Lockdown life on the farm
South Island dairy farmer and company director Jessie Chan went to some pretty dark places during lockdown.
The experiences of rural women often go unheard, she said, and lockdown was particularly tough on them.
Between homeschooling her six-year-old while juggling a toddler, farm and board commitments, there were often nights she was up at 11pm doing paper work.
Catching up with women in her local community in Dorie, after lockdown eased, Chan realised she was not alone as others expressed how much they had struggled.
‘‘Nearly every woman I have talked to said it was really tough. I think we’ll come out the other side but it’s important to acknowledge it.
‘‘Not only are they trying to home school children and run the house but also we’ve been having to run the business. A lot of women have little businesses or interests or work outside of the farm, and no me-time for eight weeks.’’
Chan said productivity had also been lost. Women were integral parts of most farming businesses and taking that out of the equation for eight weeks had an impact on the business.
Chan managed to maintain her work as a director on several boards but found it challenging.
‘‘If it didn’t get done during the day you were up at night doing it.
‘‘Up at 11pm doing paperwork or something.’’
Chan suggested all kinds of important tasks had been put to the side, including attention to next year’s budget, accounts that might have been left, or planning moving day.
‘‘All the things that rural women do behind the scenes that you don’t see,’’ she said.
Canterbury dairy farmer Jodie Loos said the first week of lockdown was a period of feeling numb and shocked. The family watched a lot of Netflix and ‘‘insulated a little bit’’.
But as time went by and homeschooling kicked in and the workload mounted, Loos began to feel overwhelmed.
She would spend the whole day juggling tasks and learning new technology.
Loos lived with her husband, two children and mother, who ran a small business. The household only had two computers, and limited internet access to do homeschooling and run the business. The combined effect of all the pressures plus coronavirus ‘‘information overload’’ left her feeling weighed down, she said.
But Southland bull farmer Sarah Flintoff’s experience during lockdown couldn’t be more different.
Flintoff and her husband Ben Walling ran four farms including their home farm, where Flintoff ran bulls.
Walling took care of the other three and was frequently away.
‘‘I’m fortunate my kids were older. During lockdown I was able to get them helping me. Two on a motorbike each and one would stay at the house and do the housework and get the firewood in. ‘‘I found lockdown the most pleasant time of my life, ever, I think,’’ she said.
Flintoff and Walling had been through a tumultuous couple of years after having to cull 1700 cattle in 2018 due tomycoplasma bovis. Lockdown was a ‘‘walk in the park’’, she said.
‘‘I felt it was breathing time. We weren’t rushing here there and everywhere. We could just stay at home, relax and enjoy the farm,’’ she said.
Flintoff and Walling made the decision not to homeschool and have the children learn farm skills instead.
The kids got to the stage where they could go and muster two or three mobs of rising two year old bulls by themselves, she said.
Flintoff said she was immensely proud.
‘‘I felt it was the New Zealand that I remember from the 1980s growing up on a sheep farm. It was that same pace of life.’’