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The Muster- Greg Erickson: Canadian Tales · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. We're away over to Canada now,
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: Millet to be precise, where we catch up with Greg Erickson,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: formerly of Waimumu, and our Canadian correspondent. Good afternoon.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: How you doing, Andy?
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Pretty well. How's things over in your neck of the woods?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Yeah, things are going pretty good. We're sort of looking
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: towards harvest season now, so things are... There's light at
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: the end of the season, the cropping tunnel, so we're
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: sort of hoping to get the harvest in as quick
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: as we can and settle down for the winter.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: So how's it been over the past four weeks? Pretty busy?
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's been really busy. Yeah, really, really busy. We've
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: had the silage season and that's been crazy busy. We've
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: picked up a bunch of clients as we do a
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: bunch of contracting and we've done two or three cuts
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: of the lucerne for some hay silage and then we've
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: done Oh, goodness knows how many thousands of acres of
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: barley silage. And then the corn silage started two days ago.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: So that's going to be another four weeks of that.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: And then, of course, the combining kicks off. Well, it
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: started on Saturday as well. So, yeah, she's hammered down
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: for the next while.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: You grow quite a lot of lucerne over there.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't just grow grass for hay. It's all in, well,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: they call it alfalfa, but it's all lucerne. Yeah, everyone
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: grows it here and it's all to do with the
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: sugar levels because it's all fed as part of the
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: feed mixture in their hay because it goes in with
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: the barley and the corn, whatever their agronomist recommends. And yeah,
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: that's just one of the ingredients for the feed.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: How are the yields looking?
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: Pretty average. Actually, for the lucerne, it's really average. We
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: just had too much rain and not enough heat earlier
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: in the summer, so June was It was just terrible.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: There was just no heat and there was no rain
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: in May. So we just never had that chance to
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: take off. So we've only really got two cuts of
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: it this year. There's been a couple of farmers that
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: we've got three, but it's short. It's not much to it.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: The barley is really good and the corn is actually
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: surprisingly good. Sorry, you go. The crops themselves, like for combining,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: they're actually looking pretty smart considering how much rain we
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: had in June.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: We're hearing of a super El Nino over in our
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: neck of the woods. Are you seeing anything like that there?
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: Not as yet. They are predicting it's going to be
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: a warmer autumn and then maybe even a warmer winter.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: But those sorts of positive news from weathermen, you don't
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: sort of hold your breath too much on.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: I suppose when you look at the cycle you're going through,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: you're getting out of summer into the autumn months as such.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: Has it been a warm summer?
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: August was pretty warm. August was respectably warm, like it
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: normally is. July was pretty decent, a little bit colder
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: at the start, but June was just terrible. There was
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: just no heat, no nothing. It just rained constantly. So
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: it kind of reminded me of Southland, actually. But we
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: had record levels of rain in June. So, yeah, we
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: would get, which is, we would get, say, an inch
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: one night, an inch the next night, and then a
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: week later we'd get four inches. And that doesn't happen here.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Do you get a lot of meadow hay made over there,
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: baleage and the likes?
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: Not really, no. People will make baleage out of, if it's, say,
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Lucerne grass mix, but no one's making just straight grass.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: It's all got extra in it.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: So hay's still a big deal?
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: Hay's huge, but all the hay here is also Lucerne.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: There is no straight grass hay.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Is it a cost measure?
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: I think so. I think it started off as trying
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: to get the most out of every acre. And then
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I think it's sort of just become such a thing,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: such a popular thing that no one sows grass here really.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: It all goes straight into lucerne or crops.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: Now you've got about 6,000 acres that needs combined. How
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: many combines have you got going?
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: We've got three. uh three john deers and that mean
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: they're older but they will knock off 300 acres a
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: day per like uh with all three combines and one
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: big chaser bin and then we've got a great big
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: elevator it takes most of our grain maybe 10 15
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: k's away from all our crops so we just truck
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: it to there most of the time we don't have
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: to store too much we store probably more than half
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: of it but yeah we just uh get rid of
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: it as quick as we can And then we bag
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: the rest. But we'll be looking at, a good day
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: is 300 acres a day. And then when we get
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: into the canola, it'll be less because that's just a
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: little slower.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Now, you say it's a big chaser bin. What's the capacity?
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: Ah, 2,000 bushels.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: Okay, talk normal here. What are we talking as far
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: as tonnes or whatever?
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Okay, so if you put tonnes of wheat in it, well,
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: say tonnes of barley, you'll stick easily 45 tonnes of
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: barley in it. Tonnes of wheat, you're probably 55 tonnes.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: So you've got some serious gear towing this, I'd imagine.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. There's a 550 horsepower quad track in front
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Has the weather ever determined the length of the harvest
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: season over there?
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. So we typically, in this area, everyone
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: would swath their canola down and put it in windrows
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: and then pick it up with the pickup head of
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: the combine. And this year we are doing it all
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: with the draper head, like the... straight cuts or the honeybees, whatever.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: And if it snows before we've got to it, if
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: it's a really, really, if it's a light, fluffy snow,
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: it won't matter. If it's a really heavy snow, it'll
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: flatten the canola and we'll be trying to get it
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: back in May.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Because a lot of people do harvest with snow on there,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: like you say, as long as it's a light fall,
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: but they farm for it.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes. So if the canola is in a swath
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: and it snows, you can still combine it. If it's flattened,
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: they have a really hard time picking it off the ground.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: And especially when it's... Because typically once it snows here,
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: it doesn't leave until spring. And then you've got to
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: get in there and you've got to combine it before
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: you can prep the field and seed it. So it
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: becomes a very big headache in May if you can't
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: get it off in September or October.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Canada as a whole, the economic mood of the community
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: or of the country, how would it be?
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Horrible.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Horrible?
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: We're not in a recession or anything. Just, well, Trump
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: did a whole tariff thing again and he put on 50%
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: tariffs on a whole bunch of things like steel and
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: lumber and cars. So cars in Ontario, out east, are
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: a huge thing because car parts will go across the
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: border over there maybe six or seven times before they're
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: put into a car for whatever reason. And then there's
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: towns in BC and Quebec that... that are the lumber towns,
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: like they are logging towns, and the whole town is
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: there because of a mill. And because there's tariffs on it,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: now that whole town is suffering because the whole town
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: is reliant on this mill. And so in retaliation to
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: these tariffs, Canada put tariffs back on the states, and
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: equal value, so we didn't... I guess Canada didn't overstep. However,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: that got Trump into a tizzy, and then he... renamed
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: a lake in Ontario, Lake Ontario, which borders.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Lake America.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: He renamed that to Lake America. And it's just been
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: this big whole thing, and we just want him to
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: focus on someone else.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: So the midterm elections, if we see a change towards Democrats,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: will that mean much regarding tariffs?
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: Probably not. I think all that will happen is the
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: impeachment processes will start, and we will be stuck trying
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: to deal... get his attention to take the tariffs off,
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: and I don't think that'll happen. I think we'll have
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: stuck with him for a while.
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: Hey, just finally, Greg, good news. The Stags won the
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: game of rugby yesterday. That's three in the year for
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the last 365 days. We won two for the season.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: It was a good one.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: That's fantastic. It's good news.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Do you watch it all online on your social channels,
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: or how do you get your fix?
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: I keep it all on the highlights on the socials, yeah.
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: That's the easiest way to do it, is just the 10,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: 15-minute highlight reels. It's the same with the All Blacks
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: and the Warriors. I mean, yesterday's game in Boston was
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: a bit easier to watch, but typically when they're in
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: play in New Zealand, the time zones are really inconvenient.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the game in Baltimore was an interesting one for
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: a lot of people, but I suppose it's all baseball
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: there and NBA cracking up and ice hockey season going
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: into pre-season almost.
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: Is it? That's correct, yeah. So NFL just started. I
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: think that was last weekend or this weekend. And then
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: hockey starts in a week or two, the pre-seasons, and
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: then the NBA is kicking off soon. And then the whole, like,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: if you want sports anywhere here, you can find sports.
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: It's everywhere. It's just trying to get somehow rugby is
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: an obscure sport here, so that's a little harder to find.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Greg. Always appreciate your time. And
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: next time, and when we do catch up next, hopefully
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: that harvest is getting into the memory stage. Thanks as always.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: Sounds good. Thanks, Andy.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Greg Erickson, formerly of Waimumi, these days based out of Millet.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: Before we wrap up, we're talking the Stags. Joanne Kyle,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: but before we went to the Stags, went up to
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: the Warriors with another individual from around here. You're listening
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: to The Muster.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: I'm down, I'm down.