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Wairarapa hills may look green and fertile, but looks are deceptive.
The area, like most of the east coast of the North Island, has been racked by drought for the past few months. Yesterday farming community representatives gathered to tell Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton of the difficulties of dealing with a "green drought".
While some parts of the Wairarapa are raw and parched, most areas have had just enough rain to keep pasture green - but not enough rain to prompt grass growth. A lingering sense that a drought isn't really happening means stock numbers are high on most farms - but feed cover is 30 per cent below usual.
"It's a real lingering bugger," Ponatahi farmer Rick Ashby said.
Mr Ashby and his brother Mike have farmed at Ponatahi, near Carterton, for 30 years. In those three decades they have farmed through six droughts.
"Each one is different," Rick Ashby said.
Some have been grey droughts, where the grass has burned off leaving only dirt. Some have been yellow droughts, but this has been a frustrating dry, with rain not settling into the prolonged downpour needed to set the farm up for next spring.
Local Federated Farmers president Anders Crowfoot said central Wairarapa was still very dry, and one farm he knew of had only received 10 per cent of its usual rainfall so far this year.
"We got rain a couple of months ago and it turned everything from brown to green ... but with the most recent rain came a cold southerly and the soil temperature is right down."
Snow fell on the Tararua Range last week, meaning cold temperatures and frosts will be a daily feature for the next few months. All farmers would be hoping for this winter to be a mild one, Mr Crowfoot said.
"As long as we have a kind winter and a normal spring, and we're not completely over-stocked at that point, hopefully we can get things back into kilter."
Mr Anderton, who has previously visited drought-stricken farms in Hawkes Bay and Gisborne, said he could not promise helicopters flying overhead dropping money for impoverished farmers.
However, he said the Government was aware of their plight, and urged farmers to make use of services provided by Work and Income.
"The farmers' mood has been remarkably resilient," Mr Anderton said.
"I think it's partly the stoic farming attitude, but it's also a reality check."
