"I mentioned the idea to Alan Castles [of Dannevirke Carriers] last week and he said we should give it a go and was right behind it."
Kirk said while Tararua had also suffered a drought, it had not been to the same extent as the one in Hawke's Bay.
"We had some rain late in March and that kicked things along a lot quicker. It's actually looking quite good in places."
Kirk said he had one unit, about 40 bales, already and hoped to have another unit ready to go by early next week.
"Ideally it would be great if farmers could drop a bale or two to Dannevirke Carriers yard on Umutaoroa Rd but we can pick them up."
He said they would take any sort of feed - straw, conventional or round hay bales or baleage, anything that could be spared.
Castles said Dannevirke Carriers would supply the transport, which would take the feed to Tomoana from where it would be distributed.
"It's shocking how bad it is up the bay so late in the season."
He said so far there had been a massive response from local farmers.
"It's amazing how farmers have been able to donate hay that they really need for themselves.
"We had one farmer donate some feed that he could have used, but he just said 'I might need some help one day'.
"I don't know how they can do it, but everybody is in the same boat."
Castles said a truckload of feed had been collected from Pongaroa farmers.
"Whole areas have become involved in this."
Castles said organising the bale drive had been a huge job for Kirk, who had put a lot of time into it, with other drivers also helping out as well.
Tararua Rural Support Trustee Tony Rhodes said the situation in Tararua was improving.
"We've had some quite reasonable rain across the district and the grass cover is growing. Farmers have taken a lot of action over the last two months and a lot of nitrogen has been applied.
"A lot of farmers are feeding out and I don't know how that will affect them going forward into winter but they need to try and build up their pasture cover.
"We've had quite reasonable conditions for pasture growth. While conditions are becoming more favourable there's no doubt, from a moisture point of view, more rain is needed."
Rhodes said there had been 33mm of rain this week but it was on the surface and there was still not a lot of moisture in the soil.
"The hard frosts last week had been knocking back the grass growth and putting pressure on things but from my own point of view the paddocks have certainly freshened up."
■ For more details on donating feed, contact Dave Kirk on 027 222 2402 or to take bales to Dannevirke Carriers yard (06 374 5811).
