Lessons learned from El Nino

Hill country farmer Adrian Arnold still vividly remembers the challenges of farming through the last significant El Nino to hit our shores in 1998.

Hawke's Bay farmer Adrian Arnold describes the 1998 El Nino as "significant" and can recall that period with unerring detail.

His photographic memory is courtesy of diaries that go back 30 years.
Mr Arnold said it was a summer-autumn drought, and the challenge of supplementary feeding on hill country (1500-1800ft) in such conditions was compounded by not having a tractor!

"We relied on our Toyota Landcruiser for feeding out baleage to our cow herd. We had 1200 conventional bales of hay, plus 22 tonnes of maize for the ewes," he said.

They initially tried feeding baleage with a mix of molasses to the ewes; however it was a struggle to get them on to it as the quality varied so much.

A two-day trip to Taumaranui visiting numerous farmers secured suitable hay.

At the farm it was stacked on the roadside and maize was unloaded onto polythene in a hay barn.

As a daily ritual, ewes were contained in two sacrifice paddocks while maize was bucketed into two 44 gallon drums complemented with hay, with bike tubes providing the necessary flow.

The impact on the ewes took its toll after the drought broke.

Many sheep suffered pleurisy issues from the dusty conditions.

He said: "There were also considerable cow abortions resulting from grazing by the roadside and a dual planted pampas/pine tree block."

Mr Arnold is already planning for the worst case scenario this time.

"I've been reviewing my drought notes and put in place certain strategies, knowing the difficulties of farming on hill country with a later lambing flock, on a property that is unsuitable for growing supplementary feed and with limited vehicle access for feeding out."

That strategy includes grazing one hundred cows (pre-calving) off-farm locally as those opportunities wouldn't be available should an El Nino eventuate.

A decision was made to take advantage of high calf prices with the slaughter of his older age group cows.

All the terminal sired ewes meanwhile were mouthed and lambed relative to selling early with lambs 'at foot' if required.

He was also in the process of building a new hay shed for storing maize and hay.
"We've had 20 inches of rain around lambing time, so it's business as usual with the farm in good shape at the moment."

Mr Arnold said farmers should be prepared for the worst - he was relying on three weather sites.

"From my time farming usually the early decisions are the best decisions."