“I’m over it,” he said.
“We’ve had no reprieve since the end of August.
“It has been weather event after weather event after weather event.
“We get three or four nice days then another weather event either rain, snow or wind.
“I can’t remember how many days it has been when I haven’t had to put leggings and a coat on to go around the ewes.”
Rabbidge, who is also Southland Federated Farmers’ meat and wool section chair, says the wind which accompanied last week’s snow was the main problem for stock, although he was close to finishing his lambing and he was able to apply covers to any newborn lambs.
No sooner had the snow cleared, then the southern coast and south east corner was inundated by rain.
Rabbidge says the rain arrived about 7pm on Saturday and lasted until 4pm Sunday, dumping up to 100mm on some coastal areas.
Police say 20 Invercargill properties were flooded.
He says waterlogged soil meant much of the rain washed off, and the second successive weather bomb makes a mockery of the Government’s freshwater policies requiring winter grazed crops to be resown by November 1.
“If you had sown young grass, it would have all washed off and had a negative impact,” he said.
The changeable weather looks like continuing this week with MetService forecasting rain in the middle of the week and cool temperature at the end of the week.
