Winter grazing of dairy cows may not be the financial windfall many sheep farmers were hoping.
A falling milk payout has encouraged dairy farmers to rethink their wintering costs, and in some cases renegotiate the cost of wintering their cows.
Prices reached $30 a cow a week last year, but PGG Wrightson dairy livestock manager Paul Edwards said it was too early to say where prices would end up this year.
However, it was known high fertiliser prices when crops were sown had made the break-even point for some farmers about $25 a cow each week.
One large southern grazier was known to have told his clients that he was charging $24 a week.
But there appeared to be a gap developing between what dairy farmers would pay and what graziers wanted to charge.
Mr Edwards said some dairy farmers were looking to reduce the time the cows were away grazing.
Some were looking for grazing closer to home to reduce transport costs, and others were keeping young stock at home.
Most of the South Island had experienced an excellent growing season so there was plenty of baleage and silage on the market, and winter crops were bountiful.
Mr Edwards said there was no shortage of farmers keen to take on winter grazing.
"It is not an issue of supply. It is the demand, where we have got to work out where the price is going to be."
Abacus Bio consultant Simon Glennie said he has heard of some graziers intending to charge $32 a week.
Dairy farmers had walked away.
"The way I see it, dairy guys are holding back. The dairy payout is a bit poorer so they're looking for a lower price. They are hoping there is a bit of fat in the system they can extract themselves."
It was unlikely dairy farmers who traditionally winter off would keep the cows on their farms, but with graziers talking of $25 or more a cow each week to cover their sowing costs, the gap between graziers and dairy farmers seemed large.
The cost of heifer grazing has increased over the years from $6 a week to $9, and Mr Glennie said it had settled at that level.
Mr Glennie said the cost of grazing should reflect alternative land uses, and lamb finishing in particular was once again competitive.
Some farmers were moving back to sheep to have control of their own destiny and to manage their own stock rather than acting as a "feed platform."
"The dairy grazing price should reflect the next land use in financial terms rather than the price being high just because dairy farmers are being paid more."
While many contracts were settled, Mr Glennie said others were still to be signed and there would be some urgency to get them finalised.