In the darkest days of the September storms, the abundant grass now cloaking most southern farms must have seemed an eternity away.
It was certainly the case for Heriot farmer Michael Parks, who said that by the end of the horrid storm week, he was down to milking once a day, watching saturated paddocks being pugged and wondering how he would put condition back on his cows in time for mating.
But a run of warm weather and regular rainfall has transformed the South, with pasture growth rates running at 30% to 50% more than normal for this time of the year.
"All of a sudden, it went berserk," Mr Parks said.
He was starting to recover milk production lost during the storm, and was topping paddocks and making baleage on his 131ha farm.
Mr Parks said that a year ago, he was battling a dry but cold spring.
"It's a nice situation to be in."
The national winners of the ewe hogget competition, Nelson and Fiona Hancox, from Tapanui, told a field day on their farm last week they had had to shuffle stock between their three farms to keep on top of abundant pasture growth.
Ewe hoggets from one of their run blocks had been trucked to the home farm, Kowai Downs, and they had brought their own ewe hoggets home from grazing early.
However, even with this 20% lift in stocking rate, Mr Hancox said he was struggling to keep on top of grass growth.