It's raining it's pouring

Farmers are sleeping easier as rain throughout the region provides relief to drought-stricken paddocks.
Wairarapa Federated Farmers chairman Anders Crofoot said rainfall in the past two weeks has "certainly helped farmers and should see them turn the corner".
"With the days getting shorter and colder the grass growth is a bit slower. We're not out of the woods yet but Niwa is forecasting warmer weather over the next month and as long as it's not long, hot and dry days then it will increase pasture growth."
Mr Crofoot said the ground temperature is still warm and that is vital to grass growth.
"Gladstone and Longbush areas missed out a bit with the rain and some farmers only recorded about 5ml compared with Castlepoint where we got 17ml."
He said Masterton farmers captured around 40ml, "some more and some less but still a lot more than other areas".
"Right now people are looking to build feed covers for winter and MAF has just done a national feed survey in Wairarapa for pasture cover and we are 50 per cent below average."
"Wairarapa is one of three or four of the worst-hit regions for pasture cover and for feed reserve we are about 30 per cent below average, which is one of the worst."
He said a positive in the drought is that "killing-space at the works has freed up so farmers wanting to get rid of ewes can do so now".
"There's still plenty of farmers lightening their stock rate but then there's also the downside that they're not worth much either."
Federated Farmers dairy spokesman John Coveney says he recorded 30ml over the weekend at his Pirinoa farm on top of another 30ml the week before.
"Dairy farmers will be flogging their pasture to death at the moment because of the high payout but there's always the warning that they will get into trouble in winter when they have nothing."
He said farmers have a month to catch up on growth before the weather really turns and the frosts hit.
"People are already doing 16-hour milkings or are on once a day but they will persist milking as long as they can while the payout is good.
"It's a case of being weary of the cost of wintering stock and although most put nitrogen on to stimulate growth, that's not exactly a cheap option at the moment."
Providing the ground temperature stays mild grass growth will continue, he said.