Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster Full Show: 22/09/26

Transcript

The Muster Full Show: 22/09/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:06
Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to The Muster. My name's Andy Muir.
0:10
Speaker 1: We're here until 2 o'clock and the show is brought
0:11
Speaker 1: to you by Peters Genetics. On an afternoon here in Gauve,
0:16
Speaker 1: there's been showers this morning. Looking outside currently, the sun
0:20
Speaker 1: is out and about, but it's heavily overcast. Temperature is
0:23
Speaker 1: currently 9 degrees. We'll look at the weather shortly. But, yeah.
0:28
Speaker 1: Crank straight into it. I think quite a bit to
0:29
Speaker 1: get through for the hour. Air supply of the tunes
0:32
Speaker 1: for a Tuesday. Good Aussie music. It's one thing New
0:40
Speaker 1: Zealand and Australia does really well, and that is punch
0:43
Speaker 1: above your weight when it comes to music. This song here, yes,
0:47
Speaker 1: it's over 40 years. It's getting close to 40 years
0:49
Speaker 1: old now, I suppose. But you hear it, and yeah.
0:55
Speaker 2: Hōkanui' s five-day forecast with Twin Farm, Tehrom and Softex.
0:59
Speaker 1: The proof is in the progeny. As far as the weather,
1:05
Speaker 1: this afternoon you see showers with breezy northwesterlies and a
1:08
Speaker 1: high of 11 Wednesday. Showers of westerlies 2 and 9,
1:11
Speaker 1: that's the theme for Thursday as well, showers of more westerlies.
1:14
Speaker 1: 5 and 12 Friday, probably the pick of the week.
1:18
Speaker 1: Sunny with calm variable winds, 3 and 13. But on Saturday,
1:22
Speaker 1: sunny with breezy northwesters, 4 and 7. Soil temperatures, Clinton 8.8,
1:28
Speaker 1: Heria 6.9, Northern Southland 8.1, Riverton 9.8, Te Anau 8.3,
1:34
Speaker 1: Titaroa 8.8, Winton 7.5 and Woodlands coming in at 8.5.
1:39
Speaker 1: As we start the year, we'll be catching up with Grant,
1:41
Speaker 1: Disaster McMaster, up at Closeburn Station near Lake Wakatifu. Don Morrison,
1:48
Speaker 1: Willowbank farmer, joins us to tell us about the situation
1:51
Speaker 1: out there at Willowbank. What's been happening? Simon Stokes from
1:54
Speaker 1: Environment Southland talking the current situation, Land Sustainability Officer. Warren
2:00
Speaker 1: Ross based out at Waimumu. How's it going out there? Well,
2:03
Speaker 1: it's normally flat out of the tractor work. I doubt
2:05
Speaker 1: that'll be happening. And out of Young Farmers, Ollie Teal,
2:09
Speaker 1: a member of the Nightcats Club. Sam Riley of PGG
2:12
Speaker 1: writes in, gives us a rundown on the stock sale
2:14
Speaker 1: report that occurred in Lawnville this morning. Then we'll get
2:17
Speaker 1: straight into it with disaster. This is the muster. Of course,
2:20
Speaker 1: it's brought to you by Petersonetics. Seven after one. Coming
2:24
Speaker 1: up to you. Grant Disaster McMaster joins us once again.
2:35
Speaker 1: He farms on the edges, or the edge. Did that
2:39
Speaker 1: last week as well, at Lake Wakatipu in central Otago
2:43
Speaker 1: and joins us thanks to Batman and the team at
2:45
Speaker 1: Arby Rural. Good afternoon, Grant.
2:47
Speaker 3: Good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody.
2:50
Speaker 1: I suppose there's more than one edge to a lake,
2:52
Speaker 1: isn't there?
2:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, that's a good point.
2:55
Speaker 4: Yeah.
2:56
Speaker 3: Well, there's Jagged Edge. That's the place above the lake.
2:59
Speaker 3: There you go. There's two edges.
3:00
Speaker 1: Things you didn't need to know on a Tuesday. What's happening, mate?
3:03
Speaker 1: Are you getting this rain that we're experiencing?
3:06
Speaker 3: Yeah, we are a bit. Beautiful day yesterday. And then
3:10
Speaker 3: last night, about five o'clock, it started to rain. And
3:13
Speaker 3: I think it had finished by about 11 o'clock, but
3:15
Speaker 3: there was 36 mils in the gauge this morning to
3:19
Speaker 3: go with the rest of the week. So we've had
3:23
Speaker 3: 90 mils since we spoke on last Tuesday. But this
3:27
Speaker 3: morning it was fine, sun was out, and I'm just
3:31
Speaker 3: coming back from Oak Lake now, and the snow got
3:34
Speaker 3: around the tops and it's raining again, and the temperature's
3:37
Speaker 3: down to 5 degrees. But the good news is the
3:39
Speaker 3: soil temperature is, is up to six. So I wasn't
3:43
Speaker 3: even going to look at it. I thought it'd be
3:44
Speaker 3: another thing to depress me. But yeah, well, six is, yeah,
3:48
Speaker 3: it's better than five that the air temperature is. And
3:51
Speaker 3: to be fair, things are greening up, but there's, you know,
3:54
Speaker 3: there's a little pick about, but it'll be gone in
3:58
Speaker 3: a couple of days if this carries on.
4:00
Speaker 1: The soil temperatures down south, they're all in the eight
4:03
Speaker 1: and nine degree bracket, bar one. So it just needs
4:07
Speaker 1: some yellow.
4:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does, and when the few days that the
4:11
Speaker 3: sun has come out, it's been quite nice, but the
4:14
Speaker 3: fire is still going in the homestead, and when it's
4:18
Speaker 3: not on, it's still bloody cold. So, yeah, it's just
4:22
Speaker 3: cool enough, really, but lovely when the sun does come
4:24
Speaker 3: out and the days are longer, so I'll be right
4:27
Speaker 3: next weekend because we'll get an extra hour of sunlight,
4:30
Speaker 3: won't we?
4:31
Speaker 1: I think consensus seems to be August was kinder last year, Grant.
4:35
Speaker 1: There was a bit of a grass-based... and sunshine ahead
4:38
Speaker 1: of us.
4:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was. And, you know, August was good for
4:42
Speaker 3: us last year until the last few days of it.
4:46
Speaker 3: And that's when the proverbial hit the fan and it
4:48
Speaker 3: didn't stop raining until the end of November. And it's
4:51
Speaker 3: been a bit similar, but probably August, the month of
4:55
Speaker 3: August wasn't quite as good as last year, so that
4:57
Speaker 3: would be fair, yeah.
4:58
Speaker 1: Now, we caught up with you a wee while ago
5:01
Speaker 1: at scanning. You had an issue with dry tutu, so
5:04
Speaker 1: you're trying to decipher what's going on there. Any resolution?
5:08
Speaker 3: Well, the resolution that I was hoping that the fact
5:10
Speaker 3: that it might have been selenium didn't come to fruition.
5:17
Speaker 3: So we got the vet came out and those dry tutus,
5:21
Speaker 3: we blood tested 15 of them, 20, and.
5:28
Speaker 3: The results came back that the myodine and selenium levels
5:34
Speaker 3: were well above average, and so it's not selenium. I
5:39
Speaker 3: was sort of hoping deep down it would have been, and,
5:42
Speaker 3: you know, the magic selenium injection and all our troubles
5:46
Speaker 3: would be behind us. But, no, it's a tricky old game, farming,
5:50
Speaker 3: isn't it? You know, the longer you do it, it
5:52
Speaker 3: doesn't make any difference. It's something to trip you up
5:55
Speaker 3: every now and again.
5:56
Speaker 5: So it's really.
5:57
Speaker 3: It's been to the vet yesterday, and, yeah, we're just
6:00
Speaker 3: not too sure what it is. But, yeah, we'll have
6:04
Speaker 3: to wait and see what happens next year.
6:06
Speaker 1: Is it a head scratcher, so there's nothing immediately that
6:09
Speaker 1: comes to mind?
6:10
Speaker 6: No, there's not.
6:11
Speaker 3: I mean, it's, you know, we spoke about it before that,
6:14
Speaker 3: you know, I was so confident that the user and
6:18
Speaker 3: the best, the 2D user in the best condition, I
6:20
Speaker 3: think they'd been going to the ramp. and the fact
6:24
Speaker 3: that I was really quite excited about the scanning was
6:27
Speaker 3: they'd been tupped on green grass, because the ram doesn't
6:34
Speaker 3: go out here until the 15th of May, and by
6:38
Speaker 3: that time you've got a bit of that autumn-safe pasture,
6:41
Speaker 3: but it's getting frosted, and it's lost a lot of
6:44
Speaker 3: its nutrition, but that's just the way it is, and
6:48
Speaker 3: you can't... lamb any earlier here because you'd have nothing
6:53
Speaker 3: to eat whatsoever so you know there's always that toss
6:57
Speaker 3: up and so this year you know great autumn and
7:01
Speaker 3: sheep in good condition and were tupped and you know
7:05
Speaker 3: they were on the flushed on good tucker all the
7:08
Speaker 3: way through and you know even when the ram was
7:11
Speaker 3: to go out they were still you know the feed
7:14
Speaker 3: quality was really good so you know I thought you
7:16
Speaker 3: know the teaser rams got them ready and put the
7:20
Speaker 3: the main artillery in and uh the two huge rams
7:23
Speaker 3: and uh away we go but uh you know it
7:25
Speaker 3: was a it was a bit like the warriors the
7:27
Speaker 3: other night it was a bit disappointing.
7:30
Speaker 1: Hey um the situation in regarding waste being carted out
7:34
Speaker 1: to lelda it's it stinks to coin a phrase.
7:38
Speaker 3: Yeah literally it does it's um You know, it's quite ironic,
7:42
Speaker 3: isn't it? Now, I know that, you know, apparently this
7:45
Speaker 3: waste from Wanaka used to be shipped down to the south,
7:49
Speaker 3: and I guess that would be to, I'm not too sure,
7:51
Speaker 3: but now we, you know, this is, the population's getting
7:56
Speaker 3: bigger and bigger. I mean, I look at Queenstown, I
7:58
Speaker 3: look at Wanaka, and now they're having to, the treated
8:02
Speaker 3: human effluent from Wanaka and nearby Albertown is being trucked
8:05
Speaker 3: to Lauder. which is 80 minutes' drive away. Now, Federated Farmers,
8:09
Speaker 3: the Tago president, Anna Gillespie's on this, and say the
8:11
Speaker 3: people at the Manukeri catchment are quite rightfully upset about
8:16
Speaker 3: what's happening. And this actually went through without being consented,
8:21
Speaker 3: which is non-notified. So there was no public hearing. And
8:27
Speaker 3: they say in this article that the E. coli levels
8:30
Speaker 3: are 6,500 times higher the Water New Zealand guidelines allow
8:35
Speaker 3: for suitable discharge to the land. So it's quite important,
8:40
Speaker 3: that point. And you'll remember just a few years ago
8:45
Speaker 3: that the Environment Minister, David Park, and the ORC, they
8:49
Speaker 3: were slamming that catchment for farmers and taking extensive action
8:53
Speaker 3: to improve the environment because they were saying that the
8:56
Speaker 3: the Meneherikiri River wasn't running the way it should be. And,
8:59
Speaker 3: you know, they take water out of there for irrigation.
9:01
Speaker 3: But it's a dry part of the country, and it's
9:05
Speaker 3: the coldest and probably the driest in New Zealand in
9:07
Speaker 3: a lot of ways. And it's sort of the old
9:09
Speaker 3: smacks of out of sight, out of mind. But it
9:14
Speaker 3: doesn't sort of sit well, does it? And it's the
9:17
Speaker 3: same with, you know, the waterways, whether it be the
9:21
Speaker 3: lake here or the rivers. You know, the Clutha, you know,
9:24
Speaker 3: the Meneherikiri goes into the Clutha. and all the hoo-ha
9:29
Speaker 3: about our rivers being kept clean and pristine, if there
9:32
Speaker 3: was a cattle beast or a cow even looking at
9:35
Speaker 3: the water, let alone a bloody dairy cow, there would
9:39
Speaker 3: be the main feature on the news. So I think
9:44
Speaker 3: we're needing farming as leading the economy again. I think
9:49
Speaker 3: that it's certainly not a level playing field. Now, what
9:51
Speaker 3: the answer is, I'm not too sure because You know,
9:54
Speaker 3: you look at the population increasing and a lot of
9:57
Speaker 3: people are full of it too. And it's got to
9:59
Speaker 3: go somewhere. I don't know what the answer is but
10:02
Speaker 3: it's a bit sneaky, these non-consented consents being given out.
10:09
Speaker 3: The rainfall in that area is not very much at
10:12
Speaker 3: all so it's not going to get washed away that
10:15
Speaker 3: much from leaching.
10:17
Speaker 1: No different to Wellington Council and the Moa Point scenario
10:20
Speaker 1: earlier in the year as well. That was ridiculous.
10:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, and still no accountability for that.
10:24
Speaker 5: No.
10:24
Speaker 3: You know, if that was the poor old dairy farmer
10:29
Speaker 3: or the sheep farmer or the dairy farmer that the
10:34
Speaker 3: irrigator didn't turn off and it got into the creek, well,
10:37
Speaker 3: you know, they'd have the bloody police out. So, I
10:40
Speaker 3: don't know. And it's not going to get any better
10:43
Speaker 3: because the population's increasing. Our land for farming is decreasing,
10:47
Speaker 3: so I don't know where it's going to go, but
10:49
Speaker 3: they might be better to put their heads to find
10:52
Speaker 3: out solutions for that instead of perhaps just worrying about
10:55
Speaker 3: putting solar panels on bloody good farmland and wind farms everywhere.
10:58
Speaker 3: Get back into a bit of hydro and let's get
11:01
Speaker 3: things going again.
11:02
Speaker 1: I'm going to stop you there because you're talking too
11:04
Speaker 1: much bloody sense, Grant. Thanks for your time as always.
11:07
Speaker 3: Well, it'll be the first time in my life I've
11:09
Speaker 3: talked about Andy, but for those few listeners we've got....
11:14
Speaker 1: Every now and then, Grant, you've got to back yourself, mate.
11:16
Speaker 1: Someone's got to.
11:18
Speaker 3: No, you're right, Andy. That's the lie of the land
11:21
Speaker 3: at the moment, but hopefully we'll get some this week
11:24
Speaker 3: and for everywhere in the winter and the shitty springs
11:29
Speaker 3: long behind us.
11:32
Speaker 1: Grant McMaster, thanks to the team at Arby Rural. Every
11:35
Speaker 1: Tuesday here on The Muster, Don Morrison's up next, based
11:38
Speaker 1: at Willowbank. Welcome back to The Muster, making love out
11:51
Speaker 1: of nothing at all by Air Supply. Our next guest
11:53
Speaker 1: loves a good trivia fact regarding music. Don Morrison, based
11:57
Speaker 1: at Willowbank. Howie, good afternoon. Can you tell me the
12:00
Speaker 1: artist that originally knocked back doing this song in the 80s?
12:04
Speaker 4: Oh, kia ora, Andy. No, that's a bit of a
12:06
Speaker 4: testing one. That's really in the depths of your knowledge
12:10
Speaker 4: to extract something like that. So tell me who it was.
12:14
Speaker 1: Meatloaf.
12:15
Speaker 4: A meatloaf, yeah, I can imagine that being a bit
12:17
Speaker 4: of an anthem.
12:18
Speaker 1: Well, he had the perfect vocal range for this song
12:21
Speaker 1: when you think about it.
12:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, no, well, he had plenty of hits and
12:26
Speaker 4: fortunately Air Supply got it and they made that one
12:28
Speaker 4: of their biggest, didn't they?
12:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, power of Ballard on a Tuesday because we can.
12:34
Speaker 1: The situation out at Willowbank, how are we? Wet, I imagine.
12:38
Speaker 4: Andy, just like everybody else, very wet and very testing.
12:42
Speaker 4: I mean, testing on the animals and certainly testing of...
12:47
Speaker 4: your resilience you know it's when you just deal with
12:50
Speaker 4: each wet day one after the other and you look
12:52
Speaker 4: on the um you look on the outcast and you
12:55
Speaker 4: got 10 days of rain ahead and you know a
12:57
Speaker 4: couple with less less uh forecast and then some big
13:00
Speaker 4: falls again so so i think you know i take
13:03
Speaker 4: my hat off to farmers when you go through this
13:05
Speaker 4: because you've you've got to be pretty mentally resilient to
13:08
Speaker 4: um to just put that gear on and get out
13:11
Speaker 4: there each morning. But after saying that, we've had pretty
13:14
Speaker 4: amazingly minimal losses. We are fortunate here. We've got a
13:18
Speaker 4: lot of shelter, which we put in Andy. And I
13:21
Speaker 4: know it's a bit of a cliche when you're a
13:23
Speaker 4: ram breeder, but, you know, we've been investing probably 20,
13:26
Speaker 4: 25 years in a very resilient sheep with good lamb survival. So,
13:32
Speaker 4: you know, I've got up a lot of mornings and
13:34
Speaker 4: expected damage, and it hasn't. hasn't quite worked out that
13:39
Speaker 4: way and I think the surprising thing was you know
13:42
Speaker 4: we've really tested our animals this year and eat far
13:45
Speaker 4: better than far worse than we would want to you
13:47
Speaker 4: know body condition wasn't as good as we would normally
13:50
Speaker 4: want them ground covers weren't as good the you know
13:53
Speaker 4: the scannings were good so there's plenty of animals there
13:56
Speaker 4: but plenty of lambs there but it's just been a
13:59
Speaker 4: test of the sheep and so far they've performed pretty well.
14:04
Speaker 1: How are you looking there? Are you struggling to come
14:06
Speaker 1: up for Plan B, C, D, E, etc.
14:10
Speaker 4: Plan B, Andy, there's never a lambing, there's never a
14:13
Speaker 4: season that you don't get through. So we've been through
14:15
Speaker 4: seasons like this before and you know that you will
14:18
Speaker 4: get there. A lot of the paddocks don't look great
14:21
Speaker 4: and you see that brown tire marks from your round
14:24
Speaker 4: the day before and the day before that. But the
14:27
Speaker 4: grass is growing. There's a couple of paddocks that there's
14:29
Speaker 4: nothing on, and you can see that grass growing. Yeah, hey,
14:33
Speaker 4: we've been there before, and we'll get through it, Andy.
14:35
Speaker 4: And look, we're probably, you know, getting there to well
14:38
Speaker 4: over half through, maybe two-thirds through. So, you know, we're
14:42
Speaker 4: ready for what's thrown at us the next week.
14:44
Speaker 1: As far as your farming career, Don, where does this
14:47
Speaker 1: year rank? I mean, a lot of people refer to
14:49
Speaker 1: 1987 and to our generation, I suppose, 2010 as being
14:51
Speaker 1: the years.
14:55
Speaker 4: Yeah, 87, I was living the high life in London,
14:59
Speaker 4: so I can't remember that one.
15:01
Speaker 1: It probably didn't worry you then.
15:02
Speaker 4: No, it didn't worry me. Probably Dad had to deal
15:04
Speaker 4: with it. Certainly those other events. I think the difference is, Andy,
15:11
Speaker 4: as I say, we're not getting the losses. So I
15:13
Speaker 4: think some of the conditions are as testing, but just maybe, look,
15:17
Speaker 4: sheep are more resilient generally. I don't think it's only
15:20
Speaker 4: our sheep. I think a lot of breeders, putting that
15:22
Speaker 4: emphasis into the survival, more body condition on the ewes.
15:26
Speaker 4: I mean, I look at old videos when we first
15:28
Speaker 4: came back 30 years ago, and I'm a bit horrified
15:30
Speaker 4: to see what the condition of our animals were at
15:33
Speaker 4: lambing time. So, you know, we've had a whole step
15:36
Speaker 4: forward here. And yes, the conditions aren't great, but certainly
15:42
Speaker 4: this is not a bad lambing for us.
15:44
Speaker 1: I've seen a video in circulation a few months back
15:47
Speaker 1: now regarding Hokanui Radio when Jamie was running it with
15:51
Speaker 1: Lee Piper and it was the home show of all
15:53
Speaker 1: things that we hear. And here's a young buck-faced Don
15:56
Speaker 1: Morrison appearing in the background on his farm.
15:59
Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness. Well, I can't recall that one, Andy,
16:02
Speaker 4: but you'll have to unlock that one out of the
16:04
Speaker 4: archives for me to have a look at.
16:06
Speaker 1: No, I'll have to find that out of somewhere. But, yeah,
16:08
Speaker 1: like you say, you just think of the years and
16:11
Speaker 1: what they present here. Genetics, it's a big thing. Well, OK,
16:15
Speaker 1: as far as milking of the ewes, how's that been?
16:18
Speaker 1: Because feed can be frustrating at the moment.
16:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, feeders, and that's what I say, lamb survival is
16:24
Speaker 4: a combination of different things. As far as the lamb goes,
16:28
Speaker 4: it's skin thickness and then brown fat around your internal organs,
16:32
Speaker 4: and that brown fat's available for instant energy release. before
16:36
Speaker 4: they have a feed, and so an element of that
16:38
Speaker 4: is probably related to your body condition of your ewe,
16:43
Speaker 4: the brown fat round note in the lambs. So it
16:45
Speaker 4: is one of the things we have said as a
16:48
Speaker 4: feature is lamb survival, and because, you know, it doesn't
16:52
Speaker 4: matter what prices are if you don't have live lambs. Yeah,
16:56
Speaker 4: there's a whole lot of things into it. And then,
16:58
Speaker 4: of course, there's the good luck of what paddock you're
17:00
Speaker 4: in or the bad luck on that particular stormy night.
17:03
Speaker 4: And on those really wet conditions, it's hard to, you know,
17:07
Speaker 4: it's amazing to think that anything can survive. And also
17:09
Speaker 4: it's ground conditions. If you're born on dry ground, you've
17:14
Speaker 4: got a much better chance than those lambs that are
17:16
Speaker 4: born onto absolutely saturated waterlogged ground. So, yeah, a lot
17:20
Speaker 4: comes into it, Andy.
17:22
Speaker 1: You have staff on the ground there like travellers. They
17:24
Speaker 1: come and stay on the farm for a few weeks.
17:27
Speaker 1: How are they fighting the situation?
17:29
Speaker 4: We've had a young French girl with us for three months,
17:32
Speaker 4: and she's been an absolute superstar. She's doing an internship
17:35
Speaker 4: from a university in Toulouse. And with me being out
17:40
Speaker 4: with my shoulders, I'm really only moral support this lambing.
17:43
Speaker 4: We've got a young English girl who's with us for
17:45
Speaker 4: two months who's doing her fourth or fifth lambing, absolutely dedicated,
17:50
Speaker 4: and the two of them just absolutely love what they're doing.
17:52
Speaker 4: So congratulations. They don't quite have the cynicism of age
17:56
Speaker 4: that some of the rest of us have, Andy.
17:58
Speaker 1: So you're not going around on a bike with a
18:00
Speaker 1: megaphone yelling at Lockie about what he needs to do?
18:03
Speaker 4: No, I think everybody here knows what they need to
18:05
Speaker 4: do and it's actually almost to be there to support
18:08
Speaker 4: the others because all of us, you know, you have
18:11
Speaker 4: a bad day and you just need to say, hey, look,
18:13
Speaker 4: these things happen or, you know, everyone else is dealing
18:16
Speaker 4: with the same thing. And we try and make it social.
18:18
Speaker 4: We had a big night all together, the whole team,
18:22
Speaker 4: on Saturday night and pizza night, and, you know, just
18:26
Speaker 4: to try and forget about those conditions outside.
18:29
Speaker 1: And based on that, Southland Rural Support Trust, they're branching
18:32
Speaker 1: on us events, Howie. They're in your neck of the
18:34
Speaker 1: woods tomorrow, actually. Willow Bank. at 11am to 1.30am. They're
18:39
Speaker 1: doing these Brunch on Us events. Waikāia on Thursday, then
18:43
Speaker 1: next week at Dipton finishing up. So you can go
18:45
Speaker 1: and get some toasties on Katrina and the team tomorrow.
18:48
Speaker 4: Absolutely, Andy. We'll be over there to support that. It's
18:51
Speaker 4: really important just to talk to other farmers and everyone understands, hey,
18:54
Speaker 4: I'm not the only one dealing with this wet. We're
18:57
Speaker 4: all dealing with it.
18:58
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. Hey, just before we go as well, you
19:02
Speaker 1: love your rugby, but you were on board the Waz bandwagon.
19:05
Speaker 1: It was a pretty good game of rugby the other night, though,
19:07
Speaker 1: if not for the result, for the event itself. I mean,
19:12
Speaker 1: it took you back to 2011 Rugby World Cup, that
19:15
Speaker 1: grand final night to a degree.
19:17
Speaker 4: I note how quickly that stadium sold out and you
19:20
Speaker 4: make a comparison with some of the crowds at the
19:22
Speaker 4: Super Rugby games. The Warriors have had a great season.
19:27
Speaker 4: They've performed really well. It was actually a 50-50 game.
19:31
Speaker 4: Neither team actually deserved to win because it deserved more
19:35
Speaker 4: than the other. That was the way it went. But
19:37
Speaker 4: what the Waratahs have done, they've created that family fan
19:42
Speaker 4: base which makes their supporters want to support them every week.
19:45
Speaker 4: And I think it's very admirable what they've done. And, yeah,
19:49
Speaker 4: a great event, a great crowd.
19:52
Speaker 1: You mean the Warriors, don't you, not the Waratahs? No,
19:55
Speaker 1: I say the Waratahs. That's the Prime Minister doing that,
19:58
Speaker 1: not you.
19:58
Speaker 4: No, trust me, I was watching the correct game too, Andy. Sorry,
20:03
Speaker 4: the Warriors, yeah, they've put together a great formula for
20:08
Speaker 4: looking after their fans.
20:09
Speaker 1: Good on you, Howie. All the best out there. We'll
20:11
Speaker 1: leave you with some air supply.
20:12
Speaker 3: Cheers, Andy.
20:14
Speaker 4: Look forward to next time.
20:17
Speaker 1: Don Morrison, based out at Willow Bank. Like we said then,
20:20
Speaker 1: the South Memorial Support Trust brunch on us events happening
20:23
Speaker 1: tomorrow at Willow Bank from 1 o'clock at the Waikaka
20:26
Speaker 1: Valley Hall and Waikāia at the Community Hall, the rugby club. Same, same.
20:31
Speaker 1: On Thursday, we're away to Waimumi next. We're going to
20:34
Speaker 1: catch up with Warren Ross. Warren Ross farms at Waimumu
20:53
Speaker 1: and joins us this afternoon. G'day, Will. We haven't spoken
20:56
Speaker 1: for a wee while. How's things?
20:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, afternoon, Andy. Yeah, not too bad, actually, Andy. Yeah,
21:02
Speaker 6: just weaver wet underfoot at the moment. But, yeah, everyone's
21:04
Speaker 6: in the same boat for that one.
21:06
Speaker 1: Would that be the understatement of the year, just to
21:08
Speaker 1: weave it wet?
21:09
Speaker 6: Oh, yeah, probably is. Yeah, probably is a wee bit
21:11
Speaker 6: of an understatement, hey? But, yeah, it's just killing a
21:15
Speaker 6: couple of carobies this morning and actually, yeah, just, oh,
21:18
Speaker 6: it's just, It's wet, making marks and black marks everywhere.
21:23
Speaker 6: But that's all right.
21:24
Speaker 1: Do you have any idea what your rainfall's been for
21:26
Speaker 1: the month?
21:27
Speaker 6: No, it sort of gets to a point where you
21:29
Speaker 6: give up looking at that. I think we had another
21:32
Speaker 6: 18 mils last night, I think it was. So, yeah,
21:36
Speaker 6: it's just rather wet, really.
21:39
Speaker 1: So what's your focus at the moment? No tractor works
21:42
Speaker 1: being done? No, certainly not.
21:45
Speaker 6: Certainly not. So, you know, yesterday I was just driving
21:48
Speaker 6: across the work ground to pick up hay feeders off
21:51
Speaker 6: and bits and pieces like that, and yesterday I was thinking, oh, maybe,
21:54
Speaker 6: maybe start... Oh, no, driving across the paddock, no, not
21:58
Speaker 6: a chance in hell getting into a paddock today, so... No,
22:02
Speaker 6: it's just, yeah, not a great deal really. Just, well,
22:05
Speaker 6: we don't do lambing, of course.
22:06
Speaker 1: Well, you do a lambing, but it's like about 10
22:08
Speaker 1: ewes or so, isn't it?
22:10
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I do have 10 sheep, so they have
22:11
Speaker 6: just about finished lambing. So they sort of lamb themselves
22:14
Speaker 6: and look after themselves. So it's not a big job
22:16
Speaker 6: for us.
22:17
Speaker 1: Well, I think they're pretty late this year. Normally they're
22:20
Speaker 1: in June.
22:20
Speaker 6: Yeah, normally they're in midwinter, eh? But it was way
22:23
Speaker 6: late for my ram out.
22:23
Speaker 1: I was going to say, management change.
22:26
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I'm not sure what happened there, but I
22:28
Speaker 6: think my brother-in-law borrowed the ram, actually, is what happened,
22:31
Speaker 6: I think, so... Good old Garth. Yeah, yeah, so, yeah, no,
22:35
Speaker 6: so they're probably just about finished labbing now, so, yeah, yeah.
22:39
Speaker 1: So your crops are well and truly finished now? You
22:41
Speaker 1: got the deer on grass?
22:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yep, so, yeah, there's, yeah, they're all on
22:47
Speaker 6: grass now anyhow, so crops are all done, and, yeah,
22:51
Speaker 6: I think we might have 20 bales of bales left, so...
22:54
Speaker 6: I think they're going out the gate this week anyhow. So, yeah,
22:57
Speaker 6: it's just, you know, cruise mud really.
23:00
Speaker 1: Are you having to feed any supplement out at the moment?
23:03
Speaker 6: Well, we are feeding nuts out to the deer. We
23:06
Speaker 6: do that every year anyhow. But, yeah, it's sort of
23:11
Speaker 6: wasting away, but, you know, being so wet. But we
23:14
Speaker 6: do have plenty of grass in front of us anyhow,
23:16
Speaker 6: which is a bonus.
23:17
Speaker 1: Well, if you've got the grass there, it's a good thing,
23:19
Speaker 1: but it's probably just a bit wet underfoot.
23:21
Speaker 6: Correct, aye, and with the deer, you've just got to
23:24
Speaker 6: keep moving on. They turn and paddock to mud pretty quick,
23:27
Speaker 6: so pretty much daily shifts, really. If you're lucky enough,
23:31
Speaker 6: maybe two days, but, yeah, just keep moving is the
23:34
Speaker 6: biggest thing.
23:34
Speaker 1: So is that how you look at deer management? When
23:37
Speaker 1: it's wet underfoot, you've just got to keep moving them daily,
23:39
Speaker 1: almost in a rotation?
23:41
Speaker 6: Yeah, correct, yeah, absolutely, aye. So the hinds are still
23:45
Speaker 6: on a bit of fodder bait, whatever, but, yeah, the
23:49
Speaker 6: cattle and the wieners, they're just all... move around daily
23:53
Speaker 6: pretty much, so paddock to paddock. So, yeah, it's just
23:56
Speaker 6: a matter of, yeah, just keep moving them.
23:58
Speaker 1: Now, the hinds on the photobead, what's the state of
24:01
Speaker 1: play there? Ground conditions, how bad is it?
24:03
Speaker 6: Oh, yeah, no, it's quite bad. They're still a wee
24:08
Speaker 6: bit of photobead to eat, but, yeah, so they're getting
24:10
Speaker 6: a wee bit of baleage in photobead, so it's generally
24:12
Speaker 6: as a rule. You get a nice day like yesterday
24:14
Speaker 6: and then it's OK, but, yeah, it's just what it is, really.
24:20
Speaker 1: You talk about doing homecook. There's nothing better than homecook,
24:23
Speaker 1: is there? There is absolutely nothing that can take away
24:26
Speaker 1: a farmer's prerogative from doing your own meat.
24:31
Speaker 2: Oh, 100%, eh?
24:31
Speaker 6: Like this morning, the cattle beasts were just minding their
24:36
Speaker 6: own business, and next minute they're on the ground. There's
24:41
Speaker 6: no stress involved, and the meat's beautiful meat, eh? There's
24:45
Speaker 6: something about eating your own meat, eh? So, yeah, no,
24:49
Speaker 6: so we're busy doing that this morning, so, yeah.
24:52
Speaker 1: How heavy are the beasts?
24:54
Speaker 6: Well, the first one was 277 on the hooks, so, yeah,
24:58
Speaker 6: reasonable size, so, yeah. Just a two-year-old, but, yeah, no,
25:03
Speaker 6: we've been bigger than what I thought, actually, so, yeah, no,
25:05
Speaker 6: it's all good.
25:06
Speaker 1: Was it temptation there to send them away to the works,
25:08
Speaker 1: get the money, and just go and buy from the butcher,
25:11
Speaker 1: or home kills, home kill?
25:13
Speaker 3: Well, I'm not sure.
25:14
Speaker 6: My sister in Christchurch was in the supermarket, and there
25:16
Speaker 6: was a slab of steak, for like $ 260, I think
25:20
Speaker 6: it was, yeah, two weeks ago. And for maybe, it
25:25
Speaker 6: might have been four or five kilo rib eye, something
25:27
Speaker 6: like that maybe. And yeah, it's quite pricey still to
25:31
Speaker 6: buy meat.
25:32
Speaker 1: But I would take you as somebody who probably has
25:35
Speaker 1: a freezer full of mince from last time. Am I right?
25:38
Speaker 6: Well, possibly, yeah. Because we do get the odd bit
25:42
Speaker 6: of deer. Yeah, I suppose.
25:43
Speaker 1: Yeah.
25:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, so deer mince is actually very tasty as well,
25:46
Speaker 6: of course. Yeah, the freezer's always full.
25:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, not a bad way to be, but like you say,
25:54
Speaker 1: if you can harvest the animals yourself, then it's one
25:57
Speaker 1: of the joys of being a farmer, I suppose, just
25:59
Speaker 1: being able to eat the fruits of what you're growing.
26:02
Speaker 6: Yeah, 100%. We're quite lucky here. We've got the beef
26:06
Speaker 6: and the deer and, of course, the handful of sheep
26:09
Speaker 6: we have, so we're pretty lucky, really.
26:12
Speaker 1: Now, you enjoy your fishing as well. You haven't had
26:14
Speaker 1: the boats out on the paddocks yet?
26:16
Speaker 6: Well, it's getting close to that, but no, I haven't, actually. No,
26:20
Speaker 6: I haven't been out for a little while either, to
26:22
Speaker 6: be fair. It's getting very close to me doing something,
26:26
Speaker 6: to be fair. I'm saying that the way they haven't
26:29
Speaker 6: really allowed it to be there either, to be honest.
26:32
Speaker 6: I think Garth was away and they caught a nine-and-a-half-pounder
26:36
Speaker 6: glonky a couple of weeks ago, actually. Nine-and-a-half-pounder? nine and
26:41
Speaker 6: a half pound rainbow I think it was so yeah
26:42
Speaker 6: that's a decent size for a waka tip yeah that's
26:45
Speaker 6: as good as you'll get just about as to be
26:48
Speaker 6: fair yeah I think they're busy getting it mounted I
26:50
Speaker 6: think so yeah so.
26:52
Speaker 1: You're not tempted to go out and get a feed
26:53
Speaker 1: of whitebait.
26:55
Speaker 6: Well dad's been trying he's been down to the Aparima
26:58
Speaker 6: a few times but it's yeah they've had a couple
27:01
Speaker 6: of small very small feeds but it's yeah the river's
27:05
Speaker 6: been quite high of course as well so it hasn't
27:08
Speaker 6: been that favourable either so So, no, they're trying their
27:13
Speaker 6: luck down there.
27:14
Speaker 1: Hey, just finally, mate, the price of venison, too. Peter
27:17
Speaker 1: Allen talked about it last week. The schedule or the
27:21
Speaker 1: contracts that are out, how's it looking?
27:23
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it's looking good, actually. We've got contracts signed up,
27:27
Speaker 6: and we're kind of killing a few deer now. And $ 11. 90, $ 80,
27:30
Speaker 6: $ 90 or something like that. So it's looking quite positive,
27:34
Speaker 6: and it's looking good for the future as well, actually.
27:37
Speaker 4: Yeah.
27:38
Speaker 6: And, yeah, as farmers, you always want more.
27:41
Speaker 1: You always want more, but that's still not to be
27:43
Speaker 1: laughed at either.
27:44
Speaker 6: Absolutely, aye, sir. So it's sort of in line with
27:48
Speaker 6: all the– it's in line with our other red meat,
27:51
Speaker 6: I guess. So, yeah, it's all positive.
27:53
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Good on you, Will. We'll let you carry on.
27:55
Speaker 1: Hopefully you get a bit of drying and get the
27:57
Speaker 1: iron horses out into the paddock sooner than later.
28:00
Speaker 6: Yeah, hopefully we can, aye. Hopefully we can, aye, sir.
28:02
Speaker 1: Now, good as gold. Warren Ross of Waimumu. Trying to
28:08
Speaker 1: negate the wet like everybody else. You're listening to The Muster.
28:11
Speaker 1: Up next, Simon Stokes from Environment Southland. And before the
28:15
Speaker 1: end of the hour, Ollie Teal from Young Farmers. Welcome
28:31
Speaker 1: back to the muster. Thanks to Environment Southland. We're catching
28:33
Speaker 1: up with Simon Stokes, Land Sustainability Manager at Environment Southland. G'day, Simon.
28:39
Speaker 6: G'day, Andy.
28:40
Speaker 2: How are you today?
28:42
Speaker 1: Well, it just continues this weather cycle, right?
28:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. It's been the wettest winter for more
28:50
Speaker 2: than 45 years from records. It's just left the region soaked, really.
28:56
Speaker 2: And there's You know, it is actually incredibly challenging at
29:01
Speaker 2: the moment, I think. There is soil moisture levels across
29:05
Speaker 2: the province are right up, from our data, right up
29:09
Speaker 2: well over 80, 85, 95 percent levels, which is just
29:13
Speaker 2: purely saturated soils. And soil temperature is only just climbing
29:18
Speaker 2: above six degrees. So, you know, we're averaging about eight
29:22
Speaker 2: degrees at the moment. So it's a slow move into spring, basically, Andy.
29:28
Speaker 1: So what are you guys hearing from farmers?
29:31
Speaker 2: Well, I'd like to say they're all chirpy and enjoying themselves.
29:35
Speaker 2: And they have been at the Rural Support Brunch on
29:38
Speaker 2: Us events, which have been brilliant. And thanks to Rural
29:41
Speaker 2: Support for doing those. There's three left, actually, Andy, for
29:45
Speaker 2: farmers to attend. And look, people are fairly positive about
29:50
Speaker 2: how things are going, but the weather is starting to
29:52
Speaker 2: chip away at, I think, people keeping their spirits up.
29:57
Speaker 2: because it has been wet and damp, and these brief
30:01
Speaker 2: moments of sunshine is welcome, but it's not continuous, is it?
30:07
Speaker 2: So farmers, I think, yeah, they're keeping on going, but
30:12
Speaker 2: that's about it.
30:14
Speaker 1: So what's the advice to farmers, though, going through the spring?
30:17
Speaker 1: Interesting you talk about the Rural Support Trust and Brunch
30:19
Speaker 1: on Us events. It's happening at Willowbank tomorrow, Waikāia on
30:23
Speaker 1: Thursday as well. So it's a great chance for people
30:26
Speaker 1: to get off farm and go and connect. But as
30:28
Speaker 1: far as the spring, though, the on-farm situation, what's the advice?
30:32
Speaker 7: Yeah, look, I've got a little bit to get through here, but.
30:36
Speaker 2: I have got some good advice for farmers today. The
30:39
Speaker 2: first thing I think is if they haven't done so,
30:42
Speaker 2: they need to sit down around the kitchen table with
30:45
Speaker 2: the team, maybe some of the consultants or other people
30:49
Speaker 2: who help them, and do some planning and strategizing for
30:52
Speaker 2: the next three to four months. Your focus is on feed.
30:56
Speaker 2: Your focus is on whether you're going to be putting
31:00
Speaker 2: new grasses in and getting your crops in and cultivating.
31:03
Speaker 2: If you're a dairy farming, you've got pond effluent management.
31:07
Speaker 3: You've got your FERT.
31:08
Speaker 2: To think about as well when they're going to be
31:10
Speaker 2: the right time to get that urea on. And then,
31:13
Speaker 2: of course, you've got the issues of availability of contractors.
31:15
Speaker 2: So my first piece of advice is that take a
31:18
Speaker 2: little bit of time out and actually sit down and
31:22
Speaker 2: really nut out some good strategies and planning perspective for
31:27
Speaker 2: the next three to four months. And on top of that, Andy, too,
31:30
Speaker 2: I think With the way that the soil moistures are
31:33
Speaker 2: at the moment and the management of soils is to
31:36
Speaker 2: perhaps look to be a little bit more flexible with
31:38
Speaker 2: what you were planning to do this year with where
31:41
Speaker 2: you were going to cultivate or where you were going
31:43
Speaker 2: to put that crop. And that's my second key point
31:47
Speaker 2: is to really, most farmers will know their soils very,
31:52
Speaker 2: very well, but really sit down and have a good
31:54
Speaker 2: think about which soils and where, which soils and are
31:59
Speaker 2: going to cope with those things I just mentioned with
32:01
Speaker 2: regards to pretty key activities between now and Christmas. There
32:07
Speaker 2: may be soils within the farm that are going to
32:11
Speaker 2: be slightly drier or less saturated at the moment that
32:15
Speaker 2: might be more useful to be cultivated a bit earlier
32:18
Speaker 2: as we get into October, as opposed to that site
32:21
Speaker 2: that you might have been looking at that is going
32:24
Speaker 2: to take a lot longer to get soil moisture down
32:26
Speaker 2: to a really a good level for cultivation. Because the
32:31
Speaker 2: problem is, Annie, is that people will be wanting to
32:33
Speaker 2: crank into it, and the thing is that while we
32:36
Speaker 2: can get our machinery in there and get going, when
32:40
Speaker 2: the soil moistures allow it, you've still got the issue
32:43
Speaker 2: of how much impact you're going to have on that
32:45
Speaker 2: soil with regards to turning it over, breaking it down,
32:48
Speaker 2: and putting it into a nice environment for your crops
32:53
Speaker 2: to sow into. If it's too wet, you could end
32:56
Speaker 2: up actually creating a lot of clods or hard soil
33:01
Speaker 2: balls and stuff which are basically becoming ineffective with regards
33:04
Speaker 2: to what you're trying to grow and how you're growing it.
33:08
Speaker 2: So those are a couple of key things. There's also
33:11
Speaker 2: a need to, particularly for our dairy farming friends, is
33:14
Speaker 2: the irrigation ponds and their management of effluent. What you
33:20
Speaker 2: really need to do is be thinking carefully about Little
33:24
Speaker 2: and often, I think, would be the message.
33:26
Speaker 1: Now, there are... Sorry, mate, there's cultivation days that are
33:30
Speaker 1: coming up, though, isn't there? What's the go around these?
33:33
Speaker 2: Yeah, those cultivation days, they're coming up on October the
33:37
Speaker 2: 6th at Hedgehope Hall, starting at noon till 3, and
33:44
Speaker 2: then on the 7th at Mossburn Hall, same time, noon
33:48
Speaker 2: till 3. Both of those events, there's a free lunch there, too,
33:53
Speaker 2: And there'll be plenty of land sustainability staff on deck
33:57
Speaker 2: with regards to providing advice. And those events also have
34:01
Speaker 2: the weatherman, Chris Brandolino, coming down to talk about things
34:06
Speaker 2: with regards to El Nino and what it means for
34:08
Speaker 2: us here in Southland in early October and onwards. So
34:11
Speaker 2: those events are coming up to a bit like a
34:14
Speaker 2: follow-up to the Brunch on Us events. So going back
34:19
Speaker 2: to what I would suggest, Andy, is that farmers do
34:21
Speaker 2: a bit of planning strategising. And if they need help
34:26
Speaker 2: from Environment South and the land sustainability team, I've got
34:30
Speaker 2: plenty of knowledge around a lot of the things I've
34:31
Speaker 2: been talking about. Get them out on farm and get
34:35
Speaker 2: onto our website and keep a track, keep looking at
34:37
Speaker 2: that environmental data, particularly around soil moistures and soil temperatures.
34:43
Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Simon. Good to catch up.
34:45
Speaker 6: Yeah, all right, Andy.
34:46
Speaker 5: See you later. Get up.
34:50
Speaker 1: Simon Stokes of Environment Southland. So those days that are
34:54
Speaker 1: coming up, the cultivation days with ES, go and RSVP
34:57
Speaker 1: on the Environment Southland website, Facebook page as well. It
35:01
Speaker 1: will be there too. Before we wrap up, from Thornberry
35:05
Speaker 1: Young Farmers, we're going to catch up with Ollie Teal.
35:08
Speaker 1: You're listening to The Muster.
35:10
Speaker 3: Even the night.
35:11
Speaker 5: Here I am, the one that you love.
35:16
Speaker 1: Asking for enough. This is the muster on Hokanui. We're
35:21
Speaker 1: away over to Scott's Gap now. Ollie Teal is part
35:25
Speaker 1: of Nightcaps Young Farmers and joins us in our Young
35:27
Speaker 1: Farmers Roundup for a Tuesday. G'day, Ollie. Welcome to the muster. G'day.
35:32
Speaker 5: Thank you for having me.
35:34
Speaker 1: Scott's Gap. The state of play over there. How are things?
35:38
Speaker 5: Very wet and windy. We're getting there.
35:43
Speaker 1: Carving going well? You're getting through?
35:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're getting through. with the difficulties, but, you know,
35:50
Speaker 5: we're doing well.
35:51
Speaker 1: Right, so a bit of an accent there. It sounds
35:53
Speaker 1: as though you've come over from the UK and you
35:55
Speaker 1: were saying off-air your fourth season in New Zealand. What
36:00
Speaker 1: was the attraction of coming over here?
36:02
Speaker 5: Well, the attraction was to learn how to get milk
36:08
Speaker 5: from grass, whereas in the UK it's all in barns
36:12
Speaker 5: and all on TMR where You guys are making money
36:16
Speaker 5: over here on grass, so I wanted to learn from
36:18
Speaker 5: the best.
36:19
Speaker 1: Interesting you bring up that comparison. Is that a view
36:23
Speaker 1: that is shared a lot over in the UK regarding
36:25
Speaker 1: the New Zealand grass system?
36:28
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, I believe so, yeah.
36:31
Speaker 1: So what made you come down? Was it south and
36:32
Speaker 1: primarily you wanted to land?
36:34
Speaker 5: I originally was up in Taupo in the North Island
36:38
Speaker 5: for a season, and I heard the weather was more
36:43
Speaker 5: similar to the UK and you grew better grass down here.
36:47
Speaker 1: There's never been a truer word said, Ollie. Trust me
36:50
Speaker 1: on that one. You're aligned with Nightcaps Young Farmers. I mean,
36:53
Speaker 1: we talk about the UK and the YFC movement over there.
36:56
Speaker 1: It's a big deal. Were you a member of Young
36:58
Speaker 1: Farmers as such back in the UK?
37:00
Speaker 5: Yes, I was a member in the UK for five
37:03
Speaker 5: years on our local Young Farmers, and, yeah, it's a
37:08
Speaker 5: big deal over there. I tried bringing some of the
37:13
Speaker 5: ideas that we had over there over here And, yeah,
37:17
Speaker 5: it's going well.
37:17
Speaker 1: You took the words out of my mouth. It is
37:19
Speaker 1: a massive deal over in the UK. But you say
37:22
Speaker 1: you brought some ideas over with you. In what regard?
37:26
Speaker 5: Some of the functions and the activities that we did
37:30
Speaker 5: in the UK, we haven't seen as much over here.
37:35
Speaker 5: And so put those ideas forward.
37:38
Speaker 1: So your experience at a nightcap, are you enjoying Young
37:41
Speaker 1: Farmers in New Zealand as such? I suppose, like you say,
37:44
Speaker 1: it's a bit different, different economy of scale as such.
37:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, I'm really enjoying it. And yeah, we're a good,
37:52
Speaker 5: healthy club. And you learn a lot and you meet
37:56
Speaker 5: a lot of people from all around New Zealand, which
38:00
Speaker 5: is a bonus.
38:01
Speaker 1: What do you really enjoy about New Zealand Young Farmers?
38:04
Speaker 1: What's really grabbed your attention of what you've done so far?
38:08
Speaker 5: How much you help each other and talk to each
38:11
Speaker 5: other about what's going on in each other's lives and
38:18
Speaker 5: out of farming and things.
38:21
Speaker 1: Interesting point you bring up. So you're talking likes of
38:23
Speaker 1: the mental health side of things. It's not a taboo
38:26
Speaker 1: subject over here. Everybody's pretty open and transparent. Would that
38:29
Speaker 1: be correct?
38:31
Speaker 5: Yes, yeah. Everyone's very open about it and everyone enjoys
38:35
Speaker 5: the hunting as well, which is good. and things like that.
38:40
Speaker 1: Why do you think it's such a closed-book situation over
38:43
Speaker 1: in the UK then?
38:45
Speaker 5: I think people spend a lot more time on their
38:48
Speaker 5: own over there, and I think from a young age
38:55
Speaker 5: you don't talk about your mental health a lot, whereas
38:58
Speaker 5: over here it seems to be a lot more on
39:02
Speaker 5: social media and things like that as well.
39:05
Speaker 1: From your own perspective, have you found that really welcoming,
39:08
Speaker 1: the attitudes that they share around mental health over here?
39:12
Speaker 5: Yes, I think it's really good and very helpful at times.
39:18
Speaker 1: Awesome. So, okay, young farmers, what have you done that's
39:22
Speaker 1: pretty exciting over the past wee while? Yes, it's a
39:24
Speaker 1: busy time of year, but a lot of these clubs
39:27
Speaker 1: getting together, having a meal at the very least in
39:29
Speaker 1: September to get on. farm. What have you guys done
39:31
Speaker 1: over there at Nightcaps?
39:33
Speaker 5: Yes, we had a pub meal last Wednesday between us
39:39
Speaker 5: and Thornbury Young Farmers Club as well.
39:41
Speaker 1: Nice.
39:42
Speaker 2: Which was good.
39:43
Speaker 5: And we had our gumboot ball back home in the
39:47
Speaker 5: dry season.
39:50
Speaker 1: So there's plenty in the pipeline. It's just a matter
39:52
Speaker 1: of getting through the September cycle as such, I suppose.
39:57
Speaker 5: Yes, because we've got our mystery bus trip coming up
40:00
Speaker 5: on the 31st of October. And we've got the Christmas
40:03
Speaker 5: races in December, which is all to look forward to,
40:06
Speaker 5: along with some fundraisers and agri-kids and pet days and
40:12
Speaker 5: things like that as well to come up. So we're
40:14
Speaker 5: pretty busy and looking forward to it.
40:16
Speaker 1: Where's the mystery bus trip going?
40:19
Speaker 5: It's around the Winton, Otarao.
40:22
Speaker 1: Now, this is when you say it's a mystery trip.
40:24
Speaker 1: We're not telling anyone where we're going.
40:27
Speaker 5: Oh, that's known as what's going to be activities on
40:30
Speaker 5: the bus trip.
40:31
Speaker 1: Oh, righty-o. I'll take your word for that. Okay, so
40:36
Speaker 1: if anybody wants to get involved, Ollie, you suggest them
40:38
Speaker 1: to go to the social channels, the Nightcaps Young Farmers.
40:40
Speaker 1: What dates are the meetings?
40:42
Speaker 5: The first Wednesday of every month.
40:45
Speaker 3: Awesome.
40:45
Speaker 1: And whereabouts do you meet?
40:48
Speaker 5: We meet predominantly in Winton.
40:50
Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Ollie. All the best out there
40:52
Speaker 1: in the carving beat. Thanks for your chat as well.
40:55
Speaker 1: Always good to talk, young farmers.
40:57
Speaker 5: Cheers. Thank you very much.
40:59
Speaker 1: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
41:02
Speaker 1: land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
41:05
Speaker 1: Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. A frugal
41:09
Speaker 1: couple was always trying to outdo each other. One day
41:12
Speaker 1: the husband burst through the front door sweating and breathing heavily.
41:15
Speaker 1: Guess what? I saved $ 2 today by running behind the bus.
41:19
Speaker 1: His wife looked at him and screamed, you moron, you
41:22
Speaker 1: could have saved $ 50 if you'd run behind a taxi.
41:28
Speaker 1: All righty, that's us over in Dunmouth for the afternoon.
41:30
Speaker 1: Before we go, a couple of shout-outs as well. Alan Savage,
41:34
Speaker 1: always good to hear from you, mate. And Caleb Scobie,
41:37
Speaker 1: he's part of the ground crew for Southland Helicopters. Good
41:40
Speaker 1: on you, Caleb. Thanks for listening in. We're going to
41:42
Speaker 1: do some country music tomorrow just for you. Right, we'll
41:44
Speaker 1: leave it there. I'm Andy Muir. The Muster, of course,
41:46
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Peter's Genetics Podcast. We'll be
41:48
Speaker 1: up shortly on iHeartRadio. See you tomorrow at 1 o'clock.
41:54
Speaker 1: Stock selling action comes courtesy of PGG Rights and Sam
42:01
Speaker 1: Riley's on the ground down at Lawnville. Good afternoon Slammer,
42:04
Speaker 1: I dare say you had the coat on today.
42:07
Speaker 7: Yep, definitely had the coat on today mate. Started off
42:10
Speaker 7: with a bit of sunshine there for a couple of
42:12
Speaker 7: hours and then we could see it coming and yeah,
42:15
Speaker 7: about 9.30 and it came so nothing like another 15,
42:18
Speaker 7: 10 to 15 mils of rain just to make things
42:21
Speaker 7: a wee bit more damper down here but that's It
42:23
Speaker 7: is what it is, and the farmers will just carry
42:25
Speaker 7: on doing what we do.
42:26
Speaker 1: Absolutely, mate. How did we go with the prices?
42:29
Speaker 7: Small yarding of primes in today, mate. Beef cows, 700
42:31
Speaker 7: kilo beef cows, they were $ 3.
42:32
Speaker 3: 40 to $ 3.
42:32
Speaker 7: 50. Dairy cows at 500 plus kgs, $ 3.
42:33
Speaker 4: 20.
42:33
Speaker 7: And steers and heifers at 480 kgs, they were $ 4. 80
42:35
Speaker 7: to $ 4.
42:35
Speaker 4: 90.
42:35
Speaker 7: So the market's still selling well there. Into the store
42:47
Speaker 7: cattle market, a couple lines of nice two-year-olds in today.
42:51
Speaker 7: Two-year-old Hereford Cross steers at 500kgs, they were $ 2, 480. And
42:54
Speaker 7: some Murray Gray Cross steers at 490kgs, they were $ 2, 400.
42:55
Speaker 7: A couple of pens of nice Yelling bulls in, 340kg
42:58
Speaker 7: Belter Blue bulls, $ 1, 500. And some Hereford Cross 200kg bulls
43:01
Speaker 7: at $ 1, 050. So Anything with a wee bit of quality
43:18
Speaker 7: was still selling all right. There was a bit of
43:21
Speaker 7: mixed stuff there that was a bit hard to shift.
43:24
Speaker 7: Into the all-store prime sheep market, mate. Those good heavy
43:29
Speaker 7: lambs still holding up $ 300 to $ 408 on the tops
43:31
Speaker 7: of those.
43:31
Speaker 2: $ 240 to $ 290 on the mediums.
43:32
Speaker 3: And $ 200 to $ 235 on the lighter end prime lambs.
43:40
Speaker 7: Handful of prime using today. The best of those were $ 250, $ 346. Mediums, $ 180, $ 240.
43:46
Speaker 7: And the lighter end stuff at $ 140 to $ 175. Handful
43:51
Speaker 7: of rams in at $ 135. And the store use, a
43:54
Speaker 7: couple of lines of using lambs all counted. And they
43:58
Speaker 7: range from $ 140 to $ 160 on that side of it.
44:02
Speaker 7: So that wraps up what was another wet lawnmower.