Dairy farmers in New Zealand have endured a tough year, says Federated Farmers.
“We had a hard winter, with floods in June, then a wet spring in this area and that put more pressure on the region,” said Manawatu/Rangitikei president James Stewart.
He said dairy farmers were, at the same time, dealing with a low milk payout.
“That put pressure on farmers and it has been a bit of a battle.”
Stewart said many people relied on dairy farming, by grazing young stock or cropping.
He said a lot of shops also depended on dairy farmer spending, and they had all felt the pinch this year.
But many sheep and beef farmers were in a better position with record beef prices holding and sheep farmers were having an average year, he said.
He said farmers would like some rain after weeks of wind.
“The perfect conditions would be 5 millimetres of rain each night, and fine days.”
DairyNZ said the low milk price had imposed a significant cashflow squeeze on most farm businesses.
“Farmers have done a commendable job to mitigate against these challenges,” said DairyNZ regional manager James Muwunganirwa✓. “Yet the threat of an El Nino dry summer is still looming. As the age old adage goes, let’s plan for the worst and hope for the best
DairyNZ’s chief executive Tim Mackle said he would be happy to see this year go past and hoped next year would bring better prospects and farmgate milk prices.
“2015 was a testing time for dairy farming. First there was the aftermath of the 1080 infant formula threat. We also started the year with a low milk price that got lower as the year progressed and had some serious flooding on farms in the middle of the year across some regions. It was then rounded off by the welfare of bobby calves coming under the spotlight.”
He said the dairy industry had banded together to overcome each challenge – by sharing information and support and by ensuring the collective voice of the dairy industry, was loud and clear.
“With the low milk price we had around 40 farmers nationwide open their farm gates and their books, so that others could learn from their experiences – good and bad. They were happy to share this information as part of DairyNZ’s Tactics campaign through events, online and in the news.”
He said DairyNZ staff had in August conducted one-on-one feed review visits as part of the Tactics campaign to help assess feed allocation and discuss spring feed management plans. About 900 dairy farmers received a visit nationwide.
“As we look to 2016, we are not out of the woods yet. The milk price is still low and on top of that we are facing a potentially dry summer in some regions because of an El Nino weather pattern.”
Mackle said farmers and the dairy industry were dealing with the questioning of their reputation – as a result of the bobby calf images.
“When video footage of the treatment of bobby calves was recorded by animal rights group Farmwatch and released as part of a SAFE campaign in November, I was immensely proud of how dairy farmers stood up and wanted to be counted and heard through various channels, including social media.”
Mackle said their only concern, despite a tough year and low milk price, was the welfare of those animals.
By Jill Galloway
Source: NZFarmer.co.nz
