Thick snow, harsh frosts hit stock

Press, 9 July 1983, Page 1

Thick snow, harsh frosts hit stock

Disastrous stock losses loom in the high country of the South Island, as bad weather continues without respite. More than 45,000 sheep have been rescued from thick snow in northern and Central Otago during the last week, but large numbers remain stranded in several parts of the high country. On Lake Ohau station, in South Canterbury, a helicopter has been used to make air-drops of hay to snowtrapped sheep far from the homestead. Mrs S. H. Weatherall, the wife of the runholder, said last evening that she and her husband were most concerned about their replacement stock of 1000 hoggets, which were very weak and unlikely to last unless there was a big thaw soon.

The snows of earlier in the week had been followed by harsh frosts, and it was snowing hard again last evening.

“It does not look good. Even if we can get the hoggets out we have nowhere to put them,” said Mrs Weatherall. She believed that stock would have already been lost on runs in the area, but it was impossible to tell the extent of the losses while the snow still lay deep.

At Glen Lyon station, shepherds had been snow raking for trapped sheep from dawn till dusk. The runholder on the nearby Birchwood station intended to try to transport stock down-country, said Mrs Weatherall.

In the Upper Clutha and Upper Waitaki valleys, shepherds have enlisted die aid of helicopters and bulldozers to get stock from deeply snow-covered areas to lower slopes. Thousands were still trapped in metre-deep snow, and it was unlikely that the losses could be estimated before the spring muster. Further north, in the Mackenzie Country and Canterbury, the situation was not nearly as bad, although there may have been isolated stock losses, said a Ministry of Agriculture spokesman. Snow falling yesterday has prevented the Ohau skifield from opening this morning, as had been advertised. Workmen were unable to clear the road, and it was unlikely that it would be clear today, said the chairman of the Ohau Ski Area, Mr Paul Mortlock. Unless the weather cleared, it was doubtful that the road would be free of snow by Sunday, he said.