Friday, March 29, 2024

Conditions mostly positive ahead of holidays

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Farming conditions heading into Christmas and the new year are a mixed bag for the North and South Islands, with some areas well placed heading into the heat of the summer and others struggling with dry conditions.
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Great pasture conditions and buoyant milk prices have put North Island farmers in good spirits, while the lack of rain in some areas of the South Island are capping off a tough year.

Persistent rain and warm weather boosted grass growth over the past few months in Waikato, and with farmers managing to get summer crops in the ground and silage cut and baled, they are well set up if it turns into a dry summer.

Federated Farmers dairy vice-chair Ben Moore says he made two cuts of silage off his pasture in the past few months. His farm near Tirau got 150mm of rain over November.

The only negative was a drop in production month due to poorer grass quality.

“But all the crops are looking good and the maize is already fence high,” he said.

Moore says the good growing conditions meant farmers are prepared as well as they can be if conditions turned dry after Christmas.

“From what I’ve heard, there’s a lot of silage that’s been made and there’s a lot of silage that can be bought and sold,” he said.

Hawke’s Bay had recovered well after suffering the worst of last season’s drought. Federated Farmers president Jim Galloway says pasture covers are looking very good across the region.

Pasture quality had become more of an issue than quantity with farmers unable to keep control of the growth, causing it to go to seed in many paddocks.

“Grass-wise we’re looking as good as we normally do going into this time of year. There are still some that are down on stock numbers and financially, we’re still recovering from it because it was a big hit,” Galloway said.

At the bottom of the country, mild weather and periodic rainfall also had Southland farmers well placed heading into the heat of summer.

Southland farmer and the region’s Federated Farmers provincial vice-president Bernadette Hunt says farmers were now wondering how the rest of the season would play out.

“Southland’s in a pretty good place and we’re in that in-between time of ‘are we still going to get regular rain or is the tap going to be turned off?’” she said.

She says summer feed crops were growing well and the region’s farmers were as well prepared as they could be if it turns dry.

In contrast, significant areas of North Otago are looking dry, the region’s provincial president Jared Ross says.

The region had only had about half on its average annual rainfall for the calendar year.

“It’s been a tough year,” Ross said.

While there had been some rain, strong winds had dried off any moisture it had provided.

He says dryland farmers have had to grin and bear it.

“There has been some premature stock movement, feed pricing is reflecting that,” he said.

One dairy farmer told him he was paying 50 cents a kilogram for silage landing on the farm.

“I’ve never heard of a number that high,” he said.

The dry weather included parts of South Canterbury. It had also been a cold September, which kept spring growth back.

While dry summers are not unusual in the region, it was affecting farmers’ ability to source feed and forced them into making decisions around shifting off capital stock.

Ross says that coupled with the concern many were feeling around the new freshwater rules, meant the mood was not great among farmers.

Irrigating farmers have had a slightly better season so far.

A warm August meant irrigation demand was strong before dropping off in September due to cold weather. It has since picked up again, despite the strong winds.

Conditions are patchy in North Canterbury with those farmers fortunate enough to have received rain over the past few months in a better position than those who did not, Federated Farmers North Canterbury president Cameron Henderson says.

Parts of inland North Canterbury and into Cheviot, which was typically dry at this time of year, had received enough rain to keep things longer than normal. In contrast, coastal farms had struggled.

“It’s the luck of the draw as to whether you caught the fronts,” he said.

While soil moisture levels are no worse than normal, he says farmers are very wary of the La Nina weather pattern forecasted this summer.

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