Northland, Tasman/Nelson, Marlborough and West Coast farmers are once again dealing with flooded paddocks, slips, access roads blocked and significant damage following huge volumes of rain falling this week.
Nelson's Maitai River in flood on 18 August, 2022. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Listen
Around Bay of Islands worsening weather during the week caused a lot of flooding. Some stock trucks weren't able to reach farms so animal pick-ups were cancelled. There are already waiting times at most freezing works to deal with and now there will be even more animals waiting on farm for longer than planned. One stock agent says the rain has been absolutely pelting down and there's plenty of wind - it's mild though at about 17 degrees which is a relief to sheep farmers. A farmer in Kaikohe says thanks to the warmth his newborn lambs are mostly doing okay. Those in flood-prone areas of the North spent the week moving stock to higher ground.
In Matakana - northeast of Auckland strawberry growers have started their early picking although the heavy rain kept them indoors for a few days. As it's early in the season there aren't masses of berries to pick, so growers don't have to be in the fields every day. Good crops are expected with the warm temperatures. Even with the wet, the berries should be okay as they are planted on mounds above ground level.
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Photo: Michael Godfrey
Across the coast in Gisborne it's wet again and planting crops is continuing to be delayed. Harvesting is also a bit of a problem with damp weather causing salad greens like lettuce to be poor quality, but cabbages have made it though the bad weather and are looking good.
Further down the coast in Hawke's Bay farmers are feeding out to cattle and there is a bit of ongoing pasture damage with so much moisture underfoot. Jack Frost has struck a couple of times but the weather is milder than usual, so grass is growing.
Wairarapa is full steam ahead with calving and lambing. Other arable farmers are using the time to undertake restorative native planting using flax, cabbage trees, and Ake-Ake. Some locals are also pole planting Poplar and Willow trees on hillsides to prevent erosion. Meanwhile due to a lack of feed on coastal hill country farms stock are being moved down to flatter arable land for grazing.
Farmers in the Nelson /Tasman region have been especially hard-hit this week. Some parts have received more than double the normal monthly rainfall in just a few days. Infrastructure damage, such as slips and flooded roads forced Fonterra to suspend milk collection in parts of Golden Bay on Thursday. Farmers are just trying to make the best decision at the time as they deal with floods and slips. Electric fences are underwater and shorting out so animals are having free range in places. Apple and kiwifruit orchardists are wading through sodden ground and it will be a waiting game to see how much the surface water affects tree roots over the next month.
An Angus stud at the Conway River mouth in North Canterbury is calving. Each calf is weighed, tested for DNA and given an ID tag. They are recording the genetics of each animal to keep track of what it's eating and measure the methane output. In Mid-Canterbury it's been a week of unusual weather with temperatures in the mid-teens even when it rained. Farmers are trying to get onto paddocks to cultivate ready for spring sowing but regular rain is making this job difficult. Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes
Around Fairlie in South Canterbury calving is well underway and rain started falling later in the week. Earlier snow has disappeared and it's currently having the expected winter wet conditions.
On the West Coast a number of farms where Buller River tributaries or creeks run through farmland there's been flooding, and those farmers will have a repair bill fixing some of the protection work that they'd only just done in February. The rain couldn't have come at a worse time with calving well underway. It is stress to the max for them.
In Central Otago the Australian Curling teams are having their own national champs at the Naseby rink. Meanwhile, snow has been replaced with steady rain and it's a waiting game to get the ewes shorn before lambing. Shearing gangs from the North Island are late coming down thanks to the wet weather delaying work up there too. Ewe scanning is just about finished and for some, the percentage is a bit lower than expected at about 160 percent.
Southland is having a mild spring and farming folk say despite wet weather they have nothing to complain about. The frosts have been impressive with one duck shooting pond freezing over. Locals here are saying, as we all are, "our hearts go out to the people in Buller and Nelson".
Photo: Cosmo Kentish-Barnes