Cows show winter is coming
Summer still has a week left to run but Gary Phillips’ cows are already preparing for winter. ‘‘They started getting fluffy tummies back in January and we don’t usually see that until we’re getting ready to dry off,’’ Phillips said.
‘‘Last year that was at the beginning of May but this year, with the grass we’ve got, it will probably be the end of May.’’
Phillips and his wife, Melynda, milk 160 cows on their organic farm at Mimi, 30 minutes north of New Plymouth, and their herd was not the only herd showing the effects of an unusually cold and wet summer.
‘‘I’ve bounced the idea around with a few other guys and it seems to be happening a bit in north Taranaki,’’ he said.
The early appearance of his herd’s extra layer didn’t bode well for an Indian summer.
‘‘If you want to know what the weather is going to do in six weeks, look at your cows,’’ Phillips said.
‘‘Mine say it’s still going to be cold and wet.’’
Average temperatures across Taranaki were well below normal for January, with much of the region about 1.5 degrees Celsius cooler than usual, Niwa statistics showed.
And as the mercury fell, so did the rain.
Taranaki Regional Council data showed some parts of the region were drenched in more than double their normal rainfall for January.
At Motonui in the north, 161 millimetres fell, 228 per cent of the average monthly total.
In the south, Patea recorded 127mm, 206 per cent of the average total. Cape Egmont recorded 134mm, 136 per cent of the average.
The wet weather had boosted grass growth on his Pukearuhe Rd farm and lifted production along with it, Phillips said.
‘‘We didn’t have bad production last year but this year we’re jumping ahead about 50 kilograms of milksolids every other pickup,’’ he said.
‘‘This time last year the cows were doing about 1.1kg a day, this year it’s at about 1.4kg.
‘‘It’s a wicked season. I’ve never experienced one like it but they can make them like this every season as far as I’m concerned.’’
The cold, damp start to the year had the added benefit of keeping facial eczema in check, he said.
‘‘Last year was one of the worst we’ve ever seen for facial eczema but it’s not going to happen this year. ‘‘It’s too wet and too cold.’’ The unseasonable start to the year wasn’t so warmly welcomed by everyone, however.
Tarata sheep and beef farmer Bryan Hocken said the season so far had been a ‘‘bloody nightmare’’.
‘‘We’re having problems getting hay done and trouble fattening the lambs,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s not enough clover and when you’re a small farm, there’s only a certain area you can take away for hay.
‘‘We should have cut the hay back in January and been back in production four weeks later but we can’t get three or four sunny days in a row to cut it.’’
Although he wasn’t concerned about feed supplies for winter, things needed to get done sooner rather than later, Hocken said.
‘‘Everything is still growing but the higher your hay paddocks get, the more quality they lose.
‘‘We’ve got plenty of grass but the lambs shouldn’t be here,’’ he said.
‘‘They should have been fattened up and gone by now and that money should be in the bank.
‘‘This might be a good season for dairy farmers but when you’re waiting on that income from your lambs, it’s frustrating.’’