Business Rural Spring 2021

| 35 a family trait Bouncing back from hard times Annandale has been in the Dalmer family for 118 years. Richard Loader MEAT & WOOL » Brent Dalmer / Duncraigen Farm A s with all adverse events, people come to- gether, communities show their best side and people find reserves of resilience they never knew existed. Like all North Canterbury farmers, Brent Dalmer had been through a major snow event in 2013, immediately followed by two and half years of drought. Still reeling from that, the earth rumbled and rolled in 2016, causing significant damage and putting properties years behind where they should be. Brent manages Annandale, the 1600-hectare hill country property on the inland Kaikoura Road, thirteen kilometres from Waiau that has been in his family for 118 years. It is limestone escarpment country that rises between 300metres to 900metres in altitude, predominantly tussock cover with manuka scrub and native bush. The farm is a traditional South Island hill/high country sheep and beef operation, breeding mid micron fine corridales and Hereford/angus cattle. Centred not far from Annandale the 7.8 magni- tude Kaikoura earthquake resulted in serious dam- age to farm and infrastructure. Some of the worst damage occurred in the two river valleys that follow the fault lines. “We had huge landslides which dammed the Mason and Stanton Rivers in multiple places,” says Brent. “One of the dams banked up a lake that was big enough to use a jet boat in. The dams no longer exist because they were cut down by flooding that occurred over the next two winters.” Higher up on the property there was significant damage done to the escarpment country with landlines and faulting. A line of cliffs about 2.5kilometres long and 100metres high form a boundary between An- nandale and the neighbouring farm. The quake collapsed the entire cliff chain, turning a lot of it into a scree, such was the scale of some of the damage. Access and fencing were badly affected resulting in no stock control or ability to get around the farm. The only buildings not damaged were a new hay barn and newish steel woolshed. “The wooden villas were over a hundred years old and shook with the quake. While not yellow or red stickered and still habitable, there was signifi- cant damage done to them. The homestead still has not been completely fixed.” The long journey to recovery started with Brent and his staff using their own machinery to get some access and fix boundary fences, enabling them to do stock work. “We had a volunteer fencing team here to start some fencing for two weeks which helped with stock control but over the next two years we built and repaired twenty kilometres of fencing. A local contractor with a D6 dozer stepped in to reinstate the majority of our farm access over two or three months. In addition to that we had to replace the water supply and build some new sheep yards that had been destroyed.”Brent estimates the overall cost at the best part of $1million, mostly uninsured, but says it’s hard to put a figure on a lot of the land damage. “There’s still some on-going work to be done but like all national events, the cost and effort puts properties years behind where it should be.”Brent says he has been lucky to have two very good peo- ple working for him over the last five years. Without good people around him he says the property would not have recovered to the extent it has. The Lauder Falls operation: Marc, Jolene,Jorja and Harry Robertson. Motu-nui rams ready for the on-farm sale in 2020. www.rogersmotorcycles.co.nz Contact Kevin & the team at Rogers Motorcycles. 84 Leet St, Invercargill, LMVD. P 03 218 9584. Sales AH Kevin McDonald 027 678 5671 OPEN SAT 10.00am - Noon Proud to support Duncraigen Farm Providing experienced and reliable staff for all your shearing and crutching requirements across the Southland region CRENGLESHEARING For enquires call Dan Crengle 027 444 9406 / (03) 231 3103 INNOVATION PROVEN PRECISION 359 Wilson Road, Hastings 4120 Freephone: 0800 269 776 www.landquip.co.nz A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE CONTINUES PORTABLE SHEEP YARDS • PERMANENT SHEEP YARDS • SEMI-PERMANENT SHEEP YARDS • HORTICULTURE EQUIPMENT • VITICULTURE EQUIPMENT