This morning a group of students had an in-depth discussion
about the concerns that farmers have due to the long summer New Zealand is
having.
Parents, family, friends and students please comment on this
blog post to let us know your thoughts and feelings.
We will develop our thinking and produce a detailed piece of
writing which will be posted on our blog for everyone to share.
We are very happy to see the rain falling at our house.We live on the edge of feilding with2 acres of land. Our water supply is collected in tanks with our water coming only from what rain falls. On Saturday I rang to order water for Monday as our tanks were almost empty. Very lucky for us the rain arrived. If it had not I would have had to pay $160 to put water in our tanks.
ReplyDeleteWe have two miniature horses and two sheep that live in our padlock, usually the would be eating grass, except now we have none. I had to buy extra food for them to eatwhich they wouldn't normally need until winter. We only have a small amount of land and few animals but if we had more of both i think it would be very stressful.
Aside from our animals trees we planted last year have been dying. Our lawn is brown and has cracks.
When i checked the water tanks this afternoon they were almost 3/4s full, new shoots of green grass is sprouting and our horses are rolling in a mud puddle. I think that's just wonderful!!
Let's hope the recent rain we've had will continue. My lawns are already starting to go green. Fingers crossed for more rain!
ReplyDeleteHi,I think it's great the children have had a discussion about the drought. It's important for them to know what is going on around them. I feel very sorry for the farmers and there animals, they are desparate for rain. As we are too. I think if we can try to not waste the water that we do have we will be ok.
ReplyDeleteYes Serena we agree! We are trying our best to save water. It is so sad to know all the animals and farmers are desperate for water. Before having this discussion, a lot of us just wanted a hot long summer so that we could go to the beach but now we understand how the hot dry weather can effect animals and nature.
DeleteMrs Walters
ReplyDeleteWe are pleased your horses got to roll in the mud. Sounds like fun! It is great to hear from a family who relies on rain for their household uses as a lot of us live in Fielding where we don't have water tanks.
We talked lots about your comment and appreciate you helping us learn.
Thanks for your wonderful comment.
Farmers are buying lots of expensive feed for their animals. Animals are going to have to do a lot of re-grassing paddocks as a lot of the good grasses have died out. It's really depressing seeing the land all brown and dusty when it is meant to be green and growing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. The more we hear from farmers the more we understand how much of a concern the drought is. We are sure you are having to work 24/7. Fingers crossed for more rain.
DeleteMost of the stock sold are loaded onto big struck and sent to the South Island where there is a little more grass.
ReplyDeleteI interviewed Pat who has been farming for 45 years. The worst Pat has known the weather to be this dry was in 2002 when she had to send her breeding cows away to Gisborne to graze.
ReplyDeleteWith this drought Pat feels angry at crop farmers who burn barley and wheat straw. She says it has some food value for the cows when there is no grass.
Farmers are having to buy supplements (palm curnale, maze, silage etc) this is costs money.
Water has dried up dams, ponds so she has to take her cattle to the river two times in a day to drink.
My family and I learnt lots from interviewing Pat. I know room 4 will learn lots from this interview too.
I feel deprest and sorry for the animals.The drought is causing some truoble for farmers they have to buy the food for their animals.
ReplyDeleteI hope we get some rain sooner or later. It must be hard for the animals to eat the dry brown grass. I hope the farmers get rain and hope winter comes soon. I think we should all try to save water for the farmers
ReplyDeleteour family is also on tank water, luckily rileys dad was able borrow a 1000 litre tank and every day after work he went and filled it up in town and then had to empty it into our tanks which was time consuming. we still needed to be very carefully with water supply. definately does not compare to what many others are going through. a positive comment is i am looking outside and can already see greener grass.
ReplyDeleteEmma interviewed her Poppa tonight and found out many interesting facts about the drought that we are experiencing. He told her that he has had to buy food for his deer and cattle and that this food is more expensive due to the demand for it. Emma felt that this was mean to hit the farmers in their pockets again. When Poppa sold his stock at the sale he got less money because lots of farmers sold their stock too. Usually the stock will be bought by other North Island farmers but due to the whole North Island being declared a drought area, the stock are going to the South Island. The worst drought he can remember was in 1973. When it did rain Poppa felt ecstatic, happy ,relieved and grateful. He has to graze bulls, the old fashioned way, on the roadside. He can do this as we don't live on a busy road and the stock are very quiet. This adds to his work load. The drought creates more work for him. The stock are getting skinner and skinner. Rain please but gently and not all at once as this would then create slips and wash any nutrients away that are left in the soil.
ReplyDeleteIt was a relief to finally receive some rain, we were down to about a foot of water in each of our water tanks. Having lived in the area most of my life, this is definitely the hottest summer that I have experienced.
ReplyDeleteThis evening I had a korero with a farmer from Huntersville called Jeff. He alerted me to more on-going issues related to the drought.
ReplyDeletePoints of our discussion were:
- Lack of conditions on stock for mating which results in lower breeding percentages
- Less money for new season
- The worry of growing enough grass for the upcoming winter season
- The lack of income from this season will make a tough year ahead
To conclude Farmer Jeff smiled to think Room 4 are learning to understand the impacts of this weather on people like him.
I am hoping the weather is not going to turn cold soon - the grass hasn't been growing because it has been dry, but if we get frosts the grass still wont grow :-(
ReplyDeleteWe are happy that our ducks do not have to walk across the pond any more, and we dont have to fill up our goats water buckets so often!
Hi, I'm Patrick and I have a sheep and beef farm near Pahiatua. I have 5000 ewes and 250 beef cows. Because of the drought we are running low on grass which means we have to sell stock that we would usually not sell and stock that we would usually fatten to send to the works are not up to weight. This means that our cashflow is negatively effected. Also the ewes condition is not up to standard which means that they will have more trouble getting pregnant which will mean less lambs for next year. We will also need to purchase more ewes next year to replace the ones we have sold which will be at a higher prices than what we sold them for.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
The drought is affecting all the farmers as they don't have enough grass to feed to their animals. They have to sell lots of their animals for less money because less people are wanting them because they also have no grass. My Gran and Pop have had to sell lots of their sheep that they would usually keep for longer. So they are loosing money. Lots of animals are going to the South Island because they have more grass since they are getting more rain.
ReplyDeleteWhat an excellent discussion Room 4! It is great to see you asking your friends and family what they think and how they are managing in these pretty unique conditions. I was playing cricket on the field with some of my kids yesterday, and we all noticed that the field looked a lot greener than it did at the gala on Saturday. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDelete