| 3 Simon no stranger to facing a storm What is left of 7 bay hay shed after Wind in October 25. Russell Fredric Toko Mouth sheep and beef farmer is Simon Davies is no stranger to facing a storm. In October 2024, he faced $100,000 in damages and stock losses after severe flooding hit his 750 hectare home farm and 400 hectare lease block at the mouth of the Tokomairiro River near Milton, Otago. The storm dumped 270mm on the farm in 24 hours Less than a year later on October 23 last year it was the ferocious windstorm that hit the south that tested his own resilience and that of the farm’s infrastructure and paddocks. “It was a rough period, but what it has meant is that we’ve had two 10 day periods with no power. After the first one their were a few key tips that I passed on to a few people.” Having experienced the flood meant Simon was better prepared for the windstorm which damaged different infrastructure to the flood. “We had two hay sheds completely destroyed, a set of sheep yards has got seven macrocarpa’s lying through them so they are totally destroyed.” Simon spent six hours on a chainsaw to gain access to a water pump and power still had not been restored to some parts of the farm early this year due to trees obstructing access, “In terms of numbers of trees down – hundreds.” A very lucky survivor of the storm was Murphy, the family’s pet Labrador. “I thought he was a dead dog; his kennel took a direct hit. It took me 40 minutes to cut my way in. He was very relieved to see me and I was pretty keen to get him out.” It took Simon, his rural contractor and another helper five hours to cut their way to regain public MEAT & WOOL » Simon Davies GO FOR GOLD WITH RAMS FROM PETERS GENETICS PERFORMANCE, PRODUCTION & PRICE - THE WINNING COMBO road access to the south, and 10 hours the following day cutting trees and clearing power lines in the opposite direction to provide access for a power company crew. “We took the opportunity when the road was closed and we actually dropped a whole lot more trees, that if we had another windstorm we suspected would fall over. “We’ve been proactively working on removing that risk moving forward. I think that’s something that farmers need to be considering – looking around their own blocks and their own infrastructure, looking at trying to eliminate or reduce risk before the event.” Simon has had a 6.5kVa emergency generator for about eight or nine years which can power the house, water pump, electric fences and woolshed, but not all at once. “When you’ve got 11 days without power it becomes a Godsend.” With having to work long days, something Simon learned after the flood was the need to look after himself, consequently a neighbour offered to cook for him and a worker, as Simon’s family had temporarily relocated to Dunedin. “[After the flood] we worked like Trojans and we didn’t eat very well and we got really tired.” Simon acknowledges that despite the challenges, his situation was much less stressful than a dairy farm and the farm was isolated for just five days, which was much less than some. “We’re pretty resilient but we’ve had a couple of goes at it now. We could look after ourselves for two weeks probably relatively comfortably. One thing is probably making sure we’ve got plenty of fuel on hand. We didn’t run out, but depending on when our fuel delivery is, you could run out.” For all your Livestock cartage requirements give us a call.
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