Chatham Islands farmers hope to off-load stock after three months of no shipments

Some Chatham Islands farmers have had to cull stock on the farm. Photo / RNZ / Nate McKinnon

By Sally Murphy of RNZ

Farmers on the Chatham Islands are hopeful they will be able to off-load stock soon after three months of no shipments to the mainland.

Some have had to cull stock on the farm due to ongoing maintenance issues with the ship which carries stock to New Zealand.

The 38-year-old Southern Tiare was meant to visit twice a month, however it was prone to breakdowns and infrequently visited.

Last year it was taken out for planned maintenance for close to four months and now it has not visited the island since April because it was in Auckland for repairs.

Chathams farming leader Tony Anderson said the ship should sail from New Zealand in the next week or so - which was welcome news to farmers on the island.

He said the situation was getting critical.

“All of this year’s production is still on the island and now we’re in the middle of winter, we’re desperate to get rid of animals.”

He said when the ship does come back, it can take 2500 animals off the island every week, but there were about 50,000 stock units that needed to come off.

“So the big question is when it doesn’t come back who goes first?

“There’s so many flow-on issues. All of last year’s lambs and calves once they weaned they needed to be gone because the capital stock, their mothers, need that grass through the winter but all those babies are still here.

“We haven’t got into any animal welfare issues yet but some farmers had surplus cattle they haven’t been able to move off the island for years due to the issues with the ship - they’ve had to be killed so there’s enough feed for the younger animals.”

Anderson said the Ministry for Primary Industries had staff on the island monitoring the situation.

“Without being able to sell stock - farmers have had no cashflow for months, they’re getting really frustrated with The Chatham Island Enterprise Trust which runs the ship.

“But leaders from the trust, the local council, the Ministry for Primary Industries and farmers are meeting weekly to keep discussions open.”

RNZ has reached out to the trust for comment.

MPI said it was supporting the Ministry of Transport and local community to identify another shipping option to remove the backlog of on-farm stock.

Director of On-Farm Support Dr John Roche, who visited the island last month, said the ministry was working closely with local farmers.

“We are supporting farmers to manage through winter and prevent any animal welfare issues, we have animal welfare inspectors on the island working with farmers and an On-Farm Support regional manager is due back on the island this week.

“Pregnancy scanning will enable the safe transport of eligible ewes later than they are usually moved, due to the outage of the vessel,” he said.

Roche said MPI was also providing funding for the control of feral cattle and pigs.

“A feral control operation will start this week to assist the community to reduce feral cattle and pigs on the island, which can be dangerous, eat valuable livestock pasture and damage fences.”

Emergency supply shipment due

A vessel carrying emergency supplies for the Chathams was due to dock at midday yesterday.

The Chathams have run out of petrol, and diesel supplies have run low after bad weather forced a barge to turn around last week.

Mayor Monique Croon said she would be very happy once the ship had docked in the harbour.

- RNZ