It is coastal Southland's driest summer on record and there is no real relief forecast as the drought pushes into the north of the region.
The drought effects are not only limited to the farm with water restrictions in effect in Invercargill, Gore and Mataura (file picture). Photo: Southland Regional Council
Dean Rabbidge runs a dairy, and sheep and beef farm at Glenham near Wyndham in rural Southland.
His family has farmed the property since 1889, and it is the driest season he or his father have ever seen.
"We've probably seen it just as dry for some months but not as prolonged and not as late in the year as this," he said.
With meat and milk prices high, many in the region had hoped for a season which would bring some breathing room.
Instead it had brought the opposite.
"Milk volume is definitely dropping. It was always a tight season, we were off to a terrible start being too wet ironically. And now the pain has come on with the dry as well now that milk production has dropped," Rabbidge said.
"Our farm grew seven kilograms of dry matter per hectare a fortnight ago ... and we require between 45 and 50kg of dry matter per hectare."
Meaning dry-matter growth was not even at 20 percent of what was needed.
NIWA meteorologist Chris Brandolino said while some rain was expected in the next fortnight, there was not a lot of good news in the longer term.
"Above normal rainfall for the next three months is pretty darn unlikely, so our expectation is we'll see - unfortunately - probably not an abundance of rain for that region.
It was the driest summer and March in Invercargill since records began back in 1900, Brandolino said.
A meteorological drought existed in the region and it would take persistent rainfall to counter its effects.
"Once it does start to rain more regularly while meteorological drought may end, the effects may persist for several weeks thereafter," he said.
Environment Southland chief executive Rob Phillips said the situation was desperate and would have flow-on effects for months.
"Water underpins Southland full-stop, but especially agriculture. It's critical. We've got a situation where we are going into winter, so this dry means there's real pressure on winter crops getting established. Southland needs those winter crops to get it through the winter."
The council introduced an irrigation ban for the entire region last week, before rolling it back in some areas.
It would be reviewed regularly, Phillips said.
Federated Farmers Southland president Chris Dillon said the damage was already done with farmers' confidence shaken.
"The ban was very ill-thought-out for a start," he said.
"To knock irrigation in an area where they use it to grow feed when they're short of feed is just ludicrous."
Making matters worse was a lack of capacity at meat processors due to a lack of workers amid the Omicron outbreak, which meant more stock remained on farm.
"What we need to do is move stock out of the area but processing capacity has been limited due to the Covid situation, which has ultimately snowballed this into the situation we're in now," Dillon said.
The effects of the drought were not only limited to the farm with water restrictions in effect in Invercargill, Gore and Mataura, and a fire burning through 1000 hectares of conservation wetlands at Awarua.
Department of Conservation Murihiku operations manager John McCarroll said the dry conditions had made battling the scrub blaze harder.
The region remained under a total fire ban.
