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Transcript

The Muster Full Show: 22/10/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:07
Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui. Andy
0:11
Speaker 1: Muir here. The show's brought to you by Peters Genetics.
0:15
Speaker 1: Welcome along to a Thursday afternoon. It's rather overcast here
0:18
Speaker 1: in the main street of Gore. And, oh wow, just
0:21
Speaker 1: watching history go past the main street there. A removal
0:24
Speaker 1: truck with two old international chassis on it.
0:28
Speaker 2: Anyway.
0:29
Speaker 1: Back to the President's Overcast. It's 18 degrees. We're going
0:31
Speaker 1: to look at the weather very shortly, but the music
0:33
Speaker 1: today is Texas. In some way, shape, or form, all
0:37
Speaker 1: the songs are done with Texas or similar in the title.
0:42
Speaker 1: A random fact, not a random fact, but a fact
0:44
Speaker 1: about Texas. It covers 268,596 square miles, or 695,660 square kilometers,
0:46
Speaker 1: the state of Texas, 31 million people, 31.7 million residents
0:58
Speaker 1: and second largest state by both area and population in
1:01
Speaker 1: the US. So there's your Texas facts for the day.
1:05
Speaker 3: How good were those international chassis anyway?
1:19
Speaker 1: This afternoon, Thursday, light rain developing with breezy westerlies and
1:22
Speaker 1: a high of 17. Friday, sunshine with breezy norwesterlies, 10
1:27
Speaker 1: and 23. Saturday, sunny with breezy to brisk norwesterlies, 13
1:31
Speaker 1: and 20. Sunday, partly cloudy with breezy norwesterlies, 16 and 21.
1:36
Speaker 1: And Monday, rain with breezy norwesters, 7 and 20. So temperatures... Clinton, 13.2. Heriot, 11.7.
1:41
Speaker 1: Northern Southland, 13.1.
1:42
Speaker 4: Riverton, 13.4.
1:42
Speaker 5: Te Anau, 12. Titiroa, 12.
1:43
Speaker 6: Winton, 12.3.
1:43
Speaker 1: And Woodlands, 11.5. Matt McCray of Mokorita starts us off
1:44
Speaker 1: this afternoon. Followed up by Andrew Lumsden, you might know
1:59
Speaker 1: of him as Toreyda, the voice of the Young Farmer Contest.
2:02
Speaker 1: But just putting a bit of comment around ag in schools.
2:05
Speaker 1: The National Party proposing to take agriculture off the curriculum
2:09
Speaker 1: for Year 11 and above. And Toreyda thinks, hmm, why?
2:14
Speaker 1: There's a lot of people pondering this, to be honest.
2:17
Speaker 1: Then we're away to WA, Western Australia. We catch up
2:20
Speaker 1: with our correspondent over there, Dave Biss. Paul Kenyon talks
2:23
Speaker 1: in the Beef and Lamb slot about chic performance around
2:26
Speaker 1: lambing time. And our resident sporting guru, Nathan Burden, talks
2:31
Speaker 1: on a rather poignant day today in Southland sporting history.
2:35
Speaker 1: Let's just say October 22, 2009. Dave Morrison gives the
2:40
Speaker 1: PDG rights and stock sale report from Charlton. Then we're
2:43
Speaker 1: into the hour with Matt McRae. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr.
2:49
Speaker 1: Waylon Jennings.
2:52
Speaker 7: This interview is brought to you by Agri Centre South.
2:55
Speaker 1: Branches in Lawnville, Gore, Cromwell, Milton and Ranfurly.
2:59
Speaker 7: Drop by your local Agri Centre South branch today.
3:08
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, it's not Wayland Jennings, but fortunately we do have
3:12
Speaker 1: Matt McRae based at Mocherita. G'day, Matt.
3:16
Speaker 2: Afternoon, Andy.
3:17
Speaker 4: How are you?
3:17
Speaker 3: I'm good.
3:18
Speaker 1: Can't complain. Yourself, though, you'll be quite pleased to see
3:22
Speaker 1: the last six weeks are nothing but a memory?
3:25
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, no, you've got to have a reasonably short
3:29
Speaker 2: memory or an extremely long one to remember the last
3:33
Speaker 2: good one, isn't it? But, yeah, either way, it's good
3:36
Speaker 2: to finally turn the corner and get a few bit
3:39
Speaker 2: of heat and a bit of grass growth. It's been
3:42
Speaker 2: quite good.
3:43
Speaker 1: So how are ground conditions in Mokereta?
3:47
Speaker 2: That's still, like I was just talking yesterday, we're probably
3:50
Speaker 2: ahead on track to work to this time last year,
3:53
Speaker 2: but like another 10 mils of rain a couple of
3:56
Speaker 2: days ago slowed us down a wee bit. We haven't
3:59
Speaker 2: got any seed in the ground yet. Just probably waiting
4:01
Speaker 2: for the conditions to be a.
4:03
Speaker 3: Wee bit better.
4:04
Speaker 2: But, yeah, grass is certainly growing and, yeah, things are
4:08
Speaker 2: ticking along. So it's actually just started a few drops
4:11
Speaker 2: of rain here this morning as well, which just settled
4:14
Speaker 2: the dust.
4:16
Speaker 1: Well, a few people are saying, depending on where they're based,
4:18
Speaker 1: that a little bit of rain wouldn't go astray at
4:21
Speaker 1: the moment, but you're the opposite thinking, I suppose, where
4:24
Speaker 1: you're based.
4:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I actually enjoy the warm, settled weather, so
4:29
Speaker 2: if anyone wants to swap more than open, that they
4:32
Speaker 2: can come spend a day in Mokereta.
4:34
Speaker 1: So what's your rainfall tell you for the year so far?
4:36
Speaker 2: I haven't actually looked.
4:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's good to.
4:43
Speaker 2: just walk out the door with shorts and not a
4:45
Speaker 2: jacket on at the moment. But, um, I know we've
4:47
Speaker 2: got about 40 months for October and I think we
4:51
Speaker 2: just ticked over 300 for September and 200 for August. Uh, it's, um,
4:56
Speaker 2: getting well up there. It's not far off what we
4:58
Speaker 2: would average for the whole year now anyway. So, um, yeah,
5:01
Speaker 2: it's just, just enough. So yeah, a lot of averages
5:03
Speaker 2: would mean we're in for a good, good couple of months,
5:05
Speaker 2: but yeah, we'll just take it as it comes. And
5:07
Speaker 2: the grass is growing. The lambs are certainly appreciating a
5:10
Speaker 2: bit of sunshine on their backs. And, um, Yeah, just
5:13
Speaker 2: ticked through the routine for the next month.
5:15
Speaker 1: How did the tailing go? You didn't have to put
5:17
Speaker 1: carpet down on the pens or anything?
5:19
Speaker 2: No, it wasn't. It was probably some of the better
5:21
Speaker 2: weather we've had for tailing to be fair. We haven't
5:24
Speaker 2: finished yet, but we get the last of the hoggets
5:29
Speaker 2: due to stop tomorrow, so we'll get them shed out
5:32
Speaker 2: and done with a few picks like the last couple.
5:37
Speaker 2: in the next couple of weeks. But, yeah, manage went
5:39
Speaker 2: pretty good. Obviously, it's a reasonably big job with the
5:42
Speaker 2: DNAing the stud lambs as they go down the chute. But, yeah,
5:47
Speaker 2: it's quite good. There's a lot of mixed results like
5:49
Speaker 2: everyone around. There's some mobs up and some down. So
5:52
Speaker 2: it's just probably dependent on the lambs in a fairly
5:56
Speaker 2: short window. So it depends how many big storms they
5:59
Speaker 2: had in the middle and the paddocks that they were in.
6:02
Speaker 2: But there's always room for improvement.
6:04
Speaker 1: Your hoggart lambing, you've struck it right with the weather there, though.
6:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's been magic. Actually, it's been good therapy, I think,
6:11
Speaker 2: for after the September we had, going around in the
6:16
Speaker 2: wet and rain to what a change it's been for
6:19
Speaker 2: the hoggart. So, yeah, they started the start of October
6:22
Speaker 2: and we lambed them for three weeks. They've been really
6:27
Speaker 2: good and going around not having a lot of issues
6:29
Speaker 2: in them and they're spitting out some good lambs. It'll
6:32
Speaker 2: be interesting to see Well, where they are at, they
6:34
Speaker 2: probably don't get much better runs than this in October,
6:37
Speaker 2: do you?
6:38
Speaker 1: We need to catch up with Henry Buckingham because he's
6:41
Speaker 1: timed it perfectly. You said off-air he should be the
6:43
Speaker 1: new weatherman.
6:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. You said get him on the show for
6:47
Speaker 2: the yearly weather update. But, yeah, I'll catch up with
6:51
Speaker 2: him next week at our summer council AGM. I said
6:55
Speaker 2: to Claire yesterday he'll hate me for saying it, but
6:57
Speaker 2: I reckon if he had a field day down there,
6:59
Speaker 2: he'd have... have half a Southland there for a look
7:01
Speaker 2: and see how it's gone for them.
7:02
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
7:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it's good.
7:04
Speaker 2: It's just finding a system that suits your farm and area.
7:09
Speaker 2: And like I say, we choose to live in the
7:13
Speaker 2: second wettest gully in Southland, so just got to make
7:16
Speaker 2: the most of it. And, yeah, adapt our system to
7:19
Speaker 2: try and get the best out of it. So, yeah,
7:23
Speaker 2: it's good. And we're just going to match that pasture
7:26
Speaker 2: growth rate um, and lambing date in the right spot.
7:29
Speaker 2: And yeah, we had a beef and lamb field day
7:31
Speaker 2: with Paul Kenyon yesterday. I think you got him on
7:34
Speaker 2: the show and, um, yeah, there's some good timely reminders
7:37
Speaker 2: here about setting up for next year and, um, what
7:39
Speaker 2: we can tweak and do better.
7:42
Speaker 1: It's a positive space for the sector in general though,
7:44
Speaker 1: that the price of red meat, it continues to stay
7:47
Speaker 1: up there. It's not going down in a hurry.
7:49
Speaker 3: Is it?
7:50
Speaker 2: Uh, I'd like to think it's not. Um, yeah, we've
7:53
Speaker 2: had a bit of a fundamental shift in the last, um,
7:55
Speaker 2: couple of years. Uh, It's good and it just goes
7:59
Speaker 2: to show a lot of those wee one percenters that
8:00
Speaker 2: you can do make quite a substantial difference to your
8:03
Speaker 2: bottom line. So you can get an extra one or
8:07
Speaker 2: two percent on your lambing percentage or a few less
8:10
Speaker 2: dryers or wet dryers or half a kilo on your lambs.
8:13
Speaker 2: It all stacks up and makes quite a big difference. Yeah,
8:17
Speaker 2: it's cool to step back occasionally, have a look at
8:19
Speaker 2: your business and and what is achievable, and there's certainly
8:24
Speaker 2: a few operators out there leading the way, so it's
8:27
Speaker 2: always good to get off farm and learn something, even
8:31
Speaker 2: if it's one or two things, off some good operators
8:33
Speaker 2: and see what we can take back and improve what
8:37
Speaker 2: we've got ourselves.
8:38
Speaker 1: Based on that, what are you looking at budget-wise compared
8:40
Speaker 1: to last year? Very similar?
8:42
Speaker 2: I'd be pretty... Pretty similar, like I've put it in
8:46
Speaker 2: the bank, slightly lower for the bank budget, slightly lower
8:49
Speaker 2: to see what it would be like based on their predictions.
8:52
Speaker 2: But I don't see why it wouldn't be, at this stage,
8:55
Speaker 2: why it wouldn't be any less. Obviously, use will be
8:58
Speaker 2: up a wee bit with where they're sitting at the moment.
9:01
Speaker 2: And wool will be up a wee bit. We're an
9:04
Speaker 2: eight-month programme too, so hopefully we catch a wee bit
9:07
Speaker 2: more of the current wool market. And, yeah, probably... a
9:11
Speaker 2: few Lambswool contracts about at the moment we'll probably rip
9:14
Speaker 2: in and get a bit, try and secure a bit
9:17
Speaker 2: of that as well. Yeah I've never been one for
9:21
Speaker 2: sitting on wool and waiting for the price to change
9:23
Speaker 2: so we either, if there's no contracts in advance I'd
9:27
Speaker 2: just try and sell it on the day and take
9:31
Speaker 2: the money and yeah I don't get into predicting whether
9:36
Speaker 2: it's going to go up or down too much but
9:38
Speaker 2: yeah there's a We've got a good contract for lambs
9:40
Speaker 2: for over $ 7 for the next two years. It's good
9:44
Speaker 2: to see a bit of positivity. That would be up
9:46
Speaker 2: with the highest that it's been in my relatively short
9:50
Speaker 2: farming career, but it certainly pays the bill to come
9:52
Speaker 2: off and to take it off and probably takes out
9:56
Speaker 2: the cost of crutching if you can get away with it.
10:00
Speaker 2: and get them shorn in January so the lambs there's
10:05
Speaker 2: no real clear science around whether they do better or
10:07
Speaker 2: not but I find in our system they certainly do,
10:10
Speaker 2: the ones that aren't going to be dead by mid
10:13
Speaker 2: February I'll get the wool off them in January and
10:16
Speaker 2: it certainly makes it easier management wise for the rest
10:19
Speaker 2: of the year Is this.
10:20
Speaker 1: One of your favourite times of year, Matt? You've got
10:22
Speaker 1: the lambs tailed, bit of tractor work to do, you
10:25
Speaker 1: can cruise round and come to your senses in a way.
10:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly is. I quite like driving around the
10:32
Speaker 2: sheep and, yeah, you can spend a bit of time
10:35
Speaker 2: reflecting and tweaking your system, getting it set up for
10:39
Speaker 2: next year. But, yeah, it is a reasonably important time
10:43
Speaker 2: of the year too to make sure things are right
10:45
Speaker 2: and you head into that season. December, January period, well prepared. Yeah,
10:50
Speaker 2: I'd like to personally really enjoy it. I'm not a
10:54
Speaker 2: big tractor person, so I don't mind spending a wee
10:57
Speaker 2: bit of time on the tractor, but after about three
10:58
Speaker 2: or four hours, I am stuck getting itchy feet and
11:00
Speaker 2: would rather go and just stop around or do something else.
11:04
Speaker 1: Three or four hours? What are you like driving to Christchurch?
11:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not... Not too bad. I think just think
11:12
Speaker 2: of all the other stuff that can get done so
11:14
Speaker 2: if I can give them to anyone else to sit
11:15
Speaker 2: on the tractor, it's not too bad. But probably in
11:18
Speaker 2: the evenings, early in the mornings, my favourite time to
11:20
Speaker 2: be on it. So, yeah.
11:25
Speaker 1: Good on you, Matt. Enjoy the afternoon. Always appreciate your
11:27
Speaker 1: time on the muster.
11:28
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Cheers, Andy. Cheers.
11:30
Speaker 3: Cheers.
11:33
Speaker 1: Matt McRae of Mocorita, all the M's. T for Texas
11:37
Speaker 1: is the name of the song. Texas the theme today.
11:39
Speaker 1: Waylon Jennings, of course. Toreda is up next. Andrew Lumsden,
11:43
Speaker 1: you're listening to The Muster.
11:44
Speaker 7: This is The Muster on Hokanui.
11:49
Speaker 1: Toreda. Andrew Lumsden, of course, known to a lot of
11:57
Speaker 1: people as well. He catches up with us. He is
11:59
Speaker 1: the voice, of course, of the FMG Young Farmer of
12:02
Speaker 1: the Year competition, and he's just getting back into his work.
12:06
Speaker 1: The district's starting to crank into gear, then the regionals,
12:08
Speaker 1: and before you know it, we'll be back in Christchurch
12:11
Speaker 1: next July for the next edition of it. Good afternoon, Radar.
12:15
Speaker 1: How's things?
12:16
Speaker 4: Look, absolutely bloody great. I'm currently standing in the beautiful
12:20
Speaker 4: Dunedin Botanic Gardens. I'm watching the breeze whisper along the
12:25
Speaker 4: core fire flowers, the sound of a tui, there's a
12:27
Speaker 4: couple of gardeners shoveling mulch, and there is nothing I
12:30
Speaker 4: enjoy more than just watching people shovel. I find it
12:34
Speaker 4: very relaxing. So long as they can work a shovel properly,
12:37
Speaker 4: that's an essential life skill. Should be taught in schools, actually.
12:41
Speaker 4: It could well be part of that kind of excellent
12:44
Speaker 4: agricultural curriculum that's got people up in arms at the
12:47
Speaker 4: moment that we seem to be hell-bent on getting rid of.
12:51
Speaker 1: Now, you're involved with the Young Farmer Movement, like I said,
12:53
Speaker 1: and you're seeing all these people coming through the industry
12:55
Speaker 1: with a real passion for what's going on. And surely
12:58
Speaker 1: it starts at secondary school and agriculture should remain a
13:02
Speaker 1: standalone subject. Look, absolutely.
13:04
Speaker 4: And I know it's thrown a bit of horticulture in
13:06
Speaker 4: there as well. I remember when I did horticulture in
13:07
Speaker 4: the third form, I think I ended up being the
13:09
Speaker 4: top student because it was a place that I'd seen
13:12
Speaker 4: a lot of people who weren't gifted academically.
13:14
Speaker 1: Let's put it that way.
13:15
Speaker 4: And to give you an example, I think the exam
13:17
Speaker 4: was at a 51 mark, so 2%. which we're putting
13:20
Speaker 4: your name on the paper, not everyone got that one right.
13:23
Speaker 4: You know, and I think we've changed a lot. And
13:25
Speaker 4: what really, you know, there's so many studies, there's so
13:28
Speaker 4: much research that comes out to say, if you can
13:30
Speaker 4: show students a practical use for all of the other
13:33
Speaker 4: things they're learning, their maths, their science, their reading, within
13:36
Speaker 4: a subject such as agriculture or horticulture, and they can
13:40
Speaker 4: see that all these things have a reason, then they're
13:43
Speaker 4: going to do really well at all of them because
13:45
Speaker 4: they can put it into that structure. And, you know,
13:47
Speaker 4: we've all seen them blather on about the value of
13:51
Speaker 4: the agricultural and the primary sector, and we're better to
13:55
Speaker 4: learn it. For those people that don't either don't have
13:57
Speaker 4: access to it themselves, living on a farm, or they
13:59
Speaker 4: want to increase the knowledge that they have, you know,
14:02
Speaker 4: you put it into high school. It's just.
14:05
Speaker 3: You know, it just.
14:06
Speaker 4: Seems such a no-brainer. Even business skills, learning all the
14:10
Speaker 4: business skills that go along with these kind of things.
14:13
Speaker 4: That great world that is the primary sector with its many, many, many,
14:16
Speaker 4: many facets. You know, I don't really understand it.
14:22
Speaker 1: You're a mover and shaker, right? I know your respects
14:24
Speaker 1: in the rural circles. You cruise around New Zealand. You've
14:27
Speaker 1: got a lot to do with urban and rural audiences.
14:30
Speaker 1: Do you think rural is appreciated well in the urban centres?
14:34
Speaker 4: Uh, yeah, yeah, you know, look, I'm, I'm sure it is,
14:36
Speaker 4: and actually there's a couple of great, um, you know,
14:38
Speaker 4: sort of big urban schools, what is it, uh, Mount Albert,
14:42
Speaker 4: they've got, you know, they've got a farm there at
14:43
Speaker 4: Mount Albert, um, and we do get a lot of great, uh,
14:46
Speaker 4: we do get a lot of great competitors coming through,
14:48
Speaker 4: many of them obviously, you know, um, from boarding schools
14:51
Speaker 4: coming back out, but look, I think it is, um,
14:53
Speaker 4: and it's like anything, people appreciate the thing that they're, they,
14:56
Speaker 4: that they can see and they're involved with all the time, um,
14:58
Speaker 4: But I certainly suspect that there are many people appreciating
15:01
Speaker 4: just how much the body sheep farmers are being paid
15:03
Speaker 4: at the moment for the meat and wool as the
15:05
Speaker 4: price goes up in the supermarkets. But look, again, you know,
15:08
Speaker 4: there's probably a really good way of getting that whole
15:11
Speaker 4: sense of food. Like, I'm amazed that we don't do more,
15:15
Speaker 4: particularly as we're moving into kind of a more of
15:18
Speaker 4: an AI, digital kind of age, on basic kind of
15:22
Speaker 4: life skills at a school. Because a lot of those
15:25
Speaker 4: traditional schools, you're not going to need them so much.
15:27
Speaker 4: Timetables are great, but you can just ask and see
15:30
Speaker 4: what 12 times 4. But budgeting, cooking, where food comes from,
15:35
Speaker 4: how to look after yourself, all of these things, because
15:37
Speaker 4: a lot of people do not have the privilege of
15:39
Speaker 4: learning that in their own home for whatever reason. So
15:44
Speaker 4: the world of education is a mystery to me, and
15:46
Speaker 4: I don't know that it's necessarily all going to be
15:47
Speaker 4: solved by an hour of reading, writing.
15:49
Speaker 3: And arithmetic.
15:50
Speaker 1: I spoke to a teacher at Southland Girls High School
15:52
Speaker 1: last week, Mel Young, and she said that all the
15:56
Speaker 1: pupils were so engaged in agriculture, like 120 members in
16:01
Speaker 1: their young farmers club alone, which was huge numbers. And
16:04
Speaker 1: everybody refers back to Fielding High School, your favourite town, Fielding,
16:07
Speaker 1: by the way.
16:08
Speaker 4: I love Fielding.
16:08
Speaker 1: You love Fielding.
16:10
Speaker 4: I do love Fielding. Yes, I do. It's outstanding and
16:12
Speaker 4: it's Fielding. Hey, you know, look, and as I said,
16:15
Speaker 4: there's some great stuff overseas. I think the Norwegians are
16:18
Speaker 4: always doing something great all the day and You know,
16:20
Speaker 4: and they would put their curriculum towards an overall project
16:24
Speaker 4: to the year that everything was focused on. You know,
16:26
Speaker 4: and if you've got a big agricultural or, you know,
16:28
Speaker 4: horticultural primary sector thing, particularly in your year six and
16:33
Speaker 4: your year seven, and you can gear a lot of
16:35
Speaker 4: stuff around that, you know, it just makes sense that
16:38
Speaker 4: people are going to be engaged in it. Maybe there's
16:41
Speaker 4: an issue with the curriculum or what they're teaching. Maybe
16:43
Speaker 4: they're saying, look, there's not enough schools doing it. Well,
16:46
Speaker 4: that's easy to solve. You try to get some more
16:47
Speaker 4: schools in there. And I'm sure there's no shortage of
16:50
Speaker 4: people that can come out of the sector, you know,
16:52
Speaker 4: looking to downsize their lives a little. I'm not saying
16:55
Speaker 4: that you'll downsize by being confronted with certainly unruly, agricultural-loving students.
17:01
Speaker 4: But you know what I mean. There's a lot of
17:02
Speaker 4: expertise out there that could be harnessed to really turn
17:05
Speaker 4: this into something that begins people's journey through that primary sector,
17:10
Speaker 4: regardless of whether they end up on the land, peripheral
17:13
Speaker 4: to the land. They could end up in tech or
17:15
Speaker 4: science or biotech or genetics. Look, who knows where they'll
17:19
Speaker 4: end up, but, you know, not a single person in
17:22
Speaker 4: the world gets by in a day without eating something,
17:26
Speaker 4: and that is growing by, you know, by farmers and growers.
17:29
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Young Farmer District Finals are underway, I understand.
17:32
Speaker 4: Look, I believe they are. It's always exciting for me.
17:35
Speaker 4: I don't attend those. I just have a look at
17:36
Speaker 4: the results when they come through. They've had a couple.
17:39
Speaker 4: I think we've got a couple of former grand finalists
17:41
Speaker 4: who I can't think of off the top of my
17:43
Speaker 4: head who are coming back for another crack at it.
17:45
Speaker 4: and there's no shortage of other young people jumping in
17:48
Speaker 4: and getting on that bandwagon to see if they can't become,
17:51
Speaker 4: what are we, season 59, I think, or are we
17:54
Speaker 4: heading to season 60? There's been so many of them.
17:56
Speaker 4: But you would remember season 50. It seems like yesterday,
17:59
Speaker 4: weren't we in Invercargill for the 50th anniversary, I think.
18:03
Speaker 1: Time just travels too quickly, Radar. Honestly, you hit 50
18:06
Speaker 1: and time just goes.
18:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, I know. It is one of those things. It's
18:11
Speaker 4: important always to take that little moment just to pause
18:13
Speaker 4: and reflect. I'm just, oh, look at that. I'll tell
18:15
Speaker 4: you what I bloody love. It is a little tractor
18:17
Speaker 4: that tows like a train around the gardens. I'm watching
18:20
Speaker 4: the Children's Recreational Support Trust little tractor, Bluebell, pootling around
18:24
Speaker 4: the botanic gardens. And I'll tell you what, there's a
18:26
Speaker 4: few tourists sitting on there. I'm a little bit jealous.
18:29
Speaker 1: They've got that in Gore. The Gore Lions run it
18:31
Speaker 1: at Hamilton Park. You'd be impressed.
18:33
Speaker 4: I bloody love a tiny train, a little tractor train.
18:36
Speaker 4: Or what I really love are those ones that go
18:37
Speaker 4: on the tiny train tracks around the place. I will
18:41
Speaker 4: never turn down a rider on one of those. You
18:43
Speaker 4: are never too old.
18:44
Speaker 1: It's good to hear, mate. Now, you're going to Oamaru
18:47
Speaker 1: this afternoon. What's the go?
18:49
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I'm heading to Oamaru. They've got an excellent
18:51
Speaker 4: arts festival that's going on. I think last week, this
18:53
Speaker 4: week's coming up. I've got a great little show tonight
18:56
Speaker 4: around kind of music and songs with people. There's only
18:59
Speaker 4: a very intimate crowd. There are only 12 tickets available,
19:02
Speaker 4: and they went pretty much straight away. But Saturday night,
19:04
Speaker 4: I am doing Kiwi Country, Rural New Zealand, and 100 Objects,
19:08
Speaker 4: the live show of the book of the story. of
19:11
Speaker 4: rural New Zealand told through 100 objects. And I managed
19:13
Speaker 4: to get all 100 into about 70 minutes to tell
19:17
Speaker 4: the story of all those weird and wonderful things, things
19:20
Speaker 4: that you think you know about New Zealand and you
19:22
Speaker 4: might just not, or little stories and anecdotes. And it's
19:24
Speaker 4: just a fun and glorious celebration of both the best
19:30
Speaker 4: and arguably, depending on your point of view with how
19:32
Speaker 4: we approach things, often ineptly the worst of rural New Zealand.
19:38
Speaker 1: Good on you, Radar. We'll let you carry on. You
19:40
Speaker 1: enjoy Mighty North Otago. Always appreciate your time.
19:42
Speaker 4: I will. Have a great, great weekend.
19:48
Speaker 1: Andrew Lumsden, also known... as Tereda, the voice of the
19:51
Speaker 1: FMG Young Farmer of the Year competition. Next here on
19:55
Speaker 1: the muster, we're away to Western Australia. Dave Biss, our
19:58
Speaker 1: correspondent over that way. Let's have a regular catch-up. Welcome back.
20:14
Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. We're away over to
20:16
Speaker 1: Western Australia this afternoon to catch up with Dave Biss,
20:19
Speaker 1: formerly the Maniato. These days, a livestock representative just out
20:24
Speaker 1: of Perth. G'day, Bissy.
20:27
Speaker 5: Morning, Andy. How's things down there in the Deep South?
20:29
Speaker 1: Well, last time we spoke to you, there was rain
20:32
Speaker 1: for Africa. Fortunately, we've got off the African continent. Hopefully
20:35
Speaker 1: we're a bit more of a European feel about things now.
20:38
Speaker 1: We've seen a bit of growth and people have got
20:40
Speaker 1: on with things. But over there in WA, how's it
20:43
Speaker 1: been weather-wise? I suppose, you know, having lambing in September
20:47
Speaker 1: isn't a problem.
20:48
Speaker 5: No, that's right.
20:49
Speaker 8: And those lambs now are flowing through, starting to flow
20:52
Speaker 8: through the sale yards. And I just compared your pricing
20:57
Speaker 8: yesterday that you guys had compared to what we had
21:00
Speaker 8: over the last couple of weeks, and I reckon we're
21:01
Speaker 8: bang on. Your pricing's pretty much on par with ours,
21:04
Speaker 8: or ours is on par with yours.
21:06
Speaker 1: Well, that's surprising because Australia's always been ahead of New
21:08
Speaker 1: Zealand in prices for red meat.
21:11
Speaker 8: It has indeed, but, you know, I saw some lambs
21:15
Speaker 8: that you guys sold the other day, maybe two or
21:17
Speaker 8: three weeks ago, and they were close to $ 500.
21:18
Speaker 5: I mean, How does that work, you know?
21:20
Speaker 1: There was a pen of lambs at Charlton, went for $ 525,
21:24
Speaker 1: and new season lambs are going for over $ 300 at
21:28
Speaker 1: certain yards around the country, so the positivity is there,
21:30
Speaker 1: I suppose, yeah.
21:32
Speaker 5: It is, and long may it last.
21:34
Speaker 8: As long as it doesn't get too high and we
21:37
Speaker 8: can just sort of ride that storm and just, you know,
21:39
Speaker 8: we don't want boom and bust, do we?
21:41
Speaker 5: Just steady, steady, keep it rolling.
21:43
Speaker 1: Is that the state of play over there in WA
21:45
Speaker 1: with the farmers? They're pretty happy at the moment heading
21:47
Speaker 1: into summer?
21:49
Speaker 8: They are, they are, but as per the Kiwi Boys,
21:52
Speaker 8: you know, their bloody inputs, they just keep going up,
21:54
Speaker 8: fertiliser and diesel, it just makes things very tricky. So
21:58
Speaker 8: as we've said before, a lot of those cropping guys
22:01
Speaker 8: are holding back ewe lambs and hoggets and breeding more
22:04
Speaker 8: to hold on to keep on the farm, just to
22:06
Speaker 8: keep those cropping costs at bay.
22:09
Speaker 1: Luxor Diesel, what are you having to pay over there
22:11
Speaker 1: at the moment, Alita, in town?
22:14
Speaker 5: Well, it's jumped up again.
22:15
Speaker 8: It's just under $ 3, $ 2.
22:17
Speaker 3: 80.
22:18
Speaker 8: And it varies from about $ 2. 60 to $ 2. 85 at the moment,
22:22
Speaker 8: depending where you are. But as soon as you head inland,
22:26
Speaker 8: chuck another 20 cents on it, or if you're in
22:28
Speaker 8: the Kimberleys, it'll.
22:28
Speaker 5: Be well over $ 3. So it's starting to get a
22:31
Speaker 5: bit rich.
22:32
Speaker 1: But you talked, okay, you've got diesel, you've got fuel concerns, fertiliser.
22:37
Speaker 1: What's happening with the price of urea, for example? Are
22:39
Speaker 1: you seeing a spike?
22:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely.
22:42
Speaker 8: And I can't give you a price, but yeah, it's
22:45
Speaker 8: only heading up. A lot of the guys locked in
22:48
Speaker 8: early last year, and I think that saved their bacon.
22:51
Speaker 8: Saying that, the yields that are coming off at the
22:53
Speaker 8: moment are pretty healthy. So I think everyone's happy in general.
22:56
Speaker 1: Have you got much grass over in the state there
22:58
Speaker 1: at the moment? Or if your job, you're sending road trains,
23:02
Speaker 1: literally road train after road train into state. Is that happening?
23:07
Speaker 5: That is happening.
23:08
Speaker 8: That is happening not to the greatest extent as it
23:10
Speaker 8: did this time last year, just because the season's a
23:13
Speaker 8: bit better. So the boys are holding on to the
23:15
Speaker 8: lambs and just putting more kilos on the scales, which
23:19
Speaker 8: is good. So the store market, I just got quoted
23:23
Speaker 8: 1,900 merino lambs just before you called.
23:26
Speaker 5: And I reckon there'll be $ 4.
23:28
Speaker 3: 30, $ 4.
23:28
Speaker 5: 40 a kilo live weight on farm.
23:33
Speaker 8: And they were averaging 28 kilos. So they're a later
23:36
Speaker 8: drop smaller animal as they stand at the moment. There's
23:40
Speaker 8: an example for you.
23:42
Speaker 1: So what would your average rainfall be? We talked about
23:44
Speaker 1: this a couple of chats ago, Missy, regarding rainfall figures.
23:48
Speaker 1: And you've actually done some homework around this.
23:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, I have.
23:52
Speaker 8: I probably shot myself in the foot there last time
23:53
Speaker 8: because I really just went for that dry area. But
23:56
Speaker 8: if you took it to Kimberley, so that Broome, Kununurra area,
24:01
Speaker 8: you know, you're you're anything from up to 60 inches
24:05
Speaker 8: a year. But then, and that doesn't sound like a lot,
24:08
Speaker 8: I'm afraid to say the Waikato or somewhere, but then
24:11
Speaker 8: the time of the year where there's no rain kicks in,
24:13
Speaker 8: your wheat belt, if you come into the middle and
24:15
Speaker 8: head east, is sort of up to between 12 and 20.
24:18
Speaker 5: Inches a year.
24:19
Speaker 8: And then your Albany Esperance area, that ranges from 20
24:23
Speaker 8: to 40 inches a year. So there's a really, there's
24:26
Speaker 8: a big, big difference between the high and the low,
24:29
Speaker 8: but you've got to take into consideration the tropics versus not,
24:33
Speaker 8: and the long season where there's nothing happening at all.
24:36
Speaker 5: So, you know, it plays its part there.
24:38
Speaker 1: Is El Nino going to have a bearing on prices?
24:43
Speaker 5: Well, it depends whether you believe it or not. Do
24:47
Speaker 5: you know what I mean?
24:48
Speaker 8: It's a hard one. If it kicks into gear, it will,
24:50
Speaker 8: I'm sure. What do you think?
24:54
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see. The next few weeks may
24:56
Speaker 1: give us a bit more of an indication as to
24:58
Speaker 1: where we're at, I suppose.
25:00
Speaker 8: Yeah, and we're sitting at the same thing. I think
25:04
Speaker 8: we've almost got to suck it and see and just
25:06
Speaker 8: see what pans out, I think.
25:09
Speaker 1: What about the staffing situation over there, the mines? An
25:12
Speaker 1: interesting one. A lot of people go over there. We've
25:13
Speaker 1: talked about this before, but you were talking some astronomical
25:17
Speaker 1: figure around turnover of staff.
25:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, the turnover.
25:21
Speaker 8: I have a mate who's the CEO of a mining company,
25:24
Speaker 8: and he banks on 37% staff turnover, of which 65%
25:26
Speaker 8: are Kiwis. and the balance made up of wherever, which
25:33
Speaker 8: is a massive turnover. I know another big corporate, they
25:36
Speaker 8: work on 35% across the board. Obviously, they're banking and
25:42
Speaker 8: they're doing a budget around that, but that's big numbers, Andy.
25:44
Speaker 5: It's a huge turnover.
25:46
Speaker 1: Why so high?
25:50
Speaker 8: Let's say you've got blokes coming in from New Zealand,
25:53
Speaker 8: males and females rolling in from, say, New Zealand.
25:56
Speaker 5: Let's say there's 10 of them.
25:57
Speaker 8: And three don't like the heat, three don't like being underground,
26:01
Speaker 8: and the balance love it. Or, you know, I think
26:04
Speaker 8: it's a bit of a pipe dream too. They think
26:06
Speaker 8: it's all beer and Skittles. It's pretty hard work at times.
26:09
Speaker 8: If you're underground and it's 33 degrees and it's pitch
26:12
Speaker 8: black and it's 85% humidity and it's like it's raining
26:17
Speaker 8: on you and you're drinking 10 litres of water a day,
26:19
Speaker 8: it's not an easy day at the office.
26:21
Speaker 1: It's like farming. If it was easy, everybody would be
26:24
Speaker 1: doing it.
26:26
Speaker 5: That's right. That's right.
26:27
Speaker 8: But the guys that can hang in there, they can
26:29
Speaker 8: do really well.
26:30
Speaker 5: If you've got a bit of go.
26:31
Speaker 8: In you and you've got some common sense and you
26:33
Speaker 8: ask the questions and you do the right thing and
26:35
Speaker 8: you turn up for work.
26:36
Speaker 5: And you've got a good attitude, you can do really well.
26:39
Speaker 5: It can be a really good positive experience.
26:41
Speaker 1: Let's talk the Bledisloe Cup. The ABs put the Wallabies
26:44
Speaker 1: to the sword yet again, Bissy. I think there's 13
26:46
Speaker 1: wins in a row. What's the perception of the Wallabies
26:49
Speaker 1: over there in Perth, which is a bit of a
26:51
Speaker 1: rugby city given its expat population, and you're less than
26:55
Speaker 1: a year out now from the Rugby World Cup in Aussie?
26:58
Speaker 8: Well, I think they recognise the fact that they've had
27:01
Speaker 8: a great start to the season and then they've played
27:03
Speaker 8: a couple of good teams and they've been spanked. The
27:07
Speaker 8: diehards still think that they're making great progress. But I
27:10
Speaker 8: just think that they don't have any depth. It's pretty shallow. Yeah,
27:17
Speaker 8: I would say they're nervous. I feel sorry for Les Kiss,
27:19
Speaker 8: that coach. He's got a hard road to hoe, hasn't he?
27:22
Speaker 1: He's a very good coach, though. He comes with a
27:24
Speaker 1: very good coaching background. Rugby league once, wasn't he?
27:27
Speaker 8: Yeah, he's got a great background and he's got a
27:30
Speaker 8: good name. And I think from what I hear through
27:32
Speaker 8: the grapevine, he's well liked. But man, they've got a
27:35
Speaker 8: big job ahead of them.
27:37
Speaker 1: Does rugby union rate in the TV ratings as such
27:40
Speaker 1: when compared to the other codes?
27:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, it does. It does when it's on. It's on free-to-air,
27:46
Speaker 5: which helps.
27:47
Speaker 8: But I see last year's contracts for TV, Australian rugby
27:51
Speaker 8: was $ 54 million and NRL was $ 500 million TV rights.
27:56
Speaker 5: So there's the difference.
27:58
Speaker 1: Proof's in the pudding, Visi. We'll let you carry on, mate.
28:00
Speaker 1: You've probably got some road trains to organise to go
28:02
Speaker 1: to Brisbane or something ridiculous. Always appreciate your time.
28:06
Speaker 5: You have a lovely day. All the best, Andy. Talk soon.
28:11
Speaker 1: Dave Biss, formerly of the Maniato, these days a livestock
28:15
Speaker 1: rep based over in Western Australia. You're listening to The Muster.
28:18
Speaker 1: Up next, Paul Kenyon talking on behalf of Beef and Lamb.
28:25
Speaker 8: The Muster Events Diary, brought to you by Beef and
28:28
Speaker 8: Lamb New Zealand.
28:29
Speaker 1: Click beeflamnz.com. Paul Kenyon joins us this afternoon. He is
28:38
Speaker 1: the head of the School of Agriculture and Environment at
28:41
Speaker 1: Massey University. Over 20 years experience researching sheep in New Zealand.
28:46
Speaker 1: And he's down in the south for a beef and
28:48
Speaker 1: lamb workshop today. Paul, good afternoon and welcome to the muster.
28:51
Speaker 7: Yeah, thanks, mate.
28:54
Speaker 1: Right, so we've got through the breedings. We've got through lambing.
28:58
Speaker 1: It's been a marathon, not a sprint down here in
29:00
Speaker 1: the south, as you'll appreciate. But sheep genetics, sheep breeding,
29:05
Speaker 1: it's a big issue. It continues to be as well.
29:09
Speaker 7: Yeah, that's right. There's good money in sheep at the moment,
29:13
Speaker 7: but that won't go on forever. So farmers need to
29:18
Speaker 7: continue to improve both their genetics and and including their
29:22
Speaker 7: reproductive performance to maximise the total weight of lamb weaned.
29:25
Speaker 6: Per ewe per year.
29:27
Speaker 1: Likes of management around ewes, how efficient are farmers?
29:34
Speaker 7: Farmers are always trying to be more efficient in everything
29:38
Speaker 7: they do because as cost goes up, you need to
29:42
Speaker 7: still make your margins so we've made significant improvements in
29:45
Speaker 7: our efficiency when you think back to the size of
29:48
Speaker 7: our flock in 1981 when we had subsidies then back
29:51
Speaker 7: to 1990 where it collapsed around the 60 million and
29:55
Speaker 7: we were lambing at about 100% and 14%.
30:00
Speaker 6: Or so kilos carcass.
30:02
Speaker 7: Now, you know, our ewe flocks in the mid-20s, but
30:06
Speaker 7: our lambing percentages are in the mid to, on average perspective,
30:09
Speaker 7: the mid to high 130s. Our carcasses are in the
30:14
Speaker 7: 19 kilos on average. So even with such a small
30:18
Speaker 7: flock that we have now compared to those historical levels
30:20
Speaker 7: in 1990, let alone the peak in about 81, we're only,
30:24
Speaker 7: you know, 14 or so percent down in total weight
30:27
Speaker 7: of lamb exported each year. So our efficiency gains have
30:30
Speaker 7: actually been the greatest out of all the ruminant species
30:33
Speaker 7: in New Zealand. Dairy, we've seen a big increase in production,
30:36
Speaker 7: but not at anywhere near the same extent in per-year
30:40
Speaker 7: production that we see with our sheep industry.
30:42
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts around hoggart lambing? A lot of
30:44
Speaker 1: people are doing it these days.
30:48
Speaker 7: I'm a big supporter of hoggart lambing. But it needs
30:52
Speaker 7: to be a flexible policy decision. It's not like you
30:56
Speaker 7: mature years where you need to do it every year.
30:58
Speaker 7: It needs to be based on the weight and the
31:00
Speaker 7: body condition score of the hoggart when it comes to
31:03
Speaker 7: that breeding in May and having an idea of the
31:06
Speaker 7: feed you've got on hand and your predicted feed you'll
31:08
Speaker 7: have through that late autumn, winter, early spring period because
31:14
Speaker 7: now you've got a young animal that not only needs
31:16
Speaker 7: to grow, she needs to lactate and meet the requirements
31:20
Speaker 7: for pregnancy. So if you can do that, there's real
31:23
Speaker 7: efficiency gains from breeding hoggets. And so if you can't
31:26
Speaker 7: do that, the decision is maybe not to breed hoggets
31:29
Speaker 7: and to concentrate on your mature ewes or just breed
31:32
Speaker 7: a proportion of your hoggets, those that are high live
31:35
Speaker 7: weights and in better condition.
31:37
Speaker 1: A lot of people take the rule of thumb, I suppose,
31:40
Speaker 1: to have your hoggets in the late 40kg bracket for
31:42
Speaker 1: going to the ram. What's the best philosophy around this?
31:47
Speaker 7: Yeah, so it's actually not a weight per se because
31:50
Speaker 7: every breed differs in mature size, and even within breed,
31:54
Speaker 7: you know, there's quite a big variation in different genetic lines.
31:58
Speaker 7: So you need to be somewhere between 65% and 70%
32:02
Speaker 7: of the mature weight for your flock, and an easy
32:04
Speaker 7: proxy for the mature weight for farmers to think about
32:07
Speaker 7: is when our four-tooths go to the ram, what's the
32:11
Speaker 7: average weight of them in a good year? And that's
32:14
Speaker 7: kind of a good proxy for what the mature weight
32:16
Speaker 7: of your flock your flock should be, and then you
32:19
Speaker 7: times that by that, somewhere between 0.65 and 0.7, and
32:21
Speaker 7: that should be your minimum weight.
32:24
Speaker 1: A lot of people talk about doing a later lambing
32:27
Speaker 1: next season based on three dud Septembers. One individual in particular,
32:31
Speaker 1: a lot of people are watching with a lot of interest.
32:34
Speaker 1: He's put his lambing back to the 4th of October,
32:37
Speaker 1: and a lot of people were prepared to change their
32:39
Speaker 1: farming operations to accommodate this because they're just sick of
32:42
Speaker 1: the low survival rate in September due to the weather pull.
32:47
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think for a period of 30 or maybe
32:50
Speaker 7: 40 years, many farmers have been right on the edge
32:53
Speaker 7: in terms of lambing early with the idea that by
32:56
Speaker 7: lambing early, the lambs would be older and hopefully therefore
33:00
Speaker 7: heavier at, say, a pre-lambing weaning when we know that
33:05
Speaker 7: the price of prime lambs is highest before it starts
33:07
Speaker 7: to crash post-Christmas because of the supply. The last few years,
33:11
Speaker 7: we don't see that significant drop post-Christmas. because of the
33:15
Speaker 7: fact that New Zealand and Australia account for 90-ish percent
33:20
Speaker 7: of the total world lamb trade, and both of us
33:23
Speaker 7: have seen a decrease in our flock size, as well
33:25
Speaker 7: as human population goes up and the average person's meat
33:28
Speaker 7: consumption has gone up in the world. So there's greater
33:31
Speaker 7: demand with less supply, so we don't see that drop.
33:34
Speaker 7: So therefore there's no longer that push to really, I
33:36
Speaker 7: would argue, in many farms to lamb that early, and
33:38
Speaker 7: the risk of lambing too early is a, the weather,
33:41
Speaker 7: but B, a mismatch between feed supply and late pregnancy,
33:44
Speaker 7: early lactation and demand. So I think now, as we
33:48
Speaker 7: see change in weather and we don't get that such
33:51
Speaker 7: severe drop in price post-Christmas, lambing later, I think it's
33:56
Speaker 7: going to become more of a viable option, especially if
33:59
Speaker 7: you're summer safe.
34:01
Speaker 1: What does this do regarding the way you treat the animals,
34:03
Speaker 1: the to-do scent?
34:07
Speaker 6: I don't think it.
34:09
Speaker 7: Changes anything.
34:10
Speaker 3: At all what you do.
34:11
Speaker 7: We still want to meet those targets in terms of
34:15
Speaker 7: making sure the body condition score is three minimum and
34:19
Speaker 7: in terms of mature weight, they're at least 90% of
34:22
Speaker 7: your mature weight when they go to the ram. It
34:24
Speaker 7: just means if you get a lamb a bit later,
34:25
Speaker 7: they would go to the ram just that slightly later.
34:29
Speaker 7: It just comes down to trying to match feed demand
34:32
Speaker 7: with supply and think about how you can do that
34:34
Speaker 7: in that late pregnancy.
34:36
Speaker 3: Period which coincides with late winter, early spring.
34:41
Speaker 1: Now, Paul, you've been involved at Massey, you've been involved
34:44
Speaker 1: in the industry for around 20 years now. How would
34:46
Speaker 1: you describe the state of play regarding the sector?
34:51
Speaker 7: Well, I would say that the sector's in a great place.
34:56
Speaker 7: We're lucky that, you know, in a world sense, red
35:00
Speaker 7: meat is certainly in demand, and all the indicators are
35:03
Speaker 7: that it's going to increase in demand for two reasons. A,
35:06
Speaker 7: People are eating more red meat and there's more people
35:08
Speaker 7: in the world. So we're a quality protein supplier of
35:11
Speaker 7: a product that's seen as being nutritious, safe to eat,
35:16
Speaker 7: and being grown in a sustainable, responsible manner in a
35:21
Speaker 7: world level. So it's a really good space. We're seeing
35:22
Speaker 7: good prices at the moment. But, you know, farmers can
35:24
Speaker 7: never rest on their laurels. If I think about the
35:28
Speaker 7: mid to late 90s when I started, there was a
35:30
Speaker 7: big push to increase lambing percentage and scanning percentages. I
35:33
Speaker 7: think some of us may have gone too far with that.
35:35
Speaker 7: We know when we get to 180% to 185% in
35:39
Speaker 7: our scanning, we can get 10% triplets. And if we
35:44
Speaker 7: go above that, we get proportionally.
35:45
Speaker 3: More and more triplets. And that's an issue.
35:48
Speaker 7: Having more triplets, it's very hard to manage that successfully
35:51
Speaker 7: under pastoral conditions. And so we actually see very high
35:55
Speaker 7: lambing percentages above that 200%. It's actually... there's no real
36:00
Speaker 7: financial advantage in doing that. In fact, you might just
36:02
Speaker 7: give yourself more of a headache. So I think we
36:05
Speaker 7: will see more of our farmers focusing on getting our
36:08
Speaker 7: weaning weights up without blowing our mature weights out. If
36:12
Speaker 7: we get our weaning weights up, that gives us more
36:15
Speaker 7: flexibility in terms of when we can get rid of
36:17
Speaker 7: those lambs, the heavier the lamb is at weaning, the
36:22
Speaker 7: less feed will need post-weaning through to slaughter, and early
36:25
Speaker 7: you slaughter it, of course, the less days it's alive,
36:27
Speaker 7: so less feed costs. so that feed can then be
36:30
Speaker 7: given to other classes of stock and less animal health
36:33
Speaker 7: and labour costs and less time for things like parasites, etc.
36:36
Speaker 7: So I think we will see more of a focus
36:40
Speaker 7: on weaning weight for a while now and many farmers
36:42
Speaker 7: will be holding or some, in fact, will be pulling
36:44
Speaker 7: back on their reproductive performance.
36:46
Speaker 1: Good on you, Paul. Thanks for your time and enjoy
36:48
Speaker 1: your time down on the Deep South.
36:50
Speaker 7: It's great to be here and thanks for the opportunity
36:52
Speaker 7: to speak.
36:55
Speaker 1: Paul Kenyon in the beef and lamb slot. Click beeflmnz.com
37:00
Speaker 1: slash events to get the e-diary sent to your inbox
37:02
Speaker 1: every Friday morning. Nathan Burden's up next. Nathan Burden is
37:16
Speaker 1: our resident sporting guru on a Thursday here on the muster.
37:20
Speaker 1: He resides in the city of Invercargill and he catches
37:23
Speaker 1: up once again. Good afternoon.
37:25
Speaker 3: G'day mate, how are you?
37:26
Speaker 1: Reminiscing today, it's all about reminiscing this week. Tomorrow for
37:29
Speaker 1: the bad, today for the good. 9-3-9-3 against Canterbury, 22nd
37:34
Speaker 1: of June 2009, probably about 8.57pm.
37:38
Speaker 3: Yeah, yes, very special memories. I was privileged to be
37:43
Speaker 3: at that game at Lancaster Park and one of the
37:47
Speaker 3: special memories probably from my sports journalism career, long time
37:52
Speaker 3: covering Southland sports, something I never thought that I would
37:56
Speaker 3: get to witness or be part of and covering a
38:00
Speaker 3: Ranfurly Shield tenure and see those immediate days afterwards were
38:06
Speaker 3: an absolute whirlwind and then obviously we had the summer
38:09
Speaker 3: and then a golden tenure, particularly the first game, the
38:13
Speaker 3: first sort of first division game at least, of the
38:17
Speaker 3: following year in 2010. So yeah, after 50-odd years without
38:21
Speaker 3: the shield, the South Uncertainty celebrated the Log of Wood
38:25
Speaker 3: in 2009 and 2010.
38:27
Speaker 1: And the moment that stands out in that tenure was
38:29
Speaker 1: defeating Auckland for one of the very rare occasions since 1976.
38:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, what a massive week that was. People can throw
38:39
Speaker 3: the memories back to to what was a pretty devastating snowstorm.
38:43
Speaker 3: We're going to be talking about storms, aren't we? The
38:46
Speaker 3: snowstorm of the time and the collapse of Stadium Southland
38:51
Speaker 3: and it was a tough time for farmers out there
38:54
Speaker 3: as well and had that amazing, amazing scenes of Rugby
38:58
Speaker 3: Southland putting the call out to the public to bring
39:01
Speaker 3: their shovels down to Rugby Park and help to get
39:03
Speaker 3: some of the snow off the pitch so that they
39:06
Speaker 3: could play that game and then the the Stags went
39:08
Speaker 3: out and sort of repaid the public with a fantastic
39:11
Speaker 3: performance to knock the Aucklanders off, which was fantastic.
39:16
Speaker 1: And a funny known fact, Auckland, for all their dominance
39:18
Speaker 1: in the Ranfriley Shield once upon a time, I don't
39:20
Speaker 1: think they've held the Loggerwood since 2008.
39:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, Auckland NPC team is a bit of a head-scratcher,
39:26
Speaker 3: isn't it? You know, I guess it's, you know, been,
39:31
Speaker 3: the regional stories have been great stories this year and
39:34
Speaker 3: the Northland one continues into this grand final. It's going
39:38
Speaker 3: to be great to watch there. How good would it
39:40
Speaker 3: be to see them knock Canterbury over and win an
39:43
Speaker 3: NPC title?
39:45
Speaker 1: There'd be some serious coin to be made if you
39:47
Speaker 1: had the audacity to put some money on the Taniwha
39:49
Speaker 1: at the start of the season. But that game against
39:51
Speaker 1: Otago last week, they were just the better side in
39:54
Speaker 1: the wet weather as well, which you think would favour Otago. Well, no, actually,
39:57
Speaker 1: they play in their stadium, don't they?
39:59
Speaker 3: Well, look, I've struggled to probably, I mean, Northland have
40:07
Speaker 3: defied us. My thoughts all season, to be fair. Even
40:11
Speaker 3: though I'm a romantic at heart and you want to
40:14
Speaker 3: get on that story, and I certainly thought Otago were
40:16
Speaker 3: going to win that game. I thought they had the
40:17
Speaker 3: goods and would go through and book themselves for back-to-back finals,
40:22
Speaker 3: if not go one better. I was more than happy
40:25
Speaker 3: to be proved wrong and see the taniwha get up
40:28
Speaker 3: in that one.
40:29
Speaker 1: Silver Ferns, 2-0 up in the Constellation Cup. They go
40:32
Speaker 1: over to Australia now for the two return games. You
40:35
Speaker 1: can't help but wonder though, the panicking in Australian netball
40:38
Speaker 1: is going to be real, knowing that all their top
40:40
Speaker 1: players are in their league now.
40:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, I was probably one of those ones
40:46
Speaker 3: that was sort of urging a bit of caution post
40:50
Speaker 3: the Commonwealth Games when the Australia lost to Jamaica, didn't they?
40:55
Speaker 3: And missed out on the final for probably the first
40:59
Speaker 3: time ever. It was like, well, you know, don't need
41:02
Speaker 3: to sort of panic too much. But, you know, Silver Ferns,
41:06
Speaker 3: first time playing them this year and have looked like,
41:09
Speaker 3: you know, vastly superior in both of those games. Should
41:12
Speaker 3: have won by a lot more than they did up
41:15
Speaker 3: in Auckland. I was watching that game at Spark Arena
41:17
Speaker 3: and the Silver Ferns were just in control. throughout. We
41:22
Speaker 3: should have been disappointed that the margin closed up towards
41:25
Speaker 3: the end. And then again last night, I don't think
41:28
Speaker 3: without even really getting right into top gear with some
41:32
Speaker 3: of the changes that are being made during the game
41:35
Speaker 3: as Dane Noeline gives everyone in the squad an opportunity,
41:42
Speaker 3: the gap between these two teams is significant at the moment.
41:45
Speaker 3: It's just something that we're not really used to. It'll
41:49
Speaker 3: be really interesting to see if that transitions across the
41:52
Speaker 3: Tasman for the last two games of the series.
41:55
Speaker 1: Is that just perhaps the rotation or the transitioning of
41:59
Speaker 1: Australia going from one generation of players to another? But
42:02
Speaker 1: that's not really the case either, is it?
42:04
Speaker 3: No, I mean, these are good Aussie players. And I
42:09
Speaker 3: guess if you look at that competition, which is what
42:12
Speaker 3: people are talking about, it's that tension between do you
42:15
Speaker 3: want a really strong international product that lots of people
42:21
Speaker 3: are going to want to tune in and look at?
42:24
Speaker 3: Or is it your development pathway? Is it possible to
42:27
Speaker 3: have both? And I guess if you look at something
42:29
Speaker 3: like the English Premier League in football, you know, the biggest,
42:34
Speaker 3: you know, obviously the biggest footballing franchise in the world,
42:39
Speaker 3: but England haven't won a World Cup for a while. So,
42:42
Speaker 3: can those two things live together? It's hard to say,
42:45
Speaker 3: but if you're an Aussie netball fan, you're probably scratching
42:47
Speaker 3: your head at the moment, eh?
42:49
Speaker 1: The Blackcaps, they get the campaign for 2026-27 underway tonight,
42:54
Speaker 1: a huge summer of cricket ahead, playing India at T20
42:57
Speaker 1: at Christchurch. If you can stay awake at 8 o'clock,
43:00
Speaker 1: that's when the game gets underway.
43:02
Speaker 3: You're two sold-out games at Hagley Oval to kick off
43:05
Speaker 3: the series, and I'm The rugby season isn't quite finished yet,
43:09
Speaker 3: but I'm very ready for the cricket season to get started.
43:14
Speaker 3: And it is pretty tantalising sort of a prospect to India,
43:17
Speaker 3: although they don't tend to travel that well down here.
43:21
Speaker 3: But there are still some pretty handy players in that team.
43:25
Speaker 3: So I'll be tuning in. But it is, as you say,
43:28
Speaker 3: it's a bit of a challenge probably to get through
43:30
Speaker 3: to midnight. But hopefully it's a game that is worthy
43:34
Speaker 3: of the attention and can get us through to that lake.
43:37
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not ideal for young kids with school tomorrow.
43:41
Speaker 1: Going to the cricket's great, but falling asleep on the
43:43
Speaker 1: bank because the game's only half over's not.
43:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, and the struggle is real. Sunday night, netball test
43:51
Speaker 3: in Auckland, and I must admit, by the time the
43:53
Speaker 3: game had come to an end, I was looking around
43:55
Speaker 3: at probably a stadium that had emptied out noticeably with
44:01
Speaker 3: families with young children who'd left before the end of
44:04
Speaker 3: that game, so And definitely, you know, while you need
44:08
Speaker 3: those TV-friendly time schedules, it's not always great for people
44:11
Speaker 3: who are actually buying the tickets and showing up for
44:13
Speaker 3: the games live.
44:14
Speaker 1: And it's the countdown, I suppose, to this. We talked
44:16
Speaker 1: about this a lot, but we can only keep talking
44:18
Speaker 1: about it too. This Australian Test Tour, two tests before Christmas,
44:23
Speaker 1: the Boxing Day Test, and then in the early New
44:26
Speaker 1: Year in Sydney. It's going to be a doozy. The
44:28
Speaker 1: countdown starts properly. This is going to be awesome.
44:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, can we say the Aussies are gettable?
44:34
Speaker 1: If we can handle their bowling attack, that's my one concern.
44:37
Speaker 1: They've got the wood over us. It's in the mindset.
44:39
Speaker 3: It's 100% in the mindset, isn't it? I think most
44:42
Speaker 3: other countries would look at Australia and while there's no
44:46
Speaker 3: weak Australian cricket teams, they would say that they'd put
44:50
Speaker 3: themselves up against them. And we have the talent. We
44:53
Speaker 3: can beat anybody. On our day, we've been doing it
44:55
Speaker 3: for a long time with a little engine that can
44:58
Speaker 3: when it comes to international cricket. But as you say,
45:00
Speaker 3: there just seems to be this mindset when we play
45:02
Speaker 3: against teams with the old green and gold. It would
45:06
Speaker 3: be lovely if we could finally snap out of that,
45:09
Speaker 3: wouldn't it?
45:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, get Duffman having a fiver on debut at the G.
45:12
Speaker 1: That'd be a goodie.
45:14
Speaker 3: Outstanding. It'd be good to have Jacob Duffy's name being
45:18
Speaker 3: roared by the Bage Brigade at MCG. What great scenes
45:22
Speaker 3: they'd be.
45:24
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Nath. Good on you. Enjoy the weekend up the Taniwha.
45:27
Speaker 3: Yeah, you too, mate.
45:31
Speaker 8: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
45:34
Speaker 8: land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
45:37
Speaker 8: Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer.
45:41
Speaker 1: How do mermaids give birth? By C-section.
45:46
Speaker 5: She's from Texas, I can tell.
45:49
Speaker 1: Okay, the podcast will be up shortly. I'm Andy Muir.
45:52
Speaker 1: The muster, of course, is brought to you by Peters Genetics.
45:55
Speaker 1: Enjoy the afternoon. It's not looking too bad. See you
45:59
Speaker 1: tomorrow at 1 o'clock. PGG writes and presents stock selling action,
46:06
Speaker 1: which occurred at the Charlton sale yard this morning. Dave
46:08
Speaker 1: Morrison's on the ground. G'day, Teagle. How did we go?
46:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, afternoon, Andy.
46:13
Speaker 6: Yeah, it looked pretty good today. Just a medium-sized yard
46:15
Speaker 6: in the end today. The best of the lambs are $ 400.
46:21
Speaker 6: The next cut down sort of $ 350 to $ 380. And
46:25
Speaker 6: the normal size lambs, winter lambs, sort of anywhere from
46:28
Speaker 6: sort of $ 250 to $ 280. With the light lambs, around
46:31
Speaker 6: sort of $ 200. Into the ewes, the only, oh sorry,
46:34
Speaker 6: into the rams first. Best of the rams, $ 130 to $ 150.
46:36
Speaker 6: Best of the ewes, $ 300. Medium sort of $ 220 to $ 250.
46:44
Speaker 6: the lighter units, so 170 hook to 190, selling very,
46:48
Speaker 6: very well. That wraps that medium-sized yarding up. Just on
46:53
Speaker 6: the kettle sale yesterday, a good sale, yarding approximately about $ 500.
46:58
Speaker 6: Beef kettle, straight beef kettle, up over $ 6 a kilo.
47:00
Speaker 6: Doesn't really matter on the weight ready, anywhere from sort
47:04
Speaker 6: of 200 kilos, my way up to 300. Two-year-old sold
47:08
Speaker 6: very well, anywhere from sort of $ 5 to $ 5. 30 for
47:11
Speaker 6: heavy two-year-old kettle. which is very strong. Into the Dairy
47:17
Speaker 6: Cross cattle. Probably back at a wee touch there, but
47:21
Speaker 6: still sort of 540 to 550, 560 for stairs. This
47:24
Speaker 6: is Dairy Cross. And sort of 520 to 530 on
47:29
Speaker 6: the heifers. Quite a number of bulls in there. Also Andy.
47:34
Speaker 6: They range anywhere from about 490 through to about 530
47:38
Speaker 6: to 535. And that wraps up the cattle.
47:40
Speaker 2: Give me 40.
47:41
Speaker 1: Hooray, hooray, hooray, hooray.