Snow Havoc - September 2010

Southland MyFarm syndicates were hit by a massive spring storm in September 2010 that left snow up to 17cm deep on farms for several days, blew down herd homes and killed many calves and newborn lambs.

The ‘weather bomb’ had a severe impact on Southland due to the bitterly cold conditions it brought with it. Most of the 14 MyFarm syndicates in Southland were forced to dump milk during the height of the storm when Fonterra tankers were grounded due to closed roads and tanker tracks. Fonterra will be compensating all farms for the period milk was dumped.

MyFarm supervisors, Terry Carr and Grant Payton spent the week visiting sharemilkers, working through supplmentary feed issues, and checking on morale.

"Our sharemilkers did a great job in trying times and put all their efforts into maintaining stock health and feeding stock to the best of their ability with the feed that was on hand."

Once‐a‐day milking was used on the worst affected  farms for a few days to reduce pressure on the animals and supplement intake. Because of the storm and very wet conditions the demand for all supplements increased considerably with balage now selling (September 24 2010) for $100/bale+cartage, grain increasing by $20‐$30/T , and silage (if available) up to $0.35/kgDM + cartage ($0.05‐$0.10/kgDM).

"The staff on farms have held up well albeit sick of the cold, wet conditions and all were looking forward to some sunshine."

The 9-6 victory by the Southland Stags against Auckland at Rugby Park in Invercargill to retain the Ranfurly Shield was the highlight of the stormy week!