Relentless rain and diabolical ground conditions in the South have sparked a call for farmers to look out for each other and check the level of their effluent ponds.
Federated Farmers Southland meat and wool chairman and sheep, beef and dairy farmer Dean Rabbidge, of Glenham in Eastern Southland, said the wet weather had been "relentless".
"It has been wet since March."
He had worn wet weather gear for nearly every day of lambing for the past month.
About 10mm of rain each day has made ground conditions "diabolical", gateways muddy and paddocks waterlogged, limiting the dry area available to livestock.
However, a 12-hour dry spell most days had given livestock a chance to "get up, get going and have a drink before the next cycle comes through".
"So stock survival has been pretty bloody good considering the conditions."
He encouraged farmers struggling to seek any advice needed to get through.
Southland Rural Support Trust co-ordinator Fiona Comer, of Makarewa, north of Invercargill, said the trust had been getting calls from concerned farmers.
Sheep farmers’ concerns include the cold and wet conditions and the loss of olderlambs.
The concerns of dairy farmers include cows calving earlier this season and there being a lack of feed available.
Feedback from primary sector professionals to trust members was the stress levels of farmers was much higher than usual for this time in the season, she said.
Trust members were part of a meeting with industry stakeholders on Friday.
Environment Southland wanted dairy farmers with nearly full effluent ponds to contact them as soon as possible to avoid them overflowing.
"The aim is to get the effluent on paddocks, which are low risk, so it won’t get into waterways."
Environment Southland resource management manager Donna Ferguson said the weather had been "challenging" in Southland this month.
The council’s website www.es.govt.nz details how to understand soil moisture deficit and how much farmers could irrigate, regulations on consent conditions, how to reduce water entering the effluent system and, when irrigation was not possible within consented conditions, how to get excess effluent removed from the pond and property.
The ways include contacting an effluent spreading contractor to help reduce effluent in the pond if soil and weather conditions allowed, she said.
Contractors need to be aware of the consent conditions, such as areas to apply to, depth, ponding and runoff, Ms Ferguson said.
If contractors used slurry tankers then farmers needed to be aware of the compaction issues those machines could place on a farm and the time between application events and cows returning to grazing that pasture.
If contractors used an umbilical system, farmers should ensure the contractor was aware of tile drains, distance to waterways, boundaries and dwellings.
Otago Rural Support Trust chairman and sheep and beef farmer Tom Pinckney, of Cromwell, said the trust had received a couple of calls about the wet and cold weather.
He had heard about lambing loses in Otago recently.
"The slinkies were busy after that last snowfall — it hasn’t been great lambing weather."
He urged anyone struggling to call the trust on 0800 787-254.
