Drought Management

These areas are now officially suffering from a medium level drought: Waikato, BOP, South Taranaki and parts of south Canterbury and Otago.

Resources

Waikato Drought Updates: 1 June 2010 Northland Drought Updates: 11 June 2010 27 May 2010 20 May 2010 13 May 2010 6 May 2010 29 April 2010 22 April 2010 14 April 2010 8 April 2010 31 March 2010 24 March 2010 18 March 2010 10 March 2010 3 March 2010 24 February 2010 17 February 2010 12 February 2010 5 February 2010 29 January 2010 22 January 2010 DairyNZ Farmwatch For the latest Northland Farmwatch click here

Record dry months and challenging spring conditions have led to poor pasture in many areas, which has dried out further with the recent low rainfall, high winds and temperatures.

The following pages provide advice to farmers on how to manage their way through the drought itself as well as tips on what to do once the drought has broken.

Farming through the drought >>Read more

Management options during the drought:

• Have a plan in place
• Take action early
• Know what is happening
• Set up for next season
• Ask for help if you need it

Farming out of the drought >>Read more

Management options once the drought has broken:

• Limit the damage to this and future seasons
• Develop and implement a feed and financial recovery plan
• Start by growing more grass – slow rotation, nitrogen, regrassing
• Don’t forget young stock
• Use your farming colleagues, advisors, accountant and banker

Contacts:

• DairyNZ Farmer Information Service:
  0800 4 DAIRY NZ (0800 4 324 7969)
• Rural Support Trust Northland: 0800 778 667
• Federated Farmers (for matching feed supply/demand): 0800 DROUGHT (0800 376 844)
• Farmers of New Zealand: 09 439 5219

Events:

There are a number of dry summer and drought management events taking place across the country. To find the event in your area click here

Useful Links:

• Federated Farmers
• MAF drought brochure
• Rural Support Trusts
• Northland Regional Council
• NIWA
• MetService
• Area Health Board
• Farmright
• Work and Income
• Northland drought relief fact sheet - government assistance  View PDF (189kb)

Related Pages:

• Dry summer management
• Tight Management Campaign