Meat processor and exporter Silver Fern Farms Ltd has joined fellow South Island-based meat company Alliance Group in reporting a big loss for the past year.

Dairy

Stubbornly high farm input costs, a slow Chinese recovery and a flood of Australian lamb onto the global market are the main factors contributing to the tough times being faced by NZ's sheep farmers.

Federated Farmers Marlborough Province says it welcomes the announcement yesterday that current dry weather in the top of the South Island would be classified as a medium-scale adverse event.

Fertiliser use in New Zealand over the 18 months is about 25% down from what it consistently was for the previous decade or more, says Ravensdown chief operating officer Mike Whitty.

Alliance Group says following delayed livestock flows - due to ideal growing conditions in both the North Island and the southern South Island - sheep and beef processing numbers are starting to crank up in the move to autumn.

The Government is calling on the country's largest pastoral farmer, state-owned Pāmu (Landcorp), to lift its game.

OPINION: Your old mate can't believe the absolute brass neck of the directors at Beef + Lamb NZ who are asking levypayers for a hefty increase in directors fees at the time of record low red meat prices.

Sheep farmers, facing low farmgate prices, are being urged to attend a national woolshed roadshow announced by the Government.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand chair Kate Acland says while farmers are quite positive about the new Government, the economic situation on farm is "pretty brutal".