November 12, 2025 • 9 mins
Sarah Swinbourn looks at the long road to recovery on the Lawrence farm in this week's Beef and Lamb chat.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
The Muster Events diary brought to you by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand. Click beeflambandzed dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The Sarah Swinburne is part of the Beef and Lamb's
Southern Farmer Council. She is based near Lawrence and joins
us this afternoon. Sarah, good afternoon. How have you been.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have been well. Thank you, Andy. It's lovely to
join you on the show today. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, we always appreciate catching up because the words of
wisdom you've got regarding the workshops and the likes are
very relevant. But look, we're talking about the messaging today
based on the events over the last three weeks, and
we make no apology here on the Muster. It's all
about looking ahead to what the future holds for you
in a work frame, right, because what's happened three weeks
(00:56):
ago has happened, but life still still has to continue
on the farm.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Absolutely, Andy, I mean once belittle what's happened. It's been
very significant damage and across wide areas of the district.
I know we've got lots of trees and lots of
fences down. Some senses are up where the root balls
have come over. We've got sensors six feet in there,
and the other side lie flat, and she's to go
(01:23):
under one fence and over the other. And you go, well,
we'll fix that later, and it is fixable. Our family
is okay, our buildings are okay, Our machinery is okay.
We are lucky. For those who have damaged buildings and
damaged machinery, are really really feel for them. But the
trees and fences and white, there's no rush. They will
(01:47):
they will get there. I know for us at home,
we probably initially had a bit of a splurge clearing
some easy trees, and it became very apparent that we
weren't going to get through all the trees. We didn't
have the skills, we didn't have the capacity, we didn't
have the machinery. And so after four or five days,
our focus very quickly turned back to actually what is
(02:10):
our priority? And first who was drenching lands and finishing sailing,
And after that it then becomes well, where are our
paddocks we need to get sewn and younger, let's clear
those and get those stockproofs. Where are our cropping paddocks,
we clear those and get those stockproof So that we
can get crops established. We've we've made some decisions about
(02:34):
what paddocks are going to go into winter crop this year.
Some of our are going to take probably close to
a year to get back to being clear and stockproof
and getting permin and electricity running back out there. So
the easy choices don't crop those, and we've gone back
to strawing boardom and it's some different attics taken the
easy option and changed our cropping rotation to to paddocks
(02:58):
that we can cultivate a time of year and actually
get stock. Out of staying calm and remembering to prioritize
what's brutal right now has been te for us.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, it seems to be the key message today, Sarah,
yourself and your husband. You've taken a step back. You
looked at the situation, situation that you've got, and you're
realizing it's a marathon, not a sprint.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yep. Absolutely, we've done the easy bits. We've got lots
of big blocks and they're going to take time, and
there's any further and there's no rush. We don't have
the machinery, we don't have the skills set to do it.
Will need help. We haven't decided what our approach is
(03:44):
going to be, whether we harvest them or where we
just push them into a pile and get rid of it.
And we're working through gathering information to be able to
make the best informed decision on that. But indications have
heard are that it's going to take a year to
clean up all the plantation blocks that are down, so
(04:04):
there is no rush. It's menty and it's not nice
to look at, but it's not causing us significant disruption
to our business, so we're just parking that. Well, we
collect our thoughts and get information to make the best
long term decision for us around those damed blocks of trees.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The analogy is used on the show over the last
couple of days that it's almost like eating an elephant,
and not in one big spurge, but actually just taking
little bites at a time, because there's no way on
how you'll get it all done in one hit.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
No, and you'll fry yourself, as it could mentally if
you try to have it all done by next week
or whatever your time frame might be in your head.
It's unfortunately, it's going to be a long, slow recovery.
And I think I think the challenging part as time
wears on, is going to be still looking at that
(05:02):
damage on your property, and it is going to be
a mental battle that you can't fix it straight away
and that it is going to sit there for a
while for some people until contractors and machinery can round
to it. And that's that's going to be the hart,
that is the reminder that keeps looking at you. But
I think we need to accept that rather than panicking,
(05:24):
and we need to keep ourselves safe and just make
it one step at a time.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Sarah over at Lawrence or in South Otaga in particular,
it sounds as though there are areas that took on
a lot of severe damage. So the other thing is
talking to neighbors and everybody just from around the district
and realizing that you're not in this by yourself.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
One and I love this Lawrence wad of her community
that we that we live in here. I feel really fortunate,
you know, you've seen it time and time again here
that communities pulled together and our Lines Club went door
to door knock on people. People from the fire brigade
came around checking on real families. People checked from their neighbors.
(06:10):
You you know, if someone had damage or was struggling
without hour, they came and stayed at someone else's place.
It's just and that still goes on. It. I mean,
we've got our power back and we're functioning more more
like normal, but you will still have neighbors that have
bad days and rough days, and it's being there. No.
(06:31):
The day afterwards, we went tailing because we went, oh,
can't do much about it. The lambs are going to
get bigger, the trees won't fall any further. Let's go
have a social day and discuss at all. And I
think that was great for everyone's mindset to go tailing
the next day, because well, we didn't think there was
much else we could do that was more productive on
that day. So it's really important to stay together as
(06:51):
communities and his neighbors and friends and checking in as
the weeks and the months past.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
So how were you without power? For there?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
We were thirteen days without power.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Andy, that's a long time.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, it kind of felt pretty minor though, like there
was so much to do every day when you got
up that there wasn't really time to dwell on not
having power. You just had to change your routine. You
had to make sure there was always a pot of
water on the fire for doing dishes and having a
cup of tea, and making sure you had lots of
pops on for bath water in the evening, and you
(07:29):
just cooked on the barbecue and cooked on the fire
and harried on with life. It was I don't know,
you didn't you didn't get a choice. You just had
to go with it, and it was quite an adventisure.
You changed what you cooked and thankfully we actually enjoyed
cooking on our fire and have lots of cast iron
camp ovens, so I didn't find that too challenging not
(07:52):
having electricity. It just was what it was, and you
carried on.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
As far as workshops of beef and lamb, these are
coming up surely. Now we hear of chainsaw workshops like
Stago Rural Support Trusts they're involved with these. I believe
there are some on the pipeline for Southland as well.
But workshops of beef and lamb, I dare say it's
a given there'll be things coming up, right.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, Typically this is a very busy time of year
for farmers, but we have got some workshops popping up
that are really topical at the moment. If you're wanting
to upskill, so jump on the events page and have
a look because across the region there's feeds Smart and
body condition scoring workshops coming up, there's growing Great Lambs
(08:36):
and there is also worm wise wise events coming up,
so there's some really good opportunities to upskill, broaden your knowledge,
get out and do that socializing or if you want
something that's not as hard on, you know, testing the
old brain out. There's also real writers and surfing for Farmers,
(08:58):
so they're more around getting up, being actives, being involved
in sports for real writers as mountain biking and obviously surfing.
Farmers has been around for a while in surfing, so
they are kicking off again starting in November around the region,
So have a look at those because they're great opportunities
to get out a network and catch up with farmers
and sure.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Young Sarah Swinburne, thanks for your time on the Muster
of US afternoon, A great chat.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Thanks Andy,
The Muster Events diary brought to you by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand. Click beeflambandzed dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
The Sarah Swinburne is part of the Beef and Lamb's
Southern Farmer Council. She is based near Lawrence and joins
us this afternoon. Sarah, good afternoon. How have you been.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
I have been well. Thank you, Andy. It's lovely to
join you on the show today. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, we always appreciate catching up because the words of
wisdom you've got regarding the workshops and the likes are
very relevant. But look, we're talking about the messaging today
based on the events over the last three weeks, and
we make no apology here on the Muster. It's all
about looking ahead to what the future holds for you
in a work frame, right, because what's happened three weeks
(00:56):
ago has happened, but life still still has to continue
on the farm.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Absolutely, Andy, I mean once belittle what's happened. It's been
very significant damage and across wide areas of the district.
I know we've got lots of trees and lots of
fences down. Some senses are up where the root balls
have come over. We've got sensors six feet in there,
and the other side lie flat, and she's to go
(01:23):
under one fence and over the other. And you go, well,
we'll fix that later, and it is fixable. Our family
is okay, our buildings are okay, Our machinery is okay.
We are lucky. For those who have damaged buildings and
damaged machinery, are really really feel for them. But the
trees and fences and white, there's no rush. They will
(01:47):
they will get there. I know for us at home,
we probably initially had a bit of a splurge clearing
some easy trees, and it became very apparent that we
weren't going to get through all the trees. We didn't
have the skills, we didn't have the capacity, we didn't
have the machinery. And so after four or five days,
our focus very quickly turned back to actually what is
(02:10):
our priority? And first who was drenching lands and finishing sailing,
And after that it then becomes well, where are our
paddocks we need to get sewn and younger, let's clear
those and get those stockproofs. Where are our cropping paddocks,
we clear those and get those stockproof So that we
can get crops established. We've we've made some decisions about
(02:34):
what paddocks are going to go into winter crop this year.
Some of our are going to take probably close to
a year to get back to being clear and stockproof
and getting permin and electricity running back out there. So
the easy choices don't crop those, and we've gone back
to strawing boardom and it's some different attics taken the
easy option and changed our cropping rotation to to paddocks
(02:58):
that we can cultivate a time of year and actually
get stock. Out of staying calm and remembering to prioritize
what's brutal right now has been te for us.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Well, it seems to be the key message today, Sarah,
yourself and your husband. You've taken a step back. You
looked at the situation, situation that you've got, and you're
realizing it's a marathon, not a sprint.
Speaker 3 (03:22):
Yep. Absolutely, we've done the easy bits. We've got lots
of big blocks and they're going to take time, and
there's any further and there's no rush. We don't have
the machinery, we don't have the skills set to do it.
Will need help. We haven't decided what our approach is
(03:44):
going to be, whether we harvest them or where we
just push them into a pile and get rid of it.
And we're working through gathering information to be able to
make the best informed decision on that. But indications have
heard are that it's going to take a year to
clean up all the plantation blocks that are down, so
(04:04):
there is no rush. It's menty and it's not nice
to look at, but it's not causing us significant disruption
to our business, so we're just parking that. Well, we
collect our thoughts and get information to make the best
long term decision for us around those damed blocks of trees.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
The analogy is used on the show over the last
couple of days that it's almost like eating an elephant,
and not in one big spurge, but actually just taking
little bites at a time, because there's no way on
how you'll get it all done in one hit.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
No, and you'll fry yourself, as it could mentally if
you try to have it all done by next week
or whatever your time frame might be in your head.
It's unfortunately, it's going to be a long, slow recovery.
And I think I think the challenging part as time
wears on, is going to be still looking at that
(05:02):
damage on your property, and it is going to be
a mental battle that you can't fix it straight away
and that it is going to sit there for a
while for some people until contractors and machinery can round
to it. And that's that's going to be the hart,
that is the reminder that keeps looking at you. But
I think we need to accept that rather than panicking,
(05:24):
and we need to keep ourselves safe and just make
it one step at a time.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Sarah over at Lawrence or in South Otaga in particular,
it sounds as though there are areas that took on
a lot of severe damage. So the other thing is
talking to neighbors and everybody just from around the district
and realizing that you're not in this by yourself.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
One and I love this Lawrence wad of her community
that we that we live in here. I feel really fortunate,
you know, you've seen it time and time again here
that communities pulled together and our Lines Club went door
to door knock on people. People from the fire brigade
came around checking on real families. People checked from their neighbors.
(06:10):
You you know, if someone had damage or was struggling
without hour, they came and stayed at someone else's place.
It's just and that still goes on. It. I mean,
we've got our power back and we're functioning more more
like normal, but you will still have neighbors that have
bad days and rough days, and it's being there. No.
(06:31):
The day afterwards, we went tailing because we went, oh,
can't do much about it. The lambs are going to
get bigger, the trees won't fall any further. Let's go
have a social day and discuss at all. And I
think that was great for everyone's mindset to go tailing
the next day, because well, we didn't think there was
much else we could do that was more productive on
that day. So it's really important to stay together as
(06:51):
communities and his neighbors and friends and checking in as
the weeks and the months past.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
So how were you without power? For there?
Speaker 3 (07:03):
We were thirteen days without power.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Andy, that's a long time.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Yeah, it kind of felt pretty minor though, like there
was so much to do every day when you got
up that there wasn't really time to dwell on not
having power. You just had to change your routine. You
had to make sure there was always a pot of
water on the fire for doing dishes and having a
cup of tea, and making sure you had lots of
pops on for bath water in the evening, and you
(07:29):
just cooked on the barbecue and cooked on the fire
and harried on with life. It was I don't know,
you didn't you didn't get a choice. You just had
to go with it, and it was quite an adventisure.
You changed what you cooked and thankfully we actually enjoyed
cooking on our fire and have lots of cast iron
camp ovens, so I didn't find that too challenging not
(07:52):
having electricity. It just was what it was, and you
carried on.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
As far as workshops of beef and lamb, these are
coming up surely. Now we hear of chainsaw workshops like
Stago Rural Support Trusts they're involved with these. I believe
there are some on the pipeline for Southland as well.
But workshops of beef and lamb, I dare say it's
a given there'll be things coming up, right.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
Yeah, Typically this is a very busy time of year
for farmers, but we have got some workshops popping up
that are really topical at the moment. If you're wanting
to upskill, so jump on the events page and have
a look because across the region there's feeds Smart and
body condition scoring workshops coming up, there's growing Great Lambs
(08:36):
and there is also worm wise wise events coming up,
so there's some really good opportunities to upskill, broaden your knowledge,
get out and do that socializing or if you want
something that's not as hard on, you know, testing the
old brain out. There's also real writers and surfing for Farmers,
(08:58):
so they're more around getting up, being actives, being involved
in sports for real writers as mountain biking and obviously surfing.
Farmers has been around for a while in surfing, so
they are kicking off again starting in November around the region,
So have a look at those because they're great opportunities
to get out a network and catch up with farmers
and sure.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
Young Sarah Swinburne, thanks for your time on the Muster
of US afternoon, A great chat.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Thanks Andy,
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