Cows’ misery portrayed
PETA is at it again. It has rolled out Carly the cow to US schoolchildren, telling them of the complex emotional lives of cows and their suffering at the hands of dairy farmers and the wider industry.
“For some farms electricity could be out for the next day or so and that means affected farms will not be able to reticulate water for stock to drink,” says Derek Gibson, Federated Farmers Taranaki Dairy chairperson.
“The Hawera Volunteer Fire Brigade has kindly offered to transport stock water to those farms without electricity. We’d ask that only those farms that have genuine concern for their stock to contact Hawera’s chief fire officer, Darryl Fowler, on 0272 919 673.
“Text alerts from Federated Farmers and from DairyNZ will be going out as well.
“For affected farms too far from Hawera, they can call Federated Farmers 0800 FARMING line (0800 327 646), which has been diverted to our head of communications.
“0800 327 646 means farmers can ring in their needs so that we can build a better picture of just how widespread things are. If there is heavy call volume, please leave a message.”
For those with web access check the outages and faults page at www.powerco.co.nz.
“I can also offer assurance there is minimal risk to the environment from farms as a result of the storm.
“While farms like mine have had to divert milk into the nutrient pond, this will be recycled to land as nutrients when conditions permit.
“While it seems milking has been able to take place on many farms, using generators for instance, milk held at above 14C cannot be processed.
“There is no economic loss if a Fonterra supplier has to divert milk into a nutrient pond. Of course, the last thing anyone wishes to see is productive milk being safely disposed of in that way.
“Can I add that we know this storm has affected horticulture and forestry as well. We all need to knit together as we start adding up this storm’s damage,” Gibson says.
