Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster- Andy Dennis: Enjoying The Manapouri Sun

Transcript

The Muster- Andy Dennis: Enjoying The Manapouri Sun · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Andy Dennis farms at Manapōuri and joins us in the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Sgt Dan Farming Roundup. Thanks to Sgt Dan's Stock Foods
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: based here in Gore where we catch up with various
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: farmers around the southern region and different operations. Kaka, good afternoon.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good. How's things? Everything's ticking away all right over
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: in Gore?
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: It seems to be. I mean, we've got through September
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and October means onwards.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, things must have come right for you.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: It sounded pretty awful there earlier on, but hopefully you've
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: had the sort of, well, it must be 10 or
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: 15 days of sun and a bit of wind to
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: dry things out like we have up here.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So you got through lambing okay, is still the
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: hoggets to go and it's knocked on the head for
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: another year? Probably not the best phrase to use around lambing,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: but anyway.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: No, it's, yeah, the terminals, we tailed them last week,
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: they did 140, so that's good to ram, and then yeah,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: that usually means we're going to be right, and yeah,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: the mixage and tutus are done at the end of
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: this week, and there seems to be plenty of lambs,
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: so they had a pretty good run of it actually,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: compared to the earlies, and yeah, hoggets are just finishing
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: off with We're sort of finding they were a bit
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: later to the ram in the cycle, so there's still
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: quite a lot to go, which is unusual for them.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Usually they're a bit earlier. So there's a few there
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: that have been on some pretty good feed for a
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: bit longer than intended, and, yeah, we're just pulling a
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: few in bits and pieces. So, yeah, but hopefully, yeah,
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: another week and they'll be done too. So, yeah, we
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: can start moving on with other jobs, which would be good. Yeah.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: How's your feed looking there?
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: No, we're looking pretty good, looking really good, compared to
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: the last few where the springs were looking real good. No,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: there's a wee bit tight in spots, just some of
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: the paddocks got a wee bit down on covers, but yeah,
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: a few shuffles around, you can make things happen. So yeah,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: it'll be good to get these sheep tailed up this weekend.
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: We can do the same on this side and just
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: create a bit more room or shut some paddocks up
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: for baleage or... Yeah, even take some stuff out for
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: sweet ground a wee bit earlier, which would be nice. But, no,
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: we're looking pretty good, really, yeah.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: Do you tail yourselves or get a gang in?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: A gang comes in, yeah. Carl Tomer comes up from Matara. So, yeah,
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: always good, good crew. And, yeah, it doesn't take long
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: these days, but it sort of saves us a week.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: So I just work on that philosophy. It's a week
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: doing track and work instead of a week doing tailing, yeah.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: So, like your contractor, how far behind the eight ball
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: is he compared to other seasons?
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: I think he's only three or four days, and he
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: was here 10 days ago. He could have even caught
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: that up by now. Yeah, because I'd say he's had
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: a pretty good run, whereas I think the last two
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: years he could have been up to sort of, you know,
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: five or six, even 10 days behind where he usually was. Yeah,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: so I think if you round Windham and Matera and that,
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: just push them back 10 days just to let things
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: dry out and, yeah, just... so the lambs weren't so
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: bloody muddy and a bit tough on them, so I
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: think he actually come and done us a wee bit earlier,
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: went elsewhere, and then went back and done them, so
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: he would have had bigger lambs there, but yeah, it's
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: no good tailing in the wet. He just knocks stuff around, yeah.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Have you had the tractor out yet?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Yes, yep. We've been around and ripped everything that needs ripping,
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: and We had the dish sign used on our first one,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: and I'm following up now. Yeah, we'll get the rest
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: of the day in, and that'll be half of the
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: sort of young grass dished up, which will be lovely. Yeah,
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: it's a good feeling.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: How many acres or hectares have you got to work
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: up then?
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Well, generally sort of 30 hectares of young grass, and
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: then 30 hectares of swedes to kale second year, and
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: then 30 hectares direct drilled into swedes. So it's pretty straightforward. Yeah.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: So by the sounds of it, everybody in the basins
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: cope pretty good with the conditions?
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't sort of caught up too many, but
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I was jacking to a chap on the phone the
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: other night, and he's sort of similar to me. He
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: goes a bit earlier, and he got tight the same
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: as me, sort of early September, but now it's bounding away,
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: and he said the same thing. It's a whole lot
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: better than the last three. So no, I think most
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: of us are through now, and yeah, just... starting to
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: crank into some stuff and, yeah, it's windy and hopefully
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: we sort of keep getting an inch a week or
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: a rain a week, otherwise this sort of country can
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: go dry. But, yeah, I don't want to start talking
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: about it at the moment. Let's just enjoy a fine
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: run of weather and plenty of lambs bouncing around.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: With the way the weather's been over the previous three
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: lambings as such, you're not tempted to change anything or
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: it's a case of it is what it is and
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: Mother Nature will be what it'll be?
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: We're a mixed species on this farm, so we just
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: set stock hines last week, and that was getting just
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: late enough for us, so we've sort of got a
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: box using lambs up and create paddocks to set stock
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: hines on, and these stairs going round, these dairy heifers
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: going round, these stags that sort of need cut, these
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: other stuff, so you always need an earlier mob just
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: to create space later on, and yeah, but I... I
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: like to have a bit of a gap in between,
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: and we put the mixed stage in Tudu's Ford five days.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: Didn't really make a lot of difference, but I think
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: I'd just go back just for management reasons, really, and
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: whether the Hoggarts just pushing back five days would be
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: sort of the only change. It's just sort of being
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: able to get around everything when you need to be
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: getting around everything more than anything, yeah.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: How'd the deer got through the season?
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, no, real good. Yeah, no... sort of found
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the right combination of swedes and baleage and everything and
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: now the hinds were great through the shed they look
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: fantastic um yeah so now they're all spread out and
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: it's always a bit of a worry when it's sort
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: of good like this and you've grown a lot of
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: grass you've got the set stocking amount right just because
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: if the cupboards get away um yeah some of those
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: falls can get big in there inside them but um
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: i think we'll be right and i'll just sort of
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: poke a bit of cattle in a paddock if we
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: have to and take them out and just sort of
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: juggle it around. But yeah, it's a whole lot better
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: having grass than not having anything, isn't it? So it's
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: small problems, small problems.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: A lot of talk around cell phone coverage. Speaking of
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: the old yuppie phone up to your ear at the moment,
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: what's it like around your neck of the woods? Do
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: you struggle for coverage or a lot of dead spots?
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Well, if anyone was struggling for coverage in the basin,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: it wouldn't be me, because there's actually a Vodafone tower
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: in the middle of the farm.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: Well, then there'd be something wrong, wouldn't there?
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: What I have with cell phone people is they need
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: to maintain the track a whole lot better than what
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: they do at the new water table, because, yeah, they
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: keep trying to get contractors up there to do work
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: on it. No, that track's not that good. No, no,
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: it's funny enough, it isn't. You actually need to spend
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: a bit of money on a track to maintain stuff, so...
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: That's the only problem I have with them, the phone companies. But, yeah, no,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: we're pretty lucky where we are.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: The tower's on your farm.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, tower's on top of the hill. So, yeah, I'm
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: looking straight up at the moment. Yeah, it's good.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: So they must have to do a lot of maintenance.
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Like you say, though, maintenance on the track, that's a no-brainer.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: It's on them.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's their job to maintain it. Yeah, it's
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: more health and safety. Like if guys are trying to
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: get four drives up there and they can't, they slide
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: in the ditches and all sorts of stuff. Well, there
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: is no ditches at the moment. There's no water tables
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: running down the track. So let's hope they slide that way.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: If they go the other way, that could get interesting,
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: real interesting. But yeah, that's all part and parcel of it.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Like anything, governments change, companies change, and Policies change and
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: all of a sudden it's been a few years since
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: the digger come down it and you start having to
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: make those interesting phone calls, I suppose.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Kaka. We'll let you carry on with
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: cutting up those worms. Appreciate your time as always.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, we were jumping all over the show on
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: this session, but no, it was good. Get it all
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: off my chest. No, it's good. I hope everyone else's
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: springs start to come right and be able to get
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: some stuff on the ground soon. Good on you. See you.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Andy Kakadennis, based up at Manapōuri, thanks to Sgt Dan's
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Stock Foods and the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup. Up next,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: Riley Kennedy of Business Desk, talking politics.