Hundreds of cows were saved from drowning after a Manawatū community pulled together to rescue them.

Pohangina Valley farmer Shane Carroll said his heart sank as he watched 200 of his cows get washed down a swollen river during the wild weather that lashed the region earlier this month.

"One old girl dived into the river, and 250 of the silly things followed her in," said Carroll.

However, his community quickly rallied behind him to conduct a region-wide search that eventually found almost all of the missing cattle.

READ MORE:

* Construction workers clear dam of debris after floodgates opened on Manawatū River

* Floodgates opened as Manawatū River swells in heavy rain

* Fires burn in Pohangina Valley during wild weather

* Kind autumn helps stock and feed supplies for thankful farmers recovering from deluge

As the Pohangina River filled in the heavy rain, Carroll and a farmhand set out to move the 300 cattle they were grazing near the riverbank to higher ground.

"But the river came up so fast we couldn't get there as quickly as we needed to."

However, they were coming in from different directions, and the high waters cut the farmhand off from the herd.

Carroll spent nearly two hours in water up to his waist, herding the cattle towards safer pastures on his own, until disaster struck.

WARWICK SMITH/STUFF Manawatū farmer Shane Carroll was grateful to avoid "unmitigated disaster" thanks to his community rallying behind him to search for the more than 200 cows he lost in the wild weather this month.

Carroll, buffeted by the current and cattle, desperately fought to drive the animals back onto the riverbank.

"They nearly took me with them, but I managed to turn about 90 cows around."

But the rest were swept away. Out of the 430 cows Carroll owned, over 200 were gone.

Inland Revenue's 2018 national average market values of specified livestock determination report valued a mixed-age herd of cows at around $1500 per head on average. So Carroll faced a potential $300,000 loss.

Carroll said offer after offer of help came in from the community, and it all kicked up a notch when Fonterra Manawatū area manager Max Johnston called in the cavalry.

Johnston rang almost every farmer on the banks of the Manawatū and Pohongina rivers to recruit them in search of Carroll's cows, he said.

And Barry Moar, who runs a local deer-recovery business, lent Carroll a pilot and a helicopter to take the farmer up for an aerial search.

WARWICK SMITH/STUFF Pohangina Valley East Rd farmer Shane Carroll inspects his herd after more than 200 of them were swept away down the swollen Pohangina River this month.

Between the searching farmers and two flights over the region, Carroll managed to find most of the missing cows, leaving 40 dead or missing.

"The amazing thing is how resilient they are.

"Some of them were washed up to 20 kilometres downriver, and wherever their feet hit the ground, they just got out and started wandering around."

The cows were scattered along the banks of the Manawatū River – and one was found ambling down the road near Ashhurst, nearly 30km from home.

Another handful, in ones and twos, had somehow managed to get themselves stuck deep in the blackberry brambles on a nearby reserve.

Carroll and his staff spent days hacking paths through dense, 10-foot-tall bramble patches to get them out.

And even days later the occasional cow was popping up.