Weather disrupts South Canterbury Traction Engine and Transport Museum's year

This year's weather has proved challenging for a South Canterbury vintage museum's year-long fundraiser.

Members of the South Canterbury Traction Engine and Transport Museum cut chaff using a vintage cutter, each year, bagging and selling it as horse feed with the funds raised going towards maintaining the vintage museum on Brosnan Rd, at Levels, and the vehicles within.

Chaff can be eaten by livestock.

Museum member Nigel Gamble said about 1.61 hectares of chaff was unable to be retrieved from a farm in Normanby in January, but the weather conditions had improved by the time the second field of chaff on Blair Cartwright's farm was ready to be harvested a few weeks later.

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"We will be able to get about 150 bags from the second crop," Gamble said.

"It was disappointing when we lost the chaff in January. A lot of effort was put into growing them. The club members were disappointed."

However, club members had felt some relief when they were able to retrieve the second crop planted, he said.

"The weather certainly had detrimental effects and made things difficult," he said.

The chaff is sold by the club throughout the year, with its biggest fundraiser the Horsepower Rally at Levels Raceway in October.

Museum volunteer Fred White said members had not been able to cut chaff for a month or two because of the weather.

"We have three trailers in which we cut chaff," White said.

"The big trailer will be finished today [Wednesday], and one trailer will be going up to the rally at the raceway in October, and we’ll cut some chaff up there as well.

"We were lucky because of the weather at the time because if we were one day after we wouldn't have got them because of the weather."

He said it had been "a real battle’’ this year to get chaff in the right condition.

The chaff cutter is located on the back of a 1935 V8 truck which has been used every year for the fundraiser and White said it was a "good old girl".

The museum also fundraisers through the sale of pea straw and bluegum firewood.

"We are lucky being a club organisation we are not paying for labour otherwise a lot of people have given up doing chaff because the labour is too high."

A big turnout is expected for this year's Horsepower Rally in October because of the vintage army theme of the event, Gamble said.

"We hope it will be the largest display of army equipment seen in the South Island.

"There will be 40-odd vintage military vehicles, a World War I battle scene will be enacted with 50 people in costumes and pyrotechnics and a trench network is being constructed."

Gamble said between 10,000 and 15,000 people were expected at the event this year.