Friday, March 29, 2024

It’s tinder dry

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As temperatures soar and paddocks start to frizzle farmers in Northland are destocking and buying in feed while firefighters are nervously standing by waiting for the sirens to go.
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“You could say we are pretty much on edge and on constant standby,” Northland deputy principal fire officer Wayne Martin says.

“Whenever we are called to an event we pretty much throw everything we have got at it to make sure we don’t end up with an Australia-type incident, especially if we have to travel a fair distance to get there. We will send the helicopter out as well to reduce the risk of it spreading and to contain the loss of acreage.”

There has been a total fire ban in Northland for about a month and though there have been a few incidents they have managed to bring them under control fairly quickly.

A scrub fire near Cape Reinga recently burnt through 4ha of native bush. Several fire crews and helicopters attended the blaze that closed access to tourist spots.

Martin said they also attended a few incidents before that as well as two over the Auckland anniversary weekend.

“One of the problems we are having at the moment is people dumping their rubbish and setting fire to it so they don’t get caught dumping. There have been at least four incidents. It is difficult to catch them as they are doing it at night.

“There haven’t been any incidents with the farming community, they’ve been good but we are aware they will be wanting to burn off paddocks to get their autumn pasture in.”

Martin says high temperatures have dried everything out but Northland has escaped the winds.

“We are lucky that we haven’t had any big winds because then it will get really dry and turn to dust.

“The region is tinder dry as we’ve had below-average rainfall throughout winter. Kaipara, which is a catchment area for 500-600 kilometres, traditionally floods and that didn’t even happen.”

“There is a concern that dam levels are getting down and this does affect what we have to work with.  If they’re too low we can’t get the helicopter to dip the bucket in enough to fill it so we are keeping an eye on that.”

NIWA soil moisture deficit maps show levels are significantly below historical averages across the upper North Island, parts of Waikato, Taranaki, Manawatu, the North Island’s east coast, Marlborough, Canterbury and Otago.

Federated Farmers Northland dairy chairman Matt Long says districts around Northland are all affected to varying degrees.

“Our farm is brown and the grass is not growing. 

“We have destocked recently because the past few seasons have not been particularly favourable and we have borrowed money to buy feed.”

Long milks once a day at Matapouri near Whangarei. The farm has been in the family more than 50 years. Having farmed in the area for so long he is well prepared for times like this but says it is the driest he has seen it more than 20 years.  

“You would have to go back to the 1970s or 1980s to find a season as dry as this.

“The farm soils are greywacke so there aren’t any stock water issues in our area, however, some areas are likely to face issues and towns such as Kaitaia and Kaikohe are running low.”

With no significant rain in the forecast Northland needs more than just a shower or two.  

“Our best hope is a cyclone – not one that will cause any damage but will deliver a decent amount of rain to get things moving again.”

Long says farmers in the region are shifting to 16-hour milkings or OAD and others are quitting stock and those who hope to get their stock away are facing delays.

“I have been told there is a queue for getting stock processed at the works. There is a two-week wait for stock to get into the works and some farmers are having to look further afield at some of the smaller processors as an alternative.

“Prices have dropped about 50 cents/kg or more but that is on the back of high prices at the peak when the Chinese were paying crazy high prices and then suddenly stopped.

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To keep track of the fire danger and weather conditions in your area visit fireweather.niwa.co.nz

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