On it was the dairy manager’s house, the 40-aside herringbone dairy, the silage pit and the calf sheds.
And the runoff for the young stock nearby at Henley was underwater too.
“We had about 100mm of rain at the start of June and then a few weeks later we had snow and a warm westerly,” James said.
“The three metres of snow that fell in the Maniototo and on the hills melted and it all came down the Taieri River. It’s very seldom we get a flood from snow but we did this time.”
Of his 500 cows, 300 were already at winter grazing at Outram 10km away and the rest, and the young stock, got pushed onto the farm’s hills where the 1600 ewes and 200 hinds are normally grazed.
“We had two Filipino staff start in June and I’m sure they didn’t think there was a farm here for a while. We just had a lake edge.”
It’s not the first time the farm has gone under and it won’t be the last. Straddling State Highway One, just south of Dunedin, on the banks of the Taieri River, James, his father Lawson and his grandfather William have all farmed there through floods and dry spells.
“We’ve been here 102 years and we’ve got the land no one else wants to farm,” James said.
“In summer the clay hills dry out and at any time of the year it can flood.”
In the June 1980 Taieri floods, he had just left school aged 15 and the family home, now the dairy manager’s house, was right along from the section of highway known as the Flood Free. About 400 cows had been swum to the section of road which had been closed to traffic and were milked in the Adam’s eight-aside dairy by the house, one of the few dairies out of the flood.
“Everyone was town supply back then so they were still milking,” James said.
“We just drafted the dries off and started milking through the night, a group of people helping us.”
It took about five days before all the cows could be trucked away, mainly to Canterbury or Southland. About 7500 cattle and 6000 sheep left the Taieri and it was months before the ground had dried out enough for them to return.
Although in the early 1900s the farm was one of the last to go under on the Taieri, flood protection work has changed where the water goes and now it’s one of the first.
“We get a few hours’ notice and it’s just a matter of being prepared.”
And lucky.
They’ve never lost stock or had to swim cows off at night, always shifting them during the day if the weather looks bad and the rivers are rising upcountry. Otago Regional Council staff ring with flood warnings and on the council’s website river flows are updated continuously.
“Moving them when it’s getting wet can be a problem. Often they don’t want to shift against the way they are used to going. We did have them once go through the underpass under the railway line and it was like a hydro slide.”
They have seldom had to regrass and the balage has stayed put.
“The water more ponds than flows. We get the odd track we have to fix and all our fences are two wires and they have to be straightened out sometimes and cleaned.”
Drains are always sprayed every year to keep grass growth down in them so the water flows where it is supposed to and floodgates are kept free of sticks.
“The fodder beet was under for a week this winter and it came out fine. It actually grew new leaves. Ten days later it was being eaten. It’s quite sandy soil so when it comes out of the water so it dries out quickly.”
The worst flooding was in 1992 when they had four floods in the one summer.
“We should have just dried off but we kept milking on the hill country, stopping the traffic and bringing the cows across the highway,” James said.
“I think there were three weeks in total that we could graze the dairy farm.
“Summer floods are a totally different story. Then we have to regrass. The clover is gone and the ryegrass. If it’s cold when they go under the grass seems to do all right. Then we just chemically top what I call the swamp grass and spread some Moata.”
The farm always has 300 tonnes of silage on hand for a drought or a flood, and there are grain feeders in the dairy ready if they are needed. With it right next to the highway, access is never a problem.
A load of palm kernel, about 28t, is bought on contract for monthly delivery whatever the weather and fed in feeders in the paddocks. To give the Adams extra security, taking shape next to the dairy is a feedpad big enough for all the cows.
Carting the clay to form the base has cost $100,000 and James reckons the concrete will be that and a bit more again but he’s had it surveyed and it’s higher than nearby Dunedin airport so whatever the flood level, it should keep the cows’ feet dry.
He said production suffers due to the flooding as it affects grass quality. Last year they produced 183,000kg milksolids (MS) with 500 cows (366kg MS/cow, 915kg MS/ha) and hope to do 180,000kg MS from 476 cows this year.
“We always seem to cut silage three weeks later than everyone else on the Taieri so it just doesn’t grow as well here.”
In the 1970s the family did think about selling up and leaving for a better farm. The then Ministry of Works was considering changing the route of the highway and buying the farm.
“But they decided not to and Dad always said ‘Why would you give someone else the headache of farming this land?’.
“Anyway, throwing in a flood breaks the monotony of farming. It gives us a challenge.”
How the Adams survive a flood:
• A feedpad is being built by the dairy, large enough for all 500 cows.
• About 300 tonnes of silage always in the pit by the dairy.
• There are grain feeders in the dairy
• State Highway One road access, which never goes underwater, is available to the dairy.
• There are two-wire fences on all laneways and paddocks.
• Drains are sprayed annually and floodgates maintained.
• Fodder beet grown instead of kale or swedes.
