TOP STORY: No water, feed for HB farms

30th April 2007

REBECCA HARPER

A severe lack of feed and no rain in sight is the grim reality faced by many Hawke's Bay farmers, who are starting to truck in supplementary feed in from all over the North Island.

While Bay farmers are used to dry summers, many were relying on March rain to kickstart autumn grass growth and see them through the winter. However, the lack of rain with winter fast approaching and very little feed on the ground has urged many into action. Mike Kettle, of Mike Kettle Contracting Ltd in Havelock North, said his phone had been ringing constantly for weeks and there was no supplementary feed to be found in the region.

"We don't have any available now. It's all coming in from outside the area - Waikato, Manawatu, and the Wairarapa," he said.

Freight costs were also driving the overall cost of supplementary feed up.

"What you're buying it for isn't outrageous, but once you stick on another $800 to $1000 for haulage it adds up," Mr Kettle said.

The root of the problem was a cold spring, which meant very little hay or grass silage was made compared to usual. "If we'd had a normal hay season we wouldn't be in the situation we're in now."

Mr Kettle said while some farmers still had hay, it was hard to know how long the dry period would last, so many wanted to be prepared.

Another consequence of the weather was low stock prices: "People are having trouble getting stock up to weight so they can kill - it's a vicious cycle and we're stuck in the middle."

Rod Parsons of Middle Hills Contracts Ltd based in Central Hawke's Bay said there was "a very big zero" amount of supplementary feed available in the region. He said people were coming to the end of their reserves and a lot was being trucked in from the Manawatu, however it was "starting to price itself out of the market". A round bale of baleage was worth about $65 in the Manawatu, but he estimated the total cost per bale would be closer to $100 once trucked to the Bay and unloaded.

Mr Parsons said it would be interesting to see what happened when dairy cows started drying off for the winter and needed grazing. Many dairy cows came to the Bay for winter grazing and, given the situation now, grazing rates would probably go up.

Federated Farmers' Hawke's Bay branch spokesman Kevin Mitchell said the autumn rains, which usually arrived in March, had still not arrived. "It's the end of April and we still haven't had those autumn rains, the end of winter looks a long way off. It's certainly a worrying situation," he said. On the Metservice website rural section, the Bay's seasonal forecast was that after a dry March, rain should return to normal by May. The main pattern for the harvest season was for high-pressure systems to bring periods of dry weather with sunny afternoons and cloudy mornings. Also likely were cold fronts with southwest winds and cloudy, showery and cool periods.

"It is possible that a low-pressure system may approach from the tropics or sub-tropics bringing a few days of significant wind and rain," the site said.