Farmers throughout many parts of the country are doing it tough after one of the coldest fronts to hit New Zealand in living memory.

Many schools, state highways, roads and businesses were closed throughout the country today following the Antarctic front which brought with it weather many farmers are labeling as simply bizarre.

Federated Farmers adverse events spokesman, David Rose, says cockies up and down New Zealand owe a lot to weather forecasters who gave plenty of warning about the polar blast.

In more good luck many regions are still several weeks away from lambing – meaning the bad weather won’t have the consequences of last year’s storm.

Mr Rose, who farms sheep in Southland, says the weather there has improved overnight and farmers are holding up.

“I have had a bit of look I have a bit of a look around the country this morning and even on the maps it’s interesting it almost seems to have, well it has, it’s moved to the East.

“It looks like it’s moved off the country a little so I’m sort of hopeful that it’ll ease up. I mean there’ll be a bit of rough weather today but they’re forecasting good weather end of the week.”

Meanwhile Ashburton dairy farmer Frank Peters says there is snow down to sea level in his area but that most farmers have good supplies of feed.

Mr Peters says he expects some stock losses in the region, with calves having been so cold overnight, and that he’ll be ploughing snow on his farm for the foreseeable future. 

“We’ve had probably, well in Ashburton here, we’ve got 20-25cm of snow sitting on the ground and the thing is that it’s basically covered right to the coast.” 

And In North Canterbury, Neil Stott says there’s been more than a foot of snow dumped in his neck of the woods overnight.

“Yeah they’ll have to do something to get out anyway – they’ll have to make wheel-marks made to get out anyway and get some food out to the paddocks.

“They’re going to need the hay and that today because they’re not going to get to the grass.”

Meanwhile, farmers in the North Island who spoke to Country 99TV said they were hoping the worst is now over.

Whanganui sheep and beef farmer, Kirsten Bryant, says stock in the region are doing OK but she’d never seen anything like the weather she saw yesterday.

“It’s been heavy snow down where we are Fordells, there hasn’t been snow like this for 55 years and now it’s just really cold. Yeah, it’s unbelievable actually.” 

Mrs Bryant says the snow was so heavy her family were building snow men on the front lawn – unprecedented for Whanganui. 

Meanwhile, Rotorua-Taupo Federated Farmers rep, Neil Heather, says people in his area were expecting four days of extreme weather but with sunshine today it looks like they may only have one.

He says they’ll happily take the one day.  

“Yeah it was really shit – I know at our place which is in Rotorua I was feeding out and it was snowing. It’s been a long time since that has happened.

“I certainly sympathise with the South Islanders because it might be a novelty for about five or ten minutes but that’s about it.”