

Life on the farm was difficult for Judith and Ron, yet they did not come to the farm as inexperienced people dreaming of the rural life. Both had experience and training for the venture.

The years before Dorie Judith came from a farming family; Ron’s passion for farming came from regular visits to friends on a farm in his childhood and experience working as a farmhand.

Judith’s farming family Judith had farming in her blood with grandparents on both sides farming in New Zealand. Her McLaughlin grandfather worked at Longbeach and at the Camerons’ estate at Springfield in the days when there were over a hundred teams of horses on the farm. Later he developed his own farm at Irwell because he worked for the McMillans and was sold land by them. Often at that time farmers who sold some of their land lent money on mortgage to the purchaser. This happened less after the Depression when many second mortgages lent to assist farmers in difficulty were wiped by the Government in the Mortgage Relief Act, so lenders felt it was a less secure form of investment.

The Irwell farm of 225 acres was always a borderline unit as it was created out of another farm. This land was taken over by Judith’s father, Stewart McLaughlin, and farmed in addition to land of his own. He and his wife built a little house of their own and expanded it as the family arrived. Judith’s grandmother lived on her own when she was widowed and continued to milk a cow every day until shortly before she died at the age of seventy seven.

From the time she was a small child Judith realised that weather was a matter of great concern to farmers. On the McLaughlin farm heavy rain in the foothills caused anxiety because it resulted it the Selwyn River flooding. The water would flow down the main Leeston road which ran past the farm and up the drive towards the house. The North Canterbury Catchment Board removed willow trees and had stop banks built which eventually alleviated the problem. As the Irwell soil was heavy and held moisture, drought and windstorms did not cause particular problems there.

After the Depression under the new Labour government elected in 1935 farmers continued to work their land, but a substantial improvement in their incomes came only with World War 2 when primary produce was in high demand for export to Britain. In the war years a number of women began working on farms and were termed Land Girls, but after the war farming returned to being a male dominated industry.

Ron’s initation into farming Ron’s family had a large drapery business, T. Armstrong and Co, and a lot of country clients. Ron’s father had given in to his father’s persuasions and had given up an ambition to go farming so that he could take over the business.

Ron was taken at the age of six to go duck shooting in North Canterbury at a friend’s farm. He was left there for a holiday and went there every holiday thereafter, and continued in his ambition to be a farmer.

When he left school he worked on a farm, but his father wanted him to train as an accountant and then join the business. He agreed to work for an accountant for a year provided he could choose to go farming at the end of the year if he still wanted to. After a year Ron’s view was unchanged. He did not want to work indoors all his life. He went farming in a number of Canterbury areas for five years to get varied experience on sheep, cattle and mixed cropping farms. He spent a year studying at Lincoln Agricultural College, Canterbury, studying the fourth year curriculum of the Rural Field Cadets course – a course mainly designed for students contracted to work in Government Departments. Many of these students gained practical experience on Lincoln College’s own farm.

Now many farmers’ sons study at Lincoln University and complete a degree in agricultural science and/or commerce. Practical experience is not now offered on the University’s own farm.

A range of experiences working as a farm hand Ron had a mixture of experiences. He was on one large North Canterbury sheep station in a swampy area at the confluence of the Pahau and Hurunui Rivers. There were fourteen employees – a wide range of personalities. The cook, an old Scotsman who had deserted from a ship some years before, drank whisky in great quantities. The weekend food was terrible, but once the weekend bottle of whisky was finished the meals were good until he started the next bottle.

Living conditions Bathing was a new experience. Instead of the daily bath to which he had been accustomed in the city Ron found that with the shortage of hot water they were allocated a bath once a week. The men reckoned that the cook had washed the dishes in the bath water before they got it. Luckily they bathed in near darkness as there was no electricity at that time, so they couldn’t see the water clearly. The rest of the time they had to wash with cold water out of the spring – and this was during a severe winter. They used to have to break ice an inch thick on the troughs for the cattle to drink. Because of the swampy ground there was always a fog until midday.

Lighting for the men’s quarters was from candles or oil lamps, but the main house had acetylene lighting. There were brackets on the wall with an acetylene gas supply. The gas came from an outside building where they put water on the acetylene powder, which they imported from America, producing a gas which was trapped and piped into the house, giving a very bright light.

Ron at this time was always the employee. At the large sheep station he was one of the group of fourteen, but at other times he was the only employee and had a greater range of things to do. He lived in a sleepout, often primitive. One was actually in the toolhouse, and another was attached to the toolhouse and birds flew in and out. One night he woke up scratching himself and later found that birds had nested above his bed and the bird lice were falling through the match lining on to his head and his pillow.

The Labour Government had improved the living conditions for farm workers. Earlier a hut twelve feet square usually housed four men in bunks.

Now often the single men working on a farm have a cottage for accommodation and cook for themselves.

Not an easy life, but not a deterrent If Ron’s family thought that the tough life might put Ron off his farming ambitions, they were wrong.

Purchase of the farm He was looking for a farm when post-war rehabilitation was at its peak and would-be farmers had to go in a ballot for farms. There was also operating at that time a Land Sales Court which governed the price of farms. Any farm that came on to the market had to go before the Land Sales Court set up in 1943-44 and be valued. This had the effect of suppressing the land price. The returned servicemen were put on the land and given low interest loans by the Government. The low prices meant less cost to the Government. Ron’s father could see that sooner or later the Land Sales Court would be abolished and with the free market the prices would soar. He advised Ron to start looking for a farm and put him in touch with a suitable land agent. He settled on buying a farm of 744 acres at Dorie and lived there for thirty eight years. The farm was named Armadale. Rehab farms were usually about 500 acres which meant that this farm was not put in the ballot for the returned servicemen.

At the time of purchase this farm was regarded as an economic unit for one family, but with the improvements made by the Armstrongs, especially the irrigation, it can now support two or even three families.

Judith and Ron meet

Meanwhile Judith had trained as a schoolteacher and accepted an appointment to teach in a country school near her home at Irwell. Ron was working on a farm at Irwell. While there she and Ron met and they married and settled into farming at Dorie a year after he bought the farm in 1952.

Marrying and settling on their own farm sounds like the American Dream, but the life they embarked on was far from easy.

Visit the rest of the articles in this series: Part 2: An interview with Ron and Judith Armstrong – Problems developing a neglected property – too little money and too much work Part 3: An interview with Ron and Judith Armstrong – Improvements well established, but problems insuperable – expensive electricity and labour costs and sudden government policy changes Part 4: Farming changes in Dorie since 1990 – problems with water, new dairy farms