Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster-Kass Rauber: Federated Farmers

Transcript

The Muster-Kass Rauber: Federated Farmers · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Namaste on the farm with Southland District Council working together
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: for a better Southland.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Cass Rauber is Vice President of Southland Federated Farmers. Dairy
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: farming not far from Hedgehog catches up with us this afternoon.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: G'day Cass, how's things?
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon Andy, yeah good, good.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Everything drying out up your way?
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's starting to dry out and grass is starting
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: to grow. So, yeah, it's just been another challenging spring
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in Southland. Probably three from three now that have sort
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: of served us better than worse. Yeah, well, better than good. So, yeah,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: obviously different parts of Southland are affected differently. But, yeah,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: this is definitely another wet spring that we've had.
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: Well, hopefully we can get that sunshine down to where
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: it's needed. But it's Another anniversary this week as well,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: notorious at that, the wind anniversary. I think it was
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: the 21st of October 2025. What do you remember about it?
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was definitely something we try not to think about. Yeah,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: obviously a lot of damage caused. I know ourselves, we
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: had about 50-odd trees down. Like, look, the bulk of
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: Southland is probably cleaned up, but there is still the
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: odd stack of logs around from people that will be...
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: saving the logs there to chip for wood chip later on.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: There's probably still the odd tree with a temporary fence
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: around it somewhere in Southland. But yeah, 99%, 95% I'd
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: say has been cleaned up in that sense. We're probably
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: all a little bit more prepared for something like that now.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Do you think that event got the message through to
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: farmers as far as generators and having a plan B?
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Is that what it took?
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think it's not just Plan B. I
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: think it's about Plan C, really. Like, a lot of
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: people used to have a Plan B where they owned
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: a generator with extended family or good friends or next-door
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: neighbour and might have been two or three people, and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: that was Plan B. The problem was when it affects everyone,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: you sort of have to start moving on to Plan C,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: and people hadn't really thought of the next step. So, yeah... Unfortunately,
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: it's a tough way of learning, but it's the way
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: we've had to learn from it.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Hey, another thing as well that's been a hot
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: topic recently is regarding rural connectivity with 3G being switched
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: off nearly six months ago. Now, where are you based?
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: What's it like for cell coverage and that? Do you struggle?
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: Here in Hedgehog, we definitely seem to struggle with cell service.
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Might be a little bit of an understatement, but yeah,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: we definitely struggle. We had telemetry stuff on farm that
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: used the 3G network that no longer operates. We've chosen
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: not to upgrade that. Most people on subscription-based systems that
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: had systems that ran on 3G have all been sort
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: of updated, but there's definitely stuff that people no longer
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: have connected because of that. I know ourselves, we've gone
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: to multiple Starlink units, despite I don't like pushing brand
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: names by any means, but their satellite internet seems to
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: work very well for us.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Do you think the telcos could have done a lot
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: more to work with rural New Zealand regarding the 3G situation?
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: I feel they can, but I believe it's probably a
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: cost issue. I believe. I don't know. I think we
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: have a bit of competition out there in the network.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: It seems to be getting worse, not better.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah. A couple of things that have come out recently
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: regarding the Animal Welfare Code of Conduct and the Dairy
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Restructuring Act. What can you tell us about these?
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the Animal Welfare Code of Conduct came out. I
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: think for most people that's going to be sort of
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: status quo. There's not a lot. There is a couple
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of little bits and pieces in there that has to
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: change for some people, but.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: All in all, it's pretty straightforward. It's pretty common practice
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: for most farms. So, yeah, I don't think it'll affect
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: people that badly. There's obviously also the Dairy Restructuring Act.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: Fonterra's been going for 25 years now, as of a
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: couple of days ago was its anniversary. So, yeah, Dairy
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Restructuring Act is... They've released, like, an issue discussion document
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: That came out end of September, and consultations open till that,
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: with submissions, rather, till the end of October. So, yeah,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: there'll be a few, but there's a few bits and
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: pieces going on with that right now. What else have
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: we got going on? We've also got the Dairy Industry Awards.
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: That's a good event, isn't it? Dairy Industry Awards. Tell
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: us more about it.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Tell us more? Oh, well. Hey, well, entries are open
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: at the moment for the awards. They have early bird
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: open until the 26th of October. So there's a few
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: prizes up for grabs for those early bird people. And
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: entries close on the 6th of December, which will come
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: around pretty quick. So if people are looking at joining
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: up or entering, you might as well jump on the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: early bird and get yourself available for that prize pool
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: there as well.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: It's about celebrating all the good in the industry, Cass. Hey,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: thanks for your time. Enjoy the afternoon.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: No problem. Cheers, Janik.
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: Cass Rauba of South and Federated Farmers. Vice President, you're
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: listening to The Muster. From Hedge Oak, we're going over
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: to just the Fiordland Basin next with Harriet Bremner.