It’s amazing the difference that 12 months can make.
Hawke’s Bay Federated Farmers president, Will Foley, says farmers are happy now compared to a year ago with tonnes of feed about. He told Rural News stock this time last year were being trucked off farms much lighter in weight than farmers would have liked.
“This year stock are being held on to for longer and finished at higher weights and in some cases they are getting replaced straight away,” he says. “There’s quite a lot of trading going on and schedule prices are high.
“That combined with the amount of feed around means that store prices are quite high to buy lambs – although there are good margins to be made - it just means out laying a bit more capital.”
Foley is just starting to cut hay – about a month later than normal – due to the unsettled weather before and after Christmas. Only now can he get a forecast which shows about four or five good days in the row.
But the quality of the hay is not that good. While there is plenty of seed head and rank grass available, much of the clover around before Christmas has dried out and some quality has gone.
“Having said that, after last year anything in the barn is a good thing because last year everything would have been cleaned out.”
Foley says farmers in the region are confident especially with the schedule price around $5.50/kg and store lambs selling for up to $80.
Further west around Taihape, the mood is also upbeat. That area was badly hit by the drought last year. But it’s bounced back, according to local vet and farm consultant, Anthony Oswald. It’s been an amazing winter and spring with a huge amount of grass grown, he says. Many properties in the region have been understocked and feed quality has become an issue on a lot of farms.
“Most farmers are pretty comfortable with their moisture levels, but on some of the larger stations they are getting a bit desperate for decent rain. The biggest issue on most farms is just feed quality.
“The condition of ewes is really good and the cows have bounced back amazingly over the last few months. Lambs are variable with some guys having already sent theirs to the works, while others have really battled. A lot of that comes back to how they have managed their feed quality over the last few months.”
Oswald says morale is good, helped by the good schedule prices and the price for store lambs.
“While we are not going to breaking any records, guys are selling lambs for about $100 a head. With store lambs fetching between $75 and $85 – that’s a helluva lot better than last year.”
While controlling the grass is an issue, every farmer would rather have this problem than not having enough feed.
