Dunedin has just had its warmest winter since records began in 1947, Niwa data shows. Dunedin’s weather station at Musselburgh recorded a mean air temperature of 8.7°C, which was 1.4°C above normal. The other areas of Otago and Southland that nearly broke their previous records were Nugget Point (7.8°C) and Tautuku (7.9°C), both in the Catlins, which had their second-warmest winters, and Oamaru (7.7°C) which had its third-warmest winter on record. Reporter Shawn McAvinue asks farmers near those areas if they noticed it being warmer than usual this winter and if it impacted their operations.
Dairy farmer Callum Kingan, of Enfield, inland from Oamaru ... "I didn’t notice it being unusually warm, but it was good for stock health and feed utilisation. We are about 90% through calving and the warm winter got us off to a good start."
Sheep and beef farmer Brendon Cross, of Otago Peninsula, east of Musselburgh in Dunedin ... "We had an extremely dry autumn, so we were going into winter well underdone, feed-wise and the stock condition wasn’t where we wanted it to be. It has been a relatively kind winter and we’ve come out of it less than average, but in a much better position compared to where we were coming into winter. We haven’t had a huge amount of rainfall, but we are starting to lamb now and things are poised for a good spring, but we will need moisture at some stage."
Sheep and beef farmer Warren Burgess, of Puketiro, north of Tautuku ... "We didn’t have any major frosts or snowfalls, just a couple of skiffs. We were looking reasonably OK going into winter. We still have young cattle on fodder beet and about 650 ewes have just started lambing. Winters have changed and they are definitely a lot better than they were 20 years ago, they are not as harsh."
Sheep and beef farmer Barry Gray, of Katea Valley, west of Nugget Point ... "Winter was mild. Most of May was bloody cold and I was worried about grass regrowth, but the soil temperature must have been reasonable because it kept happening. The ewes and the young stock were in good nick and we had more hoggets than usual and they’re pretty well grown. We had the odd rough patch in winter, but there were some mild days, which were rather pleasant for a change. It is not often you get a couple of days where you can work in a short-sleeved shirt in July."
