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Vol 19 No 5, February 10, 2020
Too much water down south
farmersweekly.co.nz
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Dry hits hard The meat companies should do better. They know this happens every year.
Colin Williscroft colin.williscroft@globalhq.co.nz
A
S DRY starts to ratchet up the pressure on farmers Central Hawke’s Bay farmer John Waldin has been lucky enough to get some of his stock away to the works but there’s still more that needs to go. Waldin was pleased to get a call confirming he will be able to send 240 lamb to the works. Though he’s experienced conditions just as dry as now on his Ashley Clinton property Waldin can’t remember a time when he’s seen such a shortage of grass. He normally aims to kill lambs at a carcase weight of 18kg-plus but a couple of weeks ago he decided there was not enough feed so drafted at 15kg-plus, with anything lighter likely to be worth more as stores. The lambs heading off-farm are destined for Progressive Meats’ Hastings operation as part of a supply arrangement Waldin has with Atkins Ranch. Most of the lambs are part of a commitment Waldin arranged in October but he is pleased to be getting a few extras away as well, with much of the 260ha effective property looking very brown. He’s well aware of how hard it is for some farmers to find space
Prue Ritchie Farmer
CASH DEFICIT: A shortage of grass forced John Waldin to sell 50 calves be bought in October at a loss. Photo: Colin Williscroft
at the works, with processing capacity stretched. The lack of grass means he’s also having to carefully manage his cattle. About half the 100 100kg calves he bought at the end of October were sold last week, unfortunately at a loss, while the other 50 will be fed a grain and palm kernel mix.
He is also buying lucerne balage from Onga Onga farmer Jamie Gunson. The big dry means Waldin is also aiming to kill 18-month bulls lighter than normal, down to 245kg carcase weight from the usual 270kg. They were booked in two weeks ago but are still onfarm.
In previous years Waldin has been able to arrange grazing around this time of year but that’s not an option this summer. If it doesn’t rain in the next couple of weeks he will probably buy some barley maize to go with silage for his ewes, something he can get from grain-growing neighbours.
“We want them growing a little bit prior to the ram going in.” The recent dry weather is a big change from last season when too much rain was the biggest challenge but that is part of farming, he says. Prue Ritchie of Taumarunui has been waiting three weeks to have 40 lambs killed but has been given no indication when it will happen. She expects she will have to try her luck at the sale yards. “Everybody is in the same position,” she says. “You have to hold the stock and they go downhill and then the schedule goes down as well. I bought them for $120 and I’ll probably sell them for $115.” Ritchie says her agent was given space for only 350 lambs last week after asking for more than 2000 to be processed.” Those lambs went from King Country to Moerewa. “The meat companies should do better,” she says. “They know this happens every year. They need to put on more shifts.”
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