North Canterbury's drought-stricken farmers hit the wallHeather ChalmersNorth Canterbury drought-stricken farmers say they have "hit a wall" in terms of feeding stock, despite a wintry blast delivering coastal districts some of their highest rainfall tallies for months. North Canterbury Rural Support Trust chairman Doug Archbold said while ewe pregnancy scanning figures were good in North Canterbury there was concern over how to feed these multiple births. Up to 350 farmers are expected at a major community event in North Canterbury on September 9, with entertainment from comedian and television personality Te Radar. Drought has cost individual farmers hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional off-farm grazing, supplementary feed and loss of income. Despite having only about 60 to 70 per cent of normal capital stock numbers, farmers were still struggling to feed them.

Source: Stuff August 10, 2016 22:55 UTC