Farmers suffering the effects of a wet November, December

Farmers continue to deal with an abundance of summer feed, fuelled by heavy rain in November and December. Photo / Neil Clarkson

This season's high rainfall is creating some headaches as arable farmers prepare for the harvest.

While there is plenty of feed and baleage around, the extra summer rain means grain crop yields will be lower and the quality reduced, farmers say.

Federated Farmers North Canterbury arable chairman Reuben Carter said the season has been a bit trying so far, but he was optimistic farmers could get back on track with some more sunshine in the coming weeks.

''The small seed, rye grass and clover seed crops have had a patchy start and some of the grain crops need a bit of drying out.

''It's been a real mixed bag. Some of the guys down south had a bit of disease over winter, with fungicide not getting much of a response, and others are still waiting to harvest.

''But the dryland guys have had a better run than previously thought, so as long as we get a bit of dry we will get a bit of work done.''

Former Foundation for Arable Research chairman David Birkett said crop yield and quality would almost certainly be affected by the lack of rain.

''We won't know the extent of it until we get into the main part of the harvest.

''We all probably know it will have an impact, but we always hope it won't eventuate.''

Fortunately it appeared the rain did minimal damage, but there simply had not been enough sunshine to dry out the crops.

The extra rain did mean a cheaper irrigation season, but Birkett said he would rather have the sun and be irrigating.

''We do save a bit of money, but when you consider the negative effect on yields it weighs up pretty quick.''

Having plenty of baleage and feed around meant farmers were hanging on to stock for longer, which meant there were fewer store lambs for sale, pushing up prices.

''There was a lot of baleage made during the spring, so we've got to do something with that feed and the options are pretty slim.

''We can hardly sell baleage at the moment as everyone has had so much growth.

''The cost of buying store lambs is going to be a challenge for this coming winter, so it will come down to margins.''

But Birkett said conditions could change quickly if the region experienced a dry autumn and stockpiles of feed disappeared quickly.