FEED BECOMING SCARCE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19247, 12 February 1937, Page 6

FEED BECOMING SCARCE

NORTHERN SHEEP TREK TRUCKS COMING INTO USE DUST PROBLEM ON ROAD Feed is starting to become short on the roads between Poverty Qiay and the railhead at Taneatua, while the dust is ; .ls<> "pausing a big problem through the travelling of many thousands ol sheep. For aomo time, feed presented no ditficultv at all, for the copious summer rains" brought away a flush of growth. However, the numbers of sheep through both the Waioeka and Motn mules have been so large that everything available is eaten practically bare along the road and also in tlie night paddocks. The. result has been that large numbers are now being transported by double-decker lorries, and one carrier is reported to have contracted to carry 5000 sheep between Gisborno and Taneatua.

The MoLu is stated to be in a worse condition for teed than the Waioeka, but there is still a fair amount of feed on the roadside when the Opotiki flats are reached. The sheep now are not in such good condition as the earlier drafts. Pastures on the roadsides are suffering from large clouds of dust from the passing sheep, and the road is suffering from the passage of so many thousands of I vps. the surface in 'many parts becoming picked out and causing inconvenience to road users.

QUICK TRANSPORT

24 HOURS TO KING-COUNTRY The motor truck is providing quick transport to the Waikalo and the King Country. A draft of 800 store sheep, being the balance of ti lot of 1500, left Puha at 0.1. j a.m. yesterday in 10 trucks connected with the I p.m. train from Taneatua, and were in their paddocks in the King Country by this morning, n total time from farm to farm of -4 hours. The draft comprised H-ycar and 2tooth ewes and also some wethers, and according to reports they arrived in very fresh condition; in fact a report, received bv the vendor later in the rtav stated' that they seemed to have been moved merely from an adjacent paddock.