Hawke's Bay farmers under pressure after one of driest springs for decades

Hawke's Bay farmers are off-loading stock as dry conditions start to bite.

While the hills still have a tinge of green, pastures have dried out across the region after one of the driest springs in decades.

Waipukarau farmer Mike Petersen said he always planned for a dry summer but this year was particularly bad as crops were failing to strike.

"There's a lot of stock leaving the region, people are offloading, In some instances that's a good thing because the stock have done well and the yields have been good so they've managed to kill those animals at good weights.

"There's also a lot of store stock leaving Hawke's Bay because farmers are unsure if they can carry them through the season."

Petersen said thankfully the rest of the North Island has had rain so therefore has feed.

"At the moment there are very good outlets for store stock, which is certainly helping, but if that tightens up at all around the rest of the North Island in particular, then that'll get more challenging."

In Hawke's Bay feed levels were getting tight but the odd skiff of rain was helping keep things at a good level.

"There are gaps in the pastures, it would take several decent rains for that to come right. I'm not sure that will happen coming into summer; the ridges and northern faces have turned brown already."

A good thing for farmers was that product prices have been a bit more normal this spring, he said.

"Farmers are getting better money for their product than they were expecting so I think that's been a bit of a confidence boost."

Further up the coast in Tai Rāwhiti about 30 millimetres of rain fell last week which was enough to keep things green.

Tolaga Bay farmer Tim Jefferd said the rain has set up his farm well going into Christmas as there was plenty of grass growth.

The stock were loving the sunshine after two really wet summers.