Takatū ana te taiwhenua Get Rural Ready

Just like your family, animals need emergency supplies as well. Think about the basics you need for pets and livestock.

Prepare for your animals

• Food: Make sure you have extra stores of feed somewhere e.g dry silage, hay, pellets
• Water: Store water additional of your family needs
• Medicines
• Veterinary/medical records
• First Aid Kit

Identification

Making sure your animals are correctly tagged and registered can increase your chances of being reunited if something were too happen in an emergency event.

Safe Shelter Places 

If you have to evacuate, you may need to move your livestock to a safe place.

Safe Paddock: Put your livestock or horses in a safe paddock and make a plan with someone who doesn’t live with you to care for your livestock or horses if you can’t.

Animal carer details: Put the full name, address and phone number of your carer in a waterproof container inside your Emergency Grab Bag. Make sure your household knows this information and has it saved.

Emergency kit locations: Let your animal carer – and a neighbour- know the location of your emergency kits. In the event you’re not home when an emergency event happens, they can feed and attend to your animals until you are available.

House access: Let the person in charge of your animals know where the spare key is located or give them their own access in the event your hiding place is destroyed in an emergency.

Post emergency communications: Have a plan to communication with your carer as soon as you can.

Check out the Ministry of Primary Industries checklist for preparing different types of animals and emergencies:

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Rural communities, business and individuals need to adapt and build resilience to emergencies.

Your animals are your responsibility. You need to include them in your emergency planning and preparation.

Risk Management Strategies can include:

• Setting aside reserves of money, food, and livestock feed
• Owning a generator that is the correct size for your equipment/facilities it will be required to run
• Keeping insurance up to date
• Locating buildings and planting crops away from high-risk areas
• Planting drought-resistant crops and planting trees on highly erodible land
• Keeping stock in good health

For more information about planning for an emergency event visit Ministry of Primary Industries.  

Why do I need a generator for extended power outages?

An extended power outage will impact the whole community in a wide area and take time to repair. Sales of portable generators tend to spike around major storms, from just before to weeks afterward, however the ideal time to shop for a generator is before you really need it.

Power supply disruption can impact on a variety of on-farm systems and will impact people living on the farm.

Impacts:

• No electric fences – Have stock in paddocks away from roads, unsafe areas on the property, winter crops or silage paddocks etc.
• No pumps – Access to clean water is a priority for stock and humans. Water contaminated with silt, ash, etc can be toxic to stock, so troughs may need to be emptied and cleaned. Stormwater will accumulate if the drainage pump doesn't operate.
• No milking – Cows can tolerate going for extended periods without milking, but it is best to avoid delays if possible. See the section on Missed Milkings.
• No refrigeration – If milk already in the vat cannot be cooled to the required temperature you may have to use an emergency disposal method. See the section on Missed Milkings.
• No hot water – milking machine cleaning and other operations may have to be changed.

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