With grass “burnt to toast” in some districts and winter crops struggling, Federated Farmers has relaunched the Feed Coordination Service.
Those who register for the service can list feed for sale, or their interest in buying feed.
“Last month we were thinking we’d only need to run it for the South Island,” coordinator Ben Moore says.
“But then on March 28 the medium-scale adverse event classification was extended to big chunks of the North Island.”
Federated Farmers leaders from Marlborough, Otago, Manawatū-Rangitīkei and Wairarapa have reported plenty of farmers have paddocks of dead or dying grass, and they’ve been forced to use winter feed.
“Winter crops in the ground in drought-hit areas are suffering. Yields are likely to be well back,” Moore says.
“There’s always going to be feed around but, for some farmers and lifestyle block owners, they’re going to have to buy it from out of area.
“The grass is burnt to toast in many places.”
There has been muted criticism in the past that the Feed Coordination Service becomes a ‘price setter’ but Moore rejects this.
“It’s just another option for farmers and contractors – another way for buyers and sellers to see what’s out there.
“But it can save people from having to trawl the internet for an hour trying to find a contract or going through TradeMe listings and so on.”
To register, go to www.fedfarm.org.nz and click the ‘Feed Coordination’ button.
Federated Farmers, New Zealand’s leading independent rural advocacy organisation, has established a news and insights partnership with AgriHQ, the country’s leading rural publisher, to give the farmers of New Zealand a more informed, united and stronger voice. Feds news and commentary appears each week in its own section of the Farmers Weekly print edition and online.
