Weather Hard On Stock

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31728, 11 July 1968, Page 1

Weather Hard On Stock

Although snow and low temperatures in Canterbury have been hard on stock, losses have not been heavy; if there is more snow and conditions are prolonged the position could be serious.

Mr D. G. Reynolds, a farm advisory officer of the Department of Agriculture at Fairlie, said he had been told that the winter in the Mackenzie Country was the worst for about 13 years. A runholder in the upper Waimakariri said on Tuesday that snow varied from about 6in to 18in from Porters Pass to Arthur’s Pass. There had been no substantial losses of stock, although the conditions had naturally affected them, and in one or two areas a considerable number of sheep had had to be raked from quite deep snow. A Rakaia Gorge man said that snow was lying on coun-

try above 1500 ft to 2000 ft to a depth of about 18in except in drifts where it was deeper, No substantial losses of stock were expected. A runholder in the southern part of Mid-Canterbury said that east of the gorges there was little snow but to the west there was a big area of country covered by a foot of frozen snow with some big drifts. Where they had had to dig sheep out of snow he had been gratified at the way they had come out after a good season since the snow last November, he said. Mr Reynolds said that the whole of the Mackenzie Country had some snow over it and it had been there for two to three weeks. A 'northwest wind had blown it into drifts and hard on to the ground, and since then it had frozen. All runholders had been able to get to their stock and nearly everyone was feeding stock.

Few stock had been lost and feed was adequate in the meantime although some farmers wished that they had not sold hay earlier. Mr Reynolds said that as long as the thaw came soon no harm would have been done but if these conditions continued for a month or more then the outlook would not be good. In places the snow was only an inch or two deep but it was frozen and covering feed. On some days temperatures had remained very low all day and this rather than the snow had been hard on stock.