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The Muster- Chris Wilson: Advance Agriculture · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Muster. Chris Wilson of Advance Agriculture
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: joins us on this beautiful afternoon down in the Deep South.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: G'day Chris.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Afternoon Andy, how are you?
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty good. Well, you'll know as much as anybody
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: regarding the situation, you would have been pretty busy at
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: the moment. You'll be busy at the moment.
• 0:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we've packed two or three months of
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: work into about 10 or 12 days, it feels like, Andy. But, yeah,
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: people feel like they're getting ahead now, which is good.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Does it feel like that, three weeks of work into, like,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: five-day scenario from your guys' perspective?
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been pretty hectic, yeah, since the sun came out, really.
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: The mud dried out in the paddocks and the tractor
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: started rolling, and then the phone hasn't stopped ringing ever since.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, it's good to see.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I seen a paddock on Kingston Crossing yesterday. It looked
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: like baleage or silage. I think it was silage that
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: had been done and looked like hard yakka on some
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of the headlands. So still pretty damp out there in places.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: I guess the surface mud's dried out, but there's good
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: soil moisture underneath, which might be a blessing for us
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: going forward, depending on what El Nino brings us.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we'll see how that plays out. Now, Bart Sag,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: what's been the focus at the moment? Just take the obvious. Really?
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, just preparation, soil preparation, crop preparation, and getting
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: seed on farm has been our biggest battle for the
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: last couple of weeks. The seed ordering's been compressed into
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  Speaker 3: a pretty tight window, so the guys have been working
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: double shifts down in Invercargill and Clutha to get the
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: seed mixed up and get it out and ready.
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: So hopefully we've got lots of happy customers out there.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I was coming home last night from the same trip
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: and the amount of tractors that were operating around the region. Yes,
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: there were mowers going, but a lot of people doing
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: cultivation as well. And it was a sight to behold
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: after last time we spoke anyway.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just a totally different environment out there now.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah, the ground conditions are good now. So yeah,
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: and the soil temperatures are rising and the long-term forecast
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  Speaker 3: doesn't look too shabby. So yeah, there's a lot of
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: stuff starting to.
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  Speaker 2: Go on the ground now.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Are people catching up on spraying?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Yep, yep.
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  Speaker 3: There's been a few cereal timings that haven't been perfect,
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: but on the whole, the back's broken on most of
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: the growth regulators and T1 timings on the cereals. So, yeah,
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: and the grain crops are actually looking pretty good. They've
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: come through the spring and looking a good colour now
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: and they're soaking up that nitrogen and starting to darken up.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: So, yeah, everything's looking pretty positive there.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: It's fair to say the last two to three weeks
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: has seen a change for next season. Is it too
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: early to say that as far as the crops go?
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: I think, no, it's more of the usual.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: I think the cereal numbers are pretty steady, probably a
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: wee uptick in beet numbers with the amount of people
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: raising dairy calves out there and wanting to finish some
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: beef themselves. But, yeah, everything's just more of the same, really,
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: just slightly bigger numbers.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: Regarding fodder beet preparation in the paddock, what's something for
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: people to keep in mind? Because it can be quite
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: a process, to be fair.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, again, not rushing things. If you'd happily sow it
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: into a young grass paddock, you'd put it in beet.
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  Speaker 3: So you want a fine, firm seed bed, not lumpy
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  Speaker 3: at all. Not just a power harrow over the top
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  Speaker 3: of last year's crop ground and hope like hell. You
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: want a good dried, nice well aerated seed bed with
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: fine firm soil on top so you've got really good
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: seed soil contact and the pre-emerge works a lot better
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: if the paddock's nice and smooth as well. Most of
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  Speaker 3: our beet actually doesn't go in until November these days
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  Speaker 3: so if you're in the first half of November that's
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: right in the.
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  Speaker 2: Window of ideal sowing in my opinion.
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  Speaker 3: So, yeah, just get it right before you start and
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: everything else goes smoothly. Quite often it can save you
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: an extra spray if the pre-emergent works better as well.
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you get much better weed control.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Any issues with supply chains regarding chemical, et cetera?
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a bit of strain on transport. Yeah, everything's
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: taking a little bit longer than usual, but, yeah.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: The more organised... Everybody is.
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: If they're needing something, a couple of days heads-up notice
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: is always much appreciated from us and our team. So, yeah,
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: but other than that, yeah, we're getting through it.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: It's always peak season.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: It's always pretty chaotic for the next eight weeks. But
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: we seem to survive.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Every year somehow.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. So what's the story with the team? Who's
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: on call over the weekend?
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: Well, I think everyone would be able to pick up
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: their phone. Yeah, I haven't actually looked at it. who's
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: on annual leave, but it's that time of year where
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: you can't ignore a farmer that sometimes might just need
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: a question answered or sometimes needs something dropped off in
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  Speaker 3: a hurry, but yeah, I think most of the team
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: are around somewhere, Andy.
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: Now, it's the anniversary of the wins from this time
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: last year, just around lunchtime actually, just past. What's your
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: biggest recollection around that event, Chris?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I remember it well.
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  Speaker 3: I was driving back from Waikāia and three separate occasions
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: I had trees fall over the road in front of
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: me and power lines around.
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  Speaker 2: It was unbelievable really.
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  Speaker 3: It didn't seem too panicky at the time but when
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: you look back you think that was a hell of
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: a drive home. I had to drive through paddocks and
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: open gates and get around roads. It took me a
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: couple of hours to get back from Waikato. It was
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: once in a lifetime hopefully.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Live power lines dropping on the road, that's not fun
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  Speaker 1: for anybody.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: No, no.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but credit to the power guys. Man, we had
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: power back up the next day. I think the line
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: on our road was broken in four places when I
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: got home, so they did an incredible job to get
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: everyone up.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: And running again.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I know, it just seems not that long ago. But anyway, mate, look,
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: now we've seen the blue ranges around the province of
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the white canopies. Somebody wants to get in touch with
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: you guys. What do they do?
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: Again, Andy, our website's probably the most efficient way because
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: you can search by area on our team. So, yeah,
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: you better find the rep that's closest to you under
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: our website, advancedag.co.nz.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: Otherwise, flick us a.
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: Message on Facebook or ring our 800 number.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Chris. Enjoy the long weekend. Good to
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: catch up.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy. Thank you.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: Chris Wilson of Advance Agriculture. Everybody's got a story around
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: this time last year, right? Won't forget that in a hurry.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Ben Dooley's up next as well, talking about this in
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: the Southland Rural Support Trust slot where we're looking at
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: talking about resilience on farm and just a few toolbox
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: ideas for the top three inches.