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The Muster- James Edgar: Sunshine Required · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This interview is brought to you by Agri Centre South.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Branches in Lawnville, Gore, Cromwell, Milton and Ranfurly.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Drop by your local Agri Centre South branch today. We're
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: away to mow a flat this afternoon on the muster.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: James Edgar farms over that way. Sheep, beef and deer
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: farmer as well. James, good afternoon. State of play.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: What's happening?
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Not enough I'm mostly ready to talk about today actually, Andy.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: We are We had two absolutely magnificent days yesterday and
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: the day before, and didn't that just put you a
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: smile on your face? So I don't know if I'm
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: just quite ready.
• 0:41
  Speaker 4: To talk about this.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: I did actually laugh. I thought this date of play
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: was well summed up by Scott Stuyven when he sent
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: a Snapchat out. And he goes, I've heard about this
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: mythical Jimtree lambing. And then he sort of pans round
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: to the... what everyone's dealing with currently, which I don't
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: need to explain anymore.
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: And he goes, oh, it won't be this year. She's
• 1:04
  Speaker 5: a bit of a unicorn.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: Sort of occasion.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: And I thought to myself, yeah, no, it's certainly not
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: a Gymshrew lambing this one.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: How are you looking out there?
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: That 48 hours of respite, did you see a bit
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: of growth?
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah. We've got a wee bit of grass still.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Sort of a.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: It was actually interesting when I was listening to Graham
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Butcher yesterday when they did the trial that he was
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: talking about because it is something you've got to think
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: about and they're talking 20 ewes to the hectare and
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I'm thinking, geez, either the grass grew a lot more
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: back then or the sheep were certainly lighter or the
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: weaning weights were certainly down, I don't know, or a
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: combination of all. We've sort of been dropping their stocking
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: rate the last few springs just to try and feed
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: those ewes for those six weeks when they're milking and
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: we just keep dropping it and To be fair, I
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: tap no block, you know, it's like Winton, it's like
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: a dairy farm sort of country, and we've spread out
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: 11 to the heck here, and to be fair, we've
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: got grass at 11 to the heck.
• 2:05
  Speaker 5: Here, but, you know, wouldn't like to see the stocking rate,
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: it probably should run.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we sort of dropped off, when I say dropped
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: the stocking rate, I guess we switched it around and
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: put some more cattle on, so we've still got a
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: lot of cattle on.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: Fodderbeet at the moment, and then spread the.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Ewes out a bit more far and wide, But yeah,
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: I suppose when these cattle come off, we'll either have
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: to box everything up or sell.
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: Something or do what we can do. But anyway, it's.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: What's out there and I suppose it's just part of
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: being a farmer. But yeah, it does get a bit
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: testing when you've got a year's hard work and you're
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: in the mud.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: I don't know that much.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: You'll be right in the guts of lambing too, I'd imagine.
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're sort of just about finished at Tapanui and
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: then just starting up at Moa Flat.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: So yeah. It's been wet.
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: That's, yeah, what we say.
• 2:57
  Speaker 4: We've had that snow early on. That was a bit frustrating. And, yeah,
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: it looks like.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: There's not much in the forecast coming forward either. It
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: looks like it's a continuation of this sort of weather.
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, good old Southland.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: How far through? Well, what's your lamb drop like so far?
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: Just a lambing when we were down at Tapanui, to
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: be fair. Yeah, it wasn't that pretty, that snow event.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: in those couple of days of rain early on.
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: We lost a lot there.
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, just, I don't think there's going.
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: To be any records in Southland.
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: This year, put it that way.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: So, as far as the cattle, how long have they
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: got left on the winter crops, I suppose? Like Peter
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: Allen before explaining, there's a different ball game they can
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: stay on for quite a long time.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: As far as the cattle, when are they due to
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: come off?
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: It's about a month, which brings probably, probably comes back
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: to sort of a topic there that I'm... So we
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: were actually, seriously, we were laughing because we were like, oh, geez,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: how many years of this sort of poor weather? When
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: do you put a shed in and then start lambing inside?
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: And we were, you know, just sort of laughing about it.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: You know, but we reckon it would cost about $ 2
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: million to put enough ewes inside down here to make
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: it worth doing, because obviously, you know, you don't want
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: to just be a hobby farmer. So about $ 2 million
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: to put there. And then I was thinking, well, if
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Chloe and a few of these activists get rid of
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: the winter grazing, the only way you could probably handle
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: the stocking rates, basically feed padding them or putting all
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: your cattle and sheep inside for the winter.
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: And then I was thinking to myself, well, what does
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: that do to food production? And I know.
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: That, you know, sort of got quite expensive to.
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: Eat meat and protein and stuff at the moment.
• 4:48
  Speaker 5: But I was working out, I reckon the food price
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: would have to go up about a third and that.
• 4:51
  Speaker 4: Would make it viable.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Just because you'll be basically increasing the capital value of
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: your farm by about a third by the time you
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: put all these sheds in and then cut all the
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: feed and then drag it all inside, like those sort
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: of intensive theory systems. Yeah, so I reckon the land
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: price would have to go up a third if we
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: wanted to get rid of intensive winter grazing and, yeah,
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: go inside and.
• 5:13
  Speaker 4: Do all that stuff.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Okay, so what do you do?
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: We talk about mechanisms when you're on the lambing beat
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: and when the weather's a bit like this. Is there
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: anything you do for the team or yourself just to
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: take your mind off things when you're on the lambing beat,
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: just something just basic?
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: We probably rely, especially this time of year when everyone's
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: out and about by themselves a lot, we do a
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: lot on, we have a messenger group chat for the farms.
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: And yeah, it's probably not so much the bad things,
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: but when you have a wee wind or there's a nice,
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: you know, set of twins underneath a tussock or something,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: you know, we try and get those out onto our
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: group thing because a problem shared is a problem halved. Yes.
• 5:53
  Speaker 5: And I know a lot of guys even that are by.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Themselves have sort of got a group that they Snapchat
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: and stuff like that.
• 5:57
  Speaker 5: I think that's.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Important that you keep, you know, putting those things up
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: there in any wee winds and I know the guys
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: at the moment were calving up on the hill so
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: we're getting all the fresh calves all get put on
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: the messenger and, you know, it's quite an exciting time
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: of the year as a farmer because it is all
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: your hard work and, Yeah, it's nice to put it
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: on there and know that everyone's having a look. It
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: keeps you motivated too.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: For all the keyboard warriors and BS that goes on
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: computers and handheld devices these days, there is an avenue
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: where we can see some positives.
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: Oh, absolutely.
• 6:29
  Speaker 3: I went through those snowstorms in whatever they were, 2010,
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: and sort of the cell phone technology, of course, it
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: was just a completely different world.
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: But, you know, it was isolating.
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: You know, you're out on the beach there.
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: By yourself and you go home and.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Have tea and you bug it and come back out
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: and do the same thing the next day.
• 6:48
  Speaker 5: And it is pretty cool with, you know, you can
• 6:51
  Speaker 5: put a.
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: Bit of a video up or easy to ring someone or,
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: you know, you can have a comment back again. And
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: I think that's a nice thing when you're rurally and
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: you're in this crap that we're in at the moment.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: You know, it's nice to be able to send the
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: thing there.
• 7:07
  Speaker 5: I even, I know I've had a few mates, you know, I've.
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: Seen your video of your lane that's just completely covered
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: in water and, you know, absolute disaster, and I don't know,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: sometimes you have a bit of a laugh, you know
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: what I mean, like you're something a bit facetious in there, and,
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: you know, it just makes you feel a bit better,
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: doesn't it, when you can share what you're dealing with.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: And there's always different scales to everyone's problem, isn't there?
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: I mean, I'm sure the All Blacks are probably at
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: the moment having a bit of a debrief after a
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: 3-1 loss to South Africa and probably getting.
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: Bullied by them a bit, you know, so.
• 7:37
  Speaker 5: sheep farming's a bit the same, or.
• 7:39
  Speaker 4: Dairy farming, like when.
• 7:40
  Speaker 5: You get after Christmas or something, you.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: Know, when you sit down and you've got a bit
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: of a quiet moment, you.
• 7:44
  Speaker 5: Know, you can always work on how you're going to.
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: Get better, but yeah, while you're in it, you've just
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: got to keep battling through it, don't you?
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Good on you, James. All the best this afternoon.
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: Cheers, Andy.
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and hope everyone keeps going and make sure you
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: stop for a cup of tea and stuff, you know,
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: you've just got to keep your body good so you.
• 8:02
  Speaker 5: Can keep, you know, saving the animals, really.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: James Edgar of Myer Flat.
• 8:08
  Speaker 2: And just on that as well, Southland Rural Support Trust,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: their Brunch on Us events continue. Today it was at Clifton,
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: tomorrow Mosburn at the rugby club, at the community hall there.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: What else we got? Next week, Willow Bank, Waikato and Dipton.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: So Brunch on Us, thanks to the Southland Rural Support Trust.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Check out these social pages for more details.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: Anna Ramsey's up next from Dairy NZ.