Sheep to be slaughtered

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 3

Sheep to be slaughtered

By

DAVID LUCAS

Sheep which have been severely emaciated by the South Island drought are being killed on-farm by slaughtermen employed by the Ministry of Agriculture.

The disposal of droughtaffected sheep, considered to have no commercial value, is being financed by the Government under its drought relief package. Initially, such stock was slaughtered on short chains at freezing works, where parts of the sheep, such as the pelt, could be saved. But the costs involved outweighed the value of the by-products and the Ministry decided it was more economic to

slaughter the sheep on farms and bury them.

Up to 3000 sheep have already been slaughtered in Canterbury under the relief package, about half of these on shortchains.

Mr Lionel Wells, the management support officer in animal health for MAFQuaI, at Christchurch, said the number of stock slaughtered was small compared with the total sheep population in Canterbury. Thousands of sheep and cattle had already been trucked out of Canterbury to grazing in Southland and Nelson. Limited grazing outside the droughtaffected region meant it was not possible to totally destock the worst areas.