A wet spring is saving farmers in a dry Central Otago from having to move to more drastic measures.
Most parts of Central Otago are brown and rain has been in short supply.
Federated Farmers Otago High Country chairman Andrew Paterson said it was drier than normal.
Water restrictions have been put in place in many Central Otago towns and those out on the farm are also lacking water.
"Central Otago is known for its really dry summers but we have not had the rain we usually get in January and February," he said.
"Normally, January is one of our wettest months of the year. You get thunderstorms coming through and they spread around."
There had been very few thunderstorms this summer, he said.
Mr Paterson, who farms Matakanui Station, said the station had received just 17.2mm of rain this year.
This month, just 2.9mm of rain had fallen so far.
Normally, there would be 50mm-60mm of rain in January and 25mm-30mm in February, which was one of the drier months.
Stock were generally in good condition and most farmers had plenty of winter feed thanks to good spring growing conditions, he said.
Some farmers might look at destocking if things continued to stay dry, which weather forecasts had predicted.
Irrigation had helped, although that was now being cut back and restrictions put in place.
The one saving grace was there had been little wind so the ground was not drying out quickly, he said.
