LOSSES OF STOCK

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 291, 21 September 1935, Page 2

LOSSES OF STOCK

FEED SHORTAGE IN SOUTHLAND. SERIOUS EFFECT ON DAIRYING. (Per Press Association.) INVERCARGILL, Sept. 20. Dairy fanners in particularly those in the Edendale, Wyndham, and' Seaward Bush districts, are experiencing tragic times. An extreme shortage of feed appears to be the sole cause of the trouble, but whether or not there are contributory reasons, their herds are being depleted to an alarming extent. Varying estimates are given of the number of cows that have died. They range from 300 to 1100, and it is safe to name 600 as a fairly accurate minimum estimate. The trouble has come just when values on the London market have given cause for renewed hope. Many animals have already been lost, and the total is by no means complete yet. The survivors, too, must suffer so heavily from the effects of under-nourishment that the outcome will be the equivalent of a quota on the province’s output. It has been an extraordinary year for Southland Probably there has not been another such summer in the last 40 years. Pastures were burnt up, turnip crops were the poorest for a very long time, and there was very little hay saved for winter fodder. The result was that cows were in low condition at the beginning of the winter. All rough herbage was soon eaten out, and the winter, although not bad for sheep, proved to be very severe on cattle. There were hard frosts in July, a bad spell in August and early September, and, followed again by frosts in the last week or two, this has kept back spring growth. #

Low prices for their produce have made it impossible for many farmers to augment their feed to any extent. The heavy rate of mortality has come two or three weeks before calving, and many more losses can be expected during the next fortnight or three weeks. t The rains of the last few days should have a good effect, but they have come too late to help cattle. Young glass should come away quickly now, and there is the added danger of scouring. So far there has been no disease of any seriousness, in fact, all stock has been vei*y healthy, and the extraordinary mortality can he accounted for only by the abnormal season, in one word, starvation. It has been impossible to get feed except at very high prices. In the usual course, supplies go north from Southland, and a number of inquiries were received again this year.

Instead of meeting them, Southland farmers had to look everywhere to get what they could, and they have had to pay up to £6 a ton for feed. One certain effect of the heavy mortality, together with the improved outlook on the London market, will bo a substantial rise in dairy stock values as soon as the feed position rights itself. There will be much building up to be done, but nothing now can bring the season’s output up to normal. It will be a while yet before dairy cows have a sufficient bite of grass, and probably three months before their yield is up to standard. Sheep have wintered fairly well, but because of the poor turnip crop, particularly, the yellow-fleshed varieties, and the very bare late spring, ewes ate having a pretty hard time. In some cases farmers are experiencing quite a heavy death rat©; up to 15 per cent, has been repei-ted. There has been no lessening in the incidence of ante partum paralysis, whicfi has been causing a great deal of concern. Some of the more progressive farmers are altering their feeding systems to combat the disease, and despite the extreme lateness of spring, a number of the better handled farms are showing a greenness in the pasture. A week of mild and genial weather will rectify the feed position for sheep.