Spring grass topsy-turvey

Topsy-turvey spring temperatures has Wairarapa's farmers scratching their heads over stuttering grass growth.

When last month's snow melted away two weeks of good weather promised to bring sustained growth but a series of cold snaps has slowed things down again.

Dairy farmers have noticed the slowdown more so than the sheep and beef fraternity with the feeding out of supplementary feed likely to push through to October for many.

Wairarapa Federated Farmers dairy chairman Graeme Stuart said grass growth had certainly tightened up in the past few weeks but with luck would boot away again when total sunshine hours picked up.

Although he, and many other dairy farmers, expect to continuing feeding out until the end of September there was no getting away from the fact growing grass was the cheapest option.

Production on the Stuart farm was ahead of last year despite the stuttering grass growth, something Mr Stuart attributed to a generally mild winter.

Federated Farmers president Paul McGill said sheep and beef farmers were feeling comfortable with where things are.

The August snowfalls had affected only a few farmers who had started early lambing.

This month had been fairly kind and lambing was going well, he said.

Sheep farmers remain optimistic that a good year is in store for them as prices remain strong.

Mr McGill said three consecutive years of drought and low prices had tested the mettle of sheep farmers but last season had seen a vast improvement and this promised to continue.

Sheep farmers were getting a few dollars back in their pockets and were gaining confidence.

Metservice forecasts for the end of this month and for October predict that temperatures generally will be normal or above normal as a result of a neutral balance between La Nino and El Nino weather patterns.

But there remains a slight risk of cold polar blast weather returning, which could again signal snowfalls in many parts of the country.

Rainfall is forecast to be about normal and river levels are expected to be in the higher than normal range, mainly because of snow melts in the ranges.