October 29, 2025 • 7 mins
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This afternoon. We've got Jason Herrick. Can I Jason from
the Federated Farmer as he is? Can I, Jason, how
do you get? Nine?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yea? And I put my foot on the ground now
and then the starting to run, which is good.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hell, I mean you were Aussie when I spoke to
you a week ago, you would have come back to
a couple of different sites, I'd imagine.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, so the weather event that hit last Thursday, I
was an aussy at the time and my phone started
going pretty hot, and yeah, it was very surreal some
of the conversations that were coming through. And yeah, so
it's been a bit of a different story coming home
and seeing all the damage and talking to people firsthand.
(00:41):
Not only that, just a little bit of divis to
our property as well, you know. So, yeah, we'll get
through it, just like anybody else.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
It would have been like from what you were hearing
in OSSI and then what you got home to see,
could you imagine imagine the scale of it or was
it I mean it's hard to know. Was it worse
or better than you thought? Or was you got feeling
when you when you were away and then as opposed
to when you got home I guess.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, So when I got home and traveling down you know,
the main road, it appeared it wasn't as bad as
what I thought it was going to be. And then
I went off the beaten track. I just got another
parts of the Southland and yep, nope, it's definitely quite
a bit of destruction out there, and you know, you've
got to get your heart sort of sink the weeave
it when you see it first for the first time,
(01:25):
it's all very well hearing it, but it's definitely a
lot different when you see it.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, it's kind of like apocalyptic scenes in a way.
It's very We're not used to that sort of thing,
are we. We might have a bit of flooding and
a wee bit of drive a wind that's done that.
And the short space of probably only an hour or so,
it was just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, it was. And to only get four to fifteen
to twenty minutes warning to most people wouldn't have got
the warning and unless you were looking at the site
or listening to the radio, yep, you know, and it
just smashed people and they would just take them by
eyes really, and you know, some pretty horrid stories out
there at the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So I'm saying a bit of resilience and pragmatism from farmers.
I'm guessing you'll be saying much the same totally.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And that's something that that Southern farmers or New Zealand
farmers in general have in space, right, and they're pretty
upbeat and first jump jump to attention and jump in
and help out their neighbors and help out the other locals.
And it's one thing the South enders a very good
act helping one another. And my biggest concern for a
(02:32):
lot of those community orientated people out there is looking
after themselves first, because if you don't look after yourself,
you end up burning yourself out and you won't be
able to help other people. So you know, my message
to everybody out there is to take heat and look
after yourself first and then and then put yourself out there.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
You completely little to anyone else if you're a haggard mess.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, exactly, you know. And we're coming coming into the
time now we're clean up, it's going to start happening,
and you don't want to be fatigued when dealing with
down trees and so on.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That's right, But I'm looking at what I'm seeing and
Gore got off relatively lightly, particularly northern South, and really
was quite lucky. But I'm saying a lot of it
is just danger. It's really if you're going in there
with a chain where you really need to dig her alongside.
You have to prevent any unforeseen issues or making sure
that things are swiped out of trees that are still
(03:25):
hanging there too.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah. And in my previous life before farming, i was
an arborist and forestry worker, and I've seen some pretty
horrendous out arms from fallen trees And got to remember
that a fallen tree, just because it's laying on the ground,
it doesn't mean it doesn't have much pressure on, especially
with the root system still attaps, So you know, taking
care and being careful around that, especially with operating chainsaws
and heavy machinery. Just be very careful. You know. We're
(03:50):
very lucky to get away with no fatalities when they're
storm hit yep, with trees coming down, So we wouldn't
want to see any fatalities coming out of.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
The clean up way We've been lucky to have done
so far.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, exactly. And I did hear one up in the
Nelson Bay area right during the cleanup. You know, they
had no fatalities during the event, but a fatelity from
a farmer happened in the cleanup and under those second.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Stuff indibly very careful of it. Yeah yeah, and the
sharing nature too. With generators, they weren't enough to go around,
but people managed to cobble together to make sure animals
have water, could do some milking, barbecues were essential. So
I think all in all, a little underprepared as a province,
(04:36):
but we've come through it really well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Oh totally. Yeah, we're very very underprepared for emergency management
point of view, and some things could be done a
lot differently. There just goes to show how vulnerable we
are to the network with all the colms going down
as well, and people weren't able to notify that they
had no power or they had issues and so on.
(04:58):
So you know, we've just to take a learning from
this and set things in motion and set things up
for the future, because I mean, there's no doubt this
sort of stuff will happen again.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah too, right, and I'm assuming well reading the updates
that I see more than once a day, there's still
power out in places. We're still under a state of emergency.
Do you know how much longer that it's going to
be for or yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So currently we still have just over four thousand homes
without power and around South and Power needs to report
it to us that this this next stage is going
to take some time to fix because they're all individual
cases where power lines are going through private property. So
now it's just getting you know, you're not they're not
fixing the main trunks and connecting hundreds of homes up
at times at a time. They're doing one at a
(05:39):
time now, so you know, it's going to take a
little bit of time because there's still a lot of
snap power lines and power poles on the ground and
those things take time to replace. So we're just going
to work alongside them and make sure we're supporting those
communities in need and that everybody's welfare is taken care
of and if anybody has anything out there that they
need help with, don't be a fraid to.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Reach out completely. And the people that are working on
doing God's work really and they can only get to
one place at a time unfortunately, but that's just the
way it is, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
It is, And we've got a lot of a lot
of unsung heroes out there. I don't want to acknowledge
all of those unsung heroes and in the support services
that are there and and electricians and plumbers and anybody
that was out there that could do it was doing it.
And you know, I do want to do a wee
bit of a shout out actually to one of my
own executive team members, old cats Ralberh. He's a he's
(06:32):
a hero out there with a bit of a cape
on and criyke. He was out there involved in the
community helping shifting generators around, getting generators and stuff looked up,
as well as talking and meeting with emergency managements South
And while I was over an Aussie and you know,
he's he's definitely a man who deserves a bit of
an accolade.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You've got to love that, yeah, him, And I know
of a number of others too, So those guys, I
absolutely agree with you. There's there's a lot of people
owe them are a huge deet gratitude.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Absolutely, and I'm going to try and get around as
many of them as I can to personally thank them
for all the efforts and hard work that they put
in and ye in our local MP is a big
shit out that both Opinion and Joseph had done a
fantastic job over this time as well, getting around the
community and meeting up with some of those unsung heroes.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Absolutely all right, Jace, we might wrap it up with you.
I'll leave you to it and get back to your
day job. So thank you for your time and we'll
catch up later. Welcome, Thanks, questioning, cheers mate,
This afternoon. We've got Jason Herrick. Can I Jason from
the Federated Farmer as he is? Can I, Jason, how
do you get? Nine?
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Yea? And I put my foot on the ground now
and then the starting to run, which is good.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Hell, I mean you were Aussie when I spoke to
you a week ago, you would have come back to
a couple of different sites, I'd imagine.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yeah, so the weather event that hit last Thursday, I
was an aussy at the time and my phone started
going pretty hot, and yeah, it was very surreal some
of the conversations that were coming through. And yeah, so
it's been a bit of a different story coming home
and seeing all the damage and talking to people firsthand.
(00:41):
Not only that, just a little bit of divis to
our property as well, you know. So, yeah, we'll get
through it, just like anybody else.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
It would have been like from what you were hearing
in OSSI and then what you got home to see,
could you imagine imagine the scale of it or was
it I mean it's hard to know. Was it worse
or better than you thought? Or was you got feeling
when you when you were away and then as opposed
to when you got home I guess.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Yeah, So when I got home and traveling down you know,
the main road, it appeared it wasn't as bad as
what I thought it was going to be. And then
I went off the beaten track. I just got another
parts of the Southland and yep, nope, it's definitely quite
a bit of destruction out there, and you know, you've
got to get your heart sort of sink the weeave
it when you see it first for the first time,
(01:25):
it's all very well hearing it, but it's definitely a
lot different when you see it.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Yeah, it's kind of like apocalyptic scenes in a way.
It's very We're not used to that sort of thing,
are we. We might have a bit of flooding and
a wee bit of drive a wind that's done that.
And the short space of probably only an hour or so,
it was just phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yeah, it was. And to only get four to fifteen
to twenty minutes warning to most people wouldn't have got
the warning and unless you were looking at the site
or listening to the radio, yep, you know, and it
just smashed people and they would just take them by
eyes really, and you know, some pretty horrid stories out
there at the moment.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
So I'm saying a bit of resilience and pragmatism from farmers.
I'm guessing you'll be saying much the same totally.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And that's something that that Southern farmers or New Zealand
farmers in general have in space, right, and they're pretty
upbeat and first jump jump to attention and jump in
and help out their neighbors and help out the other locals.
And it's one thing the South enders a very good
act helping one another. And my biggest concern for a
(02:32):
lot of those community orientated people out there is looking
after themselves first, because if you don't look after yourself,
you end up burning yourself out and you won't be
able to help other people. So you know, my message
to everybody out there is to take heat and look
after yourself first and then and then put yourself out there.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
You completely little to anyone else if you're a haggard mess.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Yeah, exactly, you know. And we're coming coming into the
time now we're clean up, it's going to start happening,
and you don't want to be fatigued when dealing with
down trees and so on.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
That's right, But I'm looking at what I'm seeing and
Gore got off relatively lightly, particularly northern South, and really
was quite lucky. But I'm saying a lot of it
is just danger. It's really if you're going in there
with a chain where you really need to dig her alongside.
You have to prevent any unforeseen issues or making sure
that things are swiped out of trees that are still
(03:25):
hanging there too.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Yeah. And in my previous life before farming, i was
an arborist and forestry worker, and I've seen some pretty
horrendous out arms from fallen trees And got to remember
that a fallen tree, just because it's laying on the ground,
it doesn't mean it doesn't have much pressure on, especially
with the root system still attaps, So you know, taking
care and being careful around that, especially with operating chainsaws
and heavy machinery. Just be very careful. You know. We're
(03:50):
very lucky to get away with no fatalities when they're
storm hit yep, with trees coming down, So we wouldn't
want to see any fatalities coming out of.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
The clean up way We've been lucky to have done
so far.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Yeah, exactly. And I did hear one up in the
Nelson Bay area right during the cleanup. You know, they
had no fatalities during the event, but a fatelity from
a farmer happened in the cleanup and under those second.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
Stuff indibly very careful of it. Yeah yeah, and the
sharing nature too. With generators, they weren't enough to go around,
but people managed to cobble together to make sure animals
have water, could do some milking, barbecues were essential. So
I think all in all, a little underprepared as a province,
(04:36):
but we've come through it really well.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
Oh totally. Yeah, we're very very underprepared for emergency management
point of view, and some things could be done a
lot differently. There just goes to show how vulnerable we
are to the network with all the colms going down
as well, and people weren't able to notify that they
had no power or they had issues and so on.
(04:58):
So you know, we've just to take a learning from
this and set things in motion and set things up
for the future, because I mean, there's no doubt this
sort of stuff will happen again.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah too, right, and I'm assuming well reading the updates
that I see more than once a day, there's still
power out in places. We're still under a state of emergency.
Do you know how much longer that it's going to
be for or yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
So currently we still have just over four thousand homes
without power and around South and Power needs to report
it to us that this this next stage is going
to take some time to fix because they're all individual
cases where power lines are going through private property. So
now it's just getting you know, you're not they're not
fixing the main trunks and connecting hundreds of homes up
at times at a time. They're doing one at a
(05:39):
time now, so you know, it's going to take a
little bit of time because there's still a lot of
snap power lines and power poles on the ground and
those things take time to replace. So we're just going
to work alongside them and make sure we're supporting those
communities in need and that everybody's welfare is taken care
of and if anybody has anything out there that they
need help with, don't be a fraid to.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Reach out completely. And the people that are working on
doing God's work really and they can only get to
one place at a time unfortunately, but that's just the
way it is, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
It is, And we've got a lot of a lot
of unsung heroes out there. I don't want to acknowledge
all of those unsung heroes and in the support services
that are there and and electricians and plumbers and anybody
that was out there that could do it was doing it.
And you know, I do want to do a wee
bit of a shout out actually to one of my
own executive team members, old cats Ralberh. He's a he's
(06:32):
a hero out there with a bit of a cape
on and criyke. He was out there involved in the
community helping shifting generators around, getting generators and stuff looked up,
as well as talking and meeting with emergency managements South
And while I was over an Aussie and you know,
he's he's definitely a man who deserves a bit of
an accolade.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
You've got to love that, yeah, him, And I know
of a number of others too, So those guys, I
absolutely agree with you. There's there's a lot of people
owe them are a huge deet gratitude.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Absolutely, and I'm going to try and get around as
many of them as I can to personally thank them
for all the efforts and hard work that they put
in and ye in our local MP is a big
shit out that both Opinion and Joseph had done a
fantastic job over this time as well, getting around the
community and meeting up with some of those unsung heroes.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Absolutely all right, Jace, we might wrap it up with you.
I'll leave you to it and get back to your
day job. So thank you for your time and we'll
catch up later. Welcome, Thanks, questioning, cheers mate,
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