Farmers browned off
It’s officially a drought, and the patchy brown spots on James Lawn’s 164-hectare Taranaki farm have him worried it could get worse.
‘‘Two months ago we were saying we needed sun and now we’ve got a year’s worth of vitamin D and no rain,’’ he said.
In a response to a dry spell, which has been made worse by damaged soils from a wet winter, Lawn has had to stop milking 26 per cent of his 420 grass-fed cows.
It will mean a hefty drop in milk production and income for the coastal farmer and hundreds of others like him.
The Government yesterday declared a drought in parts of the North Island including Taranaki, Wellington and Manawatu¯ Whanganui and provided $160,000 in funding to Rural Support Trusts.
Minister for Agriculture and Rural Communities Damien O’Connor, who visited affected farmers in Taranaki yesterday, made a stop at Lawn’s farm.
The minister acknowledged the funding was ‘‘not a huge amount’’ but knew trusts were ‘‘very good at making that go a long way’’.
Taranaki Rural Support chairman Mike Green said it had identified about 700 farms out of 1800 in the province that could potentially have no income.
A small measure of relief is in sight. Metservice meteorologist Tui McInnes said about 4-10mm of rain is due to fall on Boxing Day.
A cold front moving up the country would bring rain to all the areas currently in drought.
However, ‘‘pockets’’ of small amounts of rain would not nourish dry pastures.
And some areas would see more rain than others as clouds sweep past coastal towns before releasing any moisture.
‘‘There could be one farmer getting a downpour but their neighbour is left dry.’’