Contractors in Southland say there could be a 16 month wait to clear fallen tree debris off the farms.
Farms across Southland and Clutha are just beginning to assess the full scale of the damage of Thursday's storm with initial estimates of some in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It's going to cost that much, because it's a big job with thousands of trees down on some farms.
Farmers face large scale fencing costs with trees down across fence lines. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
The felled trees have torn out fences, water pipes and left giant craters in the ground.
Winton Excavation and forestry contractor Regan Hubber from DES Limited said they were already booked up with existing work until July 2026 before the storm.
Regan Hubber's workload has doubled, with the next 16 months booked already. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
"I don't know how we're going to do it. You know, we want to service our existing clients, but it's really difficult because all of a sudden, the workloads just doubled."
He estimated it will be about a 16-month waitlist for their diggers to clear the farms.
Hubber said he would happily buy another machine, but he cannot get the people to drive them because of a shortage in trained specialist staff.
He said if there was a funded training pathway, he'd have apprentices to take on the mountain of work ready within a year - shortening the long wait times.
"I can see what's going to happen is a lot of farmers are going to end up getting sick of waiting... and they're going to take the job in their own hands and that's going to create a lot of a lot of problems because they're not skilled enough.
"This is dangerous work for guys that know what they're doing.
"It's even more dangerous for people that don't know what they're doing.
The risks? "Getting squashed, or hit by a branch, or there's a lot of dangers getting struck with a chainsaw.
"Our skilled guys, they know to look out for that, and that's how they've been trained.
"But as for the farmer and some other guys... they're gonna get knocked around."
Local Fencing contractor, Stephen Mee was planning his retirement. That now is well out of reach.
Fencing contractor Stephen Mee is planning to retire soon. He says that will have to be delayed now. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
He's in the metaphorical calm before the storm - once the likes of Regan Hubber and his guys are done, Mee is next in line.
"It's not all going to happen at once in a hurry."
Once the calls start coming they will be big.
Even once the majority of the trees are removed, large stumps can remain which also have to be dealt with. Photo: RNZ/Calvin Samuel
"The workload, it depends on the farmers and the and the people needing the fences fixed and what they want to do... you've just got to assess it job by job.
"There won't be two jobs the same, for example, some trees will have gone over and taken the fence with them, and they'll have pulled the strainers and made the whole thing worse than it needs to be, whereas other jobs that will just knock the fence flat, and it won't be too bad.
"Well, I say that, famous last words."
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