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The Muster- Matt Ward: The Changing Faces Of Spring · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: A muster on the farm with Southland District Council working
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: together for a better Southland.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Matt Ward is based at Moreton Mains, farming down that
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: way actually, and catches up with us.
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  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, Matt. We spoke to you about four weeks ago. Gee,
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: it's a different scenario.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, g'day, Andy. It's incredible how much we can turn
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: around and even in the space of 10 days, we're
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a completely different province now aren't we we won't uh
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: can't dwell on the past months too much but it's
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  Speaker 1: uh yeah it's a pretty incredible space we were in
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: right at the moment isn't.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: It when we spoke to you last time you were
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  Speaker 2: in lambing it was it was rough weather shit timber
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  Speaker 2: as it's been coined as a coined the phrase these
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  Speaker 2: days but you just got to look forward now in
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  Speaker 2: the past 10 to 12 days it's just shown a
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  Speaker 2: lot of respite for the province.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah nah it has it has like you look at
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  Speaker 1: the woodland pasture growth like uh three weeks ago we
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  Speaker 1: were behind the year-to-date pasture growth we're now like give
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  Speaker 1: us a good couple of weeks of growth and we're
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  Speaker 1: well ahead of it all of a sudden so it's
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  Speaker 1: now it's just at home here like we've turned a
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  Speaker 1: massive corner we went from being pretty tight looking for
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  Speaker 1: places to go to being like oh shit we need
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  Speaker 1: to keep moving these using lambs around just to keep
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  Speaker 1: on top of everything coming away and spread a few
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  Speaker 1: cattle around just to Yeah, just because it's just bolting.
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  Speaker 1: It's absolutely bolting out of the ground. So now we're
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  Speaker 1: in a pretty good space at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: As ridiculous as it sounds, are you having to monitor
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  Speaker 2: your grass quality now?
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say that just yet, but I am very conscious.
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  Speaker 1: Like I know here, like at home here, like when
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  Speaker 1: it goes, it can really go. So we do keep
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  Speaker 1: everything moving around pretty quick. But I've got about 180
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  Speaker 1: R1 stairs spread out through everything. So trying to move
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  Speaker 1: my ewes and lambs along pretty quickly just to leave
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  Speaker 1: enough behind for the cattle that are set stocked. So
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  Speaker 1: it seems to work pretty well, but you're getting into mid-November,
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  Speaker 1: then you're all of a sudden looking for more mouths
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  Speaker 1: on the ground just to try and keep quality under control.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, these are the stairs that have been in
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  Speaker 2: that famous wintering shed of yours.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and they've done pretty well. I have them out
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  Speaker 1: on Italian and Bailidge for the month of September, just
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  Speaker 1: while I'm lambing, and They chipped through that. They made
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  Speaker 1: a hurr of a mess. Holy, they made a mess
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  Speaker 1: behind the wire. But it sort of worked out well,
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  Speaker 1: just keeping them out of any lambing paddocks. So now
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  Speaker 1: they're set stocked and they just look for an excuse
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  Speaker 1: to grow away. They pump along pretty well from now on.
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  Speaker 3: How are your gateways looking?
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  Speaker 1: Average. Yeah, it's We went from being that wet and
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  Speaker 1: you'd slide through a gateway in four-wheel drive to now
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  Speaker 1: they're that well rutted up that you almost need to
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  Speaker 1: slow down so you stop bouncing through them so quickly. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: it's incredible how hard everything's got in the space, but
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  Speaker 1: I'll shoot around with a leveller and roller and just
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: tidy a few gateways up and there'll be a bit
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  Speaker 1: of rock to go out. But they're all future issues.
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  Speaker 1: I'll worry about them when I've got a bit of
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  Speaker 1: time up my sleeve.
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  Speaker 2: As far as the season goes, has this been the
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  Speaker 2: most schizophrenic that you've struck? Okay, we're not through it yet,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: and El Nino is a marathon, not a sprint. We've
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: had that dodgy weather, but we've seen some really good
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: weather over the past couple of weeks.
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  Speaker 3: Has it left you confused regarding spring?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, spring in Southland, well, I'm no expert, Andy, but
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  Speaker 1: spring in Southland is always pretty changeable, isn't it? And
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  Speaker 1: when it goes from one extreme to another like it
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  Speaker 1: has at the moment, it is. it does confuse you
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  Speaker 1: a wee bit. It's pretty hard to plan for it.
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  Speaker 1: Like you look at the weather that's coming at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the week, like yeah, there's a bit of
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  Speaker 1: rain in the forecast. So sort of got to make
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  Speaker 1: the most out of these good days while they're there.
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  Speaker 1: And yeah, just take the good with the bad. But
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  Speaker 1: out of anything, I think if we're going to get
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  Speaker 1: regular rainfall like we are, like I've been talking and
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  Speaker 1: get the good hot days, we're in for a pretty
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  Speaker 1: good bump of season, hopefully grass growth wise. So that's
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  Speaker 1: sort of what I'm, trying to plan towards, put the
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  Speaker 1: past month in the back of your mind, can't do anything,
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  Speaker 1: can't change tailing results or anything like that, so plan
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  Speaker 1: for the next few months. If we're going to get
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  Speaker 1: a good, growthy season, then, yeah, that's what I'm sort
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  Speaker 1: of looking forward to now.
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  Speaker 3: So tailing's all done now, just the hoggets to do?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, just, we tailed a couple of Sundays ago, so
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  Speaker 1: it's just the ball by late years, about 120 of
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  Speaker 1: them and the hoggets to go, so, yeah, it's, haven't
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  Speaker 1: set any records didn't expect to set any records uh
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  Speaker 1: so far through the pens being on what i i've
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  Speaker 1: done for the last two years so it sort of
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  Speaker 1: sums up how average it's been but it is quite
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  Speaker 1: satisfying um the younger ewes haven't like they've been tailing
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  Speaker 1: better and better every year so it just goes to
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  Speaker 1: show like breeding program i've sort of got in place
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  Speaker 1: is working just trying to um trying to get the
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  Speaker 1: ewes to do it for themselves a lot better, trying
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  Speaker 1: to push that mothering ability into them and lamb survival
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  Speaker 1: into them, um, is paying dividends compared to the older ewes. Like, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: some of them are pretty rubbish to be fair. And
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  Speaker 1: if you are buying a few, one, about a 201
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  Speaker 1: year ewes every year, um, get them and lamb, get
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  Speaker 1: the lamb out of them and, uh, kill them at
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  Speaker 1: weaning time. And yeah, some of them have been a
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  Speaker 1: wee bit average too. So that sort of hurts lambing
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  Speaker 1: percentage a wee bit, but they're, they're just trading stock
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  Speaker 1: at the end of the day. So, um, Quite a
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  Speaker 1: few of them were wet dries, and they've gone down
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  Speaker 1: to the yards and doubled their money in the few
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  Speaker 1: months that they've been here. So, yeah, definitely can't complain
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  Speaker 1: with them at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Now, your criteria for your wet dries, we spoke last time,
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  Speaker 2: you were pretty cut and dried as to what stayed,
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  Speaker 2: and if anything had to have been touched, it was gone.
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  Speaker 3: Has that affected your numbers at all?
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  Speaker 1: No, it doesn't, to be honest, Andy. No. I had
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  Speaker 1: a pretty good scanning in my hogget, so all of
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  Speaker 1: them will stay as replacements, even the wet-drys out of them.
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  Speaker 1: I'll put a black tag in there and they'll just
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: go in my terminal flock. And then with those one-year-users
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  Speaker 1: that I buy in, they pretty much make up the numbers.
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  Speaker 1: If there's any holes in it, then I'll just go
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  Speaker 1: and buy a few extra of them. And they just
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  Speaker 1: fit my system pretty well. As soon as I came
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  Speaker 1: home here, I sort of had in my mind I
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  Speaker 1: don't want to carry... my full quota of ewes through
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  Speaker 1: the summer. Like, mulberry ewes is very good, very handy
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  Speaker 1: over the summer to keep on top of quality and
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  Speaker 1: tidy paddocks up. But there's no need for, well, I
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: don't think there's no need for a place in Watermanes
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  Speaker 1: to be carrying 1,600 ewes through the summer. Like, it's
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  Speaker 1: just good feed going into them. So it's why you
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  Speaker 1: have a proportion of one-year ewes each year that come
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  Speaker 1: in and go straight back out at weaning time and
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  Speaker 1: then it just leaves a bit of a hole. through
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  Speaker 1: the summer. So yeah, it seems to fit my system
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  Speaker 1: not too bad.
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  Speaker 2: So the trading system as such works pretty well for you,
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  Speaker 2: it's fair to say?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does. That does. Like having those ewes go
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  Speaker 1: out at weaning time, then all of a sudden it
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  Speaker 1: frees up space for some store lambs. I've got, normally
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  Speaker 1: try buying a few store lambs each summer and got
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  Speaker 1: a couple hundred freezing bull calves at 100 kilos, they'll
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  Speaker 1: start turning up in, well I suppose in the next
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  Speaker 1: month or so. So it's just trying to Yeah, trying
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  Speaker 1: to get a system like it's placed like mine, I
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  Speaker 1: personally think should be a full finishing system, full trading system,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm quite passionate about my breeding ewes and trying
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  Speaker 1: to get them going. So yeah, that's why I've still
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  Speaker 1: got a flock running around, but ideally it would become
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  Speaker 1: a finishing system.
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  Speaker 2: Based on the spring we've seen, you're not tempted to
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  Speaker 2: move your lambing dates?
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  Speaker 1: I've been, yes. I have been thinking about, if I'd
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  Speaker 1: done anything, I'd probably push it back 10 days. And
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  Speaker 1: that is solely, when you look at the woodlands pasture growth,
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  Speaker 1: and that first, second week of September, we're still average.
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  Speaker 1: I think if I push my lambing date even to
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  Speaker 1: the 10th of September, got those ewes hitting their peak
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  Speaker 1: milk just as that flush of grass is coming through,
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  Speaker 1: it would pay dividends. I really don't think we'd see
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  Speaker 1: a difference at weaning time, even lambing 10 days later,
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  Speaker 1: just because that grass is hitting peak milk perfectly. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I would consider it. And yeah, I possibly will do.
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't be around the weather or anything, because if
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  Speaker 1: we get a really good September, I don't think you'll
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  Speaker 1: hear me complaining about having too much grass, Andy. So yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I am definitely considering it.
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  Speaker 3: So how far through would your hoggets be?
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  Speaker 1: I just started shedding them out this morning. So they
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  Speaker 1: got the ram for 23 days. So if my maths
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  Speaker 1: is right, it should be Friday. Yeah, this Friday coming
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  Speaker 1: should be when the ram came out. So, yeah, I
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  Speaker 1: suppose there'll be the odd lamb over the weekend and
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  Speaker 1: then they'll be then pretty much tidied up.
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  Speaker 2: So you've hit October, labour weekend's not that far away.
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  Speaker 2: Are you in a position that you can kind of
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  Speaker 2: just kick back a little bit on weekends now or
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  Speaker 2: the tractor work and the likes takes precedence?
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  Speaker 1: Ah, yeah, no, it's even this weekend just been, to
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  Speaker 1: be fair, the Hoggarts, well, they look after, we had
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: rugby cabaret on Saturday night, so Hoggarts looked after themselves
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: on Sunday morning, and we, yeah, we're in a space
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  Speaker 1: now where everything's, still got everything to do, like track
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  Speaker 1: to work and stuff, but try prioritise that over the weekend,
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  Speaker 1: and spend a bit of time with, over the weekend,
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: spend a bit of time with the family on the weekend, and, yeah,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: but there's always stuff to be done, to be fair, but. Yeah, no,
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  Speaker 1: we should definitely ease the workload up from now on, hopefully.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: The farm work is never done, Matt. Always appreciate your time.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no, thank you very much for that, Andy. We'll
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  Speaker 1: talk to you next time.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Matt Ward, based out at Moreton Mains. You're listening to
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: The Muster, up next in studio, Graham Butcher, farm consultant
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: based here in Gore.