Moving Day: Leading the mob to winter feed in the Clutha District

Danika Tairua on Pedro, leads a mob of 500 dairy cows down the Tuapeka Mouth Rd on Sunday morning as part of the annual moving day in the Clutha District.

Early on Sunday, 500 "Lone Hill" cows belonging to Lachlan Johnston began an almost six-hour-long trek starting on Pannets Rd near Clydevale.

The herd then walked through Clydevale, over the one-lane Clydevale Bridge, through Greenfields and then on to Tuapeka Mouth.

Tairua said it was the third time she and a group of keen women riders had helped move the Johnston family's herd.

"We are just a group of women riders who step up to help our neighbours move their dairy herds during the national dairy moving day.

"The presence of our horses seem to settle the cows. It makes them easier to manage and we have a lot of fun driving them slowly along the roads to their winter grazing paddocks," she said.

Photo / John Cosgrove

This year the group were joined by two younger riders Caitlyn Steel (10) and Savanna Waller (9), who said they were enjoying the ride with the women.

"It's a lot of fun moving the cows along," Caitlyn said.

Johnston said the annual walk was very stressful for him and his family but it wasn't any bother for the cows.

"I've had little sleep these past few days worrying about everything and planning on how to keep both the cows and my family safe on the roads as we walked the 20km to the winter grazing paddocks near Tuapeka Mouth," he said.