A Marlborough farmer has shown a stroke of Kiwi ingenuity and hard graft in the most stressful of circumstances.
Justin Morrison was checking stock around his Rai Valley farm on Thursday as torrential rain slammed the area.
Soon enough he discovered a herd of steer huddled on a small, isolated patch of grass, their paddock now a raging torrent of water.
"There was no way they could get to us or us get to them," Morrison told 1News.
Their only way out would be to cut a No.7 wire fence behind them, but first Morrison had to find a way over there.
"We went back home got a kayak and came up with the idea of paddling across and cutting the wire fence to let them get onto some more land, a slightly bigger area than where they were."
Morrison had to kayak several hundred metres across the flooded paddock before reaching his cattle.
The worst is expected to hit overnight, although there have already been rescues. (Source: 1News)
Once he cut the wire he led them up a bank on the side of the river, through some bush to a patch of grass where they could stay for the night.
He then moved them to higher ground on Friday.
Interestingly, the floodwaters, which Morrison said were waist high in places, receded overnight, and there was hardly any water to be seen on Friday.
Morrison believed this was because the river had dropped enough to within its banks that it would stop the water going down through the farm like it was.
While the water had receded, Morrison said around 80 per cent of the fences in the area had been damaged, destroyed or simply washed away.
"It's going to take quite a lot of worker to dig them up and get rid of them. I imagine it'll go on for a week or two probably."
The area is set for more heavy rain on Friday evening, although Morrison was confident the damage would not be as great this time around.
"That mob of animals are in a safe spot now and the severe damage is already done, there's probably not much more to lose."
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