Two thousand cattle trucked off Hikurangi Swamp after flooding

Hikurangi Swamp cows getting loaded onto a truck and heading off to a farm elsewhere after heavy January 21 and 22 rain caused significant flooding in the swamp that saw 3000ha flooded and 2000 cattle trucked away for six weeks. Photo / Susan Botting

About 2000 cattle are being shifted off Hikurangi Swamp farmland in Northland after widespread flooding from mid-January’s heavy rainfall.

Some of the lingering floodwaters had at publication time been around for a week and were still slowly receding.

The cattle have been shifted to more than a dozen different locations including Dargaville, Maromaku, Pārua Bay, Ruakākā, and Waiotira as the pasture dies or is severely impacted by floodwaters.

They are predominantly in-calf cows, calving in March for winter milking.

Water began pouring into the 5000ha swamp drainage scheme north of Whangārei from about Wednesday and starting spilling over into paddocks from 2am on Thursday .

Around 450mm of rain was recorded in Puhipuhi and at Whakapara a few days after the weather bomb that has created havoc on the Whangaruru coast, heading towards the Tasman Sea via Kaipara Harbour through the swamp.

Up to 3000ha of Hikurangi Swamp were flooded.

Hikurangi Swamp farmer Justine Rowe and her father, Phil Bayly, are sending 1360 cattle off their farming operation.

2000 cows were trucked off the Hikurangi Swamp in late January after heavy rain. The cows were heading off the swamp to other properties. Photo / Susan Botting

The first of 30 truckloads of their cows was sent away on Northland Anniversary day in a roughly week-long process.

Their in-calf autumn calving cows are being trucked to nine different properties.

Rowe said she expected them to return just ahead of calving starting in mid-March.

She said organising the shift was easier than when they did it for the first time following Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.

Rowe was able to approach the same farmers who had helped then, to find places for the cows to go.

Around 520ha of their 1000ha of Hikurangi Swamp farmland has been flooded, with water still lingering in places.

Floodwaters linger in Hikurangi Swamp a week after heavy rains. Photo / Susan Botting

Floodwaters had been up to 1.5m deep. Grass was covered in the silt that was a noticeable feature of the flooding.

Rowe said the cows were being shifted to practise good animal husbandry after the flooding.

“We don’t have the grass to sustain the herd.”

Individual National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) tags all had to be checked before trucking.

Rose said flood-hit paddocks would be regrassed and have no cows on them for five to six weeks.

Rowe said the farming community had been great, pulling together to help those in need.

The trucking out process was part of a flood action plan put together with staff.

Hikurangi Swamp farmer and Northland Regional Council councillor Geoff Crawford trucked 300 cattle to Dargaville.

He said this was done to ease pressure on grass that had been flooded. About 70ha of his property was under water.

Crawford said pasture that had been under water for up to about four days could generally survive with a bit of help, once drained.

But after five days, the grass died.

The extent of late January flooding in the Hikurangi Swamp can be seen in this paddock's dead brown grass. Photo / Susan Botting

Crawford said the livestock truckies had pulled together to quickly swing into action to make the 2000-cow shift happen.

Whangārei District Council Hikurangi-Coastal Ward councillor and farmer/contractor Steve “Tractor” Martin is among those transporting the cattle off the swamp to other farms.

He and his family also lease a Whakapara farm close to the State Highway 1 turnoff onto the main Russell Rd southern route into the severe weather-hit Whangaruru coast.

Floodwaters on this farm ran up to waist-deep across the road adjacent to the farm – blocking access to the affected areas.

“It was dirty, muddy water,” Martin said.

His son, Brad Martin, was out in the pouring rain checking rising floodwaters around his house on the property about midnight when he heard faint cries for help.

He shone his spotlight out to the road and saw a swamped vehicle, surrounded by the floodwaters.

Its occupants were trying to get to Ōakura.

Brad Martin got on his tractor and went out in the darkness and swift-flowing water to tow the incapacitated car back towards SH1 and out of the water.

Crawford said there had been a lot of maize crops also impacted in the Hikurangi Swamp.

He was expecting his maize crop, that was planted relatively early in the season and was now 2m tall, would survive.

Crawford said the situation would be different for the large areas of Hikurangi Swamp maize planted late, around Christmas rather than Labour Weekend, because of cold wet conditions.

“Some of that maize was flooded with just its tassels showing.”

■ LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.