In the immediate aftermath of severe weather events, help may be a long way and several days or weeks away. The best people to go to for help in those circumstances are your deer farming neighbours. Our deer farming community has a long history of farmers helping farmers.
If your neighbours can't help and you urgently need grazing behind secure deer fences, contact your local NZDFA branch or ring the DINZ office in Wellington. Contact lindsay.fung@deernz.org.nz, Tel 027-668 0141. DINZ also welcomes offers of grazing from deer farmers who can help in times of crisis.
Cyclone Gabrielle
The government has set up [February 2023] a large fund to help farmers, growers, whenua, Māori owners and rural communities in the regions affected by Cyclone Gabrielle to mobilise and co-ordinate recovery efforts. This is available to farmers in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Tāirawhiti/Gisborne, Bay of Plenty, Hawke’s Bay and Tararua District.
The money may be used to:
- Help get generators to isolated rural areas without electricity
- Help re-establish vital lines of communication
- Support the immediate response
- Conduct aerial assessments (this imagery was critical in recovery planning after the Canterbury floods in 2021).
MPI has staff working in the affected regions. It is also working closely with DINZ and other sector groups to provide help and to assess what else might be needed.
MPI Cyclone Gabrielle recovery factsheet >>
In addition, MPI and Federated Farmers have restarted the national Feed Coordination Service. It helps match people with grazing or supplementary feed for sale to those who need it. You can access the service by phoning 0800 FARMING (0800 327 646) or registering online.
Grazing needed https://arcg.is/0eTPSK0
Grazing available https://arcg.is/OWneD
Feed needed https://arcg.is/11z9mz0
Feed available https://arcg.is/1azj0n
OSPRI advises that if you need to urgently move deer or cattle, animal welfare takes precedence. If the stock need to be trucked from a neighbour’s yards, the movement can be recorded as coming from the home location to the receiving location, so long as the sole purpose of the exercise is to load the animals on to a truck. But the animals:
- May not be held in the yards or associated paddocks overnight
- Must not mingle with other animals from a different NAIT location
If deer or cattle urgently need to be moved out of a TB movement control area, OSPRI will issue a permit to move without pre-movement testing. If you have phone access, call OSPRI to arrange the permit. If you can’t communicate with OSPRI beforehand, they will issue a permit retrospectively. OSPRI Freephone 0800 482 463 as soon as practical afterwards.
OSPRI has also extended reporting timeframes for impacted farmers. See here >>
Civil Defence payments are available if you need urgent assistance. Call 0800 400 100 or visit Cyclone Gabrielle on the Work and Income website.
Deer farmers needing further advice and support can also contact:
- Rural Support Trust 0800 RURAL HELP or 0800 787 254 or visit www.rural-support.org.nz/adverse-Events/Flood
- Farmstrong farmstrong.co.nz
- Mental Health helplines
- Depression.org.nz
- DINZ office: lindsay.fung@deernz.org.nz, Tel 027-668 0141.
