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The Muster- Jamie King: The Price Of Supermarket Duck · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Jamie King farms at Lake Hiroko and joins us in
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Jamie, and happy birthday.
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: G'day, mate. Yeah, thanks for that. Yeah, no, it is
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: another year above the ground and a bit of milestone
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: one there. It's got a zero at the end of it, so.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: But no time for a party this next couple of months, Andy.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: We'll see how the new year's looking and get a
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: break and have a beer or two then. But yeah, no,
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: every day on the top of the ground is a
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: good day, isn't it?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: So what's the state of affairs over at your place then?
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: What's been happening?
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I'm just mucking around today mate, just drenched in my
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: wiener deer and cutting a bit of velvet off some
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: stags and yeah, probably just reviving from our boot on
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: the fair on the backside last week from that southerly
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: that just didn't relinquish for about two or three days.
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: We were just humming along so good and then that
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: sort of just brought everything to a bit of a standstill,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: sort of growth wise and getting some diesel burnt. So yeah,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: but we'll get back there again, I think this week
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: looks not too bad so Just going for the motions, Andy, really.
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: Those winds have been pretty severe.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it wasn't so much the wind. I'd say more
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: so the hail and the south-westerly. It was just cold, mate,
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: probably colder than it was all spring, to be fair.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: The fire was back going and everything. Yeah, all the
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: clover that was plucking its head up sort of shriveled
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: back into itself. And, yeah, just not what we needed.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: Mind you, we were a pretty sport for a week there,
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: weren't we? Like 28 degrees and back to Shorts of Zinglip.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Henry Buckingham was on the show on Friday.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: He put his lambing back to the start of October,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: and I'll be honest, it sounds like he's had a
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: dream run, Jamie. So it all depends on how you
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: view the situation.
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%. He would have nailed it anyway. The first cycle,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks have been terrific for that. Yeah,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: it's interesting, Andy, too. A lot of guys tailing percentages
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: around this area over here. Everyone's up quite a bit, so...
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: You know, we arguably probably didn't get as much of
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: a tail up over here as what you guys got
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: towards your direction, but everyone was anticipating the worst. But yeah,
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: there's some big increases. I'd argue that it probably wasn't
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: as cold. It was wet, but it probably wasn't as cold.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: We're probably more in the westerly rain, more so than
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: the south-westers. Anybody on the south coast is probably going
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: to call me a lying prick about now, but that's
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: all right. But, yeah, it wasn't bitterly cold. We're in
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: leggings and coat, but we didn't have killing winds. Most
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: of our cold wind comes off the mountains, and there
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: was no snow up there because it was that wet, mate.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: It was washed off.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: What about rainfall tallies?
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: Oh, great question. It felt like 200 mil last week,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: but I think we ended up with about 80-odd, I
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: think it was, for the weekend. So, yeah, plenty. But
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: the ground's handled it, though. Like, it's all disappeared. I
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: was backed on a bit of aerating there last night. So, yeah,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: it handled it all.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Interesting.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: You talk about tailing tallies over in your neck of
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: the woods being up on last season, considering the way that,
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: let's be honest, that goes against the trend for a
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: lot of people.
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, 100%. And even down the south coast, a
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: couple of guys down at Tokanui are still running to
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: and Yeah, they were anticipating the worst and had a
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: terrible go, but their tellies were up too. So, oh,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: it's all good, isn't it? We've just got to get
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: them fat and get them to the works. Yeah, that
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: could be challenging. We'll see what El Nino's got up
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: its sleeve for us.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: How's your feed? How's your covers looking there?
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: We're hanging in there, but we haven't got an abundance yet, Andy.
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: Probably to be fair, it's probably biting us a wee
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: bit now. It's sort of had to pull back in
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: a bit of... capital and maintenance for it the previous
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: sort of three or four years we got a bit
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: more on last year because we'd afford to but just
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: those tough years financially we pulled back and that's really
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: starting to show now i believe so we'll get we'll
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: start making that this month um start chipping away and
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: getting that on uh and weeds i can just see
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: weeds are having a prolific run at the moment i've
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: got freaking thistles and cutty grass and bulrushes are growing
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: in places i've never seen it before so It's interesting,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: but we'll just take that as we come.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: What's your major focus at the moment, just groundwork and
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: the likes?
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: You haven't really got too excited. I've got my cereal
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: and my spring barley's all in, and there's a couple
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: of young grass pets that are ready to go. Well, thereabouts,
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: a couple more passes, but haven't got too excited. We
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: don't panic too much, mate, until we get well into November,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: just with some stock work. Our focus at the moment
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: is just getting velvet off and Just want to flush
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: a few cows, they'll start mating at the end of
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: the month. And yeah, tailings all tidied up. So the
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: sheep cub is actually really good. They're charging away real
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: good and the lambs are good, that bit of heat
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: last week. So yeah, just go into motions and we'll
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: start burning that expensive fuel here soon. So that'll probably
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: be a bit of a sobering thought really. I don't
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: really want to, but we're going to have to, aren't we?
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: As far as your deer side of the operation, how's
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: that been?
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, good, mate. Yeah, it's good to see velvet going
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: to be worth a buck or two again this year,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: and it's coming off, and weaners have got a bit
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: of cover in front of them, and obviously I expanded
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: my deer operation a bit last year, so I've got
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: the pressure on there a wee bit. Mate, I've got
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: to get a set of deer yards built up on
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: that run block before, I suppose, March, so I can,
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: because at the moment there's about 700 hinds running around
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: up there, and I've got no amenities or facilities yet
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: to get them weaned and out to my other block,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: so that's looming up close too, so get orders and
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: some pricing organised, and We've got a set of deer
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: yards to work up in January, February. And so, yeah.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Prattly would do a set of deer yards for you, portables,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: wouldn't they?
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: Oh, alloy annoys, mate. I'll just stick to what we know,
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: I think. We'll stick with timber and posts. And yeah,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: so to be fair, I've got a few good ideas.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: There's quite a few good deer farmers out there throughout
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: the South Island. Well, I'll say the South Island because
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: it's the only ones I've been in. We've got quite
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: a good discussion group too. So I've had a fair
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: old look around the last four or five years and
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: a few photos, so I've got some interesting ideas, because
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: it is, probably the deer thing is probably still the
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: third poorest cousin here, and it shouldn't be, because it's
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: probably got the most room to move, um, profitability-wise, so,
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: still trying to target that a wee bit, and just
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: seeing how we go going forward, it could grow into
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: a bit of a, hopefully grow into a bit of
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: a beast, but, um, yeah, just trying to mop that up, so,
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: be interesting, everyone loves a challenge though, Andy.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Venison's schedules are still sitting pretty good though?
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, they're good, they're good, mate, yeah, they need
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: to be better, um, Probably the only saving grace though
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: with the venison is just the lack of inputs. You know,
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: you can talk about schedules all you like, but for
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: me it's efficiencies and what occupies the most time and
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: absorbs the most cost, and that's where the venison's probably
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: pretty easy. You know, deer just keep them fed and watered,
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: and you don't have to, no shearing or crutching or
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: any of that sort of stuff with them. You know, cattle,
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: beef cattle are probably just as easy too, just on
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: a breeding system. But, yeah, it'd be nice to set
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: up around that $ 14, $ 15 mark. That would be the goal. But, yeah,
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: as long as this protein market keeps going the way
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: it goes, there's obviously looking like a pretty good future
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: still in the medicine, hopefully, which would be nice because
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: we need some more deer in this country, Andy. There's
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: been a lot disappear over the last few years, so
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: I encourage you, if I've got a bit of deer netting,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: go and grab some hinds and get stuck into it.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: Talking about the price of meat, I was in the
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: supermarket doing the shop yesterday. What do you reckon a kilo.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Of ducks worth?
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: Of duck, mate? Oh, I wouldn't have a clue.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Have a wild stab in the duck.
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: Oh, well, it'd have to be around $ 20, isn't it?
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: Or $ 25, you know? It's all lean meat, isn't it?
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: No, the price of duck was $ 12 a kilo. It
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: was a 2kg duck, and it was just over $ 24. Oh, well,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: there you go.
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: Well, you have to let us know what it tastes like, mate. No.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: We get that opportunity to do that at a particular
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: time of the year without having to buy the bloody things.
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, that's dead right, dead right. $ 12, right. I
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: wonder what the ducks are. Well, to be fair, if
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: we keep getting these springs, mate, we might be off.
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: We're going into duck farming.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: It's a dead duck. That's all I can tell you
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: about it, to be honest.
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: Oh, right. Well, there you go. Well, that's interesting. You've
• 8:05
  Speaker 3: aroused my suspicion. I have to do some Googling now.
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: I have never seen duck in a New Zealand supermarket,
• 8:09
  Speaker 3: I don't think. Not that I've ever looked for it either, though.
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Just take a bit of time when you're in the
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: supermarket and have a look through the meat section.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: You'll be surprised what you find.
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't sort of go in from that often anyway.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: I know I do the odd time, but I'd get
• 8:23
  Speaker 3: more dishevelled and probably peed off with everything when I
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: wander in the supermarket and see the amount of crap
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: food that's in them nowadays, mate. The processed stuff and
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: the aisles of frigging chocolate and fizz and lollies and that.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: It's just scary. And you see the real food section
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: getting smaller and smaller. And then we wonder why we've
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: got these problems with humankind.
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: The scariest thing in a supermarket is the fact that
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: soft drink is cheaper than water.
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: Oh, it's nuts, mate. Absolutely nuts. And then us as humans,
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: people go, I wonder what's wrong with me. And, well,
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: we've got all this sort of stuff. You know, you
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: are what you eat. And it's just, yeah. But we
• 8:58
  Speaker 3: won't go down those rabbit holes. There's a lot bigger
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: forces at play than what we can handle, mate.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Good on you, Jamie. Enjoy the afternoon.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: Hey, spot on. Thanks, Andy.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Jamie King of Lake Oroko and the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup,
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: thanks to Sgt Dan's Stock Foods.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Duck in the supermarket.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Never seen it before, but I did come across it yesterday.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Something to keep an eye out for. Geoff Grant's up
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: next talking politics.