This week's rain is pugging up paddocks but grass growth is great for the time of year and, with seasonal employees unable to return home, pruning's well advanced in Nelson orchards. Find out more about what's happening around New Zealand's farms and orchards.
Farmers are trying to clean up in Northland after torrential rain. A consultant says in all his time in the region he's never seen so much fall in such a short space of time. There are still pockets under water and debris clogging fences which will take extra hands to shift. Farmers on seriously impacted farms have shifted their milking cows off to mates but most have higher ground so their calving cows can stay put. The region, on average, is nearly a third of the way through calving. Farms need good pasture at this time especially with lower than normal supplementary feed available because of the drought and cows a little below par. The question is how pasture will survive after drought and flooding. Most farmers, though, received just enough rain and they're finding grass growth is higher than normal for July. The weather gods have not managed to dampen spirits though. A consultant told us dairy farmers' mood is positive as the future milk price is looking good.
Calving is about a third of the way in rain-soaked Northland Photo: RNZ / Alexa Cook
Around Pukekohe not a lot has been happening due to rain and wind mid week. Crops exposed to the prevailing wind took a battering - that's typical for winter.
Waikato is seeing the first signs of damage due to pugging because of the wet weather. Farmers are well into calving in the north and central parts of the region, and it's just starting further south. There's enough tucker around for the mums with very good winter pasture growth, although the Hauraki area is still a bit tight for feed. A consultant says there's positivity here too around the forecast milk price.
There's enough tucker around for cows in Waikato with very good winter pasture growth Photo: Riley Kennedy
It's dried out a bit in Bay of Plenty where the grass is growing, calving's started and pruning kiwifruit vines is underway. A grower is still a bit behind in the orchard. He says the more fine days the better to push pruning along. He's finding people are mildly surprised at how well off they are considering the doom and gloom that was around a couple of months ago. He says a way will need to be found to get skilled people into the country to do the engineering work needed to service the primary sector.
A farmer in King Country was shifting cattle when we rang - spreading the cows around the farm after a wet week so as not to damage pasture. He says he's feeling ahead of the game with a bit of length in the grass. The soil is much warmer than normal ... ten to 11 degrees compared to between five and eight degrees. His cows are due to calve at the end of October. He's just sold off some dry ewes which are fetching good money at the works - up to $120 dollars, which is way more than the $55 he got for similar ewes 12 years ago. He says many farmers he knows are curious about regenerative farming. Many feel it's an extension of what they're doing already and for some, introducing new ideas and techniques has led to bit of a battle between the generations.
Central Plateau Photo: Susan Murray RNZ
It's been a real mixed weather bag in Taranaki - sunny and cold for what's been a pretty mild winter. The mountain has a good covering of snow. On average farmers are about a week into calving and it's the most grass some have ever seen at this time. A good recovery from the drier start to winter is contributing to a generally good mood on farm.
Our contact on the East Coast was talking of getting out his diving gear to harvest some kaimoana, it's been so beautiful the last couple of days. This comes after road closures, slips and a mountain of forestry slash washing up on the beach at Tolaga Bay after the heavy rain. Early lambs are hitting the ground. He says with the mud around, crops will be struggling and he's heard grapes are budding a month earlier than normal.
It was the first fine day for a while in Hawkes Bay on Friday. It blew like heck on Thursday. The rain has caused some problems for farmers accessing their stock to feed out. It's been great growing conditions, though, after the drought - about four to five kilos of extra grass growth per hectare a day. Lambing's underway.
There's been the good, the bad, and the ugly this week in Manawatu. The blast, which much of the country received, was nasty but not freezing and it feels now like spring's on its way. Daffodils are starting to emerge and early lambs - those destined for New Zealand's new season lamb market - are being born.
A watery winter sun peeks through in Wairarapa Photo: RNZ/Sally Round
Weather-wise it was a bit of a miserable start to the week in Wairarapa, but it got better and better and there was a nice drying wind to lessen the effects of the damp. An arable farmer says it's slow going getting pea contracts back after eradicating the pea weevil earlier this year. Wairarapa had about 10 to 15 percent of the national crop before the pest struck. Growers want to get the message out there that they're back in business.
It's been a windy and cold end of the week in the Nelson region with a skiff of snow falling on the Richmond Range. Earlier in the week was warmer with showers. Local nurseries have been digging up apple trees and orchards have been planting them. Pruning's well advanced because RSE workers that can't go home have continued working. Backpackers who are stuck here and keen to earn money have also been employed.
A farmer on the north side of the Wairau River in Marlborough says they have feed coming out of their ears, in what has been an exceptional winter so far. Cattle are putting on good weight and the first two of his ewe mobs have lambed. The lambs will be tailed in a couple of weeks. Later mobs are getting the five-in-one pre-lamb vaccination. The vineyard on the farm is up to date. The pruning's done, the posts are fixed and sheep are back in to keep the grass down.
Our contact at Lake Brunner on the West Coast says his cows are enjoying the winter herd home he installed a few years ago. It's five degrees warmer inside than out and, as a result, the girls are eating 10 kilograms of dry matter a day. When they're outside and cold he says they'll eat about 14. Calving on the farm's due to start on August 10 but early calves have already popped out. Pay-out-wise he reckons things are looking up for the coming season.
Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
North Canterbury's had a mix of everything weather-wise this week. One feature has been the limited number of frosts. Calves are starting to appear on grazing blocks and dairy farmers will soon be taking cows back to milking platforms. Grass covers are good however supplement levels across the region are very short.
Down in Mackenzie Country, it has been another cold week. For the last few years, by South Island standards, there have been a few mild winters but this one has brought the thermals back out. The farmer we rang on Friday morning, near Twizel, was fixing a flat tyre on his grain trailer in the middle of a hoar frost. It's been quiet on the farm this week but next week it's all go. The bulls they sell for dairy farms will need to be drenched and blood tested for the bull sale coming up in a couple of months.
Mackenzie Basin Photo: RNZ / Maja Burry
Grape pruning's going full steam ahead in Central Otago and some vineyards are getting land ready for new plantings. A grower at Bendigo says they've been doing the rock-pick this week and once that's done, the water systems and trellis posts will go in.
Snow was carpeting the green hills of our contact's farm at Balclutha in South Otago when we spoke. A few days earlier he'd had a team in to do the pre-lamb shear and luckily the shearers used cover combs, as they leave a cosy 10 millimetres of wool on the sheep's back. Ewe scanning results are up about 20 percent on last year mainly because there was a lot more and better quality feed. With calving in the area starting in early August, dairy cows are making their way back from winter grazing platforms.
A sheep and dairy farmer east of Invercargill in Southland says it's been a chilly end of week. On Wednesday 25 millimetres of rain was in the gauge too so it's puggy underfoot. Cows are behind wire on grass, baleage and either kale or fodder beet. Hoggets and calves are on Raphno. Raphno is a cross between radish and kale but he says it doesn't get the disease clubroot. The farmer, who has been a Country Life contributor since 2001, says he's just sold the dairy unit on his farm as none of the family wants to come home and it's just getting too hard on his body.
On the Farm is a weekly wrap of farming conditions around New Zealand
