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Best Of The Muster: 10/10/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:06
Speaker 1: A very good morning and welcome into The Best of
0:08
Speaker 1: the Muster, brought to you by The Gopher, your local
0:11
Speaker 1: relief milking and contracting specialists. I'm Andy Muir, The Best
0:15
Speaker 1: of the Muster, a collaboration of interviews that took our
0:18
Speaker 1: attention during a busy week here at Hockanui HQ. And
0:21
Speaker 1: we're starting off by catching up with Bruce Seed, farming
0:23
Speaker 1: at Calso in West Otago. Talking about the situation and
0:28
Speaker 1: how it's been. He's got a split calving operation going
0:30
Speaker 1: there on his farm. So Bruce, it's fair to say,
0:34
Speaker 1: is a very busy individual. And we caught up with
0:37
Speaker 1: him as well. He had a bathurst going on this weekend.
0:40
Speaker 1: He's a big motorhead. Dean Ravage looks at the wet
0:43
Speaker 1: September from a lambing perspective. He's a Southlander Support Trust trustee.
0:49
Speaker 1: But as well, he just talks about the situation, how
0:51
Speaker 1: it's been on his farm, and he can't wait to
0:54
Speaker 1: get the tailing gates out, which a lot of people
0:56
Speaker 1: will be in the same boat. Anna Gillespie is president
1:00
Speaker 1: of Otago Federated Farmers, and there's an issue there with
1:03
Speaker 1: poo dumping featuring the town of Lauda. David Stevens, our
1:08
Speaker 1: deer farming correspondent out of Balfour, talks about the price
1:13
Speaker 1: of velvet and why, in his words, it needs to
1:15
Speaker 1: improve for the sake of the industry, not mincing words
1:18
Speaker 1: around it either. And finally, Don Morrison, Farming at Willowbank,
1:22
Speaker 1: former Alliance Board Director, talking about the red meat schedule
1:25
Speaker 1: for the season ahead and why it's looking particularly buoyant.
1:29
Speaker 1: So without further ado, we'll start the hour next with
1:32
Speaker 1: Brie C. This is the best of the muster, proudly
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Speaker 1: brought to you by the Gopher.
1:35
Speaker 2: I've got to.
1:38
Speaker 3: Keep on moving.
1:39
Speaker 4: Ain't nothing gonna... What's happening now?
1:47
Speaker 1: Bruce Ede Farms at Kelso and joins us this afternoon
1:50
Speaker 1: in the Sargeant Dan Farming Roundup. Thanks to Sargeant Dan
1:53
Speaker 1: Stock Foods, where we speak to different farmers from around
1:56
Speaker 1: the southern region. And, of course, Sargeant Dan here on
1:59
Speaker 1: Main Street in Gore. Good afternoon, Bruce, but firstly, happy
2:03
Speaker 1: Bathurst Week.
2:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, oh, yeah, that's right. Snuck up. Yep, nah, it'll
2:07
Speaker 5: be good. It'll be good. Nah, it should be exciting.
2:10
Speaker 5: There's been a lot of different winters and a few
2:12
Speaker 5: different scenarios could play out. So, nah, it'll be good
2:15
Speaker 5: afternoon viewing on Sunday.
2:17
Speaker 1: You can hear a few birds chirping in the background,
2:19
Speaker 1: so that's a good start for October.
2:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, October's been far better so far than September,
2:25
Speaker 5: isn't it, if I state the obvious?
2:27
Speaker 1: How's it been at your place, like, ground condition-wise? I mean, without,
2:31
Speaker 1: you know, we all know what the state of play's
2:32
Speaker 1: been like. Has your rainfall figure been something for the ages?
2:36
Speaker 5: Yeah, they probably have been. I haven't been keeping a record.
2:38
Speaker 5: I've really been relying on neighbours and things like that
2:42
Speaker 5: that like to put that sort of thing out there. So, yeah,
2:44
Speaker 5: I'd It certainly would be top five, all right, top
2:48
Speaker 5: three maybe. Didn't they say it was the wettest? Who knows?
2:51
Speaker 5: But got to the point there where I gave up
2:53
Speaker 5: looking in the gauge. Just, yeah, throw your boots on
2:58
Speaker 5: and go back out to another day of battle was
3:00
Speaker 5: really what it came down to. So, no, it's dried
3:06
Speaker 5: up remarkably well in the last two or three days,
3:09
Speaker 5: all right, that's for sure. So... Yeah, you could not
3:13
Speaker 5: quite say it's a distant memory. There's still a bit
3:14
Speaker 5: of recovery to do yet. But it's bloody good to
3:18
Speaker 5: see the sunshine and a bit of heat.
3:20
Speaker 1: And the grass is growing. That's the thing.
3:22
Speaker 5: The grass is growing. Yeah, no, that's right. And it
3:25
Speaker 5: always was going to. Just the issue was how much
3:27
Speaker 5: damage you'd done between then and now. So it wasn't
3:31
Speaker 5: hard to bloody plough a paddock with a mob of
3:33
Speaker 5: cows on a wet, cold night.
3:35
Speaker 4: So.
3:36
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a tough one. It didn't take any prisoners.
3:40
Speaker 5: It didn't matter who you were and what you were farming.
3:42
Speaker 5: It was hard going all the way through. So, light
3:46
Speaker 5: at the end of the tunnel, and, jeez, you're talking
3:49
Speaker 5: about petrol heads, there'll be a lot of diesel heads,
3:50
Speaker 5: there'll be a lot of diesel burnt, and this week, anyway,
3:52
Speaker 5: that's for sure, because we've all got a fair bit
3:54
Speaker 5: of catching up to do.
3:56
Speaker 1: You've got a split carving operation there. How has carving gone,
3:59
Speaker 1: weather aside?
4:01
Speaker 5: Weather aside, it's been pretty maintenance-free, shall we say. We've
4:05
Speaker 5: still got about 50-odd to calve, but they'll be tidied
4:08
Speaker 5: up in the next couple of weeks, which has been
4:10
Speaker 5: a slow calving this year, which hasn't been a bad
4:12
Speaker 5: thing considering what the season was like, or the spring,
4:15
Speaker 5: if you want to call it that, was like. So
4:18
Speaker 5: we didn't encounter a huge amount of calves very early on,
4:22
Speaker 5: so it hasn't been easy, but it could have been
4:26
Speaker 5: a lot worse for us.
4:28
Speaker 1: Metabolic issues, have they been any different to other seasons?
4:31
Speaker 5: No, no, we've had a pretty good run. I think
4:33
Speaker 5: I only had two or three down cows the whole
4:36
Speaker 5: way through. And that and a couple of them were
4:39
Speaker 5: known culprits that seemed every year to decide they're going
4:42
Speaker 5: to do something silly. So, no, touch wood. And it's
4:47
Speaker 5: been pretty good and, as I said, fuss-free, really.
4:50
Speaker 1: Supplement-wise, it's pretty intensive of what you're doing there with
4:53
Speaker 1: the shed you've got in place. What are you like
4:56
Speaker 1: as far as resource there?
4:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're... Getting close to the tipping point there. I mean,
5:02
Speaker 5: everyone says, oh, you're lucky you've got that big shed,
5:04
Speaker 5: but the outdoor cows, as we call them, they've been
5:07
Speaker 5: outside the whole time just eating grass and pellets in
5:11
Speaker 5: the cow shed from Sergeant Dan. No real supplement of
5:15
Speaker 5: any sort. We gave them a few bails there early on,
5:18
Speaker 5: but we had to protect what's happening in the barn
5:21
Speaker 5: there with the robot cows and feeding dry cows, so
5:23
Speaker 5: it was a fluid situation most days. I mean, we
5:26
Speaker 5: ran out of straw and... managed to find a couple
5:31
Speaker 5: of small unit loads or part unit loads of rounds
5:33
Speaker 5: and then two weeks ago yeah we were on the
5:36
Speaker 5: hunt for a bit more but there was no straw
5:38
Speaker 5: south of Christchurch so we managed to track down one
5:41
Speaker 5: of the last two unit loads of squares of ryegrass
5:45
Speaker 5: straw that May Brothers had up in Canterbury so that
5:47
Speaker 5: tells you how far it had to come so unusual
5:50
Speaker 5: that everyone was looking for straw at this time of
5:52
Speaker 5: year but yeah it wasn't cheap exercise but it was
5:56
Speaker 5: something that needed to be done and and obviously baleage
5:59
Speaker 5: will be a lot rarer again, and if you could
6:01
Speaker 5: find it, I'd hate to think how much you're having
6:03
Speaker 5: to pay for it. But yeah, it's been a balancing
6:07
Speaker 5: situation for a lot of people. Obviously the feed trucks
6:10
Speaker 5: have all been doing extra time because people have just
6:12
Speaker 5: turned up the dial to try and make up a shortfall,
6:14
Speaker 5: and now we've got to look ahead to having some
6:18
Speaker 5: to make for this incoming year. So we've had about
6:21
Speaker 5: 50 hectares here. earmarked for silage since the start of
6:25
Speaker 5: the season so that was the cows didn't go on
6:27
Speaker 5: that they were never going on that we needed to
6:30
Speaker 5: say that was that was silage and that's what it
6:32
Speaker 5: was so um we've got some in front of us
6:34
Speaker 5: there when the weather does finally come right it grows
6:36
Speaker 5: a bit more to put under a bun.
6:39
Speaker 1: That was a great plug for the sponsor.
6:40
Speaker 5: Before yeah he does a good job.
6:43
Speaker 1: Yeah how long you've been using sergeant dan stuff as
6:45
Speaker 1: such oh.
6:46
Speaker 5: I'd say we've 15-plus years now for the dairy feed
6:51
Speaker 5: and the shed, and prior to that we've been using
6:53
Speaker 5: the calf feed for, yeah, as long as I can remember,
6:58
Speaker 5: probably from day one when they started. So, no, Daryl
7:01
Speaker 5: does a great product, and they've never let us down,
7:04
Speaker 5: so they do a good job.
7:06
Speaker 1: Look, tractor work is behind schedule. You do maize there.
7:10
Speaker 1: Are you having to change thinking at all for the
7:12
Speaker 1: upcoming season, or everything's just been delayed?
7:16
Speaker 5: No change of thinking, no, but yeah, we haven't tried any.
7:19
Speaker 5: We're actually singing a chuck in the maxi till on
7:22
Speaker 5: this afternoon and giving a couple of kale paddocks that
7:25
Speaker 5: were in kale during the winter a wee tickle up
7:28
Speaker 5: just to let the air into them. But yeah, the
7:32
Speaker 5: oats that go in after the maize, they probably didn't
7:35
Speaker 5: like the wet as much as we'd like, so they're
7:38
Speaker 5: down on yield, and the calves that are on them
7:41
Speaker 5: are probably three weeks late getting onto them, but that's
7:43
Speaker 5: just nature of the beast this year, so those paddocks
7:47
Speaker 5: have all got to be gone in May in less
7:49
Speaker 5: than a month really so there's a lot to do
7:52
Speaker 5: in a very short time.
7:53
Speaker 1: Feed utilisation as far as the crop paddocks how did
7:56
Speaker 1: that end up?
7:58
Speaker 5: Yeah no it ended up pretty good probably would have
8:03
Speaker 5: liked to have another paddock had another paddock of kale
8:06
Speaker 5: or that but the way it's turned out but who
8:08
Speaker 5: was to know that this was going to carry on
8:10
Speaker 5: like that so you know everything was sort of three
8:13
Speaker 5: weeks behind like I said the calves and the In
8:15
Speaker 5: the barn there, they were out on the oats the
8:18
Speaker 5: start of September last year, and they weren't on until
8:21
Speaker 5: about the 20th this year. So, like I said, three
8:24
Speaker 5: weeks behind. So we've just got to try and jog
8:28
Speaker 5: that three weeks forward to get everything back to where
8:30
Speaker 5: it needs to be.
8:31
Speaker 1: You're a pretty pragmatic character, to be honest, Bruce. So
8:34
Speaker 1: is it a matter of just seeing what was behind
8:37
Speaker 1: you and looking forward and just being matter-of-fact about how
8:40
Speaker 1: you're going to get stuff done now?
8:42
Speaker 5: Oh absolutely I mean it's a cliche you can't change
8:45
Speaker 5: the weather and if we could we'd all would have
8:47
Speaker 5: done it a long time before now but that's the
8:50
Speaker 5: joy of farming every day is a new adventure and
8:52
Speaker 5: you just have to play what's in front of you
8:54
Speaker 5: I know we're all looking at the calendar there and
8:58
Speaker 5: it said that you know 10 days ago there was
9:00
Speaker 5: a good spell of fine weather coming and we'd all
9:03
Speaker 5: been counting down and counting down and it's come to
9:05
Speaker 5: fruition so you know those first couple of days of
9:08
Speaker 5: sun it was like a brand new country and And
9:11
Speaker 5: the start of the season really started then, in my opinion.
9:14
Speaker 5: Everyone had a spring in their step and a better attitude. And,
9:18
Speaker 5: you know, they say if the sun's shining, everyone's a
9:19
Speaker 5: lot happier. And it certainly rings true at the moment.
9:23
Speaker 5: I'll say there's people in worse positions than us, you know. And,
9:26
Speaker 5: you know, you really feel for everybody in this situation. So,
9:31
Speaker 5: you know, you've just got to try and make as
9:32
Speaker 5: much as cliche it sounds every post a winner, you know,
9:35
Speaker 5: if there's... You can try and get back those couple
9:38
Speaker 5: of weeks. Nobody's scared of sitting on the track around here,
9:41
Speaker 5: and we'll catch it back up. And the farming calendar
9:45
Speaker 5: still rolls on, whether it's wet, dry, or otherwise, so
9:48
Speaker 5: you've just got to make it happen instead of sit
9:49
Speaker 5: around and hope that it happens.
9:51
Speaker 1: Good on you, Bruce. Just by the way, have you
9:53
Speaker 1: ever been to Bathurst or harboured ambitions of going?
9:57
Speaker 5: I haven't been to the race, but I have. I
9:58
Speaker 5: was on a trip there... a good 15-odd years ago,
10:01
Speaker 5: and I did do a burnout on Pitt Street in
10:04
Speaker 5: the rental car. But yeah, it's an amazing track. I mean,
10:08
Speaker 5: to think it's a public road every other day of
10:10
Speaker 5: the year, you drive around it, it's amazing, the undulation
10:14
Speaker 5: in it and that. So I've never been to it
10:17
Speaker 5: race week, but I don't know if it would be
10:19
Speaker 5: as good as just sitting in front of the TV
10:21
Speaker 5: with a few beers. You get all the replays and
10:22
Speaker 5: you don't have to deal with the flies and the
10:24
Speaker 5: snakes and the spiders.
10:25
Speaker 1: Be a hell of a muster trip.
10:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, no, it would be. Yeah, mark that down.
10:30
Speaker 1: Duly noted, Bruce Seed. Thanks for your time as always.
10:33
Speaker 5: Righto, mate.
10:34
Speaker 6: Thank you.
10:34
Speaker 5: We'll see you later.
10:36
Speaker 3: The muster on the farm with Southland District Council working
10:39
Speaker 3: together for a better Southland.
10:45
Speaker 1: Dean Ravage is based at Glenham, not far out of Wyndham.
10:48
Speaker 1: He's a sheep and beef farmer and joins us this
10:51
Speaker 1: afternoon as we head into October with a better week
10:55
Speaker 1: of weather for the South, Dean. Good afternoon.
10:57
Speaker 6: Good afternoon, Andy.
10:58
Speaker 1: A better week in store?
11:00
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's looking a bit like it, isn't it? Not
11:03
Speaker 4: very much needed for everybody. So it looks like we'll
11:07
Speaker 4: hopefully get some tails off towards the end of the week,
11:09
Speaker 4: which is exciting, and hopefully start to move on to
11:13
Speaker 4: a few more... historical summer, well, not summer jobs, tractor
11:17
Speaker 4: jobs this time of year, trying to get some crop
11:20
Speaker 4: ground back ready for grass and all those fun jobs
11:23
Speaker 4: and a few gateways repaired after the events we've had. So, yeah,
11:26
Speaker 4: it's just that time of year that things are just
11:29
Speaker 4: starting to, still going to be busy, but just the
11:32
Speaker 4: task of changing a wee bit, which is nice.
11:34
Speaker 1: You say you're excited about tailing. Is that based on
11:37
Speaker 1: the season we've had and you can see light at
11:39
Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel? Yeah, pretty much.
11:42
Speaker 4: It means it's finally good enough to do it, Andy.
11:46
Speaker 4: we'll hook into the terminals we'll just do one day
11:49
Speaker 4: at them and be used and yeah normally they're done
11:54
Speaker 4: about a week ago so yeah the fact that we've
11:57
Speaker 4: been thinking about it is a good sign really.
11:59
Speaker 1: Isn't it Rainfall figures at your farm Dean what do
12:02
Speaker 1: you reckon you've had for September compared to normal any ideas?
12:06
Speaker 4: Look I just take about 20 mils off what Matt
12:09
Speaker 4: McRae has in my career.
12:10
Speaker 6: To be honest so um.
12:13
Speaker 4: We'll be getting close to that, 300 mils as well. So, yeah,
12:18
Speaker 4: I know the rain gauges hit between 10 and 15
12:23
Speaker 4: mils in the most mornings you've been past it. But
12:26
Speaker 4: then again, it's pretty hard to measure it when it's
12:28
Speaker 4: coming in sideways too. So, yeah, we'll be getting up
12:31
Speaker 4: there at 300 mils, which is quite high for us.
12:34
Speaker 1: That's 300 mils for September alone?
12:38
Speaker 6: Yep.
12:39
Speaker 1: Oh, well, that tells you the Mokorita must be a
12:41
Speaker 1: bit of a yardstick for the region.
12:43
Speaker 6: Yep.
12:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, it'd be the higher end of the region, I'd suspect,
12:49
Speaker 4: but up here it's not far away from us, so
12:50
Speaker 4: it's reasonably comparable.
12:53
Speaker 1: We've had a couple of days of warmer weather, thank
12:56
Speaker 1: God for that. I was going to say something else then,
12:58
Speaker 1: because it's the first thing that comes to mind when
13:00
Speaker 1: you think of the weather lately, Dino. Are you starting
13:02
Speaker 1: to see a tinge of growth here? Is the ground
13:04
Speaker 1: absorbing all this moisture? What's happening?
13:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think it's amazing what 48 hours does, eh?
13:11
Speaker 4: Just How's the lamb drop been, all things considered.
13:18
Speaker 6: At your place?
13:43
Speaker 4: Look, it's going to be back. There's no denying that. But, yeah,
13:49
Speaker 4: it's definitely had worse years. Yeah, sort of, people keep
13:55
Speaker 4: going back to that 2010 year. It's still better than that,
14:00
Speaker 4: and without the capital year losses, I think that was
14:02
Speaker 4: the real kicker in 2010, and we haven't seen them
14:05
Speaker 4: this year with the metabolic issues that were associated that year.
14:08
Speaker 6: Yeah, so.
14:09
Speaker 4: No, as frustrating as it's going to be, the lamb
14:11
Speaker 4: numbers may be down the years, but then on the
14:14
Speaker 4: flip side, the hogs are in full swing now and
14:16
Speaker 4: they're going to get a good sort of two-week window
14:19
Speaker 4: or ten days to get most of their work done.
14:21
Speaker 4: So maybe the extra lambs in the hogs this year
14:24
Speaker 4: may make up for a small decrease in the main years.
14:28
Speaker 4: So all in all, it might average out to be
14:31
Speaker 4: another year. But we won't know until we tail. But
14:35
Speaker 4: then getting them tailed is one thing, it's getting them
14:38
Speaker 4: on the truck at a 18 and a half kilo
14:40
Speaker 4: carcass is the next barrel so that's what you get
14:44
Speaker 4: paid for at the end of the day so we
14:46
Speaker 4: start to transition that focus from there on to get
14:50
Speaker 4: some ground as fast as we can I guess.
14:52
Speaker 1: Are you as intense with the hog at lambing as
14:55
Speaker 1: say the main flock?
14:57
Speaker 4: Yeah probably more intensive to be honest Andy we've got
15:01
Speaker 4: a lambing ship from Wales over for the lambing this
15:04
Speaker 4: year and he's going around the hogs three times a
15:07
Speaker 4: day just um especially in these warmer days, you can
15:12
Speaker 4: sort of lose a few with landing difficulties or landslides. So, yeah,
15:17
Speaker 4: don't take long, shoot round, and you've only got to
15:19
Speaker 4: save a couple to make it last. So, yeah, it's
15:23
Speaker 4: only for one-and-a-half cycles, so short, sharp stuff. We're in
15:27
Speaker 4: three clubs today.
15:28
Speaker 6: Yeah.
15:29
Speaker 1: Now, your shepherd came over from Wales, like you talked
15:31
Speaker 1: about then. I remember last time we spoke, you were
15:33
Speaker 1: going away to the airport to pick him up. Poor
15:36
Speaker 1: guy must just think Southland's absolute pits.
15:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, I've had a bit of sorrow for him, to
15:42
Speaker 4: be honest. He's battled away quite well. So, yeah, I
15:47
Speaker 4: don't know if he'll be putting his head up for
15:49
Speaker 4: doing another South of the Lamming, but at least the
15:53
Speaker 4: last two weeks have been more enjoyable.
15:57
Speaker 1: So what's he made of the South of the Lamming
15:59
Speaker 1: in New Zealand in general? Because I imagine back home
16:02
Speaker 1: it's all done in sight.
16:04
Speaker 4: Look, just probably get him on in heavy yards on Monday, Andy, but... Yeah,
16:09
Speaker 4: I think it's very similar, it's just a lambing outside.
16:12
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's reasonably similar by all accounts from what
16:17
Speaker 4: I've picked up, yeah.
16:19
Speaker 1: So get the tractor into the paddock, get the tailing done,
16:22
Speaker 1: and this will be the next two or three weeks
16:23
Speaker 1: of focus.
16:25
Speaker 4: Yeah, first thing, yeah, actually got to repair a few gateways,
16:30
Speaker 4: get some rocks in them so we can either get
16:32
Speaker 4: used lambs through to a paddock where we can tail
16:35
Speaker 4: them or we can get the tailing gear done. through
16:37
Speaker 4: to the ears of the lambs. So it's just one
16:40
Speaker 4: of those things, just the prolonged weather over the winter.
16:43
Speaker 4: The cold's washed out in other places too, so that's
16:47
Speaker 4: a priority. Then we'll get the tails off, and then
16:49
Speaker 4: we'll start thinking about burning some $ 3 diesel, getting the
16:55
Speaker 4: crop ground ready to go, I guess I suppose. So yeah,
16:58
Speaker 4: it'll cover it well enough too.
17:00
Speaker 1: That phrase after the Christchurch earthquakes comes to mind, being munted.
17:06
Speaker 1: Are your gateways munted proper?
17:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, a few of the higher traffic ones are pretty munted,
17:14
Speaker 4: especially on the flatter paddocks. There's water there, nowhere to go.
17:19
Speaker 4: Whereas on the hills, fortunately, you can sort of run
17:22
Speaker 4: off a bit. So there are a couple of loads
17:25
Speaker 4: of rocks.
17:25
Speaker 3: Most of us.
17:27
Speaker 4: Sort things out, so it won't take too long.
17:30
Speaker 1: How have the U's come through the spring so far?
17:34
Speaker 4: The B U's are battling a wee bit, but they're
17:36
Speaker 4: always the poorer U's anyway, which is frustrating because they're
17:41
Speaker 4: sort of getting allocated a lot more feet, and the
17:44
Speaker 4: A U's are holding on really well at the moment. Yeah,
17:49
Speaker 4: but obviously we're going to have to keep a close
17:53
Speaker 4: eye on them this year, so we'll just see what happens,
17:57
Speaker 4: but we may have to throw a bit more URI
17:59
Speaker 4: around later on um to make sure we've got adequate
18:02
Speaker 4: covers so yeah that's all right we'll get there you've.
18:07
Speaker 1: Got through september now dean do you just carry on
18:09
Speaker 1: with the mindset as to what you normally do yep.
18:13
Speaker 4: Yeah no i'm not going to change too much um
18:15
Speaker 4: not a big fan of making radical changes just after
18:19
Speaker 4: one or two bad events um trying to make calculated
18:25
Speaker 4: changes and panic slowly really.
18:27
Speaker 1: So um Well, Wednesday night, the Beef and Lamb Spring
18:30
Speaker 1: Shouts coming to your neck of the woods anyway. Three
18:32
Speaker 1: Rivers Hotel at Wyndham, 5pm start. And Thursday, Brunnel Peaks
18:36
Speaker 1: Cafe over at Blackmount. So, knowing you Wyndham buggers, I'd
18:39
Speaker 1: say you'll have a bit of a thirst built up
18:41
Speaker 1: by Wednesday night.
18:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, we might find our way down there, I guess.
18:47
Speaker 4: We've also got the Rugby Cabaret Prize giving on Friday
18:49
Speaker 4: night too, so there's plenty of good causes to get
18:54
Speaker 4: off farming. socialise a bit this week, coming up, which
18:57
Speaker 4: is good, and I think people are finally getting to
18:59
Speaker 4: that space where they can breathe a little bit and
19:02
Speaker 4: feel as though you can, or not feel too guilty
19:06
Speaker 4: about getting off farm and, yeah, trying to be stressed
19:10
Speaker 4: a bit, because I know, yeah, the stress levels have been,
19:14
Speaker 4: and if not are, still pretty high up there.
19:16
Speaker 1: Good on you, Dean. Good to catch up, as always.
19:19
Speaker 6: Cheers, Andy.
19:19
Speaker 1: It took me by surprise Welcome back. You're listening to
19:29
Speaker 1: The Muster. Anna Gillespie is president of Otago Federated Farmers,
19:33
Speaker 1: farming just out of Omakau. Anna, good afternoon. Oh, look,
19:37
Speaker 1: it's been a hot topic up there in your neck
19:39
Speaker 1: of the woods regarding sludge being carted onto farmland, and
19:44
Speaker 1: it's been going on for a while, and it's got
19:45
Speaker 1: a few people hot under the collar.
19:48
Speaker 4: Cheers, Andy.
19:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, it certainly has.
19:50
Speaker 6: Has.
19:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been going on since probably July or August,
19:54
Speaker 3: carting sludge from Wanaka treatment plant, well, yep, Wanaka sewerage
19:59
Speaker 3: ponds to Lauder.
20:00
Speaker 1: Oh, I think the obvious question is why?
20:03
Speaker 5: Well.
20:06
Speaker 3: For QLDC, for the Queensland Lakes District Council, it's a
20:11
Speaker 3: cheaper option than trucking it to Southland to the AB
20:15
Speaker 3: line pit at Winton. And so, I mean, cost saving.
20:20
Speaker 3: They were looking for some other way of dealing with
20:23
Speaker 3: it and really cost us a driver around that, which
20:25
Speaker 3: is understandable. I mean, we're all at them to keep
20:27
Speaker 3: their rates down. So, you know, they're looking for other
20:30
Speaker 3: options and, yeah, came up with this option.
20:34
Speaker 6: But.
20:36
Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't consider that a good strategy or a
20:40
Speaker 3: long-term option.
20:41
Speaker 1: Where does this stand regarding the consenting process? Did it
20:44
Speaker 1: all go through?
20:46
Speaker 3: Yes, so the Otago Regional Council gave them a non-notified
20:49
Speaker 3: consent to spread.
20:50
Speaker 4: It to land.
20:52
Speaker 1: So how treated is this so-called water when it goes
20:55
Speaker 1: on the land or the sludge as it is?
20:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not treated. It's dewatered. It has a thickener
21:01
Speaker 3: in it. it's pretty much, add water and she's good
21:05
Speaker 3: to go again. It's kind of, you know, like it's
21:08
Speaker 3: not a, I mean, yeah, it's not treated at all, really.
21:12
Speaker 3: And a sense of treating it and taking any chemical
21:14
Speaker 3: elements out of it or changing it, really, it's not treated.
21:19
Speaker 1: The residents around Lauda, what do they make of the situation?
21:23
Speaker 3: No, I'm pretty angry about it. And real fear over
21:27
Speaker 3: it getting into stock water and house water systems. Like
21:31
Speaker 3: it's kind of in this, you know, the higher end
21:33
Speaker 3: of the catchment in terms of it's got a lot
21:35
Speaker 3: of lauder catchment below it. So, yeah, there's a lot
21:39
Speaker 3: of stock boars and house systems that it could get
21:44
Speaker 3: into that people are pretty upset about. As you can imagine,
21:47
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, and the guy next door, I mean,
21:49
Speaker 3: he's been farming there for 54 years and now his
21:52
Speaker 3: house stinks like a bloody toilet and, you know, like
21:55
Speaker 3: he's just, absolutely in the firing line of it. It's
21:58
Speaker 3: like you get a windy day and it's just going to,
22:00
Speaker 3: you know, any dust from it's going to blow in
22:02
Speaker 3: his direction and it's pretty horrific. The consent holder bought
22:07
Speaker 3: the property and then, yeah, I've got consent to spread.
22:12
Speaker 1: What's the dialogue been like between you guys and the
22:14
Speaker 1: OIC and other parties? Has it been existing?
22:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, OIC has certainly come up with, I mean, it
22:22
Speaker 3: wasn't to start with, obviously, and the consent went through
22:25
Speaker 3: in January, and it wasn't until May that it kind of, yeah,
22:30
Speaker 3: people became aware of it and what was actually happening,
22:33
Speaker 3: and ORC have come up and been up and had
22:35
Speaker 3: community meetings since then, and, yeah, working with the community
22:40
Speaker 3: to gather information that wasn't in the consent. So when
22:43
Speaker 3: the consent application went in, it was missing a whole
22:46
Speaker 3: lot of information, you know, about Stockwood Boards and stuff
22:48
Speaker 3: like that, the effect on neighbouring properties. And so, yeah,
22:54
Speaker 3: I see working hard now to actually gather all that
22:57
Speaker 3: information and they will start reviewing the consent at the
23:00
Speaker 3: end of October.
23:02
Speaker 1: As far as cubic metres or the amount of sludge
23:05
Speaker 1: allowed to go on this farmland, what's it consented to?
23:09
Speaker 3: Oh, gee, you've got me on the fly. I can't
23:11
Speaker 3: remember off the top of my head.
23:13
Speaker 6: It's quite a lot.
23:14
Speaker 3: Like it's, yeah, it's a big truckload a day pretty much.
23:20
Speaker 3: And I think, I mean, it's consented to more than that,
23:22
Speaker 3: but that's what's kind of coming in at the moment.
23:25
Speaker 1: Now, you think about your average cocky innovator and something
23:27
Speaker 1: like this, they'd be hauled over the gunnels.
23:30
Speaker 3: Oh, absolutely.
23:32
Speaker 6: Yeah.
23:32
Speaker 3: I mean, and that's the thing. I mean, you can
23:34
Speaker 3: kind of pick out all the different factors within it,
23:37
Speaker 3: within the consent. But, I mean, one of the standout
23:40
Speaker 3: in farmer lingo is 600 kilos of nitrogen per hectare
23:44
Speaker 3: in one application, basically.
23:46
Speaker 5: Yeah.
23:47
Speaker 3: So, and then they're going to grow a crop in
23:49
Speaker 3: dryland central Otago and soak that up, supposedly. It's like, well,
23:53
Speaker 3: anyone with a farming background knows that it's not going
23:55
Speaker 3: to work. So, you know, I mean, the best dryland
23:58
Speaker 3: crop around here you'd grow, I mean, it would have
24:00
Speaker 3: to be a cracker season. You might get 12 tonne
24:02
Speaker 3: if you're lucky. But I mean, on average, you'd be,
24:04
Speaker 3: like our dryland, you know, I measure grass weekly. So
24:08
Speaker 3: our dryland stuff does about seven tonne of grass. And it's,
24:12
Speaker 3: you know, when it's absolutely cranking. It's growing as much
24:15
Speaker 3: as the irrigated, but as soon as you're in a
24:17
Speaker 3: moisture deficit, then you just, it shuts down and, you know,
24:21
Speaker 3: in the summer it gets too hot and doesn't grow
24:22
Speaker 3: at all. You get kind of soil temperatures over 28
24:25
Speaker 3: degrees kind of thing.
24:26
Speaker 6: It gets pretty.
24:27
Speaker 1: What's it going to be like with all these housing
24:30
Speaker 1: projects on the go as well? I mean, you don't
24:32
Speaker 1: really want to have to comprehend it.
24:35
Speaker 3: No, and that's the issue, right? It's a wider kind
24:38
Speaker 3: of conversation that we need to have about regional infrastructure
24:41
Speaker 3: and national infrastructure and you know, it's all very well
24:44
Speaker 3: to keep passing through, you know, 250 house subdivisions. I mean,
24:48
Speaker 3: that's happening right around central Otago. That's not just a
24:51
Speaker 3: Wanaka issue or a Queenstown issue. That's a, you know,
24:54
Speaker 3: that whole triangle, Wanaka, Queenstown, Cromwell, Alexandra is expanding. I mean,
24:58
Speaker 3: the last 15 years that I've lived here, it's probably
25:01
Speaker 3: damn near doubled in size, I would venture to say,
25:03
Speaker 3: in terms of the number of houses. Like, it's just
25:05
Speaker 3: growing flat out as well. Omakau's the same. I mean,
25:08
Speaker 3: all the The little towns as well are growing. So
25:11
Speaker 3: it's just becoming more and more of an issue. And
25:14
Speaker 3: we need to be having, you know, a long-term kind
25:17
Speaker 3: of discussion around it, just not coming up with these
25:20
Speaker 3: short-term solutions. And really that's around like a biochar system
25:24
Speaker 3: or something like that that incinerates it, that you get
25:27
Speaker 3: a product out of it that's ash that can be
25:29
Speaker 3: spread onto farm. Or, you know, I'm no waste expert,
25:34
Speaker 3: but there's other systems. I mean, God, this is... I'm
25:37
Speaker 3: kind of like, this is going back to the 80s,
25:39
Speaker 3: where they used to spread it along the sides of
25:41
Speaker 3: the roads kind of thing. It's like, this is not
25:43
Speaker 3: where we want to be as a country, and if
25:44
Speaker 3: everyone wants farmers to clean up their act, then the
25:46
Speaker 3: urban population need to do the same, because they're not
25:49
Speaker 3: dumping it on us.
25:50
Speaker 1: And the concern around rate rises as well, where that
25:54
Speaker 1: money's going to, well, that all comes into the equation
25:56
Speaker 1: as well, doesn't it?
25:58
Speaker 3: Absolutely, and that's, I mean, this is what, you know,
26:01
Speaker 3: as a farmer, you know in a budget you have
26:03
Speaker 3: your needs and your wants, right, and And councils need
26:06
Speaker 3: to start doing the same. It's all real well to
26:08
Speaker 3: want a great big community centre, you know, in Cromwell
26:11
Speaker 3: they just got a new one and then they haven't
26:13
Speaker 3: emptied their bloody surge base for the last 10 years.
26:15
Speaker 3: It's like, come on folks, it's, you know, what's your
26:18
Speaker 3: need and what's your want? And I get that they
26:20
Speaker 3: think that their wants are actually needs, but you've got
26:24
Speaker 3: to kind of cover your basics first as a council
26:27
Speaker 3: and all councils need to do this.
26:28
Speaker 6: They're all guilty of it.
26:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, do the basics right and then, you know, if
26:33
Speaker 3: you've If the community thinks that they need something after that,
26:38
Speaker 3: then fine, go for it. But, you know, if they're
26:40
Speaker 3: all happy to pay the rates on it, that's one thing. But, yeah,
26:44
Speaker 3: it's just getting a bit out of.
26:45
Speaker 6: Hand, really.
26:46
Speaker 1: Just while we're talking to you briefly, Anna, as well,
26:48
Speaker 1: the season down here in Southland has been a rough one.
26:51
Speaker 1: The last week's offered a bit of a spite. You're
26:54
Speaker 1: up there in central Otago, just out of Omacow. You've
26:56
Speaker 1: had a bit of snow recently, but overall, ground conditions?
27:00
Speaker 3: Pretty good now yeah it was pretty dry through August
27:03
Speaker 3: September we had about 80 mil of rain yeah it
27:07
Speaker 3: dried out a wee bit now which I mean it's
27:09
Speaker 3: perfect ground conditions at the moment it's still cold which
27:12
Speaker 3: is kind of late we're probably at least two weeks
27:15
Speaker 3: late growing yeah and you know but onwards and upwards
27:21
Speaker 3: look forward to spring and growing as much grass as
27:23
Speaker 3: we can through the spring before the summer hits.
27:26
Speaker 1: Good on you Anna thanks for your time thanks Andy.
27:30
Speaker 6: Thunderstruck! Thunderstruck!
27:32
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Thunderstruck! David Stevens is a deer farmer
27:41
Speaker 1: at Netherdale, just out of Balfour. He's been a long-time
27:45
Speaker 1: correspondent on Hokanui Radio as such, going back into the
27:48
Speaker 1: early 90s of Jamie Mackay, and we thought, well, it's
27:51
Speaker 1: about time he had his own intro music. So about
27:53
Speaker 1: a year ago, David, you got Thunderstruck as your lead-in.
27:56
Speaker 1: So firstly, good afternoon.
27:58
Speaker 6: Good afternoon, Andy.
28:00
Speaker 2: Yep, that'll rev you up a bit, doesn't it?
28:02
Speaker 1: How's everything been? Certain areas of Northern Southland have been
28:05
Speaker 1: wetter than others, I understand.
28:07
Speaker 2: Oh, yes. It's been a shocker, actually. I mean, last
28:12
Speaker 2: week's been great. A bit of growth and a bit
28:15
Speaker 2: of warmth. But, no, it's been pretty challenging for those
28:18
Speaker 2: that have been lambing and calving. And underfoot, it's just
28:22
Speaker 2: a shocker, actually. And I understand when you go further south,
28:27
Speaker 2: It's even worse. So, you know, when you see ewes
28:30
Speaker 2: and lambs that are black, it's not a good sign
28:34
Speaker 2: at all and pretty challenging. But, you know, we've had
28:39
Speaker 2: some good days the last bit overcast today. But, you know,
28:42
Speaker 2: good days and temperatures are rising just looking at the forecast.
28:45
Speaker 2: Looks as though we're up around that close to 20
28:49
Speaker 2: most days. That's a big improvement, and things will come right.
28:54
Speaker 1: From a deer farming perspective, what's the big issues at
28:58
Speaker 1: the moment?
29:00
Speaker 2: Well, obviously, we're about to get into velveting. It's a
29:03
Speaker 2: wee bit later down here. This season just hasn't been
29:06
Speaker 2: warm enough, really. I think just talking to deer farmers,
29:10
Speaker 2: you know, the velvet's a wee bit later. But in
29:12
Speaker 2: some ways, that's not a bad thing. Often those earlier
29:15
Speaker 2: heads don't have the weight in them, so it's... Better
29:18
Speaker 2: to get the buttons off a wee bit later and
29:20
Speaker 2: get that growth with a bit more weight, so that
29:23
Speaker 2: won't do any harm. And just on the velvet side
29:27
Speaker 2: of it, Southland Deer Farmers Branch ran a workshop at
29:34
Speaker 2: PGG Wrightsons in Vicargill on velvet grading, and there was
29:39
Speaker 2: quite a number of people. arrived and Tony Cochran, he's
29:43
Speaker 2: the head man for velvet and Wrightsons, he was there
29:48
Speaker 2: and John Fogarty, John buys quite a bit of velvet
29:50
Speaker 2: himself and so it was very good actually. It really
29:54
Speaker 2: explained the new gradings at the right time of the year, too,
29:59
Speaker 2: so people understood before they started cutting. So whereas last
30:03
Speaker 2: year we had a bit of a problem with that issue. But,
30:06
Speaker 2: you know, the same old questions were asked. You know,
30:11
Speaker 2: what prices are going to be for this season? And
30:16
Speaker 2: the talk is around about that $ 100. But I did
30:19
Speaker 2: a bit of a workout and looked back, Andy, at...
30:22
Speaker 2: what $ 100 means. And when you look back, I went
30:25
Speaker 2: back 19, 20 years, back to 19, I think it
30:30
Speaker 2: was 1997, and we were getting much the same, probably
30:33
Speaker 2: more than that. Actually, it was a wee bit of
30:38
Speaker 2: a lift in 97. But even at $ 100 back then,
30:40
Speaker 2: you've got to be getting an average of $ 160 now
30:44
Speaker 2: to be in business. And what's changed is the buyers now,
30:48
Speaker 2: or the processors in market, don't want those big heavy heads. And, well,
30:53
Speaker 2: they'll discount those big heavy heads. They will take them. But,
30:56
Speaker 2: you know, that opportunity to keep lifting your velvet weights
31:02
Speaker 2: every year, we've lost that. And when I look back
31:05
Speaker 2: to what we had here in 97, between 97 and 2023,
31:08
Speaker 2: we lifted our velvet weights on the herd here by 72%. Now,
31:18
Speaker 2: that kept us in business, and I would suggest that
31:20
Speaker 2: a lot of farmers were exactly doing exactly the same thing.
31:24
Speaker 2: So if you're unable to actually, you know, sell those big, well,
31:29
Speaker 2: get a discount on those big heads, you're in a
31:32
Speaker 2: situation where in the future you don't have that ability. So,
31:36
Speaker 2: you know, I really, I think that, you know, the
31:40
Speaker 2: price has got to be around that $ 160 at least
31:43
Speaker 2: for average. So that means you're top end, really you're
31:46
Speaker 2: looking at $ 200.
31:47
Speaker 1: Now, velvet's had its issues over the previous couple of seasons, David.
31:52
Speaker 1: Is there genuine fear for the industry if these prices
31:55
Speaker 1: don't improve?
31:56
Speaker 2: I think so. I think what we're looking at, Andy,
31:58
Speaker 2: is people on class land that's sort of class one
32:04
Speaker 2: to four will have to have a serious look at
32:07
Speaker 2: whether they continue velveting and then whether they swing towards
32:10
Speaker 2: the venison side more so. So I know a lot
32:14
Speaker 2: of it, you know, as commodities, you know, you look
32:18
Speaker 2: at supply and demand in sort of 1997, I think,
32:24
Speaker 2: the figure was around about that 500 tonne to shift.
32:28
Speaker 2: We actually, in the last couple of years, certainly went
32:30
Speaker 2: over 1,000 and even slightly higher than that. But I
32:34
Speaker 2: think this season we're going to be looking at sort
32:36
Speaker 2: of around that 800, 900 tonne. And I think that
32:40
Speaker 2: that's probably going to be a sweet spot. as far
32:43
Speaker 2: as going into the market. So really, I think that
32:49
Speaker 2: people will be looking at that and saying, well, hang on,
32:52
Speaker 2: we should be getting a hell of a lot more
32:54
Speaker 2: than what we are at the moment. And if we don't,
32:57
Speaker 2: we'll look at other options. And there is other options
32:59
Speaker 2: out there.
33:00
Speaker 1: Regarding Velvet, is it realistic to deviate into other markets
33:03
Speaker 1: apart from the status quo?
33:06
Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, no, it doesn't. I've moved into... There's a
33:10
Speaker 2: market going into Vietnam now, so it's a new market.
33:16
Speaker 2: It's one that we've got access into now, so there
33:21
Speaker 2: is opportunity there. So it'll be interesting to see just
33:26
Speaker 2: what sort of pricing goes into that market. It's new,
33:31
Speaker 2: so it'll be interesting just to see what happens there.
33:33
Speaker 2: But no, the traditional markets are South Korea and China.
33:38
Speaker 2: The Chinese buy most of the velvet, and quite a
33:41
Speaker 2: considerable amount of that actually is processed and goes back
33:45
Speaker 2: into South Korea. So, yes, it'll be interesting to see
33:49
Speaker 2: what comes out of the season. And, you know, when
33:52
Speaker 2: you look at it like that, you know, those figures,
33:55
Speaker 2: I mean, if you look at $ 100 now, I mean,
33:58
Speaker 2: if you continue at that sort of average for another
34:01
Speaker 2: 10 years, it's only going to be purchasing value of
34:04
Speaker 2: about $ 60.
34:06
Speaker 1: Regarding the venison schedule, whenever I speak to yourself or
34:09
Speaker 1: Peter Allen, it's always a topic of hot conversation. What
34:13
Speaker 1: are we hearing at the moment? Like $ 12, is that
34:15
Speaker 1: on the table?
34:16
Speaker 2: Yes, yep, no, I understand that. I see published at
34:20
Speaker 2: the moment around about that $ 11. 50, but contracts I'd imagine
34:25
Speaker 2: around about that $ 12. And I think it'll go fairly
34:31
Speaker 2: reasonably strong right through into the autumn. It's just that
34:34
Speaker 2: supply is not there and, you know, that volume. So
34:38
Speaker 2: it'll certainly be, it'll hold up. And unless it's something unusual,
34:42
Speaker 2: you wouldn't know in the world these days. But, yeah, no,
34:46
Speaker 2: I think Andy, 12 bucks is, yeah, certainly. And hopefully
34:51
Speaker 2: going into the autumn, it's sitting up around, you know,
34:54
Speaker 2: close to 11. It would be, certainly, it would certainly
34:59
Speaker 2: help things. I think the other thing too that's happened
35:01
Speaker 2: over the last, Seasonal too, there's been a huge number
35:05
Speaker 2: of mixed-age valving stags go through the system. So obviously,
35:10
Speaker 2: I don't know whether that'll happen. Well, it'll depend a bit,
35:14
Speaker 2: I suppose, on just what I've been talking about, the
35:16
Speaker 2: price of velvet per kilogram. And if it's not feasible
35:21
Speaker 2: for people business-wise to continue, they certainly will be going
35:25
Speaker 2: through the works.
35:26
Speaker 1: Now, David, a couple of things you want to comment
35:28
Speaker 1: on here regarding communication, but especially with fertiliser going on
35:33
Speaker 1: with helicopters at the moment due to ground conditions, a
35:36
Speaker 1: couple of issues.
35:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, just observation, Andy. With this season being so wet,
35:43
Speaker 2: a lot of people are putting furt on with the
35:46
Speaker 2: choppers at the moment. Just an observation. There's been the
35:50
Speaker 2: odd complaint about choppers going over the top of properties
35:55
Speaker 2: swinging across over the top of properties when there's a
35:58
Speaker 2: velvet herd in underneath them. And you'll obviously realise that
36:03
Speaker 2: that's pretty low. And also, lamby mobs. And I think
36:07
Speaker 2: there's got to be some responsibility taken here. Some of
36:10
Speaker 2: the helicopter pilots need to look at themselves a bit,
36:14
Speaker 2: or companies, because you can do a couple of rounds
36:17
Speaker 2: of the property prior to doing that. And, you know,
36:21
Speaker 2: there's been the odd complaint. So I just thought I'd
36:23
Speaker 2: put it out there. you know a bit of responsibility
36:27
Speaker 2: there thinking of your neighbor and um you know it's
36:31
Speaker 2: not hard to do so i just thought i'd mention that.
36:36
Speaker 1: It's an interesting one given we haven't had this situation
36:39
Speaker 1: for october where bulkies can't get into the paddocks i
36:42
Speaker 1: suppose so it's almost a case of the unknown for
36:44
Speaker 1: a lot of people in that instance that's right yep.
36:47
Speaker 2: No it's uh No, it's something to think about because,
36:50
Speaker 2: you know, you don't want broken legs or broken velvet
36:52
Speaker 2: heads or, you know, using lambs all mixed up or whatever.
36:56
Speaker 2: So it's just something to consider and think of others.
37:01
Speaker 2: So I just thought I'd put it out there. I've
37:04
Speaker 2: seen the... I've actually had first-hand experience. I know where
37:09
Speaker 2: we're going with this. So it's all very well letting
37:12
Speaker 2: people know that you're going to be doing it. It's
37:14
Speaker 2: a case of actually, you know, actually... making sure you
37:19
Speaker 2: don't swing across other properties. And in some cases, it's
37:27
Speaker 2: impossible to do, but in most cases, you can actually
37:30
Speaker 2: avoid it.
37:31
Speaker 1: David Stevens, always appreciate your time on The Master.
37:35
Speaker 2: Thanks, Andy.
37:36
Speaker 1: Welcome to the.
37:39
Speaker 5: House of Fun.
37:40
Speaker 1: Now I've come of age.
37:43
Speaker 4: Welcome to the House of Fun.
37:50
Speaker 1: Welcome to the muster on Hakanui, the house of fun,
37:53
Speaker 1: the less debatable. The group is Madness. Our next guest
37:56
Speaker 1: will know all about them, Don Morrison, farming out at Willowbank.
38:00
Speaker 1: How are we? Good afternoon. You'll be all over these
38:02
Speaker 1: guys like a rash.
38:03
Speaker 6: Kia ora, Andy. Yeah, I know some of their music
38:06
Speaker 6: and actually my wife, Bridget, she's a big Madness fan
38:09
Speaker 6: from her varsity days back in London. So, yeah, yet
38:12
Speaker 6: know that they're touring this year. And, hey, Aps, it's
38:15
Speaker 6: a house of fun. It's a different ballgame when the
38:18
Speaker 6: sun shines, isn't it?
38:19
Speaker 1: It is a different ballgame. Just quickly back to Madness, though.
38:23
Speaker 1: You would have been a fan of the Young Ones
38:25
Speaker 1: on TV, Neil, Vivian, Rick and Co, and Madness always
38:28
Speaker 1: seemed to pop up as the band during the episodes.
38:32
Speaker 6: Yeah, absolutely. That was when I was at Lincoln at Varsity, Andy,
38:36
Speaker 6: and it used to be Friday night. down to the Carlton,
38:39
Speaker 6: then back to Munster Palace to watch the young ones
38:44
Speaker 6: on TV. It must have been 10 or 11 o'clock
38:46
Speaker 6: it was on, I think.
38:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're starting to show your age now, but I'll
38:49
Speaker 1: take your word for it, Oz. I think it was
38:51
Speaker 1: about Form 3, watching it on video because it was
38:54
Speaker 1: on too late for me. But nonetheless, like you say,
38:56
Speaker 1: it's a changer with the weather. It certainly puts everything
39:01
Speaker 1: in a bit more of a context at the moment.
39:03
Speaker 6: Yeah, look, a different world, Andy, and we get a
39:05
Speaker 6: few good days. Animals are happy, things are drying up,
39:09
Speaker 6: and it's just got a nice feel. I'm not going
39:12
Speaker 6: to say we're going to forget that bit of rubbish
39:14
Speaker 6: we went through in September, but you can put it
39:17
Speaker 6: out of your mind a bit and get on with
39:18
Speaker 6: the job now.
39:19
Speaker 1: A lot of areas struggling with feed covers at the moment.
39:22
Speaker 1: Where are your base there, Howie? Can you see a
39:25
Speaker 1: recovery going on there? The ground's getting through at the
39:27
Speaker 1: worst of it?
39:29
Speaker 6: Oh, look, it's... um it's going to be slow so
39:32
Speaker 6: obviously there's going to be impacts on growth rates which
39:34
Speaker 6: will impact right through to weanings and um but uh
39:38
Speaker 6: yeah the grass is growing we've had a couple of
39:40
Speaker 6: paddocks with the hogget blocks that um the hoggets are
39:42
Speaker 6: just sort of moving around that have been saved and
39:45
Speaker 6: there's some grass When the paddock was using lambs, it's
39:48
Speaker 6: been growing, but they've just been eating it as fast
39:50
Speaker 6: as it'll grow.
39:52
Speaker 1: Just a state of play at the moment. But you're
39:53
Speaker 1: not changing anything based on the way the spring's been
39:56
Speaker 1: to date?
39:57
Speaker 6: Yeah, I was a bit greedy this year in how
40:03
Speaker 6: many area of crop we put in for the winter grazing,
40:06
Speaker 6: cut it back a bit, where we'll be just elevating
40:09
Speaker 6: it a bit next year. When you rely on those
40:12
Speaker 6: really heavy yields, which we've been getting, and you just
40:17
Speaker 6: can't quite always guarantee them. So, yeah, that put us
40:20
Speaker 6: under pressure. There was a lot of things we got
40:22
Speaker 6: wrong in management. You know, we didn't really have the
40:25
Speaker 6: feed we needed, and we went in really tight. Anyone
40:27
Speaker 6: who drives past will see that in our covers. But
40:30
Speaker 6: we got a bit right historically, and that's the shelter
40:34
Speaker 6: we got on the plane. And I guess the emphasis
40:36
Speaker 6: we put on lamb survival in our breeding programme through
40:40
Speaker 6: the last 25 years, Andy, it's probably been one of
40:43
Speaker 6: our biggest selections tools with our animals as far as
40:47
Speaker 6: repeatability and heritability. Animals we use, breeding values we don't
40:52
Speaker 6: sell or keep or advocate using anything that's got a
40:56
Speaker 6: negative BV for lamb survival, and I think it probably
40:59
Speaker 6: got us out of jail this year. So while we
41:02
Speaker 6: had some losses, it's actually not going to be a
41:03
Speaker 6: bad lambing. We start tailing tomorrow, and I would say
41:07
Speaker 6: we'll still have a pretty good number of lambs.
41:10
Speaker 1: Interesting you say that, but particularly regarding the crop, do
41:13
Speaker 1: you think that rationale is based on the spring that
41:16
Speaker 1: we endured? And if it was, say, a better spring
41:19
Speaker 1: that we've been accustomed to in the past, then crops
41:21
Speaker 1: wouldn't come into it, putting extra in for next season?
41:25
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it always goes back, Andy, if you've
41:27
Speaker 6: got that little bit of extra crop, you can keep
41:29
Speaker 6: animals on another week or 10 days if you've got
41:32
Speaker 6: that option. And whether it's a good year or a
41:35
Speaker 6: bad year, that's really good, because in a good year...
41:38
Speaker 6: You can actually just be putting condition on with that
41:41
Speaker 6: fodder beet. You can really have that grass ahead to
41:44
Speaker 6: put them straight onto and lamb. And when you've got
41:46
Speaker 6: a bad season, gee, you really needed it this year. So,
41:49
Speaker 6: you know, we paid the price. We just put a
41:51
Speaker 6: couple of hectares in less. You know, two more hectares
41:53
Speaker 6: of fodder beet would have, you know, fed a lot
41:55
Speaker 6: of animals for another week or 10 days.
41:57
Speaker 1: As far as tailing, like you say, tomorrow, how long
42:00
Speaker 1: does that take to get over and done with?
42:02
Speaker 6: Oh, well, we've just started lambing the hogget, so we
42:05
Speaker 6: sort of do a hogget round. We've got a young girl, Eleanor,
42:08
Speaker 6: who's doing all the hoggets, but we'll be there to
42:09
Speaker 6: help her out. And we'll just get out about 9 o'clock.
42:13
Speaker 6: We do about 1,000 a day, you know, 1,200 or
42:16
Speaker 6: 1,300 if we sort of rock into it a bit,
42:19
Speaker 6: but it's just the team here working away. But we're
42:22
Speaker 6: really just going to start on the older, we'll get
42:24
Speaker 6: the older lambs done this week, the early lambing ones
42:27
Speaker 6: from August, and then probably kick into it in a
42:29
Speaker 6: bigger way next week.
42:31
Speaker 1: So those earlier lambs, they would have taken a check
42:33
Speaker 1: with the weather, I'd imagine?
42:36
Speaker 6: The earlier lambs were okay because we actually lambed them
42:39
Speaker 6: on the hoggart blocks and had good feed, saved the
42:41
Speaker 6: feed that we'd normally allocate to them and then pushed
42:45
Speaker 6: them over. So, no, they're actually looking okay. It's probably
42:48
Speaker 6: more just some of the September lambs that got that check.
42:52
Speaker 6: You know, there's what the storm kills or the weather
42:55
Speaker 6: kills and then there's what the mud, you know, takes
42:58
Speaker 6: its toll on. So you drive around and... you're still
43:01
Speaker 6: picking up the odd dead lamb from some form of infection.
43:05
Speaker 6: So those bearer paddocks, that's what you've got to deal with.
43:09
Speaker 1: You've had the shearers in earlier on today doing the
43:11
Speaker 1: ram hoggets. The wool industry is an interesting one at
43:15
Speaker 1: the moment. It ebbs and flows. It's very much a
43:17
Speaker 1: Manhattan skyline of prices. A correction a couple of weeks ago,
43:21
Speaker 1: but still, Howie, when you look at the industry as
43:24
Speaker 1: to where it was and to where it is now,
43:26
Speaker 1: it's a plus.
43:28
Speaker 6: Well, I can look back to the price 30 years
43:30
Speaker 6: ago when I came back from overseas, Andy, and say
43:32
Speaker 6: that we're not even anywhere near that price. But certainly
43:35
Speaker 6: in terms of where we've been the last four or
43:37
Speaker 6: five years, yeah, it actually feels quite positive. You know,
43:42
Speaker 6: we were very happy with the prices we got last
43:45
Speaker 6: year around that $ 5, $ 6, because it means you're making
43:48
Speaker 6: a little bit of money from your sharing. And of course,
43:50
Speaker 6: when you've got that great land price that we're getting
43:52
Speaker 6: at the moment, And, you know, every extra bit per
43:55
Speaker 6: kilo certainly adds up with the wool. So these, we're
43:59
Speaker 6: only sharing the ram hoggets and sale ram hoggets, Andy,
44:01
Speaker 6: so we're not sharing them to make some money. It's
44:04
Speaker 6: just for the presentation as we get ready for the
44:07
Speaker 6: sale season sort of end of November and then on
44:09
Speaker 6: through the summer.
44:11
Speaker 1: Now, of course, Howie, you're an Alliance Board Director until recently.
44:15
Speaker 1: Looking at the lamb schedule going forward, and logic suggests
44:18
Speaker 1: it's not going to go below a 10th.
44:23
Speaker 6: I've certainly heard that I think what you're dealing with
44:27
Speaker 6: is the reality of some pretty strong international markets at
44:30
Speaker 6: the moment and then we're going to have the same
44:33
Speaker 6: old procurement pressure that has existed for the last number
44:36
Speaker 6: of years so it'll be meat companies chasing animals they
44:40
Speaker 6: may not want to and they'll have a market price
44:43
Speaker 6: they're prepared to pay and then there'll be maybe a
44:46
Speaker 6: little bit extra that they're going to have to pay
44:48
Speaker 6: to source animals and of course that eats into margins
44:50
Speaker 6: but I believe the margins are reasonably solid at the moment.
44:54
Speaker 1: Do you think there's still a concern though that overcapacity
44:56
Speaker 1: in the red meat industry hasn't been addressed in New
44:59
Speaker 1: Zealand properly?
45:00
Speaker 6: No, that overcapacity still exists and it's probably been masked
45:04
Speaker 6: by the stronger prices that all the processors have been
45:09
Speaker 6: able to get in the market but no, overcapacity is
45:13
Speaker 6: still there and that really comes down to each individual
45:17
Speaker 6: processor has to look at what its capacity is and
45:21
Speaker 6: you know, see what they do. So I know from
45:23
Speaker 6: that experience in close Smithfield, it was the right thing
45:26
Speaker 6: to do. It added profit to the bottom line. And,
45:30
Speaker 6: you know, it's tough because it's 400 or 500 jobs
45:33
Speaker 6: in Timaru that aren't there any longer. But the company
45:37
Speaker 6: has to make the right decision around that capacity. So, yeah,
45:41
Speaker 6: that issue is still there, Andy. And I'd suggest it's
45:44
Speaker 6: still a big issue.
45:46
Speaker 1: So you wouldn't be surprised if we see another procurement
45:48
Speaker 1: war this season?
45:52
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I think you'll get a procurement war at
45:54
Speaker 6: some stage. When you say a procurement war, it's just
45:56
Speaker 6: that competition effect. I suspect you're going to see that
45:58
Speaker 6: right from the start of the season. With the spring
46:01
Speaker 6: we've had here, animals are going to be low. Processors
46:06
Speaker 6: are going to want to get throughput. They're going to
46:08
Speaker 6: have commitments. They've got to meet in terms of contracts.
46:11
Speaker 6: So I think all it might do is keep that
46:13
Speaker 6: schedule price reasonably high in the first part of the
46:16
Speaker 6: season anyway.
46:18
Speaker 1: Just finally, the All Blacks Wallabies at Eden Park. The
46:21
Speaker 1: All Blacks haven't lost to Australia there since 1986. We
46:24
Speaker 1: just look at the other figure, haven't lost at Eden
46:26
Speaker 1: Park full stop since 1994 to France. This game will
46:29
Speaker 1: be an interesting one, especially the return game over in Aussie.
46:32
Speaker 1: This Wallabies team, you feel like they're building some confidence?
46:36
Speaker 6: Absolutely, they're building some confidence. Under Kiss, they've had four
46:41
Speaker 6: or five wins in a row, and that was a
46:43
Speaker 6: very good performance. win they've had i look at some
46:45
Speaker 6: of the league converts they've got over and they're bringing
46:47
Speaker 6: over i think they'll only get stronger i think we're
46:51
Speaker 6: probably uh under you know the competitive nature of it
46:54
Speaker 6: we're underestimating the positive um that we picked up from
46:58
Speaker 6: that south african tour so there's a lot of experience
47:00
Speaker 6: a lot of hard rugby i think the all blacks
47:03
Speaker 6: are actually going to go into this um into this
47:05
Speaker 6: test well prepared and i don't probably have the concerns
47:09
Speaker 6: that um that others do, or that I'm hearing in
47:13
Speaker 6: the media, and I think we're.
47:14
Speaker 4: Well prepared for it.
47:18
Speaker 1: Don Morrison there. Talking of Letters Low Cup, happening this
47:22
Speaker 1: evening at Eden Park against the Wallabies, who are picking
47:27
Speaker 1: up some good players, courtesy of a few players jumping
47:31
Speaker 1: ship from the NRL for a couple of seasons. Anyway,
47:33
Speaker 1: that's us over in Dunworth. Thanks to the Gopher, your
47:36
Speaker 1: local relief milking and contracting specialists. You've been listening to
47:40
Speaker 1: the best of the muster. I'm Andy Muir. Enjoy your weekend.