IN SERIOUS PLIGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 16, 20 January 1926, Page 16

IN SERIOUS PLIGHT.

FARMERS IN HAWKE'S BAY. EFFECTS OF DROUGHT (By AYRO.) The continued period of dry weather is having a very serious effect upon the farmers in Hawkc's Bay. and many have already made heavy losses through having to gt rid of much of their stock at sacrifice prices. Day by day the i position is becoming more serious, and unless good rains arc experienced in t''e near future, the freezing works will have difficulty in securing sufficient stock to make the keeping open of the works a profitable proposition. At the commencement of the season the works were kept busy for a time with milk lambs, but with the continued dry weather these have lieen going off, and wjek by week smaller numbers are being received into the works. January usually sees the bulk of the milk lambs into the works ill Hawke's Bay, for they are then commencing to grow, and, instead of fattening, arc inclined to grow leggy. Rape a Failure. In normal seasons the lambs which are not got away off their mothers are placed on to good rape crops and fattened, but this season the almost complete failure of the rape crops has meant that few lambs will be topped off in this manner. While in the Waipawa district, the writer was informed by a prominent farmer that in normal seasons he had close on 100 acres of good rape on which to turn his lambs in January. The whole of this crop has been a complete failure this season, the dry weather having stunted the growth. Farmers who grow turnips are in little better position, as those, too. have not been nearly as good as usual. Even if three or four days' good steady rain were experienced it is doubtful • whether it would now be in time to save many of the crops which have been spoilt throughout the district. Burnt-up Pastures. From one end of Hawke's Bay to the other all that one can see is the burntup pasture lands, and it is a fact that practically the only green patches existing in the district at the present time are the stands of lucerne, which stand out from the parched pasture like oases in the desert. All through Central Hawke's Bay and even in - the hill country behind Waipawa and'Waipukurau, the same conditions hold good, and many of the farmers there have been compelled to sell a considerable portion! of their store stock simply because they will not have sufficient feed to keep them any longer. On the flats the position is hardly so serious, as there is abundance of water, and so long as the big sheep have ready access to water, they do not do so badly. Cattle feed is at a premium, and for months past owners have been sending drafts away to other districts. A large number of Hawke's Bay cattle have been sent to the .Waikato, and those farmers who got in early and sent their ( cattle away before conditions became too bad were fortunate in realising fair prices. Any of the cattle which have recently been ! sent out of the district have had to be disposed of at sacrifice prices. Rain at New -Year. The New Year was ushered in witn rain, and throughout Central Hawke's Bay a good downpour was experienced. It is safe to say that not one of the farmers who was attending any of the many sports gatherings held on that day regretted the soaking that he got. Many imagined that the rain was sufficient to do immeasurable benefit to the pastures, but the actual results were very disappointing indeed. Twenty-four hours after the rain had ceased it would have been almost impossible to tell that any had fallen. The arid, scorched pastures soaked up the rain greedily, but it did little real good. Had the rain continued for 24 hours, it would have been worth thousands of pounds to the farmers, but as it was it was of little practical value. On the hill lands a green tinge was perceptible, but that was all, and there was little resultant growth. Farmers who bad been waiting for rain to soften their land for ploughing were disappointed, for the country was as baked after the rain had finished as it was before it started. The hot, dry winds that followed after the rain soon undid any good which might have been done. It is apparent that only a long spell of moist weather can assist the" Hawke's Bay farmers to any great extent, so that the feed will not only be freshened, but will 'be given the opportunity of making fresh growth. Losses by Farmers. Besides hampering the farmers in their fattening operations, the drought has been responsible for severe losses in other directions. Practically every farmer in a big way has been forced to sell some of his stock, and thus ease his I property, and the prices received for the sheep which were sold have .been very much lower than usual. Buyers from the Waikato and ' Manawatu districts have been busy for some time, and many thousand head of sheep have gone out of the district. The buyers have had to take the sheep for long distances, and they have not forgotten to make ample allowance for the cost of railage. Probably the farmers have, on the average, had to sell their store sheep at 5/ I a head less than they would have reI ceived in an average season, and when it is remembered that they have had to get rid of large numbers of sheep, it will lie seen that their losses have been exceptionally unfortunate. (^ It is to be hoped that good rain will fall throughout the district during the next few weeks and that the farmers, through having a good autumn, will he able to recoup some of their heavy losses.