Snowed-up Stock.

Feilding Star, Volume XVII, Issue 48, 24 August 1895, Page 3

Snowed-up Stock.

The North Otago Times says : -We have a practical illustration of the length of time stock will live without food when snowed up. Mr George Suther.t land, who occupies one of the Maercwhenua run?, informs us that on J uue 13 snow began to fall, and on the date about two hundred sheep belonging to a Kyeburn settler were snowed up near Danscj's Pass. Several times Mr Dau sey has noticed these sheep when out getting his own sheep down, and about one»half of them still alive, although it must have been seven weeks ago since they were first snowed up. During this time they could have had no food other than the wool off each other's backs, if that can be called food. Mr Sutherland sajs the sheep he has removed from the snow country on to the lower country have generally hid about four inches of ice on their backs, and some wild sheep (carrying about three year's wool, have a coating of about six inches of ice, and look a nood deal hke armadilloe?, only being able to moTe the head up and down. These sheep are in variably frozen firm to the snow by the wool. At the same time there were snowed up in Dausey's Pass five bullocks, and these are now surrounded by a wall of snow six feet m height. Tho last time they were sotn they had been seven weeks imprisoned, and four of them were stillalive, although they h-id dwiudled away to mere skeletons. During the time the sheep and rattle have been imprisoned they hove been Mil/jf ctcd to all the icy blasts that hafe beau preva'enfc, and had these winds been less frequt-nt it is possible that amongst the sheep the deaths would have been few: J