‘Safety first’ call goes out to weather-hit Northland farmers
Federated Farmers Northland calls for farmers to put safety first with no farming fatalities or serious injuries to
date. With the wet weather set to continue and the power out in some areas, it wants neighbours to band together.
“I think you can safely say the drought’s over give the biblical amount of rain that’s come our way,” says Roger
Ludbrook, Federated Farmers Northland provincial president.
“Right now it’s a cracker of a day up here in fact you can call it steamy. I just hope policymakers regionally and
nationally will remember these past few days if we’re talking El Nino come the summer. Water storage would have been
awesome given what we’ve had.
“Hell we’re farmers though and this is all part of the territory but if things are getting too tough, then please do
call the Rural Support Trust on 0800 787 254
“For the guys on the West Coast, where things are more isolated than on the East, we’d ask farmers to knock on the door
of their neighbours.
“If the power is out, why don’t you throw defrosting meat on the barbeque and have a decent feed. A problem shared is a
problem halved and you’ll be able to work together when the weather moves on.
“While we’ve got a brief respite right now, it looks like being wet for the next 10 days. I actually gave up on my rain
gauge it has been that heavy.
“This rain and wind has been coming at us hot and heavy. It’s the persistence that’s been the real bugger as we cannot
catch a break. The water even got up to the Caltex in Kawakawa.
“We’ve got roads closed or washed out and that’s really hampering things. My farm’s right beside SH1 in the Bay of
Islands and there’s only been trickle of traffic heading north.
“The power outages have been frustrating. My bulls got out in the past few days and decided to have a party. That said,
I feel for the dairy guys so please get together now because there’s a better day coming.
“As I have been pulling trees off fences, Federated Farmers big message is to play safety first especially with power.
“If you are in any doubt take then phone a friend, or in our case, Top Energy or Northpower
“Despite some pretty atrocious weather we’ve had no fatalities or serious accidents on-farm and we all want to keep it
that way. Speaking of the clean up, chainsaw safety is paramount and tree root ball spring back is a thing to remember.
We’d encourage everyone to Google “A Guide to Safety with Chainsaws” for a very good safety guide,” Mr Ludbrook
concluded.
ENDS