Early drought conditions emerging in Hawke’s Bay as rainfall drops
As you approach Hastings from the south along SH2, the colour of the west-facing hills are a good indicator of a drought.
For many farmers it has been a challenging spring, with farmers along the east coast experiencing very dry conditions, while farmers in other parts of the country are dealing with ongoing wet weather.
For example, in Hawke's Bay, normally in November, grass would still be green, but not this year. It is already starting to turn brown and it's obvious that stock numbers have been cut to the minimum.
In Eketahuna, Federated Farmers provincial president Jim Galloway reports that in the last 12 months they have only had two months with an average of above average rainfall - all the other months they've had below average rainfall.
Farmers are responding by selling ewes with lambs at foot and not buying new stock as they might normally do.
Beef + Lamb NZ is recommending farmers along the east coast to start planning for drought and consider strategies such as early weaning, selling trading stock at lighter weights and buying in supplementary feed before demand puts upward pressure on prices.
Good planning and early decision-making are critical when farmers are dealing with drought conditions.
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B+LNZ suggests farmers set trigger dates and if it hasn't rained by that date, then certain actions need to be implemented.
For example, wean early-weaning five-year ewes and getting those ewes off the property and sold on a higher schedule in December or selling a line of cows and calves - stock that would struggle in a very dry summer.
It is important farmers focus on protecting the reproductive performance of their capital stock to help minimise the impact of a drought.
This is where tools such as body condition scoring is so valuable as farmers are partitioning limited feed resources into the stock that need it the most.
As farmers grapple with the looming dry spell, they have support. B+LNZ has resources on Knowledge Hub to help support decision making. This includes a drought tool kit and strategies used by farmers in previous droughts.
