Just over a month ago people were wondering what had happened to summer, but after a spate of fine weather much of the region is now dealing with drought-like conditions.
There’s only been six millimetres of rain in Hamilton this month, prompting water restrictions for city-dwellers. In rural areas, the grass has stopped growing, and farmers say it’s “just dirt now”.
Southern areas of the Waikato District, Hamilton City Council and Waipā District Council areas moved to Water Alert Level 1 on Tuesday, and while there’s a large weather system on the way that may bring some rain, for now summer is here to stay.
Metservice meteorologist Mmathapelo Makgabutlane said January’s rainfall was a “fraction” of last year’s in the Waikato, and February is looking “really dry” too.
Makgabutlane said you would expect 77 millimetres of rain in Hamilton for a typical January. Last month, there was only 28 millimetres.
“So far, there’s only been six millimetres of rain.”
While there is a large weather system on the way early next week that may bring “some relief”, it’s not quite a “drought breaker”, she said.
“Where we find ourselves now is well and truly under this settled weather regime, a large high pressure system along with those more settled and drier conditions look to be sticking around at least into the weekend.”
Federated Farmers dairy chair Matthew Zonderop said the dry conditions are “really starting to bite” now.
He said the rain had been “sporadic” around the district, and there hadn’t been any in his area.
He said it was “pretty dry” compared to previous seasons, but what made it worse was that it followed a dryer than normal spring, which reduced the amount of silage made.
Zonderop said he’d had to buy in silage, and farmers were starting to buy hay as supplementary feed sources run low.
Farmers will be starting to reduce milking and off-load animals if they haven’t already, he said, because “there’s just not the feed available”.
He said the paddocks were “just dirt” now, and even the effluent ponds were empty.
Federated Farmers Waikato provincial president Keith Holmes says the region is “very much in drought mode” now.
He said representatives of the primary industries Rural Advisory Group had met on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
Holmes said farmers trying to “milk” the dairy payout could be in “a very serious situation”.
Fonterra’s latest forecast payout brought the figure up by 50 cents to a midpoint of $10.00kg/MS.
Holmes said farmers are offloading cows, milking once a day and using up feed supplements to try and make it through the dry period.
“We would like some rain,” said Holmes.
The Ministry for Primary Industries director of On Farm Support Dr John Roche said MPI is “keeping a close eye on the situation” and is staying in contact with the region’s Rural Advisory Group.
He said the decision to declare a drought would be guided by the Rural Advisory Group.
Roche said most farmers were used to dealing with drought conditions, and preparing for them, with many already implementing a range of tactics to “get through”.
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