Lamb losses near $3M

Press, 30 August 1986, Page 1

Lamb losses near $3M

Lamb losses during last week-end’s storm have cost Canterbury farmers at least $2.8 million. About 200,000 lamb carcases were collected this week by Canterbury Slink Skins, Ltd, from the area from Culverden to the Rangitata River. This was 70,000 more than ’the company’s general manager, Mr Jim Chisholm, had earlier estimated. "It’s the worst season we have had at this time of the year,” Mr Chisholm said. The company has collected 320,000 lamb carcases so. far this lamb-

ing ‘season. In 1975, the last time big losses occurred early in the season, 262,000 carcases were collected by the end of August The 200,000 loss affected only 2000 of Canterbury’s 6780 farmers, said the Ministry of Agriculture’s sheep and beef officer at Lincoln, Mr Lindsay Galloway. Coastal farmers from Cheviot to South Canterbury were badly affected, he said. Farmers in the foothills and high country were not affected as lambing there had not

started. "Those 2000 farmers, on average, would have lost up to 20 per cent of all their season’s lambs,” he said. The normal loss rate is 10 per cent The Ministry had also heard reports of shorn ewes which had not lambed last week-end dying in the wet and cold.

"We have no over-all figures, but there are reports of farmers losing up to 400 ewes and shorn hoggets,” he said. “Those farmers had a double loss, losing both ewes and lambs.”