Cattle herded through flooded paddocks by jet boat after heavy rain hammers Southland
Wednesday, 5 February 2020
Severe flooding forced a Southland farmer to use a novel way to move stock to higher ground.
Beef grazing farmer Patrick Drummond turned to his jet boat to herd 18 cows out of shoulder-deep water in a flooded paddock in Maitland, near Gore, on Tuesday.
The cattle belong to a neighbour who was in Gore when the flooding intensified and was unable to get to their property before the roads were cut off.
A state of emergency was declared in Southland and Gore on Tuesday afternoon after the region was hammered by heavy rain. Civil Defence has called for much of Gore to evacuate.
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* Evacuations ordered in Southland as water levels rise
The flat paddocks next to the normally benign Waikaka Stream flooded from all the extra water, forcing Drummond into action to save his own stock and his neighbours.
He used the jet boat to guide his five horses from a flooded paddock.
Drummond then moved eight of his neighbours cows on Tuesday morning, leaving a group of 10 that included calves on an island of higher ground.
With water levels still rising, Drummond took his boat back out at 8pm that night to move the remaining 10, cutting a fence so they had an easier swim to safety.
Drummond had been farming in the area for 25 years and said he had 'never seen it this bad'.
He would have been 'lost' without the jet boat, he said. It was the first time he had used it for farming.
All of the farmers in the area had pulled together in the early hours of Tuesday morning to make sure everybody was aware of the rising water, Drummond said.
Wednesday would be spent checking on and feeding stock, which were all on high ground for now.
His partner Faith Harvey said they drove around to check on some neighbours on Tuesday and the water was up to the windows of their four-wheel-drive.
The tarseal was lifting off the roads in the area, Harvey said.
Any stock still out in the water were 'dead and gone', and they had seen a few dead calves washed into fences.
But most farmers were aware of the dangers and had started to move their stock quickly when the rain came in.
There was a lot of baleage that was floating down the river, which was hard for farmers as it had been a bad summer for growing grass.
Harvey said there was 'going to be a major shortage' over winter.
Those affected by the flooding should check the Southland Civil Defence website for updates.