BANKS PENINSULA DROUGHT

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27876, 26 January 1956, Page 12

BANKS PENINSULA DROUGHT

Stock Feed Running Light

CHEESE OUTPUT REDUCED

Banks Peninsula is probably the area most hard hit by the present drought in Canterbury. Farmers all round the Peninsula said yesterday that their stock were still managing to keep some condition, but how long that would last without rain was “anyone's guess.” The most optimistic said that the already serious position could become disastrous unless there was rain within three weeks. Cheese factory production has fallen drastically. Normally the Peninsula cheese factories operate until the end of May. This year they will count themselves fortunate if production continues for another six weeks.

Everywhere the Peninsula paddocks are burnt up and offering no feed for stock; springs are low, in many cases dry; and there is little water in the creeks. Farmers are feeding cows on hay—when they can get it. There is an unprecedented demand for hay, and the demand cannot be met. One Little Akaloa farmer yesterday summed up the position in his area as: “Cattle are living on what little water they can find, and the scenery.” The one cheerful aspect of the Peninsula drought is that so far everywhere has been free from fires. Farmers along main roads have been keeping a close watch for careless smoking motorists, and local bodies have adopted specially stringent fire precautions.

In Akaroa borough, the use of garden hoses has been curtailed to one day a week, and this restriction has had the effect of keeping the township’s two reservoirs—one of 500,000 gallons, the other of 250.000—fu11. Before the restriction water supplies were dwindling. Even now, when the reservoirs are full, there is an ever-decreas-ing intake from the watershed, and if the dry spell is prolonged there could be a water shortage. Akaroa’s normal rainfall is 40 inches in a year. Last year it was only 28 inches, and long before the rest of Canterbury began to feel the effects of the dry weather, Banks Peninsula farmers were looking anxiously at drying paddocks and baring, windswept hills. A Stony Bay farmer said there had been only threequarters of an inch in four or five months.

Dairy Factories At the Barry’s Bay cheese factory, production has fallen by about onethird of a ton a day. Compared with the same time last yeah, milk supplies to the factory, are down about 900 gallons a day. Instead of closing in May, as usual, the company doubts whether it will be able to continue until the end of February. Supplies at the Okains Bay factory have dropped from 3500 gallons at the flush of the season to 1700 gallons—from 40 801 b cheeses to 20 a day, and on Monday only 19 cheeses were manufactured. “We may close within six weeks,” said an executive yesterday. A similar story is that of the Little Akaloa factory: but production there is even lower, for at the beginning of the year half of th*e supply area went over to sheep farming. At the factories themselves, water is a problem. “The supply is the lowest we have ever known; we are just working from day to day,” said the Okains Bay representative.

Worst Since 1915 The drought was about the same as m the early 1930’5, but in 1915 it was even drier, said a Menzies Bay runholder. Conditions for farmers now were not so difficult as they were in j 3O s ’ de sa id» when during the depression i am bs sold for a few abie mgS anC * ewes were unsale-

There was enough dry feed to keep the sheep going for a few weeks, the larmer said, and considering the condition of the country the stock was doing remarkably well. Bullocks could be put °n to what looked like a bare paddock, yet they kept and even improved their condition. The position would worsen if the temperatures wpfth— Yi tho H t „ rai . n ’ for in the hot v. eather the bullocks were not so hungry.

A farmer in Little Akaloa said his sheep were living on pig fern. “Thev will tackle anything now,” he said. He was one of the farmers who could not get hay for his sheep. Cows and calves were not faringJas well as the

, ,' T 1 ? e driest in living memory,” is the description of old settlers in the Stony Bay area. Many of the springs now dry had not previously run dry and all the springs are low. as are the creeks Even manuka trees and some broad-leafed native trees are dying. Ihe stock are-all right at the moment and can carry on, but not for m Jtoh longer,” said one farmer. . ■cne western side of Akaroa harbour is rather better situated than the other bays, although there, too, the hills are tinder dry. A Wainui farmer said there was still a reasonable amount of water in the springs, although all were showing signs of weakening.

EFFECT ON FRUIT CROPS

EARLY RIPENING

LIKELY

Unless there is a fairly heavy fall of rain m North Canterbury in the next few weeks, it is probable that much of the fruit crop will have ripened before it is fully grown. The unusually dry weather and freedom from late frosts this year have resulted in what will probably be record crops. The abundance of fruit on the trees has, , h °wever, accentuated the water shortage because more moisture has been needed to swell the fruit. . Although many Prowers are optimistic that a good downpour would swell the fruit in time for the picking of early crops, others believe that it is already too late for the rain to oe of an Y benefit except to the later crops. There is also a danger that some apples particularly Cox’s Orange—would split with the sudden intake of moisture if rain comes at this stage. Orchardists in the fruit-growing district of Loburn are perhaps more fortunate than growers in other parts of Canterbury, as many are still able to obtain a fairly constant supply of water by tapping the many underground streams. But these wells are lower than ever before, and several have either dried up completely or have had to be deepened. Those without usable wells vannot irrigate at all because there is no other source available.

Some fruits are standing up to the drought better than others. One prominent grower, Mr H. R. Sampson, who is a member of the New Zealand Apple and Pear Marketing Board, said that Sturmers were on the whole thriving better than other varieties of apples, but Cox’s Orange would be very small if they did not soon get rain. Nectarines will also be smaller this year, although it has been found that their flavour is often better than when they are fully grown. “I don’t know how much longer we can hang on, but it is not much longer,” said Mr Sampson. “It looks as though the season will be short and sharp. Everything will be early. Even the late crops will probably be two or three weeks early in finishing.”