The rain has been relentless during winter and spring and the ground is saturated in a way not seen before. This applies not only to dairy farmers but also horticulturalists and anyone who works the land for a living. Not only has there been heavy rain, stifling pasture growth, the lack of sunshine hours has meant that whatever grass that has managed to grow is ‘gutless’ and lacking in nutrition for animals.
Anyone travelling around the North Island in recent months would know: there is simply not enough grass available to animals compared to the norm for this time of the year. Travelling between Horowhenua to Napier over the weekend, I saw just two farms that had or were in the process of making grass silage and the cuts from those two were sparse to say the least.
Farm consultants are worried because dairy farmers are having to use their reserves of supplement to keep cows in condition for mating and the word is that many cows will not be mated on the first cycle due to their condition.
Crops are at least a month late going in and what happens from now on is in the lap of the gods – especially if we end up with a dry summer.
This is potentially one of the worse seasons for dairy farmers in parts of the North Island for many years. The feed pinch comes at the ‘money time’ of the year when in theory milk production should be at its highest – but it’s not and forecast to be down around 4% on last year.
So there is mounting pressure on farmers to feed their stock, a fear of rising input costs and potentially a shortfall in income. At the same time, the Government is relentlessly forging ahead with its environmental agenda with seemingly little regard for the consequences of the lives of rural people.
The mental health of farmers and their families is now seriously at risk but it seems the politicians and bureaucrats tucked away in their cosy Wellington glasshouses don’t know or care about people outside the city limits.
Things are piling up on rural communities. The ‘pile on effect’ is now reaching breaking point for many people. Will we see more suicides in rural areas? Undoubtedly. Will farmers sell their land to the plant-and-run carbon farmers? Absolutely! And does Wellington care? No way!
