TERRIBLE DROUGHT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4378, 15 January 1941, Page 6

TERRIBLE DROUGHT

IN NEW SOUTH WALES. LIVE STOCK DEATH-RATE EXTREMELY HEAVY. PASTORALISTS HARD HIT. The death-rate among sheep and cattle because of privations in -the drought in New South Wales in 1940 is described by the chief of the Division of Animal Industry as “extremely heavy.” It is impossible, however, to estimate the numbers. Since the mid-winter, a procession of fodder-ladden trains into the droughtstricken sheep country has gone on day and night so that stock can be handfed.

In some cases, the cost of this feeding has become too great for graziers to bear, and they have had to give it up after incurring much expense in the earlier stages. The majority are still feeding, however, and, though thousands of sheep are dying, millions are hanging on to life and will do so, it is hoped, till the monsoonal rains bring relief in the near future. Should these rains fail the position in many cases will be very serious.

It is probable that, when the drought set in, there were greater reserves of fodder in the country than ever before. Because of that, combined perhaps with the stabilised price of wool, most graziers began feeding their sheep before they lost condition, and in that way helped to prevent losses swelling earlier in the season.

At the end of December practically all reserves have been consumed and most of the feed now being supplied is of this season’s growth. The call on wheaten, oaten and lucerne hay has been persistent for months, and, because the dry season also affected the agricultural country severely, a definite shortage of these fodders is in sight. However, the splendid rains that have fallen on the coastal and highland areas within the last month have so relieved the position that the call for feed for dairy stock has almost ceased, thus leaving more for the pastoral areas. The water position also has been relieved. Rain on the highlands this month created freshes at the source of many of the inland rivers, and,

'hough the flow lias not been very substantial in any area, at least there is now movement in many streams that for months were merely a succession of potholes and ribbons of sand and dead trees. OUTLOOK NOT BRIGHT. The year 1940 closed none too brightly for the pastoral industry. If it did not open propitiously, at least there was plenty of dry feed for stock over most of the sheep areas in the early months, and hopes were high that summer rains would bring early relief. Unfortunately, the rain did not come. There was a temporary break in April, specially in the central and eastern districts, but the western country was almost wholly missed.

Even then there was no lack of dry pasture. If it was not very nutritious, at least it provided the roughage essential to sheep and cattle, and in trefoil districts so heavy has been the seeding from the previous that hundreds of thousands of sheep were able to keep fat under conditions that belied their looks. The heat of summer, however, and a succession of searing winds further accentuated the position, and not only burned all nourishment out of the little natural feed that remained, but dried up tanks, dams and even rivers to such an extent that, in districts dependant wh6ly on rainfall for their supplies, carting and railing of water became necessary.