THE SNOWFALL

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24624, 21 July 1945, Page 3

THE SNOWFALL

EFFECT ON STOCK DIFFICULTIES OF HAND FEEDING The disruption of telephonic and other communication with many districts in North Canterbury has allowed patchy information of a definite nature to come to hand of the effects of the week-end storm. The fall appears to have varied considerably, but districts thought to have had a heavy fall report from 18 inches to two feet. On the eastern faces of Banks Peninsula, on the ether hand, some farmers report no more than three inches. Ordinarily with a quick thaw, the scope for drainage would have been limited, but throughout the whole of the province there was little sign of the snow disappearing off the flat land. Frosts each succeeding night (of unusual intensity) until Thursday afternoon prevented any thawing process. Singularly enough the_ tussock hills appeared to be losing its coating early in the week, probably due to the snow being held up by me’ tussocks, thus preventing it coming into contact with the freezing that was affecting tbe surface of the ground. This factor may operate to some extent to reduce losses on the high country. “Dopiness” In Ewes The unusual conditions are creating problems for sheep farmers, of which they have had little previous experience. The most difficult of these relates to ewes, the main lambing of which in North and Mid-Canterbury is little more than a month away. The ewes have had to be entirely hand-fed, and their inaccessibility to feed supplies for the first few days in some districts were considered by farmers as likely to set the ewes back and render them more susceptible to tbe trouble. Scattered reports from various districts indicate this development. A correspondent in tbe Palmside district of the Amun cojinty reported as early as Tuesday that some ewes in his flock were beginning to show the trouble. The fall in this district was from 18 to 24 inches, and there are many areas on the higher downs where up to 18 inches were recorded, but thawing was much better on the downs on the sunny faces. Exercising the Ewes To get feed to their ewes some farmers have cleared a track by the trac-; tor, the track being widened to three or four feet, and being used for keeping the ewes exercised to stave off dopiness. Tbe amount of feed and the balance of it are matters that farmers have had to determine for themselves, as there is little procedure for them to follow. The snow caught flocks at the most susceptible period in their pregnancy, and adequate exercise without heating up the ewes, and well balanced feeding with hay and water appear to be the practical steps to tsks The effects on the ewes show strange singularities. One farmer in North Canterbuiw said that his twotooths and sound mouthed ewes were showing no sign of dopiness, but his four and six-tooth were. The High Country A better report than might have been expected comes from the high country in North Canterbury. A survey of a number of reports to hand is to the effect that the fall was little more than a normal winter one, and not up to the severity of those of a few years ago. This was probably suggested on Monday, by the relatively lighter fall at Hanmer than on the low country. The damaging snows on the high country are from, the north-west, but tbe week-end visitation was from the south. The snow on the planes in the Amuri County is thawing very slowly, and there was still about a foot lying on the flats about Culverden yesterday. Frosts have been exceptionally severe, 30 degrees being registered at Culverden on Thursday morning.