On the cusp of a new season, Darryl and Julie Simkins are frantically rebuilding their shattered dairy after it was blown apart by hurricane-force winds ravaging the West Coast in April.
They'd been looking forward to a more relaxed lifestyle after taking on their first employee, with a new house perched above the farm and a view to die for as they sat back and enjoyed a bit more spare time.
Instead, April 17 threw a storm at the area that produced those images of destroyed forests, with gusts reportedly reaching 300km/hour. When the wind crested the peaks of Kahurangi National Park behind the farm, it raced down the western slopes, gathering velocity as it neared the valley floor where the Simkins’ dairy proved no match for its ferocity.
The Simkins were watching the tall rimu and miro being snapped in half or ripped from the ground around their house when sheets of roofing from the dairy began flying over the paddocks in the valley below. In the midst of the storm Darryl headed down the kilometre or more of winding driveway carved into the bush-clad hillside to try and limit the damage.
The force of the wind made it impossible to walk across the paddocks, so he hugged the hill for shelter and clambered through drains to reach the tractor so he could use the bucket to hold up the end wall of the dairy that contained the meter board and vital electrics.
“It was a bit silly because I got down to the dairy and propped the wall up and there were sheets of iron peeling off,” he says.
“Then I just had to stay there until there was a lull.”
It was two hours before he could return to the house where Julie was without phone contact, wondering what was happening to Darryl down in the valley.
Julie and Darryl Simkin's dairy was still being repaired as they were counting the days until calving.
By the time the wind had exhausted itself, the front corner of the dairy with the vet room had blown out, with parts falling through the roof onto the platform and pulsators, while roofing had torn away and the back wall with much of the wiring was still propped up by the tractor.
On the plus side, they had decided earlier that day to put the 300-cow herd on once-a-day (OAD) milking as part of their management plan to put condition on the cows and build feed up before winter. And they had a generator on the farm to cover for power shortages, which was fortunate as it was six days before they got power back on.
By clearing the debris in the dairy and keeping the tractor in place to hold the end wall up, they were able to milk the cows 36 hours after their earlier milking. But the electrical and computerised components for the 40-bail rotary had taken a hammering that sent it into a downward spiral.
“Every milking we were losing more and more things as they were shorting out. So we decided to dry off on April 30 and by the time we finished we only had 16 bails working.”
The serotone-lined dairy was just 19 years old, but replacing parts wasn't an option as today's technology didn’t fit with the old.
‘It was a bit silly because I got down to the dairy and propped the wall up and there were sheets of iron peeling off.’
“The new technology didn't talk to the old technology so it was all new technical plant. The insurers got a building consultant in and they decided to start again, so it's new from the concrete up.”
With cows calving from August 1, winter has been a frantic rebuild with their builder working seven days a week, from sun-up to sun-down, to get the job done in time. And as calving looms they have the fallback of a one-cow milking plant, as well as a neighbour who could take the first few cows.
“With the amount of damage up and down the Coast, we could have been waiting months and months,” Julie says.
Instead, their builder put another job with less time pressure on hold to concentrate on their dairy.
The April wind blew apart 12 sheds of varying ages and condition around the farm, tearing off roofing iron or sides, while just over the river a farmer ventured out into the storm to cut away plastic from a herd shelter because poles were snapping.
DairyNZ consulting officer for West Coast, Ross Bishop, said several farmers had damaged dairies and sheds after the storm, with some forced to milk through other dairies for a while, and another needed alternative winter grazing for the herd after a herd shelter was demolished.
The Simkins hope to achieve 130,000kg milksolids (MS) this season without climatic issues. The 2012-13 drought forced them to dry the cows off on March 10 and the wind damage last season took its toll on final production figures. It was the first season they hadn't taken milk out of the vat for calves too.
They've been on the farm 25 years. It was initially part of a family business before they bought members out. For the past 10 years the only holidays, or breaks, they have achieved have been to Murchison and Ashburton. That’s why they were quite excited about taking on an employee and taking a major leap in holiday plans, with their sights set on Africa once everything was running smoothly on the farm.
Even getting groceries and farm supplies was a clock-watching exercise with just two of them because it meant a two-and-a-half-hour return drive over the Karamea Bluffs to Westport and always the pressure to get home for milking. The bluffs tell the tale of the fickle nature of the April wind, touching down randomly so that amid the unscathed native bush, corridors of defoliated forest and ragged-tipped trunks have been carved.
Home on the farm, the Simkins are at a stage where lifestyle is just as important as financial gain and they run a more conservative operation, though still achieve just on 1000kg MS/ha in a typical season and about 400kg MS/cow. They winter the cows on the milking platform and make supplements from surplus, including balage and pit silage.
The home block is 306ha, with the milking platform covering 120ha of valley floor and the remainder in bush that climbs steep hills and merges into the Kahurangi National Park behind. They also have a 40ha runoff for the young stock.
At the peak of the season they milk about 300 cows made up of two-thirds Friesian and a third Jersey. They intend putting Kiwicross over the Jersey cows as they are quite small in stature, and long-term they plan to aim for an entirely Friesian herd. They use artificial breeding for four weeks, followed by bulls for four weeks, culminating in an eight-week calving. With just eight weeks, they get all the replacements they need. Their empty rate is still high, but they see that as work in progress.
“The last couple of years we haven't worried about doing anything with non-cyclers and it hasn't made any difference,” Julie says.
“It's easier to say anything cycling is good and anything that doesn't get in-calf is culled.”
From about April 10 or so they drop a milking to OAD and then normally wind up the season about May 20 to allow the feed to build up on the milking platform for winter. Through the season, it's Julie's job to carry out weekly farm walks with a platemeter to provide information for meal feeding and silage decisions. The walk takes two-and-a-half hours but Darryl says it’s crucial for their feed planning and time well spent.
At the peak of the season, the round length is 15 days, with paddocks shut up for silage. Even though they live in a climate that delivers 2.5m of rain a year, the ground still dries out, especially on gravel fans that run through the silts of the farm. There's no irrigation, so they're dependent on climate and management.
The temperate climate of Karamea means they still grow grass through winter even though they do get some frosts, with rain the main challenge. When it’s raining, the 324 cows they winter have three hours grazing on pasture before heading back to the feedpad and silage. In fine weather they are left in paddocks for most of the day and then taken off to protect the ground.
Hay is bought in for the young stock grazing on the runoff and also fed to the cows when the weather turns brutal at night.
About 70 tonnes of meal is fed in the dairy throughout the season, with molasses also in spring through to mating for metabolic issues. Feeding meal every day means it’s easy to bump it up in poor weather or if they’re getting short on feed, Darryl says. And feeding throughout season acts as a treat for the cows, so makes milking easier, Julie says.
All going well, the Simkins hope this season will give them the chance to sit back and enjoy their new home, albeit with fewer tall native trees around it, with views over the valley to the Karamea village and beyond to the Tasman Sea.
Key points
Owners: Darryl and Julie Simkin
Location: Karamea, West Coast
Area: 120ha milking platform and 186ha hills in bush
Runoff: 40ha
Cows: 300 predominantly Friesian
Production: 1000kg milksolids (MS)/ha, 400kg MS/cow
