Phil Duncan | February 15, 2021 from GlobalHQ on Vimeo.
Rural Support Trust (RST) chair Chris Neill said drought affects the districts on the eastern side of the province from Bay of Islands to Cape Reinga, and NIWA advised that the rest of the province is meteorologically extremely dry.
His committee decided to meet again this week, to review where predicted rain has fallen and reassess needs, and again in a fortnight, to determine if further support is required in rural communities.
Rain last week was welcome and river flows responded, but are generally very low compared with long-term averages.
The rain topped up domestic water supplies in most areas and the response for water deliveries is now typically two days.
Aquifers and farm dams are reported to be low but adequate at this stage.
The forecast is a 60% chance of good rain this week, which will improve soil moisture levels and river flows.
Neill says most farmers used the good spring conditions to build feed reserves with grass silage and hay.
Maize crops are now being harvested for silage and some to green feed.
“While pastures are impacted by the dry, farmer networks report that generally on-farm feed reserves are adequate for at least another two to three weeks,” Neill said.
“In contrast to last year, there are good feed reserves of hay and baleage in other parts of the country and PKE is available.”
Processing space has a two-week delay for farmers wanting to cull livestock, but this can change quickly if demand increases as pregnancy testing results come through.
Because rainfall has been so localised there are farmers who are not in a good position and some are still recovering from the impact of last season’s drought.
The Ministry for Primary Industries’ (MPI) support by way of feed budgeting advice and access to emergency feed is still available until June.
The feed planning service is open to all livestock owners, from lifestyle blocks to the largest farms.
Independent professional advice on farm debt is also available through a $200,000 government grant administered by the Rural Support Trusts.
