While a drought in New Zealand may not be quite on the same level as one in Australia the impact can be just as challenging, and if not managed correctly, devastating. 

Northland farmers in particular are currently facing a number of issues as a result of drought – they may have lower than usual feed covers; low amounts of standing rough feed; low reserves of supplementary feed (and high cost to replenish reserves); lower than normal stock condition; and, in some cases, some unfinished stock.

There will be significant downstream costs from the drought unless the right responses and actions are taken and some farmers will have to make difficult decisions that will influence their ability to manage their current situation and future production.

There are a range of options for farmers planning drought recovery, based on research and modelling work commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF).

Where to start?

To make good decisions, it is important to have good information.

The first step at the end of the drought is to assess the state of all your pastures and the likelihood of them recovering. Assess the density of the sown grass(es) and whether these plants are large/strong or small/weak.

Match the degree of damage with the potential each paddock has to contribute to the overall farm production and rank them in order of priority (for example, badly damaged pasture on flats with good soil will have a high priority).

The next step is to work out a plan of attack for the next 1–2 years, including details on which paddocks to start with, what crop or pasture to sow in them and when, and the costs involved.

It helps to seek advice from a seed retailer with good pasture and crop experience. In some cases, banks will also be interested in your plan of action.

What are the options?

Where the grass and clover has thinned drastically and is not yet replaced by weeds, it is an option to drill grass straight into the paddock to fill these bare gaps without the need for herbicide application (‘under sowing’).

This works best for sowing Italian or other short-term ryegrasses. For sowing a perennial grass, experience through previous droughts has shown that there is almost always an advantage to spray the old pasture before drilling (‘spray-drilling’). This reduces the invasion of weeds in the replacement pasture.

For many pastures, it is not ideal to try to re-establish a perennial pasture immediately. If there has been an increase in hard-to-kill weeds and weed seed during the drought, this can swamp the new pastures.

Pastures that are likely to have a lot of weed and undesirable grasses should go through a crop or short-term grass phase before being planted in perennial pasture.

An advantage of these crops is that they usually generate more feed in the short-term than perennial pastures. This is important following a drought because of lower pasture growth and low supplementary feed reserves.

What perennial pastures to plant?

A perennial pasture can be planted successfully after 1–2 crops, either in the spring or autumn, depending on when the final crop is harvested.

Most farmers will plant perennial ryegrass and clover pastures. As a guide for what will be most sustainable on their farm, they should make notes on what types of ryegrass and which endophytes have survived best during this drought.

Many farmers would now be aware of the costs of having pastures that do not survive drought and will be looking for an alternative to ryegrass. Tall fescue is the drought-tolerant grass most similar to ryegrass for growth and quality. Other options include cocksfoot, pasture brome, lucerne, chicory, plantain and sub-clover.

For more information visit:  http://www.maf.govt.nz