Before timely rain two weeks ago, Crowe Horwath’s New Zealand head of Agribusiness Neil McAra said milk flows were up to 10% behind expectations but some production could now be recovered.
BNZ agribusiness partner Alexis Muir said sheep and cattle prices have stayed high, which should ease the drought’s financial impact.
Store lamb prices have stayed around $2.80/kg while mutton prices have also been high, which has helped those forced to reduce sheep numbers.
The impact of the drought was localised, with the hardest hit those farming in the west of the province and intensive finishers on the plains, she said.
Speaking at the Southern Field Days at Waimumu near Gore, McAra and Muir said the biggest issue facing southern farmers is winter feed, and some are buying it from South Canterbury. Others were resowing crops.
“All industries are going well but it will not be as good as it looked mid-year but it will still be a good year,” McAra said.
Those forced to send stock to grazing will take a financial hit with prices for sheep about $2 a head a week while the price of palm kernel has increased in price by nearly $100 a tonne since spring.
Muir said the extreme weather has highlighted potential issues with stock water schemes and pasture species, which could see more use of summer crops.
McAra said farmers would face a double-whammy – less income and having to feed out supplements that would have been used over winter.
What was shaping as a stellar year would still be profitable but as farmers planned for winter, the Mycoplasma bovis outbreak had created some uncertainty about options because it could restrict livestock movement, he said.
