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In his 12 years farming his Waikato sheep and beef station, Grant Vercoe can't remember a summer as hot as this one - nor one which has caused him so much grief.
"We've been dry in the past but these are the worst conditions I have seen by
far, it's been pretty bloody tough," he said.
Speaking to the Herald at his parched 400ha Tauhei farm, about 30km west of Hamilton, Mr Vercoe said there was only one thing he needed from Agriculture Minister Jim Anderton, who was about to arrive in a chopper to talk to a handful of affected farmers in the area.
"We need water - lots of it," he said.
Mr Vercoe's Parahiwi farms have not seen any decent rainfall since Christmas and sporadic sprinklings in the region had made things even more frustrating.
In the past week there has been 25mm of rain in the Tauhei area, well short of the 100mm Niwa scientists say is needed to break the worst drought conditions the region has had in 100 years.
"A mate of mine about a kilometre down the road got twice as much rainfall than what we had in one day," said Mr Vercoe. "We had a wet winter last year which was followed by a pretty piss-poor spring where we couldn't produce as many supplements and then that was followed by this dry summer."
Mr Vercoe, who said his sales of lambs were down 30 per cent, fears the dry conditions could result in an outbreak of facial eczema, which could devastate his sheep. Adding to his woes is a quickly-dwindling feed supply - just 10 days of silage is left for his stock.
When Mr Anderton arrived he asked Mr Vercoe if there was anything more that could be done after he outlined what the Government was doing for drought-affected farmers.
"The first thing we need is some rain, so if you can do something about it, that'd be great," said Mr Vercoe.
The minister replied: "Every farming region I have visited recently has had rain the next day."
Mr Anderton said beef and sheep farmers were hit hardest because their lands were likely to be drier.
"Plus they've been on the back of some pretty spartan market conditions," he said.
But the minister stressed the importance for the farming industry, which makes up 65 per cent of New Zealand's international exchange earnings, to think long term to cope with such extreme weather events.
"I think we are going to have to get used to these things and plan for them. It certainly won't be every 100 years that these things happen - it could be every 10 to 20 years we could be seeing things like this," said Mr Anderton.
MetService forecaster Lisa Murray said there was a "good possibility" of showers in the region from Saturday.
"But I doubt it'll be enough to quash the drought," she said.
Niwa agricultural climatologist Alan Porteous said the Waikato region soil moisture deficit was about 30mm below its normal level and at least 50mm of rain was needed to "break the current situation".
However, he said the previous two summers had been broken by heavy wet spells in March.
