GOOD WINTER IN PROVINCE

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32678, 6 August 1971, Page 13

GOOD WINTER IN PROVINCE

Very good winter conditions have j been experienced in South and Midf Canterbury, but August will be a testing ' time for some farmers on the light land | areas in the Christchurch district and | North Canterbury.

| Although the autumn . rains did not come until i late in the season, most districts had good growth well . into the winter. Old pas- < tures have not filled out J very well, but winter-feed J crops, such as turnips, ■». bulbed up well. < In contrast to the situa- ; tion of a year ago, hay has * not reached a premium J price, although it is still 1 dear enough. Lucerne 5 reached $1 a bale at some J sales in the late autumn, J but it is now more realis•f tic at 70c to 75c. In the Christchurch district, the seasonal situation ; has varied—even from farm I to farm. While some farm- | ers have adequate feed to ; get through to the spring, ■ others W?U find August a ‘ lean month. ! Mr R. G. Jolly, of the ' Department of Agriculture ;in Christchurch, described ? the present time as the ■? pinch month. Fanners still are feeding out a lot of hay, and he gave an instance of * a farmer, down to his last few hundred bales, having ■ to consider selling off some £ of his breeding ewes. J Sizeable yardings of . breeding ewes have been a * feature of the store section at Addington market in recent weeks, and Mr Jolly said that in a number of cases this would be an aftermath of the long, dry autumn. In districts' which were severely affected, such as from Darfield through to Weedons, Mr Jolly deJ scribed the winter feed situation on some farms as one of “touch and go.” While there was some recovery after late-autumn rains, old pastures did not produce any bulk. Turnip crops further inland showed quite a good recovery and bulbed up reasonably welL The main lambing has just begun in this area, and reasonably good percentages can be expected, although in some of the early-lambing flocks the twinning rate was low. With the exception of some of the light land country in the Swannanoa-West Eyreton area, most districts in North Canterbury have had a reasonably good winter. Although feed supplies have not been plentiful, they should be adequate

i But for some farmers in 1 the Swannanoa area, Aug- - ust will be a hard month, I according to Mr R. A. Milne, senior farm advisory : officer for the department I at Rangiora. Some will , have to buy in hay before the end of the month. Lambing has started in ■ some areas and, in Mr 1 Milne’s view, should be a 1 little better than a year ago. ; This year, he said, a lot of ewes were in better condi- • tion at tupping time. Although there was a dry spell after a good spring, there had been more feed 1 during the whole season. The feed situation in Midi Canterbury is, with some exceptions, pretty good, according to Mr C. P. Whatman, senior advisory officer for the department at Ashburton. “We have never had such steady growth right into the winter,” he said. “It continued right up to the end of June.” A storm or a run of cold weather in the middle of this month could make things difficult, as some spring growth is expected about this time. Ashburton had 24 frosts during July, and although they were not very heavy generally, they did put a stop to further growth. Recovery of pastures and winter-feed crops after the dry autumn spell was satisfactory. Some of the pastures were a bit thin and a bit weedy, but the situation was much better than had been expected earlier in the season. Stock were in reasonably good condition. Mr Whatman said not many twins had been obtained in early--1 lambing flocks, but in ’ others, the percentage was ‘ expected to be about normal. “I don’t think it will be as low as we expected in 1 March,” Mr Whatman said. ■ Lambs bom so far have , been of good size, he added. Early livestock returns ! for the Ashburton County show a reduction of 5 per • cent in sheep numbers. Mr Whatman said this was quite substantial for one year. It was brought about s by a number of factors ■ such as farmers swinging toward more cropping, or increasing cattle numbers at - the expense of sheep. This trend would continue if

lamb prices in the new season were not very good. Feed supplies in the South Canterbury area have been the best for some years, and stock are in good condition, according to Mr M. G. Boyer, senior farm advisory officer at Timaru. Growth of pastures during the autumn and winter had been surprisingly good. There was a»series of frosts about the third week in July, but that was the only period of regular frosty weather during the winter.

Rainfall has been sufficient to give the ground a thorough wetting: “It’s more than three years since we had similar conditions,” Mr Boyer said. Hay supplies, generally, are expected to be adequate, and there is not likely to be any pinch between the end of turnip feeding and the onset of grass growth. Mr Boyer could not make a forecast on lambing percentages at this stage, but said most flocks in the area were in good tupping order in the autumn.

Grass growth in the Walmate district during the late autumn was very- good, and Mr J. L. Symons, farm advisory officer at Waimate, described the winter as one of the best for years. Conditions were dry early in the autumn —particularly on the light land—but with some good rain there was a strong recovery of pastures and winter feed crops.

Pastures and winter crops have continued to make some growth during the winter, and at present there is a' surplus of feed, particularly in the Hunter Hills area.

Mr Symons said there was a possibility of a shortage of feed on the light land during the autumn, and some farmers reduced stock numbers, but they have had ample feed. Some farmers put the rams out a bit later this year, but the ewes were in good order and good lambing percentages can be expected.

Where conditions allow, there has been quite a bit of pre-lamb shearing, and there have been no weather problems. According to Mr Symons a lot of younger sheephoggets—did not do well in the autumn, but they had picked up and were looking well.