Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster- Harriet Bremner: Agriculture Remains Relevant For Schools

Transcript

The Muster- Harriet Bremner: Agriculture Remains Relevant For Schools · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: The Cars, that's the music for a Tuesday afternoon. You're
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: listening to the muster on Hokonui as we head over
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to Jericho Station, not far from Manapōuri, and we catch
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: up with Harriet Bremner once again. G'day, Harriet. How are you?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: G'day, Andy. Not too bad, thank you. Enjoying the sunshine,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: digging hoggets today, so... It's nice that it's a nice day, but,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: you know, those days are always a bit long and
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: drawn out, aren't they?
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: It's just one of those repetitive jobs that needs done,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: I suppose.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: It is, and, you know, one of those jobs that
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: you just can't make go any faster, so it is
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: what it is.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: So you're just pushing up?
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Yep, just pushing up today. We've got a two-stand trailer there, so,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: you know, it's better than doing them ourselves, but, yeah,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: not the most exciting job in the world, but that's OK.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: It has to be done.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: These portable dagging trailers, though, they've been a game-changer for,
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: handpiece work for a lot of people it's fair to say.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah you'd like to think so i mean um
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: yeah but easier on the body for those that are
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: doing the digging and stuff and definitely can get through
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: some more numbers so no it's great and um yeah
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: we can't can't complain they're not too dirty so yeah
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: it's just another job ticking off the list this week
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: amongst the tractor work and you know playing a bit
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: of ketchup since it's dried out a bit which is.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: Good how the hog it's looking.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, they're looking really good, Andy, actually. We didn't
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: put ours in lamb this year, so that's been really nice. But, yeah,
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: I'm actually excited to see how they grow out, having
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: not had a lamb. So I think that'll be pretty
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: cool to see. But, yeah, no, we're happy with them,
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: so that's good.
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we've talked about this before. A lot of people
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: putting hoggets into lamb, but you guys going the other way.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: So it will be interesting to see what the difference
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: is when they're tutu's.
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I'm looking forward to a scanning
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: result as a tutus. And then, you know, I suppose
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: a lot of people talk about you get another year
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: out of them at the other end. So everybody's got
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: different opinions when it comes to hoggets and mating them,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: don't they? But it's the first year we haven't done it,
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: but it's made my lambing bait a lot more pleasant.
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: And I'm not missing them.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: That's for sure. Absolutely, and talking about a lot of
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: people having opinion at the moment regarding Education Minister Erica
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Stamford proposing that agriculture, agribusiness and horticultural science be dropped
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: from the Year 11 as stand-alone subjects, this is not
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: good thinking on her behalf.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: No, look, I agree with you. It's really disappointing. You know,
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: we've talked before, I think you'd like to think that
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: The education system has come further forward than that by now.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: From when we were at school, for me personally, it
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: wasn't an option to do ag. And all my friends
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: at school at the time, we all really wanted to
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: do it. And we're all now in agriculture, whether we're
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: on farm or working in the industry in some way,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: shape or form. So I think you like to think
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: that those people that want to do it for their
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: future will find a way. But If we want to
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: get other people into our sector and expose them to ag,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: then it's got to start at school really, doesn't it?
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: And yeah, I think this is just going to make
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: some things harder, isn't it?
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I spoke to Mel Young from Southland Girls High School
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: on the programme the other day, and she talked about
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the Young Farmers Movement, 120 of the ladies at school
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: being involved with it, the students, and just going up
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: and up, and they were just driving the ag programme
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: as such. And I asked her why. She just said
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: one thing, they've got a passion for the industry.
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: Oh, and that's so cool to hear, isn't it? And
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: I think that the people that have been immersed in
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: it as a young child growing up, you know, on
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: a farm or having been exposed to farms, they've already
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: had the opportunity to have a look into the industry.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: But I'm also thinking about those kids that are growing
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: up that, you know, maybe are watching from afar and wondering,
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: how on earth would I get into that industry? And
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: if they don't have the opportunity at school to do that,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: you know, what options are there? Obviously, if you've got
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: university or going straight out and working on farms, or
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: you're growing future farmers and, you know, avenues like that.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: But it would be really key, I think, to have
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: the opportunity from 15 years old and then, you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: they can start the plan for their career from there,
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: can't they?
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: And we're living in a society these days where, ironically enough,
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: city children or people living in an urban environment in
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: the big cities, especially around the world, still believe that
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: milk just grows overnight in the supermarket.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah oh we were talking about this the other day
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: and it's funny isn't it because i'm i'm sure a
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: lot of people when they go to the supermarket you
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: know they're looking for the best deals and things as
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: we all tend to but are they really thinking about
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: where has that mince come from or that lamb you
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: know um so there is a big disconnect isn't there
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: these days and you know friends of mine generation all
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: had connections with farms you know cousins that had farms
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: and they would spend school holidays on those farms and
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: things but i talk to friends that are teaching in
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: urban schools now and their kids in their classrooms don't
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: have any of those opportunities even as primary school children
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: to spend time on farms and school holidays and things
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: so they're just not getting that initial connection with rural
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: life which is a real shame It's.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: The same old story, and I like this saying, you
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: walk into a supermarket an environmentalist, yet you leave an economist.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, well, it's really interesting because I think we
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: were spoken to by the supermarkets on my Xander McDonald tour,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: and they were saying that during the cost of living
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: crisis that people were, the first thing that they dropped
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: was the prices that they were spending on meat products,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: so they suddenly started buying the cheapest meat meats that
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: they could for the whole week and then they were
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: shouting themselves to like one really nice piece of meat
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: you know on like a Saturday night because they was
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: like their treat does that make sense so rather than
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: eating middle yeah yeah middle range meat for the whole
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: week they were dropping their standard for most of the
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: week and then eating one more expensive cut just one
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: night of the week so it's just interesting the psychology
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: around that as well I think.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Chicken and pork, especially the pork industry, on social media recently, Harriet,
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: they've been out there saying, what's the difference between the
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: two dishes? They've got a beef mince and they've got
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: pork mince, and they're just saying simply the price.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, well, you and I both know at the moment,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: you know, I've ordered my groceries to pick up today
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: with a delivery, and every time I unpack them at
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: the moment, there are no treats in there and there's
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: no nice things, but it's very expensive, and that's... You know,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: the only meat that I buy is chicken. Obviously, we
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: eat everything else off the farm. But, you know, if
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: people are having to purchase all of their meat products
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: from the supermarket as well, it must be seriously expensive, even,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: you know, if they are trying to buy the cheaper cuts.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: So I can understand why people are making those choices.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: You have got an interesting week ahead of you. Your
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: collar wearables are turning up.
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, so excited. We've got 500 halter collars turning
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: up hopefully Thursday for all the young stock and then
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: another 350 of them turning up for the mixed-age cows
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: in November at calf marking time. So, yeah, we've got
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: tractors going, we're haltering all the young stock and, yeah,
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: today dagging and, oh, yeah, she's pretty busy for this
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks but super excited to see what we
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: can do with halter moving forward. And, yeah, Neil and
• 7:49
  Speaker 2: I just can't wait to get them on and get
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: cranking into it. So, yeah, I think it's going to
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: be a game changer, especially actually for us on the hill.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: You know, our flats are already like a dairy farm.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: So I think pasture growth will increase down there too,
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: but what we'll be able to do with the cows
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: on the hill too will be really cool to see.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: And your previous winner of the Xander MacDonald Award nominations
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: or entries, I suppose, better terminology, they're open at the
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: moment still?
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the entries are open and I just wanted to
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: have a shout out to the award and say that
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: if anybody is curious or wondering whether they should apply,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: then please just do because it's a great process to
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: go through to figure out where you're at for yourself.
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: But also if you get the opportunity to move forward
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: and be part of the alumni and part of the
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: Zander family, then it is really a life changing thing
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: that you can do. You know, I had to have
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: a wee push to apply myself. But you've got nothing
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: to lose and everything to gain. So go ahead and
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: head and apply. And if you've got any questions about it,
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: flick me a message on social media through Gert and
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Pops and I can answer any questions.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Harriet. All the best with that dagging trailer. Thanks, Andy.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Hopefully it doesn't get too much hotter.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: Harriet Remner based over at Jericho Station. And very busy
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: at the moment, as a lot of people are, as
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: we see sunshine just rising radiantly dancing over the main
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: street of Gore. How's that for a description? Janine Easton's
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: up next. You're listening to The Muster.