Early drought fears ease in Hawke’s Bay, but caution remains
Fears of a serious early drought in Hawke’s Bay have been allayed – for the moment at least.
Steps to ensure greater and/or more reliable feed supply in the face of “the dry” were needed much earlier in the season and now, for many, the only option is shopping, most likely for palm kernel. PKE probably will, as before, get us out of jail but what’s really needed is a strategic rethink about water use. It’s well known ryegrass isn’t the most efficient or drought resilient species so a bit more maize, lucerne, fescue or wholecrop cereal would go a long way to buffering our systems against rain or irrigation failure. More pit silage instead of the convenient but costly short shelf-life baleage would be a good idea too.
