Farmers hit the road
For years, dairy farming’s traditional moving day went off without a hitch. Then the industry came up against two diseases in as many years.
Every year, sharemilkers around the country move their cows, equipment and families to new farms on or around June 1, the first day of the dairy farming year. This year, the coronavirus pandemic cast doubt over how the day would unfold, if it went ahead at all.
Concerns were raised in early April when, with the country in full lockdown at alert level 4, farmers began to question how travel restrictions and physical distancing guidelines would affect their plans. Up until five weeks ago, farmers were unsure whether the day would get the green light.
However, on April 22, Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor said it was vital that moving day went ahead as it was critical to the dairy industry and to New Zealand’s economic recovery.
With strict controls in place to help prevent the spread of the virus, farmers including South Canterbury’s John Gregan were cleared to hit the road.
In the end, there wasn’t much difference from previous moving days, although there was a greater focus on contact tracing, he said.
‘‘Everyone has to be marked on a contact list like any other business at the moment.’’
Gregan said there might be pressure in getting the right workforce for the coming few months, given the current restrictions on immigration. ‘‘It takes time to train people up and it’s harder to get people ready.’’
Fellow South Canterbury farmer Mark Shefford said moving day had been smooth for him.
‘‘We’ve been lucky the restrictions [on movement] were removed as quickly as they were,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve got about 900 cattle to move only about 2 kilometres, so it’s been easy.’’
He said the weather for this year’s moving day was ‘‘bloody beautiful’’ and capped off a very good season. ‘‘The payout has been high.’’
Federated Farmers sharemilkers chairman Richard McIntyre said the prospect of moving between farms had become simpler with every day that passed without a new case of coronavirus in New Zealand.
‘‘There is more of an emphasis on cleaning the houses and physical distancing between the people doing the moving, but it looks like it’s going very smoothly in general,’’ he said.
In 2018, an outbreak of the cattle disease Mycoplasma bovis threw a spanner in the works for many farmers moving on June 1.
Fears the disease, which is passed from animal to animal by close contact and bodily fluids, would spread as farmers and their herds criss-crossed the country, led to more red tape and extra monitoring on moving day.
‘‘We didn’t know much about M bovis or how it was spread and there was a lot more focus on sterilising trucks between loads and red tape, which was timeconsuming,’’ McIntyre said. ‘‘This year is much simpler.’’
However, some farm owners have run into trouble with staff refusing to move out of farm accommodation, citing a law passed to protect tenants from eviction during the pandemic.
Under the law, from March 26 tenancies cannot be terminated unless the parties agree or, in limited circumstances, regardless of when notice was provided. The new rules will apply until June 26, when they will be reassessed.
McIntyre said: ‘‘Quite a few farmers have taken a pragmatic approach and said: ‘How much is it going to take you to move?’ ’’
Tenancy.co.nz consultant Scotney Williams previously told Stuff that if the worker’s employment package included accommodation, and they were paying more than $1 for it, then they were considered to be a tenant and did not have to move until June 26.