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Hello from southern New Zealand on the morning of New Year’s Eve – what better time to reflect on the year that’s been? I write this with a coffee in hand, made with Baileys Irish Cream.
Along with my wife Jody and three children Carly, Fletcher and Leah, we farm 325ha in Balfour, Southland, almost at the lower end of the South Island. It’s very flat and fertile land with an average rainfall of 785mm and temperatures from as low as -10°C in winter and up to 32°C in summer, with wet winters and dry summers.
Our farming operation consists of cereals, beef cattle, grazing dairy heifers, sheep, land leased out to tulip growers and a new enterprise on the horizon for 2018. It’s very diverse, which spreads our risk across both our variable climate and commodity cycles, and gives very good year-round cashflow and spreads the workload.
Late December and most of January is normally quiet on farm, which is good for family time as the school summer holidays continue until the end of January.
However, a very hot and dry two months have brought the crops forward three weeks so there is plenty to do in the next 10 days.
Lucerne is ready for its second cut to be made into hay, the autumn-sown barley is ready for a trip through the combine in the next few days and the first wheat will be ready by February.
Nationwide, it’s been a tumultuous year weather-wise, causing a great deal of angst for many farmers.
Large parts of the country had a very wet autumn and early spring, followed up with a very dry late spring and early summer which is now biting very hard for 90% of the country.
In typical farming fashion, the stars are never all aligned. While most commodity prices here are very good, the season isn’t allowing farmers to reap the rewards.
Lamb, mutton, beef and venison prices are at historically high levels, grains have improved well to normal levels, dairy is relatively stable and manageable, but our coarse wool sector is in a whole lot of trouble. A wool buyer told me a few days ago that prices are worse than they’ve ever been in the 40 years he’s been in the business.
Farmer sentiment though is a lot worse, especially that of dairy farmers.
In the campaign and lead up to our general election on 23 September, farming and in particular (and unfairly) dairy farming was singled out regarding this country’s water.
Water became a political football. It was trial by media for farmers and, in the end, we were all hung out to dry and judged harshly by those eating their evening meal while watching the 6pm news.
While we compete on the global commodity stage, the international farming community must stick together and support each other.
With a rising global population and only a two-day food reserve, farmers have the most important role for the survival of humans and deserve much more respect than we receive sometimes. For general farming updates you can follow me on twitter @blairdrysdale77.
May 2018 be a great year for you all, cheers!
Farmer Writes: one dead and another with a bizarre ailment
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