Hard time for stock

Press, 17 September 1976, Page 15

Hard time for stock

The persistent spell of cold, wet weather in many parts of Canterbury during the last two weeks has brought an inevitable further loss of lambs—on top of the losses of last month.

But the weather has also been hard on ewes, particularly in districts where feed is rather short. Ground conditions are now very wet, but given a few days of fine weather, a good spring would begin to become a reality. As reported earlier in the season, lambing percentages have been good and often high. A Methven man remarked that this was surprising because several districts had experienced a fairly protracted dry period when the rams were put out in the autumn. While the weather this week has been far from good, it has at. least been a little easier on the lambs than last week, when some exceptionally heavy falls of rain were recorded. In the Okuku area early last week 4in of rain fell overnight, and heavy losses were counted next day. Similar falls were experienced in districts further north.

The result may well be that while the lamb drop is high, many farmers may emerge with only average percentages at tailing time. North Canterbury, north of the Waipara, has had a good drop of lambs, but the heavy rain last week — 4in to sin in 24 hours — took a heavy toll of lambs, according to the local veterinarian, Mr M. E. A. Cartridge. However, Mr Cartridge has found a marked drop in mortality through other causes, such as toxoplasma and other infectious abortion.

Since the snow in July, it has been a hard season for ewes, and losses have been higher than usual. The persistent. wet weather has left many ewes in poor condition, and their situation, according to Mr Cartridge, has probably been aggravated by a worm burden, leading to a general state of malnutrition. . Ewes can stand a few days of wet weather, but two weeks of cold, wet southerlies have been proving too much. Mr Cartridge has been advising farmers to drench their ewes at tailing time. Most flocks in coastal districts have completed lambing. In those flocks still

lambing, the showers which swept the area on Wednesday did not cause the losses expected. The explanation seemed to be that there were fine intervals throughout the day. It is when rain is heavy and constant, that young lambs succumb.

Like other districts, MidCanterbury has had a good lambing, but the feed situation has often been critical. Farmers are hoping for a few days of good, warm weather to bring on the spring growth. Methven has had an estimated sin of rain in the last three weeks. Conditions are very' wet, and feed is at a premium. However, the area appears to have escaped some of the persistently cold conditions experienced nearer the coast this week, with losses being described as not too bad.

Some very good drops of lambs have been recorded, in one case as high as 180 per cent. . Some farmers, who normally winter-over calves, kept ewes which would normally have gone to the works, and their lambing performances, too, have been very good. A district agent summed up the hopes of farmers generally when he said: “All we need is a week's warm weather, and we will get ahead of our problems.”