John Blackwell: What a difference a week makes

The big dry has taken hold in Northland with forecasts showing little rain on the horizon for the rest of February. Photo / John Stone

Recent events have tended to back the theory that the difference between an average farmer and a top farmer is one week.

Let me explain: It will come as news to nobody that Northland has seen a dry January, with very strong south-westerly winds stripping moisture from our soils and pastures.

Last Friday Minister of Primary Industries Nathan Guy announced a medium scale adverse event in Northland.

I met with the Rural Support Trust in Whangarei the day before, and its members were mostly in favour of the announcement.

The view of the trust over the last two droughts was that we needed to move earlier. Make the hard calls early. In other words, even one week can make a difference.

With the forecast showing little rain on horizon for Northland for the rest of February, I'm confident the medium-scale drought was the right call to make.

On our farm we have reduced our stock numbers and have only replaced half our bulls.

I know many other farmers in Northland - and along the east coast - are also making hard decisions about stock numbers.

My biggest concern is that we have seen the water levels of dams drop very quickly. As Grant Shaw from Northland Farm Services LTD said to me last week, "We can always pump water quicker by putting a bigger pump in, but we cannot make the water."

The likes of Ruawai Flats' economy would benefit greatly from better security of water supply for stock and irrigation. Five droughts in eight years makes such ideas worth more investigation.

In a new approach to our feedline, Federated Farmers and StockX are working together to provide livestock sale and purchase transactions at a reduced commission of 2 per cent (for affected farmers) for the seller of livestock (free to purchasers) and a two for one deal on classified listings for feed and grazing for transactions involving Northland farmers.

They should contact StockX direct (www.stockx.co.nz).

The Federated Farmers 0800 number - 0800 FARMING (0800 327 646 Select Option 2) adverse events line will also continue to process and co-ordinate feed requests and offers from different parts of New Zealand.

Two days ago I had a call from Darrel, a Nelson farmer wanting to help supply Northland with hay and silage.

He heard me on the radio and his problem was that it has been so wet down there it had been hard to harvest the feed.

That's the sort of goodwill displayed within the rural community for 150 years, where farmers could rely on each other when the going gets tough.

A local committee I have recently joined is the Northland Field Days (http://northlandfielddays.co.nz/) held in Dargaville for three days, starting March 2.

This is the biggest outdoor event north of Auckland and attracts more than 20,000 people.

It surprises me that such a big operation, with a 31-year history, is run by a small, very capable group of volunteers.

- John Blackwell is Northland Federated Farmers president.