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The Muster- Geordie Eade: Red Meat Prices Continue To Stay Buoyant · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. We're away over to Riverton,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the Riviera of the South, and catching up with Geordie Yead, sheep,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: beef and dairy farm owner over that way. Geordie, good afternoon.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm good, Andy. How's things with you?
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Well, if that wind would Bugger off, for want of
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: a better word, it would be a lot better. It's
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: been pretty nippy over the past couple of days. That
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: wind chill is just horrific.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's really caught off to what we had.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: We sort of got spoiled there for sort of two
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: and a half, three weeks. And, yeah, no, it's just
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: a bit extreme river here in the south here today.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: We've got Forrest Gump sideways rain.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Forrest Gump sideways rain. Haven't heard of that one before.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: It must be pretty full on. Yeah, it is.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: It is. Yeah, it's like a lambing weather in a
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: water blaster, really.
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That is one of the great descriptions, lambing weather
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: with a water blaster.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. It can bloody bugger off. It sort of
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: seems to be the last three lambings, and I mean
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: this year was probably more extreme with the wind, and
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: it probably didn't, it lacked a bit of windshield or
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: it has in the past, which has made it a
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: wee bit better, but it was certainly the wettest.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: You have had over 500 mils there over the spring
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: cycle so far. Dare I say it, how have things
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: dried up?
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, they have dried up reasonably well, but, you know,
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: the last four or five days, you know, we're back
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: over that 100 again for October. We're only, you know,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: we nearly got two-thirds of October over and only about
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: 40 mils. So, yeah, things have dried up really well.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: Got into the cow ground and got all that ripped
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: well ahead of time. I got the last of that
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: done in the middle of last week, so they're all done,
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: and I didn't get into them until about the 4th
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: of November last year when I looked it up. So, yeah,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: so no... It's quite good to be advanced for that.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: I've got some drains unblocked, just a bit of maintenance.
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: And then, yeah, probably in the next week or so,
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: we'll do some tailing. The contract tailers will come in. Yeah, no,
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: everything's looking not too bad. But, yeah, it'll be nice
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: if the sun comes back again.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Well, sunshine is underrated. When you do get it, it's fantastic.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: And October's been the month that has provided it.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it really provided, compared to this October last year,
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: sort of maybe, you know, we had a good August,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: or better August last year, and we had a crap
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: one this year, so maybe they swapped around a wee bit.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: But yeah, no, October's been better than I would have
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: said probably average, particularly for us over here anyway.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: But you're talking about wind damage yet again.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I was just doing a round again this
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: morning and the trees are going back the other way. But, yeah,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: that was fair fierce last night. I don't know whether
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: they've come down last night or, yeah, no, it's just
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: losing all power. So I'm going to have to go
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: and sort that this afternoon. But, yeah, it just seems
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: to be endless, whether it's these fronts hitting one another
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: or the wind just getting very strong. I think I
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: was sort of holding my breath for Monday's weather, thinking, well,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: was that going to be round two of last year?
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I was coming back from Te Ara now. I was
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: in the farm you'd had a load on, and going
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: over the centre hill there, I mean, it's a case
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: of sparking the steam engine. I think I can, I
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: think I can, I know I can. You're going to
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: get up that hill eventually, but, yeah, you're crawling at
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: about 45, 50 clicks to get up there. It was
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: pretty ferocious.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we had been up at my mother-in-law's 80th in Crosschurch,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: and we were coming back in on the airplane, and
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: the north-west coming out of Crosschurch probably led more bumps
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: to the plane than landing, but it was a bit
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: of very... Quite a hairy landing to land in the Macargo.
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: We're all quite glad to hit the ground and not
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: have to do round two of it anyway.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: So how are the stock faring at the moment anyway?
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Things have started correcting themselves weather-wise. You're getting a bit
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: of a cover base around you. Are they starting to
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: pick up?
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they are starting to pick up, but there's still,
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: you know, there's that bottom end of the lambs that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: are probably never going to recover. You know, I think
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: there's still going to be that bottom end all the
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: way through going round there, you know. It's probably, it's
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: not 10%, but there's certainly some dregs there that... They've
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: been challenged all the way along, and I suppose it's
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: just the wet conditions. Well, I'm not picking up any
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: dead ones. They're still there, but they're not thriving like
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: we'd normally love in the south in spring. But I
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: suppose there's still a few numbers there, which is probably positive.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: There's still a lot of ewes of twins and the
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: odd set of triplets. But, yeah, sunshine they need, vitamin S.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: Are you going to flick those tail landers off at
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: weaning and the likes based on the season and a
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: bit of the unknown, although prices could correct by then,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: but I don't know. What's your thoughts? What do you
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: do there?
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I sort of cross that bridge when I come.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: We've had the dairy farm. There's an opportunity cost of
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: every blade of grass, so you sort of... tie up
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: everything um last year i didn't have a bottom end
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: at all and they just sort of come up so
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: you know certainly evaluate how big that bottom end is
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: that certainly um if someone wants to finish them off
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: there's money for them and there's money for us but
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: uh you know the type of discussion yesterday but we'll
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: say a beef and lamb that you know store lambs
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: looking around about that six dollars well that's you know
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: 30 kilo lamb it's.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: 180 dollars you're not going to say no to that.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: No, no, no, no. Definitely, if you're sipping that off
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: not long after weaning, it's a pretty good coin. And
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: then you've got opportunity costs for the rest of your grass.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: It's going to be a $ 10 plus payout on the
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: dairy side of things as well.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: So what are you budgeting on for lambs this year, Geordie?
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Well, I've been probably conservative. I'm thinking we might have
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: come back $ 30, $ 40 on last year's. But, you know,
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: the way it is tracking, we're probably looking and may
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: have another two in front of it. But, yeah. I
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: don't see $ 2 dropping out of it between now and Christmas,
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: put it that way anyway. And Easter being early, it's
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: probably not going to drop much out of it until
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: the end of January, in my thoughts anyway.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: The old Easter contracts come into play then as well.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's true too. Yeah, that'll be interesting to see.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: But I mean, saying that, you know, I was talking
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: to Francis Cousin last week and they supply silver ferns
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: there in Methven. and they're having to truck their lambs
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: down to Finnegan because Pariora's shut. So, you know, there
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: is a shortage of lambs out there, so where there's
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: going to be a bit of competition, it might hold
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: the price up along the way as well.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: When does Pariora open?
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: I would have thought it would probably be open any time,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: but in saying that, you know, who knows? Because, you know,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: I would have thought, yes, funny enough, these lambs went
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: from the Townhill Basin to Methven and then back to Finnegan.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: So there nearly is more toad than I've been for
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: the last three or four months.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Those lambs need a passport to get through the provinces.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Very well-travelled individuals.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it was actually quite a good fact,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: the beef last week, is that there's only 7% of
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: lambs leave Southlands. We are, you know, there is some exported,
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: but we, you know, we kill something like 92, 93%
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: of our lambs we produce in this region. So that
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: was quite a satisfying, well, good fact to hear.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: That's a really good fact, but it's good to know
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: that the way that Canterbury, with the way their seasons work,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: it's a backstop effectively as well, if needed.
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's a good backstop for a lot of
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: us around here. You know, we often, if they're doing
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: pretty well, it's an opening for us to unload lambs
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: if we want to. And, you know, they do well
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: out and we do well out too. So, you know,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: it's certainly, you know, they've had pretty good seasons and
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: they don't seem to be having that El Nino that
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: everybody was saying was going to come. Yeah, if I
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: don't know, I think it's just a load of crap,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: to me anyway.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: I'll ask you that in six weeks, eh? Yeah.
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we were just up there the weekend. It was
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: a hot, stinker weekend, but they got seven mils, they said,
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: on Monday night. So, you know, that just kept things
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: properly going. I thought the irrigator was going to need
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: turned on, but there wasn't too many irrigators going yet.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: In the beef and lamb side of life, the AGM
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: yesterday at the Riversdale pub, how did it go?
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it was at the Riversdale Community Centre just
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: across the road.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, Community Centre. Oh, right. You just think pub when
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: you think Riversdale for some reason.
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: Oh. So, no, we had our farmer... a meeting to
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: start off with and we elected our new chairman well
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: she was already the sitting chairman Courtney Nimmo and we've
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: got Robert Young as our vice chair now and then
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: when I moved on in the afternoon to our AGM
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: and that was open to the public we had probably
• 8:06
  Speaker 2: about 20-ish farmers Joseph Mooney business people from the Alliance
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: you know other businesses people there and it went along
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: pretty well and then it finished off the day with
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: the Roberts to speak to us, the winners of the
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: Gordon Stevenson trophy and they spoke really well and gave
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: us an indication of how they're very worthy winners.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: That would have been fascinating to listen to. I should
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: get them on for a chat sooner than later, just
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: based on what's changed in their operations since their success.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: Oh yes, they haven't to be fair, they haven't had
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: a lot of speaking engagements and you know, they are
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: marvellous speakers and the journey they've come from Taranaki to
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: West Otago from Deering to now Deer and how they've
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: developed their farm and you know, the Dunn Farm succession
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: and the journey it's gone along, it's certainly something that
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: probably the media probably could be tapping into a bit
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: more because they're great ambassadors, you would call.
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's something the media will tap into. Geordie, thanks
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: for your time as always.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: No, good as gold, Andy. Let the sun come back out.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Again. Geordie Yead, interesting correlation about farmers coming from the
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Naki down to Southland or to West Otago for that
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: matter as well. Hello, Chanel Purser, if you're listening. Jackie
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Chamberlain is up next, coincidentally, in the beef and lamb slot.