Westpac Urges Farmers to Prepare Now for El Niño Drought
Westpac NZ is calling on farmers and growers to start preparing now for the possibility of a dry summer, as likely El Niño conditions raise the risk of drought across parts of the country.
Ag First’s Lauren McEldowney, based in Stratford, says there’s been below average rainfall in July and August. As a result, overall it’s been drier across the region. She says colder than normal temperatures and more frosts, combined with the southerly winds, have resulted
in below average pasture growth rates.
McEldowney says for certain parts of Taranaki in late July and early August, pasture growth rates were a lot lower than long term averages and what had been experienced in the last couple of seasons. In those years it was a lot wetter and while more grass was grown, it wasn’t all utilised because the ground was so wet.
“But what we have seen in the last two weeks is that it’s got a lot better, with soil temperatures rising and pasture growth picking up,” she told Dairy News.
The other point of note in Taranaki is that there are normal climatic variations. In the coastal areas of the region there is greater exposure to wind and recently they got hit a lot harder than the central and northern parts. For example, in Stratford, which is sheltered by Mt Taranaki.
Latest reports say that milk production in Taranaki is now about on a par with other seasons, although it was a bit behind for the month
of August.
Calving is said to be going well, noting of course that some parts of the region calve earlier than other parts.
In terms of animal health, McEldowney says there have been some well publicised issues with salmonella, but vets are helping farmers with this.
Also, she says there appears to be a few more instances of mastitis, but nothing major and the cause may be related to management practices.
El Niño's Effect
According to Lauren McEldowney, the potential impacts of El Nino are in the back of farmers’ minds. But she points out that dry conditions are not unusual in the region, and in the case of El Nino, it’s a case of just how dry it might get.
She says, as rule, South Taranaki can get very dry.
“Interestingly, that central area around Stratford, twenty or thirty years ago you would have said we were summer safe, but not so much now,” she says.
McEldowney says farmers now need to get set up for summer in terms of feed and make sure that they have reserves, and know where they can get feed from, and at what price. She says they may need to look at reducing cow numbers before Christmas and follow the best management practices.
Overall, farmers in the region are generally in a positive frame of mind. McEldowney says Fonterra suppliers are benefiting from the capital payout, and many have used this to reduce debt. But she says with the threat of El Nino and the uncertainty of the election, farmers are cautious about what steps to take in the future and potentially what the outlook for them might be if there were to be a change of government.
