Snow-raking is arduous work - ''you wouldn't wish it on anyone,'' Mt Ida Station owner Greg Becker says.
However, the task has been a necessity for many Maniototo farmers in the past week, as they locate mobs of their stock in the snow and then trample paths to lower country, where the animals can be fed.
Mr Becker was grateful to the volunteers who arrived to help out this week - ''we had about 11 or 12 extras, including a stock agent and our bank manager among those who came and helped.''
A bulldozer was used to clear a path as close as possible to each mob of stock and then volunteers, dropped in by helicopter, tramped tracks to the mob and took the stock out on the tracks.
''You get a sweat up. I walked behind the 'dozer on Wednesday and after you've walked about 300m, you're shattered - it's like you've done 10km,'' Mr Becker said.
''It's still pretty tiring, even if you're young and fit. The easiest way is to have a line of guys, walking behind each other, making the track two or three footprints-wide.''
It was too soon to calculate the stock losses on his 8000ha property, he said. The snow was about 75cm deep around his Wedderburn home and probably 10cm deeper than that on the majority of the farm.
Although snowfalls were common, usually snow only fell for 24 or 36 hours. This time, there were continuous snowfalls for four consecutive days.
