Snow and wet conditions take their toll on many farms

Farmers are squelching in mud and fighting through snow as they attempt to feed out to cold and hungry animals in the southern North Island.

Snow and cold temperature hit the region late last week.

Manawatu farmer Gordon Mckellar said the only people pleased would be skiers and snowboarders.

‘‘So much for a predicted drier July.’’

The snow had eased back, to the delight of farmers and it had warmed up a bit.

Ruth Rainey, a farmer near Mangaweka in upper Rangitikei, said she had never seen as much snow fall as last week.

‘‘The few early lambs are okay. There are a few branches down and a few power wires. Power may be out for while.’’

She said the snow was starting to thaw late Thursday and it had gone from most farms yesterday.

‘‘But the wind got up so it was colder and it was already very wet so it will be miserable when the snow thaws. Cattle are not staying behind electric wires in their feed break, as the snow has pushed the wires to the ground.’’

Federated Farmers Manawatu/ Rangitikei president, Richard Morrison, said fortunately people had hay and baleage on hand.

‘‘But this is a big challenge,’’ he added. ’’It is the first really cold weather we have had this winter. There is snow in places it would not normally settle in. Many people hit with snow don’t know how to handle it.’’

He said when it snowed, or was wet and cold, it was not the time to check whether stock would eat supplementary feed, rather farmers should check when they were not under pressure.

Morrison said the best thing for farmers coping with wet and snow, was to talk to neighbours or those who had snow regularly.

‘‘The relentlessness of winter is often what gets to people. But animals are in good condition, though that is a double-edged sword. They are bigger and have heavier body weight and that means you have to feed them more. And ewes have more lambs on board. Scanning told us that.’’

He said winter was all about meeting stock’s nutritional needs. But wet weather meant more feed was trodden into the ground and farmers needed to move stock more often.