Good soil moisture and temperature levels have produced a tremendous autumn for pasture growth in Northland.
It has been a year of stark contrasts in weather for Northland farmers, beginning with a largely rainless summer which in February led to drought being declared in the region for the fifth time in the past eight years.
The Big Dry ended just over a fortnight ago with Tropical Cyclone Debbie dumping more than a month's worth of rain on the region in 48 hours, causing flooding at Kaeo, Tangiteroria and other lowlying areas, but draining away without the severe problems experienced in regions such as the Bay of Plenty.
DairyNZ Northland regional leader Chris Neill said everyone in his organisation was very pleased Northland had missed out on the serious flooding and they were commiserating with those further south dealing with their flooded farms.
On a more positive note, the drought-breaking rain produced a tremendous autumn for pasture growth in Northland, thanks to good soil moisture and temperature levels.
"Some of the really high growth rates have been in the kikuyu pastures," Mr Neill said. "We seem to have passed the peak as temperatures and daylight length are reducing to the point of affecting pasture growth.
"While this provides feed for milking on now it is not suitable for carrying through into winter and ideally needs to be controlled and oversown with Italian ryegrass to provide pasture in the spring when kikuyu is still dormant."
A number of Northland farmers were making autumn silage to control the flush of feed and replace supplements used to feed cows through the drought, and compensate for the low yielding maize crops that were also affected by the drought.
"While the excess kikuyu looks ideal, the energy levels in this grass are unlikely to produce silage that meets anything more than cow maintenance requirements," Mr Neill said.
"Many farmers are taking this opportunity to catch up on milk production, recognising that cows also need to be in the right condition for calving to ensure that next season's milk production and reproduction results are as good as they can be."
Fonterra Shareholders Council Ward 1 Northern Northland representative Terence Brocx, who milks 650 cows on two farms totalling about 250ha at Okaihau, said the autumn rain had been "an absolute blessing" but farmers had to be careful about using the grass flush to bump up milk production as cows light from the drought needed to boost their body weight and improve condition for calving.
He was 7-10 per cent behind last year's milk production and had new grass which had established well, but was concerned some cows needed drying off to gain weight.
Asked what farmers could do with the present prolific grass growth, Mr Brocx said they should store it as best they could and put it down the throats of their cows when they were dry.
Northland Federated Farmers dairy section chairman Ashley Cullen, who milks just under 200 cows on 100ha at Maungaturoto, said it was ironic the weather had moved from being too wet to plant grass to drought and then too wet for him to deal with about 10ha of maize he needed to harvest.
It was hard to keep on top of all the feed his farm now had, but his main problem was needing a couple of fine days so he could get a maize harvester into his soggy paddocks.
His milk production was 11 per cent behind last season, but 23 per cent up for the month.
What lies ahead for Northland farmers with winter looming?
Long-range weather forecaster Ken Ring is recovering from a stroke which has restricted his physical activities, but he still keeps an eye on the Moon which he is convinced has a key influence on the Earth's weather,
He was unsurprised by the autumn rains which followed Northland's summer drought, describing it as unsettled weather typical for this time of the year and not linked in any way with global warning, which he views as "hogwash".
Mr Ring expects to see a little snow fall in the South Island before the end of this month, but that will melt and there won't be sufficient snow for ski fields to operate until late July.
He expects the Northland winter to be mild and dry, much like last year. However, that would change next year when Mr Ring predicts a new weather cycle could bring more extreme conditions to Northland, comparable with the region's winter weather in 2009-10.¦