Farmers need 150mm of rain
As farmers continue to chew through their winter feed, there is still no sign of decent rainfall for the increasingly thirsty eastern North Island.
Showers were predicted early this week, but a Niwa meteorologist said it wouldn’t be enough for farmers to breathe a sigh of relief.
Ben Noll said Hawke’s Bay, Coromandel Peninsula, Auckland and southern Northland were all experiencing tough, dry conditions, not experienced since 2017 and before that, 2013.
Soil moisture is 50 millimetres in deficit, with farmers needing three times that to alleviate the dry land.
‘‘That means we’d need to see 150mm of rainfall which is an extraordinary amount, and we’re not seeing that rainfall anytime soon.’’
Noll said there was some respite for farmers today and tomorrow where 10-25mm of rain was expected to fall in the eastern region.
‘‘There was hope for this subtropical weather system to hit the country over the weekend, but that looks like it’s going to pass well east of the country now.’’
Noll said the three-month outlook was forecast for normal-tobelow-normal rainfall around the eastern North Island.
Hawke’s Bay Federated Farmers president Jim Galloway said farmers were having to make quick, but difficult decisions as feed for stock was becoming more difficult to find.
It wasn’t unusual for farmers to spend hundreds-of-thousands of dollars on feed each year, but many were already well into their winter supply.
‘‘Hay and silage are getting incredibly low, but shipments of palm kernel have started again so that’s becoming a little more available,’’ Galloway said.
And farmers already under pressure now faced increasing prices.
‘‘A bale of silage used to be about $90 and now it’s about $150 a bale — it’s getting very expensive.’’
Due to an average spring, less silage had been made as the region’s pastures had been battling dry conditions for 12 months.
Galloway said for many, getting more feed wasn’t an option, leaving farmers to sell sheep and cattle that they’d normally be putting into breeding flocks in 12 months time.
‘‘A farmer I spoke to usually takes 21⁄2 thousand hoggets through (for breeding) and he’s only taking 1500.
‘‘Next year we’re going to have a lot less lambs coming out of this region and it’s going to have a big impact on our system.’’