28 Feb 2020

Regional Wrap

From On the Farm, 9:07 pm on 28 February 2020

Each week our Country Life reporters check out the latest from farms and orchards around the country.

Northland drought, Kaikohe area

Northland Photo: RNZ / Simon Rogers

Northland's still desperate for rain. People are drying cows off - mainly younger ones that are still growing and need a chance to get to optimal weight for calving. An ag consultant says farmers need to be aware that when a decent rain arrives, pasture quality will go off for a while because  any remaining pasture will rot - so they will need to have plenty of feed on hand to get over that hump.

Around Pukekohe, about 20 millimetres of rain arrived at the weekend. It was good enough for irrigated crops for a day or two but of no benefit to dry hard soils awaiting cultivation. Most of the onions are now off the fields with exports underway. Growers are not expecting the bonanza last year delivered. Greenhouse grown tomatoes are heading to Australia to meet a shortage there. Other local vegetables are hard to sell. There's not much demand due to consumer spending on tickets for the $50 million dollar lottery.

South Waikato had thunder rolling around the district at the weekend but the rain was very choosy about where it fell. Some places have greened slightly. The farmer we spoke to has been going out twice a day to check troughs - when it's hot, cows can drink a hundred litres each a day. He's also had the sprinklers on in the milking shed to keep cows cool and tries to keep them in paddocks where there's shade. He says the cows are milking well given the conditions.

Bay of Plenty farmers are tucking into winter feed reserves. At least with the decent dairy payout farmers can afford to buy feed. There was just enough rain at the weekend to settle the dust. Thirty degree days are putting fruit crops under a bit of pressure - some avocado trees with crop still on are dropping their fruit - so there's windfall fruit available at roadside stalls. Young kiwifruit without access to water are under stress and their leaves are curling. Rain's needed to help kiwifruit size up.

Taumarunui remains dry and streams and dams are drying up. Stock buyers have had their quota cut by about half by meat works, but things are freeing up a little. Shearers, rousies, wool handlers and judges have been flocking into town for Friday's Taumarunui shears competition.

King Country

King Country Photo: RNZ/Carol Stiles

Parts of Taranaki were blessed with 100 millimetres of rain at the weekend and other places had just 10 to 15. Most dairy farmers are now on once a day milking - and have time to go to the beach in the hot afternoons. Autumn calving herds are due to start calving soon and there's concern there won't be enough grass for hungry cows. There are waiting lists of up to two months to get empty cows into the works. The wait's been exacerbated by a chemical spill at the works which has held things up even more.

We're told the sea is beautiful and it's a wonderful time to be at the beach near Gisborne. The weekend brought some nice steady rain - up to 30 millimetres.   There are still boats loading logs at Gisborne's port but, with demand from China dropping, lots of trucks are off the road and forestry workers have been laid off.  On the farming front, stock prices have dropped. One farmer was budgeting on fetching $1600 dollars for two year old cattle  - he's revised that down now to $1200. Yields for later harvested sweetcorn crops are down 20 to 30 percent because of the dry. The tomato harvest is going flat stick and there's been a huge honey flow.

In Hawkes Bay, farmers near the western hills have springs that are dry or are going dry for the first time in  memory - so not only are they dealing with a feed shortage but also a water shortage. There are too many mouths on farms. Meatworks are taking all the animals they can but their chillers are full. Lambs are about a kilo lighter than you would expect for this time of year and to make things worse TB-infected cows have been found north of Napier and we're told about 500 herds are under a restricted movement notice. An ag consultant says it's been decades since Hawkes Bay has had TB .  

Manawatu has had some rain - but the heat has undone a lot of the benefit. Stock condition is suffering because farmers can't get animals to the works. There's only limited feed to spread across all the animals. People are getting bit concerned about ewe weights going into tupping and some may decide not to mate hoggets. Southland seems to be the only place with an abundance of pasture and lambs from the Fielding sales are heading to the South Island. It costs about six thousand dollars to get a truck and trailer load across Cook Strait so buyers are looking for bargains to make the trip worth it.

Wairarapa is hot and drier.  Some dairy farms have run out of supplementary feed. The farmer we spoke to had 26 millimetres in the rain gauge at the weekend. He says heavy dews are helping with grass growth.

South Island

The Nelson/Motueka region is very dry. Level two water rationing's in place across the plains. This means a 35 percent cut in watering. In orchards the earlier Comice, Taylors Gold & Packham's Triumph pears are coming off. Apple-wise the popular Royal Gala variety is being picked. Packing houses are flat out but a lot of orchards are still looking for staff.

Marlborough's dry too with no rain likely for the next two or three weeks so water restrictions are in place on some rivers. A major concern for sheep farmers is the impact the lower pasture quality will have on ovulation rates during mating. In the province's vineyards people are getting ready for grape harvesting.

Pasture growth's taken off on a Grey Valley farm on the West Coast after a lot of sun this week and decent rainfall last week. The farmer we talked to says he's planning to make more silage next week to bolster up the winter reserves. The cows are being milked three times every two days and he says production's holding up okay.

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Central Otago Photo: Ken Gillespie

In Canterbury, farmers were pleased to get some rain last weekend with  around 5 to 20 millmetres. Much more is needed soon while temperatures are still high enough for growth before winter. Indications from arable farmers are that yields have been very good so far across cereals and small seeds.

Weaning's in full swing in Central Otago and some farmers have done a third cut of lucerne this week. On Monday at Oturehua there's a half-bred ewe lamb sale. Our contact reckons the Merino Romney cross is the most profitable sheep in the country at the moment, as the wool clip is in demand and they produce a lamb that is finished in the year it's produced.

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Southland Photo: RNZ / Cosmo Kentish-Barnes

A fruit grower a bit further south at Roxburgh says they've had no rain, cool mornings and lovely sunny days this week - perfect conditions for harvesting!  The last of his peaches are in the packing shed now and plum picking for the local market's underway.

A farmer at Mataura in Southland says scanning's done on the cows and the six week in-calf rate is at 75 percent. Last year it was at 77. Milk production's starting to tail off so some farmers are looking at changing their milking regimes from twice a day to 16 hours, or 10 milkings over 7 days. Another farmer we talked to says it's been a pretty tough season as the spring was ugly and they haven't seen a lot of sun so he's keen to give his staff a bit of a break before winter kicks in.