Kiwifruit Growers Prepare for El Niño, Stay Optimistic
Kiwifruit growers are watchful but remain optimistic as concerns around the potential effects of the El Niño weather pattern this season.
"I know when we hit a long dry spell farmers will look back at the rain longingly. But what many need right now are days or weeks of fine settled weather to dry out," says Katie Milne, Federated Farmers Adverse Events spokesperson.
"The only way to describe much of rural New Zealand is sodden and there'll be plenty of people in the towns and cities who'd probably agree. Farmers are hoping for a decent fine spell in order for saturated pasture to recover.
"Our advice to livestock farmers, especially those with cattle, is to avoid pugging damage where they can. Heavy pugging can seriously knock back pasture growth rates and even moderate damage can put your farm behind the eight-ball.
"Being a West Coaster we know a bit about heavy rain. Experience tells us you can get away with one wet grazing but if you have to graze wet again, farmers need to either stand off cattle after three hours grazing or once they've eaten grass down to a desired residual.
"If you don't avoid pugging damage your farm pasture, your stock and your balance sheet will suffer ahead of our key growing season," Milne says.
