Mid Canterbury roads were busy on Thursday with the clatter of stock trucks, tractors and cows’ hooves for the annual Moving Day.
While Moving Day is traditionally June 1, dairy farmer and Mayfield Transport managing director Andrew Carr said farmers now move stock over a fortnight, depending on when cows are dried off.
“We take our cows off the farm over a week.
“We do that because it’s easier on the animals and easier on the staff.
“We do sacrifice a little bit of milk production at the end, but we do everything a little bit earlier just to give staff a couple of days at the end to pack up and clean their houses.”

Carr’s trucking company has shifted 14,000 cows over the past fortnight, which has stretched the company’s resources.
An additional five stock trucks needed to be sub-contracted to add to the five stock trucks in the Mayfield Transport fleet to meet demand.
“We’ve trained some of our existing drivers to deal with stock.
"We got some retired drivers around the area we can call on if need be too.
“It’s a busy time of the year. But everyone just gets through it.”
The weather has been good for moving compared to the wet conditions of the previous two years, he said.
“We had torrential rains and flooding.
"It’s hard on the staff and the animals. And obviously, road conditions were terrible.
“This year has been awesome because it’s so dry and mild.”
Carr owns a 283-hectare dairy farm near Mayfield, milking 1000 cows.
He also leases an additional 410 hectares nearby as run-off blocks.
Jonathan Power, a 50-50 share milker of 500 cows nearby, has recently become a contract milker for Carr.
Moving is nothing new, but it’s a challenging time, Power says.
“Stock have to go away for grazing and there’s a lot of staff changes.”
Power had six new staff this season which has its challenges.
“Staff are getting to know new farms and have to understand how that farm operates.”
Trust is a factor when recruiting staff, especially when Power oversees two properties.
“I’m not on my 50-50 share milking farm 100% of the time, so I needed someone I can trust to run that farm for me.”
Apart from one employee from Waimate, most staff Power has employed are local, which he says makes things easier as they are already integrated into the community.
Tom Chapman, who manages his family’s dairy farm nearby, had two staff moving on this year and so far has managed to replace one.
“One of my staff is moving up north, and another is going to teach students about dairy farming.
“I haven’t replaced them both yet, but I have a new guy coming on board from Sri Lanka.”
Chapman, who moved his cows on foot, said the move this year had gone smoothly and drivers had been understanding.
“The weather has been good, and everyone has slowed down and been courteous of cows on the road.”

• By Claire Inkson