In early spring Niwa and other forecasters were confident that with the arrival of El Nino, we should prepare for the mother of all droughts and record summer temperatures.
They produced very good scientific data to back up their analyses, so most farmers began to prepare for the hot dry summer.
On the dairy farm the silage bunker was empty because of the dry conditions of the 2022-23 season and the cows having to be fed silage to supplement the grass from January until May.
The spring growth was typical but because of the predicted dry spell coming, when son Cameron was offered a block of grass from another property, he bought it to insure he had adequate reserves.
However, with the sultry humid conditions experienced over the summer the grass didn’t stop growing and I don’t think I have seen growth like it.
When it came to making the baleage two cuts off the same paddock were common and so starting from a winter feed deficit there now is a healthy surplus.
The sheep farmers aren’t panicking either.
With the low schedule, plenty of grass and no climactic pressure to sell early every extra kilogram the lamb puts on, means a few more dollars.
There is a saying down here a "Southland cocky with a couple of surplus blades of grass is a dangerous beast" and that has been brought out in the store lamb market where the competition has been fierce, and I would think the profit margin in some purchases will be slender.
Cattle are in the same category.
Company field reps inspecting brassica crops around the district say they haven’t seen crops get a better start; they are healthy and strong. Another indication of the summer is the lawnmower hasn’t had a spell yet, but it has been almost impossible to make decent hay as those three or four sunny days needed just haven’t arrived.
The meteorologists got it wrong, for which we are thankful, but I hope my neighbour is also wrong because of the abundance of winter feed available she suggests we are in for a tough winter, also there have been three sprinklings of snow on Southland’s mountains already this year. Surely not.
