Cleaning The Hills

Bringing gorse-covered land into production is one of the biggest problems confronting farmers. But it's been solved at Ngawhatu Hospital Farm. For weeks now, caterpillar tractors of Transport Nelson have battered, burned and cut the gorse on a 60-acre block and sown with grass and top dressed. This has been accomplished by giant discs and the skilful driving of Wayne Bollmer and Bob Wagner, who have pushed their giant vehicles and discs over steep hills again and again.

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These bare hills (at top) were covered in gorse a short time ago

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Wayne (below) and Bob (above) discing their way across, the cleared land

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Wayne needs all his skill as a driver to ensure that even the steepest sections are covered