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The Muster-Ben Dooley: Neagating A Trying Season · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The muster on the farm with Southland District Council working
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: together for a better Southland.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: We're away to Wyndham this afternoon on the muster to
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: catch up with Ben Dooley, sheep, beef and YouTube farmer.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Dules, good afternoon. How are the trenches going?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: G'day Andy. If someone could give me Mother Nature's address
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I'd quite appreciate that please because I think someone needs
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to have a very stern word with her. But no,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: in all fairness, the last week, the last two weeks
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: have been pretty bloody miserable, but there's a bit of
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a break in the weather right now and things are
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: looking a lot better today than they were a couple
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: of days ago. So, yeah, it's just unbelievably wet.
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: Wetter than this time last year, would you say?
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Date for date, I can't be sure, but right now
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I'd say land numbers-wise we're definitely in a worse position
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: than last year. But I think last year it was
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: sort of that middle week of lambing where it really
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: hit bad. So fingers crossed we can get an as
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: good or better outcome than last year. But yeah, third
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: year in a row we're sort of scratching our heads
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: as to what to do to try and change some outcomes.
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what do you do to change outcomes?
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: I talked to Andy Dennis about it before and he
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: seemed to think with the way his farm worked with
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: the synergy with the cattle and the deer, he thought
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: about going a couple of days earlier but just sticking
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: to the same date.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: What are you thinking?
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so there's an old saying out there that doing
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the same thing over and over again and expecting a
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: different result is the definition of insanity. And that does
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: feel like it's ringing quite true right now, but then
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: when you throw in the fact that we're working around
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: weather five months out, I don't know that changing lambing
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: dates is really a thing that we can look to
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: to try and improve outcomes here, unless you thought you
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: were short of feed.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: But.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: Look, I've always been big on saying that my preparation
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: for lambing next year starts once tailing's done. You know,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: by then we're looking at things, we're making decisions as
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: to what we're going to do. New condition, covers, you know,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: moving forward plans for the season. It can all change
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: very fast down here. But the time of year that
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: you have the least effect on your outcomes at lambing
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: is lambing time, in my opinion. And we did, you know,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: we had things pretty much as good as we could
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: this year. The ewes are in as good a nick
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: as they've ever been. Pasture covers were probably higher than
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: they've ever been. We actually spread out early because we
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: were just making a whole lot of mud on the
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: grass paddocks that we were grazing. And we had the
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: feed available to do that. And that's been great because
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: I've got 13 hectares right now that were some of
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: the last grazed paddocks that I've actually had to destock.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Yet we're still in that position where, you know, we
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: could do with a bit more feed around right now.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Things are just squeezed up a wee bit tight. and
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: the ground is just that wet, the ewes are that upset,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: you know, the pinching that's going on. One ewe starts lambing,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: another comes over, and, you know, they're walking around and
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: around in circles, and next thing the lambs are born
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: in mud. There's not really anything you can do to
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: avoid that. The pinching normally does go away after the
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: first few days of lambing, and our main ones are
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: only sort of, what are we, day three, day three
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: or four today? They're sort of kicked off a wee
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: bit early, so you might say day five. But, yeah,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: there's not really... a whole lot that you can do
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: with quick effectiveness anyway to try and improve any outcomes.
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: July can be notorious for being your wettest or your
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: driest month, and it seemed to be the former.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean, like I say, I normally work
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: on the theory because I'm quite big on a hill
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: with the ewes on Swedes. They're heavy crops, and we
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: do waste a lot of feed if we just keep
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: moving them on, you know, in really bad weather. So
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: if there's going to be a really bad 24-hour period.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I'll let them off onto a grass paddock and just
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: let them spread out over a whole paddock. That paddock
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: then doesn't get grazed for the rest of winter just
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: to give it a chance to recover. But the only
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: time that I really possibly had to do that was
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: actually when the ewes were coming off the scanning anyway.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: And it wouldn't be unusual to do that three or
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: four times in a winter. So June, July can't have
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: been that bad. Like I say, it was just the
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: sort of last bit of August. And as Swedes, because
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: we started a week earlier this year, we started 23rd
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: of May. They were all gone by, well, apart from
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: the hoggets, they were all gone by the 17th of August.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: So we sort of missed that real bad weather on
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Swedes anyway. But yeah, it's just that July was quite
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: a good month. It's just that last half of August.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Some good news coming out, though.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: The confidence survey released by Federated Farmers recently has over 72%
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: of farmers making a profit deal. So last season certainly
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: was appreciated. And there's no reason why this can't continue.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, 100%. Our product is in demand. That is a
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: definite upside. And I think that's what makes it. It's
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: never easy in these situations, you know, going out there
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: every day and doing it. But at least we're relatively
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: confident that we will still be profitable and potentially quite
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: profitable in these seasons. So it's, you know, Dan Ravage
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: will love me saying this, there's that old saying, Southland
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: will get you down, but it won't let you down. Well,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: it's bloody, that saying's been proven wrong the last three years.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: It definitely can let you down. the money that's been
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: taken off the table is huge, but at the same time,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: the incomes still should look pretty healthy at the end
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: of the year. So between that and the current government
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: that we have in, although obviously there's some risk of
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: the election looming, I'm not surprised the farm of confidence
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: is where it is. We've managed to progress a lot
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: in the red tape area over the last three or
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: two and a bit years, two and three quarter years.
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: But yeah, still a lot of work there to happen,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: so still going to make it happen.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Dills, before we wrap up, what's some words you've got
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: to advise to people at this time of year when
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: it is wetter? It might not be as bad as
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: last year, but you're just thinking, bloody hell, here we
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: go again.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if there's anything that makes it
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: easy for people. I guess the only thing to remember
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: is it's easier to look over the boundary fence and
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: think the grass is greener on the other side. It's
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: often not. Everyone's going through this. Everyone's got their own
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: challenges in and amongst this sort of stuff, so.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah you're not alone but you just got to look
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: you know for us the end of lambing is only
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: two weeks away and we're looking forward to that already
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: which is a shame but just the way it is
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: but yeah it's only another couple of weeks and then
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: you've sort of got what you've got and you're getting
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: into tailing and the rest of the season where it's
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: a bit more there's a bit more certainty about what's
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: happening so yeah it's not nice but everyone's going through
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: it and we will come out the other side okay
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: Good on.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: You, Dills. Always appreciate your time.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Nah, cheers, Andy.
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: Ben Dooley. Now, on that as well, the Southland Rural
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: Support Trust.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: Their Brunch On Us events are happening this weekend at
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: Tuatapri on Wednesday.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: And at Mosburn on Thursday.
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: Have a look at their social channels as well to
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: get a bit of a chance to get off farm
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: for a cuppa.
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: And a snag of the likes. Up next, we're on
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: our way to Canada to catch up with Greg Erickson.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Oh, you lift me up