Photo: Susan Murray
The dry weather in Northland continues. Dams are at low levels and farmers are wondering where the next bit of feed will come from. The consultant we speak to says he knows of one farmer who was called by a grazier to be told he's out of feed and the farmer needs to take his young stock back. He says because the payout's good and there's still a lot of season to run it's worth spending money to keep cows well fed, watered and milking. There's a bottleneck at the works and he advises farmers to book space now for a month down the track, rather than wait until pregnancy testing is done.
Apart from more cloud and a little mist, it's still dry in the vegetable growing area around Pukekohe. Onion growers are not complaining as the mature crops are steadily being binned and removed from fields to the storage sheds. For everything else, if crops are not being irrigated, they won't be growing
The export avocado season is about 80 percent through and Bay of Plenty growers have been delivering good quality fruit. In Australia, the fires have interrupted the delivery of their own avocados so New Zealand avocados have the market a little more to themselves. Returns are good. Some of the fruit is heading to India where the fruit fetches very good prices. Thailand and Korea also pay well.
Waikato is becoming very dry and farms on clay soils are in the worst shape of all. Farmers are in drought management mode which involves changing milking intervals if they haven't already, scanning and getting rid of empties and rationing supplements. There needs to be a buffer so if it does rain and the dry grass rots, there's something nutricious on hand. Maize crops are 4 to 8 weeks away from harvest. Farmers are feeling very thankful for palm kernel.
Photo: RNZ / Carol Stiles
King Country had nice drizzle on Thursday. The region is drying out though and works space is tight. We're told they're not taking ewes and space for lambs is limited. It hasn't helped that there have been a lot of short weeks since Christmas. Where there is grass cover, farms are still looking green but anything that's been chewed out hasn't come away.
It's been hot and sunny in Taranaki and farmers have put in an order for 20 millimetres of rain and then another 20 please in a week's time. Sandy soils and ridges have turned brown. Farmers have been feeding out silage and are moving to three milkings in two days. They'll be once a day before too long if rain doesn't arrive. A south Taranaki farmer says this January has been the tenth driest month since he started record keeping 55 years ago.
In Hawkes Bay it's hot hot hot, dry....and very windy. There've been a string of days in the mid 30's. The grape season's running a week to ten days ahead of normal and verraison has hit at the same time on early and late varieties. Growers are frantically trying to take care of all the work they need to do which is usually spread over a couple of weeks but now needs to be done at once. On farm everyone's waiting for rain. Some hills have gone grey and pastures are starting to burn out. In general though stock are being well fed and are in good condition.
Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
Manawatu's had a bizarre season. The whole region is extremely dry. Usually there's rain in December but that didn't come so it wasn't well set up for summer, however Manawatu hasn't had its usual January heat so that's been a bit of a saviour. It almost feels like late February. A lot of lambs are still running around the hills. The store market has dropped. Farmers here are struggling to get cattle to the works. They leave the farm first because they eat more than sheep. Some crops, like peas and hemp, are being harvested a month early because of the lack of moisture.
Horowhenua 's been much cooler than a lot of other parts of the country - you even need a sweatshirt in the mornings. It's still green and there's been rain this week - 20 to 30 millimeters in the foot hills and up to seven near the coast. Cows are going OK - milk production's slightly behind or on par with last year.
Wairarapa farmers are starting to plan for a prolonged dry period. Irrigators are going flat out . Some people are looking to send their ewes away for grazing - to Woodville or Pahiatua - where there's still feed. It's been great weather for harvesting arable crops.
An apple grower in Motueka is preparing to start harvesting the new Posy apple - an eary variety cross between Pacific Rose and Royal Gala. Thinning's almost finished on the orchard and a bit of summer pruning's going on. The Nelson region could do with some rain though and some areas like the Waimea Plains are under expanded water restrictions. The coronavirus situation in China is keeping fruit growers on tentahooks wondering how the disease will affect such an important export market for New Zealand.
Photo: RNZ
It's been hot, dry and very windy in Marlborough as is normal for this time of year. Our contact says he's busy ensuring shade and water for stock in the 30 to 34 degree heat. The feed situation is still good because of really good spring rain. While it may look brown and unappetising, the feed is there and of good quality. But a possible water shortage is looming if there is no significant rain soon. Our farmer says you've got to have back up if you're reliant on the Southern Valleys' irrigation scheme as that's likely to be shut off in the next fortnight. The vineyards are still going through veraison, or onset of ripening, as critical spraying for disease like powdery mildew continues.
A dairy farmer at Lake Brunner on the West Coast says they had some welcome rain on Friday after more than two weeks of fine dry weather. His cows are producing well. He's catching up on his maintenance, weed spraying and fencing and a little bit of hay and silage is being made.
It's been another hot dry week in Canterbury and feed on dry land properties is disappearing fast. Where farmers have it, irrigation systems are running flat out to try and keep soil moisture levels up. Arable farmers have begun harvest on grass seed crops and early sown cereal crops, and results so far look promising. Fibre hemp crops are currently being cut and left in the field for drying.
A wee bit of rain this week in Otago was pretty much cancelled out by strong winds and more rain is needed. A dairy farmer in the Taieri Basin is still OK for feed - being on a flood plain - but he understands others are struggling. He's gettng ready for the next round of pregnancy testing and making a bit of balage. Farmers, faced with falling land prices, are feeling extra stress with banks looking to claw back debt.
Strong dry winds in Southland have been sucking up moisture, although a good 8 millimetres of rain this week helped the area from becoming too parched. Feed is tightening up and a decent shower would be welcome. Our farmer says he's been sorting lambs for the works which are all tight for space. The lamb schedule has come back over the past few weeks and is expected to tighten further. Farmers are wondering what effect the coronavirus will have on their export markets.
