Feed For Ewes Rushed To North Canterbury

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30206, 10 August 1963, Page 10

Feed For Ewes Rushed To North Canterbury

Tons of nuts and molasses block were being rushed to North Canterbury yesterday to help feed sheep which are either lambing or close to lambing but have no chance of reaching feed which is under a foot or more of snow One consignment of nine tons reached Waiau, which is one of the worst hit areas, yesterday afternoon In this district the snow is reported to be up to about 22 inches deep. The possibility of serious stock losses in the North Canterbury district was mentioned last evening by a man who is closely connected with the livestock industry. As a result of the current storm.

he said, there was already a mounting incidence of sleepy sickness or pregnancy toxaemia in ewes and this was probably only starting. It would be a week or more before areas under a foot or more of snow were clear, unless there was a lot of rain, and then the country would be waterlogged. Ewes close to lambing are susceptible to, sleepy sickness when they suffer an interruption to their feed supply. The area under snow started about the Weka pass and areas severely affected included Waikari, Hawarden, Cui verden, Parnassus, parts of Cheviot, Scargill, and Omihi.

Lambs so far appeared to have fared fairly well, and he said that it had been surprising to see how much shelter a woolly ewe could give her lamb, but he thought that lambs might suffer more when the snow began to thaw and the country became extremely wet A spokesman for a firm which manufactures and distributes supplementary sheep feeds said yesterday that the telephone had been ringing aU day. Another firm said that it had received three urgent demands yesterday for supplies from farmers who were in critical circumstances for feed.