Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / Best Of The Muster: 07/11/26

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Best Of The Muster: 07/11/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:03
Speaker 1: A very good morning and welcome into the best of
0:05
Speaker 1: the muster, proudly brought to you by the gopher. My
0:08
Speaker 1: name's Andy Muir, thanks for your company. We're starting off
0:11
Speaker 1: the hour by heading over to Lake Heroko and catching
0:15
Speaker 1: up with Jamie King about his farming operation over there,
0:18
Speaker 1: getting through the wet spout that was spring, gradually getting
0:22
Speaker 1: through there now, we're into November. But also we talk
0:25
Speaker 1: about the price of duck per kilo, which is something
0:27
Speaker 1: you wouldn't really think about too much, especially living down
0:30
Speaker 1: here in the south. Tony Roberts is on the show
0:33
Speaker 1: along with his wife Michelle. They were the Gordon Stevenson
0:35
Speaker 1: Trophy winners for 2026 at the Balanced Farm Environment Awards.
0:40
Speaker 1: So I thought it was a great chance just to
0:41
Speaker 1: catch up with Tony and see how things have been
0:43
Speaker 1: ticking away on the farm since that great night back
0:45
Speaker 1: in July. Grant is asked to McMaster based up at
0:49
Speaker 1: Closeburn Station. He's got a really awesome opportunity coming up
0:52
Speaker 1: this week for himself and one of his grandsons. So
0:55
Speaker 1: we catch up with Grant and he tells us all
0:57
Speaker 1: about this wicked opportunity which is happening next Tuesday. Peter
1:03
Speaker 1: Allen was on the program. Deer farmer based up at Balfour.
1:06
Speaker 1: Always good to chew the fat with Pete. It's been
1:09
Speaker 1: pretty wet there at the Glen Yor, but he talks
1:11
Speaker 1: about the season gradually correcting itself and having a digger
1:15
Speaker 1: there for 10 days in a row. It's lucky when
1:16
Speaker 1: your son's got a digger business, I suppose, but that's
1:19
Speaker 1: just the way things are at the moment, getting all
1:20
Speaker 1: that drainage and everything up to date. And finally, Jaden Henderson.
1:25
Speaker 1: Born and bred in Riversdale, he's had a pretty good
1:29
Speaker 1: year for the Southland Stags. He got called in as
1:31
Speaker 1: hooker while competing over in the Sydney Club rugby competition.
1:35
Speaker 1: And Jaden tells us about an exciting opportunity he's got
1:38
Speaker 1: ahead of him in the wider training squad with the
1:41
Speaker 1: Crusaders for the next Super Rugby season. So without further ado,
1:45
Speaker 1: we'll start the hour by catching up with Jamie King.
1:47
Speaker 1: You're listening to the best of the muster, proudly brought
1:49
Speaker 1: to you by the Gopher. Jamie King farms at Lake
2:01
Speaker 1: Iroko and joins us in the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup.
2:04
Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Jamie, and happy birthday.
2:07
Speaker 2: G'day, mate. Yeah, thanks for that. Yeah, no, it is
2:10
Speaker 2: another year above the ground and a bit of milestone
2:14
Speaker 2: ones there. It's got a zero at the end of it, so.
2:16
Speaker 2: But no time for a party this next couple of months, Andy.
2:19
Speaker 2: We'll see how the New Year's looking and get a
2:20
Speaker 2: break and have a beer or two then. But yeah, no,
2:23
Speaker 2: every day on the top of the ground is a
2:24
Speaker 2: good day, isn't it?
2:25
Speaker 1: So what's the state of affairs over at your place then?
2:28
Speaker 1: What's been happening?
2:30
Speaker 2: Um, just mucking around today, mate. Just stretched to be
2:32
Speaker 2: weaned there and cutting a bit of velvet off some stags. Um,
2:35
Speaker 2: and yeah, probably just reviving from our boot in the
2:38
Speaker 2: fair on the backside last week from that southerly that
2:40
Speaker 2: just didn't, didn't relinquish for about two or three days. Um,
2:44
Speaker 2: we were just humming along so good and then that
2:47
Speaker 2: sort of just brought him into a bit of a standstill. Um,
2:50
Speaker 2: sort of growth-wise and, uh, getting some diesel burnt. So, yeah. But, um, oh,
2:56
Speaker 2: we'll get back there again. I think this week looks
2:57
Speaker 2: not too bad, so... Just going for the motions, Andy, really.
3:01
Speaker 1: Those winds have been pretty severe.
3:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't so much the wind. I'd say more
3:06
Speaker 2: so the hail and the, yeah, and the south-westerly. It
3:08
Speaker 2: was just cold, mate, probably colder than it was all spring,
3:10
Speaker 2: to be fair. The fire was back going and everything. Yeah,
3:14
Speaker 2: all the clover that was plucking its head up sort
3:16
Speaker 2: of shriveled back into itself. And, yeah, just not what
3:19
Speaker 2: we needed. Mind you, we were a pretty sport for
3:21
Speaker 2: a week there, weren't we? Like 28 degrees and back
3:23
Speaker 2: to Shorts of Singlet.
3:25
Speaker 1: Henry Buckingham was on the show on Friday. He put
3:28
Speaker 1: his lambing back to the start of October, and I'll
3:30
Speaker 1: be honest, it sounds like he's had a dream run, Jamie.
3:33
Speaker 1: So it all depends on how you view the situation.
3:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. He would have nailed it anyway. The first cycle,
3:41
Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks have been terrific for that. Yeah,
3:44
Speaker 2: it's interesting, Andy, too. A lot of guys tailing percentages
3:48
Speaker 2: around this area over here. Everyone's up quite a bit, so...
3:52
Speaker 2: You know, we arguably probably didn't get as much of
3:55
Speaker 2: a tell up over here as what you guys got
3:57
Speaker 2: towards your direction, but everyone was anticipating the worst. But yeah,
4:01
Speaker 2: there's some big increases. I'd argue that it probably wasn't
4:05
Speaker 2: as cold. It was wet, but it probably wasn't as cold.
4:08
Speaker 2: We're probably more in the westerly rain, more so than
4:11
Speaker 2: the south-westers. Anybody on the south coast is probably going
4:14
Speaker 2: to call me a lying prick about now, but that's
4:17
Speaker 2: all right. But, yeah, it wasn't bitterly cold. We're in
4:21
Speaker 2: leggings and coat, but we didn't have killing winds. Most
4:26
Speaker 2: of our cold wind comes off the mountains, and there
4:27
Speaker 2: was no snow up there because it was that wet, mate.
4:29
Speaker 2: It was washed off.
4:31
Speaker 1: What about rainfall tallies?
4:33
Speaker 2: Oh, great question. It felt like 200 mil last week,
4:37
Speaker 2: but I think we ended up with about 80-odd, I
4:39
Speaker 2: think it was, for the weekend. So, yeah, plenty. But
4:44
Speaker 2: the ground's handled it, though. Like, it's all disappeared. I
4:46
Speaker 2: was backed on a bit of aerating there last night. So, yeah,
4:49
Speaker 2: it handled it all.
4:51
Speaker 1: Interesting. You talk about tailing tallies over in your neck
4:54
Speaker 1: of the woods being up on last season, considering the
4:57
Speaker 1: way that, let's be honest, that goes against the trend
5:00
Speaker 1: for a lot of people.
5:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, 100%.
5:02
Speaker 2: And even down the south coast, a couple of guys
5:05
Speaker 2: down at Tokanui are still running to and Yeah, they
5:08
Speaker 2: were anticipating the worst and had a terrible go, but
5:11
Speaker 2: their tellies were up too. So, oh, it's all good,
5:14
Speaker 2: isn't it? We've just got to get them fat and
5:16
Speaker 2: get them to the works. Yeah, that could be challenging.
5:18
Speaker 2: We'll see what El Nino's got up its sleeve for us.
5:21
Speaker 1: How's your feed? How's your covers looking there?
5:25
Speaker 2: We're hanging in there, but we haven't got an abundance yet, Andy.
5:29
Speaker 2: Probably to be fair, it's probably biting us a wee
5:31
Speaker 2: bit now. It's sort of had to pull back in
5:32
Speaker 2: a bit of... capital and maintenance for it the previous
5:36
Speaker 2: sort of three or four years we got a bit
5:37
Speaker 2: more on last year because we'd afford to but just
5:39
Speaker 2: those tough years financially we pulled back and that's really
5:42
Speaker 2: starting to show now I believe so we'll get we'll
5:46
Speaker 2: start making that this month start chipping away and getting
5:48
Speaker 2: that on and weeds I can just see weeds are
5:52
Speaker 2: having a prolific run at the moment I've got frigging
5:55
Speaker 2: thistles and cutty grass and bulrushes are growing in places
5:58
Speaker 2: I've never seen it before so It's interesting, but we'll
6:03
Speaker 2: just take that as we come.
6:04
Speaker 1: What's your major focus at the moment, just groundwork and
6:07
Speaker 1: the likes?
6:08
Speaker 2: You haven't really got too excited. I've got my cereal
6:10
Speaker 2: and my spring barley's all in, and there's a couple
6:13
Speaker 2: of young grass pets that are ready to go. Well, thereabouts,
6:15
Speaker 2: a couple more passes, but haven't got too excited. We
6:18
Speaker 2: don't panic too much, mate, until we get well into November,
6:21
Speaker 2: just with some stock work. Our focus at the moment
6:24
Speaker 2: is just getting velvet off and Just want to flush
6:27
Speaker 2: a few cows, they'll start mating.
6:28
Speaker 4: At the end of the month.
6:29
Speaker 2: And yeah, tailings all tidied up. So the sheep cub
6:33
Speaker 2: is actually really good. They're charging away real good and
6:37
Speaker 2: the lambs are good, that bit of heat last week.
6:39
Speaker 2: So yeah, just go into motions and we'll start burning
6:42
Speaker 2: that expensive fuel here soon. So that'll probably be a
6:45
Speaker 2: bit of a sobering thought really. I don't really want to,
6:48
Speaker 2: but we're going to have to, aren't we?
6:49
Speaker 1: As far as your deer side of the operation, how's
6:52
Speaker 1: that been?
6:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, good, mate. Yeah, it's good to see velvet going
6:55
Speaker 2: to be worth a buck or two again this year,
6:58
Speaker 2: and it's coming off, and weaners have got a bit
7:00
Speaker 2: of cover in front of them, and obviously I expanded
7:02
Speaker 2: my deer operation a bit last year, so I've got
7:05
Speaker 2: the pressure on there a wee bit. Mate, I've got
7:07
Speaker 2: to get a set of deer yards built up on
7:08
Speaker 2: that run block before, I suppose, March, so I can,
7:11
Speaker 2: because at the moment there's about 700 hinds running around
7:13
Speaker 2: up there, and I've got no amenities or facilities yet
7:16
Speaker 2: to get them weaned and out to my other block,
7:19
Speaker 2: so that's looming up close too, so get the orders
7:21
Speaker 2: and some pricing organised, and We've got a set of
7:24
Speaker 2: deer yards to work up in January, February. And so, yeah.
7:29
Speaker 1: Prattly would do a set of deer yards for you, portables,
7:31
Speaker 1: wouldn't they?
7:32
Speaker 2: Oh, alloy annoys, mate. I'll just stick to what we know,
7:35
Speaker 2: I think. We'll stick with timber and posts. And yeah,
7:38
Speaker 2: so to be fair, I've got a few good ideas.
7:40
Speaker 2: There's quite a few good deer farmers out there throughout
7:43
Speaker 2: the South Island. Well, I'll say the South Island because
7:46
Speaker 2: it's the only ones I've been in. We've got quite
7:47
Speaker 2: a good discussion group too. So I've had a fair
7:50
Speaker 2: old look around the last four or five years and
7:53
Speaker 2: a few photos so I've got some interesting ideas because
7:55
Speaker 2: it is probably the deer thing is probably still the
7:58
Speaker 2: third poorest cousin here and it shouldn't be because it's
8:01
Speaker 2: probably got the most room to move um profitability wise
8:04
Speaker 2: so just trying to target that a wee bit and
8:06
Speaker 2: just seeing how we go going forward it could grow
8:08
Speaker 2: into a bit of a hopefully going to a bit
8:10
Speaker 2: of a beast but um yeah just sort of mop
8:13
Speaker 2: that up so be interesting everyone.
8:14
Speaker 1: Loves a challenge though Andy venison schedules are still sitting
8:17
Speaker 1: pretty good.
8:18
Speaker 2: Though yeah no they're good they're good mate yeah they
8:21
Speaker 2: they need to be better um Probably the only saving
8:23
Speaker 2: grace though with the venison is just the lack of inputs.
8:26
Speaker 2: You know, you can talk about schedules all you like,
8:28
Speaker 2: but for me it's efficiencies and what occupies the most
8:31
Speaker 2: time or time and absorbs the most cost, and that's
8:34
Speaker 2: where the venison's probably pretty easy. You know, deer just
8:37
Speaker 2: keep them fed and watered and you don't have to,
8:38
Speaker 2: no shearing or crutching or any of that sort of
8:41
Speaker 2: stuff with them. You know, cattle, beef cattle are probably
8:44
Speaker 2: just as easy too, just on a breeding system. But, yeah,
8:49
Speaker 2: it'd be nice to set up around that $ 14, $ 15 mark.
8:52
Speaker 2: That would be the goal. But, yeah, as long as
8:55
Speaker 2: this protein market keeps going the way it goes, there's
8:58
Speaker 2: obviously looking like a pretty good future still in the venison, hopefully,
9:00
Speaker 2: which would be nice because we need some more deer
9:03
Speaker 2: in this country, Andy. There's been a lot disappear over
9:05
Speaker 2: the last few years, so I encourage you, if I've
9:07
Speaker 2: got a bit of deer netting, go and grab some
9:08
Speaker 2: hinds and get stuck into it.
9:10
Speaker 1: Talking about the price of meat, I was in the
9:12
Speaker 1: supermarket doing the shop yesterday. What do you reckon a
9:14
Speaker 1: kilo of duck's worth?
9:16
Speaker 2: Of duck, mate? Oh, I wouldn't have a clue.
9:19
Speaker 1: Have a wild stab in the duck.
9:22
Speaker 2: Oh, well, protein would have to be around $ 20, isn't it?
9:25
Speaker 2: Or $ 25, you know? It's all lean meat, isn't it?
9:28
Speaker 1: Now, the price of duck was $ 12 a kilo. It
9:30
Speaker 1: was a 2kg duck, and it was just over $ 24. Oh, well,
9:33
Speaker 1: there you go.
9:34
Speaker 2: Well, you have to let us know what it tastes like, mate. No.
9:38
Speaker 1: We get that opportunity to do that at a particular
9:41
Speaker 1: time of the year without having to buy the bloody things.
9:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's dead right, dead right. 12 bucks, right.
9:47
Speaker 2: I wonder what sort of ducks they are. Well, to
9:49
Speaker 2: be fair, if we keep getting these springs, mate, we
9:51
Speaker 2: might be off and going into duck farming.
9:54
Speaker 1: It's a dead duck. That's all I can tell you
9:56
Speaker 1: about it, to be honest.
9:57
Speaker 4: Oh, right.
9:58
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. Well, that's interesting. You've aroused my interest. suspicion.
10:00
Speaker 2: I have to do some Googling now. I have never
10:02
Speaker 2: seen duck in a New Zealand supermarket, I don't think.
10:04
Speaker 2: Not that I've ever looked for it either, though.
10:06
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting. Just take a bit of time when
10:08
Speaker 1: you're in the supermarket and have a look through the
10:11
Speaker 1: meat section. You'll be surprised what you find.
10:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't sort of go in from that often anyway.
10:16
Speaker 2: I know I do the odd time, but I'd get more...
10:18
Speaker 2: dishevelled and probably peed off with everything when I wander
10:21
Speaker 2: in the supermarket and see the amount of crap food
10:24
Speaker 2: that's in them nowadays, mate. The processed stuff and the
10:27
Speaker 2: aisles of friggin' chocolate and fizz and lollies and that, like,
10:31
Speaker 2: it's just scary and you see the real food section
10:34
Speaker 2: getting smaller and smaller and then we wonder why we've
10:36
Speaker 2: got these problems with humankind.
10:38
Speaker 1: The scariest thing in a supermarket is the fact that
10:41
Speaker 1: soft drink is cheaper than water.
10:43
Speaker 2: Oh, it's nuts, mate. Absolutely nuts. And then Us as humans,
10:47
Speaker 2: people go, I wonder what's wrong with me, and, well,
10:49
Speaker 2: we've got all this sort of stuff. You know, you
10:50
Speaker 2: are what you eat, and it's just, yeah. But we
10:52
Speaker 2: won't go down those rabbit holes. There's a lot bigger
10:56
Speaker 2: forces at play than what we can handle, mate.
10:59
Speaker 1: Good on you, Jamie. Enjoy the afternoon.
11:01
Speaker 2: Hey, spot on. Thanks, Andy.
11:12
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. We're away down to Merino
11:15
Speaker 1: Downs now. Tony Roberts, he was, along with his wife Michelle,
11:20
Speaker 1: they were awarded the 2026 Gordon Stevenson Trophy at the
11:24
Speaker 1: Balance Farm Environment Awards. We caught up with the couple
11:28
Speaker 1: the morning after their success. And actually, Geordie Yead said
11:31
Speaker 1: the other day we needed to get back in touch
11:33
Speaker 1: with Tony because he spoke at the recent Beef and
11:35
Speaker 1: Lamb AGM and he said, really interesting to listen to
11:38
Speaker 1: him speak. So I thought, what better idea than listen
11:41
Speaker 1: to Geordie. So Tony, welcome to the muster. Good to
11:44
Speaker 1: catch up again.
11:46
Speaker 4: Yep, no, great to be on the show today, Andy. Yeah,
11:49
Speaker 4: good to hear from you.
11:50
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, it's been a couple of months since your
11:52
Speaker 1: success with the Gordon Stevenson Trophy. I suppose the obvious
11:57
Speaker 1: question is, how long did it take you to get
11:59
Speaker 1: down from that high, or has it continued, and positivity
12:02
Speaker 1: for the sector from what you're doing?
12:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, like I say, it was certainly, as we
12:07
Speaker 4: said at the time, it was a big shock to us,
12:10
Speaker 4: but we were so chuffed to, you know, take that
12:13
Speaker 4: title and bring it back to Southland. And, yeah, no,
12:16
Speaker 4: we've just been on a real high ever since. And
12:19
Speaker 4: it's been a great experience. And we've had amazing support
12:22
Speaker 4: from all people through all sectors, you know, congratulating us
12:26
Speaker 4: and saying well-deserved. And, yeah, and as you said, we've
12:29
Speaker 4: just been down to the Beef and Lamb AGM in
12:32
Speaker 4: Riversdale the other day and spoke there. And it was
12:34
Speaker 4: a great crowd.
12:35
Speaker 2: So, yeah, no, awesome.
12:37
Speaker 5: Awesome.
12:37
Speaker 1: Your story of arriving in the South is interesting. You
12:40
Speaker 1: came down in the middle of the 1990s to go
12:44
Speaker 1: share milking ahead of the dairy boom, which is around
12:48
Speaker 1: the year 2000, 2001. What made you decide to come
12:51
Speaker 1: to Southland?
12:53
Speaker 4: I think the big thing, Andy, was at the time
12:56
Speaker 4: we were in share milking in Taranaki and there was
12:58
Speaker 4: a lot of competition for share milking positions and they
13:01
Speaker 4: were fairly small operations. So when you came and looked
13:06
Speaker 4: at what Southland had to offer, you know, there were
13:08
Speaker 4: bigger share-working jobs, there was a lot more choice and
13:12
Speaker 4: a lot more opportunity for our future as in to
13:15
Speaker 4: purchase land and get ahead as a family and as
13:19
Speaker 4: a business. So that was the main emphasis for us
13:22
Speaker 4: at that time. So, yeah.
13:24
Speaker 1: It's fair to say that land in Southland was cheaper
13:26
Speaker 1: than what you'd experienced in North Island as well, because
13:29
Speaker 1: speaking to a couple of people who made the move
13:31
Speaker 1: similar to you, they said that was one of the reasons.
13:35
Speaker 4: Yep, definitely. It was quite a difference in price of
13:40
Speaker 4: land at that time, and you're getting better quality land
13:45
Speaker 4: for that price too, as you're well aware. In Southland,
13:47
Speaker 4: we've got some beautiful rolling country down to your flats
13:51
Speaker 4: at Winton and Dacre down through there, so we're Pretty lucky,
13:55
Speaker 4: pretty lucky. So, yeah.
13:57
Speaker 1: Now, you went from a share milking operation to deer
13:59
Speaker 1: farming with dairy grazing as part of it. What made
14:02
Speaker 1: you transition?
14:03
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah, that's a pretty good question, actually. Yeah, no, well,
14:06
Speaker 4: we did 29 years milking cows and we thoroughly enjoyed
14:08
Speaker 4: every bit of it. But it was really just time
14:10
Speaker 4: for a change, really. That was the big part of it.
14:12
Speaker 4: And I've always enjoyed... hunting and that's where the deer
14:16
Speaker 4: came into it and we wanted a business that was
14:19
Speaker 4: sustainable and resilient and having multiple income streams just to
14:23
Speaker 4: give us that protection so that's why we included the
14:25
Speaker 4: dairy grazing and that aspect too and then we've got
14:28
Speaker 4: the fellow deer too so it gives us that diversity
14:32
Speaker 4: and income streams for our business and protection.
14:35
Speaker 1: So it's fair to say you've got a lot of
14:38
Speaker 1: positivity for farming heading into the tail end of 2026?
14:43
Speaker 2: Definitely.
14:44
Speaker 4: Things are looking pretty good right across the red meat
14:46
Speaker 4: sector and the milk and fibre. So I think there's
14:49
Speaker 4: a lot of positivity there. I just need a few
14:52
Speaker 4: other some of those costs to come down as in
14:56
Speaker 4: fuel and fertiliser and all the rest of it. But yeah, no,
14:59
Speaker 4: we're in a good space.
15:00
Speaker 2: We're in a good space.
15:01
Speaker 1: Now at the awards. You were described as someone who
15:05
Speaker 1: was prepared to challenge conventional thinking, embrace new technology and ask,
15:09
Speaker 1: why not? What's a couple of examples of this, do
15:11
Speaker 1: you reckon, that made you come to the fore?
15:14
Speaker 4: Oh, God, Andy, that's putting me on the spot. I
15:16
Speaker 4: think the big one was just looking at the resources
15:19
Speaker 4: that you have on your properties and saying, well, what
15:22
Speaker 4: can we utilise, whether it's been sheds for winter barns,
15:26
Speaker 4: for the deer grazing inside, sorry, winter deer grazing inside.
15:32
Speaker 4: and then, yeah, looking at those options and saying, well,
15:36
Speaker 4: how can we repurpose them and actually make a difference
15:40
Speaker 4: to our environmental rules and protect the land or the
15:45
Speaker 4: valuable land that we have? So that's just one example. But, yeah,
15:49
Speaker 4: technology has been a big part of it for me,
15:51
Speaker 4: you know, whether it's been using resolution, whether it's been
15:54
Speaker 4: using our Gallagher programs, you know, water monitoring apps, just
15:58
Speaker 4: so that we're, you know, utilising that technology to its
16:02
Speaker 4: best for the productivity of our operation, really.
16:05
Speaker 1: Would you say it's fair to say, though, if you're
16:07
Speaker 1: not utilising technology, you're going to fall behind?
16:09
Speaker 4: Oh, definitely, definitely. Yeah, well, like I say, you've got
16:13
Speaker 4: this whole revolution of AI coming on stream, and I've
16:16
Speaker 4: just been mucking around with it for the last few days,
16:18
Speaker 4: playing with records and, you know, producing, I wouldn't say apps,
16:23
Speaker 4: but programmes on my computer so that we can record
16:26
Speaker 4: our velveting usage of our low-pane ore. And then the
16:32
Speaker 4: other one was I managed to make a tallies record
16:36
Speaker 4: that we can update for our stock tallies, whether it
16:39
Speaker 4: be our cattle, our deer, our sheep, so that we
16:41
Speaker 4: can have a running tally of that. And it sounds
16:43
Speaker 4: pretty simple stuff, but AI did all that in about
16:47
Speaker 4: an hour and a half on a computer at home
16:49
Speaker 4: in the office. Well, those things were never dreamt about five,
16:52
Speaker 4: six years ago. So Technology has come a long way,
16:56
Speaker 4: come a long way.
16:56
Speaker 1: You're the National Ambassadors for Sustainable Farming and Growing. I'll
17:00
Speaker 1: offer for Michelle, so that must mean a lot of
17:02
Speaker 1: travel around the country at the moment, but only for
17:04
Speaker 1: the better.
17:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, we haven't actually had too many engagements yet,
17:10
Speaker 4: but there's a few things coming up in the pipeline,
17:13
Speaker 4: and we've got the study tour that we're working on
17:16
Speaker 4: at the moment. So we're looking at going over to
17:19
Speaker 4: China and studying how's the inside and the operations over there.
17:26
Speaker 5: So, yeah.
17:28
Speaker 4: But, no, it's been great. It's been great.
17:30
Speaker 1: How long are you over in China for? Because I'll
17:32
Speaker 1: be honest, it's a country that sounds fascinating.
17:35
Speaker 4: Oh, look, incredibly fascinating. The more you find out, the
17:38
Speaker 4: more you want to go and visit all these places. But, well, obviously,
17:41
Speaker 4: we've got a limited... schedule or time schedule and there
17:44
Speaker 4: are specific places that we want to go and visit
17:46
Speaker 4: but yeah no it's quite mind-blowing when you actually start
17:49
Speaker 4: doing your homework and we've got to talk to a
17:51
Speaker 4: few key people within DINS and MPI and draw up
17:54
Speaker 4: a bit of a plan so we're busy working on
17:57
Speaker 4: that at the moment and we'll come up with a
17:58
Speaker 4: schedule that will work for our tour so yeah so
18:01
Speaker 4: we're quite excited about that part of it very excited.
18:04
Speaker 1: So how's spring been in Merino Downs Tony or do
18:06
Speaker 1: you say it's been like everywhere else and been a
18:08
Speaker 1: bit of a challenge?
18:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, unfortunately we were away for most of the
18:13
Speaker 4: September when that bad weather was on, so we were
18:15
Speaker 4: over in Europe, Michelle and I, and we left Kate
18:18
Speaker 4: and Mark in charge, and they did an amazing job
18:20
Speaker 4: under some very testing conditions, but they came through with
18:26
Speaker 4: flying colours, and since then October's been pretty amazing, we've
18:29
Speaker 4: had some pretty good growth, but the last week or
18:32
Speaker 4: so has been a bit average with the cooler weather
18:34
Speaker 4: and things have really slowed up in the grass production,
18:36
Speaker 4: but looks like this week coming ahead's going to be good,
18:39
Speaker 4: and we've managed to get fodder beaten and we've got
18:43
Speaker 4: young grass in, so we're pretty happy about that. So
18:46
Speaker 4: we've only got, what have we got, kale to go
18:50
Speaker 4: in and a few summer turnips. So we're pretty well
18:52
Speaker 4: looking pretty good at the moment, pretty good.
18:54
Speaker 1: So the season's corrected itself, it's fair to say?
18:57
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it was like we had two weeks of
19:00
Speaker 4: great weather there and it literally turned around overnight with
19:03
Speaker 4: the heat and the grass growth and, yeah, dried things out. So,
19:07
Speaker 4: Pretty incredible, actually, from what you had in September.
19:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a pretty good time in getting off farm
19:13
Speaker 1: in September, I must say.
19:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, it was sort of a window that sort
19:17
Speaker 4: of worked for us because, like I say, most of
19:20
Speaker 4: the animals were off the... Well, some were still on
19:22
Speaker 4: winter crops and some were still in the sheds, but
19:23
Speaker 4: it was sort of a bit of a quiet time,
19:25
Speaker 4: so we thought, why not? So, yeah, we shot over
19:29
Speaker 4: and visited a few places in Europe and had an
19:31
Speaker 4: absolutely fantastic time with some friends of ours and saw
19:34
Speaker 4: some amazing cities and... tourist spots, and it was pretty incredible. So, no,
19:39
Speaker 4: it was good.
19:40
Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Tony. Thanks for the chat this afternoon.
19:43
Speaker 1: Great to catch up, and I'm quite happy to catch
19:45
Speaker 1: up in the future as well. You're somebody who reeks
19:48
Speaker 1: of positivity for the sector. and worthy recipient, yourself and
19:51
Speaker 1: your wife, Michelle, of a 2026 Gordon Stevenson Trophy. Thanks
19:55
Speaker 1: for your time.
19:57
Speaker 4: No, awesome, Andy. Thank you very much for the call.
20:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're swept away. This is the muster on Hokonui.
20:05
Speaker 1: Grant McMaster farms on the edge of Lake Wakatipu at
20:08
Speaker 1: Closeburn Station and joins us once again thanks to the
20:11
Speaker 1: team at Arby Rural. Good afternoon, Grant.
20:13
Speaker 5: Yes, good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody.
20:15
Speaker 1: Life in the basin, how is it?
20:17
Speaker 5: Well, it's 35 mils of rain since we spoke last week.
20:22
Speaker 5: We've got a 20 and a 15, but some quite
20:26
Speaker 5: cold days in between. Hasn't been overly hot. And now
20:30
Speaker 5: this morning it's about 12 degrees and it's just started
20:33
Speaker 5: to rain again. So, yeah, it's just the spring weather.
20:39
Speaker 5: But what we've had is some very strong winds over
20:43
Speaker 5: about three different days. And it's probably blown as hard
20:46
Speaker 5: as I can remember.
20:49
Speaker 1: Friday was pretty cold here in Gore. The weekend corrected
20:52
Speaker 1: itself gradually. But it's just a continuation of this weather system.
20:57
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is, and as I say, the wind is really,
21:00
Speaker 5: it's hit with force, and my neighbour out at Ben Lomond,
21:07
Speaker 5: his woolshed sort of faces sort of to the west
21:11
Speaker 5: of it, and it's right beside Moat Lake, and it
21:16
Speaker 5: blew the windows out of his woolshed and blasted it
21:20
Speaker 5: all through the wall room, and it's a pretty big
21:22
Speaker 5: woolshed and pretty big windows, but, you know, that's a first.
21:27
Speaker 1: So these are stronger winds, you reckon, than what you've
21:29
Speaker 1: seen there? Are they that bad?
21:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, absolutely, and we're a little bit sheltered in here
21:37
Speaker 5: with this part of the lake, but it does whistle
21:40
Speaker 5: down through, and we didn't lose so many trees here,
21:43
Speaker 5: but further around the traps they have, and a couple
21:48
Speaker 5: of big bluegum trees just ride over and... And further
21:51
Speaker 5: up to Konoki, there's a bit of carnage up there
21:54
Speaker 5: on the side of the road with trees coming down
21:57
Speaker 5: and towards the greenstone. But, yeah, we missed out on
22:00
Speaker 5: this really strong wind last year, but we haven't this year.
22:03
Speaker 5: So three days of this week or the previous seven
22:07
Speaker 5: days have been really, really rocketing.
22:12
Speaker 1: The girls doing the lambing at the moment, though, they'll
22:15
Speaker 1: be undercover, they'll be sheltered?
22:17
Speaker 5: Yeah, they're all shouted, well, shouted from the wind, otherwise
22:20
Speaker 5: the lambs will probably end up across the Walter Peak.
22:23
Speaker 5: But no, that second cycle's into it now, and the
22:28
Speaker 5: lambs are getting a wee bit of size about them,
22:29
Speaker 5: skipping about, so it looks, you know, I've seen the
22:32
Speaker 5: odd dry ewe poking about, as you do. They just
22:36
Speaker 5: love running through things and just showing you exactly where
22:39
Speaker 5: they are to annoy you even more, but So that
22:42
Speaker 5: looks a pretty good drop, I think, and pretty lucky
22:45
Speaker 5: with the weather, the way it's worked out. A couple
22:49
Speaker 5: of poor days, but you get that any time, don't you?
22:51
Speaker 5: Or nothing to complain about compared to the rest of
22:54
Speaker 5: the South. So pretty good there. And the feed is good.
22:59
Speaker 5: It's not really blowing in the wind, but there's enough there.
23:04
Speaker 5: They've sifted a few cows into it. a couple of
23:07
Speaker 5: blocks that, you know, needed a few more cattle in them,
23:10
Speaker 5: which is always a good sign, or a bad sign,
23:12
Speaker 5: I had it wrong for a start, but no, it's
23:15
Speaker 5: looking pretty good at this stage, Andy.
23:17
Speaker 1: When does the infamous Closeburn Station tailing get underway?
23:20
Speaker 5: Oh, well, the 20th, it's a week earlier this year,
23:24
Speaker 5: the 20th of November, so yeah, they've all submitted their
23:29
Speaker 5: job descriptions, and to be fair, it hasn't changed much
23:31
Speaker 5: from last year, because they don't want to do much work,
23:33
Speaker 5: so They just put that on now and they arrive up.
23:36
Speaker 5: So Cubby and Hunty will be up there. They'll all
23:39
Speaker 5: argue all the way from Waikaka and get up there.
23:42
Speaker 5: And it's just like the old same old, same old.
23:45
Speaker 5: But then we've got to get up the next morning
23:47
Speaker 5: and tail lambs for a couple of days. But it's
23:49
Speaker 5: always fun. And you get that team around and sort
23:53
Speaker 5: of see what the lambs are doing and how well
23:55
Speaker 5: the ewes are. And even if they are looking all right,
23:57
Speaker 5: they never tell you that. So you best don't ask.
24:00
Speaker 5: Drop your lip is one thing you cannot do in
24:02
Speaker 5: that tailing gang is drop your lip.
24:05
Speaker 1: Well, there's one thing you don't do. Another thing you
24:07
Speaker 1: do is just say, oh, these lambs are looking good.
24:11
Speaker 5: No, you can't say that because then you get crucified
24:14
Speaker 5: as well. Yeah, no, she's not a win-win for the
24:17
Speaker 5: farm manager, but it is a lot of fun.
24:20
Speaker 1: Hey, we've talked a bit about the Chatham Islands. Sounds
24:23
Speaker 1: like you're away over there next week.
24:25
Speaker 5: Well, you know, you and I tried to organise a
24:27
Speaker 5: trip for us to get over there and taking the
24:30
Speaker 5: muster team over and it didn't work, but my... my
24:35
Speaker 5: eight year old grandson, Bo Acourt, he, um, he's got
24:39
Speaker 5: me a trip to the Chatham Islands. And, uh, a
24:41
Speaker 5: few weeks ago, Bo was on, on seven sharp on the,
24:44
Speaker 5: on the television. And he was talking about wall and
24:47
Speaker 5: the virtues of wall. And he was talking about quite
24:49
Speaker 5: a few things actually. But, um, he, he mentioned on the, uh,
24:53
Speaker 5: on the, on that program that he would, he'd like
24:56
Speaker 5: to go to the Chatham Islands and perhaps farm over there. And, um,
25:00
Speaker 5: So to cut a long story short, Stephen Sharp has
25:03
Speaker 5: organised to take him to the Chatham Islands and he
25:07
Speaker 5: needs someone responsible to go with him. They couldn't get anyone,
25:10
Speaker 5: so I'm going. So him and I are going. We
25:13
Speaker 5: leave on Tuesday and we fly up to Christchurch, get
25:18
Speaker 5: the plane over to the islands a couple of days
25:21
Speaker 5: and they'll have the film crew filming him and what
25:24
Speaker 5: he's up to. And a couple of days then we
25:27
Speaker 5: come back home.
25:28
Speaker 2: So.
25:29
Speaker 5: uh, we might be able to report from there next,
25:31
Speaker 5: next Wednesday from, uh, live from the Chatham.
25:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
25:34
Speaker 1: Well done, Bo. This is a story that is, it's
25:37
Speaker 1: gaining a lot of traction.
25:39
Speaker 5: It is. So he, um, you know, he, he talked
25:41
Speaker 5: about wall and, and what have you. And he's, he's
25:44
Speaker 5: a guy that, um, we guy that's, uh, he, uh,
25:47
Speaker 5: you know, he gets on a crusade and he, he,
25:49
Speaker 5: he's like a dog with a bone. He keeps going. And, um, anyway, he,
25:52
Speaker 5: he mentioned his love of wall on the, on that program. And, um,
25:56
Speaker 5: There's a bit of a back story to that, but
26:00
Speaker 5: he got sent quite a few socks from a company
26:04
Speaker 5: in the North Island, a wool company. So he's at
26:11
Speaker 5: the age of eight. He's had a couple of lucky breaks, really.
26:16
Speaker 5: One's an overseas trip with his grandfather, and the other's
26:21
Speaker 5: socks and I'd say probably a few job offers.
26:25
Speaker 1: I'd say you'll have a few sponsorship opportunities as well.
26:28
Speaker 1: I'd better get a couple of muster caps up to
26:29
Speaker 1: you boys before you go over there.
26:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm just thinking that, you know, as I edge
26:33
Speaker 5: towards retirement, he's going to need a good manager.
26:38
Speaker 1: How would that go? What would you demand, though? I mean,
26:41
Speaker 1: a 90-10 split? Would you take 10?
26:43
Speaker 5: It'd be too sharp for me.
26:45
Speaker 1: But in all seriousness, Grant, this is really, really cool.
26:48
Speaker 1: I mean, the Chatham Islands is unknown to a lot
26:52
Speaker 1: of people. I went to school in Oberoo. We had
26:55
Speaker 1: a few people there from the Pitt Islands, not far
26:57
Speaker 1: off the Chathams, Gregory Hunts. And it was a really
27:00
Speaker 1: interesting tale they told about where they were. I think
27:02
Speaker 1: they only went home maybe once a year.
27:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's right. And, you know, you've heard me speak
27:09
Speaker 5: about my interest. And I think it came from... Well,
27:11
Speaker 5: I was a wee tacker at school, and a wee guy,
27:14
Speaker 5: a mate of mine was Jeffrey Schofield, and they were fishermen,
27:17
Speaker 5: and I'm pretty sure that they'd fished at the Chatham Islands,
27:20
Speaker 5: and I think that's when I first got my fascination
27:22
Speaker 5: with it, probably about Beau's age now, eight. But anyway,
27:26
Speaker 5: you know, I've always sort of followed that, and I think,
27:29
Speaker 5: you know, I've seen the Country Calendar programme, so they're
27:32
Speaker 5: trying to get a bit of a farming, you know,
27:35
Speaker 5: I think we're going to try to organise to have
27:37
Speaker 5: a look at a farm, so... I've got a couple
27:40
Speaker 5: of contacts I'm waiting to hear from, and the Seven
27:43
Speaker 5: Sharp would like to sort of take them around, have
27:45
Speaker 5: a good farm. And the Black Robins, because he spoke
27:48
Speaker 5: about that on the programme, so they're organising that. Yeah,
27:52
Speaker 5: so it'll be a great experience for him, and I
27:57
Speaker 5: feel pretty privileged to be able to go.
27:59
Speaker 4: Along with him.
28:00
Speaker 1: Well, you're just doing some renaissance work for this muster,
28:03
Speaker 1: possibly country tour too. I think Jamie's trying to call
28:05
Speaker 1: dibs on this, but you need to go and do
28:07
Speaker 1: some renaissance work for us.
28:09
Speaker 5: Oh, well, that's good. I think I might have to
28:11
Speaker 5: give RB Rural Ring a smithy and just see what
28:14
Speaker 5: is going on. He's always been really good with the
28:17
Speaker 5: sponsorship he's given me going overseas. And I think, you know,
28:22
Speaker 5: he'd be quite keen to go there because he's a
28:24
Speaker 5: great traveller. He was always good on a rugby trip.
28:26
Speaker 5: Better than he was on the field, but... I think
28:29
Speaker 5: we could be on to something, and we are the
28:31
Speaker 5: main show, aren't we, Andy?
28:34
Speaker 1: It's called the food chain. I stick to my knitting, Grant. Look,
28:37
Speaker 1: we'd better leave it there. We'll catch up with you
28:39
Speaker 1: hopefully next Wednesday from the Chatham Islands. It's going to
28:42
Speaker 1: be interesting.
28:43
Speaker 5: And if we do get a trip over there, we
28:45
Speaker 5: can invite Jamie McKay. He could put the bags on
28:49
Speaker 5: the bus for us.
28:51
Speaker 1: Good on you, Grant. Talk next Wednesday. All going to plan.
28:54
Speaker 5: Hope so.
29:04
Speaker 1: Peter Allen is a deer farmer based at the Glen Ewer.
29:07
Speaker 1: I heard him chuckling away in the background there, so
29:09
Speaker 1: he must agree with the song. Piano Man by Billy Joel.
29:12
Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Pete.
29:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, love it. Love a bit of Billy Joel. Makes
29:16
Speaker 3: me smile.
29:17
Speaker 4: No, thanks, Andy.
29:18
Speaker 3: Appreciate that.
29:19
Speaker 1: We spoke to you last time up there. You're not
29:21
Speaker 1: far away from the Caroline Valley, the Glen Ewers exactly,
29:24
Speaker 1: just out of Balfour. It was pretty wet. Have things changed?
29:30
Speaker 4: A little bit.
29:30
Speaker 3: Every now and then it just reminds us that we're
29:33
Speaker 3: still in spring. Like I said to you off-air, Andy,
29:36
Speaker 3: Friday was just atrocious there. My wife Diane and I
29:39
Speaker 3: spent the whole day sorting up 350 hinds into five
29:43
Speaker 3: respective fawning mobs and it just snowed and sleeted all
29:46
Speaker 3: day and then the next day it'd come out not
29:48
Speaker 3: too bad and we just don't seem to get two
29:50
Speaker 3: days the same. But that's spring in Southland.
29:54
Speaker 1: How are your feed levels looking then, all things considered?
29:58
Speaker 3: They were not too bad. All the young grasses, and
30:00
Speaker 3: we're trying to save up paddocks. There's just a game
30:03
Speaker 3: of chess still at the moment with, you know, maximum
30:05
Speaker 3: stock units on. Nothing's headed off farm at the moment.
30:10
Speaker 3: And winter crops finished a while ago. Some of the
30:14
Speaker 3: covers are not too bad, but some are very, very short.
30:16
Speaker 3: So we could do with a bit more growth and
30:19
Speaker 3: a bit more heat, and it's about consistency. But, you know,
30:23
Speaker 3: the condition of the animals, not too.
30:25
Speaker 4: Bad, really.
30:26
Speaker 1: What's it like for pagging with deer?
30:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, you do certainly get a lot of it, but
30:33
Speaker 3: there's been a lot of reparatory work done that I've
30:36
Speaker 3: had to do in the last month, but a lot
30:37
Speaker 3: of that has been on runoff from their winter crops.
30:42
Speaker 3: The younger animals are not too bad, and it's more
30:46
Speaker 3: tracking than anything. We don't get fence tracking so much
30:51
Speaker 3: here because we spend so much time and effort putting
30:54
Speaker 3: shelter belts up, so when you've got a sight screen there,
30:57
Speaker 3: they don't walk fence lines, so That's not an issue. But, yeah,
31:02
Speaker 3: it's like everything else. The older the stags, they do
31:04
Speaker 3: have a decent footprint.
31:06
Speaker 1: When do you start wrapping up some supplements, or is
31:08
Speaker 1: that after Christmas?
31:10
Speaker 3: Yeah, we never get into it too early here because
31:14
Speaker 3: of the amount of animals we have on, plus also
31:21
Speaker 3: we don't normally do any baleage until February, March. It
31:24
Speaker 3: sounds a little bit later, but it works pretty well here.
31:27
Speaker 3: We're still putting in... crop paddocks quite late this year,
31:31
Speaker 3: maybe even into January. We'll just see what happens. We're
31:34
Speaker 3: about to get a digger in here for the next
31:36
Speaker 3: 10 days, and that's a month behind schedule, but I
31:39
Speaker 3: won't expand on the reasons for that. Everybody seems to
31:43
Speaker 3: want them at the moment, so now our son will
31:45
Speaker 3: be here for the next 10 days, but I haven't
31:47
Speaker 3: managed to get off the end of the shovel, so
31:50
Speaker 3: hopefully that'll sort itself out in the next few years.
31:53
Speaker 1: Those calluses on your hands will never get the chance
31:55
Speaker 1: to heal, Pete. That's just the nature of the game.
31:58
Speaker 2: Yeah.
31:59
Speaker 3: The one thing you do with velveting is you get
32:02
Speaker 3: pretty soft hands because you're in water, you know, 50
32:04
Speaker 3: times a day. So no, that's not an issue. But look,
32:08
Speaker 3: one thing I wanted to touch on today, Andy, and
32:11
Speaker 3: it's pertinent and pertinent, we just sorted up hinds into
32:14
Speaker 3: fawning mobs. And I've had discussions with certain farmers over
32:17
Speaker 3: the years. There is still far too high a loss
32:21
Speaker 3: in fawn loss from displacing and misadventure is probably the
32:26
Speaker 3: best word and farmers need to be a little more
32:29
Speaker 3: vigilant on their paddocks and particularly the gates at the
32:32
Speaker 3: end of tree lanes and things like that and after
32:35
Speaker 3: a winter where there's deeper tire marks through gateways because
32:40
Speaker 3: it doesn't take a lot for a fawn to get
32:42
Speaker 3: out of that fawning paddock and once it gets out
32:47
Speaker 3: of that paddock it's basically the end of its life
32:49
Speaker 3: and I know that sounds really harsh but sometimes you
32:52
Speaker 3: have to to speak like that to get the message through.
32:55
Speaker 3: Once those fawns get under a gate into the next paddock,
32:58
Speaker 3: they won't come back because they don't have the ability
33:01
Speaker 3: at a few days old or a few hours old
33:04
Speaker 3: to get back. And it's just a simple matter of
33:08
Speaker 3: either filling up the big holes under gateways with rock
33:11
Speaker 3: or gravel or flat bottom posts and things like that,
33:14
Speaker 3: but tightening up your chains and things. People just need
33:18
Speaker 3: to go around every paddock. Like we had 28 gates
33:21
Speaker 3: around the sixth fawning season paddocks. It sounds like a lot,
33:25
Speaker 3: but you know, there's some corners that have got four
33:26
Speaker 3: gates into four different paddocks. And, you know, I took
33:31
Speaker 3: about 85 tonne over a period of week and we've
33:35
Speaker 3: got some good rotten rock here and it's far better
33:37
Speaker 3: than putting in posts underneath gateways and things like that.
33:42
Speaker 3: But yeah, it still surprises me that some people do
33:45
Speaker 3: lose more than they actually need to.
33:47
Speaker 1: How realistic is it to hand rear fawns?
33:51
Speaker 3: Well, my wife's done it quite a few times, and no,
33:53
Speaker 3: they make incredible pets, especially the little fellow. There's nothing better.
33:59
Speaker 3: That's probably a little bit biased, but no, they make
34:01
Speaker 3: amazing pets. And you can take them off their mums
34:05
Speaker 3: at a day old just after they've had their first
34:08
Speaker 3: drink of colostrum, because the fawns, when they're born, they'll
34:11
Speaker 3: have probably upwards of nine or ten feeds a day
34:15
Speaker 3: for the first week.
34:15
Speaker 5: Wow.
34:18
Speaker 3: A lot of people don't even realise that the hinds
34:20
Speaker 3: have got four milking teats, a lot of glandular milk
34:23
Speaker 3: in a deer. And no, we've successfully raised fawns. A
34:28
Speaker 3: lot of people will raise red fawns and they turn
34:30
Speaker 3: into wonderful pets. So quite easy. You can get them
34:34
Speaker 3: onto things like lamb teats or you can actually just
34:36
Speaker 3: have them sucking out of, say, an ice cream container
34:40
Speaker 3: from starting on your finger and things like that. So no,
34:43
Speaker 3: we've done it a few times.
34:45
Speaker 1: So as far as fawns... I don't know, venturing away
34:49
Speaker 1: from mum and not coming back, how often would that
34:51
Speaker 1: occur every year, would you say, on average?
34:53
Speaker 3: Well, you don't know until they're dead and you go
34:55
Speaker 3: and mow your paddock and things like that because you're
34:58
Speaker 3: leaving those animals to do their own thing. And the
35:01
Speaker 3: human interference, you just stay away. So you only find
35:04
Speaker 3: all these things out retrospectively. So it's like a lot
35:07
Speaker 3: of things in life. You know, prevention's the best cure there.
35:11
Speaker 1: As far as the venison and velvet schedules or seasons
35:14
Speaker 1: or the likes, what are we predicting?
35:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, venison has been very stable and still looking
35:20
Speaker 3: very stable, but it's also on the back of lesser production,
35:25
Speaker 3: so therefore we're not having to look for any more
35:32
Speaker 3: markets is probably the best way to describe that at
35:35
Speaker 3: the moment. We're probably undersupplying some of the top-end markets,
35:39
Speaker 3: if anything, with venison. Now, velvet, Andy, last year was
35:42
Speaker 3: probably one of the worst years in the last 25 years.
35:47
Speaker 3: We had an oversupply and overhang of velvet into China,
35:51
Speaker 3: and the price, well, crashed is probably a little bit harsh,
35:55
Speaker 3: but certainly not a lot of tax paid from a
35:58
Speaker 3: lot of farmers from velvet last year. We thought it
36:00
Speaker 3: would take a couple of years to turn around, but
36:02
Speaker 3: price is out already, and indications are that things could
36:06
Speaker 3: turn around quite quickly. And it's on the back of
36:10
Speaker 3: a couple of major Chinese buyers that didn't actually buy
36:13
Speaker 3: last year, and they probably didn't predict that it was
36:15
Speaker 3: going to come up this quickly. So the demand is
36:18
Speaker 3: looking good, but it's also on the back of quite
36:22
Speaker 3: a significant kill of velveting stags last year, and kudos
36:26
Speaker 3: to all the venison companies for accommodating that. And it
36:31
Speaker 3: looks as though it might turn around to be not
36:32
Speaker 3: too bad a season, but we never know until the
36:35
Speaker 3: season's done.
36:36
Speaker 1: It's incredible how it's changed in 12 months, like you say.
36:40
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
36:41
Speaker 3: But like a lot of things, you don't count your
36:43
Speaker 3: chickens until they're in the bank, as far as that goes.
36:47
Speaker 1: That's for sure. Hey, just to wrap up, Pete, you've
36:50
Speaker 1: been a big fan of your tennis over the years.
36:52
Speaker 1: The Northern Southland Tennis Sub-Association, or Sub-Union I suppose, their
36:56
Speaker 1: 100th is coming up next March up in Te Anau.
37:00
Speaker 1: Regos are open. This will be a good weekend.
37:02
Speaker 3: Should be, Andy. Yeah, everybody that's been involved. I was
37:06
Speaker 3: incredibly lucky. I was chairing Northern Tennis at the time
37:09
Speaker 3: we had four club centenaries. So, no, it was a
37:12
Speaker 3: wonderful period and Yeah, no, everybody should get on board and,
37:18
Speaker 3: you know, put the entries in, early, early indication. So
37:22
Speaker 3: I know that's good and looking forward to it.
37:25
Speaker 1: Good on you, Pete. We'll let you carry on in
37:26
Speaker 1: the trenches quite literally. Catch up to you next time.
37:30
Speaker 3: Thanks, Andy.
37:31
Speaker 1: I don't care what you say anymore. This is my life.
37:36
Speaker 6: Go ahead.
37:40
Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. Jaden Henderson, I think
37:43
Speaker 1: it's fair to say the guy's had a pretty exceptional year.
37:47
Speaker 1: Starting off not really with any expectations regarding his rugby
37:51
Speaker 1: career and ending up, he's going away to join the Crusaders,
37:56
Speaker 1: a wider training squad, later on this month. He joins
37:59
Speaker 1: us this afternoon to give us, from his perspective I suppose,
38:02
Speaker 1: how the season's all gone. Jaden, good afternoon. You must
38:05
Speaker 1: be still pinching yourself at the way things have unfolded.
38:09
Speaker 6: How you going, Andy? Yeah, thanks very much for having
38:11
Speaker 6: me on the show. Yeah, definitely pinching myself at how
38:15
Speaker 6: everything's unfolded this year, but, yeah, pretty grateful for the opportunity.
38:19
Speaker 6: And pretty cool to, first and foremost, be back down south,
38:23
Speaker 6: back home in Southland, playing rugby here, and then, yeah,
38:27
Speaker 6: heading up the road to cross-stretch.
38:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, very exciting. Because you're an absolute southern boy at heart,
38:33
Speaker 1: aren't you?
38:34
Speaker 6: Yep, yeah, grew up in Riversdale. Yeah, did my schooling
38:38
Speaker 6: here at Riversdale and went up to Target Boys there
38:41
Speaker 6: for a few years, then up to Lincoln. So yeah,
38:44
Speaker 6: a bit familiar with Cross Church as well. And yeah,
38:47
Speaker 6: obviously moved back down here, worked as a livestock rep
38:52
Speaker 6: for about four years before heading overseas to play some rugby.
38:56
Speaker 2: So yeah.
38:58
Speaker 1: So going overseas to play rugby, had you given up
39:01
Speaker 1: on that stag's dream more or less? Did that come
39:03
Speaker 1: into the equation, Jaden?
39:05
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah. I sort of was looking for an opportunity,
39:08
Speaker 6: wanting to push myself past club level. And, yeah, obviously
39:13
Speaker 6: MPC didn't happen at the time. So, yeah, I went
39:18
Speaker 6: to Ireland. I went over there for about four months.
39:23
Speaker 6: The rugby over there wasn't really what I was expecting.
39:25
Speaker 6: but yeah, it was a pretty cool experience. Got a
39:29
Speaker 6: good look around Europe and then come back to Australia,
39:33
Speaker 6: played in the shoot shield in Sydney. Yeah, learned a
39:36
Speaker 6: lot in Sydney and it was a really big step
39:39
Speaker 6: up from club rugby here. And yeah. So that for
39:43
Speaker 6: two years and then sitting at home one day at
39:46
Speaker 6: my flat and got a text from Scotty to come
39:49
Speaker 6: back to Southend and jumped at the opportunity. So yeah,
39:55
Speaker 6: I've been a bit all over the show since I
39:57
Speaker 6: think it was about 2024 when I left to go overseas.
40:02
Speaker 6: But yeah, it's pretty.
40:03
Speaker 2: Awesome to be back.
40:04
Speaker 1: Interesting you say the rugby in Ireland wasn't as anticipated.
40:07
Speaker 1: What was the story there? Different structure?
40:11
Speaker 6: Oh, I sort of picked up an opportunity off Facebook
40:13
Speaker 6: and they talked it up that it was going to
40:15
Speaker 6: be a really good level of rugby. And yeah, it
40:18
Speaker 6: wasn't sort of what I was after. But yeah, I
40:21
Speaker 6: sort of saw it as more of an OE, a
40:23
Speaker 6: bit of an experience over there. Yeah, rugby's obviously not
40:28
Speaker 6: the number one sport in Ireland, but the level I
40:31
Speaker 6: was playing was not quite as high as I would
40:35
Speaker 6: have liked to have played. But, yeah, awesome experience. Learned
40:39
Speaker 6: a lot about myself, actually. Did a bit of coaching
40:41
Speaker 6: while I was over there. And, yeah, you gain an
40:44
Speaker 6: appreciation for coaches in that sense because, yeah, it was
40:48
Speaker 6: quite tough teaching kids that had never held a rugby
40:50
Speaker 6: ball before how to play rugby. So, yeah, pretty humbling experience.
40:54
Speaker 1: Playing in the shoot shield, though, that's a decent level
40:57
Speaker 1: of rugby as well. That's not to be ignored.
41:00
Speaker 6: No, really good level of rugby. Yeah, big step up
41:03
Speaker 6: speed-wise and... Physicality, the biggest shock to me was actually
41:08
Speaker 6: the heat. The first game I played there was 37 degrees,
41:13
Speaker 6: so we're having 20-minute water breaks. I lost a lot
41:17
Speaker 6: of sweat that day, so a few car rides after
41:20
Speaker 6: to get the body right. But yeah, it was a
41:24
Speaker 6: big change. Very good level of rugby. I think 12
41:30
Speaker 6: teams in the competition. and everyone's pretty competitive, and you're
41:33
Speaker 6: playing against Wallabies or Super Rugby players most weeks, so, yeah.
41:39
Speaker 1: Would you say the Wallabies, results aside, haven't been favourable,
41:42
Speaker 1: but would you say they're in a good place heading
41:44
Speaker 1: into their World Cup year, being held on home soil?
41:48
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think so, yeah. Yeah, they're building something nice. Yeah,
41:53
Speaker 6: they've got some quality world-class players there at the moment, so... Yeah,
41:57
Speaker 6: but I think it's going to be an interesting World Cup.
41:59
Speaker 6: Everyone's looking good building into next year. So, yeah, but
42:04
Speaker 6: I think, yeah, the Wallabies will be competitive.
42:07
Speaker 1: And you get that text, come back to Southland. Of course,
42:09
Speaker 1: Jack Taylor had his injury. But this is where the
42:13
Speaker 1: script falls into place for you. This is where it
42:15
Speaker 1: all started.
42:18
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, sort of opportunities, like they present themselves when
42:22
Speaker 6: you least expect them. So, yeah, you've got to be prepared.
42:25
Speaker 6: to take them I guess and yeah I guess your
42:28
Speaker 6: best abilities availability so made sure I was fit ready
42:31
Speaker 6: to go and yeah pretty unfortunate for Jack and he
42:35
Speaker 6: was still involved in the environment so he was really
42:37
Speaker 6: good to learn off and yeah helped me a lot
42:40
Speaker 6: in the environment because I'd never never experienced being a
42:44
Speaker 6: full time rugby player before so yeah he was really
42:46
Speaker 6: good to learn off and yeah great group of guys
42:49
Speaker 6: and coaches around me which helped as well so yeah.
42:54
Speaker 1: Is there a good chance of the core of that
42:56
Speaker 1: group being retained for next season, would you say, or
42:58
Speaker 1: is it too early to predict?
43:01
Speaker 6: I'd like to think so. We're building nicely throughout the year,
43:06
Speaker 6: regardless of the results, I think. We were ticking some
43:09
Speaker 6: boxes and a good step in the right direction for
43:12
Speaker 6: Southland Rugby, I thought. There were some highs and lows,
43:16
Speaker 6: but we had a couple of really good wins there
43:18
Speaker 6: throughout the season and some close losses, but Yeah, a
43:21
Speaker 6: young team, I think, 21 debutantes throughout the year. So, yeah,
43:26
Speaker 6: there's a big improvement to still happen, but, yeah, we're
43:30
Speaker 6: going in the right.
43:31
Speaker 2: Direction, I think.
43:32
Speaker 1: So describe the moment when you see yourself out on
43:35
Speaker 1: Rugby Park, you're looking on the terraces and it's jam-packed.
43:38
Speaker 1: That must have been the real moment that everything hit
43:40
Speaker 1: home for you properly.
43:42
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, no, it was a dream come true, to
43:45
Speaker 6: be honest. Yeah, pretty passionate about this province and... Yeah,
43:49
Speaker 6: growing up here, standing on the terraces with a lunchbox
43:52
Speaker 6: and supporting the boys and running out there on the
43:55
Speaker 6: field was pretty awesome. So, yeah, still sort of pinching
43:59
Speaker 6: myself that it's happened in the first place. And, yeah, just, yeah, really,
44:04
Speaker 6: really awesome experience.
44:05
Speaker 1: And it just goes to show how many more Jaden
44:07
Speaker 1: Hedisons are out there in Southland as well, you know,
44:10
Speaker 1: almost like a trailblazing moment.
44:12
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
44:13
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely there's some quality rugby players around at the moment. So, yeah,
44:19
Speaker 6: it'll be interesting to see who's involved in.
44:21
Speaker 2: The coming years.
44:22
Speaker 1: So how did you manage to get picked up in
44:24
Speaker 1: the Crusaders environment?
44:27
Speaker 6: There's a draft system that happens for the wider training group.
44:31
Speaker 6: I'm not entirely sure how it works, but throughout the season,
44:36
Speaker 6: I think each Super Rugby club can sort of pick
44:40
Speaker 6: players and then it goes to a draft system at
44:42
Speaker 6: the end of the year and they sort of get
44:46
Speaker 6: a pick goes in a rough order from my understanding
44:50
Speaker 6: I think the Crusaders had a pick before the Highlanders
44:55
Speaker 6: and yeah they obviously chose me which I was pretty
44:59
Speaker 6: wrapped about and yeah I was very unexpected it was
45:03
Speaker 6: quite funny I actually got a text from Jamie Joseph
45:05
Speaker 6: I had been speaking to him previously and he sort
45:09
Speaker 6: of congratulated me and wished me all the best up
45:11
Speaker 6: the road so yeah, that's sort of how I found out.
45:14
Speaker 2: It was very unexpected, and.
45:17
Speaker 6: Yeah, a few phone calls from coaching staff at Crusader
45:20
Speaker 6: shortly after confirmed it, so yeah, it was pretty awesome.
45:24
Speaker 1: A bit bizarre, but surreal at the same time. JB Joseph,
45:27
Speaker 1: the Highlanders coach, telling you that you're going to the Crusaders.
45:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
45:32
Speaker 6: I'd sort of been in touch, and he was interested
45:35
Speaker 6: in having me come to the Highlanders, but yeah, it
45:38
Speaker 6: was yeah, that's sort of how it panned out, really.
45:42
Speaker 6: They they had the pick before the Crusaders did, so yeah,
45:46
Speaker 6: it was a bit of a surprise.
45:50
Speaker 1: Have you had to reassess your goals after this season?
45:54
Speaker 6: Yeah, definitely, yeah. Oh, I never thought I'd be playing
45:59
Speaker 6: for the Sags, let alone playing Super Rugby this time
46:03
Speaker 6: at the start of, well, this time last year, so yeah. Yeah,
46:07
Speaker 6: reassess the goals. Yeah, obviously, it's a big step up
46:11
Speaker 6: and what I'm used to with rugby and training. So, yeah,
46:16
Speaker 6: it's a big change getting.
46:18
Speaker 2: To do rugby as a job.
46:19
Speaker 6: Like, I've never looked at it that way, but it's, yeah,
46:22
Speaker 6: it's an awesome opportunity and something that I love to do.
46:25
Speaker 2: So, yeah.
46:26
Speaker 1: Well, it will be a full-time job for you effectively now,
46:29
Speaker 1: won't it?
46:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
46:31
Speaker 6: A wee bit different to tailing lambs or drafting sheep,
46:34
Speaker 6: or digging holes over in Sydney.
46:36
Speaker 5: So, yeah.
46:37
Speaker 1: But Ethan De Groot did the same thing, the tailing
46:39
Speaker 1: run around Riversdale, and he's gone pretty well. So all
46:43
Speaker 1: the Southern lads, you know, you get a bit of
46:44
Speaker 1: a grounding in rural work, and that gives you a
46:46
Speaker 1: bit of backbone, to coin a phrase, I suppose, eh?
46:49
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, it definitely does. It makes you appreciate having
46:53
Speaker 6: the opportunity to go and do what you love and playing.
46:58
Speaker 2: Rugby, so yeah.
46:59
Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Jaden. Thanks for the chat this afternoon. Congratulations.
47:03
Speaker 1: You've had a hell of a year in the Stags jersey.
47:05
Speaker 1: All the best up the road there, even if you
47:07
Speaker 1: are going to be in Christchurch. But Southlanders are proud
47:10
Speaker 1: of what you've achieved. Thanks for your time.
47:18
Speaker 6: Thanks, Andy.
47:19
Speaker 5: Cheers.
47:20
Speaker 1: Jaden Henderson there. What a great story that is. Well,
47:23
Speaker 1: that's wrapping up the Best of the Muster. Of course,
47:25
Speaker 1: it's brought to you by the Gopher. My name's Andy Muir.
47:28
Speaker 1: Enjoy your weekend. See you Monday, 1 o'clock, right here
47:31
Speaker 1: on Hockanoe.