To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. 

That is certainly as true of farming as it is of most other things in life. The timing of so many farming activities, like mating, calving, lambing, harvesting and even taking holidays, is based primarily on knowing that one season will follow another.

The problem is that seasons can be "unseasonal". We expect them to arrive around particular dates and bring us particular patterns of rainfall and temperature. When they don't we have to adjust farm management, ant that is part and parcel of farming.

But how we cope with extreme seasons like the drought that has been experienced in Waikato, Taranaki and elsewhere? We know it isn't just a matter of hanging in there until the weather improves - extreme weather events can continue to create major problems long after they are over, well into the next breeding and production cycle.

Conventional wisdom is that they are impossible to predict, and that if it just isn't economic to have enough spare conserved feed on hand 'just in case'. We are at the mercy of the weather. Or are we?

We can learn a lot from the city business people who make their living from stocks and shares. They know that there will always be seasonal fluctuations in prices and they are geared up to take advantage of them.

They surf economic waves watching and waiting for the right moment to buy and sell to make a profit. They get good information and analyse it; they look at subtle indicators and undercurrents; and they develop quite complex action plans based on their experience and knowledge of their field so that they know when to jump in and buy and when to bail out if things look dicey.

Farming is just like that, except that the 'stock' are 'live'. Successful farmers know that to sustain profitability they must get the best information about the weather, their properties, their stock and the marketplace, analyse it all, and make decisions based on the right measure of profit - cents/kg DM eaten by stock per day. They work at understanding the microclimate on their farm, knowing accurately their pasture responses to changing rainfall and temperatures, and developing action criteria based on what has happened in the past.

For example, one of my clients in North Canterbury knows that if no spring rain has fallen by October 31 and if there is not enough grass to see the stock through to the end of the year, he immediately quits 10% of his stock and keeps reviewing the situation.

Another routinely sells as many of his miking herd as necessary to get through the summer without having to overgraze or buy supplements.

Each of these farmers has found from their business measures, analysis and experience that the most profitable ways to reduce the impact of a drought include:

• Active management - that means measuring daily rainfall, soil temperatures, pasture covers, and using eCOGENT.biz to forecast pasture growth, stock production, and profit.
• Never grazing below 1500kg residuals. This ensures that the soil surface is protected, root depth is maintained, and pasture production keeps going longer - one client says this measure alone gives him one more round of grazing.
• Getting your fertiliser right -avoid soluble phosphate and nitrogen, correct any mineral imbalances, see to calcium levels.
• Setting a trigger date at which the soil moisture and feed situation is thoroughly assessed and firm decisions made.
• De-stocking promptly - delays may cost you dearly. Sell low-profit stock, send stock away for grazing, and/or buy in supplements. Buying supplements can be risky; you are at the mercy of merchants, quality can be variable and in some cases positively dangerous, and you need to take great care to introduce stock slowly to non-pasture feeds.
• Involving your family and staff in the situation, don't keep it to yourself. If you tell it to them like it is, they will understand better and you will be surprised how supportive they will be.
• Taking time out - get away from the farm, take a break, go to a conference with like-minded people, be inspired.