Words and photo by Karen Trebilcock
It was three weeks after a motorbike accident that Gary Sunshine-Tervit’s family realised something was seriously wrong.
A mechanical fault had caused him and his bike to end up over a cliff on a trail ride at Tokanui. He can’t remember the accident or wheeling the bike back up to the track and it wasn’t until he took his helmet off at the end of the day that his mates saw his head was black with bruising.
A CT scan in hospital that night showed a minor bleed in his frontal lobe and he was sent home.
Everything was fine until he and wife Daniella, pregnant with their first child and not feeling the best, went to go into town one day.
“He said he was ready to go but he had no pants on and then our whole world turned upside down,” she said.
In the end they were forced to seek medical treatment privately and they guess they’ve since spent somewhere between $25,000 and $30,000.
But it has all been worth it. From working just one hour a day, he can now work a full day. In mid-March, six years after the accident, he won the Southland Otago dairy manager’s competition.
Key to his recovery has been Dr Elizabeth Harris at Dunedin’s Brain Health and Biofeedback Clinic and his clinical psychologist Louis Richter at Invercargill’s Southern Trauma Centre.
“When someone told me I should see a counsellor, I said absolutely not. There is not a dog’s chance that I’m going.”
Now he looks forward to the monthly sessions.
“If one person reads this and learns from my story then that is all I want. For them to know that it’s okay to ask for help.”
Although on the outside he seems fine, he knows there are still things that trigger him. “That’s the thing with a head injury, no one knows you’re sick.
He no longer rides a trail bike.
“It used to be the thing I would do when I needed some time off, I’d go for a blast, but I got on it again six months after the accident for the first time and I lost it. I sold it straight away.”
Contact sport is also out of the question. Gary was in his school’s first XV and used to box.
Now he enjoys clay target shooting at Oreti Beach on Thursday nights with the local club.
However, his head injury has not just affected him and how he lives his life, but everyone around him.
“I am the living example of how a bike helmet saves lives. On the farm no one goes on a four wheeler without one on, whether they’re going five metres or five kilometres.
“I used to be somebody who would be out all hours of the day until the jobs were done probably more due to disorganisation than anything.
“Now, when the day is finished we all go home. “That’s the thing with a head injury, no one knows you’re sick.
He no longer rides a trail bike.
“It used to be the thing I would do when I needed some time off, I’d go for a blast, but I got on it again six months after the accident for the first time and I lost it. I sold it straight away.”
Contact sport is also out of the question. Gary was in his school’s first XV and used to box.
Now he enjoys clay target shooting at Oreti Beach on Thursday nights with the local club.
However, his head injury has not just affected him and how he lives his life, but everyone around him.
“I am the living example of how a bike helmet saves lives. On the farm no one goes on a four wheeler without one on, whether they’re going five metres or five kilometres.
“I used to be somebody who would be out all hours of the day until the jobs were done probably more due to disorganisation than anything.
“Now, when the day is finished we all go home. If I’m tired, I know my staff will be tired too.”
He was working on his dad’s dairy farm in Southland when the accident happened and the support of family got him through.
In 2019 he moved to Shane and Vicki Murphy’s 270ha, 780-cow South Hillend property near Winton as manager and at the end of this season he and Daniella will become their contract milkers.
Daniella also runs her own business AgriplanSouth, a farming recruitment consultancy agency.
When they were organising their insurance to go contract milking, FMG connected them with the rural wellbeing programme FarmStrong. Gary hopes to become involved with FarmStrong.
Team effort
Gary entered the Dairy Industry Awards last year but wasn’t placed. Danielle and a friend pushed him into entering again this year.
“This award is not about me. It’s about everyone on this farm. It’s a team effort,” he said.
Chey Howley is their second in charge (2IC), Rudy Montiquilla works as their herd manager while the farm assistant is Clarence Gados.
The roster is six and two and everyone shares the workload, including getting in the cows in the morning and milking.
“One of the things I want to do when we go contract milking is if you have an early start then you have an early finish.
“We’ve got a high staff to cow ratio on this farm, we probably could have one less person, but work life balance is more important for us and I want it to be for our staff too.”
Also on the plans is breakfast at their house for the staff at least once a month.
“I want everyone to sit around the table and we’ll have a big breakfast and we won’t talk about the farm.
“And I want to help our staff progress as well and we’ll do whatever we can to help with that.
“I want them to come back and tell us one day what they’re doing. To have been part of that for them would be great. I’d love that.
“Shane and Vicki have taught me so much and I want to do the same for others.
“They’re always there if we need a hand or have a question or want to talk about something.”
Their own future plans include buying a rural block and raising the farm’s surplus heifers with the hope of eventually going 50:50 sharemilking.
“We would like to one day own a farm but family is more important. I’m not going to sacrifice them for it.”
Their two daughters, Pippa (5) and Lucy (2), love the farm and go out with mum and dad whenever possible. “You can’t beat a rural upbringing for kids.”
Otago/ Southland Dairy Manager Merit Awards:
Landpro Most Promising Entrant Award – Shaun Palmer
Shand Thomson Encouragement Award – Shaun Palmer
McIntyre Dick Employee Engagement Award – Ashleigh Botting
Regional Ford Leadership Award – Nicole Barber
Vetsouth Feed Management Award – Gary Sunshine-Tervit
DeLaval Livestock Management Award – Ashleigh Botting
Fonterra Dairy Management Award – Ashleigh Botting
NZDIA Power Play Award – Gary Sunshine-Tervit
Westpac Personal Planning & Financial Management Award – Gary Sunshine-Tervit
