Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster Full Show: 15/09/26

Transcript

The Muster Full Show: 15/09/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:00
Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui, brought
0:04
Speaker 1: to you by Peter's Genetics. I'm Andy Muir, thanks for
0:07
Speaker 1: your company. With blue sky all around G-Town. Bouncing off
0:13
Speaker 1: the hills actually in the distance there. But unfortunately it
0:17
Speaker 1: is short-lived. We'll look at the forecast shortly. It is
0:20
Speaker 1: getting cooler over the next couple of days. I suppose
0:23
Speaker 1: the wonder of spiders Thursday onwards, the temperatures are staying
0:26
Speaker 1: warmer than what we see today. But just a couple
0:29
Speaker 1: of days of big yellow like this would be much appreciated. So, yeah,
0:34
Speaker 1: sunshine's a good thing when you get it, right? But nonetheless,
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Speaker 1: like you say, we'll carry on with things quite a
0:39
Speaker 1: bit to get through for the hour. The music today, too.
0:42
Speaker 1: George Harrison, good tune, this.
0:47
Speaker 2: Hockanui's five-day forecast with Twin Farm, Tefrom and Softex.
0:52
Speaker 1: The proof is in the progeny. tefrom.co.nz This afternoon, sunny
0:57
Speaker 1: with breezy north westerlies and 18. Tomorrow, rain with light
1:00
Speaker 1: south westerlies, 2 and 9. Thursday, afternoon showers with breezy
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Speaker 1: north westerlies, 5 and 11. Friday, rain with breezy north westerlies,
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Speaker 1: 6 and 11. And on Saturday, light rain with breezy
1:12
Speaker 1: north westerlies, 5 and 12. So Saturday's not too bad. But, yeah,
1:16
Speaker 1: just so much drying we get over the next couple
1:18
Speaker 1: of days. Soil temperatures to hand, Clinton 7.8, Heriot 7.7,
1:23
Speaker 1: Northern Southland 8.5, Riverton 10.3, Te Arau 8.3, Titiroa 9.2,
1:29
Speaker 1: Winton 8.8 and Woodlands 8.6. So those soil temperatures are
1:33
Speaker 1: getting up there and starting to warm up, which is
1:36
Speaker 1: a good thing. Grant McMaster, based at Closeburn Station, gets
1:40
Speaker 1: us underway this afternoon and is asked to share a
1:44
Speaker 1: message regarding TV. This is an interesting chat. You want
1:48
Speaker 1: to listen out for this. Graham Butcher's talking lambing dates.
1:54
Speaker 1: What should you deviate from the norm, given the way
1:56
Speaker 1: that September's been the way it's been? Graham's got a
1:59
Speaker 1: bit of a thought process around this. Laurie Patterson of Groundswell,
2:02
Speaker 1: New Zealand. There's a petition that Groundswell is presenting to
2:06
Speaker 1: the Gore District Council on Friday regarding building change here
2:10
Speaker 1: in Gore. So Laurie just passed a bit of comment
2:13
Speaker 1: around that. Julie Edwards of Shewell UK joins us for
2:16
Speaker 1: a regular chat. And Josh Bennett of Waitani Young Farmers
2:21
Speaker 1: catches up on this week's YFC segment. Sam Riley of
2:24
Speaker 1: PGG writes in, gives a rundown of the lawnmower sale.
2:27
Speaker 1: Then we're going to crank into it. With Grant McMaster,
2:30
Speaker 1: this is The Muster, brought to you by Peter's Genetics,
2:32
Speaker 1: just on 7 After 1. Grant Disaster, McMaster Farms on
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Speaker 1: the edges of, well, the edge anyway, of Lake Wakatipa,
2:47
Speaker 1: Closeburn Station, joins us once again. Good afternoon, Grant. The
2:51
Speaker 1: song's called Stuck Inside a Cloud. How much cloud have
2:54
Speaker 1: you got in the sky up there in central Otago?
2:56
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody. A bit of cloud
2:59
Speaker 2: up high. It's normally up high, I suppose. But all
3:03
Speaker 2: the white stuff, the pilots will be able to tell
3:04
Speaker 2: you what it was. But it's 11 degrees here at
3:08
Speaker 2: the moment. We haven't had rain since we spoke last week. And,
3:11
Speaker 2: you know, the grass is growing a bit and things
3:15
Speaker 2: are drying out. Not as bad as our mates down
3:17
Speaker 2: in Southland. feel for all you guys and girls down there.
3:21
Speaker 2: It's not an easy time, is it? But, yeah, the
3:24
Speaker 2: rain has stopped now. I think there's a bit more
3:25
Speaker 2: forecast tomorrow, but, yeah, it's certainly a good week with
3:30
Speaker 2: no rain and warm temperatures. Like, it was 17 degrees yesterday,
3:35
Speaker 2: and it's 11 degrees 11 now.
3:38
Speaker 1: You've got the conveyor rolling on the farm later this week?
3:41
Speaker 2: Well, I have Towner's tongue rolling along. I know that
3:43
Speaker 2: when he comes up. But, yeah, so that's next Wednesday
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Speaker 2: he comes up and we'll put all the ewes across
3:50
Speaker 2: it and give them their five and ones courtesy of
3:53
Speaker 2: RB Rural. No doubt he'll have another great pack for
3:56
Speaker 2: me and rip me off somewhere, but he'll bring the
4:00
Speaker 2: stuff up from Smithy and we'll do that and do
4:03
Speaker 2: a bit of tagging and what have you and then
4:06
Speaker 2: we'll spread them far and wide. So yeah, a bit
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Speaker 2: of a pick there to say now. Got all the ewes,
4:12
Speaker 2: all the ewes are now muffed up off the hill
4:15
Speaker 2: blocks that have just been sort of scattered around through
4:17
Speaker 2: the poor weather. and on the flat, so got that
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Speaker 2: done this morning. They'll get on to a bit of
4:24
Speaker 2: barley and baitage now for the last week, and that'll
4:28
Speaker 2: help them, and it'll make me feel good as well,
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Speaker 2: I suppose. So, yeah, and then it'll be spreading out,
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Speaker 2: and the fun begins again.
4:35
Speaker 1: Have you seen much regrowth on the hills?
4:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, there has been, and over at the hills, yes,
4:42
Speaker 2: they've got the heifers that have been feeding baiters, those
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Speaker 2: heifers that calved early, And so we got them out
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Speaker 2: of their block and now they're on some nice grass
4:53
Speaker 2: that we've got growing over there. So it's always a
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Speaker 2: bit more, you know, it's always a bit forward over there.
4:58
Speaker 2: And I think this is the last week for the
5:00
Speaker 2: hoggets on the crop. So that bit of the management
5:03
Speaker 2: plan's worked all right, Andy. The crop's been good. The
5:05
Speaker 2: hoggets are all right. The paddocks are coming away and
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Speaker 2: the heifers are pleased to be on a bit of grass.
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Speaker 1: Well, as Hannibal Smith of the A-Team once said, I
5:14
Speaker 1: love it when a plan comes together.
5:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, what are you looking at, sucker?
5:19
Speaker 1: Siri, you've got a message today to share regarding tuberculosis
5:23
Speaker 1: and TB.
5:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, TB, I just, you know, there's been quite a
5:27
Speaker 2: few articles of late in the Farmers Weekly and other
5:30
Speaker 2: magazines with the threat of forestry and wild deer and
5:36
Speaker 2: pigs becoming more prevalent and possums and the threat of
5:40
Speaker 2: TB is always there and there's been quite a few
5:42
Speaker 2: articles on it, but I can actually speak for firsthand
5:46
Speaker 2: with TB because back in, um, back on the 10th
5:49
Speaker 2: of April, I'll never forget that date. I've been up
5:52
Speaker 2: to the, uh, the Mara dog trials at a couple
5:54
Speaker 2: of runs there. I thought I had a good day
5:56
Speaker 2: and coming out of the gate, I got a call from, uh, Osprey,
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Speaker 2: the head veterinary there, um, Mr. Kevin Cruz to say, um, we'd, uh,
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Speaker 2: we'd sent, uh, cull cows. They went up to Curry Curry,
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Speaker 2: which is up in Greymouth to be killed. And, uh,
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Speaker 2: one went down the chute and they believed it was TB. So, uh,
6:15
Speaker 2: That makes every muscle in your body clench quite hard,
6:18
Speaker 2: I can tell you that. So he said, look, it's,
6:22
Speaker 2: you know, this animal's gone down. It's got three lesions
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Speaker 2: in it. And, yeah, 99% sure it's TB, but we'll
6:30
Speaker 2: let you know next week when we get further tests done. So,
6:34
Speaker 2: you know, he said, what do you do? He said, well,
6:35
Speaker 2: don't do anything at the moment. Just sit tight until
6:37
Speaker 2: we know what's happening. So that's been the theory. And
6:39
Speaker 2: I'd just like to say that, you know, Osprey have
6:42
Speaker 2: been really good to deal with because it's actually... It's
6:45
Speaker 2: a bit of a kick in the ass, to be fair,
6:47
Speaker 2: and it's not a good feeling. You just, you know,
6:52
Speaker 2: until you know exactly what's happening, you think, well, you know,
6:55
Speaker 2: how's this going to affect me, my neighbours? You know,
6:58
Speaker 2: that's the bigger things. So anyway, four or five days later,
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Speaker 2: the tests were in, and he said, I'll be coming
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Speaker 2: down to see you. So he brought him and an
7:09
Speaker 2: associate came down. I named them the Bomb Squad. They
7:12
Speaker 2: arrived at home and with all the information, and obviously
7:15
Speaker 2: I had a lot of questions, you know, where did
7:17
Speaker 2: it come from, how's it got here? He said, you know,
7:19
Speaker 2: we'll be working on this for quite a few months, Grant.
7:21
Speaker 2: So he said, just, you know, one step at a
7:23
Speaker 2: time type thing. So, you know, we'd sold all our
7:27
Speaker 2: calves at the Omakau sales. So there was 125 calves
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Speaker 2: had gone from Southland to South Canterbury. So they had
7:35
Speaker 2: to be all recalled and had to be tested. my neighbours,
7:39
Speaker 2: you know, I rang them and said, look, this is
7:41
Speaker 2: what's happened. It's got a bit like a bloody leper
7:44
Speaker 2: in a leper colony, to be fair. And you feel
7:47
Speaker 2: guilty and all those things, not that it was anything
7:50
Speaker 2: you'd been out to do on purpose. So anyway, so
7:54
Speaker 2: what happened, all those calves were all the people that
7:58
Speaker 2: bought those, you know, as I said, from throughout the
8:01
Speaker 2: South Island. They were all contacted. Those calves were all
8:05
Speaker 2: bought in and tested. They were all They were all clear.
8:09
Speaker 2: So then we'd get our cows in and test them.
8:13
Speaker 2: So tested them. There was 110 cows that were there
8:17
Speaker 2: because the ones over at the hills were separate. So
8:20
Speaker 2: we tested those and read them on the Friday and
8:25
Speaker 2: three had come up with the positive, you know, the
8:28
Speaker 2: tail test. My TB man, he said that... I think
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Speaker 2: two of them will be okay, but one won't be. However,
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Speaker 2: they bring in the, then the inspectors come in and
8:42
Speaker 2: I had to shoot those three cows and they autopsied them.
8:46
Speaker 2: Had to get a guy in with a digger to
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Speaker 2: dig a hole because, you know, it's pretty, you know,
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Speaker 2: things like that spreading. However, they went through them and
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Speaker 2: autopsied them and none of those cows actually had TB.
8:57
Speaker 2: So that was a, that was a start. Then the
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Speaker 2: next step is you do a blood test. So the
9:03
Speaker 2: skin test is about 80% effective. The blood test is 100%.
9:06
Speaker 2: And I said, well, why don't you just do the
9:09
Speaker 2: blood test? First, you can't. You've got to give them
9:12
Speaker 2: under the skin test to get the antibodies going. I
9:14
Speaker 2: think they must put sort of tuberculin in to get
9:18
Speaker 2: the reaction. So we did the blood test 10 days later,
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Speaker 2: and cows come in again, scan them, and only one
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Speaker 2: cow was positive. Again, the hit squad come in, and
9:34
Speaker 2: that cow was slaughtered and autopsied, and she didn't have
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Speaker 2: TB either. So basically... All our records, so remembering the
9:47
Speaker 2: calves are all done, there's also 850 close-burned cattle still alive,
9:53
Speaker 2: whether they're in feedlots or heifers that we sell each
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Speaker 2: year to our buyers. and just guys that still had
10:01
Speaker 2: stuff on board. So there was 850 cattle still within
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Speaker 2: the country and so they were all tested and they
10:10
Speaker 2: all came back clear as well. So that was quite
10:12
Speaker 2: a sigh of relief there. So So you ask yourself, well,
10:18
Speaker 2: how come that one cow had TB, which she did,
10:21
Speaker 2: and it turned out she was infected, but she wasn't infectious. Now,
10:28
Speaker 2: we knew where that cow had come from, and she
10:32
Speaker 2: came here as a two-year-old. She'd been tested, but between
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Speaker 2: there and three years later, she had the TB. So, yeah, pretty, well,
10:42
Speaker 2: sort of, scary times in a lot of ways because
10:46
Speaker 2: you know at one stage you think you know are
10:49
Speaker 2: we having to get rid of all our cows or
10:50
Speaker 2: and you know those people that had mycoplasma and or
10:55
Speaker 2: mycoplovis and the thought of foot and mouth you know
11:01
Speaker 2: it's a lot of people are worse off but and
11:04
Speaker 2: I think the thing is that you know the TB
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Speaker 2: the NAIT system works it's been in since 2012 and
11:10
Speaker 2: as long as you've got all your information right and
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Speaker 2: you do it and I stress to all you guys
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Speaker 2: and girls out there, for God's sake, keep up with
11:18
Speaker 2: it because something like this comes and it just makes
11:21
Speaker 2: a big difference. So to have all that information there
11:24
Speaker 2: to go through and there's actually only 15 herds in
11:27
Speaker 2: the country at the moment that are TB infected. I
11:30
Speaker 2: said that I'd always wanted to be in a New
11:32
Speaker 2: Zealand 15 but not for TB. So as a result,
11:38
Speaker 2: the cows will be, we had a test the other day,
11:39
Speaker 2: that's all good. They'll be tested again when we mark
11:42
Speaker 2: the calves in December. And the calves will have to
11:46
Speaker 2: be tested before they are sold off farms. So that's,
11:51
Speaker 2: you know, that's been a pretty traumatic, funny experience. A
11:55
Speaker 2: lot of, well, you know, it's one of those things
11:57
Speaker 2: that you think you're guilty and just a hell of
12:02
Speaker 2: a feeling. But just a couple of things here. And
12:07
Speaker 2: from the 1st to the 7th of August, That's one week.
12:11
Speaker 2: There were 31,318 movements of cattle, you know, within the country.
12:17
Speaker 2: And so from January the 1st to the 30th of June,
12:23
Speaker 2: there were 2,602 farms across the country were tested for TB.
12:28
Speaker 2: These are areas that, you know, for the tests. And
12:31
Speaker 2: it completed, you know, it included 925,318 tests were done.
12:33
Speaker 2: So off that, 384,000 were dairy cows, beef cows were 508,000,
12:43
Speaker 2: and 32,000 for deer. So it just shows you that
12:47
Speaker 2: it is working and it is thorough, and they work
12:52
Speaker 2: on the areas that have TB that they know of,
12:54
Speaker 2: the hot area, and they use algorithms and all these
12:59
Speaker 2: fancy things to find out in areas that are just
13:02
Speaker 2: ticking along that but they're pretty sure that they know
13:05
Speaker 2: what's going on. So hard to get your head around,
13:08
Speaker 2: but I can tell you I'm bloody grateful that our
13:12
Speaker 2: records are up to date and accurate and, you know,
13:16
Speaker 2: we had Osprey there during the time and, as I said,
13:19
Speaker 2: you couldn't have wished for better people to work for
13:22
Speaker 2: than they work with and all very understanding and just
13:26
Speaker 2: got the job done and sort of did the steps
13:28
Speaker 2: and put you at ease a bit more than you
13:31
Speaker 2: probably were.
13:32
Speaker 1: Good on you, Grant. We'd better leave it there, but
13:34
Speaker 1: good to see you're on the other side of it.
13:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, if anyone's still awake, just keep your tests going,
13:40
Speaker 2: and the system's there, and when you need it, it
13:44
Speaker 2: certainly works. So, yeah, it's a bit better than it was,
13:48
Speaker 2: and we've still got most of our cattle, so that's
13:50
Speaker 2: a start.
13:54
Speaker 1: Grant McMaster at Closeburn Station. The messaging around TB... Testing, Nate, traceability,
14:00
Speaker 1: like Grant talked about before. Keep it up to date.
14:04
Speaker 1: His experience firsthand is proof, 100%. Laurie Patterson's up next
14:09
Speaker 1: out of Groundswell, New Zealand. Welcome back to the muster.
14:23
Speaker 1: Laurie Patterson of Groundswell, New Zealand, joins us in studio. Laurie,
14:27
Speaker 1: good afternoon.
14:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, g'day Andy, how you doing?
14:30
Speaker 1: Not too bad, although when you came into the studio
14:33
Speaker 1: you said it's like being ushered into the dentist.
14:36
Speaker 3: Well it is really, you get told, you know, oh
14:38
Speaker 3: come on through, but the only thing you've got in
14:41
Speaker 3: your favour is it doesn't sort of smell of methylated
14:44
Speaker 3: spirits and all that other stuff that a dentist does,
14:46
Speaker 3: so I'm feeling relatively more happy than I would be
14:49
Speaker 3: if I was going to the dentist.
14:50
Speaker 1: You guys at Groundswell, you've been pretty vocal around this
14:53
Speaker 1: issue regarding the flood zone and what's being proposed.
14:57
Speaker 3: Correct, Andy. Like when Bryce and I started Groundswell NZ
15:03
Speaker 3: back in 2020, really we were working against unworkable regulations,
15:08
Speaker 3: which was the, you know, the freshwater thing that David
15:13
Speaker 3: Parker put in and everyone's got to sow their crops
15:16
Speaker 3: for the whole country on the same day and all
15:18
Speaker 3: the rest of the absolute nonsense. But this thing that's
15:21
Speaker 3: happening in Gore is actually right up there with that.
15:25
Speaker 3: and we're going to present to the council on Friday
15:28
Speaker 3: the 18th at about 3 o'clock that the council really
15:32
Speaker 3: wants to look after the people in the town and
15:35
Speaker 3: their property rights. That's really what it's about, because we've
15:38
Speaker 3: got a flood zone in here, and now people are
15:43
Speaker 3: going to find it very difficult. It's 69 streets, I think.
15:47
Speaker 3: About 1205 properties and they're going to find it difficult
15:51
Speaker 3: to get insurance or the price is going to go
15:53
Speaker 3: through the roof and their property values may go down.
15:56
Speaker 3: When really what we want to do, and congratulations to
15:59
Speaker 3: Environment South for tickling at the river out there, we
16:02
Speaker 3: want to clean it out properly and that would take
16:04
Speaker 3: away the risk.
16:07
Speaker 1: Gravel extraction, it's a no-brainer, but at the same time
16:10
Speaker 1: there's a plethora of things happening. on the table for
16:12
Speaker 1: the council. I suppose the issue around this as well, Laurie,
16:15
Speaker 1: is from a council perspective, is this was open for
16:18
Speaker 1: public consultation.
16:21
Speaker 3: Well, it seems to be that it wasn't actually consulted
16:24
Speaker 3: on perhaps the way it would be. I probably shouldn't
16:27
Speaker 3: say too much about things because we've got to go
16:30
Speaker 3: into mediation with the council on the 12th to 13th
16:35
Speaker 3: of October, I think, And me and my naivety, Andy,
16:41
Speaker 3: I thought when we were going to have mediation, we'd
16:43
Speaker 3: sit down with the councillors and the mayor and just
16:46
Speaker 3: talk things through. But that's not how it works out.
16:48
Speaker 3: We had a preliminary one and there's lawyers from each
16:51
Speaker 3: council and a hydrologist and a planner who seems to
16:57
Speaker 3: actually live in Nelson. I don't think any of them
17:01
Speaker 3: at all live in Gore. And so it's sort of
17:04
Speaker 3: kind of an abstract exercise for them, I think. But
17:08
Speaker 3: this is really going to affect Gore. It's going to
17:10
Speaker 3: gut it. And the only positive thing I could possibly
17:13
Speaker 3: see out of it is that they might have a
17:16
Speaker 3: bit of a use for tourism, as in, I could say,
17:19
Speaker 3: come to the crazy town and have a look because,
17:22
Speaker 3: you know, three houses in the street are suddenly up
17:24
Speaker 3: on stilts and there's a house over there that's added
17:27
Speaker 3: on a room and it's suddenly up on stilts, you know,
17:30
Speaker 3: 1.8 to 3 metres. And for builders in the town
17:35
Speaker 3: and subbies in that, everything's just grinding to a halt.
17:38
Speaker 3: It's crazy.
17:40
Speaker 1: So you're quoting Gore as being called crazy town?
17:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. It could go well that way.
17:46
Speaker 3: I mean, if you think about it, the new floor
17:47
Speaker 3: level on some of these is going to be the
17:49
Speaker 3: height of the ceiling on the rest of the building.
17:51
Speaker 3: How's that going to work? And in the main street
17:54
Speaker 3: of Gore, where businesses have to have wheelchair access, there's
17:58
Speaker 3: one building they'd be looking at there, and that would
18:00
Speaker 3: mean the ramp to get wheelchairs in there would be
18:04
Speaker 3: something like 32 or 40 metres. So how's any of
18:08
Speaker 3: that going to work? But this adds a lot of cost,
18:11
Speaker 3: and I'm already told that there's been two or three
18:13
Speaker 3: people that wanted to build that have actually walked away
18:16
Speaker 3: from it because of the added cost that it would
18:18
Speaker 3: cost them, and they've said, oh, no, forget it. And,
18:20
Speaker 3: you know, there's people that want to invest in Goulaseth,
18:23
Speaker 3: and the economy's going well, and why would you?
18:26
Speaker 1: Do you think it's just public relations, though, coming through
18:28
Speaker 1: from the council, that transparency hasn't been what it could
18:31
Speaker 1: have been, or is this a matter of, So much
18:34
Speaker 1: has happened in such a short time that it's just
18:37
Speaker 1: been lost in translation.
18:39
Speaker 3: I think it's the way we do things, Andy. And,
18:42
Speaker 3: you know, we get told that, you know, we've got
18:44
Speaker 3: to do submissions on something and it's got to be
18:46
Speaker 3: in by a certain date. I would have thought something
18:49
Speaker 3: as major of this. The first thing the council would
18:52
Speaker 3: have done would have been probably to have called a
18:55
Speaker 3: face-to-face meeting with all the builders and subbies in Gore.
18:59
Speaker 3: They know who they are and sat down and see
19:01
Speaker 3: if they could work some common sense into things. And
19:04
Speaker 3: the other thing is, all the people on the 1,206 properties,
19:09
Speaker 3: or three properties, I should say, who actually pay rates,
19:13
Speaker 3: and the council's only got two ways of getting income.
19:17
Speaker 3: One's from their ratepayers who pay them, and the other
19:19
Speaker 3: is borrowing money. And I would have thought that their
19:22
Speaker 3: ratepayers would have been the first ones that have called
19:25
Speaker 3: a meeting and said, look, this is what Environment Southland
19:29
Speaker 3: are proposing. What do you think?
19:32
Speaker 4: All this.
19:34
Speaker 3: Emailing and submissions is all very well, but most people
19:37
Speaker 3: are hardly sick of it, I think. A face-to-face meeting
19:39
Speaker 3: would have done a lot of good.
19:41
Speaker 1: Are other towns facing these issues?
19:43
Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing. Just about every town in New
19:47
Speaker 3: Zealand is actually built on a river for the reasons associated.
19:50
Speaker 3: getting water for the town and also getting rid of waste.
19:54
Speaker 3: So what's going to happen is they did all, you know,
19:56
Speaker 3: Gores just sort of first off the ramp, if you like.
20:01
Speaker 3: And what's happened is that They've changed a thing called
20:07
Speaker 3: the AEP, or the annual exceedance probability for the river,
20:10
Speaker 3: which means how much water is going to go down
20:12
Speaker 3: from a 100-year flood to a 200-year flood. Now, when
20:17
Speaker 3: they do their modelling, and as you know, anti-modelling is
20:21
Speaker 3: really just guessing, it actually says that the chances of
20:26
Speaker 3: this happening in their modelling is 0.5%.
20:31
Speaker 1: But this isn't actually Gore District Council. This is advice
20:33
Speaker 1: they've received.
20:35
Speaker 3: Well, this comes through from Environment South and who are
20:39
Speaker 3: in charge of that. And by the way, they actually
20:41
Speaker 3: use a modelling system. Once again, we're guessing modelling, based
20:45
Speaker 3: on Australia.
20:47
Speaker 1: Why's that?
20:48
Speaker 3: Well, you tell me. I would have thought that New
20:51
Speaker 3: Zealand's got a bit of a different system where we
20:53
Speaker 3: have heavy rain and the rivers are quite steep and
20:55
Speaker 3: the water goes down in a hurry and it's gone.
20:57
Speaker 3: And Australia can have a flood and it takes three
21:00
Speaker 3: months to get down to the mouth of the river.
21:02
Speaker 5: So.
21:05
Speaker 3: I don't know. But the thing is, the people that
21:08
Speaker 3: are in this area are actually, you know, they're going
21:12
Speaker 3: to pay monetary-wise the value of their properties and things
21:15
Speaker 3: like that. And there's a lot of retired people in
21:17
Speaker 3: that area there because it's handy to the shops, handy
21:20
Speaker 3: to the RSA, handy to the Bowler Green, all that
21:22
Speaker 3: sort of stuff. So there we are. And it's interesting, Andy,
21:28
Speaker 3: that back in, I don't know, 2,500 years ago, they
21:31
Speaker 3: had big floods on the Yangtze River. in China, and
21:34
Speaker 3: a whole lot of people died, of course, a few million.
21:37
Speaker 3: They asked Confucius what he thought, because he was supposed
21:39
Speaker 3: to be a relatively clever dude. And he said, dig
21:43
Speaker 3: river deep, build banks high. And, you know, they worked
21:47
Speaker 3: that out then. They got a few million more peasants
21:50
Speaker 3: out there to do just that. And what are we doing?
21:53
Speaker 3: All we do is we have a report on it,
21:55
Speaker 3: and then that goes to someone, and they read it,
21:57
Speaker 3: and they have another report, and then another, and there's
21:59
Speaker 3: reports going all around the place. and actually this bugger
22:03
Speaker 3: all gets done about fixing the river.
22:05
Speaker 1: Was it Tina Turner that said river deep, mountain high?
22:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, she went a bit of an extreme, perhaps,
22:11
Speaker 3: to get mountain high, but she was right with the idea, yeah.
22:15
Speaker 3: I mean, this doesn't really affect me personally, Andy, because
22:20
Speaker 3: I live out at Waikaka. Am I allowed to say that,
22:24
Speaker 3: or will you get the T-Row police on.
22:25
Speaker 1: To me again?
22:26
Speaker 5: Yeah, continue.
22:29
Speaker 3: But, you know, this is, like many people, this is
22:31
Speaker 3: my town and I went to high school here and
22:35
Speaker 3: it's also a service town. It's important to all the
22:37
Speaker 3: farmers out there. So, you know, we need Gore and
22:41
Speaker 3: towns like it to be sensible and enable everyone to
22:45
Speaker 3: get on with their lives. So what we want to
22:48
Speaker 3: do is have as big a turnout as we can
22:50
Speaker 3: at three o'clock on Friday the 18th, which is this Friday,
22:54
Speaker 3: outside the council offices and we will present Someone on
23:00
Speaker 3: the council, if the councillors or the mayor or whoever
23:03
Speaker 3: can come out, then we will present them with the petition.
23:07
Speaker 1: Good on you, Laurie. Always appreciate your time. Better leave
23:09
Speaker 1: it there.
23:10
Speaker 3: No worries.
23:14
Speaker 1: Laurie Patterson of Groundswell, who resides at Waikaka. Up next,
23:19
Speaker 1: Graham Butcher Farm Consultant. This is the muster. Welcome back
23:33
Speaker 1: to the muster. Graham Butcher, farm consultant, joins us once again. Graham,
23:38
Speaker 1: good afternoon. There's blue sky. It's amazing, isn't it?
23:41
Speaker 7: I've got my jacket off, blue sky. We need 70
23:45
Speaker 7: days of this.
23:46
Speaker 1: Right, now, it's the age-old question. Lambing dates, what do
23:50
Speaker 1: you do? How do you view things? I mean, this
23:52
Speaker 1: is their third spring where it's been frustrating. A few
23:55
Speaker 1: people contemplating going earlier, a few people contemplating going later.
24:00
Speaker 1: What's the formula around this?
24:01
Speaker 6: Um.
24:02
Speaker 7: What's the formula? Every farm is going to be different
24:04
Speaker 7: to what they decide to do. But there was some,
24:07
Speaker 7: I've talked about this Woodlands lambing date probably five or
24:11
Speaker 7: six times over the past quite a few years. And
24:15
Speaker 7: I think it's quite an interesting one. So just to
24:18
Speaker 7: reiterate what that was about, they chose six lambing dates
24:21
Speaker 7: down at Woodlands. This is 1981 and 1982. So going
24:23
Speaker 7: back a fair way, 6th of September, 27th of September
24:24
Speaker 7: and the 6th of October. and they set the whole
24:34
Speaker 7: trial up where they looked at the performance of those
24:36
Speaker 7: sheep lambing and those separate dates, evening everything out so
24:40
Speaker 7: there was no confounding factors and what have you. The
24:43
Speaker 7: guts of what they found was that at weaning time
24:46
Speaker 7: on the 5th of January, when everything was weaned, there
24:50
Speaker 7: was no significant difference in lamb weights. The later they
24:54
Speaker 7: used lamb, the heavier they were at weaning as well,
24:57
Speaker 7: up to 6 kilos heavier for the month later lambing.
25:01
Speaker 7: And that all simply came about, they were lambing onto
25:05
Speaker 7: better pasture covers and lambing closer to the date when
25:09
Speaker 7: the feed took off and ewes were fed the way
25:12
Speaker 7: they should be fed. So it's quite an instructive study,
25:17
Speaker 7: and to me that tells me that we've got to
25:19
Speaker 7: stop thinking about having to lamb early to get decent
25:23
Speaker 7: lambs at weaning. It was quite a long time ago
25:27
Speaker 7: that that trial was done. I mean, they were set
25:29
Speaker 7: stocking at 20 ewes to the hectare and they were
25:32
Speaker 7: talking about quite light ewes and quite light weaning weights,
25:36
Speaker 7: but the trends and impacts could probably relate to the
25:39
Speaker 7: conditions we have now. So when you look at the
25:45
Speaker 7: way the animals are being fed, I'll just find the
25:48
Speaker 7: appropriate bit of paper here, the ewes that were lambed
25:52
Speaker 7: on the 6th of September had intakes of between 1.4
25:56
Speaker 7: and about 1.5 kilograms of dry matter, which is way
25:59
Speaker 7: below where a lactating ewe needs to be The ones
26:02
Speaker 7: that lambed 6th of October were getting up to 3.3
26:05
Speaker 7: to 3.4, which is about where they need to be.
26:08
Speaker 7: So lactation got off to a good start. When lambs
26:11
Speaker 7: started eating grass, it was all there. It was quality stuff.
26:15
Speaker 7: Come 5th of January, weaning time, the ones that lambed later,
26:21
Speaker 7: the ewes that lambed later, were up to 6 kilos
26:23
Speaker 7: heavier and the lambs were about the same. So we
26:26
Speaker 7: need to stop thinking about early lambing to get decent lambs. Now,
26:31
Speaker 7: a couple of things happening there. I think we do
26:35
Speaker 7: need to consider lambing dates, but we also need to
26:38
Speaker 7: consider the conditions that you're creating on your farm when
26:41
Speaker 7: you do start to lamb. If we can lamb early, mid-September,
26:47
Speaker 7: and feed our ewes three to three and a half
26:49
Speaker 7: kays of drying batter, everything takes off, that's great. You're
26:52
Speaker 7: going to have better lambs at weaning around January time.
26:56
Speaker 1: Feed dependent, yeah.
26:57
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's feed dependent. So if you've tried your damnedest
27:01
Speaker 7: and you can't get decent covers and decent intakes to
27:05
Speaker 7: your ewes when you lamb. It's the first six weeks
27:08
Speaker 7: about the critical point of lambing. That's the point where
27:13
Speaker 7: I think you need to consider your lambing dates.
27:16
Speaker 1: Now, people, okay, let's put this into context. Farmers, a
27:20
Speaker 1: lot of them as well, they've got three lambing dates.
27:21
Speaker 1: They've got their terminals or their bee mob, which go
27:24
Speaker 1: in August. May mob will go in September, and towards
27:28
Speaker 1: the end of September into early October will be the hoggans.
27:30
Speaker 7: Yes.
27:31
Speaker 1: That's just the way that everything's changed, I suppose.
27:33
Speaker 7: Well, I suppose that's spreading your lambing out, but it
27:35
Speaker 7: still comes back to that critical point. When you do
27:38
Speaker 7: spread out, regardless of what your lambing date is, you'll
27:41
Speaker 7: use being fed properly. That's the critical point. And as
27:46
Speaker 7: I said just before, if you've done everything you can,
27:48
Speaker 7: your crop yields are good, you're going into winter with
27:52
Speaker 7: decent covers, you know what your covers are going to be,
27:54
Speaker 7: you've managed your feed allocation in the winter, and you
27:56
Speaker 7: still can't get decent covers, you've got to start thinking
28:01
Speaker 7: about things.
28:02
Speaker 1: Do you know of anybody who's done that? I remember
28:05
Speaker 1: us talking about this before a couple of years ago,
28:07
Speaker 1: but moving your lambing date back into October or a
28:10
Speaker 1: big chunk of it, do you know of anyone who's
28:11
Speaker 1: done it?
28:13
Speaker 7: In small ways, but not major ways. I mean, you
28:15
Speaker 7: talked a bit about your spread of lambing. That's sort
28:17
Speaker 7: of considering that your average lambing date gets a bit later.
28:21
Speaker 7: But I don't think people, I can't think of anyone
28:25
Speaker 7: who's made that. My main lambing is going to be
28:27
Speaker 7: early October. Higher up, high country places, all that sort
28:33
Speaker 7: of thing, they lamb early October. So one of the
28:39
Speaker 7: things when you think about later lambing, you've also got
28:41
Speaker 7: later mating. So you've got to manage your feed going
28:44
Speaker 7: into the winter because you're feeding your ewes.
28:45
Speaker 1: But depending on the season too, the feed, you know,
28:48
Speaker 1: later kill date.
28:49
Speaker 7: Everything's seasonal dependent. But the ovulation rate of the ewe
28:52
Speaker 7: is still going to be pretty good getting into May.
28:55
Speaker 7: So we shouldn't need to be worried about that. So
28:57
Speaker 7: as I said, if you've done everything you can to
29:00
Speaker 7: have decent covers and we still can't feed our sheep properly,
29:04
Speaker 7: that's the time to think, OK, should I consider going
29:07
Speaker 7: a bit later? When you think about, say, even a
29:11
Speaker 7: 2.5k income for ewes, once they start lactating, once they lamb,
29:17
Speaker 7: and that's just pretty marginal at 2.5 kilos. If you
29:20
Speaker 7: set stock at 6 ewes to the hectare, you need
29:23
Speaker 7: an average growth rate of 15 k's a day on
29:25
Speaker 7: your grass. That's when supply equals demand. If you're stocking
29:28
Speaker 7: at 8 ewes to the hectare, it's 20 k's. If
29:30
Speaker 7: you're stocking at 10 to the hectare, it's 25 k's. Now,
29:34
Speaker 7: the 20-year average of woodlands, remember this is woodlands, this
29:38
Speaker 7: is good quality grass, low altitudes, it's around about the
29:42
Speaker 7: middle of September when we can achieve those sorts of
29:45
Speaker 7: growth rates. But for the last two years, it's been
29:48
Speaker 7: early October before we have achieved those growth rates. And
29:51
Speaker 7: this year, we have to wait for the results to
29:54
Speaker 7: come in from woodlands. Now remember, that's woodlands too. Once
29:56
Speaker 7: we start getting into perhaps lower fertility country or not
30:00
Speaker 7: quite the right species or higher elevation, higher altitude, you know,
30:06
Speaker 7: we're not going to match those woodlands' growth rates.
30:08
Speaker 1: This might seem like a daft question, not so daft.
30:12
Speaker 1: Do you know of anybody who's considered putting in a
30:14
Speaker 1: lambing shed? Not for massive numbers, but somebody who works
30:18
Speaker 1: on a couple of hundred ewes, perhaps. No.
30:21
Speaker 7: That was a simple answer.
30:22
Speaker 1: Just because that doesn't... We can't justify the cost for
30:26
Speaker 1: the New Zealand system.
30:27
Speaker 7: No, well... It raises a whole other few questions.
30:31
Speaker 1: Yeah, it does raise the questions too, but if you've
30:33
Speaker 1: only got a couple of hundred ewes mixing things.
30:35
Speaker 7: Around, the way things are looking. Yeah, well, I worked
30:37
Speaker 7: in lambing sheds in the UK quite a few years ago,
30:39
Speaker 7: and it worked, but it was hard work.
30:40
Speaker 1: It's intensive.
30:41
Speaker 7: Very intensive.
30:42
Speaker 1: It's mad.
30:43
Speaker 7: And vets on call. Yeah. That's just the way the
30:47
Speaker 7: UK people do things. But the other whole question is
30:53
Speaker 7: we're sort of held to ransom a bit because all
30:55
Speaker 7: our sheep are short-day breeders, There's only a quite narrow
31:00
Speaker 7: sort of period where we can mate you, so that
31:02
Speaker 7: defines when we lamb. 20 years ago, we looked at
31:09
Speaker 7: doing eight-month pattern in sheep.
31:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
31:14
Speaker 7: And if we go to a split flock eight-month pattern,
31:17
Speaker 7: I'll give you the, I'll give, just just to tell
31:20
Speaker 7: you what impact that might have.
31:21
Speaker 1: But you'd have to be a sucker for punishment to
31:23
Speaker 1: do a 3-24 lambing based on the seasons we're.
31:25
Speaker 5: Seeing at the moment.
31:26
Speaker 7: Well, it may be the system that we have in
31:28
Speaker 7: 100 years' time here in Southland.
31:30
Speaker 6: 100 years?
31:31
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's the sons of the new generation of farmers now.
31:35
Speaker 7: But in an eight-month pattern, we're mating in April, normally do.
31:41
Speaker 7: Eight months later, we're mating in December, and then also
31:44
Speaker 7: we're mating in August. Now, we need sheep that are
31:47
Speaker 7: not short-day breeders to do that, But if we do
31:50
Speaker 7: a split-flock eight-month lambing, we're only lambing half our ewes
31:53
Speaker 7: at any of those particular dates. Now, that changes the
31:56
Speaker 7: picture absolutely, totally, completely. And we had some pretty good results.
32:01
Speaker 7: We did it for a couple of years on a farm,
32:04
Speaker 7: and we were getting the equivalent. We developed this indice
32:09
Speaker 7: to say, this is the performance of the eight-month lambing pattern.
32:13
Speaker 7: What lambing percent do we need to get the equivalent
32:16
Speaker 7: performance in a single year? and it was getting up
32:20
Speaker 7: to 240-odd percent lambing. And we had some ewes that
32:25
Speaker 7: were performing that if it was a single lambing, a
32:28
Speaker 7: 12-month lambing pattern, they'd have to do 340-odd percent lambing.
32:32
Speaker 1: Good on you, Graeme. Enjoy the sun while we've got it.
32:34
Speaker 7: Enjoy your eight-month lambing.
32:38
Speaker 1: Graeme Butcher, advocate for a lambing every eight months. Away
32:42
Speaker 1: to the UK next. Julie Edwards of Shewell UK joins us.
32:47
Speaker 3: I wanna know.
33:01
Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokonui. We're away over to
33:04
Speaker 1: the UK next to catch up with Julie Edwards out
33:07
Speaker 1: of Shewell, UK. Of course, we catch up with Ellen
33:09
Speaker 1: McCleary every month here on the programme and Julie as well,
33:14
Speaker 1: but where Shewell is based over there. Julie, good afternoon. Finally,
33:18
Speaker 1: it sounds as though you've had some rain. Happy days.
33:22
Speaker 6: Yeah, good afternoon, Andy. Yes, we have, and I'm pleased
33:25
Speaker 6: to report that, yeah, since we last spoke, we've had
33:28
Speaker 6: a decent amount of rain. It's still warm. So the
33:31
Speaker 6: grounds are greening up and, yeah, we've got a reasonable
33:34
Speaker 6: amount of grass growth now. It's amazing what can happen
33:37
Speaker 6: in a few weeks. So, yeah, complete change from when
33:40
Speaker 6: we last spoke, which is good news.
33:42
Speaker 1: The mood of the rural sector has changed as a
33:45
Speaker 1: result of that rain, I suppose?
33:48
Speaker 6: Yeah, absolutely. And particularly, you know, for the livestock sector,
33:51
Speaker 6: for those thinking about... flushing their ewes and putting the
33:56
Speaker 6: rams in, you know, this is just very timely now. So,
33:58
Speaker 6: you know, some nice, decent, fresh grass for them. It's ideal. So, yeah,
34:03
Speaker 6: I think, yeah, the mood is pretty good at the moment.
34:06
Speaker 6: Prices are up as well.
34:07
Speaker 2: So, yeah.
34:08
Speaker 1: Last time we spoke, I think you were saying, Julie,
34:10
Speaker 1: you had four heat waves, possibly a fifth that was
34:12
Speaker 1: on the horizon. But just having that hot, stifling weather,
34:16
Speaker 1: very un-UK-like.
34:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think I might have said before, actually, we
34:21
Speaker 6: all get excited if it gets to about 20 degrees.
34:24
Speaker 6: That's our summer normally. But the fact, you know, we
34:27
Speaker 6: were in the 30s, mid-30s for quite some time. Yeah,
34:30
Speaker 6: we did have five heat waves. It was quite a
34:34
Speaker 6: phenomenon for us, I think. And, you know, we're just
34:37
Speaker 6: not really set up for it over here. So I
34:39
Speaker 6: think it took everybody by surprise. And the fact that
34:41
Speaker 6: it was so prolonged was a challenge for So, you know,
34:46
Speaker 6: certainly if that's something that we're going to see on
34:48
Speaker 6: a more frequent basis, then I think, you know, we're
34:51
Speaker 6: all going to have to think about how we do
34:52
Speaker 6: things moving forward.
34:54
Speaker 1: We're having a couple of days of sunshine, which is
34:56
Speaker 1: breaking away from the norm of our spring, which has
35:00
Speaker 1: been anything but settled. But the other thing, I suppose,
35:03
Speaker 1: is over there, the harvest season. Last time we spoke,
35:06
Speaker 1: a lot of concern around the fire risk, et cetera.
35:09
Speaker 1: How's that panned out?
35:10
Speaker 7: Yeah.
35:12
Speaker 6: Yeah, not so much. Well, nothing on the news now,
35:15
Speaker 6: but certainly at the time it was worrying. There were
35:18
Speaker 6: quite a few wildfires across the country. But I think
35:22
Speaker 6: now we've had the rain and I think, you know,
35:25
Speaker 6: the vast majority of farmers have harvested early as well.
35:28
Speaker 6: I think there were one or two people still at
35:29
Speaker 6: the moment getting maize in. But we're all, I think,
35:33
Speaker 6: well ahead of schedule. So, yeah, it's now just down
35:36
Speaker 6: to planting and and sorting out the ground and working that,
35:40
Speaker 6: which they're able to do now, now that we've had
35:42
Speaker 6: a decent drop of rain and the soil's still warm
35:44
Speaker 6: as well. So planting should be fairly successful.
35:48
Speaker 1: Now, a lot going on around the world as far
35:50
Speaker 1: as political stability. Over in the UK, Andy Burnham took
35:53
Speaker 1: over from Sir Keir Starmer not that long ago. Keir
35:55
Speaker 1: Starmer notoriously wanting to put on farm taxes more and more.
36:00
Speaker 1: Andy Burnham, how's he been received? Good.
36:04
Speaker 6: I would say reasonably well at the moment, but as
36:07
Speaker 6: with a lot of politicians, you know, he's saying all
36:11
Speaker 6: the right things. It'll actually be the actions and the
36:14
Speaker 6: doing which will be the proof in the pudding, I think,
36:16
Speaker 6: in terms of what impact he has for the farming sector.
36:21
Speaker 6: And as you just mentioned, you know, the inheritance tax,
36:24
Speaker 6: which I think has caused a tremendous amount of concern
36:28
Speaker 6: for farmers over here. could have huge ramifications for lots
36:33
Speaker 6: of farming businesses if they've suddenly got to find money
36:36
Speaker 6: to pay for huge tax bills um you know farm
36:40
Speaker 6: farms are notoriously asset rich and cash poor and i
36:44
Speaker 6: think what it has done actually though is really made
36:47
Speaker 6: made people start to think about having those discussions about
36:49
Speaker 6: succession planning which perhaps in the past hasn't been something
36:53
Speaker 6: on the forefront of people's minds but um it would
36:56
Speaker 6: be good if our prime minister andy burnham did um
37:01
Speaker 6: rescind or, I guess, change the legislation that was brought
37:05
Speaker 6: in by Keir Starmer. But we'll have to wait and see,
37:08
Speaker 6: I guess.
37:09
Speaker 1: One person who's been very well received around the world
37:13
Speaker 1: regarding the view of UK farming is Jeremy Clarkson. Clarkson's
37:17
Speaker 1: farm has really brought agriculture into the spotlight.
37:21
Speaker 6: Oh, yes. He's probably done more for farming than probably
37:27
Speaker 6: most of the programmes that have ever been on television. And,
37:29
Speaker 6: you know, he's been... I think the thing that people
37:32
Speaker 6: like about him is just his honesty. And I think,
37:36
Speaker 6: you know, it's been a real insight when he sits
37:38
Speaker 6: down with his accountant, Charlie, and they talk about the
37:42
Speaker 6: profit or the loss that he's made. And the investment
37:45
Speaker 6: he's made in huge pieces of machinery have been, I think,
37:48
Speaker 6: quite astounding for people. They just hadn't realized the amount
37:51
Speaker 6: of money some of these machines cost. You know, and
37:55
Speaker 6: the hours worked and then, you know, the actual profit
37:58
Speaker 6: that's made at the end of it. I think people
38:00
Speaker 6: have been quite shocked. I mean, there's been some funny
38:03
Speaker 6: bits as well. I always remember when he bought some,
38:06
Speaker 6: he decided to buy some sheep and he let them out.
38:09
Speaker 6: And the first thing they all did was one by
38:12
Speaker 6: one jump over the fence. I think he was stood
38:16
Speaker 6: there and I think you could hear the expletives. So
38:19
Speaker 6: I think we've all been there.
38:20
Speaker 5: Yeah.
38:21
Speaker 1: Do you have the younger generation coming through wanting to
38:23
Speaker 1: be farmers? I mean, we had Country Calendar on here
38:26
Speaker 1: the other day, which is a programme that showcases rural,
38:29
Speaker 1: predominantly for an urban-lensed audience, but a school up in
38:32
Speaker 1: the North Island puts agriculture into the curriculum in a
38:36
Speaker 1: big way. Are you seeing that in the UK, the
38:38
Speaker 1: younger generation keen to get involved?
38:42
Speaker 6: Yeah, we are. We're starting to see more of that,
38:44
Speaker 6: and I think there are a lot of very good
38:46
Speaker 6: advocates for... Encouraging school children to go out on the farm.
38:51
Speaker 6: You know, there are initiatives over here where, you know,
38:55
Speaker 6: you are encouraged to get people on the farm. And
38:59
Speaker 6: some of these farms, we're seeing, you know, several thousand
39:02
Speaker 6: people turn up when they have an open day. And
39:05
Speaker 6: the local schools as well, they tend to adopt a
39:07
Speaker 6: local farm. And people are sort of doing some farm
39:12
Speaker 6: to fork initiatives where they're inviting school children out onto
39:15
Speaker 6: the farm. To see the animals, to actually understand how
39:20
Speaker 6: they're grown and the fact that they go into the
39:23
Speaker 6: food chain, but also the cereal side of things as well.
39:26
Speaker 6: So they're trying to engage people more with where their
39:28
Speaker 6: food comes from. comes from rather than you know I
39:31
Speaker 6: think the disconnect for a while was pretty extreme and
39:35
Speaker 6: you know people just thought that food came from the
39:37
Speaker 6: supermarket they had no idea where where it was produced
39:42
Speaker 6: so I think there's some big efforts going on and
39:44
Speaker 6: some big investment and you know the fact that You
39:47
Speaker 6: guys have got it on the curriculum, and I think,
39:49
Speaker 6: you know, we need to follow suit over here as well.
39:53
Speaker 1: As far as Sherwell, Ella McCleary, the great man with
39:55
Speaker 1: his heatwave milk feeders at the moment, going gangbusters. How's
39:59
Speaker 1: everything been from your perspective?
40:02
Speaker 6: Yeah, very happy. As I think I've mentioned before, you know,
40:06
Speaker 6: we've got Alan in the South Island, Ben in the
40:08
Speaker 6: North Island, and Ray at Mosgill who's handling all the
40:11
Speaker 6: phone calls and the orders. Um, you know, and we're
40:14
Speaker 6: seeing tremendous orders for ear tags coming in as well.
40:17
Speaker 6: So I guess the message to your listeners is, you know,
40:21
Speaker 6: if you're, if you're lambing now and you need tags,
40:23
Speaker 6: then give the guys a call. They can certainly help
40:25
Speaker 6: you out. Um, and I think you mentioned earlier when
40:27
Speaker 6: we were chatting off air, you know, people are saying,
40:29
Speaker 6: you know, they're getting there, you're having some triplets, you know,
40:32
Speaker 6: if you've got spare lambs, then, um, you need a
40:34
Speaker 6: heat wave. So get them on the heat wave. Cause
40:37
Speaker 6: you know, these animals are, you know, they're making good
40:40
Speaker 6: money now. So, um, We've got products there that can
40:45
Speaker 6: help them. So just let us know.
40:47
Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Julie. We'll let you carry on.
40:50
Speaker 1: Always good to catch up on the muster and shear well.
40:53
Speaker 1: You guys keep doing what you're doing.
40:56
Speaker 6: Thank you, Andy. Lovely to talk to you.
41:00
Speaker 1: Julie Edwards of Shewell UK. Like I said, we talk
41:03
Speaker 1: to Ella McCleary every month here on the muster. Well,
41:07
Speaker 1: Julie's part of the Shewell UK division. Always great to
41:09
Speaker 1: catch up. Josh Bennett's up next from Waitangi Young Farmers.
41:15
Speaker 1: I got my mind set on you.
41:20
Speaker 6: Set on you.
41:21
Speaker 1: I got my mind set on you. This is the
41:25
Speaker 1: muster on a Tuesday afternoon as we head up to
41:28
Speaker 1: Balfour now and catch up with Josh Bennett. He's in Balfour,
41:31
Speaker 1: but he's based, of course, with Waitangi Young Farmers. G'day, Josh.
41:36
Speaker 4: G'day, how you going?
41:37
Speaker 1: Pretty good. You haven't changed allegiances, even though you're up
41:40
Speaker 1: in the land of milk and honey?
41:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, they haven't converted me to Balfour yet.
41:45
Speaker 1: Have they tried?
41:46
Speaker 4: They have tried.
41:48
Speaker 1: And they have failed. Okay, ground conditions up there at Balfour.
41:52
Speaker 1: You're spreading a bit of furt today. How's the lambing
41:54
Speaker 1: going in the lakes?
41:56
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, lambing's going great, Andy. Yeah, we're about halfway
41:59
Speaker 4: through there and Dad's pretty wrapped. He's got another lambing
42:03
Speaker 4: shepherd on the beach, so yeah, he's really enjoying it.
42:07
Speaker 1: So it's not too wet underfoot, all things considered, because
42:10
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of moisture up your way. Yeah, no, it.
42:13
Speaker 4: Seemed to have dried out a bit on foot, yeah,
42:16
Speaker 4: on top of the ground here, but Yeah, I think
42:18
Speaker 4: we're due for another storm to come through, which won't
42:23
Speaker 4: help things.
42:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, but nonetheless, like you say, you're at the halfway
42:26
Speaker 1: stage now, so you can see a bit of guidance
42:29
Speaker 1: towards the end of the tunnel as such. Well, tell
42:32
Speaker 1: the young farmers what's been happening. A bit quiet at
42:34
Speaker 1: the moment, I'd imagine.
42:36
Speaker 4: Yeah, so those guys, I was actually away in England
42:40
Speaker 4: for a few months, but they had a really successful...
42:44
Speaker 4: Car trial, car run on the 19th of August. Oh, no,
42:50
Speaker 4: earlier than that, 2nd of August. And they raised $ 5, 000 for, well,
42:56
Speaker 4: I can't remember the charity, but they raised $ 5, 000 for
42:58
Speaker 4: charity and had 19 cars and then ended up at
43:02
Speaker 4: the Riverside Pub with a van.
43:04
Speaker 1: Was it for the hospice?
43:06
Speaker 4: Yes, that's right, hospice.
43:08
Speaker 1: So, young farmers, are you guys getting together and doing
43:11
Speaker 1: anything during the busy season? A lot of community events
43:14
Speaker 1: you're hearing about, meals being put on and the likes.
43:17
Speaker 1: Are you guys up to anything?
43:19
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we just had our lambing and calving dinner
43:22
Speaker 4: at the Thomas Green last night.
43:24
Speaker 1: Nice.
43:25
Speaker 4: I think we had close to 20 people there, so
43:27
Speaker 4: that was a great night to get off the farm
43:30
Speaker 4: right in the middle of it. And at the end
43:34
Speaker 4: of lambing there on the 10th of October... The same
43:38
Speaker 4: day as Te Anau's Bark Up, we're hosting a well-being
43:41
Speaker 4: event that's sponsored by Fonterra and by FarmStrong. And we've
43:48
Speaker 4: got Mark Gastoni. He's coming down to have a yarn
43:54
Speaker 4: to us there.
43:56
Speaker 1: And it's all about mental health, looking after the top
43:59
Speaker 1: three inches as such? Yeah, that's it.
44:02
Speaker 4: He's a dairy farmer. from Cambridge and yeah he's going
44:07
Speaker 4: to share his mental health on farm journey and a
44:11
Speaker 4: bit of his background and what he gets up to
44:14
Speaker 4: and yeah this farm terror sponsorship putting these things on
44:18
Speaker 4: is a great thing for the guys to get a
44:23
Speaker 4: few words.
44:24
Speaker 1: Of wisdom Do you guys talk about that in the
44:27
Speaker 1: young farmers mental health does that ever come up in
44:29
Speaker 1: conversation or is it because it used to be taboo?
44:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's becoming more of a thing that's pushed, even
44:40
Speaker 4: down from sort of like George Dobson and Hugh Jackson
44:44
Speaker 4: have both been on their own mental health journeys and
44:48
Speaker 4: pushing the word out. So it's filtering down to the
44:51
Speaker 4: clubs now, which is really good. And we're being encouraged
44:55
Speaker 4: to put these wellbeing events on, especially after a busy
44:59
Speaker 4: lambing and calving. But yeah, people need an excuse to...
45:03
Speaker 4: to get off farm and to be reassured that everything's
45:06
Speaker 4: all good.
45:08
Speaker 1: Are you holding in the same cahoots with Te Anau
45:10
Speaker 1: on the bar cup, or where's the location?
45:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, so it'll be the location of the Te
45:16
Speaker 4: Anau Rugby Club. So the thought was, seeing as everyone's
45:19
Speaker 4: probably going to make their way to Te Anau for
45:21
Speaker 4: a fun night, we'll host that in the afternoon prior
45:27
Speaker 4: to the bar cup. And it's open to the public
45:30
Speaker 4: as well for a $ 5 donation, so yeah, If anyone's
45:34
Speaker 4: around that's here in our area and wants to come
45:36
Speaker 4: along and listen to Mark, definitely come along.
45:39
Speaker 1: What about you guys and meeting dates? What do people
45:41
Speaker 1: need to know, Josh?
45:43
Speaker 4: We are every second Monday of the month, and we're
45:48
Speaker 4: based around the Gore area, but the best place to
45:51
Speaker 4: find out for meetings for us is on our Facebook
45:54
Speaker 4: page or Tony Young Farmers or Instagram. You can find
45:57
Speaker 4: all the details there.
45:59
Speaker 1: So it's the same old story. Get September over and
46:02
Speaker 1: done with. Get the work done, the calving and the lambing,
46:05
Speaker 1: and then you can start thinking about looking at a
46:07
Speaker 1: few events.
46:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. There's plenty of bar cups coming up now.
46:12
Speaker 1: Yes, there is.
46:12
Speaker 4: And a few around the country. So, yeah, we'll be
46:15
Speaker 4: going to them and having a few beers.
46:18
Speaker 1: Yeah, great messaging there, Josh. We'll leave you to it, mate.
46:20
Speaker 1: Get that furred on before the rain. Cheers, Andy.
46:27
Speaker 7: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
46:30
Speaker 7: land can be a laughing matter.
46:32
Speaker 1: Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the
46:35
Speaker 1: livestock farmer. I got the words jacuzzi and yakuza confused.
46:40
Speaker 1: Now I'm in hot water with the Japanese mafia. And
46:45
Speaker 1: just further to what Josh was talking about then, Southland
46:48
Speaker 1: Rural Support Trust with their Brunch on Us events are
46:50
Speaker 1: happening around the province over the next couple of weeks.
46:53
Speaker 1: So they'll be in certain areas over the, like I say,
46:57
Speaker 1: a couple of dates a week. Take that opportunity to
46:59
Speaker 1: get off farm and go and do something if it
47:01
Speaker 1: presents itself. I'm Andy Muir. The must is brought to
47:03
Speaker 1: you by Peters Genetics. Enjoy the afternoon. We'll see you
47:06
Speaker 1: tomorrow at one o'clock.
47:10
Speaker 5: Stock selling action occurred.
47:13
Speaker 1: This morning at the Lawnville Soil Yards. Of course, it
47:16
Speaker 1: comes courtesy of PGG Wrightson. Sam Riley's on the ground
47:19
Speaker 1: once again for these prices. G'day, Slammer. How did we fare?
47:22
Speaker 7: G'day, Andy.
47:23
Speaker 5: How are you going on, mate? Another nice day down
47:25
Speaker 5: at Lawnville. Went out of the box. We'll take it today.
47:28
Speaker 5: So try and dry things out a little bit before
47:30
Speaker 5: the next lot of rain hits. We'll look at it tomorrow.
47:33
Speaker 5: But just small yarding in today for most stock in Lawnville.
47:37
Speaker 5: We'll kick it off with a prime sheet, mate. Those
47:40
Speaker 5: good lambs, $ 318 to $ 400 on the heavies, $ 240 to
47:41
Speaker 5: $ 300 on the mediums, and $ 180 to $ 220 on the
47:42
Speaker 5: light end lambs. The used, the best of those are
47:44
Speaker 5: $ 206 to $ 310, the medium $ 170 to $ 200, and the
47:46
Speaker 5: lighter end stuff at $ 120 to $ 140. Handful of rams in,
47:49
Speaker 5: the best of those are $ 100 to $ 120. Still a
48:02
Speaker 5: few lots of store lambs coming in, just small lines there,
48:05
Speaker 5: 170 to 180 in the tops of the stores, 150
48:08
Speaker 5: to 160 on the mediums, and 120 to 130 on
48:10
Speaker 5: the lighter end stuff. Ews and lambs all counted, about
48:14
Speaker 5: four or five pence of those. The good ewes and
48:17
Speaker 5: lambs all counted at 168. The mediums were 155 in
48:21
Speaker 5: the lighter end stuff at 130. Into the cattle we move,
48:26
Speaker 5: very small yarding of prime cattle. Stairs, 480 kilos, stairs
48:31
Speaker 5: at $ 4.
48:31
Speaker 4: 80.
48:31
Speaker 5: And some cows at 500 to 650 kgs. They were
48:37
Speaker 5: $ 3. 45 to $ 3.
48:39
Speaker 1: 48.
48:39
Speaker 5: Store cattle, very, very small yarding of store cattle. Some
48:44
Speaker 5: very good yearling Hereford Cross stairs at 325 kilos. They
48:49
Speaker 5: were $ 16.
48:50
Speaker 6: 60.
48:50
Speaker 5: And some yearling Hereford Cross heifers at 350 kgs. They
48:53
Speaker 5: were $ 1, 700. And the bobby calves, still good demand for
49:00
Speaker 5: type of bobby calves there. The charolais cross balls, tops
49:04
Speaker 5: of those are $ 200. The hereford cross balls at $ 145.
49:08
Speaker 5: And the hereford cross heifers, the tops of those were $ 95.
49:10
Speaker 5: So that demand is slipping off just with the time
49:14
Speaker 5: of the season and guys getting full with bobby Carlson.
49:17
Speaker 5: That wraps it up, mate.