1. How long were you without power?
2. Were there any unexpected upsides to losing power?
3. What is the biggest priority in terms of recovery?
4. What will you do to be prepared for future natural disasters?
5. Are there any positives that came out of the situation?
My house in Stirling only lost it for about six hours, but my farm at Owaka was about six days.
Can’t really comment.
Getting the fence electrics back up and running.
Make sure there’s a good stockpile of firewood. Don’t have a property that relies on electrics for heating and hot water.
It’s a firewood merchant’s dream, but not much else. It’s just created a whole lot of work for people at what is already a busy time.
Six and a-half days.
I talked to my husband a bit more (laughs), and I caught up on my needle felting.
Fencing.
We will probably get another generator. We had two, but because it was springtime I had 75 lambs on a feeder which needed a generator, and the house got the other.
A real sense of community camaraderie. I got the coal range going in our cottage which turned it into a little hub for locals to come and shower. I also met our dairy farming neighbours for the first time.
Six days across three farmhouses and the dairy shed. PowerNet did an incredible job — power was restored after four days, but a pole caught fire and delayed us another two. The last staff house was without power for 10 days due to damage to poles and wiring.
Good planning helped — having cables and plugs ready for the shed, a generator for milking, and smaller ones for freezers and water.
Our top priority was clearing trees off fences so we could restore power and secure the cows and calves.
Definitely our team, community, friends and family — everyone pitched in. Hot showers at the neighbour’s and breakfast in the cowshed became highlights. It was a tough week, but one we’ll never forget.
Six days.
Not really, haha! We connected more as a family. We played cards in the evenings instead of watching TV and sitting on devices.
The back of the sheep yards is full of downed trees, so we need to tidy that up before we get into weaning. The upside is the sheep will dry out quicker when yarded for shearing now there are no trees.
Keep on top of tree maintenance. We topped ours around the house six months ago. If we hadn’t, we’d probably have one through the house right about now.
The learnings that come from an event like this. Knowing what we need in order to be resilient and self-sufficient when a natural disaster occurs.
