THE DRY SPELL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 9, Issue 39, 15 January 1946, Page 5

THE DRY SPELL

IT’S GROWING SERIOUSNESS

FARMERS’ CRITICAL PLIGHT “Unless heavy continuous rain falls soon many farmers on the Rangitaiki Plains Avill be very seriously affected if not ruined,” declared a Avell knoAvn landoAvn.er to a BEACON representative last Saturday. He Avent on to say that within his memory the present dry spell Avas the most severe the Eastern. Bay had ever experienced.

The force of\the above remarks is borne out by the desolate appearance of those areas on the Plains which are of a porous nature. At Onepu pastures are completely dried up. Acres and acres repeat the same dismal picture shrivelled straws of dried up grass, bleaching in the blazing sun. There is not a blade of green to be seen for stretches of countryside between Paroa and Awakeri, while Te Teko and portions of Edgecumbe are also severely feeling tlie strain and shoAVing Avorn pastures Avhich are hungering for rain.

The .story is a ’ drastic one from Galatea where the well-known pumice base has been responsible for the swift drainage of the light top soil which is now reduced to little more than dust. The situation at Galatea is already a very serious one which will have a very far-reaching and drastic effect' on many farmers of limited means who took up sections there.

Harvesting operations were suddenly curtailed owing to the pressing need for fresh pastures by the dairy herds. The grass areas which could be normally expected to £arry the milking herds have been heavy oaten back and can make little or no growth in the continued absence of rain. Farmers in more favoured areas have again thrown open tneir reserved hay paddocks to neighbours in less fortunate circumstances and many a thriving stand of. hay is now feeding milking herds. There must be a serious shortage of bay next winter.

Dairy production figures arc already down substantially and must continue to decline a& the; season shortens owing to the. shrinking re-i turns on all sides.

The outlook is not good. Even should heavy rain fall in the near future it could not, in the opinion of most farmers do much to restore the pastures which have suffered too heavy a setback, to recoup satisfactorily in a week or two. The prospect of rain however remains still as remote as ever and the outlook as far as the average member of the farming community is concerned, can only be described as grim.