Bruce Wills says moving feed may sound simple but it isn't. Despite one issue the reality is that huge efforts are resulting in major shipments north

By Bruce Wills*

Federated Farmers would rather be damned for doing than damned for don’t.

Doing are the weekly feed shipments bringing hundreds of large bales to where they are most needed.

Doing is the way Federated Farmers has facilitated these ryegrass straw shipments from the farms in the South Island. 

The shame is the supposed ‘failure’ of one big feed ship has come to overshadow the many shipments which have come off and will continue to do so. The attitude of us all at Federated Farmers is to make feed shipments a reality for our farmers.

That one ‘big ship’ has overshadowed the tireless work of our entire Grain & Seed Industry Group and David Clark, its Vice-Chairperson, especially. It has overshadowed the massive contribution of road transport operators, Pacifica Shipping and Hamburg Süd.

All have worked incredibly hard to pull together shipments of feed into the North Island that started weeks ago and will run for some time yet.

In terms of raw numbers, Federated Farmers has, or is in the process of, facilitating the transport of some 4,000 large bales of ryegrass and barley straw. This is equivalent to over 80,000 small bales if stacked one on top of another, would reach almost three kilometres high. 

That is only the start of what we are doing and the ‘big ship’ came about when Ravendown kindly offered us space on one bulk carrier. It was estimated 4,000 large bales could be lifted from Lyttelton into Napier and Tauranga. 

Moving hay in bulk may sound simple but the reality isn’t.

While there are major logistical headaches the leadership of our Grain & Seed Industry Group has worked tirelessly for three weeks to secure practical solutions to each problem. When you break things down a ship is just an incredibly large truck and farmers are pretty much used to trucking things around the country.

Yet there are limits to what Federated Farmers can do as an organisation.  We are funded by voluntary memberships to represent hard working pastoral farmers.

Our Grain & Seed members do have the feed but we are not a transport operator, feed merchant, bank or rural trader. However, we are forming strong partnerships with transport operators, banks, feed merchants and rural traders to form a true partnership to work for our farmers. 

With smaller scale shipments going weekly if a truly big shipment does not go ahead we can promise farmers that we have simply got to a point where it was just not physically possible.

To carry straw on a bulk carrier, the ship needs to have the right fire suppression equipment before it is loaded. While there is another ship coming to New Zealand this month it does not have the right fire suppression equipment. For the ship’s owners that makes carrying thousands of bales a no-go.

However, Federated Farmers is working with Ravensdown right now to try and secure a suitable vessel for a potential large shipment in mid-May. It is critical we get the right ship.

However this does not overshadow the assistance of Pacifica Shipping and Hamburg Süd. Through them feed is coming into Napier and Tauranga. These continual shipments happen because farmers are agreeing to buy feed and third parties are underwriting the transactions.

What is involved takes money and while some may do it at cost, there is a cost. For others, like transport operators and the growers of this feed in the South Island, it is how they make a living. 

As members of Federated Farmers have the feed that really is only the start. We need more rural supply companies on board to collate orders and underwrite additional shipments. 

This is also how those other shipments going into Napier and Tauranga have worked and 80,000 small bale equivalents prove there are buyers and companies out there. Yet critical to the success of our or any operation is getting firm farmer commitment to buy. 

Being a drought affected Hawke’s Bay sheep and beef farmer myself, I genuinely know how tough things are. That is why Federated Farmers is making feed shipments happen and there is a lot of effort being put in by our members, transport operators and the shippers themselves.

Feed is going into the North Island and it is happening because of Federated Farmers.

Federated Farmers continues to operate its 0800 Feed Line 0800 376 844 where both farmers who have surplus feed or who need feed can register their interest.  The Rural Support Trust is available on 0800 787 254.

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Bruce Wills is the President of Federated Farmers. You can contact him here »