The lush Southland landscape is rapidly turning lifeless and brown.

Dairy farmers are using their winter feed as summer crops fail to sprout, water deliveries to homes are increasing, river levels are dropping and volunteers are rescuing trapped trout as ponds dry out.

As some Southlanders anxiously wait for rain, they have had to take drastic measures to keep their farms and homes running, and as the prospect of rain looks bleak, some farmers have started to panic.

The bad news for farmers and residents is that no substantial rainfall is expected in Southland for a while longer.

MetService forecaster Derek Holland said it did not look good for rain in Southland.

Although some drizzle is forecast for the region today, Mr Holland said those light showers would be spots and nothing substantial.

He said rain would move towards Southland on Thursdaybut would flow in a northwest direction, missing Southland.

There would be coastal showers on Saturday but, other than that, there is no sign of rain, he said.

Mr Holland said if he had to predict when it would rain, it would be after Sunday, when an unsettled period would come into the region for a few days.

Grass is not growing and summer crops are yet to grow, so farmers have resorted to buying feed or using winter feed.

Some dairy farmers have reduced milking to once a day, others have started drying off cows and some sheep farmers have started to assess stock rates.

Pinnacle Farming company near East Chatton is taking a hit on production rates and has been forced to reset targets.

It reduced milking the herd of 750 cows to once a day and is feeding them about 15 kilograms of dry matter per head.

Owners Shane and Eileen Walker said they told their farm manager to stop looking at vat levels and to concentrate on maintaining the condition and health of the cows.

"They are under enough stress already, so we want to reduce that by milking once a day," Mr Walker said.

This a not drastic measure, just a good tool until the weather went back to normal, said Mrs Walker.

As part of the management tool, they also grow summer turnips but they are one month away from being ready – if it rains.

In the meantime, they are using silage to supplement feed, which they never usually do in summer.

Mr Walker said using winter crops made him nervous because he had heard about farmers who had to re-sow. It would also be a shame to use up winter feed now, he said.

Living with extremes was just part of farming, especially in Southland, Mr Walker said.

Federated Farmers Southland meat and fibre chairman and Waikaka Valley sheep farmer Andrew Morrison said it was worryingly dry.

He said the dryness was widespread but some areas would take longer to recover.

"Farmers are always anxious and worried at times like this but at the end of the day, there is nothing anyone can do to control the weather."

He said sheep farmers should get pro-active about stocking rates now. The swede crops had still not germinated on his farm but he had balage available to feed older ewes and he might consider selling stock lambs.

"I hope that northern parts of the South Island, which had good grass growth and a good lambing season, would think about helping us out and buy stock lambs if the dry spell continued," he said.

The lack of rain has meant many homes in Southland have had to have their tanks filled a few times since last month.

Otatara, near Invercargill, has been one of the worst-affected areas because people there rely on water tanks.

The Mathieson family of Otatara had an empty tank before they went on holiday at Christmas. They topped it up last week but it was disappearing fast.

David Mathieson said he was teaching his children to be resourceful with the water they had.

Marilyn Bates, who lives in Ariki Ave in Otatara said she could not remember it being this dry.

Her garden was suffering from the lack of rain and her paddocks, which normally grew long stalks, were reduced to sand and cracking. The dust was affecting her horses, particularly one with asthma, she said.