Issues of water storage are on the minds of Maniototo farmers as a dry summer follows a rainy spring.
Figures from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research show Ranfurly received 48mm of rain last month, compared with 65mm last year. In October it recorded 86mm compared with the previous October's 34mm.
Maniototo farmer and Central Otago district councillor Stu Duncan said after a great spring the area was ''getting dry again''.
''Overall it's been a great season, but we'd love a few more inches of rain now.''
There were patches of rain in the past few weeks, but it mainly fell in higher areas.
''I had 38mm when I looked the other day, but some places have had hundreds.''
Issues of water storage and irrigation were ''always a fight'', he said.
''You get the Taieri [River] flooding, and a lot of good water just goes into the sea.''
However, the wet spring meant farmers had good stacks of hay heading into winter, he said.
Maniototo farmer Peter Hore said the Christmas period was ''very dry'', but the area was now receiving spots of rain.
''We could always do with more storage.''
Part of his land could be covered by the multimillion-dollar irrigation project for the Manuherikia and Ida Valleys, if it went ahead.
''So that could help. It just depends on the cost.''
There were no plans he knew of for other new irrigation projects in Maniototo, he said.
''Right now everyone is trying to sort out the water allocation from old mining rights, which needs to be done by 2021.''
Spring replenished winter feed crops ''which was good, because stocks were pretty run down'', he said.
