Farmers in Southland battling soggy conditions are running low on feed, dealing with higher lamb death rates and struggling to sow paddocks with spring crops.
It has been a wet start to spring with some parts of the region reporting twice their monthly average of rainfall.
Southland’s Federated Farmers president Jason Herrick said the rain had been relentless since August.
“Obviously it’s not giving the animals any rest and recovery, getting them on dry ground is a real challenge,” he said.
“Sheep and beef farmers are struggling to get good money for their product so they need good survival rates for their lambs to break even, but that’s not happening this year.”
Skin processor NZAGRI said the wet weather and last week’s cold snap resulted in a huge increase in dead lambs.
Since the start of the month they’ve processed 100,000 lambs, double what they’d normally do.
Earlier this year Southland farmers sent feed to drier areas of the South Island to help out but now they’re running low themselves, Herrick said.
Surplus feed has been exhausted so a lot of supplement is being brought on to farms.
Arable farmer Chris Dillon is frustrated he can't plant crops due to the soggy conditions. Photo / RNZ / Federated Farmers
Arable farmers are also struggling because the ground is so wet they can’t get spring crops into the ground, he said.
“They need to get the crops in the ground soon so they can get the best bang for their buck, but the wet weather is making that really hard.
“If it continues to be wet they can plant alternative crops but they’re not as profitable, so they’ll lose income as well.”
Herrick said the forecast for Southland is looking a bit better this week but farmers desperately need some sun and norwest winds to dry paddocks out.
Lambing and calving an ‘extra difficult time’
DairyNZ said dairy farmers were looking over the fence to their sheep and beef counterparts getting under way with lambing, as they finished calving.
The industry group’s regional manager for the lower South Island, Guy Michaels, said most in Southland and Otago had finished calving for this season or were close to it.
Both calving and lambing were stressful times for rural communities and he urged people to check in with each other.
“We’d emphasise the fact that this affects a wide part of the community,” he said.
“Dairy farmers are looking over the fence particularly concerned about our sheep and beef colleagues starting to get into lambing - and it’s an extra difficult time managing that situation.
“We would just urge people to reach out to support agencies, friends and family, and a listening ear sometimes eases the burden slightly.”
Michaels said animal condition was generally not too bad considering consistent heavy rain for months across the lower South, though there was some pasture damage from the moisture.
The focus now was ensuring animals were well fed and cared for, so extra feed may be needed.
“Weather in the area has been a particular challenge,” Michaels said.
“The region has been particularly wet since April and to date, some areas in Southland have recorded 200% more rainfall than the long-term average for the entire month of September.”
Last season was great for farmers harvesting supplementary feed, most of which has been utilised this spring, but supplies were getting tight.
“So far, some of those supplementary feedstocks are getting a little bit lower here, but from what we’re hearing there’s still a little bit of feed available for those that need it.
“The bulk of it has gone out, so we’d urge anybody considering extra feed to look sooner rather than later just to book it in.”
