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The Muster- Isla Pringle: Enjoying Spring Growth · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: We're away to Hedgehog this afternoon on the muster to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: catch up with Isla Pringle, dairy farming out that way
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: with her partner Hayden.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: G'day, Isla.
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: How's things?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: Good, thanks, Andy.
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: How are you? Yeah, not bad.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Look, last time we spoke to you, it was a
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: totally different situation. We've got rain today in the south.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I think it's a high of around 8 or 9 degrees.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: But we spoke to you last time. It was September
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and it was wet, wet, wet.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty saturated then, and it was only going to
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: get worse. So glad we're through it. And, yeah, woke
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: up this morning with a wee bit of PTSD, but
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: now on the other side of it, it's probably quite
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: nice to keep that growth going, a wee bit of rain,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: so not too many complaints.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: How did you fare exactly there in September?
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Oh, like, we're pretty high-spirited the whole way through. It
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: was sort of... Oh, that last week of real bad
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: weather before we got some sunshine and that was, yeah,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: that was pretty hard to be honest. It was, you know,
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: sending cows into mud and coming out with even more. But,
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: you know, it's pretty funny how quickly things change and
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: also how quickly people forgive and forget away. But we
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: went to discussion group last week and we went around
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: the room to... sort of rate how well the pastures
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: or the farms recovered since the wet, 10 being well
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: recovered and one being not at all. And everyone was
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: sort of sitting in the seven, eight, nines, and there'd
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: only been a week. So, yeah, it's pretty amazing, really.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: But the fact we got sunshine when we did in
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: a couple of days of temperatures, dare I say, at
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: 14 degrees and warmer, and everyone thought, well, this isn't
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: so bad, and you've just got to look forward.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: That was the key.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah. And that's it. You couldn't dwell, really. Just
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: see that sun coming and then, yeah, even just feeling
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: it on your skin, eh? It's just like a bit
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: of healing, probably.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Your covers as such, though, through spring, what were they like?
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: They did drop down. We were lucky because we were
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: trying to build a bridge amongst all that terrible weather, too,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: to access some more land. And... Yeah, so that sort
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: of helped us out for another week, sort of extended
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: our round out, which, yeah, the timing was perfect, to
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: be honest. So, yeah, bounce back now. Like, I think
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: the farm's sitting at 2250, and, yeah, we're growing, I
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: don't know, 65 a day or something like that at
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: the moment.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: They talk about mending bridges and the likes and life
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: in general, but building a bridge in September is a
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: different one.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah i'd been on the cards for a while and
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: just just the way it sort of fell with um
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: designs and final designs and getting engineers sign off and
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: stuff so yeah the boys um yeah contractor and a
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: builder smashed it out in two weeks so from final
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: sign off um of the designs to getting cows across
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: so yeah big ups to.
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: Them boys too how the animals fed.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, there's a big feed bill this month anyway.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: Well, you won't be the only ones with that.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, I think, like, at one point we worked
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: it out. We were feeding, like, 14 kgs of supplement.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: So it was pretty dire, to be fair. Felt a
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: bit bad for the cows. But I guess, yeah, same thing.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: We bought a few PK trailers to start at the
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: end of last year, and it's probably saved us. So, yeah,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: they're getting 10 kgs. and those in the paddock, which,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: you know, they make a bit of mud around them,
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: but it does save a lot of mud across the
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: whole paddock.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: You weren't, like, likes of heifers, you weren't holding them
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: just around the parlour during the day and feeding them
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: there near the platform and such?
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: No, we didn't. It definitely was on the cards, and
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: a few of our mates did do that, but, yeah,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: we managed to just push through. Yeah. Yeah.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Well, you understand there's still a few places that are
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: going through the recovery, especially on the coast and down
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: south as such. But certainly, like you say, covers are 2250,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, well, somebody talked about seeing
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: silage being made yesterday, and it's by no means are
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: we through it, but the fact is that we've managed
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: to get to this point. It's a big thing. It's
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: almost like a barrier's been broken.
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and it was only a matter of time. Just
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: needed a wee bit of sunlight, to be honest. But
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: the soil temps were always sort of up. They weren't
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: real low. Woodlands was showing, you know, 9, 10 degrees
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: the whole time. So it was just saturation. So we
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: just needed a bit of drying and a bit of sunlight. And, yeah,
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: they've just taken off, you know. Bit of furrowed on and, yeah,
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: she's all gone. I mean, we're definitely not out of
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: the woods and there's still quite a bit of supplement
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: that's been thrown at them. But, yeah, we're pretty happy
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: with the cow's condition so far. considering and yeah I
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: guess just trying to get them up in condition now
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: for mating so you just have to look forward really
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: and you can't dwell on what's happened it's.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Happened Mating's kind of appeared out of nowhere I suppose
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah as.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: I was saying yesterday like It feels like we're just
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: getting on top of things and then we'll be bogged
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: down again with trying to get cows and calves.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: Today is International Day of Rural Women.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Arguably every day is because, let's be honest, the attitudes
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: are different to how they were decades ago. I suppose
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: for you, Isla, what got you involved with your partner
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: Hayden getting into farming? What was the driving force for you?
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: I grew up on a farm, watched my mum farm
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: her whole life, my nana and gran, both sides have been...
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: farmers their whole lives yeah so my mum's yeah my
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: nan aside I'm like fifth generation farmer so it's always
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: been sort of a dream of mine to work the
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: land and oh yeah there's nothing better really when you're
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: outside I mean it's not so nice when it's raining
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: for months on end but like when you're outside and
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: you're just breathing fresh air and you're surrounded by the
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: landscapes you are and the animals you see, they're in
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: good condition and they're producing great milk. Like, honestly, nothing better. And, like,
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: I just think in the farming industry, there's so much
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: support and so much knowledge and networking and all the rest. And, yeah, honestly,
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: it's a great industry.
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: That's a great observation you've made there, just having the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: support networks in place, whether it be talking to your
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: mates or people with a bit more expertise in certain things,
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I suppose, it is there at your disposal.
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, there's so many knowledgeable people within the industry
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: and they've all had crazy different experiences across different systems
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: and landscapes and all the rest. So, yeah, it's one
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: of my favourite things to delve into other people's knowledge
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: and sort of, yeah, change our views and have a
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: think about things differently at times. So, yeah.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: And you're involved with Young Farmers, who I've, you know,
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: it's well documented, I've got a lot of time for
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: and quite happy to push the cause of the organisation.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: And the numbers that you guys are getting to meetings now,
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter which club it is, they're just going
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: one way. So it's certainly in a good space and, yeah,
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: just showing the sector.
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: Where it's at.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. And it's quite important that people realise young
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: farmers isn't just for farmers. Like it's for, we've got nurses,
• 8:12
  Speaker 2: we've got, you know, bankers, all sorts of different people.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: And it all sort of just adds to it. Like
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: you just come along, have a yarn, chew the fat
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: with like-minded people. So, yeah, I think that's like, One
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: of the things I'm trying to push at the moment
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: is you really don't have to be a farmer, and
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: to be honest, you don't even have to be in
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: the rural sector. You just have to be happy to
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: support the organisation, really.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: Any influencers in the club?
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: What do you mean? Exactly that, influencers using their name
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: through social media to make money.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Are they involved with the club? I mean, is that
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: an occupation for someone?
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: I guess. There's no one in our club, but I
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: imagine some people could do that, yeah.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Hey, Isla, thanks for your time.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Out of my realm.
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: What's that, sorry?
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Out of my realm.
• 9:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, fair enough. Hey, we'll leave it there. Always good
• 9:05
  Speaker 3: to catch up, Isla.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: Easy, Andy. We'll catch you next time.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Isla Pringle of Headshot. This is the muster. Next, we're
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: away to Napdale. Peter Gardine.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Let's see how things have been.