Flooding at the Buller Bridge in Westport. Photo / George Heard
Flooding at the Buller Bridge in Westport. Photo / George Heard
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Recent flooding in the South Island has put farmers under pressure, but DairyNZ is there to lend a hand.
Flooding in Canterbury and across the West Coast and Tasman/Marlborough regions has left both the urban and rural population needing assistance, DairyNZ head of the South Island Tony Finch said.
The priority was making sure that people and animals were safe, he told The Country Sport Breakfast's Brian Kelly.
"Just checking in on them, their farms, their livestock and everything else at this present point."
"This includes a whole lot of neighbours, they're all out there to lend a hand and help one another."
Industry groups such as DairyNZ and Federated Farmers were also on hand to help, Finch said.
"They're all there, they know farming, and they know what farmers are dealing with as a general rule with responses like this."
Flooding meant some farmers were short of feed, especially on the coast, Finch said.
"These weather events don't help. Feed will be short and tight…some farms are dealing with a significant amount of silt, which is covering a lot of their pastures, and a lot of supplements have been damaged, or lost, as a consequence of the rain."
However, feed was available and industry groups were working to get that to farmers, Finch said.
"We're more than happy to get out there, assess the situation and we will be doing that when we get more into the recovery phase and find out the full extent of the issue and assist with feed budgeting etc."
Also in today's interview: Finch talked about how wintering was going and how to keep cows comfortable over winter and during calving.
Help for farmers needing surplus feed
Surplus grazing. Photo / MPI
Do you have surplus supplementary feed or grazing?
Flooding in Canterbury, and across the West Coast and Tasman/Marlborough areas, has put further pressure on feed supplies.
