Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster Full Show: 18/09/26

Transcript

The Muster Full Show: 18/09/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Friday afternoon, so we catch up with Nathan Abernethy of
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Regional Ford. G'day, Nath.
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good afternoon, Andy. Day's all right, actually, considering what
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: we've had, isn't it? So hopefully it stays that way
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: for a little bit. But look, on a Friday, it's
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: all systems go around here. We've got the full team
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: on deck, plenty of new vehicles rolling through the door
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: and rolling out the other side. And as always, there's
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: plenty of good used vehicles around here at the moment
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: that are changing all the time. Whether it be double
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: cabs or SUVs, we've got plenty of those. So we're
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: All makes and models. We've got service.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: We've got parts.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We've got vehicle grooming. And don't forget, Balclutha do all
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: the same thing, but they have Bridgestone tyres up there
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: as well. If there's anything we can do, certainly just
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: pick up the phone or drop in and see us.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Don't forget, we'll be open at half past nine in
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: the morning through to 12 o'clock.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Good on you, mate. Enjoy the weekend. You too, Andy.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hakanui. My
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: name is Andy Muir and the show is brought to
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: you by Peters Genetics. Welcome along to Friar. There's a
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: little bit of sunshine peeking out over Main Street, but
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: it's still, well, where are we at? About 12 degrees
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: at the moment, so that's a little bit higher than
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: what we anticipated going by the heist. Nonetheless, we'll crank
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: straight into it. The music today is a selection of
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: artists that are going to be featuring at... Electric Avenue
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and Christchurch, just been announced in the last 24 hours.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: This song here, My Delirium by Ladyhawk. This afternoon, showers
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: with breezy westerlies in 10. Saturday, rain with breezy to
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: brisk north westerlies, 3 in 14. Sunday, light morning rain
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: with breezy south westerlies, 3 in 9. Monday, rain developing
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: later on with north westerlies as well, 2 in 17.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: And Tuesday, rain with breezy nor'westerlies, one and nine all
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: over the show. Harriet starts us off with a soil
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: temperature of 6.7, northern, south and 7.4, Riverton 10, Te
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Anau 7.8, Titaroa 8.6, Winton 7.9. At Woodlands at 8.3,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: now we've had quite a few offers of help from
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: former farmers who would like to help out on the
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: farm in any way, shape or form that they can.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: We've passed these numbers on to the Southland Rural Support Trust,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: so we urge you out there, if you need to
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: have a yarn to somebody, need a hand on the farm,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: 0800 787 254 is the number for the Southland Rural
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: Support Trust. If you just need a hand or you
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: need a chinwag, they're always available to have a chat.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Jamie Mackay starts us off in the country crossover. Followed
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: up by Andrew Cochran of NSFETS. Interesting to talk about
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: putting lambing on the back burner for another month. We
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: ask Andrew, is this a viable option? Steve Henderson farms
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: out at Abaroa. We see how the situation's going out
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: where he's based anyway, down there as you get further
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: south from Invercargill. Phil Duncan on Weather Watch gives a
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: rundown on the weather for the next seven days here
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: in the south. And then Andrew Alderson out of Newstalk ZB.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: The New Zealand Warriors, big, big game against Newcastle. If
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: they lose, season over. So we'll see how that pans out.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: So without further ado, we'll start the hour next with
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Jamie McIntyre.
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: The Country Crossover, brought to you by Bioactive Soils. Growing
• 3:30
  Speaker 4: together with healthy soils. Become a proactive farmer with Bioactive
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: Ag Fertiliser.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Jamie Mackay joins us for The Country Crossover, host of
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: The Country, based in Dunedin. Good afternoon, Jamie, as we
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: roll into the middle of September.
• 3:47
  Speaker 5: Yeah, 18th of September, or September, should I say. peak
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: lambing time and the weather couldn't be worse. I mean,
• 3:54
  Speaker 5: we can't make any bones about it. I had a
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: terrible feeling when they were talking about this Super El
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: Nino that not only would it get dry on the
• 4:04
  Speaker 5: east coast of both islands, which it hasn't done yet,
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: but when they were talking about wetter for the southwest
• 4:10
  Speaker 5: of the bottom of the country, I'm just thinking, oh no,
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: not one of those springs. And it looks like it's
• 4:18
  Speaker 5: three in a row. I've been listening to your show, Andy,
• 4:20
  Speaker 5: listening to some of your farmers talking about how tough
• 4:23
  Speaker 5: it is out there. And we've got to be careful,
• 4:25
  Speaker 5: you and I, because we're seated in air-conditioned, heated studios,
• 4:31
  Speaker 5: and it's easy for us to talk about it. But
• 4:33
  Speaker 5: we've both been there in the past, and I haven't
• 4:36
  Speaker 5: got much advice to offer to farmers other than I
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: just think it's really important. I remember, and I'm showing
• 4:43
  Speaker 5: my age here, only Graeme Edgar would be old enough
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: to remember this, the lambing of 1987. It literally rained
• 4:49
  Speaker 5: for three weeks. It was a disaster. Maybe not as
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: big a disaster as the lambing of 2010 when the
• 4:55
  Speaker 5: snow collapsed Stadium South. But I think that the mental
• 4:59
  Speaker 5: saviour was having a beer afterwards in the shed with
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: one of your mates or going to the pub on
• 5:05
  Speaker 5: Friday night or doing whatever you want to do just
• 5:08
  Speaker 5: to talk to someone else because there's something weirdly comforting
• 5:14
  Speaker 5: about the fact that You're not the only one going
• 5:17
  Speaker 5: through it. And sometimes I think you get stuck in
• 5:20
  Speaker 5: your own little world and you think, you know, no
• 5:22
  Speaker 5: one's worse off than me. Well, there are a lot
• 5:24
  Speaker 5: of people in the same boat and I really feel
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: for the farmers in Southland and southwest Otago.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: That's a great message, Jamie, and I'll reiterate every single
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: word you said there. Go to the pub tonight, get
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: a carload, go for a pint or two, get a feed,
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: watch the rugby on the big screen and just chew
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: the fat. Balfour Pub reopened as well. Anybody in Northern Southland,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: head along for a pint. Apparently it was a good
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: night last night.
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: Well, there you go. The Balfour Pub. I had many,
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: many great days in the Balfour Pub in my youth
• 5:54
  Speaker 5: when Wayne Butler was the– remember Wayne Butler?
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Yes, I remember Wayne Butler.
• 5:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, he was a good publican. It was a good
• 6:02
  Speaker 5: pub back in the day, but anyhow.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: What was the slogan? If you drive your old man
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: to drink, drive him to Butler's DB Belfort Haven.
• 6:09
  Speaker 5: I can't remember what it was, but anyhow. I don't know. Look,
• 6:12
  Speaker 5: Chris Brandolino– and you don't want to sugarcoat this stuff–
• 6:17
  Speaker 5: he's saying– there's going to be maybe a bit of
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: a break. I mean, I'm quoting him here, a bit
• 6:25
  Speaker 5: of a break coming for late September into early October.
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: And this is the bit I don't necessarily like, but
• 6:32
  Speaker 5: you can't sugarcoat it. He said things are likely to
• 6:35
  Speaker 5: get quite gnarly second half of October. So it's with us, unfortunately,
• 6:41
  Speaker 5: and you just got to try and farm around it. But,
• 6:44
  Speaker 5: you know, production for the dairy farmers that you miss
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: out on now, You never catch up on, and obviously
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: those lambs hitting the ground, landing in a puddle, you know,
• 6:54
  Speaker 5: the survival rates are going to be down and the
• 6:56
  Speaker 5: growth rates are going to be down. So, Andy, you've
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: just got to hope and pray for a few of
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: those warm Norwest days like we got on Tuesday.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Interesting, too. The mind set a few people. Henry Buckingham yesterday,
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: for example. I'll ask Andrew Cochran about this shortly. A
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: few farmers contemplating changing lambing date for next year and
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: looking at their farming system. Well, it was interesting.
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: Was Graham Butcher on your show this week?
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was on Tuesday.
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and Graham's a great numbers man, and he was
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: talking about these trials done at woodlands way back in
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: the early 80s on lambing dates. And you do know,
• 7:30
  Speaker 5: as a sheep farmer yourself, you think of those late lambers,
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: and they might lamb in early October or something like that,
• 7:38
  Speaker 5: but by the time you got to weaning, they were
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: nearly as big as the ones that were born in
• 7:42
  Speaker 5: the middle of September. And Honestly, I don't know about this.
• 7:46
  Speaker 5: The problem with lambing, obviously, in October, Andy, is that
• 7:50
  Speaker 5: it's the other end of the deal. You've got to
• 7:53
  Speaker 5: feed them longer into winter, into May or whatever, you know,
• 7:57
  Speaker 5: in the mating period. But it seems to me that
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: I remember May as being a cold, often wet month
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: when I was younger. But I think of recent times,
• 8:09
  Speaker 5: you just think of duck shooting. It's always quite mild.
• 8:12
  Speaker 5: There seems to be good growth. I think the seasons
• 8:14
  Speaker 5: are changing. Maybe that's just my perception. But maybe with
• 8:18
  Speaker 5: the climatic patterns, that's the way to go. I mean,
• 8:21
  Speaker 5: look at the deer farmers who are fawning, for instance, in, what, November.
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: So that's kind of Mother Nature. I don't know. If
• 8:30
  Speaker 5: I was still a Southland sheep farmer, maybe I'd think
• 8:33
  Speaker 5: twice about lambing in early October.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what people's mindset is
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: regarding all this. Look, you had a pretty good weekend, though.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: Murray Heath and Co. organising this 1970s rugby reunion. I've
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: seen a bit of the socials that went up there.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: It looked like a pretty good shindig.
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: Oh, it was absolutely fantastic. And I must say, Andy,
• 8:54
  Speaker 5: I've been off the scene a bit because I've been
• 8:56
  Speaker 5: a bit crook. Thankfully, I'm on the men now. But
• 9:00
  Speaker 5: I drove down on Saturday and back up on Sunday
• 9:02
  Speaker 5: and called into the Riversdale Duck Pond just to check
• 9:05
  Speaker 5: things out. on Sunday on the way home. And I
• 9:07
  Speaker 5: couldn't believe how, well, it was bloody cold and it
• 9:10
  Speaker 5: was bloody windy, but I couldn't believe how much water
• 9:15
  Speaker 5: was lying on the paddocks of Southland on the way down.
• 9:19
  Speaker 5: And obviously, since Saturday and Sunday, when I was down there,
• 9:23
  Speaker 5: you've had a hell of a lot of more rain.
• 9:24
  Speaker 5: So I was aware of how tough it was. But
• 9:30
  Speaker 5: the reunion was fantastic. I think they had about 70
• 9:33
  Speaker 5: people at the dinner, and there was five All Blacks
• 9:38
  Speaker 5: in the room. Bob Barber couldn't make it. He got
• 9:41
  Speaker 5: the flu, so he didn't get there. But we had
• 9:44
  Speaker 5: that great loose forward trio, Kenny Stewart, Lester, Rutledge, Ash McGregor,
• 9:49
  Speaker 5: Steve Pokiri, Brian McKechnie, who was one of the speakers,
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: spoke really well. And it was just a great matchup
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: with people that I hadn't caught up with for a
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: number of years. You know, characters larger than life like
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: Lex Chisholm, Chiz from Tokanui, Geoffrey John Gardner. Do you
• 10:07
  Speaker 5: remember him playing for Southland?
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Vaguely, but I know the name, yes.
• 10:11
  Speaker 5: Well, he was a legend in his own lunchtime, just
• 10:15
  Speaker 5: ask him. But he was a very good fullback. He
• 10:16
  Speaker 5: got an all-black trial yesterday. way back in, I think,
• 10:19
  Speaker 5: about 1974, but he played some great rugby for Southland.
• 10:23
  Speaker 5: He could literally kick the ball the length of the paddock.
• 10:26
  Speaker 5: Real characters like that. Geoff Vallee was there. You mightn't
• 10:31
  Speaker 5: remember Geoff Vallee, but he was a fullback for Southland,
• 10:35
  Speaker 5: and he kind of came and went. He spent some
• 10:37
  Speaker 5: time in Australia, but he got a game for the
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: All Blacks, albeit an unofficial test match against Fiji in 1980.
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: He was a great player, and On my table, I
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: had Ken Stewart and Lester Rutledge and Gus Dermody, Murray Brown,
• 10:56
  Speaker 5: the chair of Southland. On either side of me, I
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: had Phil Young, who was one of the unluckiest players
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: in Southland rugby history because he came along as a
• 11:07
  Speaker 5: young loose forward the time that Rutledge and Stewart and
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: McGregor were in their pomp. And on the other side
• 11:13
  Speaker 5: of me, I had a bloke who was the same
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: age as me. We played a bit of age group.
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: rugby together, he went on to great things, I never
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: went on to anything Paul Tunga Laidlaw more than 100
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: games for Southland and he's been in Australia for a
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: number of years and it was just great to catch
• 11:31
  Speaker 5: up with him and Calvin Farrington was another one of
• 11:34
  Speaker 5: my generation they were the young guys who were there
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: but it was just great to catch up, John Polson
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: Brian Dickerson was there and I made special mention of
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: Brian going on to be An all-black dog trialist. So,
• 11:50
  Speaker 5: you know, they've done interesting things, these guys. And, you know,
• 11:54
  Speaker 5: a lot of them won't see each other again. A
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: lot of them hadn't seen each other for about 30
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: or 40 years. But they just had a great time.
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: And Murray Heath did a fantastic job of organising it.
• 12:06
  Speaker 5: And everyone had a great time. And I think the
• 12:08
  Speaker 5: weekend was absolutely capped off by the Guard of Honour
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: for the Bay of Plenty game. And then the Stags
• 12:14
  Speaker 5: playing their best game of the year in front of
• 12:16
  Speaker 5: these guys.
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Stags went wild. They got the knacky at the Graveshift
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: game 5pm on Sunday yet again.
• 12:26
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a tough draw,
• 12:27
  Speaker 5: isn't it? 5pm Sunday games. I don't know whether this
• 12:30
  Speaker 5: is because the Stags aren't sexy enough to draw a crowd.
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: And I would argue about that. They've probably got the
• 12:38
  Speaker 5: best supporter base in NPC rugby.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: Probably results.
• 12:43
  Speaker 5: Possibly results. But these draws were obviously done a long
• 12:46
  Speaker 5: time ago. Taranaki ain't a bad side. Look, I'm enthused
• 12:53
  Speaker 5: by what I saw, Andy, last Sunday, and I think
• 12:58
  Speaker 5: of Jimmy Taylor. How good's that kid for an 18-year-old?
• 13:02
  Speaker 5: Young Muli Aina and Gregor Rutledge in there now. We're
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: bringing these young guys, and they are very young, 18,
• 13:09
  Speaker 5: 19 years of age, and they're coming through, in Gregor's case,
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: third-generation kids. Southland rugby player, legend of a father, legend
• 13:18
  Speaker 5: of a grandfather, and that's the future for Southland rugby.
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: Build a team, a bit like we did around the
• 13:24
  Speaker 5: likes of Jimmy Cowan and Jamie McIntosh back in the
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: day when we won the Shield in 2009. We build
• 13:31
  Speaker 5: a team around these really good young rugby players who
• 13:34
  Speaker 5: have played age group for Southland and have come through
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: the system. That's the future of Southland rugby.
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: And Finn Hurley getting back from his injuries and that
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: run last week, that last try he got, that was
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: just pure pace. There was gas.
• 13:49
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, see, I watched a wee bit of that
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: Otago game last night, and Finn was, I think, was
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: scheduled to start. Whether he was injured or not, I
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: don't know. Now, he's brilliant, but imagine if we had,
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: and I've said this before, but imagine if we had
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: Finn Hurley and Cam Miller and... What's Jack Taylor's older
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: brother's name?
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: Harry.
• 14:12
  Speaker 5: You know, I don't know where Harry is at the moment,
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: but I mean, they're all Southland boys. They're all Gore boys. And,
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: you know, all of a sudden, if you had that,
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: you've got the nucleus of a great side. But I
• 14:24
  Speaker 5: understand why people go north and Otago are playing really
• 14:27
  Speaker 5: well and maybe you get better exposure. I don't know,
• 14:30
  Speaker 5: but I would just love to see those Southland lads
• 14:33
  Speaker 5: playing for Southland.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: But, you know.
• 14:36
  Speaker 5: Being a Southland rugby supporter is a bit like being
• 14:39
  Speaker 5: a sheep farmer in Southland in September. Andy, it's not
• 14:44
  Speaker 5: for the faint hearted.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: I was just about to say, better leave it there, mate.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, OK. Go the Stags.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Jamie Mackay and the Country Crossover. Thanks to Bioactive Soils.
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: Andrew Cochran of NSVETS. Let's catch up next.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: Give his man some beer.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: The Musters Animal Health Segment with NS Vets. Adding value
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: through practical.
• 15:08
  Speaker 5: Advice and service.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: No gimmicks, no potions, total vet care.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Andrew Cochran of NS Vets joins us once again. Of course,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: NS Vets are official animal health advisors to the muster. Cocky,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: good afternoon. Not probably a lot of good around it, though,
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: as far as the week goes. Tuesday and Monday aside,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: it's been a bit of a grind.
• 15:31
  Speaker 6: It has.
• 15:31
  Speaker 7: It's a nice change today, at least from Wednesday. But, yeah,
• 15:36
  Speaker 7: spring just keeps throwing curveballs, doesn't it?
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: And this is your busy time of year as well?
• 15:41
  Speaker 7: It is, yeah. It's probably peak spring busy for us now.
• 15:44
  Speaker 7: So for the next fortnight, at least, next three weeks,
• 15:47
  Speaker 7: we're sort of flat out and then things start to
• 15:49
  Speaker 7: ease off a little bit, at least for a period,
• 15:51
  Speaker 7: and then we get into mating as well. So, yeah,
• 15:54
  Speaker 7: all hands to the wall.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: So how's calving been going? How's it been received, I suppose?
• 16:00
  Speaker 7: Yeah, pretty good, I think, overall. There's been a few
• 16:02
  Speaker 7: more calving issues that we've seen compared to normal. We've
• 16:06
  Speaker 7: still got one farm dealing with a pretty nasty salmonella outbreak,
• 16:09
  Speaker 7: so sort of helping them through that. I think they've
• 16:11
  Speaker 7: had to treat over 100 cows now. So, again, if anything,
• 16:14
  Speaker 7: that's a reminder to everyone to seriously consider vaccination. It's
• 16:18
  Speaker 7: a reasonably cheap vaccine, and compared to the cost that
• 16:21
  Speaker 7: this farm is going through, along with the stress of
• 16:24
  Speaker 7: having to deal with up to 10 or more sick
• 16:27
  Speaker 7: cows every day, I think the vaccination pays for itself
• 16:30
  Speaker 7: very quickly, so something for people to think of. But, yeah, otherwise,
• 16:35
  Speaker 7: I guess a lot of early start for us at
• 16:36
  Speaker 7: the moment, metric checking cows, still a lot of this
• 16:40
  Speaker 7: budding happening with calves. We've started moving into, you know,
• 16:44
  Speaker 7: sort of thinking about mating, so some pre-mating bloods to
• 16:48
  Speaker 7: check minerals, not just in cows, but importantly, and probably
• 16:52
  Speaker 7: the place we find animals most efficient is the young stock,
• 16:55
  Speaker 7: so the yearlings that are going to be going to
• 16:57
  Speaker 7: the bull A.I., in the next six weeks or so,
• 17:00
  Speaker 7: making sure that their selenium and copper levels are adequate
• 17:03
  Speaker 7: because often we find they're not. And yeah, just putting
• 17:08
  Speaker 7: together plans around synchrony. So it won't be long, we'll
• 17:10
  Speaker 7: be getting some first PG shots into heifers for AI,
• 17:14
  Speaker 7: making a plan around non-cycling cows. And so it's getting
• 17:19
  Speaker 7: to that stage now where we need to be thinking about,
• 17:22
  Speaker 7: for those of you without collars, getting some tail paint
• 17:24
  Speaker 7: on so that we can do pre-mating heats and work
• 17:27
  Speaker 7: out I guess the first step really is quantifying the issue.
• 17:30
  Speaker 7: Is there an issue? So we can only do that
• 17:33
  Speaker 7: through tail paint if we don't have collars on. For
• 17:35
  Speaker 7: the collar guys, that's just going to be keeping an
• 17:37
  Speaker 7: eye on that and making a plan sort of in
• 17:39
  Speaker 7: that 10 days before a plan starter meeting as to
• 17:42
  Speaker 7: whether or not you've got an issue and how we
• 17:44
  Speaker 7: go about fixing it.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: As far as I've heard with salmonella, has there been
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: many fatalities?
• 17:50
  Speaker 7: He's done a reasonable job, this fella, of keeping them alive.
• 17:54
  Speaker 7: I haven't got an accurate up-to-date one, but I suspect
• 17:57
  Speaker 7: it'll be between 10 and 20 dead cows. And he's
• 18:01
  Speaker 7: only sort of kept them alive really by being very vigilant.
• 18:04
  Speaker 7: He's watching the cows twice a day. He's picking up
• 18:07
  Speaker 7: sick cows. He's onto it enough now that he's picking
• 18:11
  Speaker 7: up these sick cows just on reduced milk yield. So
• 18:14
  Speaker 7: he can almost see them at milking time. And then
• 18:18
  Speaker 7: he watches them walk out of the shed as well.
• 18:20
  Speaker 7: And anything with it sort of ears down and looking
• 18:22
  Speaker 7: a bit sad. gets gets treated so he's been very
• 18:25
  Speaker 7: proactive in that front and and i know that's been
• 18:27
  Speaker 7: a big stress for him um because he's had to
• 18:30
  Speaker 7: do a lot of that himself so yeah as a
• 18:33
  Speaker 7: result though he's keeping these cows alive and they are
• 18:35
  Speaker 7: coming back which is which is promising Yeah, that's.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Good news, absolutely. Lambing flat out at the moment. There's
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: probably not too much you guys can do, although some
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: people with a few post-mortems might be something to consider.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: We talked about this for beef and lamb last week,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: but farmers, are they doing much in the way of
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: post-mortems on farm?
• 18:55
  Speaker 7: Not a lot would be my understanding, and it's a
• 18:57
  Speaker 7: busy time of year for them, so they haven't probably
• 18:59
  Speaker 7: got time to be mucking around cutting open dead lambs
• 19:01
  Speaker 7: when there's been a snowstorm and they know why those
• 19:03
  Speaker 7: lambs are dying. But There is a bit of information
• 19:06
  Speaker 7: that can be gathered, particularly on days like today, I
• 19:08
  Speaker 7: guess would be a classic, where it's not particularly cold.
• 19:10
  Speaker 7: They shouldn't really be dying of exposure in huge amounts,
• 19:14
  Speaker 7: especially where I am at the moment. Anyway, it might
• 19:16
  Speaker 7: be different in other parts of Southland. But the thing
• 19:19
  Speaker 7: we can learn most probably, which is where the vet
• 19:21
  Speaker 7: gets involved, is looking at subclinical goiter, so iodine deficiency.
• 19:26
  Speaker 7: And for anyone that's given flexidine, probably not necessary to
• 19:30
  Speaker 7: be looking into this too closely. But if you're relying
• 19:33
  Speaker 7: on an oral drench to supplement your iodine, particularly if
• 19:36
  Speaker 7: you're just doing it pre-LAM or if you're not supplementing
• 19:40
  Speaker 7: iodine at all, it's worth every couple of years at
• 19:43
  Speaker 7: least looking at some LAM postmortems to check that that's
• 19:47
  Speaker 7: not costing you. So one of the major impacts of
• 19:49
  Speaker 7: low iodine in your ewe flock is lambs that will
• 19:53
  Speaker 7: be born sort of a bit slow and they can't
• 19:57
  Speaker 7: regulate their temperature as well. And so what we tend
• 19:59
  Speaker 7: to see is reduced lamb survival and that could be
• 20:01
  Speaker 7: costing farmers quite a bit on these sort of marginal
• 20:05
  Speaker 7: days where it's not cold enough really to be killing
• 20:08
  Speaker 7: a lamb, but if they've got low iodine, it might
• 20:10
  Speaker 7: be enough to tip them over. So to diagnose that,
• 20:14
  Speaker 7: we do a post-mortem on the lamb. We have to
• 20:17
  Speaker 7: dissect out the thyroid gland and weigh that, compare that
• 20:20
  Speaker 7: to the body weight of the lamb and come up
• 20:22
  Speaker 7: with a number that gives us an idea of whether
• 20:25
  Speaker 7: or not iodine might be impacting your survival. In really
• 20:27
  Speaker 7: extreme cases when they've got goiter, it's obvious and farmers
• 20:30
  Speaker 7: will see that. I've seen lambs with thyroid glands the
• 20:34
  Speaker 7: size of a mandarin and and anyone's going to notice that.
• 20:38
  Speaker 7: But that's typically the tip of the iceberg. There'll be
• 20:40
  Speaker 7: lambs that are less obvious and are being impacted.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: Andrew, a few farmers contemplating your lambing date next year,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: moving into October possibly, based on the previous three Septembers
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: that we've experienced. What are your thoughts around this?
• 20:57
  Speaker 7: Yeah, well, I guess when it's the third time we've
• 20:59
  Speaker 7: had this sort of a spring, you start to worry
• 21:01
  Speaker 7: that this is the new normal, and adjusting your lambing date...
• 21:05
  Speaker 7: could be worth considering. What I tend to find with
• 21:08
  Speaker 7: some of those guys that have later lambing dates, they're
• 21:11
  Speaker 7: not usually any further behind when it comes to January
• 21:14
  Speaker 7: or December at weaning, and so what we tend to
• 21:16
  Speaker 7: see as a result is ewes lambing onto better pasture covers,
• 21:21
  Speaker 7: and so milking better, the lamb grows better, and so
• 21:24
  Speaker 7: you still end up with a lamb that's getting close
• 21:27
  Speaker 7: to that 30 kilos at weaning, even though you might
• 21:29
  Speaker 7: be 10 days, 14 days behind your neighbor. So I
• 21:32
  Speaker 7: think often there can be gains to be made by
• 21:35
  Speaker 7: tweaking things like that. I guess it all comes back
• 21:38
  Speaker 7: in some ways to body condition as well. But having
• 21:41
  Speaker 7: those pasture covers there at lambing is really important to
• 21:44
  Speaker 7: make sure that that ewe reaches her peak milk. As
• 21:48
  Speaker 7: much as we don't like to think that we are,
• 21:51
  Speaker 7: sheep and beef farmers are also dairy farmers. They're making
• 21:54
  Speaker 7: milk and that's milk that creates the growth that results
• 21:58
  Speaker 7: in that good lamb or good calf. So Pasture and
• 22:02
  Speaker 7: feeding is what drives a lot of that.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Just finally, you talked about feed before being a priority
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: for animals at the moment. Given the lack of temperature
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: and sunshine, how is the feed situation of what you've seen?
• 22:14
  Speaker 7: Yeah, my general feeling would be it's behind where we
• 22:18
  Speaker 7: want it to be, and I think most farmers would
• 22:19
  Speaker 7: agree with that. We're seeing a lot of feed get wasted,
• 22:23
  Speaker 7: so I've heard of farmers having to spread out ewes
• 22:26
  Speaker 7: and even considering spreading out hoggetts. much earlier than they
• 22:30
  Speaker 7: would normally do just because they're finding their wrecking paddocks,
• 22:33
  Speaker 7: paddocks that should last three days are only lasting one.
• 22:36
  Speaker 7: And so as a result of that and the colder temperatures,
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: I think pasture covers are well behind where we'd like
• 22:41
  Speaker 7: them to be, and that will be impacting on ewes
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: and lamb growth. A lot of the grass sort of
• 22:48
  Speaker 7: looks like it wants to grow, so it just really
• 22:50
  Speaker 7: needs a week or two of weather like we had
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: on Tuesday. Unfortunately, that's only... very sporadic, but if we
• 22:56
  Speaker 7: could have a good week of sunny weather with warm temperatures,
• 22:59
  Speaker 7: I think the grass would take off.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Andrew, NSVETS, the best way to get in touch with
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: the team?
• 23:04
  Speaker 7: You give us a call at the Riversdale. I think
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: at this time of year you'll be leaving a message
• 23:08
  Speaker 7: and we'll do our best to get back to you
• 23:13
  Speaker 7: at 03 202 5636 or in Te Anau, 03 249 7039.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Andrew Cochrane, always appreciate your time.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: Awesome.
• 23:19
  Speaker 7: Cheers, Andy.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Andrew Cochrane of NSVETS. In the busy season, for sure.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: You're listening to The Muster. Up next, Phil Duncan of
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Weatherwatch looking at the forecast for the next seven days
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: for the Deep South. Welcome back to The Muster. It
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: is time to catch up with Phil Duncan of Weatherwatch.
• 23:45
  Speaker 8: And I'm here to remind you.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: Of the.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Phil.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, Andy.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Right, it's been wet down here in the south. I
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: think the only thing we've been missing in the forecast
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: is Sharknado, which is basically a tornado with great white
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: sharks falling out of it. What have we got for
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the next seven days, mate? Is there any respite?
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we don't actually have a weather emoji for sharks
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: falling out of the sky. But we've got some cold
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: weather coming back in again. What's happening at the moment
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: is we're on the edge of a lot of weather.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: What I mean by that is we're on the edge
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: of big highs and we're on the edge of big lows.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: The storms down around the Southern Ocean at the moment
• 24:45
  Speaker 3: are exceptional. And I don't use the word exceptional very much.
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: But these are exceptional storms. To give you an example,
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: the storm that is tracking past, well, to the south
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: of us, but tracking past over today and tomorrow, has
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: central air pressure of down around about 945 hectopascals, very low.
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: But the one on Monday is going to be 920 hectopascals.
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: So if you don't understand what that is, that's like
• 25:10
  Speaker 3: equivalent to some of the biggest hurricanes ever recorded on
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: the planet. So these are wild storms. But they are
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: centred down over the Southern Ocean, hugging the edge of Antarctica.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: So they're a good distance away from us. They're about
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: as far away from Gore as Melbourne is from you.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: So it's a decent area away from us. But it's
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: driving this windy weather. And so next week, high pressure
• 25:34
  Speaker 3: from Australia. And they're also really powerful at the moment.
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: That high is going to try to move into New Zealand,
• 25:41
  Speaker 3: coupled with this big storm down near Antarctica... And the
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: two combined dredge up some very cold air. So we're
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: back to winter weather next week in many places. But
• 25:50
  Speaker 3: the funny weird catch is that I think parts of
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: the North Island are going to be colder than Southland.
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: So that's my little silver lining to make you feel better,
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: that we're going to be seeing the North Island shivering
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: through a colder week than probably you guys will. So, yeah,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: it's kind of like a late winter, early spring pattern
• 26:12
  Speaker 3: for the next 10 days.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: As far as rainfall, what are we seeing?
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: So we do have some wet weather coming through still.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Unfortunately for Southland, you're actually leaning west of almost any
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: other region with the exception of South Westland and Fiordland.
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: Rainfall's not through the roof, but we are seeing rainfall numbers,
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: northern Southland, sort of around the 30 millimetre mark, maybe
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: 40 millimetres over the next seven days. And further south,
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: getting down towards Bluff and Invercargill and out towards the
• 26:44
  Speaker 3: Catlins and Stewart Island, all of those areas are sort
• 26:47
  Speaker 3: of in the 50, maybe 60 millimetre mark. So there
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: is still a fair bit of rain to come on through,
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: which is not great when you've got some of that
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: colder air mixing with it.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: Windchill, what have we got?
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Well, the windchill is going to be off and on.
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: We've got, like I was saying this, I wasn't sure
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: if it was you or someone else last week, that
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: At this time of the year, we tend to get
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: at least one or maybe two warm days a week
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: in the lower half of the South Island. So not
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: all cold and bleak. Monday's got a maximum of 17 degrees. Tomorrow,
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: 14 degrees. And later next weekend, 15 degrees. But there
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: are a number of days in between with highs of
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: only around nine. And so we will see that wind
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: chill dropping to lower levels at times. In fact, the
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: wind chill around Sunday might be pretty low, down around...
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: you know, maximum of kind of five degrees at the
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: warmest part of the day. And then next week we
• 27:42
  Speaker 3: could be seeing wind chill dipping below zero at night
• 27:45
  Speaker 3: in particular. So, yeah, we do have some cold weather.
• 27:47
  Speaker 3: So newborn lambs, again, not a very good week, but
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: there are some sort of positive areas, like I say,
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: some warm days in the mix. And the rain is
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: not nonstop all the time. But between the wind, the
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: rain and the cold, If you've got newborn animals, this
• 28:05
  Speaker 3: is going to be another tough week ahead at times.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: For the remainder of September then, give us a bit
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: of grace. What have we got?
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Well, we do have high pressure trying to get towards
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: New Zealand later next week. So we've got that to
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: kind of be positive about. We've got two highs, in fact.
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: By the end of next week, there'll be a high
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: just to the north of New Zealand and another one
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: down around you. So that's what we're seeing. After that,
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: probably some more high pressure. There are some storms forming
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: south of Australia as we go into the final days
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: of September. They don't always reach Southland, but it does
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: show that the weather pattern south of Australia, south of
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: New Zealand, is pretty wild this year. We're not necessarily
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: getting slammed by a lot of the severe weather, but
• 28:50
  Speaker 3: we are seeing changeable conditions. But I'm also saying that
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: we could be, in some areas, starting to see a
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: bit of a drying out phase kicking in. But Not
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: just yet. I think September's a pretty stormy month or
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: unsettled month. October, that's where we'll be trying to see
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: if we can settle things down. But also, traditionally, October
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: can be a pretty wild month.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Realistically, when can we start seeing a bit of drying
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: weather so we can get the saturation out of the ground?
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a harder one to answer. But I am seeing,
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: from a rain point of view, over the next 10 days,
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: there is sort of a risk of showers quite often.
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: But as far as rainfall totals each day are concerned...
• 29:29
  Speaker 3: we are sort of seeing that tapering off a little bit.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: So Saturday, Saturday night, maybe 11 millimetres. Tuesday, Monday and Tuesday,
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: probably another 15. over those days, 15 millimetres. And then
• 29:42
  Speaker 3: sort of the rest of next week, you're sort of
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: only seeing numbers of like two millimetres, three millimetres, which
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: is just really a few showers moving through. So it's showery,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: but hopefully not too bitterly cold. But I do think
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: probably the best word to describe the next 10 days
• 29:59
  Speaker 3: is is wintry.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: The good news is no Sharknado.
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: No Sharknado, no. You're free from that. So there's one
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: thing that I can be... Actually, I won't say 100% confident.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: I'll say 99% because you never know what a water
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: spout can suck up.
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Phil. Thanks for your time as always.
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: No worries, mate. Have a great weekend.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Muster. The theme today for the
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: music is Electric Avenue, the music festival in Christchurch with
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: artists going there. No bigger name than Calvin Harris. That
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: song there, I'm Not Alone, he's got a plethora of bangers.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: That's happening in Christchurch in, I think, possibly February of
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: next year. We're away down to Awarua next, though, to
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: catch up with Steve Henderson, dairy farming down that way. Steve,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: how's things, ground conditions down at your neck of the woods?
• 30:59
  Speaker 9: Good afternoon, Andy and listeners. It's probably as wet as
• 31:03
  Speaker 9: anyone else. But I suppose one good thing about down here,
• 31:08
  Speaker 9: we've got a lot of open ditches, so the water
• 31:11
  Speaker 9: does get away, but our soil type's a bit unique.
• 31:14
  Speaker 9: It's got sort of a, you've got about a half
• 31:17
  Speaker 9: a foot or a foot of top soil, and then
• 31:18
  Speaker 9: you're down into an iron pan. So it does have,
• 31:22
  Speaker 9: you know, it's issues with drainage with the tiles and overflows.
• 31:26
  Speaker 9: So we do hold a lot of water in. in
• 31:29
  Speaker 9: those sort of basins. So, yeah, no, we're certainly wet.
• 31:32
  Speaker 9: We're certainly wet. And, you know, all the stats show
• 31:35
  Speaker 9: it too with the wetest winter and what have it. So, yeah, no,
• 31:40
  Speaker 9: we're about onto our second round probably on Sunday. So
• 31:42
  Speaker 9: that'll be the test of paddocks.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: I think rainfall records started in 1917, 1980 being the
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: standout there. This is second to that one.
• 31:51
  Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, which I honestly thought the last two springs
• 31:55
  Speaker 9: were wetter, but maybe we're just getting used to it and,
• 31:58
  Speaker 9: A wet spring is almost normal now.
• 32:01
  Speaker 3: But looking back, it is.
• 32:02
  Speaker 9: Frigging wet and everything's just like everybody else. It's hard
• 32:05
  Speaker 9: work to go and do something because it takes a
• 32:07
  Speaker 9: bit more effort and you've got leggings on and the
• 32:10
  Speaker 9: jobs aren't quite as straightforward. So, yeah, it's the third
• 32:14
  Speaker 9: one in a row now, like everybody's saying. But you'll
• 32:17
  Speaker 9: get to November, December, and dare I say it, you'll
• 32:20
  Speaker 9: be looking for a share of rain.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Devil's advocate there, but that's just the nature of the game, mate.
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: So as far as the calving situation, are you getting
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: well through? I'd imagine so.
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely.
• 32:32
  Speaker 9: We've got about 60 on left to calve. We had
• 32:35
  Speaker 9: no calves today, and they've got all calved by about
• 32:38
  Speaker 9: the 10th of October, so they'll come through. But on
• 32:42
  Speaker 9: a day like this, you don't mind having no calves
• 32:44
  Speaker 9: because you sort of get tidied up earlier, and we've
• 32:46
  Speaker 9: actually got the old coffee cart calling in for the
• 32:49
  Speaker 9: neighbourly shout, so... That'll be good. It'll lift a bit
• 32:52
  Speaker 9: of morale, and we'll talk the same stuff I'm talking
• 32:54
  Speaker 9: to you with the neighbours, and we'll probably have no
• 32:57
  Speaker 9: different outcome, and then we'll carry on on Friday. So,
• 33:01
  Speaker 9: you know, well, animal health-wise has been pretty darn good, too. Yes,
• 33:05
  Speaker 9: a bit of mastitis, but, yeah, metabolics, yeah, sort of
• 33:09
  Speaker 9: few and far between, which has been a bit of
• 33:11
  Speaker 9: a saviour this spring. You know, a down cow takes
• 33:14
  Speaker 9: a fair bit of time, and if you've got two
• 33:15
  Speaker 9: or three of them, yeah, that's a lot of your
• 33:17
  Speaker 9: day taken just tending to those cows.
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: The coffee cart, you guys just working together as a
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: neighbourhood and do something at this time of year traditionally?
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we did.
• 33:27
  Speaker 9: It was last year when we had the power outages,
• 33:30
  Speaker 9: which was obviously October. So, yeah, we got the one
• 33:33
  Speaker 9: out of Invercargill and had the internet. And holy shit,
• 33:36
  Speaker 9: we had a good turnout. So, yeah, Trace thought bugger
• 33:39
  Speaker 9: it Friday.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: We'll get it again.
• 33:40
  Speaker 9: So, yep, we'll catch up with people. And it's good.
• 33:44
  Speaker 9: People just turn up in their leggings and gumboots and
• 33:47
  Speaker 9: have a coffee on us and carry on.
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: Do you find your mindset changing when you've got a
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: current situation like we're facing, Steve? Now, you're a pretty
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: relaxed character at the best of times, but you're always
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: looking at the glass half full approach. What does this
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: situation mean for you? What do you do differently when
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you approach it?
• 34:06
  Speaker 9: You sort of look at the big picture. So, you know,
• 34:10
  Speaker 9: like I said in November, December, where we wanted to
• 34:12
  Speaker 9: shower rain. So just think about the now. What can
• 34:15
  Speaker 9: you do to those cows? You know, can you just
• 34:17
  Speaker 9: graze that paddock, get them off, save your pasture, save
• 34:20
  Speaker 9: your soils, stand them off on concrete. What other tricks
• 34:24
  Speaker 9: have you got up your sleeve? And also, you know,
• 34:28
  Speaker 9: tending to the now. So we've had a lame cow
• 34:31
  Speaker 9: guy come in twice already this season, which is probably abnormal.
• 34:35
  Speaker 9: We try to keep on top of them ourselves with
• 34:37
  Speaker 9: getting someone in maybe once or twice. But you've got
• 34:40
  Speaker 9: to go, righto, we're calving, we're busy, we've got mating
• 34:43
  Speaker 9: around the corner, we've got lame cows, we've got foot rot,
• 34:46
  Speaker 9: probably the most we've ever seen. and a bit of
• 34:49
  Speaker 9: white line so sometimes you've got to employ someone else
• 34:52
  Speaker 9: with expertise to do that job while you carry on
• 34:54
  Speaker 9: and do your own job that you're good at and
• 35:00
  Speaker 9: along those lines actually with lame cows and different things
• 35:03
  Speaker 9: that are happening because of the season that's where you've
• 35:05
  Speaker 9: got to have those conversations if you're a contract milker
• 35:08
  Speaker 9: you've got to have that conversation with your farm owner
• 35:10
  Speaker 9: or your supervisor and just say hey this is out
• 35:12
  Speaker 9: of the ordinary can we compromise and get a lame
• 35:16
  Speaker 9: cow guy to come and to enter those feet because
• 35:18
  Speaker 9: I'll run off my feet and we know mating's around
• 35:21
  Speaker 9: the corner and we need to get cows back and calves.
• 35:22
  Speaker 9: So there's a few of those conversations that are probably
• 35:25
  Speaker 9: not normal to have, but, you know, the sooner you
• 35:28
  Speaker 9: have them, the sooner you'll get those cows tidied up
• 35:30
  Speaker 9: because I've never ever seen a lame cow fix itself.
• 35:34
  Speaker 9: And being very mindful of, you know, mating's around the corner.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: So animal health issues, given the season we've got, what
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: are you seeing differently apart from a bit of lameness?
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: Nothing out of the ordinary?
• 35:44
  Speaker 9: No, nothing out of the ordinary. T-condition, mastitis is nothing
• 35:47
  Speaker 9: out of the ordinary. And yeah, metabolics, like I was saying,
• 35:52
  Speaker 9: we haven't had too many. So no, it's just probably lameness.
• 35:55
  Speaker 9: And a lot of them are just tender feet, you know,
• 35:57
  Speaker 9: thin soles, like you sitting in the bloody puddle for
• 36:00
  Speaker 9: the last two months. You go a bit wrinkly and
• 36:02
  Speaker 9: you just sort of almost had enough. So yeah, that's
• 36:05
  Speaker 9: what's happening. You can shorten up their walks, try and
• 36:07
  Speaker 9: make the night walk shorter and mix the mobs up
• 36:10
  Speaker 9: so they walk in different distances. But Yeah, it does
• 36:13
  Speaker 9: take each week as it comes. Yeah, so in the
• 36:14
  Speaker 9: weekends we just try and do the bare minimum. So
• 36:17
  Speaker 9: right now we're drafting up springers and we'll get bales
• 36:20
  Speaker 9: out for the weekend and try and do as much
• 36:22
  Speaker 9: feeding out for the weekend as we can. So you
• 36:25
  Speaker 9: say the bare minimum, but milking and picking up calves
• 36:27
  Speaker 9: still takes a fair bit of time. And you do
• 36:30
  Speaker 9: got to remember it is still October, sorry, August, September, October.
• 36:34
  Speaker 9: It's a busy month, or three months, sorry. So no,
• 36:37
  Speaker 9: you just got to take it with a grain of
• 36:38
  Speaker 9: salt and you enjoy your holidays later on and stuff.
• 36:42
  Speaker 9: As long as the staff know the plan, they understand
• 36:44
  Speaker 9: that and recognise that, you know, we are doing a
• 36:46
  Speaker 9: few more hours here, but we'll definitely get them back
• 36:48
  Speaker 9: somewhere else. So, no, you just try and ease the
• 36:51
  Speaker 9: workload as much as you can and prepare for the unexpected, really.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Steve. All the best for the weekend.
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: Enjoy that coffee car. We'll catch up again.
• 36:58
  Speaker 7: No worries. Cheers, Andy.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: Steve Henderson with some words of wisdom heading into through September,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: I should say. Andrew Wilderson and Newstalk ZB's up next.
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: Let's talk some sport. Welcome back to the muster. Andrew
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: Alderson joins us out of Newstalk ZB, a.k.a. the Pukakohe
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: hay bearing. Good afternoon, Alders.
• 37:24
  Speaker 7: How are you?
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: Greetings, Andy.
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: I'm well, thanks.
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: Still plenty of hay in the shed, too, I might add.
• 37:30
  Speaker 6: You know, there hasn't been a lot of demand for
• 37:32
  Speaker 6: it as yet, but it sounds like you guys have
• 37:34
  Speaker 6: got some pretty difficult times down there with the spring.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been an interesting spring once again. What's your
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: growth like up there? What's it like to have sunshine
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: for more than two days in a row?
• 37:44
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I don't want to gloat, but it's pretty good, actually.
• 37:47
  Speaker 6: It's been pretty steady, I think. So, yeah, we've got, well,
• 37:51
  Speaker 6: 18 head of cattle in the panic of the weather
• 37:53
  Speaker 6: just munching their way up and down, and they don't
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: seem to be too troubled. So we're pretty lucky, put
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: it that way.
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: No, you're doing well. Tell you what, the Warring is
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: going to Eden Park. Is the sun going to shine
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: down on Andrew Webster's men?
• 38:06
  Speaker 10: I think it is forecast. Maybe it's a bit of
• 38:09
  Speaker 10: a win getting up on Sunday, but it's fine for
• 38:12
  Speaker 10: some of the weekend. Look, you would think so, wouldn't you?
• 38:16
  Speaker 10: I mentioned that build over the course of the season.
• 38:19
  Speaker 6: You'd think that they must at least be able to
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: put some of that back into the swing. I think
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: that the I see some talk across the Tasman that
• 38:28
  Speaker 6: they're starting to cave mentally. The Australians sort of picking
• 38:32
  Speaker 6: up or their antenna twitching that they might be vulnerable,
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: but I've got a lot of time and a lot
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: of faith in Andrew Webster.
• 38:38
  Speaker 10: I think he's magnificent.
• 38:40
  Speaker 6: And he's really been the architect of this. And the
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: fact that he's signed on for a longer period now, what,
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: into the 2030s, I guess adds to that element and
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: stability for the Warriors looking ahead. And I just love
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: what he's done with the squad, the depth and the versatility. And, yeah,
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: I think they can do this.
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: Now, the late Possum Bourne, rallying guru, he passed away
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: in 2003, but the legacy is going to continue. His son,
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: Spencer Bourne, is hopping into the prized Subaru.
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: That's right, the yellow and the blue, and he's going
• 39:16
  Speaker 6: to be heading out at this Ashley Forest event over
• 39:20
  Speaker 6: the course of the weekend, and that should be fascinating
• 39:25
  Speaker 6: to see how he does following in the tyre tracks
• 39:26
  Speaker 6: of his old man. I mean, that's, you know, Possum Bourne,
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: He's pretty much a legend. He's a three-time winner of
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: that event amongst so many others across the course of
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: his career and died so tragically early with the Race
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: of the Skies so many years ago now. It'd be
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: fascinating to see how his son goes and I hope
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: he doesn't get too much pressure put onto him but
• 39:49
  Speaker 6: the fact that he's following in that regard credits him, really.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: And you look at Hayden Patton, what he's achieved in rallying,
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: and the sport arguably has had a bit of a
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: renaissance over the past wee while.
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: Oh, that's right. I mean, Hayden Patton, he must be
• 40:05
  Speaker 6: the most underrated New Zealand sports person in the country, surely,
• 40:09
  Speaker 6: with what he's been able to achieve. And it's not
• 40:11
  Speaker 6: just the driving, either. It's putting marketing campaigns together, trying
• 40:14
  Speaker 6: to to piece together, I guess, the money to make
• 40:16
  Speaker 6: it work, and then you've got the pressure of actually
• 40:18
  Speaker 6: being in the vehicle and getting the results, et cetera.
• 40:22
  Speaker 6: Hats off to him, I mean, what he's been able
• 40:23
  Speaker 6: to do. And even to have this, like you say,
• 40:25
  Speaker 6: Rene Sossens, to be able to get into the World
• 40:27
  Speaker 6: Rally Championship again, as he has done, you know, it's
• 40:30
  Speaker 6: a tremendous achievement.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: Right, the Brisbane Olympics. This could be the gift that
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: keeps on giving. And we're talking about the rowing. Fill
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: us in on this. This is crazy.
• 40:41
  Speaker 6: Oh, it really is. I mean, it's a story... Well,
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: the gist of it is that the rowing is going
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: to be held 641km north, from my estimate on the
• 40:53
  Speaker 6: Google Maps, at Rockhampton and Fitzroy River. The problems with
• 40:57
  Speaker 6: this are there's two problems, essentially, or possibly three, but
• 41:02
  Speaker 6: there's the danger of flooding. There's the, I guess, the
• 41:07
  Speaker 6: concern over the fairness of the water flow. So if
• 41:09
  Speaker 6: it's at a certain angle and things on a river.
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: it's going to.
• 41:12
  Speaker 6: Aid some boats in certain lanes more than others, rather
• 41:15
  Speaker 6: than the tradition where the middle boats are given the
• 41:18
  Speaker 6: key advantage there. So you've got those issues. But then,
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: I mean, this is the real tantalising one, I suppose,
• 41:25
  Speaker 6: is that these... You know, it's a saltwater crocodile habitat,
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: so they're going to have to negotiate a truce with
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: those guys, those big boppers, in hope that no-one takes
• 41:36
  Speaker 6: out a skiff on the course.
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, you think about, you.
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: Know, one of these.
• 41:41
  Speaker 6: crocodiles sort of submerge and then gradually making their way
• 41:44
  Speaker 6: up and hunting down a boat. I mean, we could
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: have faster races, I suppose, but that's quite a bit
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: of dark comedy in the whole fast, really. There was
• 41:54
  Speaker 6: the option, I guess, of going down to Penrith, the
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: Penrith Regatta, where they had it at the 2007 Olympics
• 42:02
  Speaker 6: as a satellite, but they want to have it in Queensland,
• 42:04
  Speaker 6: and this has been deemed the best option, and it's
• 42:07
  Speaker 6: been okayed by the International Olympic Committee, but Naturally enough,
• 42:10
  Speaker 6: I think it was the New Zealanders, the Canadians, the
• 42:12
  Speaker 6: Germans and the British sort of raising the red flag
• 42:16
  Speaker 6: here as to the fairness of the course and also
• 42:20
  Speaker 6: about the, I guess, the hazards out there in the
• 42:23
  Speaker 6: form of these crocodiles. Because, you know, maybe there's going
• 42:27
  Speaker 6: to have a whole lot of McDundees on the side
• 42:29
  Speaker 6: of the course for the swim out or, you know.
• 42:33
  Speaker 6: get out there in a dinghy and knock them off,
• 42:36
  Speaker 6: but who knows?
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: Well, the health and safety form... I.
• 42:38
  Speaker 6: Don't think this is the last we've heard of this story.
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: Can you imagine the number of eyeballs on these games when.
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: It comes to the rowing? Might see some world records orders.
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: Look at the positives.
• 42:48
  Speaker 6: That's right, that's right.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: But realistically, mate, they're not going to hold this event
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: of these crocodiles in the water that close, surely?
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: Well, it's on a natural river feature.
• 43:01
  Speaker 3: I mean, I....
• 43:03
  Speaker 6: They say there's 500 in the vicinity. I mean, that
• 43:07
  Speaker 6: may be over, I don't know, thousands or hundreds of
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: thousands of square kilometres. I'm not sure at this stage.
• 43:16
  Speaker 6: But 500 certainly is not a number that would fill
• 43:19
  Speaker 6: me with a great deal of optimism if I was
• 43:23
  Speaker 6: manning the oars.
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: Look forward for some world records there, Alders. Always appreciate
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: your time on the muster. You enjoy your weekend.
• 43:30
  Speaker 6: Looking forward to it, Andy, and I hope things shape
• 43:33
  Speaker 6: up a bit more down south with the spring.
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
• 43:42
  Speaker 4: land can be a laughing matter.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: livestock farmer. Why don't you see elephants hiding in trees?
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: Because they're just so darn good at it. Alrighty, that's
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: us over in Dunlith. Best of the muster, 5am tomorrow morning.
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Podcasts available of the show on iHeartRadio. I'm Andy Muir.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: The muster, of course, is brought to you by Peters Genetics.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Up the stags, up the whas. We're leaving you this
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: afternoon with David Lee Murphy, dust on the bottles, particularly
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: for Dave Bradley, who messaged in before. Hope it's all
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: going well out there, Dave. All the best over the weekend.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: See you Monday.
• 44:20
  Speaker 8: They said there might be a little dust on the bottom.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: But don't let it fool.
• 44:27
  Speaker 8: You about what's inside. There might be a little dust
• 44:34
  Speaker 8: on the bottom.