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Farmers under stress risk the most

PHOTO: Westpac

We have donated to the Westpac Helicopter ever since.

Pat Deavoll

editor@thewanakasun.co.nz

I was watching Breakfast on TV One (Tuesday) morning while drinking my first cup of coffee, and they interviewed a couple of farmers about unwitting accidents they had had on-farm when they were tired and overworked.

It reminded me of an accident my father, 80 years old at the time, had on the family sheep farm back in 1999. This was up at Motunau, North Canterbury.

Dad was helping out my brother, who was running the farm. Bill was overworked and extremely stressed over the dismal price of crossbred wool and the state of farming in general. Dad, despite his age, was doing everything he could to keep Bill and the farm afloat. I think he was just as stressed.

Dad was feeding out hay. He shouldn't have been doing this at his age. As is a common practice for farmers, he had put the tractor in gear, jumped off and climbed up on the trailer to offload the feed—no mean feat for an 80-year-old.

Our farm is right on the coast, and as the tractor was getting close to the sea cliff, Dad climbed back off the trailer and went climbing back on the tractor to turn it away from the 200m drop down onto the beach, He had a piece of the hay baling twine around his leg, and as he climbed up onto the tractor, this went under the wheel, dragging him with it. He was then run over by the trailer. So run over twice.

By the time my brother realised he was missing an hour had passed. Bill found Dad who at that stage, was near death.

Without any cell phone coverage Bill had to leave him lying in the paddock and rush to the homestead to call for help. The Westpac Helicopter arrived within an hour and whisked him off to Christchurch Hospital. As a family, we have donated to the Westpac Helicopter ever since.

Dad didn't die; he was a tough old bugger. He was in intensive care for several weeks. I will never forget the fantastic quality of care he got from the nurses in intensive care. Then he went into an orthopaedic ward for a few weeks, and from there to Burwood Hospital for rehabilitation. He got sick of this pretty quickly and discharged himself.

The point of all this, I guess, is to point out the consequences farmers risk when they are under stress. They end up pushing themselves physically and mentally far more than they should. They end up not looking after their wellbeing because they feel pressured to keep going. They don't feel they can stop.

This kind of stress is more than losing a business due to coronavirus, more than having to lay off staff, more than not knowing where the next dollar is coming from. It can mean losing a life.

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Crimeline

SPORTS RESULTS

C Calvin Bopp

Constable, NZPD

Please send sports results to sports@thewanakasun.co.nz by Tuesday at noon. Results should be unformatted and presented in the body of the email.

WĀNAKA BOWLS RESULTS Monday Edgewater Trophy:

1st T Malcolm A Moore M Marshall, 2nd P Herbert M Daniels C Keiweit, 3rd B Steel M Harris H Malcolm.

Tuesday morning 2x4x2:

1st J McGowan J Sawers, 2nd B McKenzie C Fyfe, 3rd C Carr A Bryan.

Tuesday afternoon 2x4x2:

1st G Thomas N Matheson, 2nd B Turnbull M Parker, 3rd A Turnbull I Fletcher.

Tuesday evening Trades:

1st The Nobowlmen, 2nd BNB, 3rd Bowl’m’Over. Wednesday Village 101 v Town 91.

Wednesday evening Trades:

1st Bad Neighbours, 2nd Shot Bowls, 3rd Clubbers.

Thursday afternoon Triples:

1st T Malcolm K Mitchell G McMillan, 2nd D Cameron M Hardy H Malcolm, 3rd R Muir D Brown M Wilson.

Thursday evening Trades:

1st Grey Power, 2nd Taffy, 3rd Locals.

Friday Progressive Skips:

1st S Culverwell, 2nd A Moore, 3rd G Hall Thirds R Chartres, 2nd R Nicholson, 3rd J Cowie Leads, 1st R Hall, 2nd L Rogers, 3rd N Matheson.

Saturday Studholme Trophy:

Meadowstone 10, Mt Albert 9, Hawea Blue 6, Village 6, Beacon Point 5, Pembroke Heights 2, Hawea Gold 2, Rippon W Meadows 0. Hello citizens of Wānaka.

On Monday morning there was an incident where four young males entered a private residence and damaged plants and took seemingly innocuous items before making their escape. It sets a trend for the week sadly, regarding needless vandalism.

Tuesday saw a bit of speed enforcement done near Hawea Flat School and sadly a large number of tickets were issued. We will be getting around all the schools to make sure drivers are being safe. Also remember the speed for passing a stopped school bus in both directions is 20km/h. Kids tend to just run out sometimes, as I witnessed this week, so our caution is needed to prevent a fatality.

On Wednesday an individual was dealt with for an historic family harm matter. This was sadly one of three such incidents reported to Wānaka Police this week.

Thursday was a quiet day, it appears, so I’ll take the opportunity the lack of material creates to talk about the traffic lights on the way to Makarora. Please stick to the posted speed limits for these areas. The workers there have the right to a safe environment while they carry out improvements. Police are following up with registrations of vehicles who breach these rules. There also may or may not be cameras set up to catch the red light runners, so if you want to chance it, expect a call from us down the track.

On Friday a report was taken about vehicles damaged overnight in a carpark on Brownston Street, and another on Dunmore Street. If you know or saw anything please give us a bell. The evening saw two drink drivers apprehended with one making themselves glaringly obvious to us in the form of speeding up Ardmore Street with road cones underneath their car. A sure-fire way to stay as conspicuous as possible.

On Saturday we were notified of damage to the barrier arm at the Masonic Lodge car park. CCTV footage in the area should yield some results.

Sunday saw a resident report their mailbox was damaged by a vehicle. We have some follow-up to do on this. In the evening a matter between two now ex-flatmates was attended. Everyone in a flat situation should have some form of writing stating as such, for everyone’s protection. Consult the Tenancy Tribunal if you are unsure about anything.

Items of Found Property last week – Pink Bike, Eftpos Machine, and an amount of cash found on the footpath in town at the end of last month. You can call 105, report on-line or come into the Station to report lost Property. Most Property is only held at the Station for 30 days.

I hope you all have a good week. Stay safe.