TARDY SPRING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20021, 21 August 1939, Page 4

TARDY SPRING

MUCH-NEEDED MOISTURE TO-DAY’S WELCOME FALL FILLIP TO PRODUCTION GOOD GROWTH EXPECTED Despite thoi mild weather that has been experienced since the beginning of August, the spring growth everywhere in the Gisborne district and along the East Coast has been very backward because of lack of moisture.

To-day’s rain, however, should set the pastures growing rapidly, giving them the start, they had been, waiting for. The rain came at a time when it was badly needed by all types of farmers, for during the winter there had been sufficient only for immediate needs, and the ground was not moist enough when the warm weather commenced to allow the pasture growth to come away as it should have done under such mild conditions.

Ever since the cessation of the 1938 wet winter, just 12 months ago, the rainfall has been well below the average, and there was Only one month, April, which produced a rainfall that was above normal. Dry 12 Months

From September 1 until yesterday, 12 months all but 12 days, the rainfall totalled only 27.1 in, compared with an annual average of 44.8 in, and the figure is less than 2i n> above that for the calendar year with the record low rainfall. This was 1913, when the rainfall was 25.4 in.

The past 12 months were even worse than the actual rainfall figures suggest, because of the drying winds which commenced with the spring and continued until late in the summer.

But for the mild conditions and warm, though mainly light, rains from the end of April onwards, the position during tiro winter would have been very serious in the district, but fortunately a good growth continued in the pastures until early in July. The sheep and dairy cattle recovered their cbndition, much of which, however, was lost during the short but sharp winter. Mortality Among Cattle

For station cattle, the conditions were severe throughout the winter, and were so bad during the past few weeks that many were in a very weak condition, so much so that when they became bogged in soft places in. creek beds they were unable to extricate themselves. A number of cattle died in this manner on the Coast. •If there is sufficient warm rain now, the position throughout the district should be altered rapidly, assisting dairy herds in their spring production, helping on the lambing flocks, and softening the ground in readiness for the planting of crops. Until to-day, the country everywhere was very dry indeed-, except in the higher levels, where the heavy snowfalls kept the ground moist. Had the dry weather continued, the position- would hav e become rapidly serious, presenting the farmers with an acute problem in the provision of feed, not only for immediate requirements but also in building up reserves for the coming summer and winter.