Farmers Face Winter With Limited Feed

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30426, 28 April 1964, Page 11

Farmers Face Winter With Limited Feed

Canterbury farmers are going into the winter with less feed than they have had for years. It is a result of a poor spring with much less than the accustomed spring growth to build up hay supplies and a dry autumn with little pasture growth and limited growth of supplementary feed crops.

The critical time on the province’s farms will come in the late winter and early spring when ewe flocks approach lambing. Short feed supplies then when ewes are in advanced stage of pregnancy could have a serious effect on the lamb crop and for the second year the wool clip could be down again. •

Over the last few weeks there have been hopes that good rains would set off autumn growth that would go a long way towards remedying the acute shortage of feed for winter and early spring requirements, but these rains have not come, and although, pastures have greened up and in some areas there has been a little growth, in the main paddocks are relatively bare.

While good rains are still urgently needed it is feared that they may be ' followed by wintery conditions. A mild winter would, however, tend to redress the balance between feed supplies and requirements and this is the dream of many farmers today. It would confirm the opinion of those who believe that “Canterbury never quite lets you down”. Relief Sought

A drought relief committee in the downlands area of the Mackenzie country has renewed its application to the Government for drought relief because the situation has become more- serious since the earlier application was turned down.

Mr D. G. Reynolds, farm advisory officer of the Department of Agriculture in the area said at the week-end that according to old residents the situation was probably as bad as it had been for .45 or 46 years. In the downlands area and also the higher country

in the Mackenzie there has been little growth to speak of for a year and with winter at hand the prospect is that this situation will persist for 18 months. To make matters worse turnips are infected with virus and will have to be fed off quickly if any benefit is to be gained from them. Chou moellier and swede crops are not growing and there is little growth on pastures and what there is may be burnt out as soon as there are a few good frosts. Some farmers have spent more than £6OO on supplementary feed. So far there have been no approaches made to the Government from other parts of Canterbury for drought relief but the field superintendent of the Department of Agriculture in Christchurch, Mr A. R. Dingwall, said that there had been talks between representatives of Federated Farmers and officers of his department on several occasions and in various parts of the province about drought relief. Stock Being Sold

Mr C. P. Whatman of the Department of Agriculture in Ashburton said on Friday that some farmers had already begun to reduce their ewe flocks in the belief that they might get a better price fo. ewes now than if they were forced to sell later on. Further north a farmer s.-h’ that he was going to have

to sell heifer calves that he normally carried on longer and also some other young stock. He said he could not hope to carry these young cattle through on straws. Mr Dingwall sard that even on the most favoured farms hay supplies, would probably only barely meet normal requirements and on the vast majority of farms they would constitute only three quarters or less of . normal reserves.

Mr R. C. -Schofield of the Department of Agriculture, at Timaru reports that early sown turnip crops as “packing up.”

Mr Dingwall said that later sown turnip crops and new grass, had established fairly well but were not making much growth. Some Improvement

Mr .Whatman reported that there had been growth along the foothills of Mid-Canter-bury in the last month and Mr Schofield said there had been some improvement in South Canterbury, but added this could soon be set back by the start of frosts and feed shortages were likely before the winter was over. Some farmers are, however, better off than their fellows. Mr Whatman said among these were those who had grown more swedes than their normal requirements in the expectation of being able to sell some. Though their crops were not very good they had enough for their own needs. Similarly those, who had sown turnips and grass after a long fallow were better off than those who had sown after a short fallow.