Farmers wait to count stock losses after ‘‘brutal’ storm
Farmers in the Otago and Southland regions of the South Island say any lambs born overnight on Monday could not have survived.
Federated Farmers Southland vice-president Bernadette Hunt said it was beginning to look a lot like 2010, when a nasty storm followed by days of rain left an estimated 250,000 to one million lambs dead.
‘‘Before this event started, the province was already wet, now there’s this ongoing event with snow and wind, and there’s a wet forecast to follow.
‘‘Farmers were well-prepared, but as this drags on, the sheltered areas are turning to mud, making conditions awful for lambs and ewes.
‘‘Coupled with the windchill, this is tough even on lambs that are several days old, and on ewes whose milk production will be affected,’’ she said.
Simon Davies, Federated Farmers Otago president who farms on the coast east of Milton, said there was between 5 centimetres and 7cm of snow on the ground yesterday morning.
‘‘It’s not fantastic lambing weather, one would have to say.’’
The majority of his ewes had already lambed and during an early morning check they looked ‘‘relatively comfortable’’.
‘‘But any newborns I don’t think will survive.
‘In fact, I’m quite sure they won’t survive. Any that were born last night will be dead this morning.’’
Losses couldn’t be counted yet as the snow cover was too thick.
Most of the farmers in the region would be lambing a bit later than he had and would experience losses, Davies said.
Hunt said conditions for farmers yesterday morning in Southland were ‘‘brutal’’.
‘‘The snow and wind are pretty brutal and that’s tough on stock.
‘‘Farmers are out in it doing everything they can for their stock this morning.’’
Snow had been widespread across the province, with some farmers reporting four inches of snow in paddocks.
Farmers had been wellprepared for the storm and their stock were well protected from the weather, Hunt said.