Farmers Rush To Have Stock Killed

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30641, 6 January 1965, Page 1

Farmers Rush To Have Stock Killed

Canterbury farmers really rushed to get stock killed when the New Zealand Refrigerating Company’s Islington works opened Yesterday for the first time this year, said the general manager of the company (Mr \V. M. Cleland) last evening.

Because of the drought many farmers, particularly those near the coast, were in a very serious situation, said Mi - Cleland. These farmers did not want to hold on to stock any longer than they could help. Asked about the future for these farmers, Mr Cleland said: ‘‘lt depends entirely on rainfall. If the nor’westers keep up. the situation could be very’ desperate indeed. If the weather suddenly turns to the south or the east, and it rains for two days, the fanners will be right 'on the pig's back’." The weather for Canterbury farmers, said Mr Cleland, had been strange this season because of its extreme patchiness. Some areas were very dry, yet five or six miles away farmers were cutting hay. This type of patchy rainfall had been caused by the continuous north-west winds.

The Islington works, said Mr Cleland, would be killing to capacity almost immediately, and would remain so for the next four to five weeks. The works capacity is about 9300 lambs a day with three chains and part of a chain operating. Mr Cleland said that, if rain did not come soon, many Canterbury farmers would refuse to cull their

ewes, and these, too. would be pushed on to the works, increasing the rush.

Mr Cieland said that if Canterbury had two or three days of reasonably good, even rain, the work's kill would slow drastically. “Canterbury responds so quickly,” he said. “Canterbury has been declared, theoretically anyway. a drought area so many times. Rain has just come along and saved the situation, because the ground responds so quickly.”