2023 was a particularly tough year for Amber Carpenter and her family.
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Cyclones Hale and Gabrielle ensured that 2023 was tough for many farmers, but Amber Carpenter’s resilience was truly tested that year.
Her family started 2023 with a burglary at their dairy and beef farm in Paparimu, South Auckland.
“They took pretty much everything that wasn’t nailed down and wasn’t a big item of furniture,” she told The Country’s Jamie Mackay.
Carpenter and her husband, Fraser, are 50/50 sharemilkers on a 320-hectare (200-effective-hectare) farm.
They milk just under 500 cows, split calves, and they also have two beef blocks separate from the dairy operation.
She said the burglary was extensive, with the thieves stealing more than just big-ticket items.
“They took absolutely everything of sentimental value, any value.”
Crucially, this included wet-weather gear, torches and warm clothing, as Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods hit around two days later.
“Then I think it rained for the rest of the year, so we were basically underwater for most of 2023,” Carpenter said.
This led to extra pressure on the farm.
“Calving was really intense, feed was hard to come by, and we were just in knee-deep mud for, I don’t even remember how long ... it’s a bit of a blur.”
On top of this, Carpenter and her family were left moving their stock in T-shirts and jandals, due to the burglary.
“We just had nothing, and because the cyclone and the floods hit so quickly, we didn’t really have a chance to go out and regroup and get gear and sheets and towels.”
She said they managed to make the best of a bad situation, turning their situation into a game for the kids.
“I think we were laughing at the time, because what else could you do?
“Our kids were out and they were cold and we were like, look, just run, that’s what we can do, we can just run to keep warm.”
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Luckily, the community rallied around the family, dropping off food after the burglars had taken everything from their freezers and fridges.
“The community support was amazing, but you don’t have time to stop,” she said.
“We had to keep going, the farm is important, the animals’ wellbeing is most important, so we just had to get out there and do it.”
Carpenter said the family was emotionally and physically exhausted from their experience, but their trials weren’t over yet, and next she injured her back.
“That might have possibly tipped my husband over the edge a little bit.”
She said Fraser was very understanding of her situation, but it was Easter weekend and their team was on leave.
“I was meant to be feeding calves and milking.
“We had really no support staff and, all of a sudden, I was bedridden.”
It was two weeks before Carpenter could walk again.
“I felt terrible, but I couldn’t do anything.”
This is where Carpenter’s resilience and practicality kicked in.
“So it was [about] making a plan, regrouping, and just what do we do and how do we get through this?”
Carpenter is a Farmstrong Champion.
Farmstrong is a nationwide rural wellbeing programme designed to help farmers, growers and their workers “live well to farm well”.
She said that connection was the most important skill she learned from Farmstrong, especially through calving.
“During calving, it can be really easy to just kind of put head down, bum up,” she said.
“We prioritise getting out to the rugby club and getting our kids to do sport and playing our own sport during calving, because that gives us the connection to the outside world.”
Talking to someone also helped, she said.
“When you’re having a really bad day, just sitting down and having a chat to people about maybe something different, or even just mulling over what’s been going on, can make everything seem so much better.”
Carpenter said having a conversation also broke up the grind of calving.
“It is really easy to just rinse and repeat every day.
“Go home, go to bed, get up, feed calves, milk cows.
“Sometimes it’s not good for the soul as well.
“You need to get out and chat to people.”