Sheep weather drought

One downside of the drought has been longer fattening times for store lambs, but other than that, Kaiwaka farmer Robert Hastie has no complaints.

“We’ve been luckier than some, as this is limestone country and we’re in a rain shadow area,” he says. “We’ve had just enough rain at the right time to green us up.

“We’ve been spoilt for the last 20 years with productive summers, so this year’s dry has caught some out. I think it goes in cycles and we were just due for a tough one. You need to plan for that occurrence.”
However, the line of lambs he sent away last week took a month longer to reach killing weight than in better summers.

“We planted brassicas to help fatten them. Once they acquired a taste for it, they didn’t want to come off. This certainly helped.”

Robert and wife Deb carry 500 Suffolk ewes and beef cattle over two properties: 60ha at Baldrock Road and a further 230ha at Topuni.

“We’re constantly trading stock so it’s hard to put a figure on what head we have at any one time.”

A steady supply of clear, clean water from springs on Mt Pukekaroro, and a bore at Topuni mean that he has no concerns over stock water – and the couple’s home was purpose built five years ago to ensure maximum rainfall catchment for household use. “We came from the old family villa at Mangawhai that had an outside toilet, so I wanted three inside here and plenty of water,” Deb says.

While the drought has brought the curse of increased cricket numbers to some, this hasn’t been the case on the Hastie’s farm.

“I’ve heard farmers are baiting for them, but they’re not a problem here so far. What can happen in a dry summer is that they’ll have two breeding cycles.”
The dry ground has led to the loosening up of rammed fence posts, something Robert’s not noticed before in the five years he’s been on the property.

“Once the drought breaks the problems could start, as we will need to be vigilant in checking for Barber’s Pole worm, facial eczema, fly strike and viral pneumonia.”

Image: Robert Hastie with his Suffolk ewes.