Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster- Steve Henderson: Awarua Happenings

Transcript

The Muster- Steve Henderson: Awarua Happenings · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Steve Henderson, Dairy Farms at Awarua with his wife, Tracy.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Legendaries is the name of their farm. You can find
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: them on social media channels for that reason as well.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Steve. Legendaries, that's not a bad name.
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and I can't even take any credit. That
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: was what Tracy's doing, so... Yep, that was formed back
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: in the day when we were young and sprightly. And, yeah,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: now it's just sort of continued on and evolved. And
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: I think Trace does a good thing on Facebook, trying
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: to keep people up to date and keeping it real,
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: so to speak.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with that. Just like the weather at the moment,
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: it's pretty mild here in Gore.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we're very similar down here. Someone's getting work out,
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: which is good for changing the weather here. You know,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: like Auckland weather, which by sure you can grow some
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: grass now, so... Yeah, this weather's just what we're after.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: I don't think they grow much grass in Auckland, though.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: No, no, not of the.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Well, not of that kind of time, anyway.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Animal, animal, animal type, no.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So feed quality, are you having to maintain it?
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we are, yep. We're just starting to head into
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: some covers now that are probably a little bit higher
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: than what we need, but we don't have a true surplus. So, yeah,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: we are. We're starting a bit of quality control, topping
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: behind the cows, let them eat what they eat, and then, yeah,
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: whipping behind it. So... It's not every paddock. It's probably
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: mainly the ones that we didn't quite hit residual during
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: those wet couple of times in spring. So we're just
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: tidying them up, reset them, and back to square one.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: So it's a good time of year. There's always decisions
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: to make, which is, I think, that's why people farm,
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: because they love making decisions. So, yeah, feed quality, and
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: it reflects what's in the vat. And you've also got
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: cow cycling, trying to maintain that and trying to, yeah,
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: hopefully help them conceive. So, yeah, it's a cool time
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: of year.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: How are milk flows?
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: Good, yep, yep. Yeah, both farms are ahead of last season,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: actually last month and this month to date. So, yeah,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: they've pulled out of spring pretty darn well, really, considering.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: We're back to just a couple of kilos in the shed,
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: and that's the only supplement going in. And, yeah, it
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: sounds crazy that you might be topping behind the cows,
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: but it's just keeping it consistent and also a bit
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: of energy for... AI too with the cereals going in
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: so milk flows are good and I think right across
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: Southland talking to the old tanker driver when you get
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: a chance, milk flows are going really well too so
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: yeah Southland's certainly punching now.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: So your ground work, you're on top?
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: We're enough I think is how you describe that so
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: some of the paddocks are still damp enough, we've got
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: a digger in there just blowing drains and chucking a
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: bit of nova flow in where we need to and
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: we're keeping up We'll get young grass in this weekend
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: and start on brassicas next week. So, yeah, we're certainly
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: not behind the eight ball, but just waiting on paddocks
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: to dry out and become fit is probably what we're
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: doing at the moment.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: How are you doing with mating? Good, good.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: So we didn't quite have, you know, the 85% cycle
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: before plans started mating, but to date right now we've
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: had about 83% or 84% cycle now, so we're only
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: six days into it. And... Submission rates are going really well,
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: and it's the first year with wearables. So, yeah, we've
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: gassed the person that's on the vet stand, and we've
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: got no tail paint, and, yeah, literally just trusting the system. So,
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: at the moment, it's going good, but once we get into,
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: you know, week four, that'll tell a story. But, yeah,
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: there's no alarm bells at the moment, and cows are cycling, and,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: you know, the 10-day forecast looks good. Pasture covers are good, so... Yeah,
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: there's nothing really to worry about at the moment.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: It's all about, it's like the All Blacks, it's all
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: about trusting the process, it's what you're doing there.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Yep, it is, it is, you can, you know, you
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: can second guess yourself and end up in a real
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: old bloody rabbit hole, so no, this year we've just gone, no,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: trust the system and leave it like that. Yes, you know,
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: we get a couple of cows come through that say
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: they've had a heat for X amount of time and
• 4:11
  Speaker 3: then the confidence was lost, so we look at those
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: cows and there was a couple this morning actually that
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: clearly haven't had a cycle, but the algorithm must have
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: said that they've shown some signs of a cycling cow.
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: So it alerted, but then the alert come away. So
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: you've still got to do your due diligence and farm,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: so to speak. But yeah, trusting the system, it's interesting,
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: but pretty cool all the same.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: All things considered, then you're in a pretty good place.
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we are, and hopefully I speak on
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: all of Southend, really, because the weather was a bit
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: gnarly there in August, September, and it's turned a corner,
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: and there's baiters getting made, and people are a lot
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: chipper when you talk to them, and calves are getting weaned,
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: and yeah, I think most people are back on track
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: and looking forward, so to speak, because, yeah, dare you
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: say it, mating will finish at the end of December,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: and bugger me, that's the year done.
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: So the staff is starting to get a little bit
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: of a break now you've got through the carving cycle?
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: Yep, yep, we have. Yep, one of them, Sam, she's away.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: She's with the Melbourne Cup and kicking around over there
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: for a week or two. So, yep, she's away. And then, yeah,
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: the way we've got these wearables too, we don't have
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: someone on the vet stand. So it's just two people milking.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: In the morning.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: So we don't actually need that labour unit, which is
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: quite considerable. And if that person wants to get here, which...
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: You know, Callum does, he'll be on the track there
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: at 6 o'clock or half past five in the morning,
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: whereas that work wouldn't have been getting done until half
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: past eight, nine o'clock. So efficiencies, we're certainly noticing a
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: lot of that. And we've actually just got a Swiss
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: girl started two weeks ago. She's on a bit of
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: an egg exchange type thing. She's going to do six months.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: And yeah, that's a pretty cool person to fit into
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: the system. English is fantastic. a lot better than I thought,
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: and the farming knowledge, still got the farming knowledge, but
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: our systems are totally different to Switzerland. So that's pretty
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: cool to add to the team too.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: How on earth have you got involved with an ag exchange?
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: It was Tracey. We were just looking for a staff
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: member for this year to fill a bit of a gap,
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: and it was probably more of a rural exchange than
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: a staff exchange. It's someone that wants to come out
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: on a working holiday, and you offer them the house
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: and help them with, you know, buying a car and
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: making sure they have a good look around and get
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: involved in the community. So we're doing that side of things. And, yeah,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: the other outfit, they've done the visas and that, and, yeah,
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: they just want to have a look around and then
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: go continue the holiday after they've finished here. So, yeah,
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: you know, you still go through the process and pick
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: the right candidate. And, yeah, I think we've got a
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: bloody good run in, She's ticking all the boxes and
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: just loving to learn and loves the New Zealand lifestyle.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: She was in Invercargill with Tracey the other day driving
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: around and said, why aren't people mad? There's no unhappy
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: people here. Because in Switzerland, their population is about five-fold
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: what New Zealand is and probably about a third of
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: the size. Everybody's just angry all the time. So that
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: was good to hear that Invercargill is a pretty happy place.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no arguing about that, Steve. Good on you, mate.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Enjoy the weekend. Always good to catch up. All right.
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Cheers.
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: Steve Henderson, based down at Awarua. Rural supporters of our
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Southland Rural Support Trust, 0800 787 254. Steve talks about
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: staff getting time away off farm. Well, Southland Rural Support Trust,
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: they are there to help you if.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: You need to have a conversation. Senior Sergeant Gary Eddington's
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: up next to the Gore Police.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: Oh, oh, oh, oh.