21 Jun 2013

Farmers front up to challenge of feeding snow-bound stock

10:24 am on 21 June 2013

Getting feed to snow-bound livestock will be the big challenge for many South Island farmers on Friday after the heaviest falls in decades in some areas.

Among them will be Jim MacDonald of Mount Gowrie Station on the Strath Taieri plateau west of Dunedin, where he says they've had the biggest fall of snow since 1995.

He says they made sure the stock were well fed on Wednesday before the snow started falling, but they'll have to battle through up to 1 metre of snow to get to them on Friday.

Mr MacDonald says if it's not possible to get around using tractors he'll use a bulldozer to get through the snow and then walk.

He says they're hoping this week's snow will clear a lot faster than the 1995 fall when it took six weeks before they saw the paddocks.