A drought was declared across the top of the South Island in mid-March and is yet to break. Photo: Samantha Gee
Farmers in drought-stricken parts of the top of the South Island are hoping rain forecast this week will break the months-long dry spell.
A drought was declared across Nelson, Tasman and Marlborough in mid-March, with many farmers having to sell stock, use winter feed and, in some cases, truck in water.
In Upper Moutere, sheep and beef farmer Peter Moore said the last four months were the driest he had ever recorded on his farm, with the summer rainfall lower than during previous droughts in 2001 and 1973.
Peter Moore has been carting hop waste home to feed his sheep in the Bedford truck his father bought new in 1978. Photo: Samantha Gee
The Moores farm 3000 ewes and around 200 head of cattle over 460 hectares. There has been no feed growth on their farm since December, which means they have had to buy it in.
"We've fed out to the sheep - hop waste, grape marc, apple pomace, anything we can get our hands on - we've bought a whole lot of baleage in to keep us going, and the cows they just suffer through hay and lots of water to drink to get it down.
"We're used to dry summers, but this is one out of the box."
Grass has stopped growing on the Moore's farm in Upper Moutere. Photo: Samantha Gee
Moore said thinking about how best to prepare for the months ahead had kept him up at night.
He had bought 300 bales of baleage - enough feed for just over a month - and de-stocked the farm, selling off lambs before they were at their optimum weight. The lamb price falling from $125 to $90 had an impact on their bottom line, too.
Farmer Peter Moore with some of the baleage he has had to buy in as the drought continues in the Tasman District. Photo: Samantha Gee
His father's farm diaries from the 1973 drought told a similar story - of trucking in pea vines until the early hours of the morning and carting water during a drought that lasted through the winter until August.
"Here we are 50 years later, carting hop waste until 11pm at night to feed to the sheep and doing the same sort of things he was doing.
"He carted water on the back of a Chev truck - now we have a Dovedale Water Scheme that has got us through, so that early infrastructure they put in has saved us now."
Paddocks in Dovedale affected by drought in the Tasman District. Photo: Samantha Gee
The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) is predicting more than 70 millimetres of rain will fall across parts of the region on Thursday and Moore said it was the most promising forecast he had seen in months.
"We've got our fingers crossed, we are hoping and praying that this might be the week that it will break the dry here."
Nearby in Dovedale, the paddocks on Ashley Peter's farm are brown and dry. He has had to chop down poplar trees and buy juicing apples and barley - along with baleage and hay - to feed his sheep.
Farmer Ashley Peter has been feeding apples out to his sheep in Cozens Valley due to a lack of grass on his farm. Photo: Samantha Gee
"If it keeps going - if we get another month of this and we are still feeding out in May - it is going to be pretty tough to try and grow enough grass to get us through the winter. That is going to be the crunch."
He had fertilised the ground in preparation for rain - and it could not come soon enough. Each day without it means things get a little harder, he said.
"We need a nice, soaking rain first to soften the ground, because it is like concrete. If we can get that and three or four inches on top, we will grow some good grass."
Tapawera farmer Kerry Irvine says many farmers in the region are dealing with drought and struggling to access water. Photo: Samantha Gee
In Tapawera, farmer Kerry Irvine said the dry river was one thing - but the lack of water was another.
The Nelson meat and wool chairperson for Federated Farmers said it had been a tough season, with some farmers losing all water as wells and tanks dried up.
"You can farm through a drought and flounder your way through ...but [if] you farm with no water, nothing grows, your stock die.
"It's not just creeks - we've had rivers go dry. You talk about the river being low, but when a river literally goes dry for the first time in history, then you are making records at the wrong end."
A natural spring on the Irvine's 700 hectare home block was a saving grace, but other parts of the farm had gone dry and with no house water for the last three months, Irvine had to cart it from the spring to where it was needed.
As for the rain forecast this week - he said he would believe it when it was in the rain gauge.
Rai Valley dairy farmer Hamish Morrison with pet lambs Summer and Winter. Photo: Samantha Gee
On the other side of Nelson over in the Rai Valley in Marlborough, fourth-generation dairy farmer Hamish Morrison said the pasture cover was down and the lack of rain meant new grass hadn't germinated.
"Once we get that next rain, whenever that comes, it is another three or four weeks for the covers to come back up.
"Going forward, what farmers are juggling is how to feed their cows through the winter."
There has been less rain than usual for this time of year in Marlborough's Rai Valley though some rainfall means there is a green tinge to the paddocks. Photo: Samantha Gee
Top of the South Rural Support Trust chairperson Richard Kempthorne said the dry weather was unprecedented.
The trust had been fielding more calls than normal, he said, with people wanting to know what assistance was available as they faced increased costs due to buying feed and water.
"This has gone on for so long. It really started off last spring, when we were significantly down in rainfall. That is when the dryness underneath was starting to come to pass and then the surface dried out.
"This is as challenging as we've ever seen it, I think."
The trust was hosting a couple of "drought shouts" to encourage farmers to get together over a barbecue, with support from a farm consultant, in the coming weeks.
If the forecast rain eventuated, Kempthorne said it would allow the grass to start growing again, but more rain would be needed to end the drought.
