While a lot of the focus on the South Island has been around the trying dry conditions on the east coast and northern parts of the island – and the ideal growing season in Southland – there has been little conversation about what is happening on the Chatham Islands.
Despite being on the far east, conditions have been far from dry on the islands, and up to 450mm has fallen over the summer months.
While this sounds like a lot, rain has been at regular and manageable intervals, encouraging plenty of grass growth. This summer and autumn have set feed conditions up well coming into winter.
However, with the weather capable of going from one extreme to another, it only takes one wintry blast to come through to bring growth to a halt. This has been seen in Southland more recently where the dream run of growth has abruptly slowed with a sudden decrease in temperatures and sunshine hours.
Scheduled maintenance on the Chatham Island ships last year delayed the ability to transport stock for several months and farmers’ patience was tested.
This came as the outlook for the markets, particularly for lambs, was already sounding fairly negative.
It wasn’t until August that the first lot of lambs could get on the boat, but, despite crossing the water later than they usually would, the stock was in fantastic order.
The generally forward condition of lambs did mean they earned a premium, but the late offload meant that farmers were a bit behind the eight ball.
The backlogs from the delay left farmers with a bit of an overflow of numbers coming into the 2023-24 season, which has continued to have flow-on effects even though half the season has already passed.
There is still plenty of this season’s stock to leave the islands, as the season began later. Thankfully, feed levels can accommodate this for now, but as noted, it only takes one bad turn from Mother Nature to put the pressure back on.
Currently, transport is on a dry dock for inspection and repairs for six weeks. The South Island store cattle and lamb market is currently holding up fairly well but, once again, Chatham Islands’ farmers are itching to get their share of the market before winter subdues trading.
Typically, cattle are the first to set sail, followed by lambs, and agents anticipate that a large number of weaner calves will be ready to enter the market near the end of May.
But although the return of sailings is in sight, farmers’ nerves are far from settled. The sooner a large offload of cattle can be worked through, the sooner the lambs can board, and winter stock levels will begin to look more manageable.
Given the current prices of stock and transport, the ever-decreasing returns being made by farmers have many on the islands worried they will be receiving bills rather than cheques when their shipping time comes.
One thing that could work in farmers’ favour is a delay in mainland cropping farmers entering the store lamb market.
A slow-growing autumn across most of the mainland has many waiting for some growth before they purchase their winter trade lambs. The timing could line up well for Chatham Islands farmers who are patiently waiting for their run of some good luck.
