Months of work in recovering, farmer says

Months of work in recovering, farmer says

While they are still able to milk their 350 cows, Kaiapoi sharemilkers Michael and Tammy Wells who farm the family land are now looking at having to rebuild their milking shed and undertake a long programme of tasks over several months.

The family had a new shed built in 2004 at a cost of a bit more than $200,000. When the ground opened up and left gaps of nearly a metre wide and two metres deep in parts of his farm, and sizeable cracks right under his shed, Wells knew he’d be starting to build again.

Michael had been standing near a clump of large trees and under some power lines waiting for the local fire brigade to arrive and deal to some trees set alight by local lads. The sharemilker was dead keen to get out from under the power lines but just couldn’t move. He heard rivets popping from the nearby cow shed and a huge commotion from Kaiapoi just across the Courtenay Stream.

His farm worker Ralph was outside the milking shed and quickly grabbed his car’s bull bars and hung on for the ride.

The water that came out of the ground during the earthquake left nearly 20 hectares under nearly a metre of water.

“It was as if we’d had six inches of rain overnight,” Michael says.

There was no way the milk tanker would be getting in until Monday. So the Wells and their friends and family set to work and spent most of Saturday pouring concrete into cracks in the cow shed so the cows could be milked that evening.

They lost one cow from his herd and around 6500 litres of milk the first day. It took until Monday to return to milking twice a day but Michael’s big concern now is the condition the cows have lost in the two weeks since the earthquake, due to heavily silted paddocks and much-reduced available pasture.

“The priority now is getting good quality tucker into the cows so they’re reading for mating late October. We know this is going to have a major impact on this season’s production though. We’ll probably have to cut cow numbers back,” he says.

While adrenalin has kept Michael and Tammy going up till now, it’s starting to wear off as the reality of the situation sets in.

Their insurance will cover business disruption, but the couple has to establish exactly what that means. In the meantime, they’ve had to buy in baleage to feed the cows, and that will have to continue for some time as the best paddocks are heavily silted. They will have to figure the best method of removing the silt and resowing where necessary.

Michael has engaged a couple of contractors to fix fences which had moved up to two metres and to build a new farm track.

“There wouldn’t have been one fence not affected,” he says.

They had some good news this week when the farm well was checked and is operational. And the family home is fine too.

“I want to specially mention family and my wife Tammy who have all been fantastic through all this, with Tammy also helping her dad who lives in Kaiapoi. And credit to Fonterra – they had people lined up to take the cows if necessary especially in the first couple of days when it didn’t look flash.

“And then there’s the volunteers – a lot of them have been the ones who have been hit the hardest. It keeps you going knowing that everyone has been so great,” Michael adds.

Rural Recovery Group coordinator Allan Baird visited Michael this week to offer support and see the extent of the damage.

“They’ve got a long, hard programme of work ahead. It’s great that Michael and Tammy have plenty of support to help out and that they’re prepared to ask when they need help. We really want to encourage other farmers to do the same. There’s expert assistance available on a confidential basis and all it takes is a phone call,” Baird says.

Farmers or lifestylers who need assistance or advice are able to call the Rural Recovery Group through the Selwyn District Council – 03 347 2800, or online via the Selwyn District Council website.

ENDS

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