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The Best Of The Muster: 03/10/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:05
Speaker 1: A very good morning and welcome in to the Best
0:08
Speaker 1: of the Muster, brought to you by The Gopher, your
0:11
Speaker 1: local relief milking and contracting specialists. My name's Andy Muir,
0:16
Speaker 1: thanks for your company. We're starting off the hour by
0:18
Speaker 1: catching up with Jamie King, based at Locoroco. It's fair
0:21
Speaker 1: to say it's been a wet September over there, but
0:24
Speaker 1: hopefully September is nothing but in the rear view mirror now.
0:28
Speaker 1: And Jamie talks about what changes he thinks he may
0:31
Speaker 1: have to do to his farm based for upcoming lambings,
0:35
Speaker 1: Septembers and the likes. I mean, it's been wet around
0:36
Speaker 1: the province, but Jamie says, yeah, what do I need
0:39
Speaker 1: to do to safeguard my business looking forward? Jeff Grant
0:43
Speaker 1: talking politics, and it's all going the race to the election.
0:47
Speaker 1: There's a lot of stuff being thrown about at the moment,
0:49
Speaker 1: and Jeff comments about it's just what we're going to
0:52
Speaker 1: have to tolerate for the next wee while. But as well,
0:54
Speaker 1: he talks about the changing situation regarding local government reform,
0:59
Speaker 1: and it's been stopped. And he thinks, what a waste
1:02
Speaker 1: of time. What's the government trying to prove in this?
1:05
Speaker 1: Sean Malloy, our peak farming correspondent based at Sheffield in Canterbury,
1:09
Speaker 1: talking about the mood of the peak farming sector, the
1:13
Speaker 1: vibe up in Canterbury at the moment. It sounds as
1:15
Speaker 1: though it's been a pretty decent season up.
1:16
Speaker 2: There, actually.
1:17
Speaker 1: A lot better than Southland, but that's not hard to do.
1:19
Speaker 1: And just how the pork industry's faring at the moment.
1:22
Speaker 1: James Eggers, based in Moa Flat, he talks about... A
1:26
Speaker 1: ridiculous amount of snowfalls for the Mount of September where
1:29
Speaker 1: James is based. He says they're short and sharp and
1:31
Speaker 1: they're gone as quickly as they're there, but certainly it's
1:34
Speaker 1: a changing of the season where he's based. And Catherine
1:38
Speaker 1: Wright talks rural mental health, puts things into perspective, and
1:41
Speaker 1: when the workload does get heavy, as it will do
1:44
Speaker 1: when the weather clears up, Catherine says you just need
1:47
Speaker 1: to look forward but put things into perspective. So without
1:52
Speaker 1: further ado, we'll start the hour next with Jamie King.
1:55
Speaker 1: You're listening to the best of the muster and it's
1:57
Speaker 1: brought to you by the gopher. Jamie King farms the
2:19
Speaker 1: Lake Hiroko and joins us in the Sargent Dan Farming Roundup.
2:22
Speaker 1: Thanks to Sargent Dan's Stock Foods based here in Gore,
2:25
Speaker 1: we catch up with various farmers from around the southern
2:28
Speaker 1: region and see how things are going on the farm.
2:31
Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Jamie.
2:33
Speaker 3: G'day, mate.
2:33
Speaker 2: What a tune for a Monday. I just wish the
2:36
Speaker 2: sun was out, Andy, because I'd get really motivated with
2:38
Speaker 2: something like that.
2:39
Speaker 3: But, yeah, hell of a good, hell of a good.
2:46
Speaker 1: Noise works. They're beasts on their own. The song is
2:48
Speaker 1: Hot Chilly Woman. Just because it's got hot in the title,
2:51
Speaker 1: you're lacking a bit of hot weather, perhaps.
2:54
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, definitely the only, yeah, yeah, no,
2:57
Speaker 2: it's definitely not, can't say much. It's a bit gloomy
3:00
Speaker 2: and murky again today, but, um, ah, it.
3:02
Speaker 3: Looks to be improving.
3:03
Speaker 2: Hopefully get another bit of a break towards the end
3:06
Speaker 2: of the week, mate, but, yeah, just like everybody else
3:09
Speaker 2: around the province, probably a little bit damp underfoot and, um, yeah,
3:12
Speaker 2: I'm probably more getting frustrated thinking of my to-do list
3:15
Speaker 2: and Mother Nature is just not helping me along, to
3:18
Speaker 2: be fair. I'm still stuck in winter mode, but however.
3:22
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter who you speak to from around the region, Jamie.
3:25
Speaker 1: The ground is just beyond wet. Over there, Lake Oroka
3:29
Speaker 1: to a temporary way where you're based, what's the situation?
3:32
Speaker 1: What's it like?
3:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's up here.
3:34
Speaker 2: I'd say we've had probably, we've got an ES rain
3:38
Speaker 2: radar not too far at the end of the valley,
3:40
Speaker 2: but we would have a bit more than them. So
3:41
Speaker 2: I'd be picking probably 220, 230 mil for the last month.
3:45
Speaker 3: Well, we haven't finished September yet, have we? But, yeah, sorry,
3:49
Speaker 3: what's that? Yeah, old school, eight, nine inches, I suppose
3:51
Speaker 3: we've had. Yeah, to be fair, the last.
3:55
Speaker 2: Two springs have been the same boat, Andy. To be fair,
3:59
Speaker 2: this one hasn't been quite as bad. We have had
4:01
Speaker 2: seen the sun the odd break. I remember 2024, it
4:04
Speaker 2: was just, we had six weeks of grey frigging days,
4:07
Speaker 2: and that was hard work.
4:09
Speaker 3: But everything's plodding away. Animals are all looking good. I've
4:12
Speaker 3: given up.
4:13
Speaker 2: Looking at the ground, I'm just looking at the animals
4:15
Speaker 2: now and feeding accordingly, and they're all thumping along pretty well. But,
4:19
Speaker 2: like I say, covers are down low, and it'll take
4:21
Speaker 2: a bit of catching up on.
4:23
Speaker 1: A lot of people talking about having the grass of
4:25
Speaker 1: dairy farmers, but the ground is beyond saturation point. And
4:28
Speaker 1: the videos that I'm seeing have, you know, fantastic covers,
4:31
Speaker 1: but you can't get in the paddock.
4:33
Speaker 2: No, that's the thing, mate. South and down, utilisation is
4:36
Speaker 2: just terrible. You know, some of these guys will be
4:38
Speaker 2: down to... You know, you might have a cover of
4:40
Speaker 2: three grand and, yeah, then we'll eat 20% of it and.
4:43
Speaker 3: Stuff all the rest of it.
4:44
Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's interesting, you know, perhaps we need to
4:48
Speaker 2: start looking at big sheds for these spring belts. You know,
4:51
Speaker 2: I'm making more of a mess now than I would
4:52
Speaker 2: have done all winter, mate, to be fair. So, yeah,
4:56
Speaker 2: you know, do we push dates back?
4:58
Speaker 3: Like, yeah, just....
5:01
Speaker 2: It's a definition of stupidity, mate, when we do the
5:03
Speaker 2: same thing the same way every year and expect different results. So,
5:06
Speaker 2: you know, I encourage everyone to put their thinking hats on.
5:08
Speaker 2: You know, it's miserable, but on the top, you know,
5:11
Speaker 2: not overly optimistic, but probably pragmatic.
5:15
Speaker 1: Pragmatic would be a good word for you, Jamie, yes.
5:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, like, you know, if you're not happy, fix it.
5:20
Speaker 3: We'll do something different.
5:21
Speaker 2: You know, it's nothing worse than someone moaning about doing
5:23
Speaker 2: something and a bit changed, but, you know. that you've
5:26
Speaker 2: got to build a big wintering shed or something for
5:27
Speaker 2: the summer or something, you know, I'm having to poke
5:29
Speaker 2: around in some of those spaces at the moment or
5:32
Speaker 2: adjusting stock classes again. I know I'm probably lucky enough
5:35
Speaker 2: with the property we've got. I can sort of be
5:38
Speaker 2: flexible in that. But, I mean, yeah, there's always a
5:41
Speaker 2: way and there's always a different way to skin a
5:43
Speaker 2: cat sometimes. So, you know, whether you ship some of
5:45
Speaker 2: these lambing carving dates back or something, I don't know.
5:49
Speaker 3: Interesting one.
5:50
Speaker 1: How far through lambing are you?
5:52
Speaker 3: Ah, probably he's getting well through now. He'll be two
5:54
Speaker 3: thirds of the way through.
5:56
Speaker 2: And probably the main McStage line they started about 10
5:58
Speaker 2: days ago. They're still out in the hill, just doing
6:00
Speaker 2: their own thing. Yeah, they're all in really good nick
6:04
Speaker 2: going out there. There's not a lot of cover now left,
6:06
Speaker 2: and there's a few gullies and that for them to
6:08
Speaker 2: hide in.
6:08
Speaker 3: So they'll still get left to their own devices. Probably there.
6:12
Speaker 2: And to be fair, the sheet covers on the flats
6:14
Speaker 2: aren't too bad on their engine room stuff. All the
6:18
Speaker 2: young stock's thumping along pretty well. I'm just having to
6:21
Speaker 2: feed a lot of supplement out to them just to
6:22
Speaker 2: keep them going along with the fattening stock, but I've
6:24
Speaker 2: got a pair of bailage up my sleeve, so that's
6:26
Speaker 2: not a bad complaint to have. Oh, yeah, it's miserable
6:30
Speaker 2: and shitty, Andy, but it still could be worse, mate.
6:32
Speaker 1: So you're feeding that bailage out? You got places dry
6:35
Speaker 1: enough for it to lie on the ground?
6:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, so I've got a few of these stud
6:38
Speaker 2: cows sort of carving down the lowlands because I'm trying
6:41
Speaker 2: to be the world's best stud farmer, mate, and tagging
6:43
Speaker 2: away in DNA and everything at birth.
6:46
Speaker 3: But I'm not too.
6:48
Speaker 2: It's hay and baleage and I'm just feeding that through
6:50
Speaker 2: a wagon so it gives the calves somewhere to lie
6:52
Speaker 2: on and cows are happy in that too. I can
6:55
Speaker 2: fix the damaged pastures, that's why we've got tractors and
6:57
Speaker 2: aerators and rollers and drills and that, mate, but I
7:00
Speaker 2: can't afford to lose too many critters because they are the.
7:04
Speaker 3: Tools in the toolbox, aren't they? They're what make the money.
7:07
Speaker 1: There's a lot of interest around Henry Buckingham, who I
7:09
Speaker 1: had on the program a couple of weeks ago, regarding
7:12
Speaker 1: the changing of his main flock into early October. Realistically, Jamie,
7:16
Speaker 1: is this something you'd look at based on what we've
7:18
Speaker 1: seen for the three previous lambings now?
7:22
Speaker 3: Oh, 100%, mate. And it's been longer than three, mate.
7:24
Speaker 2: I'd encourage anyone to take a photo because we've got
7:26
Speaker 2: short memories sometimes. I remember 2019, I was up to
7:29
Speaker 2: my eyeballs. In 2018, I think I was trying to
7:33
Speaker 2: feed some show cattle, and it was just absolutely an
7:35
Speaker 2: abomination then too. So it's a lot longer than three years.
7:38
Speaker 3: I think we've just got short memories. Hugely so, mate.
7:43
Speaker 3: And we're getting better at autumn.
7:45
Speaker 2: I think I said last time I spoke to you,
7:47
Speaker 2: we're not getting on crop now until late June, the
7:51
Speaker 2: end of June, and on grass. Historically, Andy, we used
7:54
Speaker 2: to be on it in the first opening weekend of May.
7:56
Speaker 3: Yeah.
7:57
Speaker 2: We're getting it at the other end, so perhaps we
7:59
Speaker 2: do just shove everything back. It's only a calendar, mate.
8:02
Speaker 2: It's only a date. Who says it's right and wrong?
8:07
Speaker 2: Perhaps we need to start farming by Mother Nature, not
8:09
Speaker 2: farming by the calendar.
8:11
Speaker 1: Well, if the seasons are moving the way that they're anticipating,
8:15
Speaker 1: and like you say, we've seen it over the previous
8:18
Speaker 1: wee while now. I said the last three springs for
8:20
Speaker 1: this time of year. You've gone back a bit further
8:22
Speaker 1: just regarding the seasons as such, and all of a
8:25
Speaker 1: sudden nothing is on the table. I mean, why would
8:28
Speaker 1: you want to go out there when you know the
8:29
Speaker 1: weather's going to be basically an extended winter?
8:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's dead right.
8:34
Speaker 2: 100%, you know, you're setting yourself up to fail, aren't you?
8:37
Speaker 3: So, you know, there's probably.
8:39
Speaker 2: Some learnings and there'll be some Keep thinking about it,
8:42
Speaker 2: you know.
8:43
Speaker 3: Some days you think about putting it on the market, mate,
8:45
Speaker 3: and then you go, well, I wouldn't want an office
8:46
Speaker 3: job either. But, yeah, no, you just plug along.
8:51
Speaker 2: And we've got school holidays now, so I've got all
8:53
Speaker 2: the troops home giving me a hand, and it's like
8:56
Speaker 2: a bit of a breath of fresh air too. They're
8:57
Speaker 2: all still excited.
8:59
Speaker 1: You know, it's an interesting time when you hear the
9:01
Speaker 1: word learnings from a farmer.
9:03
Speaker 2: Yeah.
9:04
Speaker 3: Every day is a learning day, Andy. Come on, mate.
9:07
Speaker 1: Jamie Mackay, I await your input. Now, regarding getting off
9:12
Speaker 1: farm and just catching up with others at the moment,
9:15
Speaker 1: what's something you do, Jamie? Is there anything you're doing
9:17
Speaker 1: to try and break the monotony of the September cycle
9:20
Speaker 1: when it's like this?
9:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, mate.
9:23
Speaker 2: Well, most predominantly, rails will be social sometimes, so you
9:26
Speaker 2: just sort of tick around. There's always jobs and people
9:28
Speaker 2: I want to catch up with. I was talking to
9:29
Speaker 2: a couple of guys yesterday just to measure up a
9:31
Speaker 2: bit of what you said, deer yards, so We caught
9:34
Speaker 2: up with Amy Stafford and had a bit of a
9:35
Speaker 2: measure up and just had a couple of beers with
9:37
Speaker 2: them and then I'm going to shoot to a field
9:40
Speaker 2: day hopefully on Wednesday to have a look at a
9:42
Speaker 2: composting barn in an Aztec building just that's sort of
9:45
Speaker 2: aroused my interest so we'll go and have a look
9:47
Speaker 2: at that and just, yeah, I'm sort of in between
9:50
Speaker 2: cycles with Cow's Carb and I've got number one daughter
9:52
Speaker 2: here keeping an eye on things so I can afford
9:54
Speaker 2: just to go for a bit of a squiz round
9:56
Speaker 2: and just, get the plans together for the ideas because
9:59
Speaker 2: I can't do much else Andy, there's no tractor work
10:01
Speaker 2: being done and there's only so much coffee a man
10:04
Speaker 2: can drink.
10:05
Speaker 1: Okay you're looking at a composting barn, it's not going
10:08
Speaker 1: to be a cheap exercise but you think the money
10:10
Speaker 1: is immaterial when it comes to the bigger picture when
10:13
Speaker 1: you need to fortify your business?
10:16
Speaker 3: Oh, I'm not sure, mate.
10:16
Speaker 2: I've got some numbers written down, but I'm just going
10:18
Speaker 2: to go through the exercise and see what rolls out
10:20
Speaker 2: the bottom. Probably at $ 8, $ 9 for a kilo of beef,
10:24
Speaker 2: I certainly does, but, I mean, who's going to say
10:26
Speaker 2: what's going to happen there?
10:27
Speaker 3: But it's just nice to know.
10:28
Speaker 2: I doubt, you know, I'm probably not going to go
10:30
Speaker 2: through much, but I just, it's an interesting concept. And
10:34
Speaker 2: I've put my interest a couple of years ago, and
10:36
Speaker 2: what better time to go and get excited and have
10:38
Speaker 2: a look at one and see if it's something maybe
10:40
Speaker 2: in the future or something, you know, and costumes and... And, yeah,
10:45
Speaker 2: from the outside looking in, it looks like it's not
10:48
Speaker 2: a silver bullet, but it might be a brass one.
10:51
Speaker 2: For our situation, you know, not so much wintering, just
10:54
Speaker 2: over six weeks over, calving, you know, chuck the cows
10:57
Speaker 2: in there. As they calve, they can get out on grass.
10:59
Speaker 2: I mean, I wouldn't have 80.
11:00
Speaker 3: Hectares of wrecked pasture.
11:01
Speaker 2: I could probably, a few more years poking around, it's
11:05
Speaker 2: probably the easiest way to maybe intensify our system a
11:08
Speaker 2: little bit, but at a cost, obviously, mate, you know,
11:11
Speaker 2: I'm probably looking... 20 mil or a mil and a half. But, yeah,
11:14
Speaker 2: we're not going to be doing anything. But you've got
11:17
Speaker 2: to go and have a look, Andy, because if you
11:19
Speaker 2: don't know, there's no point in starting down that track
11:21
Speaker 2: and realising it's a complete and utter waste of money
11:23
Speaker 2: at the end.
11:24
Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with scratching the itch. Jamie King, thanks for
11:27
Speaker 1: your time. And next time we speak to you, you know,
11:29
Speaker 1: fingers crossed, there's going to be a better situation weather-wise,
11:32
Speaker 1: which I'm sure it will.
11:33
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, good on you, mate. And Godspeed, everyone. Yeah, no, absolutely.
11:36
Speaker 2: We'll be shorts and singlet in no time, mate, and
11:38
Speaker 2: it should be unreal.
11:49
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster on Hakanui. Geoff Grant chats
11:52
Speaker 1: politics on a Monday, as we do weekly. Good afternoon, Geoff.
11:56
Speaker 1: There's a lot going on in the political landscape, and
11:59
Speaker 1: it all kicked off yesterday with the election campaigns proper.
12:03
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, theoretically, we had the launch of the two
12:06
Speaker 4: major parties, Labour and National, although it's almost hard to
12:09
Speaker 4: call them major parties these days when they're both polling
12:12
Speaker 4: under 30%. It just is that we're going to see
12:16
Speaker 4: quite an unusual outcome, I think, on the 7th of November.
12:20
Speaker 1: Do you think top will get 5% or are they
12:22
Speaker 1: inflated figures?
12:26
Speaker 4: History has shown that minority parties tend to poll well
12:30
Speaker 4: up until Election Day and then get slightly deflated. Green's
12:33
Speaker 4: a good example. Get up around that 13%, 14%, then
12:36
Speaker 4: end up at 10%. I think Tottenham will just probably
12:42
Speaker 4: get over the five.
12:44
Speaker 1: Chris Hipkins yesterday as well, using strong language in his
12:47
Speaker 1: opening statement. So I was a bit bemused by this.
12:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, ironically, I think in terms of where they're positioned,
12:59
Speaker 4: they just seem to be in lacklustre getting to the
13:03
Speaker 4: platform in terms of the election campaign. So it'll be
13:06
Speaker 4: interesting to watch over the next six weeks what they
13:08
Speaker 4: really drive hard around. I mean, the reality is we've
13:13
Speaker 4: all now got every political party seems to have a
13:16
Speaker 4: view about the supermarkets, that's for sure. But on some
13:19
Speaker 4: of the other policy areas, it's still not clear. You know,
13:22
Speaker 4: people's pockets are being hurt pretty strongly on a weekly basis.
13:26
Speaker 4: And so, you know, where's the first attack going to happen?
13:30
Speaker 4: Obviously in groceries. And so that's why the supermarket became...
13:34
Speaker 4: a prominent figure in terms of policy development from those
13:38
Speaker 4: parties over the last few weeks.
13:40
Speaker 1: Now, if Chris Hipkins was using strong language, Christopher Luxon
13:43
Speaker 1: was using tax language, and just using cattle dog mentality,
13:48
Speaker 1: attacking Hipkins and these 10 tax policies that Kipley implemented,
13:54
Speaker 1: is this just what we're going to see?
13:57
Speaker 4: Look, without any doubt, the big driver for National will
14:02
Speaker 4: be how to split out you know, the big concerns
14:06
Speaker 4: that the general public might have. And I'm not sure
14:10
Speaker 4: that we all get up in the morning worrying about
14:11
Speaker 4: our tax position. And I think they've got a bit
14:15
Speaker 4: of a hard grind to try and rush home that
14:19
Speaker 4: sort of view about future tax. Look, yes, capital gains
14:23
Speaker 4: will have some impact in terms of people's thinking, because
14:26
Speaker 4: it's not the initial capital gains, it's what they choose
14:28
Speaker 4: to do further down the track and how big an
14:31
Speaker 4: impact that would have on the economy. But I think overall,
14:36
Speaker 4: the race between the two major ones is not going
14:39
Speaker 4: to open up. I don't think that National will necessarily
14:43
Speaker 4: get a big jump on Labour.
14:45
Speaker 1: What about agriculture policy? What's really grabbing your interest here,
14:50
Speaker 1: or is anything?
14:53
Speaker 4: So most political parties have lit out some policy. I've
14:57
Speaker 4: noticed that ACT is probably the most comprehensive. National seems
15:01
Speaker 4: to have dripped out stuff over a period since June,
15:05
Speaker 4: Greens have shown quite a blunt sort of attitude towards agriculture,
15:09
Speaker 4: which is not surprising, talking about a cap of 125
15:13
Speaker 4: kilograms of nitrogen for dairy farms, having tougher regulations around
15:17
Speaker 4: environmental aspects, you know, regenerative farming becoming a bit of
15:21
Speaker 4: a play in the market again. So for that reason,
15:25
Speaker 4: I think there is still more to come in the
15:28
Speaker 4: agriculture policy area from the political parties. I don't think
15:31
Speaker 4: New Zealand First has actually announced anything yet of any
15:35
Speaker 4: material matter. And National seem to be relying on what
15:41
Speaker 4: they've done rather than what they're going to do. But
15:44
Speaker 4: ETS looks like it's off the table across all political
15:48
Speaker 4: parties in terms of the agriculture sector, which.
15:51
Speaker 3: Is a good thing.
15:52
Speaker 1: Yeah, it is a good thing. But what does it
15:54
Speaker 1: mean for the bigger picture regarding this Paris Agreement?
15:59
Speaker 4: Look, I'm probably in the camp of saying you should
16:02
Speaker 4: stay in the Paris Agreement. The reality for us is
16:06
Speaker 4: that it has a bigger impact in terms of agriculture.
16:10
Speaker 4: I think if political parties take the line of saying
16:13
Speaker 4: we're not going to lead the world in this area,
16:15
Speaker 4: I think we'll do some responsible stuff. But the reality is,
16:20
Speaker 4: in terms of consumers, they don't really care about biodiversity
16:23
Speaker 4: or water. The land, you know, the big thing is
16:28
Speaker 4: climate change. And so, you know, our exporters are going
16:31
Speaker 4: to probably lead the charge in this area rather than regulation.
16:36
Speaker 1: What about Joe Luxton, ex-spokesperson for Labour? I've talked about
16:40
Speaker 1: this before and I'll say it again. I have yet
16:42
Speaker 1: to hear Joe Luxton say red meat sector and talking
16:46
Speaker 1: about what it actually does for the economy or where
16:48
Speaker 1: it's to that effect.
16:52
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, I think she's brought some freshness to Labour's
16:56
Speaker 4: agriculture policy after, you know, Damien being there for some years. Again,
17:00
Speaker 4: I take the view that you're probably going to see
17:03
Speaker 4: more policy issues come out on agriculture over the next
17:06
Speaker 4: six weeks, and so we'll be interested to see. But
17:08
Speaker 4: an interesting point. There's a lot of focus on dairy,
17:12
Speaker 4: a lot of focus on horticulture, but not necessarily on
17:15
Speaker 4: the meat industry.
17:16
Speaker 1: And let's remember, this was the party of the last government.
17:18
Speaker 1: David Parker was telling the South that they were going
17:20
Speaker 1: to have everything sowed out in the next four weeks.
17:23
Speaker 1: And if they just had half a brain come down
17:26
Speaker 1: and seen the South at the moment, they know that's
17:28
Speaker 1: just not practical.
17:30
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, in all of those sort of aspects around
17:34
Speaker 4: the use of land and how it's dealt with, I
17:37
Speaker 4: think we've constantly seen these proposals that, you know, people
17:42
Speaker 4: on the land sort of look at it and say,
17:44
Speaker 4: where are these people coming from? But again, you know,
17:47
Speaker 4: even from a national's perspective, I don't think that they've
17:50
Speaker 4: moved dramatically in the last three years in terms of
17:53
Speaker 4: agriculture policy. All of this stuff's come very late. So
17:57
Speaker 4: we still don't know what's required in terms of farm plans.
18:02
Speaker 4: We're told that the Resource Management Act changes, which, you know,
18:06
Speaker 4: passed on the last week of their three years. You know,
18:10
Speaker 4: most of that stuff won't come into effect until 27, 28.
18:13
Speaker 4: We don't know what the regulations are going to be
18:14
Speaker 4: like in terms of the RMA. But the important thing
18:19
Speaker 4: here will be to deal with consenting because that is
18:23
Speaker 4: the biggest cost that is imposed on all businesses. And
18:27
Speaker 4: if we can reduce the number of consents that have
18:30
Speaker 4: to be notified and the number of consents that have
18:32
Speaker 4: to be applied for by around 50%, I think that
18:35
Speaker 4: would be a step in the right direction.
18:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, you talk about consenting, you talk about local governments
18:40
Speaker 1: and the roles they've had regarding this. But look, there's
18:43
Speaker 1: a lot of concern that this amalgamation chat has been
18:46
Speaker 1: put on ice by the government. So this puts the
18:50
Speaker 1: bigger question out there. Why the hell even start this
18:52
Speaker 1: conversation and waste money?
18:56
Speaker 4: Well, in fairness to the local government officials, I can
19:00
Speaker 4: understand their frustration because you're forced to do something in
19:04
Speaker 4: three months. And as you saw from the result of that,
19:09
Speaker 4: those local authorities that had been doing some work for
19:13
Speaker 4: some time seemed to have been able to get some
19:15
Speaker 4: semblance of order. But the reality is, I don't think
19:19
Speaker 4: there's any proposal that really is concrete. And now the
19:23
Speaker 4: government's saying, oh, it's all on hold. It just seems
19:26
Speaker 4: to be silly policymaking.
19:29
Speaker 1: Is this just sheer arrogance from Bishop Watson Co, which
19:32
Speaker 1: is very flippant in their attitude towards local governance? No.
19:36
Speaker 4: No, I think it was a lack of direction about
19:38
Speaker 4: next step. I think they're really struggling as to what
19:41
Speaker 4: to do next. What do you do? Do you take
19:45
Speaker 4: a position on some local authorities where there's... Southend's a
19:49
Speaker 4: good example. Got two options. I think the local government
19:53
Speaker 4: commission's probably more likely to give us a solution than
19:56
Speaker 4: the central government on this one.
19:58
Speaker 1: As Hannibal Smith once said, I love it when a
20:00
Speaker 1: plan comes together, but what that plan is exactly in
20:03
Speaker 1: this instance, Jeff Grant, we're not too sure. Always appreciate
20:06
Speaker 1: your time.
20:07
Speaker 3: Cheers, Andy. Catch you again.
20:13
Speaker 1: We're away to Sheffield in Canterbury this afternoon on the muster.
20:17
Speaker 1: Sean Malloy is our pig farming correspondent. He's on the
20:20
Speaker 1: New Zealand pork board, that is, pork borg, sound like
20:24
Speaker 1: the sweetest chef.
20:25
Speaker 2: G'day, Sean.
20:26
Speaker 1: I suppose the sweetest chef out in meatballs. I wonder
20:29
Speaker 1: if they're pork balls.
20:31
Speaker 3: G'day, Andy.
20:32
Speaker 2: How you going?
20:33
Speaker 5: You get more pork balls down here, that's the one.
20:36
Speaker 1: Straight off the cuff, the pork industry on their social
20:39
Speaker 1: media channels, they're really making a play for the market
20:42
Speaker 1: at the moment, talking about the price of pork as
20:44
Speaker 1: opposed to beef and lamb.
20:46
Speaker 5: Yeah, mate, we're struggling a wee bit out in the
20:49
Speaker 5: market and we sort of can't understand it with the
20:51
Speaker 5: cost pressures that people have been under and with inflation
20:55
Speaker 5: and just everything going up and, you know, petrol prices
20:59
Speaker 5: being expensive. So we sort of said, hey, we need
21:02
Speaker 5: to really give us a bit of a nudge and just,
21:04
Speaker 5: you know, wake people up to pork that it, hey,
21:06
Speaker 5: it tastes good and it's really affordable and it's really
21:09
Speaker 5: good quality and there's quite a price differential there at
21:13
Speaker 5: the moment and maybe we can provide a bit of
21:16
Speaker 5: relief for people's back pocket and move a bit more
21:20
Speaker 5: product and get a few more people eating a bit
21:22
Speaker 5: more pork, which would make us really happy.
21:25
Speaker 1: But why has it taken so long for the pork
21:27
Speaker 1: industry to realise that there is an opportunity here?
21:31
Speaker 5: Things have been pretty good the last sort of three years,
21:33
Speaker 5: and we've been able to get rid of product fairly comfortably,
21:37
Speaker 5: I guess. So probably from our point of view, we've
21:39
Speaker 5: probably just been on our hands a little bit, and
21:42
Speaker 5: we just need to give ourselves a wee bit of
21:43
Speaker 5: a slap and wake up and get out there and
21:46
Speaker 5: compete a bit more.
21:49
Speaker 1: But because it's interesting on the social channels, just comparing
21:53
Speaker 1: a couple of dishes, saying what's the difference here? One's beef,
21:56
Speaker 1: the other one's pork, and there's a difference in the
21:58
Speaker 1: price straight away. So obviously the price, you know, there's
22:01
Speaker 1: still the money in the industry for New Zealand producers.
22:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, it's been okay. We are, this coming sort
22:09
Speaker 5: of season, grain prices are going to change a fair
22:12
Speaker 5: bit with a heap of dairy conversions going on up here,
22:16
Speaker 5: you know, the sort of moratorium being off on that.
22:19
Speaker 5: There's been quite a change, so it's all coming out
22:21
Speaker 5: of arable land that's swapping. So yeah, I think grain
22:26
Speaker 5: supply is going to get tighter. So we'll see a
22:29
Speaker 5: bit more cost pressure. So we need to, while we can,
22:32
Speaker 5: get people across there and think about our future because
22:37
Speaker 5: it's going to be a little bit more expensive than
22:39
Speaker 5: what's been. So there's potential that it might take a
22:41
Speaker 5: bit more fun out of the game because it's been
22:44
Speaker 5: pretty good the last, like I say, three years.
22:47
Speaker 1: Now, you're based up at Sheffield in Canterbury. You talk
22:49
Speaker 1: about dairy conversions. Of course, they're back on the table
22:52
Speaker 1: up there. Are they just happening here, there and everywhere?
22:55
Speaker 1: Is there another dairy explosion in Canterbury?
22:58
Speaker 5: I don't know if it's quite an explosion, but there's
23:01
Speaker 5: definitely a significant swing. There's a lot of places converting.
23:06
Speaker 5: You're going around, you're seeing sheds going up, you're seeing
23:08
Speaker 5: bloody tracks going in. Yeah, I personally know four or
23:13
Speaker 5: five people that have.
23:16
Speaker 5: Converting their properties, going from cropping to, or mixed cropping
23:19
Speaker 5: to dairy.
23:21
Speaker 1: You can understand that given the way the market's been
23:24
Speaker 1: for the arable sector too. It makes a lot of sense.
23:27
Speaker 5: Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, you can't blame the guys for doing that.
23:32
Speaker 5: You've got to look to your future and say, we're
23:34
Speaker 5: going to get good long-term sustainable returns off the property.
23:39
Speaker 5: And it doesn't really feel like arable's Doing that, that
23:43
Speaker 5: whole sector sort of needs a bit of a shake-up
23:45
Speaker 5: in the way they do business too, I think.
23:47
Speaker 1: Now, you do some arable on your farm as well.
23:50
Speaker 1: Is this purely for yourselves or is it for the market?
23:53
Speaker 5: No, it's just for ourselves. But we've done a little
23:57
Speaker 5: bit of stuff here and there, and waiting 12 or
24:01
Speaker 5: 18 months to get your money after growing a crop
24:04
Speaker 5: is pretty poor. I don't know anywhere else where you
24:07
Speaker 5: do that. I think those sort of things have to change.
24:11
Speaker 3: But, yeah, we're fortunate.
24:13
Speaker 5: The vast majority of what we do just goes back
24:15
Speaker 5: into the pigs.
24:16
Speaker 2: So, yeah, it makes it easy for us.
24:18
Speaker 1: Last time we spoke to you, Sean, the price of
24:20
Speaker 1: land up there was something like $ 85, 000 or $ 90, 000 per
24:23
Speaker 1: hectare for farmland. Are we continuing to see these prices?
24:27
Speaker 1: I mean, Canterbury's in a real boom.
24:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not sure.
24:30
Speaker 5: I think that was some of the peaks of what
24:33
Speaker 5: we're seeing. I think probably neighbour stuff. But, yeah, it's
24:36
Speaker 5: definitely stepped up. I haven't really been across... anything else
24:40
Speaker 5: that's been trading for a wee while, to be fair,
24:42
Speaker 5: but yeah, it's definitely taken a step up, for sure.
24:45
Speaker 1: What are your rates like up there? Have you seen
24:47
Speaker 1: a big increase, given the way that we've seen an
24:50
Speaker 1: explosion in towns and the likes, for example, Rolleston and Darfield,
24:54
Speaker 1: the way they've exploded?
24:56
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, we're seeing a heap of pressure come on that,
24:59
Speaker 5: and the other one is the water swapping, separating out
25:03
Speaker 5: these water entities now. We've just been getting a few
25:06
Speaker 5: bills coming through for the farm and for rental properties,
25:08
Speaker 5: and it's sort of like, whoa, this is a little
25:11
Speaker 5: bit worrying where this might be going. So we just
25:14
Speaker 5: have to keep a monitor on that and I hope
25:16
Speaker 5: they don't get too carried.
25:17
Speaker 3: Away with it.
25:19
Speaker 1: So just regarding the pork industry and pricing there, we've
25:22
Speaker 1: spoken about this before, but yourself as a producer, are
25:25
Speaker 1: you happy with returns? I suppose you're never happy, but
25:28
Speaker 1: are you content?
25:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're reasonably content, but like I was saying just before,
25:33
Speaker 5: there's a couple of headwinds coming with price rises and
25:39
Speaker 5: Building anything now is really, really expensive. And of course,
25:42
Speaker 5: you know, Aaron just used on a countdown for our
25:45
Speaker 5: farrowing accommodation and a couple of other bits and pieces.
25:48
Speaker 5: So yeah, talking around some other guys that are trying
25:52
Speaker 5: to do stuff at the moment, they're all sort of
25:53
Speaker 5: eyes are watering a little bit at the cost of
25:56
Speaker 5: building now. It's just, it's really, really sort of got away. So,
26:00
Speaker 5: you know, you look at it and think, it doesn't
26:02
Speaker 5: even feel like it's quite economical, but So, yeah, we
26:07
Speaker 5: are content, but, yeah, there's some headwinds there that we're
26:11
Speaker 5: going to have to contend with.
26:12
Speaker 1: What's on farm inflation like for a pig farmer in Canterbury, Sean?
26:17
Speaker 6: Yeah, not too bad.
26:18
Speaker 5: Stuff's still rising, though, eh? Bits and pieces here and there, 5%, 6%.
26:22
Speaker 5: So that sort of stuff's still a little bit worrying. But,
26:25
Speaker 5: you know, a bit of that is also linked back
26:27
Speaker 5: to what's going on in Iran, with Iran and the US.
26:31
Speaker 3: So.
26:33
Speaker 5: Products that are made and require the petrochemical industry to
26:39
Speaker 5: a large extent to produce the goods. So the import
26:44
Speaker 5: costs have all gone up and some of the shipping
26:46
Speaker 5: stuff still at different times, depending on what's going on
26:49
Speaker 5: over there, things bounce around.
26:51
Speaker 2: A fair bit.
26:51
Speaker 5: So yeah, we haven't sort of settled. I'm guessing that's
26:55
Speaker 5: going to go on for quite some time yet until
26:57
Speaker 5: something gets resolved there.
26:59
Speaker 1: Are you seeing younger people wanting to be involved with
27:01
Speaker 1: the pork industry as such?
27:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, we still do, but I think it's a bit
27:05
Speaker 5: of a challenge there. We're quite a small industry, so
27:07
Speaker 5: it's just trying to raise your flag and certainly people
27:10
Speaker 5: have quite a different perception of pig farming to what
27:13
Speaker 5: actually goes on. People have a dirty, stinky job where
27:18
Speaker 5: you're just throwing a bucket of scraps across to a
27:20
Speaker 5: whole lot of hungry pigs where it's quite different to that.
27:24
Speaker 5: There's a heap of technology, the buildings and and the
27:28
Speaker 5: gear we use is quite sophisticated. There's a hell of
27:31
Speaker 5: a lot more to it, and it's a lot more
27:32
Speaker 5: scientific than anybody would imagine, I believe.
27:38
Speaker 1: Is there concern in the industry about a possible change
27:41
Speaker 1: of government and what this would mean for pork farming regulations?
27:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely.
27:47
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's a real concern. I'm hoping that we don't
27:52
Speaker 5: have much of a change to the government, just maybe
27:54
Speaker 5: a shuffle of the who's got how many seats and
27:58
Speaker 5: what that wee power balance is amongst the main one. But, yeah,
28:01
Speaker 5: who knows what's really going to happen here, eh?
28:05
Speaker 2: Sure.
28:05
Speaker 1: We've had an absolute dog of a season down here
28:08
Speaker 1: for September anyway in Southland. What's your growing season been
28:11
Speaker 1: like up there?
28:13
Speaker 5: Yeah, we've been pretty good, eh? We've sort of had steady...
28:17
Speaker 5: We've had a lot of wind, which we haven't had
28:18
Speaker 5: for probably three years. But we keep getting regular dollops
28:23
Speaker 5: of rain. Just when you think the wind's sort of
28:24
Speaker 5: going to dry it out, we get... 20, 30 mil
28:26
Speaker 5: of rain, and we just had snow on the weekend,
28:29
Speaker 5: which is getting fairly late in the season for that now.
28:32
Speaker 3: But, yeah, we're pretty good.
28:33
Speaker 5: Things are starting to kick away here now. There's contractors
28:37
Speaker 5: that have been bailing stuff up, which is pretty early
28:41
Speaker 5: on for that. So, yeah, we're in pretty good shape
28:44
Speaker 5: really at the minute.
28:46
Speaker 1: We've got a good forecast for the rest of the
28:47
Speaker 1: week down here in the Deep South Shore, and we'll
28:49
Speaker 1: take that. Always appreciate your time on the muster.
28:52
Speaker 3: Thanks, Andy. Cheers, mate.
29:05
Speaker 1: We're away to West Otago this afternoon on the muster,
29:08
Speaker 1: Mower Flat to be precise, where we catch up with
29:10
Speaker 1: James Edgar. Good afternoon, James. We spoke to you two
29:13
Speaker 1: weeks ago. How good to finally see the sun today? Yeah.
29:18
Speaker 6: I sort of thought after the... Last time we talked,
29:22
Speaker 6: I probably had a fair bit of disappointment. But I
29:25
Speaker 6: sort of thought, oh, well, you know, we just land
29:27
Speaker 6: for that long. Maybe that was sort of the time
29:30
Speaker 6: we were going to get it. It certainly hasn't stopped.
29:33
Speaker 6: I think this spring for me would be probably the
29:37
Speaker 6: mentally hardest. I don't know it hasn't like I farmed
29:40
Speaker 6: through 2010 that was more like a sprint it was
29:45
Speaker 6: a week 10 days and you're just going doing everything
29:49
Speaker 6: you could really and you know and then you're absolutely
29:53
Speaker 6: buggered but then sort of sun come out and things
29:56
Speaker 6: didn't look as bad but to be honest like this
29:59
Speaker 6: year it's probably been six weeks of um really hard
30:01
Speaker 6: slog and probably a shout out from the sheep farmers
30:04
Speaker 6: um i know those dairy guys like they've been calving
30:07
Speaker 6: for a long time now and they haven't had a
30:09
Speaker 6: break either and no i just say yeah she's been
30:12
Speaker 6: a been a absolutely terrible spring this one for us
30:16
Speaker 6: um the grass growth is probably a problem going forward
30:20
Speaker 6: but yeah we'll sort of set it up hopefully this
30:24
Speaker 6: weather's coming right because um To be fair, there's plenty
30:27
Speaker 6: of moisture in the soil, Andy. There's no sign of
30:29
Speaker 6: a drought coming shortly.
30:31
Speaker 1: You were saying just before that you've had eight snowfalls
30:35
Speaker 1: in September. That's unbelievable.
30:37
Speaker 6: Yeah, we've had eight. We probably always have a snowfall. Yeah,
30:44
Speaker 6: but that's a lot. And we haven't had the fine
30:46
Speaker 6: days in between. Like, I don't know, what have we had?
30:49
Speaker 6: About three days of sun in the whole of September.
30:51
Speaker 6: It's just been quite gloomy. I don't think our lamb
30:54
Speaker 6: losses have been disastrous as opposed to some of those
30:57
Speaker 6: other big weather events. It's just been so much wind
31:01
Speaker 6: that's blown them over the gullies. And by the by,
31:05
Speaker 6: I don't think our lamb drop will be massively different
31:07
Speaker 6: to what I'd expect. But the grass covers going forward
31:12
Speaker 6: is going to be quite a problem. The lambs are
31:15
Speaker 6: very muddy. They've had enough of sitting in mud and
31:18
Speaker 6: wet all the time. Yeah, and then we've had a
31:22
Speaker 6: little bit of black udder already showing up in Tapanui,
31:25
Speaker 6: and there's definitely a few more lambs with, like, sore
31:27
Speaker 6: feet and a few bits and pieces. But I will say,
31:31
Speaker 6: if we've got 10 days of 17 degrees of sun
31:33
Speaker 6: at the moment, it is amazing how the farm turns
31:36
Speaker 6: around at this time of year.
31:37
Speaker 3: You know, even when.
31:39
Speaker 6: You drive around, you look at the lambs looking good,
31:42
Speaker 6: and you feel a hell of a lot better, I
31:44
Speaker 6: know that.
31:45
Speaker 1: I was just about to ask you that same question, James.
31:47
Speaker 1: How long to correct the situation as far as the
31:50
Speaker 1: soggy ground? Because depending on where you are in the
31:52
Speaker 1: province and you're hearing various reports around rainfall being over
31:58
Speaker 1: 250 mils for a month, well, that's not sustainable regardless
32:01
Speaker 1: of soil temperature.
32:01
Speaker 6: Well, I think last September we were about 70 to
32:06
Speaker 6: 80 mils, but it was just really cold, probably colder
32:10
Speaker 6: than this year.
32:11
Speaker 2: And then this year here.
32:12
Speaker 6: We're heading up to 200 mils to the bottom, so...
32:14
Speaker 6: For us, we have an average rainfall of 950, so
32:19
Speaker 6: whatever that is, about almost a quarter of our rain,
32:22
Speaker 6: or heading towards a quarter of our rain in one month.
32:25
Speaker 6: We're just not really set up for that year. It's
32:28
Speaker 6: been so unusual. We've sort of had flooding, but I
32:32
Speaker 6: wouldn't say bad flooding, but it's just every single day
32:36
Speaker 6: it rains. I suppose it's been good and bad, depending
32:39
Speaker 6: how you take it, but Yeah, the sun's come up now, Andy,
32:44
Speaker 6: so we're just trying to flush the dunny, I suppose,
32:50
Speaker 6: of what we've done so far. And the hoggarts are
32:53
Speaker 6: just about to start. We're just starting to tidy up
32:56
Speaker 6: up the hill. There's a few different things we'll do
32:59
Speaker 6: this year. We'll definitely shed out our wet dries on
33:01
Speaker 6: the hill country in another couple of weeks or 10 days.
33:04
Speaker 6: Just every animal that's not eating grass, they'll disappear. so
33:10
Speaker 6: they don't need to be there. We've got about 500
33:12
Speaker 6: stock units of cattle coming off Fodderbeak today, and then
33:15
Speaker 6: I've got another 1,000 stock units coming off in about
33:18
Speaker 6: a week or 10 days. So, yeah, we really need
33:20
Speaker 6: things to start rattling now.
33:23
Speaker 1: So the pressure's going to go on, given that the
33:25
Speaker 1: winter crops are all finished. Do you have a plan
33:27
Speaker 1: B in place if needed?
33:30
Speaker 6: Yeah, it comes back to that argument. I know I
33:33
Speaker 6: was talking to Joseph one day about winter grazing, and
33:37
Speaker 6: the reality is... What a tool, we physically couldn't have
33:41
Speaker 6: fed those stock units on grass in light of the
33:44
Speaker 6: whole situation. Because I still think we've actually fed our
33:47
Speaker 6: sheep reasonably well up.
33:48
Speaker 1: To this point.
33:48
Speaker 6: So that's how important it is to us to carry
33:53
Speaker 6: those stock units.
33:54
Speaker 3: And I know Joseph, he was talking about dropping.
33:57
Speaker 6: Well, he asked me when Chloe Swarbrick asked him why
34:00
Speaker 6: we do it. I said, well, to handle the feed
34:02
Speaker 6: surpluses that should theoretically come. Because we will need those
34:06
Speaker 6: stock units. Yeah, I'm not writing the season off just yet.
34:11
Speaker 6: Sometimes on a sheep farm, you can actually have lowish covers.
34:14
Speaker 6: Provided you grow away, you get a lot of clover
34:16
Speaker 6: on the bottom and you can actually have better lambs
34:20
Speaker 6: at weaning actually on the way through and there might
34:23
Speaker 6: be a few less triplets running around. So it's all
34:25
Speaker 6: about the kilos you sell out the gate. It's not
34:28
Speaker 6: your lambing percentage through the tailing pen sometimes. So that's
34:31
Speaker 6: how we're just mentally readjusting our year, I suppose. We'll
34:34
Speaker 6: probably try and take some lambs bigger try and get
34:38
Speaker 6: a weaning draft at that good money early on. I'm
34:42
Speaker 6: pretty confident about the prices this year actually.
34:44
Speaker 3: Which is great.
34:45
Speaker 1: You say it's been mentally taxing. How's it been on
34:47
Speaker 1: the staff? How have they coped?
34:51
Speaker 6: I think by the by we've looked after each other
34:53
Speaker 6: pretty well to be fair. There's been a lot of
34:55
Speaker 6: videos going around and some of those days we have
34:58
Speaker 6: a group chat and when you see you tucked up
35:02
Speaker 6: with your twins under a tussock bush and snowing sideways
35:06
Speaker 6: but she's looking after them pretty amazing what those sheep
35:09
Speaker 6: can do sometimes so we make sure we get that
35:12
Speaker 6: on the chat and it's actually harder lambing on flat
35:15
Speaker 6: country in my opinion because when it's all turning to
35:19
Speaker 6: crap you're out there battling away and you can really
35:23
Speaker 6: make a difference just by working hard but on our
35:26
Speaker 6: hill country we just don't want bikes out there in
35:28
Speaker 6: that weather where A, scaring all the sheep out of
35:31
Speaker 6: shelter when they're flown over and B, it is dangerous
35:34
Speaker 6: like You know, you have to, if you end up
35:37
Speaker 6: having an accident on a motorbike, then that puts you
35:39
Speaker 6: out for the next six months where you haven't really
35:41
Speaker 6: done your farm justice, have you?
35:44
Speaker 1: Based on the season we've had and the springs previously, James,
35:49
Speaker 1: has it got you thinking about your farming systems for
35:51
Speaker 1: September and if you want to change anything?
35:55
Speaker 6: That's a great question, Andy. I know there's been a
35:56
Speaker 6: lot of talk about the lambing day. So interestingly, we've
36:00
Speaker 6: been going the other way.
36:01
Speaker 3: So we were pulling it forward earlier.
36:04
Speaker 6: Just trying to maximize covers going in so we're probably
36:06
Speaker 6: going on crop a bit earlier and then try to
36:09
Speaker 6: grow a bit more and then we bring it forward
36:10
Speaker 6: and the reason we bring it forward was we found
36:13
Speaker 6: when we were lambing later and then we were weaning
36:15
Speaker 6: everything after Christmas the problem was after Christmas because you
36:18
Speaker 6: got all your ewes and all your lambs stocked right
36:21
Speaker 6: up to that period quite often you know you have
36:24
Speaker 6: very low grass covers or you know just enough 1200
36:26
Speaker 6: 1400 and then we found if you're heading straight into
36:30
Speaker 6: our traditionally dry time So you just didn't have the
36:34
Speaker 6: time to grow the grass covers for your summer and
36:36
Speaker 6: set your autumn up, if that makes sense to you. Yeah,
36:40
Speaker 6: so it was catch 22, so we've been bringing it forward,
36:43
Speaker 6: and then now we wean probably two-thirds, or at least half,
36:47
Speaker 6: two-thirds of our sheep, even at mower flat before Christmas,
36:51
Speaker 6: sort of just that week before Christmas. And then that
36:53
Speaker 6: just allows us, while there's still moisture in the soil,
36:56
Speaker 6: to get those ewes mobbed up, not eating grass, and
36:59
Speaker 6: then quite often our lambs are going on a lot
37:01
Speaker 6: of lamb fattening grass and then.
37:03
Speaker 2: It just allows us to grow a feed buffer.
37:05
Speaker 6: For uh this summer and the next autumn so this
37:08
Speaker 6: is something you've got to watch if you're dragging it
37:10
Speaker 6: back all the time you do run into uh later
37:14
Speaker 6: in the season you can run into you know growing
37:18
Speaker 6: less grass i guess and the other thing to be
37:20
Speaker 6: aware of is the grass quality drops when you start
37:22
Speaker 6: going to seed as well so um as i say
37:26
Speaker 6: even where we are now if we actually got 10
37:28
Speaker 6: days or a couple weeks of just cranking weather like
37:31
Speaker 6: um the clover and the grass quality on the sheep
37:34
Speaker 6: farm would just be phenomenal. So yeah, those are just
37:38
Speaker 6: a couple of things we've found. We've actually found we've
37:40
Speaker 6: been getting probably more lambs away at weaning before Christmas,
37:45
Speaker 6: just because that grass quality is still better and the
37:47
Speaker 6: lambs have got a bit, no, just more sappy is
37:51
Speaker 6: what they call it. But yeah, just fatter because the
37:53
Speaker 6: ewes are still milking a bit more and I suppose
37:57
Speaker 6: the lambs are a little bit younger, but yeah, and
37:59
Speaker 6: the grass quality is sort of a bit higher. combination
38:02
Speaker 6: of those reasons, Andy. So it's one thing with the biological.
38:05
Speaker 3: System, I suppose.
38:06
Speaker 6: You know, on a farm, you've got to set it
38:08
Speaker 6: up to... And everything you do has got a consequence
38:11
Speaker 6: some other way, doesn't it?
38:13
Speaker 1: Good on you, James. Thanks for your time. Great to
38:15
Speaker 1: see the sun, long may it last.
38:17
Speaker 6: Yeah, fingers crossed, Andy, for about two weeks of 20 degrees,
38:21
Speaker 6: because that's what I'm banking on.
38:24
Speaker 1: Oh, you are the sunshine of my life Welcome back
38:32
Speaker 1: to the muster on Hokonui. Catherine Wright joins us next.
38:35
Speaker 1: She is a counsellor who specialises in rural mental health.
38:40
Speaker 1: She's had a PhD submitted recently, or about to be submitted,
38:44
Speaker 1: regarding the health, the mental health in young rural people. Catherine,
38:50
Speaker 1: good afternoon. It's good to have a bit of blue
38:52
Speaker 1: sky finally.
38:53
Speaker 7: It is so good to see the sun, Andy. I
38:56
Speaker 7: can't deny that.
38:58
Speaker 1: Just changes the mood. Even just having some sun when
39:01
Speaker 1: you're going about your job after what has been called shit-temper.
39:06
Speaker 1: And I think we can say that because that's pretty
39:08
Speaker 1: much what we've been dealt.
39:11
Speaker 7: Absolutely. It's been really tough going. I think that what
39:16
Speaker 7: makes it even worse is that it comes right at
39:18
Speaker 7: the end of winter. It's almost like that sucker punch
39:21
Speaker 7: just as you're getting to the end when things should,
39:23
Speaker 7: I say in quotation marks, should be getting better. And
39:27
Speaker 7: I think it's that kind of where they carry on happening.
39:30
Speaker 7: near the start of the winter, I think that it
39:31
Speaker 7: would be a bit easier to take.
39:33
Speaker 1: With your councillor's hat on here, Catherine, as well as
39:36
Speaker 1: your farming hat too, I mean, you look at the
39:38
Speaker 1: situation that farmers are facing at the moment, it can
39:42
Speaker 1: be easy to get overwhelmed regarding workload.
39:44
Speaker 3: Absolutely. Absolutely.
39:47
Speaker 7: And, you know, we've had this conversation once or twice before, Andy. Unfortunately,
39:52
Speaker 7: this is not our first rodeo, but I'm going to
39:56
Speaker 7: say basically the same things as I've said in the
39:58
Speaker 7: past because they've proven to be true. So first of all,
40:02
Speaker 7: I want you to think about touch points on the calendar.
40:05
Speaker 7: So I know it's hard to get away. It's hard
40:07
Speaker 7: to get off. Some people do have someone that can
40:11
Speaker 7: kind of take over the reins. But if you don't,
40:13
Speaker 7: even an evening out, having your neighbours up for morning tea,
40:17
Speaker 7: something that you can actually look forward to because connection
40:20
Speaker 7: is actually something that will help you to regulate. It
40:24
Speaker 7: will help you to shoulder the frustrations of this crappy weather.
40:29
Speaker 7: Don't underestimate it. Don't forget about your basic needs as
40:33
Speaker 7: well while you're going through this. So a lot of
40:36
Speaker 7: farming is automated now, but remember that you do need
40:39
Speaker 7: to move your body as part of holistic health, mental
40:43
Speaker 7: health care. So whether that's walking, running, lifting weights, bike riding,
40:47
Speaker 7: whatever it is you like to do. Also looking at
40:50
Speaker 7: what you're eating and also healthy sleep. How can you
40:54
Speaker 7: address that? But the biggest thing, I think, is to
40:59
Speaker 7: look at acceptance. So this doesn't mean liking it or
41:04
Speaker 7: agreeing it. It's just saying, right, the weather's going to
41:07
Speaker 7: do what it's going to do. And whether or not
41:10
Speaker 7: you're angry about it, it's not going.
41:12
Speaker 3: To change it.
41:13
Speaker 7: So it's just going, yep, OK, that's happening. It's going
41:17
Speaker 7: to be that way. What can I now put my
41:19
Speaker 7: focus on, if that makes sense?
41:22
Speaker 1: Now, a lot of events are happening around the province.
41:24
Speaker 1: I'll talk about these shortly, but a few people commenting
41:28
Speaker 1: online last night say, well, these events are all well
41:31
Speaker 1: and good, but if I get off the farm, that
41:33
Speaker 1: just puts me behind the eight ball because I've got
41:35
Speaker 1: a lot to do and I don't have time to
41:38
Speaker 1: go and attend these events. What do you say to that?
41:40
Speaker 7: LAUGHTER It's a double-edged sword, isn't it? I guess it
41:44
Speaker 7: depends on how long you're taking off. So if it's
41:47
Speaker 7: just an evening, you're not going to be doing anything
41:50
Speaker 7: in the.
41:50
Speaker 3: Evening, probably.
41:52
Speaker 7: I think that the payoff would be far better than
41:56
Speaker 7: the sacrifice that you're willing to make. If it is
41:59
Speaker 7: going away for a day or two, yep, that's really hard.
42:03
Speaker 7: But please don't write it off before you've tried it.
42:06
Speaker 7: So if you can get somebody... to look out for
42:08
Speaker 7: the farm or to double feed or do whatever you
42:12
Speaker 7: have to do. Just maybe there is a chance that
42:14
Speaker 7: you might feel more able to take on the stresses
42:18
Speaker 7: if you've been able to let off some steam.
42:20
Speaker 1: You talk about diet. At this time of year, it's
42:22
Speaker 1: too easy just to chuck a pie in the microwave
42:24
Speaker 1: and that's your feed.
42:26
Speaker 7: Yeah, don't underestimate it. So people are always surprised when
42:30
Speaker 7: I ask them about this. So we know that most
42:33
Speaker 7: of our... a lot of our neurotransmitters that are made
42:36
Speaker 7: in the gut do help us with mood regulation. And
42:39
Speaker 7: so you can imagine that if you're having a jimmies
42:42
Speaker 7: and a V for breakfast, you're probably not going to
42:44
Speaker 7: feel that good. If you can try to eat a
42:48
Speaker 7: little bit better, yes, that might be some preps the
42:51
Speaker 7: night before, it will absolutely pay off. You will not
42:55
Speaker 7: regret looking after yourself in this way.
42:58
Speaker 1: When you look at the season that's ahead of us,
43:00
Speaker 1: October in particular, I mean, tractor work, there hasn't been
43:04
Speaker 1: any tractor out in the paddock hardly. I've seen a
43:06
Speaker 1: couple of paddocks, but let's be honest, they were probably
43:08
Speaker 1: worked up a few weeks back now. You've just got
43:11
Speaker 1: to put things into perspective, I suppose, as well. Catherine,
43:14
Speaker 1: what are your words around this?
43:16
Speaker 2: Yeah, so the.
43:17
Speaker 7: Tractor work kind of comes with its own set of issues.
43:20
Speaker 7: from my experience. And that is that when you're doing
43:23
Speaker 7: something for long hours and it's very repetitive, you can
43:26
Speaker 7: get stuck in your own head and in your own thoughts.
43:29
Speaker 7: And that's pretty normal. Yes, you can do things to
43:33
Speaker 7: kind of hang yourself out of that or reset things.
43:36
Speaker 7: It could be podcasts, it could be music.
43:39
Speaker 1: But there are.
43:40
Speaker 7: Ways to come out of that. What I would like
43:43
Speaker 7: to suggest to people is a little tiny exercise, if
43:46
Speaker 7: that's okay. What I would like you to do is
43:49
Speaker 7: to imagine for a moment that you are actually working
43:52
Speaker 7: in an office. This is your job.
43:54
Speaker 1: You work in an office.
43:55
Speaker 7: You sit there every day.
43:57
Speaker 5: You look out.
43:58
Speaker 7: Onto farmland and you see the weather change. You see
44:02
Speaker 7: bad days. You see good days. But you can't get
44:04
Speaker 7: out there because your job is inside. I want you
44:07
Speaker 7: to think about what that would be like and what
44:10
Speaker 7: your general, I guess, feeling of of working outside would
44:16
Speaker 7: be would it be something that you would like no
44:19
Speaker 7: matter if you had to deal with the good and
44:21
Speaker 7: the bad or would you prefer to be stuck inside
44:24
Speaker 7: and and if you are willing to take the bag
44:26
Speaker 7: with the good i think that's your answer and that's
44:28
Speaker 7: why you farm and don't forget.
44:30
Speaker 1: That i think so perspective comes into it at the.
44:33
Speaker 7: Moment absolutely perspective is everything how do you.
44:37
Speaker 1: Get that work-life balance though when things are busy what
44:40
Speaker 1: do you do.
44:42
Speaker 7: I think that it's something that fluctuates all the time.
44:46
Speaker 7: So yes, on farm, you do have to fluctuate in
44:50
Speaker 7: what hours you're putting in. And sometimes you're busier than others,
44:55
Speaker 7: and we know that. So the work-life balance is not
44:58
Speaker 7: going to be a completely symmetrical idea, I think. It
45:04
Speaker 7: can continually be assessed. Maybe if you've spent all October
45:08
Speaker 7: in a tractor, maybe there's another month that you can think, right, okay,
45:13
Speaker 7: I'm not as busy then. Maybe there's weaning going on,
45:16
Speaker 7: but there's not a lot else. Maybe you can put
45:19
Speaker 7: in time. And I don't even mean getting off farm.
45:21
Speaker 7: Maybe it's just being with your kids, doing something with them.
45:25
Speaker 7: Maybe it's going away with friends or whatever it is.
45:28
Speaker 7: But it's got to even out somewhere. But I think
45:32
Speaker 7: that you would get into a trap if you thought
45:35
Speaker 7: that you had to every day have a work-life balance.
45:38
Speaker 7: You can't have that on a farm. I get it.
45:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, wise words as always, Catherine. Just finally, how's your
45:44
Speaker 1: PhD been going?
45:46
Speaker 7: Oh, it's going great. I submit officially in about three weeks,
45:50
Speaker 7: so I'm really looking forward to that. Lots of findings,
45:54
Speaker 7: so my topic is actually rural community connection and mental
45:57
Speaker 7: health and land use change, so farm to forestry conversions
46:02
Speaker 7: and how that affects people socially. So there's a lot
46:06
Speaker 7: going to come out about that. I just can't do
46:08
Speaker 7: much until it's been peer-reviewed, so.
46:10
Speaker 6: We have to be patient.
46:15
Speaker 1: Catherine Wright there, wrapping up the best of the muster.
46:19
Speaker 1: Brought to you by The Gopher, your local relief milking
46:22
Speaker 1: and contracting specialists. Great to have The Gopher on board.
46:27
Speaker 1: That's us over in Dunworth. Enjoy the weekend. If you
46:29
Speaker 1: get a chance to get off farm, I suggest you
46:31
Speaker 1: go and do it. See you Monday, 1 o'clock.