Bull has 'legend status' after surviving 80km trip down river

The flooded Buller River, down which a young bull was swept from a paddock above Maruia Falls (top right).Photos / Greymouth Star/Google/Otago Images

A young bull washed away from a paddock above Maruia Falls during the recent Buller floods survived being swept 70km to 80km downstream, and was found alive and well on the edge of a Westport farm.

Maruia farmer Tony Peacock said the 18-month-old bull was grazing on a terrace above the Maruia River, in the Shenandoah area, with 37 others when it got caught by the rising floodwaters, along with two herd-mates, in the second flood to hit the region this month.

"I got a call from Ospri last Thursday morning, a week after he was gone. They said a guy in Westport had one of my bulls and gave me his [ear tag] number," Peacock said.

"I rang him and he said he was getting his cows in last Wednesday or Thursday morning when he heard a bit of snuffling coming from a patch of blackberry on the edge of the paddock. He dug him out, scanned his tag and rang Ospri."

He was now waiting for his well-travelled bull to be trucked home.

Peacock estimated his Hereford bull had been carried up to 80km on the watery trip, which included being swept into the Maruia River, over the 10m-high Maruia Falls, surviving the confluence with the Buller River, going under O'Sullivan's Bridge, and the long twisting journey through the Buller's rocky upper and lower reaches, and then avoiding being swept out to sea at journey's end.

"It's a fairly long trip and amazing he survived. I was quite happy when I got the call he was alive. I think he will get legend status now and be put in a paddock to retire with some cows."

Peacock said the second February flood was worse than expected. One of his neighbours lost 74 cows to the flood.

"The July flood was supposed to be a 1-in-100-year event. This was three to four feet higher. It's the highest I've ever seen on my place. They forecast 60mm and I tipped out over 160mm from the rain gauge the next morning."

However, the fencing, debris and silt damage to the farm was not as bad as that from last July's flood because the river rose and fell more quickly.

The July floodwaters stayed around for 28 to 30 hours, which did more damage and dumped more silt in the paddocks, he said.

"But this one was faster-flowing."

Peacock thanked a group of Murchison residents who travelled out to clear debris off fencelines across his and his two neighbouring farms.

"We are stringing wires now."