Unseasonable rain in Canterbury is affecting efforts to bale hay and silage, causing delays for farmers.
Gus Gunn was finally back out on his tractor on Saturday after Canterbury’s recent bad weather meant he hasn’t been able to cut grass in weeks.
“We’d be a good month behind the season that we’re only two months into.”
The problem baling contractors have is they can’t cut grass while it’s wet.
And once it can be mowed it has to dry out before being baled.
“We don’t want to be baling grass too fresh, too green there’s a risk of catching fire in sheds… don’t want it left out in the rain losing quality that way either, so just a good period of sun is what we’re after to get the grass in,” Gunn said.
A lack of workers is also making things difficult. Federated Farmers Mid-Canterbury president David Clark says some farmers are struggling to get staff from overseas.
“Yes there’s a weather problem but the bigger problem in all of this is the immigration settings… there’s a big backlog and these companies are all running short of staff so they’re under enormous pressure and the next few weeks are going to be bedlam for them.”
The warm weather is set to stick around into next week, and while some are dreaming of relaxing in the sun this Christmas break, Gunn has other plans.
“Fingers crossed we’ll be working Christmas, we can get some grass cut.”
As the saying goes, making hay while the sun shines.
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