Reports of stock losses due to the 1m-plus dump on South Otago-Marlborough were, as of late last week, few, but a long winter and tight feed situation loom.
“We’re probably going to end up losing sheep throughout the winter, there’s just so much snow in the affected areas,” says Andrew Paterson, chair of Federated Farmers High Country in Otago.
While the low country on his farm, Matakanui Station, about 30km northeast of Alexandra, missed the worst of the weather, a little further east farmers were battling drifts metres deep.
“It’s going to eat into feed supplies because people wouldn’t have been budgeting on starting 100% feeding so early.”
In Otago the snow fell days after severe flooding and the sodden ground is compounding the difficulty of travelling in waist-deep snow, says the Rural Support Trust coordinator for the area, David Mellish. “The main problem is that with a metre of snow you need really, really big machinery to shift it.”
Calls for snow-raking volunteers produced a good response and the 60-or-so farms that contacted the trust for assistance were very appreciative, says Mellish.
“We’ll be holding functions in the key areas to thank the volunteers and get the farmers together.”
Advice on stock and feed management in such extreme conditions will be available at the events. Contact B+LNZ or Federated Farmers for details, says Mellish.
South Canterbury Rural Support Trust is putting similar information from a local consultant on a Facebook page, says regional coordinator, David Hewson. “Most people are telling me they’ve got plenty of feed but where stock would normally be on tussock at this time of year they’re going through it faster than they should be.”
Like Mellish, Hewson and Mid Canterbury counterpart Sue Baird say the snow-raking they’d been asked to provide help with should have all been done by early this week.
