A Southland farming family, evacuated from their Mataura Island property are having to helicopter onto their land in order to milk their herd of 235 cows.
Matt and Christina Bradfield along with their three children aged, 12, 10 and seven, were evacuated from their property at about 3.00pm yesterday after rising floodwaters breached their flood bank, cutting off any access to their 1.2 km-long driveway.
Mr and Mrs Bradfield had been up all night checking river levels and stock. By about 1.30am Mr Bradfield had mounted their tractor and spent the next few hours taking stock to higher ground, implementing the flood plan they have never previously had to use.
"We got our dairy cows and milking cows in the milking shed where we were able to look after them," Ms Bradfield told 1 NEWS.
The family evacuated to stay with friends living in nearby Edendale and had to leave their cat and chihuahua inside the house, being visited once a day now during the morning milking period.
“It’s unbelievable,” says Ms Bradfield.
“The only way to get in is by helicopter or jet boat.”
Subsequently, for them and a handful of neighbours, the only way to have their cows milked is to be transported in by helicopter.
“We usually milk the cows twice a day, at 4.30am and at 3.00pm but we can only get in once a day now,” says Ms Bradfield.
“The main thing is the cows are really safe, happy and dry and they were milked.”
She said Dairy New Zealand have been “amazing” along with Civil Defence, My Milk (Fonterra) and the community.
Ms Bradfield says although the garage of their property had been flooded, the house, located 20 mintues south of Mataura, remained untouched.
The family had no indication of when they would be able to return home.
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