The big dry needs thinking about, planning
Farmers need to make decisions to cope with the dry conditions on-farm, says a farm adviser. Milking less often is among their options.
There has been some rain, but it has not yet been enough to have a lasting effect. Feilding-based Stantiall and Keeling adviser Gary Massicks said there was no foreseeable real rain due for at least six weeks, so farmers could expect it to dry out even more.
‘‘Though farmers expect hot weather at this time of the year, we have had little rain in January; instead of the average 100 millimetres we’d expect, we’ve had only 20mm.’’
One Marton farmer, Richard Morrison, said the little rain in January came on top of little rain in November and December, and as a result few farmers had much feed ahead for their stock.
Massicks said the soil moisture deficit was 100mm and predicted showers would do little to ease the feed shortage on many farms. ‘‘The challenge for farmers is to get down to productive breeding stock numbers.’’
Massicks said he wanted to stimulate farmers to think about the dry conditions now, and decide how they could best cope with it. ‘‘With dairy cows, cull the least productive cows. Sheep and beef farmers who hold on to lambs can have their ewes go backwards [lose condition] and that doesn’t make economic sense.’’
Massicks said dairy production had been holding but most dairy farmers were feeding out silage, or had cows on turnip crops, to keep milk flowing. ‘‘Some should consider milking three times in two days. That’s a real option. Don’t stop feeding cows well, or they’ll crash.’’
DairyNZ regional team leader Craig McBeth said: ‘‘It’s important to manage pasture condition and not over-graze, so when it does rain, pastures are in good shape to respond.’’
He said a 16-hour milking rotation was a way to deal with the situation. ‘‘It can be beneficial for protecting paddocks and if it really rains, milk production will bounce back.’’