Get in Behind – a Shepherd’s Tale

Transcript

Anita Kendrick: So I’ll get you to chuck your helmet on.

Carol Stiles: Alright. Health and safety and all that.

Anita Kendrick: Yep. Safety first.

Carol Stiles:   Who have we got on board today?

Anita Kendrick: Um, we have two heading dogs – Pearl and Boss. And we have two Huntaways – Storm and Blackie.

Carol Stiles: Right. And they’ve already been working this morning?

Anita Kendrick: Ah, yep. They’ve had a bit of a warm-up.

Carol Stiles: And do you train them yourself?

Anita Kendrick: Yep, I train all my own dogs. Now, this one will probably annoy the hell out of you…  

Carol Stiles: Who will?

Anita Kendrick: Oh, these dogs probably will lick you and try and be your friend.

(Engine roars)

Carol Stiles: Anita Kendrick is a shepherd on Te Wharua Station.

(Driving off)

Carol Stiles: It’s one of Landcorp’s 137 farms and covers 1800 hectares, not too far north of Taumaranui in King Country.

(Engine slows and stops.)

Anita: Away you go Storm

(Dogs bark, whistle)

Carol Stiles: Te Wharua has close to 18,000 sheep and 1,300 cattle.

(Whistle)

Carol Stiles: What are you telling her to do?

Anita: I’m telling her to run. And she should hopefully bring the sheep down the hill.

Carol: Here we go. Here they come.

(Whistle)

(Dogs bark)

Anita Kendrick: (Laughs) All done.

Carol Stiles: Just like that?

Anita Kendrick: Just like that.

I had my accident on 24 October 2011. I was driving a quad bike, doing a bit of mustering. And I came up to a steep bit of track.

Carol Stiles: It wasn’t here, though, was it, on this one?

Anita Kendrick: No, it wasn’t here. It was a guy I was working casual work for. And it was just on a Labour weekend and wanted a bit of extra cash and was helping him docking and misjudged a bit of track and gave the bike, it was quite a big bike, too much throttle. And it came up and over… and broke my back.

Carol Stiles: Were you with somebody at the time or were you on your own for a bit?

Anita Kendrick: No, I was on my own. It took approximately 40, 45 minutes for my boss and my dad, who was also working with us, to come and find me. Yeah, I knew something definitely wasn’t right. I didn’t know what, but… Yeah, I was in a heck of a lot of pain and knew something was seriously wrong. So they found me and called an ambulance and then the ambulance called the helicopter and then it was probably about an       hour and a half, two hours later, the helicopter turned up and, yeah, we were out of there, off to Waikato.

So a T11, T12 break. Yeah, it’s pinned and rodded and they fused two of my vertebrae, as well. It’s sort of just below the belly button. So pretty lucky, really.

Carol Stiles: So how long did it take you before you were ready to come back to work or to live independently?

Anita Kendrick: Probably took a good 15, 18 months till I was in the right headspace to get into my work and into sort of the social part of life and all that sort of stuff. It took quite a while. It’s actually the little stuff that’s harder than the big stuff. Just little nitty-gritty stuff of everyday life that gets you. It’s not the fact that you can’t walk; it’s just little bits you can’t reach or little bits like that.

Carol Stiles: How old were you when you had the accident?

Anita Kendrick: Ah, 18. Mm.

C’mon (to dogs) Ready to go? (Laughs)

(Engine revs)

Carol Stiles: So where are we headed?

Anita Kendrick: We’re going to head up to Micky the boss’s house and we’ll catch up with him up there.

Carol Stiles: That’s Allen ‘Micky’ MacDonald. He’s a well-known former shearer and is manager of Te Wharua. Six people work on the station.

(Engine roars and they drive off)

Anita Kendrick: (talking into RT) Yeah, we’re just on our way up to your house now.

Micky MacDonald: (on Radio) Hey, how much feeding out have you got left to go, Vic?

(Driving along, arriving and turning engine off)

Anita Kendrick: Where are you going? Antarctica?

Micky MacDonald: We’re already in Antarctica.

(Laughter)

Carol Stiles: Hello.

Micky MacDonald: How are you doing, Carol?    

Carol Stiles: I’m very well, thank you.

Micky MacDonald: You haven’t picked a very nice day to come and see us.

Carol Stiles: No.

Are you going to get some snow later on?

Micky MacDonald: I don’t think it’ll snow. It’s just a bit of a cold snap going through. But they’re getting snow all sorts of places, eh, so you never know. We often get a dusting here every sort of two or three years. A bit of snow comes through. We can handle that.

Carol Stiles: What have you got round your neck?

Micky MacDonald: It’s just my scarf, a very fashionable scarf from Paris.

Carol Stiles: It’s a towel.

Micky MacDonald: Oh? (Laughs)

Carol Stiles: Anita had been working on Te Wharua for seven months before she had the quad bike accident on a weekend off. She wasn’t sure she’d be able to come back to work.

Anita Kendrick: It was always a bit of a grey area, yeah, to whether it was going to work or not. Yeah, it definitely was a big question mark.

Carol Stiles: And what were you thinking at this point about Anita and whether she’d have a role here?

Micky MacDonald: Once I worked out her attitude after her accident, that she’d just skipped off on a little side road for a bit, she was going to be probably back. Like I mean she’s come back with more attitude than ever. She always had a bit of attitude. That’s why she ended up working for me. Even the last six months she’s gone to another level again. If she keeps going like that there’s no worries, really. She’s making the action. We just set the goals and she keeps clipping them. So it’s good.

Carol Stiles: Can you remember setting yourself even a small goal that you thought ‘Whoo-hoo’ when you did it?

Anita Kendrick: Yeah. I think when I can go and shift two or three mobs and I don’t need any help with gates. Certainly an awesome feeling. Not having to rely on other people and knowing that you’re just as good as anyone else ‘cause no-one has helped you. I think that’s a big thing. I’ll always try and do something by myself before I ever ask for help.

Carol Stiles: Did you go and visit her in hospital?

Micky MacDonald: Yep. I spent a few hours up there here and there. Me and one of her friends, we went up and saw her in Otara when she was up there, as well. And, yeah, that wasn’t cool after the accident, seeing her lying… The last vision of her was all dressed up here off out to a party somewhere for Labour weekend, you know? That’s the last time I saw her standing. And then the next time you see her you’re sort of wondering ‘Is she going to walk again?’

Carol Stiles: I read somewhere you told her she could come back.

Micky MacDonald: Well, yeah, I had to leave some goals for her in her own mind. If I said, no, well, I think that’s your farming over that might have been the end of her. We all need chances in life, you know? I got given a couple here and there. It’s how you use them. If she didn’t use them properly she’d be gone by now.

(Laughter)

Carol Stiles: Can you remember him coming up to see you in hospital?

Anita Kendrick: Yep, yep. Plenty of visits. I remember him bringing a farming paper up or cuttings out of the farming paper about dogs for sale and a whole lot of other articles. No, it was good. And there was still a lot of unanswered questions and a lot we still had to work out. And time was going to answer them.

Carol Stiles: Anita does much of her work from what’s known in farming circles as a ‘rhino’. It’s a four-wheel farm vehicle that takes two passengers side by side and has a cargo area to carry dogs, tools, a sick animal or a bit of hay. Anita’s has been modified slightly. It has a steering wheel spinner and a couple of straps added so she can manouevre herself in and out.

Micky MacDonald: A lot of farmers are using them now. They’ve got a roof. I guess that’s sort of going back to the old Land Rover days, you know? That’s the type of vehicle they are. With the safety around quads and that now, you’re not meant to have passengers on them and that sort of things.

Carol Stiles: Any other modifications in this vehicle?

Anita Kendrick: They’ve put hand controls in. And I’ve got a stick here that helps pull and push gates.

Micky MacDonald: So as far as work on the farm here, modifications, you were saying, we have done very little. This vehicle is supplied by ACC. And on the farm one of her friends came in and put some slam latches on one of the main gates for us so she can get them with her aluminum stick. She just pulls on a cable and opens them up and can shut them. But she can get all the other gates now, anyway just about.

Anita Kendrick: There’s obviously some that I can’t get, that are in funny angles and places. But, yeah, I seem to find a way around them. Sometimes it’s a bit frustrating, but I get there.

Micky MacDonald: Probably what I should mention, as far as her working here with Landcorp, we’ve got to run a business. So for it to function with Anita on board with us, everything has got to be businesslike. I can’t do too many favours, you know? So it’s up to her to make the work she does for us, if she can achieve everything we throw at her, well, it’s spot-on. We haven’t gone too far out of our way, haven’t spent any money accommodating her. She sort of made her own luck. So, yeah, it works out pretty good.

Carol Stiles: Anita spends her days shifting and drafting stock, weighing sheep and cattle, and does some office work once or twice a week. It relieves her boss Mickey of the task. He has a bit of a reputation for being wary of computers.

Micky MacDonald: She’s not over 50, and us fellas who are over 50 do struggle with the odd thing. But I’m fast catching her, so yeah.

(Anita laughs)

Carol Stiles: I remember when I spoke to you last I don’t know that you’d turned one on in recent history.

Micky MacDonald: No, not too much. I am a little bit better with them now. I struggle with patience with them. I do have a few anger management problems there but Anita sort of covers the things that make me a bit gnarly, so it’s pretty good.

Carol Stiles: And you’d always wanted to be a shepherd, I understand?

Anita Kendrick: Ah, yeah. From… Shivers. As long as I can remember, really. There hasn’t been much talk of anything else.

Carol Stiles: Where did you go to school?

Anita Kendrick: I started at Aria Primary School, and then did two years at Piopio College and then did a couple of years at Taumaranui High School. And I left… When I was 16 I was out of there. I was going farming. And I came home and said to Dad “I’ve left school and I ain’t going back”. And he wasn’t too happy about it. He says “You better go and find a job, then, ‘cause you ain’t leaving school unless you’ve got a job.” So I sat on the phone for the night and got three jobs and went to work the next day. Took a couple of his dogs, which he wasn’t too happy about either, but… Yeah. So I was out of there. School was not for me.

Carol Stiles: And what’s Anita like with the dogs? That’s one of her strengths, isn’t it?

Micky MacDonald: She’s not as good as me, yet, but…

(Anita hoots with laughter)

Anita Kendrick: Here we go!

Micky MacDonald: No, she’s very good. It amazes me how she can, on voice-command, make them do… She can’t walk around being cute like I do to try and catch a mischief dog or a pup or something. She’s got to do it all with her voice and teach them to get up on the back of here.

Anita Kendrick: Um.. they are clever and they know that I can’t get out of the rhino. There’s days when they push it.

Micky MacDonald: Nah  ...She’s very good. But that’s all she does. Crikey, she should be good at it, too, you know?

Carol Stiles: (Chuckles) What? Do you mean she spends a lot of time training them?

Mickey MacDonald: Yeah, she does. She’s working them all the time. The biggest thing about her, she loves dogs. That’s      why she always wanted to be a shepherd.

Carol Stiles: Oh, it was the dogs, was it, that attracted you?

Anita Kendrick: Yeah, the dogs were probably number one. Yeah, yeah.

Carol Stiles: Yard work?

Anita Kendrick: umm the only sort of yard work I do is pushing up sheep for people that are drafting and stuff. And I just sit outside of the yards and send my dogs in.

Micky MacDonald: Or your six-wheeler, eh? You got your six-wheeler. Like, if we’ve got a big day in the yards she’s got a six-wheeler. A little skid steer vehicle that she can get around the yards. She steers it with her hands. She can get anywhere around on that, so that’s pretty handy. She gets all her own gates and she can be right in the pen with the sheep then. She can work a dog from three or four pens away as good as someone that’s in the pen doing it. It doesn’t hold us up at all.

Yeah, I’m just going to head over to the top far side and muster those ewes ‘cause they’ve come through a hole from Bob’s into there. If you go up to corner paddock and muster those 109 heifers there, get a good count. Then take them down to Paddy’s Corner.

Anita Kendrick: Oh, yep.

Micky MacDonald: So that will take you two or three hours. Then maybe if you clock in with the boys there’ll be lambs to take away, three different weight ranges to take away for the yards over there.

Anita Kendrick: Sweet.

Micky MacDonald: Yeah, if it’s dark by then you can knock off.

(Laughter)

Carol Stiles: I reckon it’s got colder since we’ve been standing here.

Micky MacDonald: Oh, nah. That’s why you need one of these Italian scarves, to keep you warm. (Chuckles)

Carol Stiles: I thought it was from Paris.

Micky MacDonald: Oh, that’s right. I wore the Italian one yesterday.

(Laughter)

(Engine roars and they drive off – then slow down and stop)

Anita: So many layers on. I feel like a marshmallow.

Carol: Is getting cold a problem for you?

Anita Kendrick: Yeah, I think once I get cold it’s really hard to get warm. And of course I don’t know my legs are cold. And a lot of the time you’re cold on the inside and it’s not until you get home and have a shower and you think ‘Bloody hell. I am really, really cold’. You don’t realise. Yeah, I do have to be a little bit careful that I keep warm, yep.

Carol Stiles: It’s pretty steep country here. Can this rhino manage it well enough?

Anita Kendrick: Anywhere I go I don’t push the limits. A lot of the time, or sometimes, I’m not actually in the paddock. I just sit in the lane or get to a point that’s safe for me and then see my dogs from there. Yeah, I rely on them a lot for places I can’t get or don’t want to go.

Carol Stiles: Have you ever had anyone come out and audit or have a look at how you do things and think “Ooh-ooh. That’s not quite as safe as it should be” or are you just sort of muddling through yourself?

Anita Kendrick: Um, ACC… I’ve had a few people, like specialists and stuff like that come out to see how many hours I probably should be doing… that my body can handle. But on the safety side, I’m pretty cautious with what I do and where I go.  I suppose since my accident you don’t even think of taking risks. You just keep it pretty safe. It sort of makes you look at things twice anyway.

Carol Stiles: You said before that you had to learn what you were physically capable of and how much you could do in a day without becoming absolutely exhausted. Do you still sort of keep an eye on that?

Anita Kendrick: Yeah, I kind of have to. If I do too big a day I pay for it the next day. Just get a bit of a sort back or sore hips or the body just says “Well, that was a bit much”. I’m doing as many hours as the season and my body will allow me. Most of the time it’s pretty good and the staff, you know, Micky and the shepherd that’s here know me quite well, and they say ‘Look, go home for a couple of hours and we’ll see you in two hours’ time. If it’s really busy on the farm.’ So they’re pretty good like that. Or if I try and work too much they tell me to go home and they go and do my jobs. So they’re pretty good. They look after me.

Anita Kendrick: What’s been really helpful for you, getting back into work?

Anita Kendrick: I think for my workmates, from them, is treating me the same. There’s no “I don’t think you can do that” or “You shouldn’t be doing that”. It’s “Righto, let’s go”, you know? That has probably been better than anything anyone can buy. Yeah, and the social point of view, as well, you know? Mates are…there’s no “Oh, no. You can’t come.” It’s more like ‘Righto, get in, let’s go”. You’re like “Oh, shit. Hold on a minute”. And they’re like “Hurry up, get in, let’s go!” It’s that sort of attitude that goes a really long way, a really long way. So I’ve been pretty lucky to have some pretty good mates.

Carol Stiles: Anita lives on the farm in a house owned by Landcorp. It’s been modified by ACC.

Anita Kendrick: They’ve redone the bathroom, made that wheelchair accessible, put in another exit, redone the kitchen so I can get to everything. Yeah, a few ramps here and there and a bit of concreting.

Carol Stiles: Can you remember the first night on your own there?

Anita Kendrick: No, I can’t, actually. I know I was extremely nervous. Yeah, really, really nervous. But if it wasn’t for my dogs I wouldn’t be living by myself. My dogs, they tell me if anything is up. Anyone turns up – they’ll go to town. They’ll go nuts and I know someone is there. So, no… I’ve got a lot of faith in them, really. Yeah, and if I do get lonely then I pull one of them inside and it sleeps in the kitchen or something like that. So I don’t really get too lonely. I like my own space and time, anyway, so… yeah, it’s good.

Carol Stiles: You said earlier that you got into farming because of your love of dogs.

Anita Kendrick: Yeah, just always loved them, always loved working dogs and border collies. Had my first border collie when I was about 9. Yeah, just been hooked ever since, really.

Carol Stiles: ‘Cause you breed them now?

Anita Kendrick: Yeah, yeah. I’ve got about six border collies total and I imported two about 2.and a half years ago, which has always been a dream of mine to do. After my accident I was like ‘Right, bugger it, I’m going to do it. And this is the time to do it.’ Yeah, love them, love them to bits. The pups I breed, some of them go as pets, some of them go to compete in agility or obedience. And there’s a couple that have gone for working homes, as well. But most of them want them to go to the bach, go to the lake, you know, go swimming. They’re such versatile family dogs. Love kids, love people. Mm.

Carol Stiles: Ooh!

Anita: Don’t jump Ozzie. Don’t Jump.

Anita Kendrick: He’s actually the boy that I imported from Aussie a couple of years ago. And he is a real character. But, no, he’s my main boy. Yeah, he does a fair bit of work on the farm. He’s very full-on, but… probably the favourite, eh?

Carol Stiles: You’re not allowed to have favourites.

Anita Kendrick: (laughs) Shh. Don’t tell anyone.

(Dogs bark and bark)

Anita Kendrick: Quiet! Before I send the dogs out I always have a bit of a bark-up. It just a lot of the time lifts your stock out of gullys and creeks and stuff. They all know that command pretty well.

Carol Stiles: What is it?

Anita Kendrick: It’s just ‘Ho…’

Come here! Get in! Quiet, Matty!

Carol Stiles: Are you quite happy to stay farming for as long as…?

Anita Kendrick: Oh, yeah. Yeah, there’s definitely no change of occupation coming up. Definitely not. So, no. Yeah, stick to what I do best, really. (Laughs) Yep.

Carol Stiles: Shepherd, working dog trainer and border collie breeder Anita Kendrick ending that report.

You’ve been listening to One in Five. You can hear that progrmme again and any other from the One in Five archive by going to our page on the Radio New Zealand website. Programmes are also transcribed.
 

I’m Carol Stiles. It’s been good to have you along.

One in Five will be back next week with more on the issues and experience of disability. Have a great week. Kia ora mai.