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The Muster- Dave Biss: Western Australian Correspondent · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome back. This is the muster on Hokanui. We're away
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: over to Western Australia this afternoon to catch up with
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Dave Biss, formerly the Maniato. These days, a livestock representative
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: just out of Perth. G'day, Bissy.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Morning, Andy. How's things down there in the Deep South?
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Well, last time we spoke to you, there was rain
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: for Africa. Fortunately, we've got off the African continent. Hopefully,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: we're a bit more of a European feel about things now.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We've seen a bit of growth and people have got
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  Speaker 1: on with things. But over there in WA, how's it
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: been weather-wise? I suppose, you know, having lambing in September
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: isn't a problem. No, that's right.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: And those lambs now are flowing through, starting to flow
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: through the sale yards. And I just compared your pricing
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: yesterday that you guys had compared to what we had
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: over the last couple of weeks and i reckon we're
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: bang on your pricing's pretty much on par with ours
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: or ours is on par with yours.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: Well that's surprising because australia has always been a hit
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: of new zealand and prices for red meat.
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  Speaker 2: It has indeed but um you know uh i i
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  Speaker 2: saw some lambs that you guys sold the other day
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: maybe two three weeks ago they were close to 500
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: bucks i mean How does that work, you know?
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  Speaker 1: There was a pen of lambs at Charlton, went for $ 525,
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  Speaker 1: and new season lambs are going for over $ 300 at
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  Speaker 1: certain yards around the country, so the positivity is there,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: I suppose, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: It is, and long may it last. As long as
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't get too high and we can just sort
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  Speaker 2: of ride that storm and just, you know, we don't
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  Speaker 2: want boom and bust, do we? Just steady, steady, keep
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: it rolling.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Is that the state of play over there in WA
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  Speaker 1: with the farmers? They're pretty happy at the moment heading
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: into summer?
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  Speaker 2: They are, they are, but as per the Kiwi Boys,
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: you know, they're bloody inputs. They just keep going up,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: fertiliser and diesel. It just makes things very tricky. So
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  Speaker 2: as we've said before, a lot of those cropping guys
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: are holding back ewe lambs and hoggets and breeding more
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  Speaker 2: to hold on to keep on the farm just to
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: keep those cropping costs at bay.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Luxor Diesel, what are you having to pay over there
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, Alita, in town?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: Well, it's jumped up again. It's just under $ 3, $ 2. 80.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: and it varies from about $ 2. 60 to $ 2. 85 at the moment,
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  Speaker 2: depending where you are. But as soon as you head inland,
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  Speaker 2: chuck another 20 cents on it, or if you're in
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  Speaker 2: the Kimberleys, it'll be well over $ 3. So it's starting
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: to get a bit rich.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: But you talked, okay, you've got diesel, you've got fuel concerns, fertiliser.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: What's happening with the price of urea, for example? Are
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you seeing a spike?
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. And I can't give you a price, but yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it's only heading up. A lot of the guys locked
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: in early last year, and I think that saved their bacon.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Saying that, the yields that are coming off at the
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: moment are pretty healthy, so I think everyone's happy in general.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Have you got much grass over in the state there
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: at the moment, or if your job, you're sending road trains,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: literally road train after road train, into state. Is that happening?
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: That is happening. That is happening not to the greatest
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: extent as it did this time last year, just because
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the season's a bit better. So the boys are holding
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: on to the lambs and just putting more kilos on
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: the scales, which is good. So the store market, I
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: just got quoted 1,900 merino lambs just before you called.
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  Speaker 2: And I reckon there'll be $ 4.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: 30, $ 4.
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  Speaker 2: 40 a kilo live weight on farm And they were
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: averaging 28 kilos. So they're a later drop smaller animal
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  Speaker 2: as they stand at the moment. There's an example for you.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: So what would your average rainfall be? We talked about
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: this a couple of chats ago, Missy, regarding rainfall figures.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: And you've actually done some homework around this.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I have. I probably shot myself in the foot
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  Speaker 2: there last time because I really just went for that
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: dry area. But if you took the Kimberley, so that Broome,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: Kununurra area, you know, you're you're anything from up to
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: 60 inches a year, but then, and that doesn't sound
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  Speaker 2: like a lot, I'm afraid to say the Waikato or somewhere,
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  Speaker 2: but then the time of the year where there's no
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  Speaker 2: rain kicks in, your wheat belt, if you come into
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  Speaker 2: the middle and head east, is sort of up to
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  Speaker 2: between 12 and 20 inches a year, and then your
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  Speaker 2: Albany Esperance area, that ranges from 20 to 40 inches
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  Speaker 2: a year. So there's a really, there's a big, big
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  Speaker 2: difference between the high and the low, but you've got
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  Speaker 2: to take into consideration the tropics versus not, and the
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: long season where there's nothing happening at all. So, you know,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: it plays its part there.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Is El Nino going to have a bearing on prices?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it depends whether you believe it or not. You know,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: do you know what I mean? It's a hard one.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: If it kicks into gear, it will, I'm sure. What
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  Speaker 2: do you think?
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  Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see. The next few weeks may
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: give us a bit more of an indication as to
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  Speaker 1: where we're at, I suppose.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're sitting at the same thing. I think
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: we've almost got to suck it and see and just
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: see what pans out, I think.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: What about the staffing situation over there, the mines? An
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: interesting one. A lot of people go over there. We've
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: talked about this before, but you were talking some astronomical
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: figure around turnover of staff.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, the turnover. I have a mate who's the CEO
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  Speaker 2: of a mining company, and he banks on 37% staff turnover,
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  Speaker 2: of which 65% are Kiwis. and the balance made up
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: of wherever, which is a massive turnover. I know another
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: big corporate, they work on 35% across the board. Obviously,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: they're banking and they're doing a budget around that, but
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  Speaker 2: that's big numbers, Andy. It's a huge turnover.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Why so high?
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  Speaker 2: Let's say you've got blokes coming in from New Zealand,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: males and females rolling in from, say, New Zealand. Let's
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: say there's 10 of them. and three don't like the heat,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: three don't like being underground, and the balance love it. Or,
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: you know, I think it's a bit of a pipe
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: dream too. They think it's all beer and Skittles. It's
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: pretty hard work at times. If you're underground and it's
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: 33 degrees and it's pitch black and it's 85% humidity
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  Speaker 2: and it's like it's raining on you and you're drinking
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: 10 litres of water a day, it's not an easy
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  Speaker 2: day at the office.
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  Speaker 1: It's like farming. If it was easy, everybody would be
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  Speaker 1: doing it.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: That's right. That's right. But the guys that can hang
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: in there, they can do really well. If you've got
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: a bit of go in you and you've got some
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  Speaker 2: common sense and you ask the questions and you do
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: the right thing and you turn up for work and
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: you've got a good attitude, you can do really well.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: It can be a really good positive experience.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Let's talk the Bledisloe Cup. The ABs put the Wallabies
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: to the sword yet again, Bissy. I think there's 13
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: wins in a row. What's the perception of the Wallabies
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: over there in Perth, which is a bit of a
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: rugby city given its expat population, and you're less than
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: a year out now from the Rugby World Cup in Aussie?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think they recognise the fact that they've had
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: a great start to the season and then they've played
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: a couple of good teams and they've been spanked. The
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: diehards still think that they're making great progress. But I
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: just think that they don't have any depth. It's pretty shallow. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I would say they're nervous. I feel sorry for Les Kiss,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: that coach. He's got a hard road to hoe, hasn't he?
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  Speaker 1: He's a very good coach, though. He comes with a
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  Speaker 1: very good coaching background. Rugby league once, wasn't he?
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. He's got a great background and he's got
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: a good name. And I think from what I hear
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: through the grapevine, he's well-liked. But, man, they've got a
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: big job ahead of them.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Does rugby union rate in the TV ratings as such
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  Speaker 1: when compared to the other codes?
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it does. It does when it's on. It's on free-to-air,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: which helps. But I see last year's contracts for TV,
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: Australian rugby was $ 54 million and NRL was $ 500 million
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: TV rights. So there's the difference.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Proof's in the pudding, Vissy. We'll let you carry on, mate.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: You've probably got some road trains to organise to go
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: to Brisbane or something ridiculous. Always appreciate your time.
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: You have a lovely day. All the best, Andy. Talk soon.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: Dave Biss, formerly of the Maniato, these days a livestock
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  Speaker 1: rep based over in Western Australia. You're listening to The Muster.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: Up next, Paul Kenyon talking on behalf of Beef and Lamb.