Canterbury farms face drought

Press, 8 January 1983, Page 1

Canterbury farms face drought

Farms in the Canterbury foothills and on Banks Peninsula have made a good recovery from the long drought, thanks to regular rain. But farmers on lighter land, although having had sufficient rain to keep pastures growing, face a testing time as midsummer approaches. Spring and early summer growth has brought an end to the immediate feed stress for stock and most farmers have been able to make hay or silage in preparation for the winter.

Although the feed situation has improved greatly, the effects of the drought will continue to be felt for some time.

Farmers rely on wool cheques and returns from fat lamb sales during the summer to build up a cash flow for the rest of the year, but with lambing down 10 to 15 per cent and wool weights back as much as 25 per cent, farmers' incomes are likely to be correspondingly reduced. For farmers who are already fully committed financially, a drop in income could cause serious problems.

With more feed now available. farmers are having to decide whether to conserve feed for the winter or concentrate on improving stock condition. Much of Canterbury still has a very dry subsoil, having received no soaking rain for many months. Rainfall during the last three months has been patchy, some areas, particularly along the foothills, having had heavy showers.

At Hororata, 327.7 mm of rain has fallen since October 1; in contrast, 177.8 mm has fallen at Christchurch Airport and 185.6 mm near Culverden.

Rainfall at the airport during December totalled 63.22 mm. It was only the second month in 1982 to have had higher than average

rainfall. The other month was October.

Although the favourable early summer has eased the feed situation for most farmers, the continuing improvement depends on the weather during the rest of the summer and autumn. A series of dry north-westerly winds would quickly return the province to a drought. According to the Meteorological Service, the forecast for January in North Canterbury and Central Canterbury. Marlborough, and Nelson is for an increased amount of westerly winds and belowaverage rainfall which could lead to very dry soil "onditions.

The chief meteorologist in Christchurch. Mr A. I. Tomlinson. said rainfall in Canterbury. during January. February, -and March could be about 10 per cent below the average.

Mr Grant McFadden, senior farm adviser in the Ministry of Agriculture in Christchurch, said the feed shortage had eased considerably during the last few weeks. On light land in the middle plains conditions were dry, but this occurred every year at this time. Some farmers who had been hard hit by the drought were concerned about the light condition of their stock and it would take periods of better than average feed supply to recover fully. The poor condition of sheep would affect their performance for two to three, years, said Mr McFadden.

Applications for droughtrelated loans are still being received from Canterbury farmers, according to Mr Bryan Atkins, deputy manager of the Rural Bank in Christchurch.

A total of 902 droughtrelated loans had been approved since April 1 last year through the bank's offices in Christchurch. Timaru, and Ashburton. The loans total $17.7 million.

Reduced stocking rates and increased plantings of greenfeed crops were two counters to the drought. Although a few farmers have surplus hay, many have been unable to make enough for the winter and have been advised to plant more greenfeed crops such as rape and turnips. The general swing towards lowering stocking rates has contributed to a lack of demand for breeding stock. Aged ewes, ewe hoggets, and ewe lambs met with little buyer interest at Christchurch stock sales last month. Some advisers even predict a shortage of breeding two-tooths this season, but even this is considered unlikely to improve demand because of the reluctance of farmers to buy in more stock.

Mr Lindsay Galloway, a sheep and beef officer in the Ministry of Agriculture in Christchurch, said the tight financial situation would not allow farmers to spend freely at the sales. Instead, many farmers were concentrating on stock already on the farm, hoping to increase bodyweights in an attempt to improve the next lambing.

Last year thousands of ewe lambs and ewe hoggets were slaughtered as prime sheep rather than being kept as breeding stock. A price of $lB to $2O for fat hoggets during the winter was considered a far better return than the $25 that could be expected during the twotooth fairs in the next few weeks. The removal of these sheep from the farm during the winter also reduced the competition for feed.

The store lamb market at Addington held up well last month in spite of an influx of several thousand lambs from

Nelson and Marlborough. The good demand for lambs indicated that there were areas in Canterbury with surplus feed for fattening lambs. North Canterbury and North Otago were the two areas most affected by the drought, according to the latest farm monitoring reports issued by the Ministry of Agriculture. In these areas the lambing percentage had declined by 10 to 20 per cent and wool production by o.skg to I.skg a head.

On fattening and breeding farms, expenditure had been reduced to help balance the budget, the main items to be cut being wages, fertiliser, weed, and pest control and repairs and maintenance. However, feed, electricity for irrigation,' and crop expenses had been increased in an attempt to produce alternative feeds.

“In addition many farmers have been forced into shortterm heavy borrowing. Peak overdrafts for OctoberDecember are $15,000 to $30,000 up on 1981 levels." according to the Ministry.

"The longer-term financial position looks much better than it is in reality for many farms because of sales of capital stock which provided much-needed cash, the heavy budgeted cuts in expenditure, the sale of other capital assets such as timber, and the postponement of development and capital expenditure."

Considerable interest was being shown by farmers in loans from the Rural Bank to overcome the severe financial situation.

"However, many farmers at present prefer to meet the cost of the drought by reducing farm expenditure rather than borrowing on the future." said the Ministry.