Heavy rain landed on already saturated ground, making grass growth very difficult, the region’s Federated Farmers chairman Peter Langford said.
Westland co-op milk tankers were unable to get to some areas to pick up milk on Thursday and some, which had picked up milk, were unable to get back to the Hokitika processing plant because of flooding.
“Conditions are extremely bad,’’ Langford said.
“It’s been wet since late September.”
Many farmers had already cut back on milking. Langford, who farms at Karamea, was down to milking once a day before Christmas.
“You’ve just got to make sure the cows are okay, that you keep them in-calf and look after them for next season.”
He believed most cows were holding their condition and should be able to build-up quickly once conditions improved.
However, it might mean drying-off cows a bit earlier than the usual late-May to give them recovery time before winter.
Langford’s production at was 11% down on last season. He expected a 15% fall by the end of milking but in the southern areas of Westland production was already down by that much.
Farmers were hoping for a much higher milk payout by Westland co-op this season, compared to the $3.80kg/MS last season, to make up for the fall in production.
“If we can get $5 or $5.50 that has to be a lot better but the February weather forecast isn’t looking flash so we’ve got to watch the drop in production.
“The message is not to spend money.”
He hasn’t bought any palm kernel this year, even though he was able to cut only three paddocks for sileage in November, compared with 11 paddocks the year earlier.
Langford culled some cows in early December and said the once-a-day milking was taking some pressure off.
“We just seem to be scraping by with the grass each week.”
The westerly storm causing havoc to West Coast farmers was also forecast to create major wind problems in North Canterbury but that didn’t happen though the major Arthurs and Lewis passes were closed for a time by the heavy rain.
The weather did bring strong winds and some rain to the east but without causing problems, North Canterbury Federated Farmers chairwoman Lynda Murchison said.
One benefit at this time of year was that the spray irrigators were all full of water, helping secure them against wind movement.
The long-running drought remained the main concern for the province.
“It’s wetter than for the last three summers, with good spring rains and then some regular falls of 10mm to 15mm at a time but we’ve just had three weeks of north-westerlies to dry the land out.”
With farmers still having low stocking rates, the summer growth meant there was still plenty of feed on farms even though land was bone dry at just below root level.
“There’s been no rushing out to restock and that’s one of the issue for farmers.
“At what point can you get back to full production?’’
Essentially, she believed that would require two or three years of above average rain to refill the aquifers.
