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Rain brings light relief BY SUSAN SANDYS
SUSAN.S@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
Mid Canterbury dairy farmers hope rain at the weekend will begin to break the drought plaguing the district. Mid Canterbury Federated Farmers chairperson Willy Leferink said the 25.6 millimetres of rain which Ashburton had received by 5pm yesterday, and 29.1 millimetres in Meth-
ven, was “the start of drought breaking”. “It’s the infantry coming in,” Mr Leferink said. Ashburton’s two days of rainfall is more than all the rain that fell for the whole of last month, when just 15 millimetres was received. Mr Leferink said some dairy farmers had gone to 16-hour milking, down from twice a day, due to a lack of pasture growth.
Irrigation had helped, but not entirely saved the district from the dry conditions. There was “massive” amounts of palm kernel being trucked into the district as extra feed, with the average cost for a 500cow farm up to $1000 per day. “It’s tough going,” Mr Leferink said, adding many had to pay for such costs out of borrowed money so were at the mercy of their bank managers.
In contrast, arable farmers had had a “mint” period with fantastic harvesting conditions in the dry weather, and the wet weekend would amount to no more than a couple of days setback. The rain would help set up winter crops, which were struggling to gain critical mass in the dry conditions. Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation scheme manager Jess Dargue said the rain was “very
welcome” and would take the pressure off, but he believed irrigation demand would remain “reasonably high”. The scheme went to 40 per cent restrictions late last week and it was remaining at that level, with no significant rain in the alps. He believed another inch or so of rain would be required on the plains before demand dropped, he said.
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