All in the region are still coming to grips with biblical levels of rainfall that in some cases have set new records, and made this April one of the wettest ever recorded.
Edgecumbe farmer Bruce Woods said he had received 1200mm of rainfall for the calendar year, almost 80% of his yearly total, of which half has fallen in two major rainfall events in the past month.
Between March 24 and April 3 he recorded 300mm of rain, including 186mm in only three hours. The second big event from April 4-6 recorded 356mm.
While Cyclone Cook may have been relatively short lived, it still added another 150mm-plus to an already saturated catchment, and the region continued to experience rainfall after the Good Friday event with 12mm, 16mm and 17mm falling each day from Easter Monday to mid-week.
“There is a lot of maize in the region that will not be able to be harvested for silage, and will have to be left for grain harvesting,” he said.
“The problem is worsened by a very poor spring, meaning maize was planted about a month later.”
Woods was counting himself lucky, only having about a hectare of land that will need regrassing after the floods.
He knew of growers with contracted maize crops who still have at least 100ha to harvest.
“We really need the two weeks of fine weather to be able to get machinery on to paddocks.”
Crops had also been badly damaged by the intense wind gusts experienced at the peak of Cook’s fury late on Good Friday.
The difficulty in harvesting maize had a double-whammy effect for pastoral farmers who may have been relying on the grain for autumn-winter feed supplements. It also meant that maize country may not be regrassed in time to provide valuable annual ryegrass feed over the winter period.
Sharon Morrell, DairyNZ Bay of Plenty regional team leader, said some farmers were acting quickly to try and get pastures restored now, rather than waiting for paddocks to dry-out for machinery.
“They are making the call to fly seed and fertiliser on now because there is not a lot of time left ‑ the longer it’s left the less likely it is to guarantee them any pasture over winter.”
She knew of one farmer who had arranged a fixed-wing aircraft and had got six neighbours to share it. The application included a blend of both annual and perennial ryegrass.
“It’s not perfect, but it is a stop-gap that will give them some feed over winter, and get them through the season.”
Offers of grazing for stock had been prolific from within and beyond the region and DairyNZ had ended up sharing some of those offers with farmers in Waikato who were still struggling with sodden paddocks, particularly in the Hauraki Plains district.
“There has also been an issue with power loss and wind damage that added another layer of difficulty to the damage,” Morrell said.
Darryl Jenkins, Federated Farmers’ Bay of Plenty president, said almost 90 pumps had been operating 24-7 to clear the flood waters, with much of it moved by Easter Monday.
The need for out-of-region grazing had also opened up an income opportunity for farmers in Hawke’s Bay who were baulking at the cost of buying in weaner animals on an overheated store stock market.
Last week, Stortford Lodge had good lines of 210kg-240kg steers topping $1000 a head, a price Jensen said was leaving some looking at other options when considering how best to deal with a late-autumn flush of growth.
“It is a lot to outlay and 18 months to finish, and the Hawke’s Bay is looking good for feed,” he said.
The opportunity to graze dairy cows over winter for Bay of Plenty farmers could provide a good cashflow option. Meantime, farmers in the region wanting to get their animals back home to finish the milking season were being challenged by damaged infrastructure, including broken fences and races.
Jensen said while it was a maligned feed source, palm kernel was going to prove valuable to help farmers get through a pinch as pastures recovered or were regrassed.
“We will be talking to Swap [Stockfoods] about getting more palm kernel and if another shipment would be needed,” he said.
Rural Support Trust chairwoman Sandy Scarrow said the trust and Red Cross would be visiting individual farmers affected by the floods to offer any assistance needed in coming days.
