Early morning blaze guts pet food plant

• Published date: 18 April 2024
• Publication title: Southland Express

The fire engulfed Fordes Pet Food at Heddon Bush, near Winton, resulting in what Fire and Emergency New Zealand called a ‘‘total loss’’ of the building

Fordes Petfood owner and managing director Cam Moir said on Tuesday he was hoping the local community would rally and help them get back on their feet in no time.

The company’s Facebook page says it manufactures pet food from ‘‘downer and injured stock’’ it collects from around Southland and Otago.

Mr Moir said key items it needed to continue working, like trucks, freezers and chillers, were not damaged and he was committed to rebuilding within two weeks.

‘‘We’re pretty resilient and we don’t like to sit around on our hands. We will do something to get back on our feet as quick as we can.’’

It was a pretty tough time for farmers, he said.

‘‘We’re going into the cull season, so they’re going to have stock that they want to send that’s not going to be suitable for the meat works for whatever reason and as a result we want to be there for them.’’

The company processed about 4500 dairy cows a year into pet food as well as a lot of sheep.

Mr Moir said Fordes would be out of action for the next ‘‘couple of weeks’’ but it was already working on a plan to process dairy cows from another site.

Sheep processing would be on hold for a bit longer.

Staff would keep their jobs because they...