By TONY GEE and NATASHA HARRIS
Farmers are facing heavily reduced milk payouts as the constant wet weather hits the condition of their cows.
Milk production is down, grass growth has slowed dramatically, cows are losing condition and some are not going on heat to receive artificial insemination for breeding -
a process known as "cycling".
Parts of Northland are facing some of the worst conditions the area has ever had, while in the low-lying Hauraki Plains farmers have been forced to send stock off farms.
A second weekend of torrential rain has left many regions saturated.
Northland Federated Farmers operations director Bill Guest said cows were losing condition on wet and muddy ground and new stock numbers were going to be down.
"Things are saturated," he said. "Some farmers have run out of feed and there's a lot of pasture damage. I've never seen our farm so wet."
Mr Guest said he had spoken to some farmers, especially sharemilkers, who were emotionally exhausted because of troubles with cows and calves.
Dairy farms were facing smaller payout cheques this month and next.
Federated Farmers national president Tom Lambie said that while most farmers were having a reasonably good spring, Northland was under pressure.
"There have been some big pockets of wet around the country, but in Northland it's just been wet for so long."
Waikato Federated Farmers provincial president John Fisher said his region's farmers were also starting to worry about the constant wet. It had slowed milk production, grass growth, mating and sowing of summer crops.
Farmers had begun to feel the effects of the rain after the "very dry" weather in July and August had allowed the ground to soak up most of the rain from last month.
At Pakaraka, north of Kawakawa, farmer Lindy Aickin said rainfall figures she kept for her dairy and beef property, going back to 1965, showed an average total annual rainfall of 1500mm.
Up to yesterday morning, this year's total was already 1700mm - "and we haven't finished the season yet".
John Sanford, a farmer in the Hauraki Plains, said he knew of some farmers who were down to milking once a day.
