“It’s huge, should really set us up well,” Chris Earl, who farms in the very dry Scargill Valley area further inland, said.
Steady and at times heavy rain also fell on Banks Peninsula, which had a kinder past eight months than the wider North Canterbury area, but Port Levy farmer Tim Coop said it was still very welcome to boost feed cover and capital stock condition.
He measured 100mm in the 24 hours to Thursday night, with rain still falling.
The sun was shining everywhere on Friday, just what pastures needed after their soaking.
The rain caused further slips in the Kaikoura and inland road areas already hit by earthquakes but North Canterbury farmland desperately needed all the moisture it could get after four years of drought.
Though he had had some grass and clover growth since rain in March, Meares had sent cows to a nearby farm for better grazing in early March because they had been losing condition.
The 121mm of rain from Tuesday to Thursday with more falling had been a game-changer and the cows would now be coming home.
He would now have good feed through winter with resources still helped by stocking rates reduced in the worst of the drought conditions, with ewe numbers about 25% lower than previously.
Earl reported 70mm of rain during the same three days, on top of similar rain in March.
“The sub-clover has struck and there’s quite a bit of grass seed that was just sitting there and that’s all away now.
“It’s really good that this has come early in autumn and we’re well set-up now.”
However, he thought there was still a long way to go for long-term drought relief with subsoil still really “dry as a desert” and he hoped it was the start of aquifers being replenished.
Wet winters were still needed.
Earl said his ewes were in good order for mating though still slightly behind last year when stock benefited from the impact of the big January rain despite February to April being very dry again.
“This year we’ve been dry into mating so they might be back a bit.”
The rain would be a big help to his hoggets, normally mated a bit later. Earl had been planning to sell some because of the feed outlook but now they would all be kept for mating.
For farmers thinking about increasing stock levels as the feed position improved, getting lambs from their hoggets was the cheapest way to do it, he said.
