Sheep losses

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33934, 29 August 1975, Page 8

Sheep losses

Sir, — It makes me sad that “God’s Child” has so many misconceptions. If she (will ring your office, she (may obtain our address and (phone number. We would i welcome a visit from her on the next cold wet day. We will equip her with waterproof clothing so that she can observe part of the day’s operations from before daylight till long after dark.. She will notice the fallen 80-year-old trees that used to shelter workers and animals, the foliage stripped from the younger shelter belts and the wind-wrecked shed. She will see the reviving of lambs under heat lamps and the bottle feeding. She will struggle out of dirty wet clothing with cold, stiff hands, to share our meals in welcome warmth. She will be weary with tramping through mud and she will share our sadness at the unavoidable and costly losses. — Yours, etc., U.S. August 27, 1975.

Sir, — “God’s Child” has apparently not realised that a short time ago we had a gale which flattened our' shelter and sheds. Farmers) do not sit inside and let their stock die. I assure the writer, the last five day’s storm, spending 12 hours a day out in it was no joke. Even though ewes were moved in and around sheds and shelter they lost their milk and thus their lambs. Despite what a lot of people think, the average farmer has a few brains and is not the epitome of Fred Dagg. — Yours, etc., FARMER. August 26, 1975.

Sir, — Once again in late winter there have occurred! very heavy losses of sheep.) How many times does this kind of thing have to happen before a determined effort is made to reduce such losses? A year or two ago the senior advisory

officer for the Department of Agriculture declared that the practice of pre-lamb shearing is a calculated risk in Canterbury. Lambing on a large scale at any one par-' ticular time is likewise a risky practice. There are no easy answers to the problem but surely both considerations of humanity and economics would suggest the need for some serious thought on how best to minimise future losses. — Yours, etc., DISTURBED. August 27, 1975. .