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Earlier 2023
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NZFW – September 15’14
Red-zoned woolly munchers
Annette Scott
A plan to graze sheep in Christchurch’s red zone has panned an early roasting.
As the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) prepares to demolish 8000 red-zoned homes, planning and design gurus have suggested grazing sheep would be the cheapest way to manage the cleared land.
While mowing and spraying the grass would cost about $2 million a year, the sheep proposition had not yet been costed.
Cera has indicated its preferred maintenance option to control vegetation and weeds would be the mowing and spraying regime, but said it hadn’t ruled out planning and design firm, Boffa Miskell’s grazing recommendation.
The interim land option plan is to grass the area down, developing the more water logged patches into wetland areas.
The grassing sowing project has been costed at about $7m.
But grazing flocks of sheep in the city has faced an early roasting with the SPCA concerned about the risk of dog attacks and neglect.
Farming advocates have suggested the idea could be good in theory, but in reality the city’s prime spots for grazing would more likely become prime spots for rustling, with more than just the odd one or too city grazers ending up as the Sunday roast.
Many botanical trees and plantings were toxic to livestock and would prove another threat to the welfare of the city sheep, farmers warned.
Who would be responsible for the water, shelter, dagging, drenching and shearing were more issues that would need to be addressed for the red-zoned woolly munchers.
No long term proposals have yet been offered for the land.
