With the colder weather approching it is appropriate that we remind farmers of lessons learnt from the past in coping with heavy snowfalls. 

If we do get bad weather conditions this winter, the high cost of brought-in  supplementary feed will make managing even more challenging than usual and picking up best practice from the past will be more inportant than ever. 

The following is information that we collated back in 2006 and is still pertinent" click here

Meat & Wool New Zealand and New Zealand Sheep Breeders Association in conjunction with a number of sponsors have produced two new educational posters. A set of 2 posters are available on request, at no cost for a folded pack.  Ph: 0800 696 328 or from joanne.jensen@meatandwoolnz.com.

Weather forecast information, while not always right, is nevertheless a vital component in planning. The Met Service http://www.metservice.com/default/index.php?alias=ruralmap provides seasonal forecasts on a regional basis.
This forecast is updated on a monthly basis.

Wairarapa Drought Advice - In March 2008
Wairarapa farming organisations have got together to produce a flyer that was distributed to RD addresses in the region.  This contains sharp, pithy and sound advice from people who are close to the situation and also may be of interest to farmers in other regions experiencing a drought situation. Click here 

Meat & Wool New Zealand has assembled a range of information that will be of assistance to farmers already in, or facing the possibility of a drought situation developing.

While much of the information that we have selected for this pack is of a management and technical nature we wish to stress the critical importance of farmers recognising the signs of stress and understanding how to cope. 

To pull through farmers must keep their eye on the ball and maintain motivation and managing stress is a big part of this.  In turn farmers will be better able to seize the opportunities that do arise and also make more reasoned adjustment of plans as circumstances change.   We have included a publication that provides very helpful advice on stress.

The information in the Extreme Dry Planning Toolkit has been drawn from material available on our website click here or to download  the Extreme Dry Toolkit document click here (note this is a large file and may take a while to download)

For a hard copy of the Extreme Dry  Toolkit phone M&WNZ 0800 696 328

NATIONAL CLIMATE CENTRE SOIL MOISTURE MAPS

These maps relate to the day stated - updates can be obtained by following these steps:
1. Click on http://climate-explorer.niwa.co.nz/
2. Click on "Selection Level", and then choose "National"
3. When the products menu appears to the right of the map box, scroll down to "Soil Moisture Maps - Current Status" and click on this link 4. The first
item in the drop down menu will have the latest map. Click on "View" to open or save the map.

This Guideline describes the minmum practices neccessary to ensure sucecessful technical preparation of the wool clip.Click here to download a copy.