Helping those in need of feed

Donated Hay Bales: Power Farming manager Glen Aspden, Lucy Bond and Peter Rennie have already unloaded three truckloads of hay for people in urgent need of animal feed. Picture by Liam Clayton

In the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle, Power Farming Gisborne stepped up to help those in need of urgent animal feed by collecting and distributing donations of hay from farmers and contractors across the North Island. They worked together with Lucy Bond from Farmlands and have already unloaded three truckloads at the Power Farming base in Makaraka.

The first two truckloads were from Clint Gebert in the Bay of Plenty. A third truckload has come from Rerewhakaaitu near Rotorua after Lucy put up a post on Facebook to see if anyone needed feed brought in, thinking they could go in together to buy it.

The offers of free feed have snowballed and Lucy has been amazed by how many people want to donate.

Power Farming dealer principal Glen Aspden said he would distribute it a few bales at a time to tide people over.

“This is something we have done for the community,” he says.

He has already given away a couple of bales to a farmer who had rescued and relocated five horses from up the coast and needed urgent feed.

Power Farming is a dealership for Deutz-Fahr and Kyote tractors and other farming equipment. It also has a parts and service division. The Gisborne branch is bringing in a new five-tonne excavator which it is going to lend to farmers free of charge, to help them remove silt from their properties.

“It’s a demonstration model but I’m going to lend it out for a week at a time so people just need to contact me,” Mr Aspden says.