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The Muster- Jared Stockman: Dairy NZ · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster on Hakanui. Jarrod Stockman joins
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: us of Dairy NZ. Good afternoon, Jarrod. Finally, some sunshine.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Long may it last.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Andy, fingers crossed. Good song. Let's just cover Southland
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Sunshine for two weeks, please.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Okay, we've had a lot of rain over the previous
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: four weeks, even longer, arguably, which is the case. How
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: are people coping? What are you guys seeing?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Look, to be fair, I haven't seen so many farmers
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: down in the dumps. And look, with good reason, you know,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: facing challenging conditions for a prolonged period of weather just
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: affects morale, you know, animal health, the effluent management, the
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: list goes on and on. So, yeah, I think farmers are,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: you know, definitely flat. Today will be a good day
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: to lift the spirits and, you know, long-range forecast, dare
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: I say it, potentially a bit of respite there for
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: for 10 days, but hey, we've still got, you know,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: we've still got a bit of weather to come on Friday,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I think, but yeah, it's pretty flat.
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: So is the feed situation, which is forefront of mind?
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is. Two areas, you know, concentrates levels seem
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: to be holding up pretty well. Challenges around logistics, because
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: everyone's asking for, you know, palm kernel and grains and
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: DDG and all that sort of stuff but um you
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: know silage and baleage is uh just you know almost
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: out um you know so we've got some challenges in
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: that space um and then you know cows going on
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: to pastures with a low cover you know pretty rank
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: looking grass out there as well so um yeah we've
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: got some definitely some emerging issues in that in that
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: feed space and then that just flows through to animal
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: health particularly with um You know, lameness, mastitis, you know,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: got everything leading into mating, cow condition. So, yeah, there's
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: a lot of things front of mind for farmers at
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: the moment.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Have the cows taken much of a check with the
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: weather lately?
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they have. Look, I think that the guys that
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: have kept the feed up to sort of 20 kilos,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: you know, if they can get it up that high,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: have been all right with supply, but we're hearing a
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: lot of reports from farmers looking to, you know, create
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: once a day herds. Some farmers might have to pull
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: the trigger and go once a day right through to
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: the end of mating because you don't want to transition
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: cows back to twice a day during mating. So, yeah,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: I think this, you know, this next few weeks is
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: really about protecting cow condition leading into mating because, you know,
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: that's kind of next season. that you're thinking about. So, yeah,
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: there's a lot to think about in that space.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: You talk about supplement levels being low in the south.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: What about further afield?
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Look, I think there's... I was actually talking to someone
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: this morning in Canterbury, and I think there's feed up
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: in Canterbury. I guess there's, you know, farmers up there
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: are probably thinking about what do we need for ourselves during...
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: during the summer and stuff with potential El Nino risks.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: But I think the big challenge is trying to get
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: it down here because freight's the real killer. If trucks
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: are going up empty, you're paying freight both ways. So
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: I don't necessarily think that the bailage cost itself on
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: the ground is.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: Is outside of the realms of what it should be,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: but it's just, you know, you're probably paying $ 80 a
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: bale for freight if trucks are going up empty.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: So if there's government assistance along the line anywhere, you'll
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: suggest it would be needed for infrastructure or as such
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: getting this baleage and supplement down to the south. Would
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: that be a better use of money?
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: Look, yeah, it's hard to know what the midget bullock
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: looks like, but I think a lot of farmers might
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: be interested in topping up their supplement at the moment
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: just to even balance out the concentrate feed that cows
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: are eating and just reduce the risks around acidosis and
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: things like that.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: How are farmers doing in general from what you're hearing, Gerard? Look,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: I spoke to James Edgar earlier on. He's a sheep
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: cocky and mower flat. He's had eight snowfalls for the
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: month for Pete's sake, but he just talked about social
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: media and the good stuff there, being in groups with mates,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: with your workmates and just sharing the positives, the mindset
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: out there. How are people doing?
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think that's the key is talking to
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: your neighbours and advisors and things like that. This is
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: not something that you need to carry alone. And often
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: it can just be a bit of a pick-me-up from
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: a mate or a bit of a laugh and stuff
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: like that. I think that's really important for mental wellbeing.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: And it's really easy to go down a bit of
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: a rabbit hole, put the blinkers on and just focus
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: on you know, what's in front of you, but, um,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: really important for farmers, you know, where it's possible, take
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: a bit of a break. There's heaps of events that
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: are going around, run with, um, run by rural support
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: trusts and stakeholders. Um, we've joined with Beef and Lamb
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: to do some, uh, some joint events, um, you know,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: recognising that, hey, it's not just, it's not just the
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: dairy guys doing it tough. The, um, you know, the
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: one man band, um, sheep and beef operator, um, he's
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: flat out doing lambing beats and struggling to keep lambs
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: and stuff alive as well. So I think it's really
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: important just to, if there's an opportunity to get off
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: farm for an hour or two, grab a bite to eat,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: have a drink or a cup of tea and just
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: pick up the tips and tricks from your neighbours and
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: friends and stuff like that and just try and keep
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: your head up. This will pass. but, yeah, it can
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: be hard to see beyond, you know, a day or
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: two at the moment.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: You're encouraging farmers to get in touch with the team
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: if need be, Jarrod?
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. Our team are obviously there to support farmers. And, again,
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: it might be just bouncing off an idea or it
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: might be just saying, hey, this is what I'm doing,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: you know, is there anything else I should be looking at? No,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: just kind of once you start verbalising that... you know,
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: I think farmers kind of know what the message is,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: but sometimes they just might want to, you know, just
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: a bit of a helping hand or a wee tip
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: or trick here to, you know, just to help out. So, yeah,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: keen for them to reach out to their team, you know,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: to our team at Daring Dead or their, you know,
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: farm consultant or neighbour or trusted advisor. But, yeah, certainly
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: our team are keen to help out in whatever capacity
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: they can.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Wise words today, Jared. Thanks for your time.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy. All the best, mate.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Jarrod Stockman of Dairy NZ with some relevant words too
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: regarding the situation. Taking a bit of a break, our
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: next guest will be able to talk about this better
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: than anybody. Her name is Catherine Wright. She specialises in
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: rural mental health. She's up next.