Tip-top summer will take some licking

SUMMER: Cattle enjoy lush feed - a sight farmers are hoping for this summer.

Wairarapa farmers, buoyed by a kind autumn and winter have had their hopes of a tip-top season further enhanced by a positive three-month weather outlook hinting at a traditional Wairarapa summer, without the fear of drought.

Niwa expects Wairarapa to enjoy above normal temperatures through to at least December and for the other three important components rainfall, soil moisture levels and river flows to be in the "near normal range."

The good news comes just days after Fonterra popped a further 50 cents a kilogramme on its forecast payouts for milksolids which at $8.30 a kilogramme is an all-time record forecast.

While that is great news for dairy farmers, it is hoped all farmers will benefit from kind conditions and strong grass growth.

Carterton farmer John Booth said that, besides looking forward to a possible record pay-out dairy farmers are also reporting their milk production is well up on previous years.

Agricultural contractors are in to the seasonal swing much earlier than usual also. Mr Booth said the cutting of baleage and silage is ahead of schedule by at least two or three weeks.

"Normally this doesn't start until mid-October."

He said there has been "phenomenal re-growth" with those paddocks that had already been cut "growing like mad again."

"It's shaping up to be a wonderful season and I hope that the sheep and beef farmers share in it.

"So far the prices they have been getting have only been break-even so it is imperative they have a good season too.

"The exchange rate can have a big effect and with the American shut-down, who knows."

Mr Booth said he expects farmers along Wairarapa's coastal strip will be also benefiting from good grass growth, "so it's fingers crossed all round."

In its overview of the seasonal outlook for the country NIWA comments on the "equatorial Pacific Ocean" continuing to be in neutral, meaning there is neither an El Nino or La Nina pattern evident.

These conditions are likely for the next three months.