NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Mooving on: 190 cows seek new homes after Canterbury animal shelter failure

Nikki Preston
By Nikki Preston
NZ Herald·
13 Oct, 2020 04:59 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Til the Cows Come Home rescue shelter in Canterbury ended up needing recuing itself after it was unable to care for the 190 cows in its care. Photo / Huha

Til the Cows Come Home rescue shelter in Canterbury ended up needing recuing itself after it was unable to care for the 190 cows in its care. Photo / Huha

A young woman's attempt to care for a few cows snowballed, ending in almost 190 cows being malnourished and in poor condition after the numbers got out of hand and she did not have enough funds or manpower to care for and feed them all.

In desperation and with her rescued cows facing slaughter or being euthanised, Canterbury woman Jasmine Hubber, who runs Til the Cows Came Home, called in the help of Huha (Helping You Help Animals).

It has spent the past five weeks and $28,000 on veterinary bills and providing feed for the various breeds of cows located in eight different paddocks around Christchurch.

Huha is now facing the ambitious task of re-homing all of them as pets.

Hubber told the Herald the situation worsened after lockdown when a grazier who had been contracted to care for 60 cows failed to do so.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

While they were there one of the bulls also being grazed at a nearby paddock got into paddock and impregnated 20 cows which all had calves.

The Ministry for Primary Industries insisted the underweight cows be moved immediately and it is the new neighbour that alerted MPI for a second time as there wasn't enough grass for them in the paddock, she said.

"The property they were on when we moved them from the grazier was 16ha

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

and it had a lot of grass when they first arrived, but it just couldn't sustain them for more than two months," she said.

"It's kind of been a build up over the six months and everything got too much."

Hubber said it had been a big learning process and she had learnt that she couldn't take in every cow, especially as she had been trying to do the majority of it on her own.

Huha co-founder Carolyn Press-McKenzie said she was heartbroken when she first saw the cows in the paddock five weeks ago.

On the mooove: Up to 190 cows are on the road to recovery and looking for forever non-kill homes. Photo / Huha
On the mooove: Up to 190 cows are on the road to recovery and looking for forever non-kill homes. Photo / Huha

Press-McKenzie said Til the Cows Came Home had struggled with the care of the animals to the point that it was impacting the cows' health.

"The first thing affecting me was how serious it was ... my heart broke when I saw the cows. They looked empty and they were bellowing and there was no food. I was devastated about what they had been through to get into that condition and I knew that it had been a long slow journey to get that hungry."

Til the Cows Came Home had been running for two years and had taken in small herds of cows and bobby calves, but had failed to re-home the animals to make room for more.

"Somewhere along the line she got some bum advice and neglected to castrate the little boy calves and then what has happened is there's been an awful lot of breeding and overcrowding and there's been situations where there's been grass and not the capacity to buy the food and feed required."

Some of the young heifers who were pregnant were too young to carry the pregnancy to term so some of those had to be aborted, while another could not be helped and had to be euthanised. Others were extremely emaciated but were recovering after being fed with the help of local farmers.

Under Huha's instruction, local vet clinics were also called on to de horn, vaccinate, drench and pregnancy test the female cows and neuter the males.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The cows range from bottle feeders to 8 or 9 years old and were a mix of Friesian, Jerseys, Galloways, Angus and Hereford.

But five weeks on most of the cows were either in good health - a vast change from when she first saw them and thought about a third would not survive - or on the road to recovery.

Press-McKenzie's believed only five cows plus the unborn calves had been euthanised due to the hard work of MPI, the local farmers and vets and Huha.

She said looking after that many cows was a huge undertaking for anyone both physically and financially - let alone a 20-year-old.

Huha had this week started finding homes for pet cows after they had all tested free from M. bovis and were looking at locations around the country.

So far 35 cows had been re-homed and they were in the process of checking out homes for another 50.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Til the Cows Come Home still hoped to keep 20 cows on their existing piece of land and did not plan to take on any new cows until it acquired more land next year.

Huha was vetting the would-be owners to sure they are in a position to provide food and veterinary care for the large, but friendly pets.

An MPI spokesperson said it had began an investigation after being called to a Springfield property on September 7, 2020, following a call from a member of the public concerned about the condition of cattle.

"As a result of a visit by our Animal Welfare Inspectors, we have commenced an investigation regarding the animals on this property and several other properties throughout Canterbury."

MPI declined to provide further information due to the investigation being ongoing.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

Multiple fire trucks called to blaze in Auckland CBD

01 Jul 09:43 AM
New Zealand

Man charged in fatal South Auckland crash, further charges possible

01 Jul 08:10 AM
Politics

'Until we meet again': Hundreds gather in Taihape to mourn 'peaceful leader'

01 Jul 08:00 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

Multiple fire trucks called to blaze in Auckland CBD

Multiple fire trucks called to blaze in Auckland CBD

01 Jul 09:43 AM

Fire and Emergency said crews were called to the incident just after 8.15pm.

Man charged in fatal South Auckland crash, further charges possible

Man charged in fatal South Auckland crash, further charges possible

01 Jul 08:10 AM
'Until we meet again': Hundreds gather in Taihape to mourn 'peaceful leader'

'Until we meet again': Hundreds gather in Taihape to mourn 'peaceful leader'

01 Jul 08:00 AM
'I am scared of drug money': Money launderer's staff complained cash was wet, sticky

'I am scared of drug money': Money launderer's staff complained cash was wet, sticky

01 Jul 08:00 AM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP