Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / Best Of The Muster: 24/10/26

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Best Of The Muster: 24/10/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:05
Speaker 1: A very good morning and welcome into the best of
0:09
Speaker 1: the muster, proudly brought to you by the Gopher. My
0:12
Speaker 1: name's Andy Muir. This is a collaboration of interviews that
0:15
Speaker 1: took our attention during a busy week here at Hokonui
0:18
Speaker 1: HQ and we're starting off by heading up to Manapōuri
0:21
Speaker 1: where we're catching up with Andy Dennis, getting through the season.
0:25
Speaker 1: I think we're on his farming operation there. They've got
0:27
Speaker 1: through the season not too badly, all things considered, with
0:30
Speaker 1: the way the weather's been and Kaka just shows a
0:32
Speaker 1: lot of positivity heading into the rest of spring. Riley
0:36
Speaker 1: Kennedy of Business Desk, talking politics but more importantly tariffs.
0:41
Speaker 1: Kate Ackland of Beef and Lamb was over in the
0:44
Speaker 1: States recently pleading New Zealand's case as to why these
0:46
Speaker 1: shouldn't go ahead. But Riley's saying, well, it's all up
0:49
Speaker 1: in the air really. What does this mean for New
0:51
Speaker 1: Zealand agriculture, especially for lamb going forward? Harriet Bremner in
0:56
Speaker 1: the Fiordland Basin. Was on during the week talking Xander
1:00
Speaker 1: McDonald Awards. She was a previous winner of this award
1:03
Speaker 1: and she thinks it's a great thing to be involved
1:05
Speaker 1: with and tells us why, yeah, you need to get
1:07
Speaker 1: amongst it. Don Morrison farms at Willow Bank. Now, Don's
1:11
Speaker 1: a believer that New Zealand's tax system needs a reboot.
1:15
Speaker 1: He's happy to admit that his vote is up for
1:17
Speaker 1: grabs and he talks about why being centrist with everybody's
1:20
Speaker 1: got an opinion about what's going on. And finally, Dave Biss,
1:24
Speaker 1: our Western Australian correspondent, looking at a remarkable figure on
1:29
Speaker 1: turnover of staff in the mines. So without further ado,
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Speaker 1: we'll start the Best of the Mustard next with Andy Dennis.
1:37
Speaker 1: Of course, it's brought to you by The Gopher.
1:39
Speaker 2: Ain't nothing gonna break my trust.
1:40
Speaker 1: Nobody's gonna slow me down.
1:45
Speaker 3: Oh no, oh no.
1:46
Speaker 1: I've got to keep on moving.
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Speaker 4: Ain't nothing gonna break my trust.
2:00
Speaker 1: Andy Dennis farms at Manapōuri and joins us in the
2:03
Speaker 1: Sgt Dan Farming Roundup thanks to Sgt Dan's Stock Foods
2:06
Speaker 1: based here in Gore where we catch up with various
2:09
Speaker 1: farmers around the southern region and different operations. Kaka, good afternoon.
2:14
Speaker 5: Yeah, good.
2:15
Speaker 3: Everything's ticking away right over in Gore?
2:18
Speaker 1: It seems to be. I mean, we've got through September
2:21
Speaker 1: and October means onwards.
2:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:25
Speaker 3: Oh, things must have come right for you. It sounded
2:28
Speaker 3: pretty awful there earlier on, but hopefully you've had the
2:31
Speaker 3: sort of, well, it must be 10 or 15 days
2:33
Speaker 3: of sun and a bit of wind to dry things
2:35
Speaker 3: out like we have up here. Yeah.
2:37
Speaker 1: So you got through lambing okay? Is still the hoggets
2:40
Speaker 1: to go and it's knocked on the head for another year?
2:42
Speaker 1: Probably not the best phrase to use around lambing, but anyway.
2:45
Speaker 3: No, it's, yeah, the terminals, we tailed them last week,
2:50
Speaker 3: they did 140, so that's good to ram and then, yeah,
2:54
Speaker 3: that usually means we're going to be right and, yeah,
2:56
Speaker 3: the mixage and tutus are done at the end of
2:58
Speaker 3: this week and there seems to be plenty of lambs,
3:00
Speaker 3: so they had a pretty good run of it actually
3:02
Speaker 3: compared to the earlies and, yeah, hoggets are just finishing
3:06
Speaker 3: off with, We're sort of finding they were a bit
3:09
Speaker 3: later to the ram in the cycle, so there's still
3:12
Speaker 3: quite a lot to go, which is unusual for them.
3:15
Speaker 3: Usually they're a bit earlier. So there's a few there
3:18
Speaker 3: that have been on some pretty good feed for a
3:20
Speaker 3: bit longer than intended, and, yeah, we're just pulling a
3:24
Speaker 3: few in bits and pieces. So, yeah, but hopefully, yeah,
3:27
Speaker 3: another week and they'll be done too. So, yeah, we
3:29
Speaker 3: can start moving on with other jobs, which would be good.
3:32
Speaker 5: Yeah.
3:32
Speaker 1: How's your feed looking there?
3:34
Speaker 3: No, we're looking pretty good, looking really good, compared to
3:37
Speaker 3: the last few where the springs were looking real good. No,
3:41
Speaker 3: there's a wee bit tight in spots, just some of
3:44
Speaker 3: the paddocks got a wee bit down on covers, but yeah,
3:47
Speaker 3: a few shuffles around, you can make things happen. So yeah,
3:50
Speaker 3: it'll be good to get these sheep tailed up this weekend.
3:52
Speaker 3: We can do the same on this side and just
3:55
Speaker 3: create a bit more room or shut some paddocks up
3:57
Speaker 3: for baleage or... Yeah, even take some stuff out for
4:01
Speaker 3: sweet ground a wee bit earlier, which would be nice. But, no,
4:04
Speaker 3: we're looking pretty good, really, yeah.
4:06
Speaker 1: Do you tail yourselves or get a gang in?
4:08
Speaker 3: A gang comes in, yeah. Carl Tom, who comes up
4:11
Speaker 3: from Matara. So, yeah, always good, good crew. And, yeah,
4:15
Speaker 3: it doesn't take long these days, but it sort of
4:18
Speaker 3: saves us a week. So I just work on that philosophy.
4:21
Speaker 3: It's a week doing track work instead of a week
4:22
Speaker 3: doing tailing, yeah.
4:24
Speaker 1: So, like your contractor, how far behind the eight ball
4:27
Speaker 1: is he compared to other seasons?
4:29
Speaker 3: I think he's only three or four days, and he
4:32
Speaker 3: was here 10 days ago. He could have even caught
4:34
Speaker 3: that up by now. Yeah, because I'd say he's had
4:37
Speaker 3: a pretty good run, whereas I think the last two
4:39
Speaker 3: years he could have been up to sort of, you know,
4:42
Speaker 3: five or six, even 10 days behind where he usually was. Yeah, so.
4:48
Speaker 3: I think a few round Windham and Matera and that
4:52
Speaker 3: just pushed him back 10 days just to let things
4:54
Speaker 3: dry out and, yeah, just... so the lambs weren't so
5:00
Speaker 3: bloody muddy and a bit tough on them. So I
5:01
Speaker 3: think he actually come and done us a wee bit earlier,
5:05
Speaker 3: went elsewhere, and then went back and done them. So
5:07
Speaker 3: he would have had bigger lambs there, but yeah, it's
5:10
Speaker 3: no good tailing in the wet. He just knocks stuff around, yeah.
5:14
Speaker 1: Have you had the tractor out yet?
5:16
Speaker 5: Yes, yep.
5:17
Speaker 3: We've been around and ripped everything that needs ripping, and
5:21
Speaker 3: We had the dish sign used on our first one
5:23
Speaker 3: and I'm following up now. Yeah, we'll get the rest
5:25
Speaker 3: of the day in and that'll be half of the
5:27
Speaker 3: sort of young grass dished up, which will be lovely. Yeah,
5:30
Speaker 3: it's a good feeling.
5:31
Speaker 1: How many acres or hectares have you got to work
5:33
Speaker 1: up then?
5:34
Speaker 3: Oh, we're generally sort of 30 hectares of young grass
5:37
Speaker 3: and then 30 hectares suede to kale second year and
5:42
Speaker 3: then 30 hectares direct drilled into suede. So it's pretty straightforward.
5:46
Speaker 5: Yeah.
5:47
Speaker 1: So by the sounds of it, everybody in the basins
5:49
Speaker 1: cope pretty good with the conditions?
5:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, I haven't sort of caught up too many, but
5:54
Speaker 3: I was jacking to a chap on the phone the
5:58
Speaker 3: other night, and he's sort of similar to me. He
6:01
Speaker 3: goes a bit earlier, and he got tight the same
6:05
Speaker 3: as me, sort of early September, but now it's bounding away,
6:08
Speaker 3: and he said the same thing. It's a whole lot
6:11
Speaker 3: better than the last three. So no, I think most
6:14
Speaker 3: of us are through now, and yeah, just... starting to
6:18
Speaker 3: crank into some stuff, and yeah, it's windy, and hopefully
6:22
Speaker 3: we sort of keep getting an inch a week or
6:24
Speaker 3: a rain a week, otherwise this sort of country can
6:27
Speaker 3: go dry, but yeah, I don't want to start talking
6:29
Speaker 3: about it at the moment, let's just enjoy a fine
6:32
Speaker 3: run of weather and plenty of lambs bouncing around, yeah.
6:35
Speaker 1: With the way the weather's been over the previous three
6:39
Speaker 1: lambings as such, you're not tempted to change anything, or
6:42
Speaker 1: it's a case of it is what it is, and
6:44
Speaker 1: Mother Nature will be what it'll be?
6:47
Speaker 3: We're a mixed species on this farm, so, like, we
6:49
Speaker 3: just set stock lines last week, and that was getting
6:52
Speaker 3: just late enough for us, so we've sort of got
6:55
Speaker 3: a box using lambs up and create paddocks to set
6:58
Speaker 3: stock lines on, and these stairs going round, these dairy
7:02
Speaker 3: heifers going round, these stags that sort of need cut,
7:06
Speaker 3: these other stuff, so you always need an earlier mob
7:10
Speaker 3: just to create space later on, and, yeah, but I, yeah,
7:15
Speaker 3: I like to have a bit of a gap in between,
7:17
Speaker 3: and we put the mixed stage in Tudu's Ford five days.
7:22
Speaker 3: Didn't really make a lot of difference, but I think
7:24
Speaker 3: I'd just go back just for management reasons, really, and
7:28
Speaker 3: whether the Hockets just pushing back five days would be
7:32
Speaker 3: sort of the only change. It's just sort of being
7:36
Speaker 3: able to get around everything when you need to be
7:37
Speaker 3: getting around everything more than anything, yeah.
7:40
Speaker 1: How have the deer got through the season?
7:42
Speaker 3: Oh, no, no, real good.
7:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, no.
7:46
Speaker 3: Sort of found the right combination of swedes and baleage
7:48
Speaker 3: and everything and now the hinds were great through the
7:50
Speaker 3: shed they look fantastic um yeah so now they're all
7:54
Speaker 3: spread out and it's always a bit of a worry
7:57
Speaker 3: when it's sort of good like this and you've grown
7:58
Speaker 3: a lot of grass you've got the set stocking amount
8:02
Speaker 3: right just because if the cupboards get away um yeah
8:05
Speaker 3: some of those forms can get big in there inside
8:08
Speaker 3: them but um i think we'll be right and i'll
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Speaker 3: just sort of poke a bit of cattle in a
8:13
Speaker 3: paddock if we have to and take them out and
8:15
Speaker 3: just sort of juggle it around. But yeah, it's a
8:18
Speaker 3: whole lot better having grass than not having anything, isn't it?
8:21
Speaker 3: So it's small problems, small problems, yeah.
8:25
Speaker 1: A lot of talk around cell phone coverage. Speaking of
8:28
Speaker 1: the old yuppie phone up to your ear at the moment,
8:30
Speaker 1: what's it like around your neck of the woods? Do
8:32
Speaker 1: you struggle for coverage or a lot of dead spots?
8:35
Speaker 3: Well, if anyone was struggling for coverage in the basin,
8:38
Speaker 3: it wouldn't be me because there's actually a Vodafone tower
8:41
Speaker 3: in the middle of the farm.
8:42
Speaker 1: Well, then there'd be something wrong, wouldn't there?
8:47
Speaker 3: What I have with cell phone people is they need
8:49
Speaker 3: to maintain the track a whole lot better than what
8:51
Speaker 3: they do at the new water table because, yeah, they
8:54
Speaker 3: keep trying to get contractors up there to do work
8:57
Speaker 3: on it. No, that track's not that good. No, no,
8:59
Speaker 3: it's funny enough it isn't. You actually need to spend
9:01
Speaker 3: a bit of money on a track to maintain stuff, so...
9:03
Speaker 3: That's the only problem I have with them, the phone companies. But, yeah, no,
9:08
Speaker 3: we're pretty lucky where we are.
9:10
Speaker 1: The tower's on your farm.
9:12
Speaker 3: Yeah, the tower's on top of the hill. So, yeah,
9:15
Speaker 3: I'm looking straight up at the moment. Yeah, it's good.
9:19
Speaker 1: So they must have to do a lot of maintenance.
9:21
Speaker 1: Like you say, though, maintenance on the track, that's a no-brainer.
9:25
Speaker 1: It's on them.
9:26
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's their job to maintain it. Yeah, it's
9:30
Speaker 3: more health and safety. Like if guys are trying to
9:32
Speaker 3: get four drives up there and they can't, they slide
9:35
Speaker 3: in the ditches and all sorts of stuff. Well, there
9:38
Speaker 3: is no ditches at the moment. There's no water tables
9:40
Speaker 3: running down the track. So let's hope they slide that way.
9:44
Speaker 3: If they go the other way, that could get interesting,
9:47
Speaker 3: real interesting. But yeah, that's all part and parcel of it.
9:50
Speaker 3: But like anything, governments change, companies change, and Policies change
9:56
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden it's been a few years
9:58
Speaker 3: since the digger come down it and you start um
10:01
Speaker 3: having to make those interesting phone calls i suppose good on.
10:04
Speaker 1: You kaka we'll let you carry back we'll let you
10:06
Speaker 1: carry on we're cutting up those worms appreciate your time
10:08
Speaker 1: as always yeah well we.
10:10
Speaker 3: Were jumping all over the show on this session but
10:12
Speaker 3: no it was good get it all off my chest
10:14
Speaker 3: so no it's good and everyone else the springs start
10:17
Speaker 3: to come right and um able to get some stuff
10:20
Speaker 3: on the ground soon.
10:21
Speaker 5: So, good on you.
10:35
Speaker 1: Riley Kennedy of Business Desk joins us this afternoon. He
10:39
Speaker 1: is the 2026 Rural Communicator of the Year, as voted
10:43
Speaker 1: this year at the National Field Days. Good afternoon, Riley.
10:46
Speaker 1: Last time we spoke to you, you were going to
10:48
Speaker 1: a bull sale in the middle of Auckland. How did
10:50
Speaker 1: it go?
10:51
Speaker 6: Yeah, that bull sale was quite interesting, actually.
10:55
Speaker 7: Something like, they're averaging.
10:57
Speaker 6: About $ 8, 000 a head. Quite successful for Auckland Central. I'd
11:02
Speaker 6: imagine it would be a record if there was any
11:04
Speaker 6: other bull sales ever held here.
11:06
Speaker 1: Well, at least having a bull sale in the middle
11:08
Speaker 1: of Auckland gives a bit of credit to the Rimuera
11:10
Speaker 1: Tractor philosophy or theory.
11:12
Speaker 5: Yes, exactly, it does.
11:14
Speaker 6: And I'm... That bullseye was about 10 minutes out of
11:18
Speaker 6: the CBD. Well, today I'm joining you from basically directly
11:21
Speaker 6: under the sky tower, so I've gone quite far in
11:24
Speaker 6: a short amount of time.
11:26
Speaker 1: Just quickly, cell coverage is a massive thing rarely at
11:29
Speaker 1: the moment. You're in the middle of Auckland itself. Coverage,
11:32
Speaker 1: do you have any issues like dead spots and that?
11:34
Speaker 1: Is that such a thing in the City of Sales?
11:37
Speaker 7: Well, actually, funnily enough, it is.
11:39
Speaker 6: I was just trying to call someone before inside the
11:42
Speaker 6: hotel at the moment, and it was completely dead and
11:44
Speaker 6: I had to walk outside. I don't know whether that's
11:47
Speaker 6: an issue just with the hotel, but occasionally, or it
11:50
Speaker 6: could just be my technological incompetence, to be fair, and
11:52
Speaker 6: I couldn't get a phone to go, but occasionally I
11:54
Speaker 6: do find myself in a dead spot. But I know
11:56
Speaker 6: it's a massive issue in rural New Zealand and probably
11:59
Speaker 6: not so much here, but I do occasionally have to
12:02
Speaker 6: deal with it.
12:03
Speaker 1: Talking about dead spots, the lamb tariff situation with the
12:06
Speaker 1: US and President Trump wanting to put tariff on lamb
12:09
Speaker 1: coming into the country. Kate Eklund over there last week
12:12
Speaker 1: from Beef and Lamb pleading our case. Do you see
12:15
Speaker 1: a positive outcome out of this for New Zealand producers?
12:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, on a data point of view, it's a really
12:21
Speaker 6: tough sell for the American producers because Their lamb price
12:25
Speaker 6: on a New Zealand dollar basis is double than what
12:27
Speaker 6: we're getting. And we're getting record prices, right? You're not
12:31
Speaker 6: hearing too many people complain about lamb prices. Well, they're
12:34
Speaker 6: getting $ 24 a kilo and we're getting $ 12. And so,
12:37
Speaker 6: if anything, we're actually helping their industry rather than hindering it.
12:42
Speaker 6: I would say that it's a whole lot of uncertainty
12:44
Speaker 6: and it's quite a big process they've got to go through.
12:46
Speaker 6: This report has to be back within a month, I think,
12:49
Speaker 6: after Friday's hearing. And then it's actually up to President Trump.
12:53
Speaker 6: who makes the final call so i mean it really
12:56
Speaker 6: depends on what he you know on what he decides
13:00
Speaker 6: the one good thing is that it'll he'll probably make
13:02
Speaker 6: his decision i think maybe after the midterm elections um
13:07
Speaker 6: but interestingly he'd fallen out quite badly with the with
13:10
Speaker 6: the american cattle industry and they're basically republican voters right
13:14
Speaker 6: a bit like us falling out of bed with the
13:16
Speaker 6: current coalition but And so he's really annoyed them because
13:20
Speaker 6: he keeps bringing in cheap imported beef from low-cost producers
13:25
Speaker 6: like South America and stuff. So, I mean, who would know, really?
13:28
Speaker 6: But it all comes down to Trump.
13:30
Speaker 1: The American lamb industry stating that they don't like having
13:33
Speaker 1: to compete with New Zealand and Australia produce.
13:36
Speaker 5: Exactly.
13:37
Speaker 6: And it's actually largely aimed at Australia. We have 25%
13:43
Speaker 6: of that volume that goes into the States. Australia is
13:48
Speaker 6: about 75%. I think New Zealand does, as an industry,
13:52
Speaker 6: looks quite nervous. I mean, I think even, you know,
13:55
Speaker 6: like Napkin Guy has admitted that New Zealand is nervous.
13:58
Speaker 6: The Australians have been up there prior to this deal
14:00
Speaker 6: trying to actually cut a deal by saying they'll try
14:03
Speaker 6: and get the super funds, their super funds, to invest
14:06
Speaker 6: in their meat industry.
14:07
Speaker 5: We haven't.
14:08
Speaker 6: That might be because we're in election mode and our
14:11
Speaker 6: Trade Minister and Prime Minister and Foreign Minister are busy
14:13
Speaker 6: trying to campaign for our votes. I think we're either
14:18
Speaker 6: going to be the beneficiary of Australia's efforts or we're.
14:24
Speaker 7: Not at all.
14:25
Speaker 6: But yeah, I think it's very uncertain, but I think
14:29
Speaker 6: it's going to be an interesting outcome regardless.
14:31
Speaker 1: Is this a case of New Zealand just being tagged
14:33
Speaker 1: along with the Big Brother, Little Brother syndrome, courtesy of Australia?
14:37
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, your word's not mine. But I mean,
14:41
Speaker 6: in any case, globally, we're so small, right? We're going
14:44
Speaker 6: to be tacked on. to whatever happens globally, but kind of, yeah, basically.
14:53
Speaker 1: Well, and to follow on from that as well, and
14:55
Speaker 1: this still fascinates me, Mark Delatour of Open Country a
14:59
Speaker 1: few weeks ago on The Country with Jamie Mackay stating
15:01
Speaker 1: openly that New Zealand should withdraw from the Paris Accord,
15:05
Speaker 1: which has gone against the grain. So the fact that
15:08
Speaker 1: Mark's still giving credence to this, do you think this
15:10
Speaker 1: will ever occur?
15:13
Speaker 6: No, I don't think we would ever withdraw from it fully.
15:17
Speaker 3: I think.
15:18
Speaker 6: And the risk here is... I wrote about this maybe
15:22
Speaker 6: about 12 months ago, actually after the last election. I
15:25
Speaker 6: don't think it's perfect, but you can't say any agreement
15:27
Speaker 6: that we've ever signed up to is perfect. I don't
15:32
Speaker 6: think we should be the first mover in this. If
15:35
Speaker 6: everyone else follows, then of course, but.
15:41
Speaker 5: Yeah, the first.
15:43
Speaker 6: Mover advantage in this, I don't think, is a good call.
15:48
Speaker 6: But Mark likes to be very outspoken on various issues,
15:53
Speaker 6: and I suspect that benefits them trying to get farmers
15:59
Speaker 6: from their main competitor at Fonterra.
16:01
Speaker 1: The EU making noise as if New Zealand withdraws, and
16:04
Speaker 1: that'll impact on our free trade agreement.
16:07
Speaker 6: Yeah, and it would, but I would also note that
16:10
Speaker 6: last week's leaders' debate, the Herald's leaders' debate, Chris Hipkins
16:15
Speaker 6: left the door open to even signing up to the EU,
16:17
Speaker 6: which I thought was totally bizarre and weird, and why
16:20
Speaker 6: would we do that? But, I mean, the EU, they're
16:25
Speaker 6: a highly regulated market, and of course it would affect
16:30
Speaker 6: our STA, and that's something we've got to be very
16:32
Speaker 6: careful about. We don't want to lose access to markets
16:35
Speaker 6: by making a swift.
16:36
Speaker 3: Call like this.
16:38
Speaker 1: And just on that, Global Dairy Trade Auction occurring on
16:41
Speaker 1: Wednesday morning New Zealand time. What do you think is
16:43
Speaker 1: going to occur?
16:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, that is going to be an interesting one. I
16:47
Speaker 6: think the futures market for the milk price was north
16:52
Speaker 6: of $ 10 last week. It'll be interesting come early December,
16:59
Speaker 6: Fonterra will have to report their first quarter results, which
17:01
Speaker 6: is largely when they update the milk price. I would
17:04
Speaker 6: imagine if it keeps heading in the right direction, they'll
17:07
Speaker 6: have to upgrade their milk price again.
17:10
Speaker 7: But, yeah, last two weeks ago, it.
17:12
Speaker 6: Was all sort of driven by the pounders and while
17:15
Speaker 6: the fats were a little bit softer. I would imagine
17:20
Speaker 6: we'll continue to see that trend, but as long as
17:22
Speaker 6: it heads in.
17:23
Speaker 3: The right direction.
17:24
Speaker 1: Regarding this election campaign, we'll just touch on this. From
17:28
Speaker 1: a rural viewpoint, do you think New Zealand is going
17:30
Speaker 1: to be well served for the rural sector regardless of
17:33
Speaker 1: who's holding the portfolios in November?
17:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do.
17:39
Speaker 6: I think the current coalition have done a good job.
17:42
Speaker 6: The Labour Party too, I was talking to someone this morning,
17:46
Speaker 6: they're actively engaged with the sector and the sector's actively
17:50
Speaker 6: engaged with them. I suspect they've learned their lesson of
17:52
Speaker 6: what happened three, six, nine years ago. But if the
17:57
Speaker 6: left was to form a coalition, most of the agriculture policy,
18:00
Speaker 6: I suspect, would be driven by their coalition partners, be
18:05
Speaker 6: that in the Greens or whatever they want to do
18:07
Speaker 6: with fertiliser and maybe the Opportunity Party and the Party Māori.
18:12
Speaker 6: I suspect the Labour Party will basically do almost nothing...
18:16
Speaker 6: when it comes to ag policy, or nothing significant, because
18:19
Speaker 6: they don't want to get scared like they did.
18:21
Speaker 3: Three years ago.
18:22
Speaker 1: Well, Daniel Ebb, I was reading this morning, he was
18:25
Speaker 1: a Nuffield scholar back in 2021.
18:26
Speaker 6: Yes, quite an interesting guy, actually. I saw him on
18:31
Speaker 6: Queen Street campaigning a couple of Sundays ago, and I
18:33
Speaker 6: said to him, have you got nothing better to do
18:36
Speaker 6: than walk up and down Queen Street trying to get votes?
18:38
Speaker 6: It seems like my idea of hell.
18:40
Speaker 5: To be honest.
18:41
Speaker 1: Talking about hell or heaven, depending on what side of
18:43
Speaker 1: the coin you're on, your new train network, are you
18:45
Speaker 1: enjoying it? Do you use it?
18:47
Speaker 6: Oh, you know, I love the train network.
18:50
Speaker 7: CRL is brilliant.
18:51
Speaker 6: I'm actually standing outside one of the stations. I mean,
18:56
Speaker 6: it's very nerdy and it's a very Auckland thing. I've
18:59
Speaker 6: described it as all it is is a train in
19:02
Speaker 6: a hole that's very efficient. And it's really not that exciting,
19:07
Speaker 6: but I mean, I know it doesn't affect anyone outside
19:10
Speaker 6: of Auckland, but It does make Auckland a much more
19:12
Speaker 6: mature city. I mean, the train system here, quite frankly,
19:16
Speaker 6: was just a bit shit beforehand. Now it's very good.
19:19
Speaker 6: The other day I caught the train from our office
19:21
Speaker 6: down to lunch at Britomart, and then I got the
19:23
Speaker 6: train back. I mean, I could have just walked, to
19:25
Speaker 6: be honest, but it was. It is a bit of
19:28
Speaker 6: a novelty, in fact. I mean, Auckland forever is going
19:31
Speaker 6: to have public transport issues, but this does go a
19:34
Speaker 6: long way to helping relieve those.
19:36
Speaker 1: I've never heard of Auckland being called mature before, but
19:39
Speaker 1: we'll leave it there, Riley. You've got a busy old
19:41
Speaker 1: day ahead of you. Thanks for your time as always.
19:43
Speaker 7: Very busy old day. Peek-a-ha.
19:54
Speaker 1: The Cars, that's the music for a Tuesday afternoon. You're
19:58
Speaker 1: listening to the muster on Hokonui as we head over
20:01
Speaker 1: to Jericho Station, not far from Manapōuri, and we catch
20:04
Speaker 1: up with Harriet Bremner once again. G'day, Harriet.
20:07
Speaker 7: How are you?
20:08
Speaker 2: Oh, g'day, Andy. Not too bad, thank you. Enjoying the sunshine,
20:12
Speaker 2: digging hoggets today, so it's nice that it's a nice day, but,
20:16
Speaker 2: you know, those days are always a bit long and
20:18
Speaker 2: drawn out, aren't they?
20:19
Speaker 1: It's just one of those repetitive jobs that needs done,
20:21
Speaker 1: I suppose.
20:23
Speaker 2: It is, and, you know, one of those jobs that
20:25
Speaker 2: you just can't make go any faster, so it is
20:27
Speaker 2: what it is.
20:29
Speaker 1: So you're just pushing up?
20:31
Speaker 2: Yep, just pushing up today. We've got a two-stand trailer there, so,
20:34
Speaker 2: you know, it's better than doing them ourselves. But, yeah,
20:37
Speaker 2: not the most exciting job in the world, but that's OK.
20:39
Speaker 2: It has to be done.
20:40
Speaker 1: These portable dagging trailers, though, they've been a game-changer for
20:43
Speaker 1: handpiece work for a lot of people, it's fair to say.
20:46
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, you'd like to think so. I mean, yeah,
20:50
Speaker 2: a bit easier on the body for those that are
20:51
Speaker 2: doing the dagging and stuff and definitely can get through
20:54
Speaker 2: some more numbers. So, no, it's great. And, yeah, we can't.
20:58
Speaker 2: Can't complain, they're not too dirty. So, yeah, it's just
21:01
Speaker 2: another job ticking off the list this week amongst the
21:03
Speaker 2: tractor work and, you know, playing a bit of catch
21:06
Speaker 2: up since it's dried out a bit, which is good.
21:08
Speaker 1: How are the hoggets looking?
21:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, they're looking really good, Andy, actually. We didn't
21:13
Speaker 2: put ours in lamb this year, so that's been really nice. But, yeah,
21:18
Speaker 2: I'm actually excited to see how they grow out, having
21:21
Speaker 2: not had a lamb. So I think that'll be pretty
21:24
Speaker 2: cool to see. But, yeah, no, we're happy with them,
21:25
Speaker 2: so that's good.
21:26
Speaker 1: Yeah, we've talked about this before. A lot of people
21:28
Speaker 1: putting hoggets into land, but you guys going the other way.
21:31
Speaker 1: So it will be interesting to see what the difference
21:34
Speaker 1: is when they're tutus.
21:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so. I'm looking forward to a scanning
21:39
Speaker 2: result as a tutus. And then, you know, I suppose
21:42
Speaker 2: a lot of people talk about you get another year
21:45
Speaker 2: out of them at the other end. So everybody's got
21:47
Speaker 2: different opinions when it comes to hoggets and mating them,
21:49
Speaker 2: don't they? But It's the first year we haven't done it,
21:52
Speaker 2: but it's made my lambing bait a lot more pleasant.
21:56
Speaker 2: And I'm not missing them, that's for sure.
21:58
Speaker 1: Absolutely. And talking about a lot of people having opinion
22:01
Speaker 1: at the moment regarding Education Minister Erica Stamford proposing that agriculture,
22:06
Speaker 1: agribusiness and horticultural science be dropped from the Year 11
22:11
Speaker 1: as standalone subjects, this is not good thinking on her behalf.
22:16
Speaker 2: No, look, I agree with you. It's really disappointing. Yeah.
22:21
Speaker 2: you know, we've talked before, I think you'd like to
22:24
Speaker 2: think that the education system has come further forward than
22:27
Speaker 2: that by now, you know, from when we were at
22:30
Speaker 2: school where, you know, for me personally it wasn't an
22:32
Speaker 2: option to do ag, and all my friends at school
22:36
Speaker 2: at the time, we all really wanted to do it,
22:38
Speaker 2: and we're all now in agriculture, whether we're on farm
22:41
Speaker 2: or working in the industry in some way, shape or form,
22:44
Speaker 2: so I think you like to think that those people
22:47
Speaker 2: that want to do it for their future will find
22:49
Speaker 2: a way, but If we want to get other people
22:51
Speaker 2: into our sector and expose them to ag, then it's
22:54
Speaker 2: got to start at school really, doesn't it? And yeah,
22:56
Speaker 2: I think this is just going to make some things harder,
23:00
Speaker 2: isn't it?
23:01
Speaker 1: I spoke to Mel Young from Southland Girls High School
23:03
Speaker 1: on the programme the other day, and she talked about
23:07
Speaker 1: the Young Farmers Movement, 120 of the ladies at school
23:11
Speaker 1: being involved with it, the students, and just going up
23:14
Speaker 1: and up, and they were just driving the ag programme
23:17
Speaker 1: as such. And I asked her why. She just said
23:20
Speaker 1: one thing, they've got a passion for the industry.
23:22
Speaker 2: Oh, and that's so cool to hear, isn't it? And
23:24
Speaker 2: I think that the people that have been immersed in
23:28
Speaker 2: it as a young child growing up, you know, on
23:31
Speaker 2: a farm or having been exposed to farms, they've already
23:35
Speaker 2: had the opportunity to have a look into the industry.
23:38
Speaker 2: But I'm also thinking about those kids that are growing
23:41
Speaker 2: up that, you know, maybe are watching from afar and
23:43
Speaker 2: wondering how on earth would I get into that industry?
23:46
Speaker 2: And if they don't have the opportunity at school to
23:48
Speaker 2: do that, you know, what options are there? Obviously, if
23:51
Speaker 2: you've got university or going straight out and working on farms,
23:55
Speaker 2: or you're growing future farmers and avenues like that. But
23:59
Speaker 2: it would be really key, I think, to have the
24:01
Speaker 2: opportunity from 15 years old and then they can start
24:07
Speaker 2: the plan for their career from there, can't they?
24:10
Speaker 1: And we're living in a society these days where, ironically enough,
24:14
Speaker 1: city children or people living in an urban environment in
24:17
Speaker 1: the big cities, especially around the world, still believe that
24:21
Speaker 1: milk just grows overnight in the supermarket.
24:24
Speaker 2: Yeah oh we were talking about this the other day
24:27
Speaker 2: and it's funny isn't it because i'm i'm sure a
24:30
Speaker 2: lot of people when they go to the supermarket you
24:33
Speaker 2: know they're looking for the best deals and things as
24:35
Speaker 2: we all tend to but are they really thinking about
24:39
Speaker 2: where has that mince come from or that lamb you
24:41
Speaker 2: know um so there is a big disconnect isn't there
24:45
Speaker 2: these days and you know friends of mine generation all
24:50
Speaker 2: had connections with farms you know cousins that had farms
24:52
Speaker 2: and they would spend school holidays on those farms and
24:54
Speaker 2: things but I talk to friends that are teaching in
24:57
Speaker 2: urban schools now and their kids in their classrooms don't
25:01
Speaker 2: have any of those opportunities even as primary school children
25:05
Speaker 2: to spend time on farms and school holidays and things
25:08
Speaker 2: so they're just not getting that initial connection with rural
25:11
Speaker 2: life which is a real shame.
25:13
Speaker 1: It's the same old story, and I like this saying,
25:15
Speaker 1: you walk into a supermarket an environmentalist, yet you leave
25:19
Speaker 1: an economist.
25:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, well, it's really interesting because I think we
25:24
Speaker 2: were spoken to by the supermarkets on my Xander McDonald tour,
25:27
Speaker 2: and they were saying that during the cost of living
25:32
Speaker 2: crisis that people were, the first thing that they dropped
25:36
Speaker 2: was the prices that they were spending on meat products,
25:39
Speaker 2: so they suddenly started buying the cheapest meat meats that
25:42
Speaker 2: they could for the whole week. And then they were
25:45
Speaker 2: shouting themselves to like one really nice piece of meat,
25:48
Speaker 2: you know, on like a Saturday night because it was
25:51
Speaker 2: like their treat. Does that make sense? So rather than
25:53
Speaker 2: eating middle range meat for the whole week, they were
25:58
Speaker 2: dropping their standard for most of the week and then
26:00
Speaker 2: eating one more expensive cut just one night of the week.
26:04
Speaker 2: So it's just interesting the psychology around that as well,
26:06
Speaker 2: I think.
26:07
Speaker 1: Chicken and pork, especially the pork industry, on social media recently, Harriet,
26:11
Speaker 1: they've been out there saying, what's the difference between the
26:14
Speaker 1: two dishes? They've got a beef mince and they've got
26:16
Speaker 1: pork mince, and they're just saying simply the price.
26:21
Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, well, you and I both know at the moment,
26:23
Speaker 2: you know, I've ordered my groceries to pick up today
26:25
Speaker 2: with a delivery, and every time I unpack them at
26:29
Speaker 2: the moment, there are no treats in there and there's
26:31
Speaker 2: no nice things, but it's very expensive, and that's... You know,
26:35
Speaker 2: the only meat that I buy is chicken. Obviously, we
26:38
Speaker 2: eat everything else off the farm. But, you know, if
26:42
Speaker 2: people are having to purchase all of their meat products
26:44
Speaker 2: from the supermarket as well, it must be seriously expensive, even,
26:50
Speaker 2: you know, if they are trying to buy the cheaper cuts.
26:52
Speaker 2: So I can understand why people are making those choices.
26:56
Speaker 1: You have got an interesting week ahead of you. Your
26:59
Speaker 1: collar wearables are turning up.
27:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, so excited. We've got 500 halter collars turning
27:05
Speaker 2: up hopefully Thursday for all the young stock and then
27:09
Speaker 2: another 350 of them turning up for the mixed-age cows
27:12
Speaker 2: in November at calf marking time. So, yeah, we've got
27:16
Speaker 2: tractors going, we're haltering all the young stock and, yeah,
27:21
Speaker 2: today dagging and, oh, yeah, she's pretty busy for this
27:27
Speaker 2: couple of weeks but super excited to see what we
27:31
Speaker 2: can do with halter moving forward. And, yeah, Neil and
27:34
Speaker 2: I just can't wait to get them on and get
27:37
Speaker 2: cranking into it. So, yeah, I think it's going to
27:39
Speaker 2: be a game changer, especially actually for us on the hill.
27:41
Speaker 2: You know, our flats are already like a dairy farm.
27:45
Speaker 2: So I think pasture growth will increase down there too,
27:49
Speaker 2: but what we'll be able to do with the cows
27:50
Speaker 2: on the hill too will be really cool to see.
27:53
Speaker 1: And your previous winner of the Xander MacDonald Award nominations
27:57
Speaker 1: or entries, I suppose, better terminology, they're open at the
28:00
Speaker 1: moment still?
28:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, the entries are open and I just wanted to
28:04
Speaker 2: have a shout out to the award and say that
28:06
Speaker 2: if anybody is curious or wondering whether they should apply,
28:11
Speaker 2: then please just do because it's a great process to
28:14
Speaker 2: go through to figure out where you're at for yourself.
28:18
Speaker 2: But also if you get the opportunity to move forward
28:20
Speaker 2: and be part of the alumni and part of the
28:22
Speaker 2: Zander family, then it is really a life changing thing
28:25
Speaker 2: that you can do. You know, I had to have
28:28
Speaker 2: a wee push to apply myself. but you've got nothing
28:31
Speaker 2: to lose and everything to gain, so go ahead and
28:34
Speaker 2: head and apply, and if you've got any questions about it,
28:37
Speaker 2: flick me a message on social media through Gert and Pops,
28:40
Speaker 2: and I can answer any questions.
28:41
Speaker 1: Good on you, Harriet. All the best with that dagging trailer.
28:45
Speaker 5: Thanks, Andy.
28:46
Speaker 2: Hopefully it doesn't get too much hotter. Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby!
28:48
Speaker 7: Ruby!
28:58
Speaker 1: Don Morrison farms at Willow Bank. He's a former Alliance
29:01
Speaker 1: Board Director and we catch up once again on the muster.
29:04
Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Howie Blue Sky. It's a thing of beauty.
29:07
Speaker 5: Kia ora, Andy. Yeah, no, it's great summer this weather
29:12
Speaker 5: and you can rock and roll and really get some
29:14
Speaker 5: good work done when you get a week like this,
29:16
Speaker 5: that's for sure.
29:17
Speaker 1: How are ground conditions out there?
29:20
Speaker 5: Oh no, superb Andy, you know, and nice fresh green covering,
29:24
Speaker 5: things are coming away, we've been doing, started the tailing and,
29:28
Speaker 5: you know, animals are better than I thought they might be,
29:31
Speaker 5: you know, condition of the ewes, lambs are looking pretty
29:34
Speaker 5: good and we've got some pretty good paddock percentages, so,
29:39
Speaker 5: you know, the... that tough weather was tough, but it
29:43
Speaker 5: was a bit depressing, but fortunately, I think we've got
29:46
Speaker 5: away pretty lightly. We've had all that rain, but when
29:48
Speaker 5: you get some good weeks, we're still going to need
29:50
Speaker 5: some rain, and I see that's what we're getting next week.
29:53
Speaker 5: We're busy, got a lot of ground turned over, so
29:55
Speaker 5: the last of the barley went in yesterday, and we've
29:59
Speaker 5: got another This week we'll have all the leafy turnip,
30:02
Speaker 5: the summer turnip sown, and we've already got a lot
30:05
Speaker 5: of the fodderbeet area turned over and ready. So we've
30:10
Speaker 5: had a big week tailing, tractor wheels turning, and still
30:15
Speaker 5: landing some hoggets, probably about 200 or 300 hoggets left
30:17
Speaker 5: to land, but the end's in sight on them as well.
30:20
Speaker 1: So even with the correction in the weather, you've managed
30:22
Speaker 1: to get things up to speed?
30:24
Speaker 5: Oh, I just dried up nice and quickly, Andy, which,
30:27
Speaker 5: you know, let us turn over paddocks and that was
30:29
Speaker 5: the big thing we thought might have held us off. So, yeah, no,
30:33
Speaker 5: we're pretty up to date. And then, of course, the
30:35
Speaker 5: other thing, we've got some loggers in at the moment.
30:39
Speaker 5: We're working on some of the damage from last year's storm.
30:42
Speaker 5: So it actually feels very much like it did last
30:45
Speaker 5: year when we were actually on top of things and
30:49
Speaker 5: then in came that storm and made a heck of
30:51
Speaker 5: a mess.
30:52
Speaker 1: The anniversary's the 23rd of October, which is Friday. It's
30:56
Speaker 1: 12 months on now. A lot of people are still
30:58
Speaker 1: feeling the after effects. Yourself's there. What are you having
31:02
Speaker 1: to do as a result of 12 months ago?
31:04
Speaker 5: Are we?
31:04
Speaker 3: Are we?
31:05
Speaker 5: We've still got a lot of fencing to do, Andy.
31:08
Speaker 5: What we had to fix was the fencing on one
31:10
Speaker 5: side of the shelter belt so that paddocks were stopped through.
31:13
Speaker 5: But now we've had to drop a lot of those trees.
31:15
Speaker 5: We're milling what we can, firewooding some others. and then
31:18
Speaker 5: we've got a re-fence on the south side that all
31:22
Speaker 5: the trees toppled over. So that's going to be a
31:25
Speaker 5: bit of an expense and some work, although we've got
31:29
Speaker 5: probably about a third of it done, and now we'll
31:32
Speaker 5: get into it these next six weeks.
31:34
Speaker 1: Apparently, Invercargill or Southland was the windiest place on earth
31:38
Speaker 1: that day.
31:38
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was kind of a freezing temper to go through.
31:42
Speaker 1: Oh, God, was it worse.
31:43
Speaker 5: So, yeah, no, pretty, I can certainly remember it well, Andy.
31:46
Speaker 1: Right, so the hoggarts, it's been a topic for a
31:49
Speaker 1: lot of people at the moment. Like I said, Harriet
31:50
Speaker 1: Bremner yesterday, they don't lamb their hoggarts. A lot of
31:53
Speaker 1: people do put the ram out there, though, and you've
31:56
Speaker 1: been happy with how it's been going, Howie, compared to, say,
31:58
Speaker 1: the main flock?
31:59
Speaker 5: Oh, ewes are easy to lamb compared with hoggarts. And
32:02
Speaker 5: the hoggarts, you've still got to do a bit of work.
32:04
Speaker 5: There's some to lamb every morning. There's a few deaths.
32:08
Speaker 5: But what I like to look at it, Andy, is,
32:11
Speaker 5: you know, people often, quote, the stock units they're running.
32:14
Speaker 5: I actually prefer to look at it as quoting your
32:17
Speaker 5: productive units. So if you're running a hogget for the
32:21
Speaker 5: whole year and you're not producing a lamb, it's not
32:23
Speaker 5: exactly a productive unit. So, look, I understand why a
32:25
Speaker 5: lot of people don't. There's a cost with it, there's
32:27
Speaker 5: extra work. But as far as we go, it's a
32:30
Speaker 5: big part of our operation. We are, you know, about
32:33
Speaker 5: 900 hoggets in lamb at 130%. You know, that's... that's
32:40
Speaker 5: up where we used to be doing probably 20, 30
32:42
Speaker 5: years ago with our ewes. So there's certainly a good
32:46
Speaker 5: potential there.
32:47
Speaker 1: Do you cull your dry hoggarts?
32:50
Speaker 5: The dry hoggarts, the ones that don't, no, we've made
32:53
Speaker 5: our selection on what the replacements are going to be.
32:56
Speaker 5: So no, they are retained. We still need those numbers. But,
33:01
Speaker 5: you know, and we accept that they're not all going
33:03
Speaker 5: to raise a lamb. So, you know, what does, does,
33:06
Speaker 5: and that's... a big part of our system.
33:09
Speaker 1: Howie, a big issue at the moment with funding for
33:12
Speaker 1: the health system, the election isn't too far away. You've
33:16
Speaker 1: been pretty open and transparent about the way your vote's
33:18
Speaker 1: going to be swayed. What are you seeing in the
33:20
Speaker 1: political landscape at the moment?
33:23
Speaker 5: Look, I hear the rhetoric that goes back between the
33:26
Speaker 5: main parties and a lot of the minor parties is
33:28
Speaker 5: just not positive what they're going to do. It's blame
33:32
Speaker 5: game to the other party. We absolutely need a reset
33:35
Speaker 5: in New Zealand because we are totally under-resourced in health
33:39
Speaker 5: and we are totally under-resourced in education. And they're two
33:42
Speaker 5: really crucial areas that are going to hold the country back. Look,
33:46
Speaker 5: I was visiting a great mate in Southend Hospice on
33:49
Speaker 5: the weekend. And, you know, they're reliant on donations and
33:53
Speaker 5: the hospice shop and sausage sizzles for 55% of their funding.
33:58
Speaker 5: You see the kids at Starship that aren't getting treated. So,
34:01
Speaker 5: you know, we absolutely need a reset, and I'm firmly
34:04
Speaker 5: in the camp of we need a tax reset, and
34:08
Speaker 5: that's those that should be paying their fair share of
34:11
Speaker 5: the tax need to be doing it. If you're a
34:14
Speaker 5: wage earner, you are taxed on everything you earn, and
34:18
Speaker 5: yet there's a lot of people in business with capital
34:20
Speaker 5: gains that go untaxed. So my response is if you
34:25
Speaker 5: disagree with that, hey, get over yourself because we all
34:28
Speaker 5: need to be paying our fair share, myself included.
34:31
Speaker 1: Because I remember we spoke to you last time and
34:34
Speaker 1: you weren't a fan of the right as such. Opportunity,
34:36
Speaker 1: is that the kind of party you'll go for? Bearing
34:40
Speaker 1: in mind there's a good chance they could actually go
34:42
Speaker 1: in a right-wing coalition.
34:44
Speaker 5: Oh, absolutely, Andy. I make no apologies for that. Look,
34:49
Speaker 5: I've been frustrated with many things that this present coalition
34:52
Speaker 5: government has done. Um, and a lot of that is
34:55
Speaker 5: particularly on the treaty, you know, that's our founding document
34:58
Speaker 5: and to be ignoring the principles of that has really
35:01
Speaker 5: set race relations back in New Zealand, probably 20 years. Um, so,
35:05
Speaker 5: so I was really annoyed with a lot of that,
35:07
Speaker 5: the anti, the smoking, um, they've done some good things.
35:10
Speaker 5: They've gotten the free trade agreement with India is probably
35:12
Speaker 5: one of the best things as farmers that, that the
35:15
Speaker 5: coalition's achieved. And yet you've got Winston, um, going on
35:19
Speaker 5: about it being such a bad deal. And, and, uh,
35:22
Speaker 5: and dishing out the whole racist rhetoric. So I'm not
35:25
Speaker 5: a fan of this coalition government. I'm certainly not necessarily
35:29
Speaker 5: a fan of extreme left policy either, so I'm very centrist.
35:33
Speaker 5: And I see the Opportunity Party as being a circuit breaker,
35:38
Speaker 5: and I think if we've got a left-wing government or
35:41
Speaker 5: a right-wing government, gee, we need that Opportunity Party there
35:44
Speaker 5: to give it some correction. So that's my view on it.
35:47
Speaker 1: The fact that they've dropped some of their bottom lines, though,
35:49
Speaker 1: are you concerned they flip-flopped?
35:51
Speaker 5: No, because the bottom line that everyone talks about is
35:54
Speaker 5: their citizens' income and their land value tax. And what
35:58
Speaker 5: they've actually said is it's a discussion point because we
36:01
Speaker 5: need a tax reset in the country. And so, you know,
36:05
Speaker 5: that wasn't a bottom line, but it's a starting point
36:08
Speaker 5: for them. So, you know, and I support that we
36:11
Speaker 5: need a tax reset.
36:13
Speaker 1: Bowdoin Barrett was pretty good at the weekend.
36:16
Speaker 5: Bowdoin Barrett was a very good Andy. So, yes, from
36:18
Speaker 5: Humpel Pie. Humpel Pie.
36:20
Speaker 1: Well, it's really being.
36:21
Speaker 5: eaten by me. No, no, it was a, hey, I
36:25
Speaker 5: guess what they say is, you know, class is timeless
36:28
Speaker 5: and form can be variable. So he certainly showed his class. And, hey,
36:34
Speaker 5: great to see him still got that pace with that
36:37
Speaker 5: try line open at the other end of the paddock.
36:39
Speaker 1: But how bad were Australia? Honestly, the game was over
36:44
Speaker 1: within 30 minutes and a few people switched off thinking, well,
36:48
Speaker 1: there's no contest now. And that's the thing, the Bledisloe
36:50
Speaker 1: used to be a contest. In the late 90s, early
36:53
Speaker 1: to mid 2000s, it could ebb and flow either way.
36:56
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was.
36:57
Speaker 5: And, you know, we need strong opposition. We need strong
37:01
Speaker 5: opposition for our, you know, domestic, the Super Rugby competition,
37:05
Speaker 5: and we need it in our internationals. So, um, Yeah,
37:08
Speaker 5: it would be nice to see Australia a bit stronger.
37:10
Speaker 5: They'll go away from those two beatings hurting a fair bit,
37:14
Speaker 5: and I believe they will come back stronger. I think
37:16
Speaker 5: Les Kiss has actually unearthed some pretty good individual talent,
37:20
Speaker 5: but it's a matter of getting them to gel as
37:22
Speaker 5: a team.
37:23
Speaker 1: Good on you, Hal. We'll let you get back to
37:24
Speaker 1: the tailing pen. Always good to catch up.
37:27
Speaker 5: Yeah, all good.
37:35
Speaker 1: Cheers, Andy. Welcome back. This is the muster on Hokanui.
37:40
Speaker 1: We're away over to Western Australia this afternoon to catch
37:43
Speaker 1: up with Dave Biss, formerly the Maniato. These days, a
37:46
Speaker 1: livestock representative just out of Perth. G'day, Bissy.
37:52
Speaker 4: Morning, Andy. How's things down there in the Deep South?
37:54
Speaker 1: Well, last time we spoke to you, there was rain
37:57
Speaker 1: for Africa. Fortunately, we've got off the African continent. Hopefully
38:00
Speaker 1: we're a bit more of a European feel about things now.
38:03
Speaker 1: We've seen a bit of growth and people have got
38:05
Speaker 1: on with things. But over there in WA, how's it
38:08
Speaker 1: been weather-wise? I suppose, you know, having lambing in September
38:12
Speaker 1: isn't a problem.
38:13
Speaker 4: No, that's right.
38:14
Speaker 8: And those lambs now are flowing through, starting to flow
38:17
Speaker 8: through the sale yards. And I just compared your pricing
38:22
Speaker 8: yesterday that you guys had compared to what we had
38:25
Speaker 8: over the last couple of weeks and i reckon we're
38:26
Speaker 8: bang on your pricing's pretty much on par with ours
38:29
Speaker 8: or ours is on par with yours.
38:31
Speaker 1: Well that's surprising because australia has always been a hit
38:33
Speaker 1: of new zealand and prices for red meat it.
38:36
Speaker 8: Has indeed but um you know uh i i saw
38:39
Speaker 8: some lambs that you guys sold the other day maybe
38:41
Speaker 8: two three weeks ago they.
38:42
Speaker 4: Were close to 500 bucks i mean How does that work,
38:45
Speaker 4: you know?
38:45
Speaker 1: There was a pen of lambs at Charlton, went for $ 525,
38:49
Speaker 1: and new season lambs are going for over $ 300 at
38:52
Speaker 1: certain yards around the country, so the positivity is there,
38:55
Speaker 1: I suppose, yeah.
38:57
Speaker 4: It is, and long may it last.
38:59
Speaker 8: As long as it doesn't get too high and we
39:02
Speaker 8: can just sort of ride that storm and just, you know,
39:04
Speaker 8: we don't want boom and bust, do we?
39:05
Speaker 4: Just steady, steady, keep it rolling.
39:08
Speaker 1: Is that the state of play over there in WA
39:10
Speaker 1: with the farmers? They're pretty happy at the moment heading
39:12
Speaker 1: into summer?
39:14
Speaker 5: They are, they are.
39:15
Speaker 8: But as per the Kiwi boys, you know, their bloody inputs,
39:18
Speaker 8: they just keep going up, fertiliser and diesel. It just
39:21
Speaker 8: makes things very tricky. So as we've said before, a
39:24
Speaker 8: lot of those cropping guys are holding back ewe lambs
39:28
Speaker 8: and hoggets and breeding more to hold them back. on
39:30
Speaker 8: to keep on the farm just to keep those cropping
39:32
Speaker 8: costs at bay.
39:34
Speaker 1: Luxor Diesel, what are you having to pay over there
39:36
Speaker 1: at the moment a litre in town?
39:39
Speaker 4: Well, it's jumped up again. It's just under three bucks, $ 2.
39:41
Speaker 5: 80.
39:42
Speaker 4: And it varies from.
39:42
Speaker 1: About $ 2.
39:42
Speaker 4: 60 to $ 2. 85 at the moment, depending where you are.
39:48
Speaker 8: But as soon as you head inland, chuck another 20
39:51
Speaker 8: cents on it. Or if you're in the Kimberleys, it'll
39:53
Speaker 8: be well over $ 3. So it's starting to get a
39:56
Speaker 8: bit rich.
39:57
Speaker 1: But you talked, OK, you've got diesel, you've got fuel concerns, fertiliser.
40:02
Speaker 1: What's happening with the price of urea, for example? Are
40:04
Speaker 1: you seeing a spike?
40:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely.
40:07
Speaker 8: And I can't give you a price. But yeah, it's
40:10
Speaker 8: only heading up. A lot of the guys locked in
40:13
Speaker 8: early last year, and I think that saved their bacon.
40:16
Speaker 8: saying that the yields that are coming off at the
40:18
Speaker 8: moment are pretty healthy. So I think everyone's happy in general.
40:21
Speaker 1: Have you got much grass over in the state there
40:23
Speaker 1: at the moment? Or if your job, you're sending road trains,
40:27
Speaker 1: literally road train after road train into state. Is that happening?
40:32
Speaker 4: That is happening.
40:33
Speaker 8: That is happening not to the greatest extent as it
40:35
Speaker 8: did this time last year, just because the season's a
40:38
Speaker 8: bit better. So the boys are holding on to the
40:40
Speaker 8: lambs and just putting more kilos on the scales.
40:43
Speaker 4: Which is good. So the store market, I just got.
40:46
Speaker 8: Quoted 1900 Merino lambs just before you called. And I
40:52
Speaker 8: reckon there'll be $ 4. 30, $ 4. 40 a kilo live weight on farm.
40:58
Speaker 8: And they were averaging 28 kilos. So they're a later drop,
41:02
Speaker 8: smaller animal as they stand at the moment. There's an
41:05
Speaker 8: example for you.
41:06
Speaker 1: So what would your average rainfall be? We talked about
41:09
Speaker 1: this a couple of chats ago, Missy, regarding rainfall figures,
41:13
Speaker 1: and you've actually done some homework around this.
41:16
Speaker 4: Yeah, I have.
41:17
Speaker 8: I probably shot myself in the foot there last time
41:18
Speaker 8: because I really just went for that dry area.
41:20
Speaker 4: But if you took it to Kimberley, so that Broome, Kununurra.
41:24
Speaker 8: Area, you're anything from up to 60 inches a year.
41:30
Speaker 8: But then, and that doesn't sound like a lot, I'm
41:33
Speaker 8: afraid to say the Waikato or somewhere, but then the
41:36
Speaker 8: time of the year.
41:36
Speaker 4: Where there's no rain kicks in.
41:38
Speaker 8: Your wheat belt, if you come into the middle and
41:40
Speaker 8: head east, is sort of up to between 12 and
41:43
Speaker 8: 20 inches a year. And then your Albany Esperance area,
41:47
Speaker 8: that range is from 20 to 40 inches a year.
41:50
Speaker 8: So there's a big, big difference between the high and
41:53
Speaker 8: the low. But you've got to take into consideration the
41:56
Speaker 8: tropics versus not and the long season where there's nothing
42:00
Speaker 8: happening at all.
42:01
Speaker 4: So, you know, it plays its part there.
42:03
Speaker 1: Is El Nino going to have a bearing on prices?
42:08
Speaker 4: Well, it depends whether you believe it or not. Do
42:11
Speaker 4: you know what I mean? It's a hard one. If
42:14
Speaker 4: it kicks into gear, it will, I'm sure. What do
42:18
Speaker 4: you think?
42:19
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting to see. The next few weeks may
42:21
Speaker 1: give us a bit more of an indication as to
42:23
Speaker 1: where we're at, I suppose.
42:25
Speaker 8: Yeah, and we're sitting at the same thing. I think
42:29
Speaker 8: we've almost got to suck it and see and just
42:31
Speaker 8: see what pans out, I think.
42:34
Speaker 1: What about the staffing situation over there, the mines? An
42:36
Speaker 1: interesting one. A lot of people go over there. We've
42:38
Speaker 1: talked about this before, but you were talking some astronomical
42:42
Speaker 1: figure around turnover of staff.
42:45
Speaker 8: Yeah, the turnover of, I have a mate who's the
42:48
Speaker 8: CEO of a mining company and he banks on 37%
42:50
Speaker 8: staff turnover, of which 65% are Kiwis and the balance
42:55
Speaker 8: made up of wherever, which is a massive turnover. I
43:00
Speaker 8: know another big corporate, they work on 35% across the board.
43:04
Speaker 4: So it's, and they, obviously they're banking and they're doing
43:07
Speaker 4: a budget around that, but it's big numbers, Andy. It's
43:09
Speaker 4: huge turnover.
43:11
Speaker 1: Why so high?
43:14
Speaker 8: Oh, let's say you've got blokes coming in from New Zealand,
43:17
Speaker 8: or women, males and females rolling in from, say, New Zealand.
43:20
Speaker 8: Let's say there's 10 of them, and three don't like
43:23
Speaker 8: the heat, three don't like being underground, and the balance
43:26
Speaker 8: love it. Or, you know, I think it's a bit
43:30
Speaker 8: of a pipe dream too. They think it's all beer
43:31
Speaker 8: and Skittles. It's pretty hard work at times. If you're
43:34
Speaker 8: underground and it's 33 degrees and it's pitch black and
43:39
Speaker 8: it's 85% humidity and it's raining on you and you're
43:43
Speaker 8: drinking 10 litres of water a day, it's not an
43:44
Speaker 8: easy day at the office.
43:46
Speaker 1: It's like farming. If it was easy, everybody would be
43:49
Speaker 1: doing it.
43:50
Speaker 4: That's right. That's right. But the guys that can hang
43:53
Speaker 4: in there, they can do really well. If you've got
43:55
Speaker 4: a bit of go.
43:56
Speaker 8: In you and you've got some common sense and you
43:57
Speaker 8: ask the questions and you do the right thing and
44:00
Speaker 8: you turn up for work and you've got.
44:01
Speaker 4: A good attitude, you can do really well. it can
44:04
Speaker 4: be a really good positive experience.
44:06
Speaker 1: Let's talk the Bledisloe Cup. The ABs put the Wallabies
44:09
Speaker 1: to the sword yet again, Bissy. I think there's 13
44:11
Speaker 1: wins in a row. What's the perception of the Wallabies
44:14
Speaker 1: over there in Perth, which is a bit of a
44:16
Speaker 1: rugby city given its expat population and you're less than
44:20
Speaker 1: a year out now from the Rugby World Cup in Aussie?
44:23
Speaker 8: Well, I think they recognise the fact that they've had
44:26
Speaker 8: a great start to the season.
44:27
Speaker 4: And then they've played a couple of good teams and
44:29
Speaker 4: they've been spanked.
44:32
Speaker 8: The diehards still think that they're making great progress, but
44:35
Speaker 8: I just think that they don't have any depth. It's
44:38
Speaker 8: pretty shallow. Yeah, I would say they're nervous. I feel
44:43
Speaker 8: sorry for Les Kiss, that coach. He's got a hard
44:45
Speaker 8: road to hoe, hasn't he?
44:47
Speaker 1: He's a very good coach, though. He comes with a
44:49
Speaker 1: very good coaching background. Rugby league once, wasn't he?
44:52
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, he's got a great background, and he's got
44:54
Speaker 8: a good name, and I think from what I hear
44:57
Speaker 8: through the grapevine, he's well-liked.
44:59
Speaker 4: But, man, they've got a big job ahead of them.
45:02
Speaker 1: Does Rugby Union rate in the TV ratings as such
45:05
Speaker 1: when compared to the other codes?
45:06
Speaker 4: Yeah, it does. It does when it's on. It's on free-to-air,
45:11
Speaker 4: which helps.
45:12
Speaker 8: But I see last year's contracts for TV, Australian Rugby
45:16
Speaker 8: was $ 54 million and NRL was $ 500 million TV rights.
45:21
Speaker 4: So there's the difference.
45:28
Speaker 1: Dave Biss there, our Western Australian correspondent, wrapping up the
45:31
Speaker 1: best of the muster. Thanks, of course, to the gopher.
45:34
Speaker 1: I'm Andy Mueller. Enjoy the weekend. It is a long weekend,
45:36
Speaker 1: so we'll be back at Tuesday at 1 o'clock. Remembering
45:40
Speaker 1: any podcasts are available courtesy of iHeartRadio. See you Tuesday.