Friday, 19 August 2022 10:11

Camping on farm to get cows calved

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Flooding on Cherie Chubb's farm in Takaka. Photo Credit: Cherie Chubb. Flooding on Cherie Chubb's farm in Takaka. Photo Credit: Cherie Chubb.

Takaka farmer Cherrie Chubb has been camping on the farm over the past few days to calve cows.

Chubb, who milks 150 cows, told Rural News that on their road there is a low spot which can flood. “It takes ages to drain away,” she says.

“We have house and run-off on one side, farm on the other, so we have gone and camped out down on farm so we don’t have to paddle through in a boat in the dark.

“The water is too deep to get the tractor through and may take a number of days to drain away.”

The area around Chubb’s farm received over 500mm of rain over the past few days.

She says while the area is used to reasonably intense bouts of rain, the wet weather has been challenging.  

“This weather system has been unusual in how long it has lasted. We started on Monday with a standard wet day, 40mm, then got about 500 over the next four days.

“It eased off overnight and is just drizzling now.

“I understand some farms closer to the hills have received a bit more than that and we still have another day or two of wet forecast.”

For the Chubbs it has been hard work dealing with saturated paddocks.  

“We are midway into calving, so it is challenging dealing with multiple groups of animals, feeding out in lanes and standing various groups off paddocks as much as possible.

“All the usual spring workload becomes so much harder in prolonged wet weather.”  

Chubb says, fortunately, rivers have mostly coped with the deluge.

But there will be lots of surface water, mostly from land runoff.

Flooding in Golden Bay Photo Credit Cherie Chubb 2 FBTW

Scenes from the flooding at the top of the South Island. Photo Credit Cherie Chubb

She says there will be some damage to culverts, lanes, fences but that would be hard to assess until water levels drop.

Road closures have been intermittent, so there have been no issues with milk tankers and bobby calf trucks reaching farms in the area.

Chubb says they have certainly seen worse floods, but the timing of this, being mid spring, makes it hard.  

“Farmers are tired but good communications and no issues with power means they have been able to work through problems so far.”

Chubb says civil defence has been operational and they have been having daily calls with Rural Advisory Group and Feds Adverse Events team.

“It feels like a marathon event, but as soon as the sun comes out, things will turn around quickly.”

More like this

Hard road to recovery

Some dairy farmers hit by the devastating floods that hit the top of the South Island last month will have a "really tough year" of recovery, says Charles Fergusson, Fonterra's regional head for Canterbury, Tasman and Marlborough.

Editorial: Reach out!

OPINION: It is often said there are three things that regularly impact on farmers, which they cannot control: the Government, interest rates and the weather.

State Highway set to re-open after flooding

Marlborough Mayor John Leggett says he welcomes New Zealand Transport Agency’s announcement yesterday that State Highway 6 would be fully open, with restrictions in place, by 31 August.

Featured

Dairying deeply rooted in family

On the edge of the hot, dry Takapau plains, Norm and Del Atkins have cultivated a small but exceptional herd of 60 Holstein Friesian cows within their mixed breed herd of 360 dairy cows.

Mixed reaction to hiking levy rate

The DairyNZ board and management are currently trying to determine whether, and to what degree, their farmer levy payers will support any increase in their levy contributions.

Grasslanz scoops top science award

The Government's plan to merge the seven crown institutes presents exciting possibilities for plant technology company Grasslanz Technology, says chief executive Megan Skiffington.

National

Machinery & Products

Alpego eyes electric power harrow

Distributed by OriginAg in New Zealand, Italian manufacturer Alpego recently showed its three metre Alysium electric power harrow at the…

New seed drill tech coming

Incorporating Vaderstad's latest seed drill technology, the Proceed V 24, is said to improve precision and increase planting efficiencies for…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

Waffle man

OPINION: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon sometimes can't escape his own corporate instinct for evasion, and in what should have been…

Banks on notice

OPINION: Shane 'Matua' Jones, crusader against all things woke, including "woke banks", couldn't have scripted it better when his NZ…

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter