Farmers in Whanganui region not fazed by recent cold weather

Mike Cranstone says it has to get "wet and unpleasant" at some stage. Photo / Supplied

Wind and rain and cold temperatures hit Whanganui this week but the conditions haven't put a dent in local farmers' plans.

Federated Farmers Whanganui president Mike Cranstone said it was the first taste of what was expected for the coming months.

"I think most farmers have enjoyed a fantastic autumn," Cranstone said.

"It's been an amazing June in terms of grass growth, so most places are set up pretty well to handle short, sharp cold snaps like the one we've just had.

"The guys in the hill country have appreciated a warm month to get feed covers back on track."

Cranstone said soil temperatures around the region were still good.

"We're growing more grass at this time of year than we'd normally expect.

"Stock and pastures are in good nick.

"It needs to get wet and unpleasant at some stage, otherwise summer becomes a very long, dry season."

Motukawa Land Co. Farms general manager Simon Plimmer said it was better to have snow at this time of year than in spring - when lambing was taking place.

"We've had late snow storms come through in September in early October in the last couple of seasons," Plimmer said.

"That hits us harder."

Plimmer said although frosts predicted for the next few days would impact soil temperatures, it had been "unseasonably warm" on his central North Island farms during the past few months.

"It's been a dry autumn, so a bit of rain and snow will help boost our dam levels.

"To have them this low around this time of year is pretty strange.

"In saying that, everyone will be swimming around in mud pretty soon wishing it was dry again."

MetService meteorologist Amy Rossiter said the Whanganui region could expect some frosty mornings over the next few days.

Stock and pastures are in "good nick", despite the recent change in weather conditions. Photo / Gareth Gardner

"Cloud will start clearing on Thursday, and into Friday we are looking at a fine day," Rossiter said.

"With clear skies comes cool temperatures overnight.

"That cloud cover acts as an insulator, so overnight on Wednesday it will only get down to about 5C.

"As we go through to Thursday night and Friday night it's looking pretty frosty, with temperatures around 2C."

Elsewhere, Westmere dairy farmer Scott Mosley said he was well placed to deal with any inclement weather.

"We were lucky to have quite a good winter [in 2020] and also a really nice summer," Mosley said.

"That meant we were able to plant a lot of crops and store a lot of supplement feed.

"We're packed to the gills with maize and grass silage."

In terms of the cows themselves, Mosley said they could stand up to a sudden drop in temperatures.

"The comfort temperature of a cow is between five and 16C.

"We are really exposed out here so you have to put wind chill into the equation, but it's been quite temperate up until now, around 10 or 12C."

Mosley said if the soil temperature fell below 10C there was usually a dramatic decrease in grass growth.

"Instead of taking 10 to 14 days to grow back we might be waiting 20 to 30 days for the paddocks to come back.

"Our soil temperatures are sitting above that but they are still relatively low at the moment, so we are not seeing any rapid grass growth after grazing."