They were in the wrong place at the wrong time having unconditionally agreed to buy two Middlemarch farms without selling their two North Taieri properties, when international financial markets last month went in to meltdown and property prices started to ease, taking their equity with it.
As financial markets around the world started to crumble, the Fuehrers unwittingly became the human face of the international fallout.
It has proven a costly experience for the couple, who have to meet penalty payments of $1000 a day for not settling their intended purchases.
Not that they seeking sympathy or someone to blame, or believe their initial decisions were wrong.
"I wouldn't do it any different today with the information I had then," Mr Fuehrer said in an interview.
They still aim to complete the original deal, but not if it means selling at any price, and move to the Middlemarch farms where they have already spent $200,000 on new deer fencing.
They are looking at all options, including getting some outside investment.
Their optimism and confidence remains intact.
While "hype" had sent dairy prices through the roof, the Fuehrers saw an opportunity from signs the sheep meat, venison and beef markets were about to lift off the bottom of the economic cycle.
They sold a dairy farm and put their 41ha Tirohanga Rd lifestyle block and 272ha Waiora deer farm on the market while signing unconditional agreements to buy the two Middlemarch farms covering 2000ha.
Mr Fuehrer said yesterday he did not need finance to complete the transaction as he thought he had time to sell his Taieri farms and use the equity for his purchase.
"From our point of view, we had three to four months to sell the properties and move up the line."
But events didn't go to plan.
First, the wet winter reduced interest in their farms and then the United States subprime mortgage market imploded, with the resulting fallout drying up international credit and demand for property.
When time came to settle the Middlemarch purchases, the Fuehrers did not have credit because none was arranged and they could not secure bridging finance.
Mr Fuehrer said the vendors had been sympathetic and understood their position.
One of the farms was back on the market and the future of the other was still to be decided.
He was a realist and while their equity might have shrunk by $2 million in a month, Mr Fuehrer said equity was like shares and could only be realised if someone paid the asking price at the time.
"We've taken a hit now, but we'll recover."
His sense of humour remains and, ever the optimist, he said that with the sharemarket struggling and finance companies toppling, there was never a better time to invest in farmland.
The world was crying out for food, land prices had eased and agriculture would once again lift New Zealand out of the economic recession.
"I am upbeat about the industry and where things are going.
''We have had a glitch in the system - it might be a pretty big glitch - but I am still upbeat about the future of agriculture in New Zealand.
''Maybe more so now than ever."
