Hard Winter On Farms

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32232, 26 February 1970, Page 1

Hard Winter On Farms

Farms in North Canterbury and Mid-Canterbury have become so dry in the last two weeks that much stock is being sold because there is now little or no prospect of growing winter feed. The price of hay has risen to as much as $1.50 a bale, and in some districts only a quarter of the former stock is left. Waipara, Hawarden, and Omihi were the hardest-hit areas, Mr R. A. Milne, the senior farm advisory officer at Rangiora and chairman of the North Canterbury Drought Relief Committee, said yesterday. Farmers were now worse off than before Christmas and, with np crops and no feed, many would be in serious financial straits before the end of the winter. Cereal crops had produced yields well down on last year’s, he said.

“It’s never been as bad as this in the 20 years I've been in the district,” he said. “Old-timers compare it with 1930-1931, or even earlier. The rainfall in Rangiora is the lowest since records were first kept in 1919.” Drought-relief measures available to farmers included subsidy on hay cartage or freight, of up to $lO a ton, a subsidy on the return of stock frpm outside grazing for distances up to 100 miles, and. special taxation relief on forced sale or non-replacement of capital stock. . Because of their reduced income and the cost of buying feed, the working capital of many farmers would be seriously reduced, Mr Milne said. The Government had special loans available to help farmers in this situation.

As much as threequarters of the sheep had been sold in some districts, he said. One area had brought in 25,000 bales of hay, but had sent out 40,000 sheep. Conditions in Mid-Cantcr-hury and on Banks Peninsula were almost as bad, said Mr R. G. Jolly, a farm advisory officer and chairman of the drought relief committee for the area between the Waimakiriri and Rakaia rivers. Winter teed and roots that had looked promising had now wilted, and every scrap of hay and straw from grain and pea crops was being baled. The droughtrelief facilities were being used fully, he said. Farmers on Banks Peninsula, who had always relied on hay from the plains, were being forced to pay high prices for feed, he said.