Dairy experts rally to support flood-ravaged farms

DairyNZ’s lower North Island regional leader James Muwunganirwa says detailed advice on wet weather grazing management and pasture recovery is going out to all farmers in the impacted regions.

“We are also providing feed budgeting support to a dozen or so dairy farms seriously under water in central Manawatu and Horowhenua,” says Muwunganirwa.

Rural and farming organisations, co-ordinated by Federated Farmers, met last week to discuss support for farmers, share reports of the scale of impacts and discuss how to work together. These also include Federated Farmers, Fonterra, Rural Support Trust, Horizons Regional Council, Manawatu District Council, Beef + Lamb NZ and banks. 

Damage to farms includes flooded paddocks and farm tracks, slips and fencing down.

“We are all sharing information and working together to find out who needs help. Fonterra’s emergency response team is in action and ringing around its 600 farmers in the central districts. Some farmers are milking through the winter and others are wintering dry cows on the farm so keeping their stock fed is a top priority. DairyNZ is giving one-on-one advice to those farmers whose pastures are flooded,” says Muwunganirwa.

“There is already a lot of flood information and advice on our website. We have learnt a lot from helping farmers through other floods particularly in Northland. Stock losses, power outages, slips, bridges washed away, silt covered pastures requiring regrassing – there are a range of effects on a farm business.

“Knowing what to do will reduce the immediate impact of the flood and planning strategies to deal with the aftermath will allow for a quicker recovery,” he says. 

“One lesson we learnt from the Northland situation in July last year was that waiting for ideal conditions to regrass is not always the best option. For the farm system (feed supply) to recovery quickly, early action is required to get the farm growing again quickly. The Northland farmers who recovered the quickest last year were those who followed the water out with their seed drill.”

Muwunganirwa says three things farmers with farms under water must do quickly are work out a feed and action plan, plan pasture renovation and relocate stock if necessary.

“We have a ‘decision tree’ document for flooded land that can help farmers make decisions.”

Federated Farmers is co-ordinating any urgent need of grazing. If farmers are in need or in a position to offer assistance, they can telephone 0800 376 844 or contact John Stroud, Federated Farmers field officer, on 027 217 6744 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The Rural Support Trust number is 0800 787 254.