Fickle Skies

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 234, 22 December 1927, Page 10

Fickle Skies

PARCHED COUNTRYSIDE Dry Spell Becomes Serious CAPRICIOUS weather threatens to wrest from Auckland farmers some of the bounty promised by an exceptionally favourable spring. Recent conditions form an anti-climax to the phenomenal butter-fat yield of the early part of the season, and the rural community is now looking for relief from a dry spell that is without parallel in recent years.

and September were months of rain. Spring made its bow through curtains of clouds, football crowds watched matches played in a desolation of mire* and the pastures of rural Auckland were carpeted by a phenomenal growth of feed. Three months have passed—and a change has come over the land. October brought its moments of fitful sunshine, November introduced a radiant atmosphere that drew thousands to the seaside, and December followed with a mere fraction of the usual rainfall. City folk are delighted. They can bask on glowing beaches, frolic in the

surf, and contemplate holidays made memorable by sunshine. But on the farms of Mangere and Pukekohe the farmers are hand-feeding their herds, in an effort to maintain milk supplies by means of ensilage and hay, and the necessity of such early recourse to these methods leads them to pronounce this the worst season in recent memory. NOT YET GRAVE The dry spell has not yet assumed grave proportions, but it will do so if heavy and prolonged rain does not arrive within the next two or three weeks. In this the needs of the farmers are directly in conflict with the wishes of holiday-makers, but if the farmers suffer their adversity will be reflected in price adjustments on the city markets. Already the milk supply from herds in the Auckland district has fallen seriously. The drop

in production during the past four weeks has been most pronounced, and the rate of decline is accelerated with every passing day of the blazing sunshine that holiday-makers so cordially appreciate. It is the district immediate to Auckland city that is feeling the dry spell most severely. Instead of an average rainfall of nearly three inches over November and December, the fall this year was only 1.57 for November, and in December only a fraction over half an inch of rain has been recorded to date.

Parching pastures to North and South are the result, but fortunately in the Waikato district, where satisfactory dairy production is so essential to the economic welfare of the province, the dry weather has not yet exerted a serious effect. CROPS RETARDED Near Auckland the crops. In some cases, are wilting. Maize and millet are two important crops which have been seriously retarded. Both are sown for autumn feed, but recently have made very little headway. The soft turnip is another vegetable upon which the Auckland dairyman pins great faith. It makes succulent feed for the autumn, and helps to maintain the milk supply. “If the milk is well cooled,” said a farmer to-day, “there is no danger of any taint from the turnips. Consequently we consider soft turnips have no equal as a stand-by for the autumn. This season, unfortunately, they are making no progress at all, and are even Withering off. The crop should always be ready by January 1, in an ordinary season, but this summer the bulk of it will be a month later.”

This season’s hay has been another grave disappointment to Auckland farmers. Springtime promise was not fulfilled, drying winds and blazing hot days supplanting the usually reliable rainfall. Consequently the hay yield has been meagre, and its lightness lays emphasis upon the serious possibility of a milk shortage, allied to failure of mangolds, turnips and other crops. FAT STOCK MARKET The shortage of feed has not vet seriously affected fattening stock, but It will do so if heavy rain does not bring early relief. Many graziers are endeavouring to quit their stock before the dry spell lowers Its market value, and lambs, particularly, have been sent to the yards in unusually large numbers. Bullocks and cows are going off in condition, and cannot be expected to do well upon country that is sadly in need of moisture . These are worrisome features of the rural situation. “A week's steady rain would be the best Christmas present we could get,” said a farmer to-day, “and unless we get it the look-out for February and March will be sad.”