Top NZ shearer Dave Buick set on full recovery after bad injuries in farm fall

David Buick on his Pongaroa farm. Photo / Leanne Warr

He was told he’d never work again after a horrific accident on his Pongaroa farm, but champion shearer Dave Buick was determined to prove them wrong.

It was October, 2021 and Buick was out on the farm doing some drainage, walking along the edge of a deep ditch, when he fell in.

He was buried up to his neck, the pressure squashing the lower half of his body.

“It was squishing against my chest. I could still breathe, but it didn’t have the pressure to do any damage there.”

The shearer and farmer said he stood up, which likely saved his life.

“If I was down, I’d be buried.”

Emergency services were able to dig him out and he was flown to Wellington where the full extent of his injuries became known.

He had a squashed pelvis, ruptured bladder, multiple fractures and internal bleeding.

It’s been a long journey since that fateful day, but throughout, Buick has remained positive.

“I suppose that’s why my mental health and my recovery has been so positive the whole way.

“There’s been a lot of hurdles in front of us, but I know how lucky I am.”

After 10 days in Wellington Regional Hospital, he spent another 10 days in Palmerston North before being transferred to Eileen Mary residential care, where he stayed for at least six weeks.

His time at the centre was “awesome”, with many of the staff and residents dropping in to see him while he lay flat on his back.

“The staff in there were exceptional.”

Being an “outdoorsy person” he was able to have his bed wheeled outside on fine days.

“I’d tell people coming in that I was a bouncer,” he joked.

In those two months, he said he “faded away to nothing”, losing 15kg.

“I knew that I was going to need my upper body strength once I started rehab.”

Being a professional shearer, he was used to doing workouts every night, so it wasn’t motivation he lacked, but the tools to do so.

He was moved to Star 2, the inpatient rehabilitation ward at Palmerston North Hospital but was determined to be home by Christmas and asked the staff to teach him how to get into a wheelchair and be able to shower by himself.

“The first time they got me into a wheelchair and I wheeled myself down to the common room and there was no one there and I just burst into tears.”

He said it was the emotion of being able to go where he wanted to go.

The accident was life-changing for him and probably a bit of a wake-up call.

“We were shearing all day and farming all night, so to speak.”

Working hard was just the norm.

“I could have died, why are we still working so hard?”

He said it took something like his accident to make him realise that he could have burned out if he’d carried on the same way.

Once he was able to get out and about, he found he wasn’t able to do the physical work, which meant he had to start doing management jobs, rather than the day-to-day stuff he’d do alongside the 20 staff on the 500-hectare farm.

He was even able to run the business from his hospital bed, which he credits to how well his staff stepped up.

His son, Michael, also helped by taking over some of the running of the farm.

When his orthopaedic specialist told him he was going to write a letter to ACC saying he would never work again, Buick said he was gutted.

“I was like, can we just try for full recovery? I didn’t feel we were at the give-up stage.”

Those words motivated him to prove the specialist wrong and with the help of his physiotherapist and occupational therapist, he said he was getting stronger and stronger.

David Buick won a number of titles prior to his accident in October 2021. Photo / SSNZ

Early last month, Buick went down to the Golden Shears to watch the final.

“It was pretty hard to watch.”

Discovering there was a whānau event being held at the shearing championships in Te Kuiti, Buick thought he and Michael could compete together, thinking the most he would have to shear was three sheep.

“I knew I could shear within reason,” he said, adding that he had been catching up with some of the crew and had jumped in to shear some sheep.

At the event he was a bit rusty but still managed to make the quarter-final, only to realise that having ticked that box, he would need to shear eight more in the next round.

“First time in my career I didn’t want to make the semi-final.”

Being able to catch up with others in the sport was “so cool”.

“I didn’t think I’d ever shear again.”

Before the accident, Buick said he had ticked a lot of boxes. He’d already represented New Zealand in 15 tests all around Australia, the UK and New Zealand and was ranked number one in 2021.

“If that was my last year, then I was happy and I’d come to terms with that.”

He still has a long way to go before he will be fully recovered and has adjusted accordingly, but he credits his recovery not just to his resilience but also to those around him, especially wife Rebecca.

“You are only as good as the people around you and Rebecca’s been so supportive through the whole thing.

“All the way through, we’ve had some really cool people help us out.”