SEVERE DROUGHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22004, 10 January 1935, Page 12

SEVERE DROUGHT

MENACE IN QUEENSLAND FLOCKS' SERIOUS PLIGHT SHEEP DYING IN HUNDREDS That the position for stoekowpers in the Winton district, in the north-west of Queensland, was never so desperate as at the present time, was the opinion of a well-known pastoralist who had just had a look round some of the holdings, said the Brisbane Telegraph on January 2. The hot, drv weather of the last few weeks had reduced the chances of many selectors saving their stock. "Water holes considered as permanent supplies were mere puddle holes and sheep were hoggins: and dying in hundreds.

The newspaper said:—" All selectors are working short-handed, owing to the economic straits. In one case one man is looking after 7000 sheep with three boggy water -holes. As many as 120 sheep have been bogged in one hole at a time and he cannot cope with them. There is very littje grass in the district, and there is no outlet. The result is that buyers are not operating. A selector who travelled his flock out via Kynuna to Middleton can go no further and cannot come back owing to the water having dried up on the stock route. He has been granted access to a water-hole on Woodstock, station, which will last four days. "Most of the graziers with breeding ewes arranged for them to lamh in February, gambling on the season. Th« mortality is naturally great among these and aged or toothless ewes havo < no chance of survival. It is considered that if rain does not fall within tho next three or four weeks 50 per cent of the sheep in tho will die. The result is that many who have sheep carrying sufficient wool are arranging to have the fleece taken from them as soon as possible. "Ayrshire Downs to-day began shear, ing 4000 aged ewes carrying jeight months' wool. Pialaway and Erinagjialsa - began shearing to-dav. A buyer of sheepskins has been offered 1600 aged sheep carrying about seven months' wool for Id per head. Hand-Feeding Considered

"Practically everyone is feeding horses, but no one is feeding sheep, though a representative of a financial institution has made inquiries about the cost of doing so. Maize and lucerne chaff are now at a reasonable figure, but probably if feeding, '"ere begun these commodities would jump to moro than double their present price, as in the last big drought. "The grasshopper plague has been bad, but is abating. They havo stripped fruit and fodder trees and ring-barked them. A man camped in the country reports that hoppers ate his mattress, ticking. mosQuito net, books and papers, and are dying in millions. The stench drove him from his camp."

The Courier-Mail said, on December 31: —"Rain is urgently needed in tha Central West, around Longreach. whera conditions are somewhat patchy. In some districts pastures have been completely eaten out and sheep owners have already begun to move their stock to agistment country, while in other areas pastoralists will be able to carry on for a few weeks longer without hav. ing to incur the heavy expense of shifting stock to distant pastures. "In tha Flinders district, further north, graziers generally are encountering a bad time and are either looking for agistment country or travelling their sheep for crass. Here the main condition is one of drought. The country south of Huglienden, almost as far as Winton, is in a deplorable state, and this sector perhaps has had a mora gruelling experience over the past#ight or ten years than any other part of Queensland.

Heat and Dust Storms "Light showers have fallen in various parts of the Nor\h-West, but these have done more harm than good to existing grasses. Farther damage was caused to pastures during December by the extremely hot weather and dust storms, and the outlook in that region is causing grave concern. South of the railway, between Richmond and Julia Creek, and on toward Kynuna, a number of holdings have practically no feed left; and stock routes are eaten out. Several station owners in the Northwest are _feeding their young sheep on lucerne hay to keep them strong, but this, it was stated, could be carried on only for another four weeks at the most, owing to the expense. The cost is at about £lB and £22 per thousand weekly, according to the distance from the" railway. - Fortunately, the Peak Downs is enjoying an excellent season, and is flush of feed. Any amount of agistment c-cnu-try here is being used by central-west-ern stations. Monsoonal rains are expected shortly and if received thev will savO many stock owners from disaster.