Drought looms in high country

High country farmers are looking down the barrel of a drought after months without decent rainfall.

Some have been without rain since as early as July and say the problem is now at a point where if it does not come soon, even vast quantities later on will not make a difference.

High country farmers Simon Williamson and Dave Allen said farmers were facing a terrible situation.

"If it doesn't rain in the next fortnight, its all over," Mr Williamson said.

Mr Allan said he did not remember it being this dry.

"We're hoping for a wet Christmas."

The current weather was more typical of January than late November, Mr Williamson said.

"It's going to be a long, dry summer if it stays like this."

Farmers say they are on the knife-edge as an El Nino weather pattern has brought more wind and higher temperatures.

Spring feed on some farms is non-existent and preparations for making winter feed are not boding well either. This would affect stock condition and affect farmgate returns.

"A couple of months is a long time in farming. The longer it goes, the harder it gets."

The dry conditions have led to a blanket fire restriction being imposed in the high country today by the South Canterbury principal rural fire officer, Rob Hands

"There's about three more days before we suddenly go 'right, we're in the crapper'," Mark Urquhart from Grays Hill Station said.

If there was not constant and regular rainfall, he said the station would have to consider scaling down its operations for the summer. There had been only about 80mm of rain since July.

"It's all about follow up stuff. We either shut down for the summer, or, to get growth, you need constant rain.

"[We] need to get rain before Christmas and then we can get through January."

Mr Urquhart said they were also trying to get winter feed prepared, though with minimal growth in the area, that was proving hard. All he could hope for was a correct weather forecast.

"It's meant to rain [today], but then again the All Blacks are meant to beat France, so we will see."

Federated Farmers high country spokesman and The Wolds station owner John Murray said the high country region was very dry and it was getting close to the "crunch time".

"If we don't get rain soon, we're pretty stuffed. If we get a good rain in the next two weeks we will get by."

He said bare patches of earth were beginning to appear in a number of areas where there should be feed.

Ben Innes from Black Forest station said while nothing could be done to avoid a drought, he would soon have to make some tough management decisions.

"It's going to affect the condition of the ewes and lambs and they will struggle."

Mr Innes said the farm may have to wean lambs early, then sell them and put the ewes out to high ground.

The cost to the farm would be significant, he added.

At The Wolds station, Will Murray said the last bit of moisture to hit the ground was 25mm on October 16.

"We need a couple of inches [50mm]. There's no spring growth – it's going backwards. We're losing a bit of sleep," he said.

"It's not the first time it's happened, but you get sick of it after a while. It makes farming bloody hard work."

Rural Assistance Trust spokesperson David Hewson said for some farmers it had been a good spring and some did have good reserves of feed.

However, he said the ongoing dry spell had many farmers "sitting on the edge, again".

- © Fairfax NZ News