Dry weather set to resume

Farmers hoping the weekend’s rainfall represents a turnaround in the weather may have another few weeks to wait before their prayers are answered.

MetService recorded 17.66mm of rain at its Hamilton weather station over Saturday and Sunday while 20mm was recorded at Te Aroha, 7.6mm at Paeroa and 6.6mm at Port Taharoa.

Meteorologist Stephen Glassey said there was no significant rain on the horizon for the next seven days.

‘‘We have a ridge of high pressure over the country for most of this week. There maybe a few showers in the Waikato tomorrow but it’s hardly the kind of rain to alleviate the dry conditions.

‘‘It’s only isolated showers. We’re forecasting dry weather for the week ahead.’’

Temperatures in Hamilton are likely to reach the late 20C mark this week, Glassey said.

Federated Farmers Waikato President Andrew McGiven said the weekend’s rain wasn’t a drought breaker but it had given farmers hope.

‘‘The weather cycle has changed but I understand there’s no rain forecast for the next 7-10 days.

‘‘We could certainly do with some follow-up rain, otherwise the little bit of rain we got is wasted.’’

McGiven said farmers are ‘‘chewing through their supplement feed’’ at a rapid rate. There hasn’t been enough rain for pasture growth to resume.

Waipa¯ dairy farmer Peter Risi is keeping a close eye on the extra feed he’s had to dish out to his herd on his property near Cambridge.

‘‘The next two weeks are going to be crucial for us. We don’t carry a lot of feed reserves, we don’t normally feed supplements of meal.

‘‘But that’s what we’re doing at the moment to get through the next couple of weeks, it’s not a long term plan.’’

Risi had cut back the herd from around 740 to 640 cows. Normally he would keep milking until mid-May but he’s looking to finish around the end of March.