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The Muster- Grant McMaster: Sneaking Around The Sheep · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Grant Disaster McMaster joins us once again thanks to Batman
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: and the team at Arby Rural G'day.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Grant G'day Andy, good afternoon to everyone.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Life in the basin today, how is it?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: It's rather nice It was not quite as hot as
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: it got yesterday Yesterday got to 20 degrees Not a
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: breath of wind, lake like a mill pond But a
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: bit of a frost that morning to be fair But anyway,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: today it's sitting at 10 degrees, and it's a wee
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: bit cloudy. I think there's a little bit of rain
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: for tomorrow, but good, say, 10 degrees. Our soil temperature
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: is sitting at 8, so that's looking all right, and
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: there's been quite a bit of a lift in the
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: grass since we spoke last week, so very noticeable.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: It's been like that, very similar in Southland. Actually, I
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: was up in northern Southland at the weekend, Grant, and
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: just the way things have changed with a couple of
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: days of hot weather. Hopefully that weather is making a
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: difference for farms around the region.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: I'm sure it is. And we spoke last week. We've
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: got everything set, stocked and what have you. And since
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: we spoke last week, it's looking better. Everything's sort of... Well,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I'd like to say settled down, but I'm a bit
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: like the Pied Piper at the moment. So I've got
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: obviously all the ewes set stocked around the place on
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: the hills and what have you, and a few flats
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: out by Moat Lake that from sort of now until
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: they get into Lambie and get the odd cast ewe,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: and you shouldn't need to sneak out there and have
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: a look. But the last two times I've been out
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: there in the truck, every thing on the hill thinks
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: you've got the grain trailer on and it's... It's like
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: the Pied Piper. So we've only got a few lambs
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: at the moment, so I've actually borrowed a mate of
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: mine's side-by-side. So I can sneak around there and have
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: a look without the bloody ewes thinking that I've got
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: a grain trailer on. So grain's really good to feed,
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: and you get them onto it, but those ewes, when
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: they see the truck, actually a lot of times you
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: drive in, they see the truck, and they think there's
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: something on the back of it. So... This time of
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: the year, that first sort of weekend when we get
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: into lamb, which is in the next couple of days,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: you know, there could be a few lambs left on
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the hill, but I suppose those good parentals will go back.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: They seem to get through the bloody fences, so they'll
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: go back to the lambs, no doubt. But, yeah, so
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: I had to pick up the side of the side
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: yesterday so I can just get around and strategically look
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: at what's going on.
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: This is outstanding.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: You've had to go incognito to escape from your animals
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: on the farm.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's certainly... We actually put some salt out this
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: morning onto the flat, and that always causes a bit
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: of mayhem anyway, but just for a few cows and
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: what have you. But, you know, so I got that
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: done today, so I don't have to go back around
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: there unless I'm on the side of the side. So, yeah,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: they just, you know, they obviously get addicted to it,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: like kids to lollies. I've got a couple of them,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: three of them staying at the moment, so I'm only
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: feeding stock and kids, so... Yeah, no, they're cunning old buggers,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: the sheep. And like the cows, when they see the
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: truck coming this time of year, they'll come up looking
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: for a bit of salt, which is, you know, the
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: bag of salt on the back. But, yeah, so we
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: put that to rest so everything's sort of ready and
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: got the motorbike so I'll be able to sneak around
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: and not be seen.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: Remember back in the 80s, the old trench coat and
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: the moustache or the beard with the sunnies and the
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: top hat so nobody could figure out who you were.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: It doesn't really work with livestock.
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: No, it doesn't. I don't think you'd do that going
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: through Queenstown either. You'd probably get arrested. But, yeah, no,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: it wouldn't be a good thing. Imagine that, going around
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: sort of dressed up so the stock couldn't see. You'd
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: probably end up on the bloody funny farm. But never mind. Yeah,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: it's funny, isn't it? Even after you use a weaned,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and sometimes there's always the odd, when you're driving through,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: there's a few sheep will always look up at the
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: truck and, hello, whatever we follow. So, yeah, they certainly
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: don't forget.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: You'd either be arrested or embraced, knowing that community up there, mate. Look,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: you've been further afield over the past week, and you
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: just want to talk about the situation just on your travels.
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, we went up to Christchurch for a couple
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: of nights, had a couple of things on up there,
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: and just went up on the Wednesday and back on Friday,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: but actually drove over to Alexandra and went up through
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: the pig route. So, you know, from Alexandra through to
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: the Omakau, things are looking pretty good. So up through
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: the Maniatoto and the Ida Valley, especially the lucerne. You know,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: lucerne is one great crop, I think. And you sort
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: of look at lucerne at certain times of the year
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: when you're not grazing it, when you can't. But at
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: this time of the year when it's growing, it's just
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: head and shoulders, especially in that country above everything. So, yeah,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: the Manitouro looked pretty good. And, you know, it was
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: only a few weeks ago that we saw in the
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: news that they had snow there. But even their feed
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: levels looked pretty good. Going through that pig route, which
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: is normally pretty hard country at the best of times,
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: it looked really quite... It was quite green, so there
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: was a bit of, you know, new stuff coming away
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: and through the tussock and those blocks that they get into. And...
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: which is, you know, north of Targo and up through
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: Oamaru there. The crops are looking good. The market garden
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: stuff looks great. And, you know, there's tractors working away.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: And then into mid-Canterbury and, well, south Canterbury, mid-Canterbury, right
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: to Christchurch, you know, it just looks a picture. There
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: were tractors out, you know, rolling, and there's dust and
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: what have you, and all those lovely big flat paddocks,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: drilling stuff, and where they've got their crops that have
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: come up are looking pretty good. So... All the stock
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: looked good throughout that drive and thought, well, if you
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: get the weather right, it makes everything so much better,
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: doesn't it? It's good to hear that we're on the
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: mend down south at this stage.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: The name Lucerne originates from the medieval Latin name Lucinense
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: or Luceria.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: And they call it, in the States, they call it alfalfa.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Alfalfa.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, just random fact for a Tuesday. That first
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: one in particular, the Eiffel for one's pretty common. But
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I don't know, that's just the way that names work,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: depending on where you are, potato, potato.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, or spud.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Hey, that'll do, Grant. Hey, we'll let you carry on, mate. Thanks,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: as always. And by the time we catch up next week, log, mate,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: this good weather continue.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the youths don't recognise me on the side beside,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: and the kids have gone back to school.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: Go to the op shop and get a trench coat.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: That's my advice.
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Don't say that because Karen volunteers at the Oscar shop.
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I could end up with three of them.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: Grant is asked to McMaster, thanks to Arby Rural.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: He's having to go incognito on his own farm, but
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: goodness sake, the man's too well known.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: Cody Patterson's up next from Open Country.