Mainland farmer Roger Fox is a veteran when it comes to farming through El Nino and says farmers have to be ready to make tough calls.
Mention El Nino to farmers and expect to be greeted with a shrug of the shoulders or a response which encapsulates been there - done that.
Whether it's 1982, 1988 or 1998 -- the last significant El Nino to hit our shores -- each event had specific circumstances, which farmers
would rather forget than recall.
North Otago meat and fibre farmer Roger Fox has experienced a few in his time since he started farming 40 years ago at Kauru Hill, around 20 miles inland from Oamaru.
Mr Fox reckons farming in the eighties with El Nino was tougher and the modern farm today is better equipped to handle such extremities.
Still, the old chestnut whether to destock and when remains. The implications of that decision can be long-term and impact financially.
