Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles
The citrus harvest continues in Gisborne and finally rain has fallen in Waikato.
In the Far North farmers around Kaitaia and Broadwood were thrilled when the skies opened this week and delivered 60 to 70 millimetres of rain. The east coast had about 20 but it's sitting pretty with plenty of grass. The schedule for bulls looks good for the time of year - at about $6 kg. Space at the works is still tight for cows - lots are coming up to from Waikato, taking the slots local farmers would typically use.
Pukekohe has had some magic rain, 36 millimetres by Friday morning. This week four young growers have been vying for the title of Pukekohe Young Grower of the Year. The finalists, two women and two men, have to complete range of theoretical and practical activities, give a speech and take part in a quiz.
A Waikato kiwifruit grower has been irrigating his gold vines every second week for the past two months because he wants to keep his vines alive. In 40 years of growing he's never seen it as dry in May. The soil moisture probe is showing this month is as dry as February is normally. Vines that accidentally missed the water started losing their leaves early from stress. He says competing packhouses have been helping out packing each other's fruit to cope with labour shortages. Meanwhile, on Thursday, 60 millimetres of good soaking rain fell near Hamilton.
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North King Country has had perfect weather - warm and about 100 millimeters of rain over 5 days. It means the flats are growing grass and the hills are greening up - pasture covers there are a lot shorter than normal, Farmers are struggling to source fertiliser - there's been high demand because some companies have said they'll hold prices until the end of the May and you also can't count on ships arriving on time.
It was an absolutely rotten day in Taranaki when we called - ominously dark, wet and horribly windy but earlier in the week good, warm rain finally arrived and we're told there have been some 'pretty jumpy' growth rates. The rain's come in the nick of time. Cows are being dried off 5-7 days earlier than normal, due to sluggish growth and a fear of eating too far into winter's supplementary feed. Farmers can't complain though - the payout's good.
Photo: Lucy Smith
Gisborne's had a mild week after pretty hot temperatures . An ag consultant says the region's farmers have 'zero problems' going into winter compared with their contemporaries in other parts of the country. Grass is growing well. Farmers are still dealing with the aftermath of the March and April storms though. They're cleaning up and repairing fences whenever they have a spare moment and are still getting rid of logs and debris in paddocks. It'll be six months until they can get back to where they were before the storms. Gisborne's mandarins, navel oranges, kiwifruit and and persimmons are being harvested .
Hawkes Bay had a sunshine-filled Friday morning, but a good strong westerly was ripping through as well. Between 20 and 60 millimetres fell across the district and temperatures are still mild. Our farmer said it's the best autumn in living memory, everything is growing well.
A Rangitikei farmer says they've had an amazing week - with a couple of days of big rains broken up with nice sunny warm ones. He's been able to get a lot done and watch the grass grow at the same time. He's mainly been fencing and gorse spraying.
It had been getting a bit dry in Wairarapa so this week's good rain has kicked things into gear again. Most sheep and beef farmers are winding down after the rams have come out. It's been a really good autumn in the region and there's plenty of feed. The dairy guys are drying off, and a few ducks are being shot - although they are a bit thin on the ground. It's still difficult to get lambs into the works.
Photo: Lucy Smith
And on Friday morning hail and a tornado in Levin wrought havoc on a huge market gardens there. Woodhaven Gardens director Jay Clark says it's the worst hail damage they've seen in 44 years of growing in the district. He says it looks like someone has taken a machine gun to his crops. Crops planted in autumn are meant to last into October and November, and some of them are completely gone.
Across Cook Strait and it's rained in the Tasman region which has helped some grass growth especially after rain last week as well .However now the temperatures are quite cold so there's not likely to be time for much pasture recovery. Farms are going into winter tight on feed, although it's not quite so short around Murchison. There is still an issue getting cull cows off farm .. as a result lots of them are being sold cheaply to Canterbury farmers who do have grass .. they'll fatten them over winter and then sell them.
Winter is on its way in Marlborough ... if you can't see snow you can certainly feel it's in the air. Scanning on early lambing ewes has started so those results will be coming out over the next month. Between 10 and 25 millimetres of rain fell region wide this week. Inland on Molesworth Station snow fell Thursday night ... but recently the weather's been good so the farm's well prepared with plenty of feed for stock.
Photo: Lucy Smith
The West Coast has had a lot of rain, but it's still warm. The farmer we spoke to was only wearing a jacket because it was wet. Grass is still growing really well and now it's a matter of picking a good spell of weather for drying the cows off .. which he thought would arrive early this coming week. Some dairy farmers have dried off herds already.
North Canterbury is looking pretty good. It had been dry up to the start of May but the past two weeks have seen good rainfall and autumn growth's kicked along. The majority of farms will be pushing good feed levels into winter - better than average. Stock are in good condition. As farmers have completed their winter budgets many can see they have enough feed on farms to be comfortable buying in store lambs and cattle. They're buying on the strength of good looking schedules for spring. Although our consultant contact said some are still more conservative and despite great amounts of grass won't buy stock in case the meat works backlogs don't clear. He also said those buying stock in used to hunt all over the South Island for them, but now with the price of fuel they only look closer to home.
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Until Thursday South Otago had had a warm week with 16 and 17 degree days ..but then a cold snap whipped through and snow fell on the hills. Farmers say May makes or breaks winter for them, and until now it's made winter. Grass growth in the past two weeks has been better than the past two months.
Southland received lashings of rain Thursday night...one farmer tipped 20 millimetres out of his rain gauge - more than his farm received for all of March. And like south Otago the growth in the past two weeks has been terrific, letting previously drought hit properties farms catch up a bit..
