Moist soil works for farmers

What's bad for Tauranga's beachgoers has been a godsend for farmers, with higher-than-average rainfall last month plus plenty of cloudy days providing ideal conditions for dairying.

After a nervous start to the summer for Western Bay farmers, the traditional dry-off has stayed away, with Niwa reporting better-than-average levels of soil moisture.

Pongakawa dairy farmer John Scrimgeour said the big soaking on December 17 had been a confidence boost for farmers who did not need a repeat of the disastrous 2012-13 drought on top of this year's "terrible" dairy payout.

Instead of soil moisture levels being typically in deficit by 50mm to 90mm by late December, latest Niwa data for the Western Bay showed it was 10mm to 50mm - depending on distance from the coast.

And with another downpour early yesterday, lawns will continue to need regular mowing for a while yet.

The latest soil moisture map reflected how rainfall was more than 50 per cent higher than December's average. A total of 141mm had fallen up to midnight on New Year's Eve, with the 89mm drenching on December 17 breaking the back of the dry spell. An extra 4mm fell just after midnight yesterday.

Mr Scrimgeour said conditions had been pretty good for dairy farmers for the past two or three weeks. Farmers were nervous early in December when conditions were very dry, but light rain followed by the drenching on the 17th had really helped things.

"It was like getting the monkey off our backs for a bit."

After a season of record highs, farmers were now feeling the pinch of a tumultuous year on global dairy markets. Fonterra has signalled a final payout of $4.70/kgMS - almost half the $8.40/kgMS achieved last year.

The likely cause of the drier conditions early last month had been unusually persistent southwesterly air flows that started mid-November.

This type of flow led to wetter than normal conditions on the west coasts of New Zealand, with drier than normal on the east, a pattern commonly associated with El Nino events.