Unlike last year, it looked like nothing was going to stem that flow, until Mother Nature stepped in. As the heavens opened and the river levels rose, the Temuka sale was cancelled, followed very quickly by Canterbury Park and an early call was also made to cancel Thursday’s Coalgate sale in North Canterbury.
The decision was made on Sunday to cancel the Temuka sale that was to be held on the Monday, though PGG Wrightson regional livestock manager Joe Higgins felt if anything they were fortunate with the timing.
“We were fortunate that we had essentially peaked in store lamb numbers after big yardings over the past few weeks, and so there was not expected to be as many store lambs coming in,” Higgins said.
“It was looking like sheep volume would have been around 4000-5000 head, rather than the 10,000 we have seen the last few weeks.
“We would have yarded a significant number of dairy cows but again volume over the last few weeks has been high and like the lambs, they were not expected to come in such high numbers.”
Higgins expected sales to return to normal next week, though the Ashburton bridge was their biggest issue.
“Now that the flood waters have receded the Ashburton bridge poses the biggest concern as a lot of stock and buyers come from the north,” he said.
Higgins had been at bull sales further south, which were unhampered by the conditions. The rain came a week prior to Canterbury stud bull sales commencing, and so fortunately these sales themselves were not directly impacted.
At Canterbury Park the gates were closed for the Tuesday sale and PGG Wrightson livestock manager Grant Nordstrom says it was not the start to a big month that they had hoped for.
“The last month of the financial year was gearing up to be a busy one with five sales calendared, but we’re already down to four now and next week’s sale is on Wednesday due to the long weekend. But we were happy to make the decision to cancel the sale for everyone’s benefit,” Nordstrom said.
“We made the call at 8am on Monday morning as roads started to close and it would not have been safe transporting stock. Also, if conditions did worsen and processors started closing (which they did), stock could not have been held at the yards.”
Heading further inland to Coalgate, the decision to cancel the sale was made very early in the week as the rain poured down.
Hazlett general manager for livestock Ed Marfell says it was a no-brainer to put off selling for the week.
“Early Monday morning Coalgate had had well over 300mm and it was still climbing. It continued to rain heavily and so we pulled the pin for the state of that, and the logistics of getting trucks into properties. It would have been a nightmare and with bridges being out, it was just a no-brainer.
“So, we will swing back into gear next week and well, that broke the drought,” Marfell said.
Sales will resume after the Queen’s Birthday weekend, meaning Temuka will hold their sale on Tuesday and Canterbury Park on Wednesday.
Typically, a change of sale day would mean a smaller yarding, but volume is likely to be up as the yards play catch-up, though for some properties access may still be an issue.
