
As it happens, all the real-life ‘chat on the Chathams’ for the last month has been centered around my little family!
Two years ago, with a six-month-old in tow, we took over management of a 320 hectare sheep and beef property. The owners took off overseas, and we moved in to run the stunning farm and live in the near-new home. It was an absolute dream come true for me!
This year, the owners decided to sell. This of course sent the island gossip train full steam ahead. After a short stint on the market the farm has sold. How much, to who, and what’s next for us – this has been the chat on the Chats!
My heart was a little broken as we packed our lives and bid farewell to the farm and lake-front home. It’s a place I have so dearly loved living and working on. Our time there has been an emotional rollercoaster. Not only the move – our entire time at Te Matarae has been filled with highs and lows.
We grew our family, celebrated successful tailings, the end of shearing and getting lambs away on the boat. We stressed over drought, and too much rain, not getting lambs on the boat, running low on feed and lamb deaths after bad storms. We survived a terrible on-farm accident that saw my partner, Kenny, badly injured and tragically took his father’s life.
Putting aside our personal life, as many of you will know, farming can be bloody hard. Something we all have in common.
Being so isolated on the Chathams doesn’t make things any easier – farming on an island 800km away from the mainland brings some additional challenges.
Good preparation and planning is key! With no Farmlands or vet services here, all our drench and farm supplies are either flown or shipped in, which can take weeks. We have a tight farming community here and from time to time we have answered calls asking to borrow and replace, or picked up the phone ourselves to do the same.
All local farmers will agree, though, the biggest and ugliest part of farming here is working at the mercy of the ship. All our stock are shipped off island on the boat to either Napier or Timaru ports. This process can be stressful and is most definitely a strain on the budget.
Transporting stock from the farm to the boat, then the port to the sale yards, gazing fees, the cost of sending stock on the ship, stock agent fees. It all adds up! Currently the total cost of sending a sheep to sale sits at about $80 – a scary prospect if they only sell for $100.

Then there is the stress of actually securing a spot to send stock on the ship, which can only carry a certain number of stock units each voyage. One person plays God and decides who gets to send, when, and how many. It can be brutal and makes stock and feed management very difficult at times.
The farming industry has always been, and will always be, an integral part of the Chathams. Noise about a potential on-island meatworks is a positive prospect for many farmers, and for the future of farming here.
Despite the challenges, another thing farmers have in common is that we all just love what we do on the land.
We battled through some of the hardest times in farming, and for our family, over the last few years. Kenny is thrilled to see the back end of the farm, even though I am not. We have now moved to another part of the island and still have plenty of work to do with our fencing contract amongst other things. Ending that chapter, there are plenty more stories just around the bend.
This story appeared in our December Social Club newsletter.