Cyclone Gabrielle: Navy rescues cow stuck neck-deep in silt near Napier

Rescuers from HMNZS Te Mana have saved a cow stuck neck-deep in silt in Hawke’s Bay after spotting the trapped animal while travelling through the flood-hit region yesterday.

The animal had become lodged in the thick silt and mud near the Tutaekuri River, where it was also spotted by concerned locals.

It was initially seen attempting to make its way through the morass and posts were made on social media calling for someone to come to the cow’s aid.

But personnel from Te Mana, which has been in the region since late last week assisting with flood recovery, also spotted the unfortunate beast and got to work.

They started to dig the cow free and were soon joined by eager locals in extricating the animal, the Navy revealed in a post on Facebook.

Personnel from HMNZS Te Mana rescue a cow from silt near the Tutaekuri River. Photo / NZ Navy

“After an exhausting effort with strops, shovels and sticks, the cow was eventually freed and returned to a grateful farmer,” the post revealed.

The cow was then reportedly dosed up with painkillers and was back eating.

“Udderly amazing, so glad you could moooove it,” one person commented.

“Awesome work team and I’m sure the farmer was also very happy,” another replied.

It is feared some farmers have had their valuable winter feed crops completely wiped out by Cyclone Gabrielle, which will cause further headaches in the coming months.

Dairy farmers typically spend the warmer months preparing hay and silage as feed for winter and spring.

Last year about 1.2 million tonnes of maize silage was produced as supplementary feed for livestock, particularly on dairy farms - but entire crops have since been lost to the cyclone.

Federated Farmers’ president Andrew Hoggard said there would be feed challenges in the coming months after crops were flattened or destroyed and the group would co-ordinate donations and supplies when needed.

AgFirst consultant Tafi Manjala said with so much crop destruction, especially in Hawke’s Bay, many farmers would now be well behind on their normal feed supplies come winter, and would need to rely on supplementary feed.

“It will make things really stressful at a really busy time of year,” he said.

“At this time of the year, people expect to be taking a bit of a break and you want to be going into winter refreshed, especially for dairy farmers.

“But some farmers have got a huge cleanup ahead of them and if you’re going into winter after a huge workload like that, it will compound onto that stress.”

- Additional reporting, RNZ