Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster-Jacqui Chamberlain: Beef and Lamb NZ

Transcript

The Muster-Jacqui Chamberlain: Beef and Lamb NZ · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The Muster Events Diary, brought to you by Beef and
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Lamb New Zealand. Click beeflamnz.com. Jackie Chamberlain joins us this
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: afternoon from West Range Station, ahead of the Beef and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Lamb New Zealand Virtually Beefing Up Profitability Field Day. What
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a title. Happening over at West Range Station, all about
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: virtual fencing technology, which seems to be one of the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: buzzwords of 2026 and just getting bigger. Jackie, good afternoon
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: and welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good to be on. Thanks, Andy.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Firstly, West Range Station, give us a bit of an
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: idea about your farming operation there where you're based.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're a fourth-generation, predominantly beef-finishing property. Yeah, we
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: aim to finish around 3,000 bulls each year, and it's
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: various age groups right from R2s through to rising three-year-olds
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: as well.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Good time to be in cattle.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Yes, it is a very good time. Yeah, we've persisted
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: with it for a few years. We think back to
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: those early COVID days and the schedules were pretty low
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: and stock prices were pretty high. So it's nice, I suppose,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: for all farming classes of stock to be in a
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: high at the moment.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: So how would you describe the spring? It's been tough
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: in a lot of parts of the region. How did
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: you fare?
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we definitely probably got off a wee
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: bit lighter than some other areas in Southland. But, I mean,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: you always say someone's doing it worse than yourself. But, yeah,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: we were able to probably manage our parshas a lot better.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: And that's probably all down to these virtual collars, to
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: be fair. We were able to kind of keep them
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: moving without doing too much damage. So some days we
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: could have been shipping them two or three times a
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: day just to help protect the grass under foot.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: How long have you had virtual collars on the cattle?
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: We put our first collars on, we started with 700
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: back in August last year and then we purchased another
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: 500 kind of late summer and then we purchased a
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: few more to bring us up to 1700 going into winter.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: So they've been a game changer, would that be a
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: fair description?
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%, yeah. Typically, the previous two collars, we were
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: running a bit of a techno system down one end
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: of the property, and, you know, one person could have
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: been looking after close to 30 mobs. So we kind
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: of had a bit of a shifting regime every two days,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: but that didn't necessarily mean that the grass had been
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: grazed at proper levels. And so, yeah, come summertime, the
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: grass pretty much had lost quality just because we weren't
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: able to manage it as good as what we could,
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: and putting up polywire fences every day over 30 mobs
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: just wasn't the best use of our time. So having
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: these collars has just meant that we've got really consistent residuals,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: which means the quality that's coming back is just way
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: better than what we've ever imagined. And yeah, stock are
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: looking way better and doing way better because of it.
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: And it's not that many years ago, thinking back, Jackie,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: that techno systems were pretty much en vogue for a
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: lot of beef farmers.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, I know. Yeah, I suppose that was moving
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: from big paddocks down to, yeah, feeding them little and
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: often was, yeah, very beneficial for bulls especially. But then
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: we've kind of stepped it up another level and had
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: these collars. And, yeah, cows are creatures of habit. So
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: when they know they're getting shifted at the same time
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: every day and they're, getting there pretty much all they
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: can eat in full allocation. Yeah, they've got no real
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: excuses not to be growing fast.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: The goal one day to have everything wearing wearables, is
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: that viable?
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. Yeah, even just with having collars
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: on the likes of winter crop and especially kale this year,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: essentially collars, you could probably argue they were two extra
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: labour units, which we'd normally have to find. And yeah,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: being able to just... pretty much move them whenever you like.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: So it would be nice to have a few more
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: collars to enable us to have all of our cattle
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: collared all at once.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: What's the biggest difference you've noticed around pasture utilisation, for example?
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: Well, because you kind of, I guess, instead of going
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: to a paddock to shift the mob, we're probably going
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: to the paddock once they've been there. We're probably looking
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: at what they're leaving behind and what they've got in
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: front of them. And it's just, I suppose, a different mindset, really,
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: that if we can graze it to that nice, say,
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: 1500 cover for round figures, the grass just responds a
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: lot quicker after being grazed. It's not under that pressure
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: if you were to graze it a lot lower or
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: leave too much on it. So, yeah, it's just using
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: the technology and the knowledge that's been around for years,
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: I suppose, but on a greater scale.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, Jackie, the field day that's coming up at your
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: place on Tuesday, November the 17th, what can people expect?
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just a really good chance. We'll just have
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: a bit of a drive around and go and see
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: a few mobs with the collars on and basically just,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: I guess, explain to people how we're using them in
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: a finishing sense. There's a lot of people that are
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: putting them on their breeding cows and stuff like that. So, yeah,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: and we have also got the in-paddock weigh system as well,
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: so we'll you look at a mob that's got the
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: virtual collars and the weighing system and how we're using
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: that to make decisions around weighing and cattle after slaughter
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: and that kind of thing.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Tell me a bit more about that, about the weighing
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: system as such.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so the Empatic Weigh System is essentially just a wee,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: almost half motorbike trailer size, and the cattle are enticed
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: into this wee crush, I suppose you would say, and
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: they put... They put their two front feet on the scales,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: and it scans the EID tag, and Gallagher obviously worked
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: out some sort of formula based on their age and
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: weight range, and it estimates their total body weight. So
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: it's pretty cool for us, especially when we're coming to
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: sending Kato off to the works. We can kind of
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: figure out how many weight, up to weight, before we
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: have to go and get that mob in and that
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: saves a lot of time too you know you might
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: get a mob that has 10 works ready instead of
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: the mob that's only got two ready in it so
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: that just creates more efficiencies just like that.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Now people i suppose get in touch with yourselves to
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: learn a bit more but beef and lamb they've got
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: that on their website as well all the deets.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: Yes yeah yeah if you yeah if you're keen to
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: come along the follow the jump on the beef and
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: lamb website and register so we know how many people
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: to expect on the day but yeah it'll just be
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: a good chance for the ones that are I suppose
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: sitting on the fence about virtual collars to see them
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: in action and yeah I mean if people have got
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: collars and they see different ways that that could be
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: done too we're always open to learning new ways and
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: just to do things better as well.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: Good on you Jackie thanks for your time on the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: must have this afternoon been pretty interesting.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah awesome thanks for that Andy. Don't be a bad guy, Johnny.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Jackie Chamberlain of West Range Station regarding the Virtual College
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Open Day. Well, it isn't Open Day. It's a field
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: day happening there on November the 17th. Beflamnz.com slash events
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: to get the e-diary sent to your inbox every Friday. God, technology.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Some cool things going on, eh? Mark Kelly's up next.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Bit of sport to wrap up the day.