Flood story to tell till cows come home

By JAMES GARDINER

A Woodville dairy farmer owes her life to a strong-swimming friesian after they were both swept away in the flooded Manawatu River.

In pitch darkness, Kim Riley and 350 dairy cows were carried down the swollen river in the heavy flooding that devastated the lower North Island this week.

She had gone out before dawn on Monday to get the herd in for milking. Knowing that the river was in flood, she tried to take the cows to higher ground but before she knew it, she and the herd were being carried rapidly downstream. "I thought, 'Girls, this is probably the last I'll see of you'."

Twice Mrs Riley, 43, was submerged as cows swam over her. The water was so deep that when she reached for the bottom, her foot hit the top of a barbed-wire fence.

At that point she kicked off her gumboots and went with the flow, staying afloat by lying on her back.

She could see the tractor lights of a farm worker who had been with her but neither he, nor husband Keith at the milking shed, realised what had happened.

Mrs Riley considers herself a strong swimmer but could not get across the current to firm ground 30m away.

"I looked around and I could see this cow bearing down on me and I thought, 'Oh no, here we go again, this is the third one that's going to dunk me'. Just as she got to me I managed to get my feet round her chest area and push myself off from her.

"As she went by I just slapped my hand onto her neck and grabbed a handful of hair and skin and I just lay there. I could feel this power and this warmth just surging. I thought, 'Man, this is the way'."

Cow No 569 carried her a further 30m to solid ground.

"We sat there panting and puffing and that's when I thought, 'Oh you old darling 569, you ugly old thing you'."

As the sky lightened, Mrs Riley realised that many more cows had managed to swim to shore. Of the 350, all but 17 survived.

But the storm's toll on the farm was severe - the milking shed was inundated, meaning that even the "old darling" with ear tag No 569 would have to wait until this morning to have her udder relieved.