Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / Best Of The Muster: 23/09/26

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Best Of The Muster: 23/09/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:05
Speaker 1: A very good morning and welcome in to the best
0:07
Speaker 1: of the muster, a collaboration of interviews that took our
0:10
Speaker 1: attention during a busy week here at Hōkanui HQ. I'm
0:13
Speaker 1: Andy Muir. Thanks to your company. We're starting off the
0:15
Speaker 1: hour by catching up with John Pemberton. Look, you'll know
0:18
Speaker 1: the weather's been atrocious down here for September. We caught
0:21
Speaker 1: up with Jono earlier on in the week. He's farming
0:24
Speaker 1: these days at Brighton, had a lot going on there,
0:26
Speaker 1: a lot of infrastructure going on, and just looks at
0:28
Speaker 1: the state of play from his lens and how he
0:30
Speaker 1: compares it to other springs that we've experienced. Eric Roy.
0:35
Speaker 1: former MP, and these days involved with Environment Southland, as
0:39
Speaker 1: well as a lot of other roles that he does
0:41
Speaker 1: in various capacities. But he's talking about the build-up to
0:44
Speaker 1: the election, and the question I ask Eric is, are
0:48
Speaker 1: we suffering from election fatigue because we're getting polls coming
0:50
Speaker 1: out here, there, and everywhere, and just all this talk
0:54
Speaker 1: in the media around the election. Some good, but a
0:56
Speaker 1: lot of it, unfortunately, people just seem to be switching
0:59
Speaker 1: off from. Grant has asked the McMaster at Closeburn Station,
1:03
Speaker 1: wants to give some messaging around councils and the double
1:07
Speaker 1: standards that have been experienced regarding effluent disposal. I mean,
1:11
Speaker 1: if farmers have effluent on farm, they've got to adhere
1:13
Speaker 1: to rules. Grant asks the question, asks the question, why
1:16
Speaker 1: can't councils? Dave Biss, formerly of the Maniatoto, these days
1:21
Speaker 1: a stock agent based in Western Australia, just out of Perth.
1:25
Speaker 1: We caught up with Biss. He's talking about how technology
1:28
Speaker 1: is really revolutionising the way that farmers on these big
1:32
Speaker 1: stations over in Oz go about their work. And as well,
1:35
Speaker 1: the Fremantle Dockers. Today is a day of reckoning. If
1:37
Speaker 1: you're a Dockers fan, they're in the final of the
1:39
Speaker 1: AFL Grand Final. And AJ Aitken, stock agent with PGG
1:43
Speaker 1: Wrightson based here in Gorbett as well. He is the
1:46
Speaker 1: coach of a Southland Development rugby team that had a
1:48
Speaker 1: fantastic win last weekend against Canterbury B. And AJ just
1:52
Speaker 1: puts into context what the team is looking like as
1:56
Speaker 1: far as their chances going and playing for the Stags.
1:59
Speaker 1: But the bigger issue is, what is the story for Stags?
2:02
Speaker 1: Because this so-called shake-up in New Zealand rugby could be occurring.
2:06
Speaker 1: So without further ado, we'll start the hour next to
2:08
Speaker 1: John Pemberton. You're listening to the best of the muster. Oh, yeah.
2:16
Speaker 2: All right.
2:18
Speaker 3: Take it easy, baby.
2:19
Speaker 1: Make it last all night. John Pemberton farms at Brydon
2:25
Speaker 1: and joins us on the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup where
2:28
Speaker 1: every Monday here on the muster we catch up with
2:30
Speaker 1: various farmers in different locations around the southern region. John O,
2:34
Speaker 1: good afternoon. How's the state of play down at Brydon?
2:40
Speaker 4: Oh, probably down to stay at the obvious. I think
2:42
Speaker 4: pretty much on par with what everyone else is stealing
2:44
Speaker 4: around south of me.
2:47
Speaker 1: Well, you were talking off air some horrendous rainfall figures
2:50
Speaker 1: for September. Yeah, um.
2:53
Speaker 4: I think we're up to 144, something I mentioned, and
2:57
Speaker 4: I had looked at the rain gauge then, and I
2:58
Speaker 4: think that's semi-pessimistic too, because I don't think I've got
3:02
Speaker 4: this rain gauge situated quite in the right spot. Is
3:04
Speaker 4: it actually going to move it? So it's way more exposed. So, yeah, no,
3:08
Speaker 4: it's been interesting, to say the least. Yeah, putting the
3:13
Speaker 4: water kicking around. Yeah, but, look, everybody's in the same boat,
3:17
Speaker 4: same challenges, and I think that rain on... Was it
3:21
Speaker 4: Saturday night or Friday night? I can't remember. It's a
3:23
Speaker 4: bit of a blur.
3:25
Speaker 1: Friday night, yeah.
3:26
Speaker 4: Friday night, I think, yeah, that's sort of been a
3:28
Speaker 4: bit of a tick of the nuts for a few
3:29
Speaker 4: people from what I'm hearing. But, you know, we're on
3:32
Speaker 4: the same boat. Most of us are on the second round.
3:34
Speaker 4: There's still a bit of something floating around, but, you know,
3:38
Speaker 4: another three weeks that might change. Yeah, you know, Mother
3:42
Speaker 4: Nature gave us a heap of tucker coming into the
3:44
Speaker 4: winter and, yeah, obviously for good reason.
3:47
Speaker 1: What's your average rainfall there at Brighton? Do you have
3:49
Speaker 1: an understanding of what you're working on?
3:51
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're surprisingly not as high as you'd think. We're
3:55
Speaker 4: sort of around 940, 950 from memory, not too dissimilar
3:59
Speaker 4: to Gore. It's interesting, we can have rain park at
4:02
Speaker 4: the top of the Brighton Hill for a day and
4:05
Speaker 4: not come down to us. Very similarly, you know, I'll
4:10
Speaker 4: be making baleage and there's been thunder plumps at Matara
4:12
Speaker 4: and gutters overflowing and we're sitting in the sunshine here. So, yeah,
4:16
Speaker 4: not as high rainfall as what you'd expect, to be honest.
4:19
Speaker 1: As far as your feed situation, though, are you negating?
4:22
Speaker 1: Things OK?
4:23
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, we had a luxury of having a heap
4:25
Speaker 4: of syringe on hand because we had the conversion block
4:28
Speaker 4: last year. We didn't get consent to milk off it until...
4:34
Speaker 4: later in the season so we were actually banking feed
4:37
Speaker 4: and obviously with the way the war and that was
4:39
Speaker 4: going I was quite nervous about where things were going
4:41
Speaker 4: to go for supplement feed so I was banking having
4:44
Speaker 4: to feed out a fair bit of silage this year
4:46
Speaker 4: as it was so that has played into our favour
4:49
Speaker 4: but yeah just a fair bit of drainage and stuff
4:52
Speaker 4: and trying to get on top of that. Probably weave
4:55
Speaker 4: it late in the game and, yeah, a little bit
4:57
Speaker 4: challenging trying to get cows through paddocks where we put
5:00
Speaker 4: new lots in overflow and stuff, but that's just part
5:02
Speaker 4: and parcel of doing development and the fun and games
5:06
Speaker 4: of it, really.
5:07
Speaker 1: Especially where you're situated, Jono. You've got a whole new
5:09
Speaker 1: situation unfolding with a lot of R & Ms going on.
5:14
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, no, it's been a big project. sort of
5:17
Speaker 4: doing the last of it, we're hooking the last of
5:20
Speaker 4: it at the moment actually, we're just trying to get
5:21
Speaker 4: our panels up so we can get a loadout ramp
5:23
Speaker 4: done in the final room in the shed. And then
5:25
Speaker 4: that's this project picked off, and then yeah, we've got
5:29
Speaker 4: to sort of just tidy up a few fences and
5:34
Speaker 4: shift some troughs around, and then we're pretty much done
5:36
Speaker 4: and dusted, all the re-grassing stuff got done leading into this,
5:39
Speaker 4: so yeah, just protecting that's probably my biggest challenge at
5:42
Speaker 4: the moment, all this young grass we've got, sort of
5:44
Speaker 4: half the platform's under two years old so just uh
5:49
Speaker 4: yeah managing that and um just yeah like everyone else
5:54
Speaker 4: making making a plan for the week and then uh
5:56
Speaker 4: rearranging that look we've been here before with these last
5:59
Speaker 4: bloody springs and um yeah i know there's a fair
6:03
Speaker 4: bit of anxiety out there amongst amongst people but um
6:06
Speaker 4: you know we got through some pretty tough ones and
6:08
Speaker 4: um yeah we'll do it again and um Just hopefully
6:11
Speaker 4: the summer's kind to us and hopefully the rain doesn't
6:16
Speaker 4: just turn off. I'm expecting it to before Christmas, having
6:20
Speaker 4: a wee pinch there, but you'd like to think our
6:23
Speaker 4: January's reliable and some rain comes back, but who knows
6:27
Speaker 4: with the way this weather pattern's going, what's going to happen.
6:30
Speaker 4: Not much good for fishing anyway, I can tell you
6:31
Speaker 4: that much.
6:32
Speaker 1: Jono, that saying, pulling levers, is one that's become well
6:36
Speaker 1: known in the farmer's vocabulary over the past two or
6:39
Speaker 1: three years. What are you doing differently in that sense
6:42
Speaker 1: to try and negate the season?
6:46
Speaker 4: Not too dissimilar. I think just more around finding ways
6:52
Speaker 4: of actually being a leader manager is probably the thing
6:54
Speaker 4: I've been sort of working with in the Yeah, it's
6:56
Speaker 4: been a long stint as far as this conversion. So,
7:00
Speaker 4: you know, there hasn't been much time off at all
7:01
Speaker 4: for the last six months. But just, you know, if
7:06
Speaker 4: the job can wait till tomorrow, I'm not out there
7:08
Speaker 4: at 6 o'clock at night doing it. And, yeah, catching
7:11
Speaker 4: up with mates and just keeping the conversations going. And
7:14
Speaker 4: if you're having a crap day, you know, you can
7:17
Speaker 4: be sure that you'll ring a mate and he's having
7:19
Speaker 4: a crap day too. So, yeah, that's probably the biggest thing.
7:22
Speaker 4: I think we're, you know, Southland dairy farmers– have always
7:25
Speaker 4: sort of been reasonably capable of managing these situations. You
7:31
Speaker 4: look at the shed feeding systems that are going on
7:34
Speaker 4: now and feed pads and such like, and, you know,
7:38
Speaker 4: people have been proactive when they can get a window,
7:41
Speaker 4: getting nitrogen on, you know, not being silly about it,
7:44
Speaker 4: but getting a window where they can get it on,
7:45
Speaker 4: they're getting choppers booked in and getting that done. So, yeah,
7:51
Speaker 4: I think it's more about... How do you manage yourself
7:55
Speaker 4: so that when you're not on farm, it's not ruining
7:58
Speaker 4: that time at home either? Because I think that's where
8:00
Speaker 4: it challenges for a lot of the stuff is you
8:02
Speaker 4: go home and the crap on the farm can follow
8:04
Speaker 4: you on the door sometimes.
8:06
Speaker 1: What about staff? How are they handling a situation like
8:09
Speaker 1: this where it's another wet season?
8:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, you've just got to manage it. We run
8:14
Speaker 4: a five-on-two off system this year. We're overstaffed just because
8:18
Speaker 4: we knew we had projects happening. So we've got the
8:20
Speaker 4: luxury of plenty of labour. But going forward, you know,
8:25
Speaker 4: there won't be the situation next season. But, yeah, it's
8:28
Speaker 4: just about having some nice, simple systems, I think, is
8:32
Speaker 4: the key. And, you know, we just make sure staff
8:35
Speaker 4: are getting a good amount of time off during the day.
8:37
Speaker 4: So a minimum of two hours during the day they
8:41
Speaker 4: take off, if not up to four. And so we're
8:45
Speaker 4: not doing much more than nine hours a day maximum
8:47
Speaker 4: type thing. So for me, it's just more about.
8:51
Speaker 4: You know, just saying stuff like, go home, get warm.
8:54
Speaker 4: I'll see you in a couple of hours. And, you know,
8:56
Speaker 4: just we changed a few things around the shed. We
8:59
Speaker 4: actually tried doing the cloths in the afternoon when the
9:01
Speaker 4: thick of it. And that was to allow engineers and
9:04
Speaker 4: stuff to get back in the shed and catch up
9:06
Speaker 4: on the job. So you hadn't quite got done while
9:07
Speaker 4: they started carving. And then we actually stuck with that program.
9:10
Speaker 4: It worked quite well, actually, because it.
9:13
Speaker 4: You know, people come back after lunch reasonably fresh to
9:15
Speaker 4: deal with the, um, the fresh cows, especially the heifers.
9:18
Speaker 4: So I found that worked a lot better for temperament
9:21
Speaker 4: of staff and animals in the shed. So we might
9:23
Speaker 4: carry on with that program of doing colostrums straight after
9:26
Speaker 4: lunch before the, the milk is, um, going forward, um,
9:30
Speaker 4: next season, because yeah, I think it seemed to, um,
9:33
Speaker 4: the staff seemed quite happy, uh, to, to do it
9:36
Speaker 4: that way. So yeah, it's just those wee things that you,
9:38
Speaker 4: you learn and tweak your systems, just be adaptable as those. And, um,
9:43
Speaker 4: You know, look for, you know, talk to mates who
9:45
Speaker 4: are doing stuff. You know, that's where I get most
9:47
Speaker 4: of my ideas is pinching off mates who are already
9:48
Speaker 4: doing it.
9:49
Speaker 1: And, of course, you've got the world-famous Gorge Road Squash
9:52
Speaker 1: Club to look forward to tonight, along with one of
9:54
Speaker 1: our other correspondents coming up very shortly on the show.
9:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, and, look, that's been real... pivotal, that stuff. Look, key,
10:01
Speaker 4: that stuff. That's the stuff where, you know, dare I
10:05
Speaker 4: say it, you don't want to go home and complain
10:07
Speaker 4: to your wife about how the day's gone, but you
10:08
Speaker 4: do want to discuss some issues, and sometimes that's a
10:11
Speaker 4: group you can go to and have a yarn, and
10:13
Speaker 4: they'll throw you. They would approach a problem, and quite
10:17
Speaker 4: often it's a solution right there for you, so... the
10:19
Speaker 4: old squash club, but she's certainly more about the rack
10:22
Speaker 4: and ball.
10:23
Speaker 1: Good on you, John. I will leave it there. We'll
10:25
Speaker 1: catch up again. All the best.
10:27
Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy.
10:27
Speaker 4: See you, mate.
10:35
Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. Eric Roy joins us,
10:38
Speaker 1: talking politics on a Monday. Good afternoon, Eric. A little
10:42
Speaker 1: bit of blue sky around. It's some respite.
10:44
Speaker 3: It lifts our whole attitude to life, us poor cockies
10:48
Speaker 3: that have been and their oil skins and their water-proof
10:53
Speaker 3: trousers and their gumboots and their balaclavas and their gloves.
10:57
Speaker 3: So to have a bit of a change, very much appreciated.
11:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, a few of your fellow politicians of Wellington could
11:03
Speaker 1: learn a lot from a southern spring.
11:06
Speaker 3: Well, I had this saying once, which is often quoted,
11:10
Speaker 3: you shouldn't be in politics until you've had a bad lambing.
11:13
Speaker 3: And that's when you learn resilience and sometimes you've just
11:18
Speaker 3: got to do what you can do and it's not
11:20
Speaker 3: going for you and all of that sort of thing.
11:22
Speaker 3: So it's often a quoted statement, actually.
11:25
Speaker 1: How do you think Chloe Sport, Rick, would go putting
11:28
Speaker 1: a bearing back in?
11:31
Speaker 3: Well, it'd probably be quite an interesting discussion explaining exactly
11:35
Speaker 3: what had gone wrong.
11:38
Speaker 1: It'll be interesting nonetheless. But look, this is a big topic, right?
11:43
Speaker 1: Especially recently, supermarket duopolies. The National coming out proposing a
11:49
Speaker 1: change there. Labour coming out as well. Now they want
11:52
Speaker 1: to split up foodstuffs and Woolworths to run wholesale separately
11:56
Speaker 1: to their retail stores.
11:58
Speaker 3: Let's back up the bus a bit. Why is everybody
12:01
Speaker 3: so inclusive of all this in their narrative? So all
12:05
Speaker 3: of the parties, not only poll who are they supporting,
12:09
Speaker 3: they also poll what are key issues. So Taken off
12:13
Speaker 3: the table with Houston was secure crime and policing, and
12:20
Speaker 3: that's been dealt with. So the other issues are health
12:24
Speaker 3: and cost of living. And cost of living has come up,
12:26
Speaker 3: and people are saying cost of groceries. So all of
12:29
Speaker 3: the parties have kind of got themselves locked into making
12:33
Speaker 3: statements because if they don't, their polling will show them
12:36
Speaker 3: they don't care. So that's kind of the driver, in
12:40
Speaker 3: my view, of what's happening out there. And if you
12:45
Speaker 3: look at some of the detail around that, I'm not
12:48
Speaker 3: sure there's a lot can be done. I think probably
12:51
Speaker 3: I'll get back to your question in a minute. But
12:54
Speaker 3: the thing that the party should be focused on is
12:57
Speaker 3: actually the way we get through this is have some growth,
13:00
Speaker 3: increase people's incomes. So it's not such a big issue.
13:04
Speaker 3: There's not a lot can be done when we're celebrating,
13:07
Speaker 3: on one hand, the success of our primary produce overseas.
13:12
Speaker 3: and then growling about the cost of groceries internally. So, yeah, look,
13:18
Speaker 3: it's a very, very difficult thing. And I think probably
13:21
Speaker 3: the Nats have come out and said, well, when you've
13:23
Speaker 3: got over 80% in the hands of two, we're going
13:26
Speaker 3: to have a serious look at breaking that up. That's
13:28
Speaker 3: probably fair enough. The rest of it doesn't make sense
13:31
Speaker 3: to me. Chloe's, let's have a national... Retail outlets for groceries, well,
13:40
Speaker 3: of course they're doing well within New Zealand, the national thing,
13:43
Speaker 3: aren't they? That doesn't make any sense. And then breaking
13:46
Speaker 3: up the distribution networks, I don't know whether that'll work
13:50
Speaker 3: or not. It's quite a complex issue.
13:54
Speaker 1: Would you trust Chloe more at organising a supermarket or
13:57
Speaker 1: doing a bearing?
13:59
Speaker 3: Well, I don't think she'd be very good at either, really,
14:02
Speaker 3: but we'll see. I actually understand that polling... in Auckland
14:06
Speaker 3: Central's got her as unlikely to win at the moment.
14:10
Speaker 3: So that'll be another interesting to watch on November the
14:14
Speaker 3: 7th to just see what's happening there.
14:16
Speaker 1: Based on the polling we're seeing at the moment, Eric,
14:19
Speaker 1: how realistic is it the top gets over 5%? Or
14:22
Speaker 1: have they peaked?
14:24
Speaker 3: Well, I think they might have peaked a little bit soon,
14:27
Speaker 3: but now that they're looking like they'll be a player,
14:31
Speaker 3: it's doing two things. People are bringing scrutiny... onto what
14:36
Speaker 3: this will actually mean and what is bottom lines for
14:40
Speaker 3: them and how effective will that be. And the other
14:43
Speaker 3: thing it's bringing scrutiny onto is, and if Luxton's ruled
14:47
Speaker 3: them out, what will it mean to a coalition of
14:50
Speaker 3: the left, which now will probably include four parties, and
14:55
Speaker 3: what will the impact of that will be. And so
14:57
Speaker 3: to that degree... I think there's a movement back to
15:01
Speaker 3: the right coalition at the moment. Whether that continues up
15:04
Speaker 3: until November the 7th or not, we'll just have to
15:08
Speaker 3: wait and see. But let's just hope for some more
15:12
Speaker 3: scrutiny on what that will mean and who's likely to
15:15
Speaker 3: be the end product of an election when coalitions are formed.
15:19
Speaker 1: Because there seems to be a mentality amongst voters in
15:22
Speaker 1: certain parts of the country is that they're just disenchanted
15:25
Speaker 1: with the status quo and they're not going to make
15:27
Speaker 1: up their mind until they're in the polling booth.
15:30
Speaker 3: Well, that's the case. When you go door knocking, which
15:35
Speaker 3: I've done in years gone by, what actually drives people
15:41
Speaker 3: is quite soul-destroying if you're a politician. There's no sense
15:45
Speaker 3: in nationhood or anything else It's what can impact my
15:49
Speaker 3: pocket the best, and I don't sort of care about
15:51
Speaker 3: anybody else, is a prevalent statement. Now, exit polls have
15:56
Speaker 3: actually shown sometimes that up to 17% of those voting
16:00
Speaker 3: don't know what they're going to do when they pick
16:02
Speaker 3: up the orange pen. And when you look at Undersided
16:07
Speaker 3: and all of the polls now, it's probably sitting about
16:09
Speaker 3: that at the moment. So this great rush to get
16:13
Speaker 3: everybody to go and vote, I hope to have some
16:16
Speaker 3: difficulty accepting that it's a great outcome when people haven't
16:20
Speaker 3: actually given consideration to implications of what their orange pen
16:26
Speaker 3: effect will be.
16:27
Speaker 1: Do you think election fatigue is occurring at the moment, Eric?
16:30
Speaker 1: We've got the situation regarding the TV where we're hearing
16:34
Speaker 1: a lot about it. Social media is plastered with politicians
16:37
Speaker 1: and you've got the billboards. And we've still got, what
16:40
Speaker 1: are we? We're still a couple of months out. We're
16:42
Speaker 1: just about six weeks out from the election.
16:44
Speaker 3: Yeah, look, there's no doubt that a significant number of
16:48
Speaker 3: the population don't like elections. They don't like their TV
16:52
Speaker 3: being taken over. They don't like being challenged. They maybe
16:55
Speaker 3: don't like to have to make decisions and the responsibility
16:59
Speaker 3: of that. So whether it's voter fatigue or I just
17:02
Speaker 3: think a percentage of people aren't really that engaged in
17:07
Speaker 3: the whole process. And and it's interesting when you talk
17:11
Speaker 3: to some people, they decide, I really don't care, it
17:14
Speaker 3: doesn't make any difference, da-da-da. Well, I'd have to dispute that.
17:18
Speaker 3: It does make a difference, and there's some things we
17:21
Speaker 3: don't want to repeat, and we need to learn from
17:23
Speaker 3: history and see who's doing the job and where we're
17:26
Speaker 3: likely to end up and what this actually means for
17:28
Speaker 3: our country in the long run, and I just wish
17:31
Speaker 3: more people would approach it from that point of view.
17:34
Speaker 1: But a four-party coalition on the left, though, that's all
17:37
Speaker 1: the ammo that National Act and New Zealand First, or
17:41
Speaker 1: presumably New Zealand First, goes with the status quo. That's
17:44
Speaker 1: all they really need, though, isn't it?
17:47
Speaker 3: Well, I still have concerns about New Zealand First. Like,
17:51
Speaker 3: they've said they won't go with Labour. What will Winston
17:54
Speaker 3: do if Labour says to Winston, we'll go with you
17:59
Speaker 3: and you can be Prime Minister? That just gives him
18:01
Speaker 3: a free run to do what he likes, and if
18:03
Speaker 3: they can... If New Zealand First numbers mean that they
18:06
Speaker 3: can drop two or three of their coalition of the left,
18:10
Speaker 3: stand by and watch what happens.
18:12
Speaker 1: You honestly believe that would still be on the table?
18:14
Speaker 1: I mean, how about Mark Patterson? He's done a great
18:17
Speaker 1: job being Associate Minister of Ag. Jason Herrocks put his
18:20
Speaker 1: name on the box down here in the South. We
18:21
Speaker 1: don't know where Jason is on the party list. But
18:24
Speaker 1: those guys going with the left, Jason especially has said,
18:28
Speaker 1: you know, he's been very negative regarding the Labour Party.
18:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, Mark went with them last time round, so
18:36
Speaker 3: I don't think they have a big say in what
18:38
Speaker 3: Winston First decides to do. I think him and Shane
18:42
Speaker 3: will make the call.
18:44
Speaker 1: Interesting times, Eric. We'll leave it there. We'll catch up again.
18:48
Speaker 3: Good one. Look forward to it.
18:50
Speaker 5: I'm all out of love.
18:53
Speaker 1: I'm so lost without you.
18:55
Speaker 6: I know you were right.
18:57
Speaker 1: Ground Disaster McMaster joins us once again. He farms on
19:00
Speaker 1: the edge as... or The Edge, did that last week
19:03
Speaker 1: as well, at Lake Wakatipu in central Otago and joins
19:07
Speaker 1: us thanks to Batman and the team at Arby Rural.
19:10
Speaker 1: Good afternoon, Grant.
19:11
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody.
19:14
Speaker 1: I suppose there's more than one edge to a lake,
19:16
Speaker 1: isn't there?
19:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's a good point.
19:19
Speaker 3: Yeah.
19:20
Speaker 2: Well, there's Jacket Edge, that's the place above the lake.
19:23
Speaker 2: There you go, there's two edges.
19:24
Speaker 1: Things you didn't need to know on a Tuesday. What's happening, mate?
19:27
Speaker 1: Are you getting this rain that we're experiencing?
19:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, we are a bit. Beautiful day yesterday, and then
19:34
Speaker 2: last night about 5 o'clock it started to rain, and
19:37
Speaker 2: I think it had finished by about 11 o'clock, but
19:39
Speaker 2: there was 36 mils in the gauge this morning to
19:43
Speaker 2: go with the rest of the week, so we've had
19:47
Speaker 2: 90 mils since we spoke on last Tuesday. But this
19:50
Speaker 2: morning it was fine, the sun was out and I'm
19:55
Speaker 2: just coming back from Oak Lake now and the snow
19:58
Speaker 2: got around the tops and it's raining again and the
20:01
Speaker 2: temperature's down.
20:01
Speaker 3: To 5 degrees.
20:02
Speaker 2: But the good news is the soil temperature is is
20:05
Speaker 2: up to six. So I wasn't even going to look
20:07
Speaker 2: at it. I thought it'd be another thing to depress me.
20:10
Speaker 2: But yeah, well, six is, yeah, it's better than five
20:13
Speaker 2: that the air temperature is. And to be fair, things
20:16
Speaker 2: are greening up, but there's, you know, there's a little
20:19
Speaker 2: pick about, but it'll be gone in a couple of
20:23
Speaker 2: days if this carries on.
20:24
Speaker 1: The soil temperatures down south, they're all in the eight
20:27
Speaker 1: and nine degree bracket, bar one. So it just needs
20:30
Speaker 1: some yellow.
20:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, it does, and when the few days that the
20:35
Speaker 2: sun has come out, it's been quite nice, but the
20:38
Speaker 2: fire is still going in the homestead, and when it's
20:42
Speaker 2: not on, it's still bloody cold. So, yeah, it's just
20:46
Speaker 2: cool enough, really, but lovely when the sun does come
20:48
Speaker 2: out and the days are longer, so I'll be right
20:51
Speaker 2: next weekend because we'll get an extra hour of sunlight,
20:54
Speaker 2: won't we?
20:55
Speaker 1: I think consensus seems to be August was kinder last year, Grant.
20:59
Speaker 1: There was a bit of a grass-based... and sunshine ahead
21:01
Speaker 1: of us.
21:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was. And August was good for us last
21:06
Speaker 2: year until the last few days of it. And that's
21:10
Speaker 2: when the proverbial hit the fan and it didn't stop
21:12
Speaker 2: raining until the end of November. And it's been a
21:16
Speaker 2: bit similar, but probably the month of August wasn't quite
21:20
Speaker 2: as good as last year, so that would.
21:21
Speaker 4: Be fair, yeah.
21:22
Speaker 1: Now, we caught up with you a wee while ago
21:25
Speaker 1: at scanning. You had an issue with dry tutu, so
21:28
Speaker 1: you're trying to decipher what's going on there. Any resolution?
21:32
Speaker 2: Well, the resolution that I was hoping that the fact
21:34
Speaker 2: that it might have been selenium didn't come to fruition.
21:41
Speaker 2: So we got the vet came out and those dry tutus,
21:45
Speaker 2: we blood tested 15 of them, 20, and.
21:52
Speaker 2: The results came back that the iodine and selenium levels
21:58
Speaker 2: were well above average. And so it's not selenium. I
22:03
Speaker 2: was sort of hoping deep down it would have been. And,
22:06
Speaker 2: you know, the magic selenium injection and all our troubles
22:10
Speaker 2: would be behind us. But, no, it's a tricky old game, farming,
22:14
Speaker 2: isn't it? You know, the longer you do it, it
22:16
Speaker 2: doesn't make any difference. It's something to trip you up
22:19
Speaker 2: every now and again.
22:19
Speaker 3: So it's really.
22:21
Speaker 2: It's been to the vet yesterday, and, yeah, we're just
22:24
Speaker 2: not too sure what it is. But, yeah, we'll have
22:28
Speaker 2: to wait and see what happens next year.
22:30
Speaker 1: Is it a head scratcher, so there's nothing immediately that
22:33
Speaker 1: comes to mind?
22:34
Speaker 4: No, there's not.
22:35
Speaker 2: I mean, it's, you know, we spoke about it before that,
22:38
Speaker 2: you know, I was so confident that the user and
22:42
Speaker 2: the best, the 2D user in the best condition, I
22:44
Speaker 2: think they'd been going to the ramp. and the fact
22:47
Speaker 2: that I was really quite excited about the scanning was
22:51
Speaker 2: they'd been tupped on green grass, because the ram doesn't
22:58
Speaker 2: go out here until the 15th of May, and by
23:02
Speaker 2: that time you've got a bit of that autumn-safe pasture,
23:05
Speaker 2: but it's getting frosted, and it's lost a lot of
23:08
Speaker 2: its nutrition, but that's just the way it is, and
23:12
Speaker 2: you can't... lamb any earlier here because you'd have nothing
23:17
Speaker 2: to eat whatsoever so you know there's always that toss
23:20
Speaker 2: up and so this year you know great autumn and
23:25
Speaker 2: sheep in good condition and were tupped and you know
23:29
Speaker 2: they were on the flushed on good tucker all the
23:32
Speaker 2: way through and you know even when the ram was
23:35
Speaker 2: to go out they were still you know the feed
23:38
Speaker 2: quality was really good so you know I thought you
23:40
Speaker 2: know the teaser rams got them ready and put the
23:44
Speaker 2: main artillery in and two of these rams and away
23:48
Speaker 2: we go. But, you know, it was a bit like
23:51
Speaker 2: the Warriors the other night.
23:51
Speaker 3: It was a bit disappointing.
23:54
Speaker 1: Hey, the situation in Wanaka regarding waste being carted out
23:58
Speaker 1: to Lauda, it stinks, to coin a phrase.
24:02
Speaker 2: Yeah, literally it does. It's... You know, it's quite ironic,
24:06
Speaker 2: isn't it? Now, I know that, you know, apparently this
24:09
Speaker 2: waste from Wanaka used to be shipped down to the south,
24:13
Speaker 2: and I guess that would be to, I'm not too sure,
24:15
Speaker 2: but now we, you know, this is, the population's getting
24:20
Speaker 2: bigger and bigger. I mean, I look at Queenstown, I
24:22
Speaker 2: look at Wanaka, and now they're having to, the treated
24:26
Speaker 2: human effluent from Wanaka and nearby Albertown is being trucked
24:29
Speaker 2: to Lauder. which is 80 minutes' drive away. Now, Federated Farmers,
24:32
Speaker 2: the Tago president, Anna Gillespie's on this, and say the
24:35
Speaker 2: people at the Manuhere catchment are quite rightfully upset about
24:40
Speaker 2: what's happening. And this actually went through without being consented,
24:45
Speaker 2: which is non-notified. So there was no public hearing. And
24:51
Speaker 2: they say in this article that the E. coli levels
24:54
Speaker 2: are 6,500 times higher then Water New Zealand guidelines allow
24:59
Speaker 2: for suitable discharge to the land. So it's quite important,
25:04
Speaker 2: that point. And you'll remember just a few years ago
25:09
Speaker 2: that the Environment Minister, David Park, and the ORC, they
25:13
Speaker 2: were slamming that catchment for farmers and taking extensive action
25:17
Speaker 2: to improve the environment because they were saying that the
25:20
Speaker 2: the Meneherikiri River wasn't running the way it should be. And,
25:23
Speaker 2: you know, they take water out of there for irrigation.
25:25
Speaker 2: But it's a dry part of the country, and it's
25:29
Speaker 2: the coldest and probably the driest in New Zealand in
25:31
Speaker 2: a lot of ways. And it's sort of the old
25:33
Speaker 2: smacks of out of sight, out of mind. But it
25:38
Speaker 2: doesn't sort of sit well, does it? And it's the
25:41
Speaker 2: same with, you know, the waterways, whether it be the
25:44
Speaker 2: lake here or the rivers. You know, the Clutha, you know,
25:48
Speaker 2: the Meneherikiri goes into the Clutha. and all the hoo-ha
25:53
Speaker 2: about our rivers being kept clean and pristine, if that
25:56
Speaker 2: was a cattle beast or a cow even looking at
25:59
Speaker 2: the water, let alone a bloody dairy cow, it would
26:03
Speaker 2: be the main feature on the news. So I think
26:08
Speaker 2: we're needing farming as leading the economy again. I think
26:13
Speaker 2: that it's certainly not a level playing field. Now, what
26:15
Speaker 2: the answer is, I'm not too sure because You know,
26:18
Speaker 2: you look at the population increasing and a lot of
26:21
Speaker 2: people are full of it too. And it's got to
26:23
Speaker 2: go somewhere. I don't know what the answer is, but
26:26
Speaker 2: it's a bit sneaky, you know, these non-consented consents being
26:30
Speaker 2: given out. And the rainfall in that area is not
26:35
Speaker 2: very much at all. So, you know, it's not going
26:38
Speaker 2: to get washed away that much, you know, from leaching.
26:41
Speaker 1: No different to Wellington Council and the Moa Point scenario
26:44
Speaker 1: earlier in the year as well. That was ridiculous.
26:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, and still no accountability for that.
26:48
Speaker 1: No.
26:49
Speaker 2: You know, if that was the poor old dairy farmer
26:53
Speaker 2: or the sheep farmer or the dairy farmer that the
26:57
Speaker 2: irrigator didn't turn off and it got into the creek, well,
27:01
Speaker 2: you know, they'd have the bloody police out.
27:04
Speaker 7: So, I don't know.
27:06
Speaker 2: And it's not going to get any better because the
27:07
Speaker 2: population's increasing, and land for farming is decreasing, so I
27:12
Speaker 2: don't know where it's going to go, but they might
27:14
Speaker 2: be better to put their heads to find out solutions
27:16
Speaker 2: for that instead of perhaps just worrying about putting solar
27:19
Speaker 2: panels on bloody good farmland and wind farms everywhere. Get
27:22
Speaker 2: back into a bit of hydro and let's get things
27:25
Speaker 2: going again.
27:26
Speaker 1: I'm going to stop you there because you're talking too
27:28
Speaker 1: much bloody sense, Grant. Thanks for your time as always.
27:31
Speaker 2: Well, it'll be the first time in my life I've
27:33
Speaker 2: talked about Andy. For those few listeners we've got.
27:38
Speaker 1: Every now and then, Grant, you've got to back yourself, mate.
27:40
Speaker 1: Someone's got to.
27:42
Speaker 2: No, you're right, Andy. That's the lie of the land
27:45
Speaker 2: at the moment, but hopefully we'll get some this week
27:48
Speaker 2: and for everywhere in the winter and the shitty springs
27:53
Speaker 2: long behind us.
28:05
Speaker 1: There's a reason for the sunshine....
28:34
Speaker 5: I've got a ram sale to go to this afternoon
28:37
Speaker 5: to buy some rams for a fella, a couple of blokes.
28:39
Speaker 6: So the day is starting off on a positive note.
28:42
Speaker 1: What's your average rain for where you're based?
28:45
Speaker 6: Well, it really varies so much.
28:49
Speaker 5: You know, if we're talking inches, it's 8 inches to
28:55
Speaker 5: 15 inches, depending on where you.
28:56
Speaker 6: Are in the state.
28:58
Speaker 1: That's not a lot of rain.
28:59
Speaker 6: No, it's not a lot of rain.
29:00
Speaker 5: Saying that, though, if you go down in that Esperance,
29:02
Speaker 5: Albany area, it's greater again, but it's, you know, scale
29:06
Speaker 5: of economy and the size of things, it's just such
29:09
Speaker 5: a variant everywhere, so it's hard to pin it down
29:11
Speaker 5: to one thing, you know?
29:12
Speaker 1: Speaking of economy of scale, we talk about this a
29:16
Speaker 1: lot with you, Bissy, but you reckon some of the
29:18
Speaker 1: farms over there, in excess of a million acres, and apparently,
29:22
Speaker 1: in your words, they're some of the smaller ones.
29:24
Speaker 5: Well, in that station country, a lot of those stock
29:26
Speaker 5: standard blocks that were carved up back in the day,
29:30
Speaker 5: you know, they're 900 to a million and a bit acres,
29:33
Speaker 5: And then over the years, you've got families that have
29:36
Speaker 5: brought up the neighbour.
29:37
Speaker 6: I was speaking to a guy the other day, and.
29:39
Speaker 5: Him and his brother and father have got three and
29:42
Speaker 5: a half million acres so that's a big day at
29:44
Speaker 5: the office.
29:45
Speaker 1: So how big are your blocks when you've got a
29:47
Speaker 1: farm that size for goodness sake?
29:49
Speaker 5: Well you might have a paddock that's 100,000 acres or
29:51
Speaker 5: you might have a paddock that's 200,000 acres or you might.
29:54
Speaker 6: Have a paddock that's bigger.
29:54
Speaker 1: Again Is that flat land?
29:58
Speaker 5: Depending on where you are, most of it's flat land.
30:00
Speaker 5: You know, you go through the Pilbara and different areas
30:03
Speaker 5: of the Kimberleys and it's rolling sort of country, but
30:07
Speaker 5: it's not hilly and steep. There are areas in the
30:10
Speaker 5: Pilbara where it's sort of where the tourist areas are,
30:13
Speaker 5: which is rocky outbreaks and cliffs and things, but generally
30:18
Speaker 5: it's flat, yeah.
30:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of technology, it's the big thing. We hear
30:23
Speaker 1: about wearables on cattle over here. It's certainly a big
30:27
Speaker 1: deal over in WA now.
30:29
Speaker 5: Yeah, I was just speaking to the halter guys yesterday
30:32
Speaker 5: in regards to, you know, management and more efficient. And
30:37
Speaker 5: even the station country now, there's a massive opportunity. We're
30:41
Speaker 5: probably a bit behind the eight ball compared to you guys, but.
30:45
Speaker 6: That halter is an example. Man, that's a winner, isn't it?
30:48
Speaker 6: It's such a modern, positive thing. It's so good. And
30:53
Speaker 6: I just think all those.
30:54
Speaker 5: Big stations that have had a lot of country that's
30:56
Speaker 5: never been eaten, never seen an animal on them at all,
30:59
Speaker 5: you can now push those cattle into those areas and
31:02
Speaker 5: really go for it.
31:03
Speaker 6: That's going to make a big difference in stocking rates
31:06
Speaker 6: on those places.
31:07
Speaker 1: So this is potentially a game changer for these stations?
31:11
Speaker 6: Yeah, 100%.
31:12
Speaker 5: You know, if you're running a few thousand cows and
31:14
Speaker 5: you've got a thousand heifers every year, then, you know,
31:20
Speaker 5: you can run those heifers separately. You can graze them
31:22
Speaker 5: where you want to graze them and you can control
31:24
Speaker 5: them and you grow them out accordingly.
31:25
Speaker 6: Absolutely magnificent.
31:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, and on that as well, we talk about cattle
31:30
Speaker 1: prices and lamb prices. Not a lot of feed growing
31:33
Speaker 1: in the south at the moment. Possibly things have eased
31:36
Speaker 1: a little bit from where they've been. What are we
31:38
Speaker 1: seeing over there?
31:40
Speaker 6: Things are chugging along okay.
31:41
Speaker 5: We've had a reasonable run in the last sort of
31:43
Speaker 5: month with rainfall, depending on where you are, of course,
31:46
Speaker 5: because of the size of the place. We'll probably need
31:49
Speaker 5: another rain now, which is a fair call. But overall,
31:52
Speaker 5: we're trucking along not too bad. In the east heading inland,
31:58
Speaker 5: guys will start to think about moving land now with
32:02
Speaker 5: the amount of water they've got in dams and runoffs.
32:05
Speaker 6: But as a general consensus, we're not too bad.
32:10
Speaker 1: Is irrigation a thing over there at all or just
32:12
Speaker 1: not possible?
32:14
Speaker 5: Well, it is, and I'll tell you what, we've got
32:16
Speaker 5: a hell of a good fellow out of the Hawke's Bay,
32:18
Speaker 5: a bloke called James O'Kane, and he started a business
32:22
Speaker 5: here called Get Wet Solutions, and he's got a hell
32:25
Speaker 5: of a good run with his pivots and irrigation business.
32:28
Speaker 5: He's got guys up in the Kimberleys there in the
32:31
Speaker 5: station countries, and some of those stations will have six
32:33
Speaker 5: or eight or ten pivots per station. So, yeah, the
32:37
Speaker 5: irrigation's going great, and the water table's so strong, some
32:41
Speaker 5: of those places you don't even need a pump to
32:43
Speaker 5: get the water out of the water. You just open
32:44
Speaker 5: the valve, and the pressure will run the whole pivot. So,
32:47
Speaker 5: you know, that might save you $ 100, 000 a year in diesel. So, yeah,
32:50
Speaker 5: it's pretty good. The grain and seed guy's obviously not
32:53
Speaker 5: using that. Horticultural guys, vegetables, et cetera, yeah, big-time irrigation.
32:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting because I would have thought the other
33:01
Speaker 1: way regarding the water situation.
33:05
Speaker 5: Well, the aquifers below the ground in certain parts of
33:08
Speaker 5: the state are pretty big. So the water's, you know,
33:11
Speaker 5: it's like all that dairy country at home where those
33:13
Speaker 5: guys are pumping water out of the ground that's 200
33:15
Speaker 5: years old.
33:16
Speaker 6: So I'd say it's a similar thing.
33:19
Speaker 1: So the Royal Show's coming up in Perth. I mean,
33:21
Speaker 1: you hear about the AMP shows in New Zealand, but
33:24
Speaker 1: yet again, economy of scale, you'd probably get a couple
33:27
Speaker 1: of hundred thousand through the gate or something ridiculous.
33:30
Speaker 5: I looked at the figures the other day when I
33:32
Speaker 5: was reading an article and it said two years ago
33:33
Speaker 5: they had... just under 400,000 people through the gate.
33:37
Speaker 1: Of course you did.
33:39
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, that's right. So the numbers are there. It's
33:45
Speaker 5: a big few days. I think it runs for seven
33:47
Speaker 5: or eight days over here. But yeah, it's a really good,
33:50
Speaker 5: it's a great event.
33:52
Speaker 1: So there's a real appreciation for the rural sector in
33:55
Speaker 1: cities like Perth?
33:56
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think so, yeah.
33:58
Speaker 5: We are getting invaded by the woke, green, untrustworthy people
34:03
Speaker 5: that try to dominate us all.
34:04
Speaker 6: But overall, yeah, very positive and, yeah, very popular.
34:09
Speaker 1: So the Royal Show, very similar to an A &
34:11
Speaker 1: P show, like you've got the animals there, you've got
34:13
Speaker 1: the rides and the carnies.
34:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly the same, exactly the same, no difference.
34:18
Speaker 5: You could be anywhere in New Zealand or you could
34:20
Speaker 5: be in Perth and it's the same thing, just a
34:22
Speaker 5: bit bigger, that's all.
34:24
Speaker 1: Of course it is. And what is big this weekend
34:26
Speaker 1: is Fremantle Dockers and the AFL. Any AFL fans will
34:30
Speaker 1: understand what I'm on about. They're in the final, the
34:32
Speaker 1: grand final, the MCG. There'll be 100,000 people at their
34:35
Speaker 1: game against the Brisbane Lions. Even though no Victorian team
34:39
Speaker 1: is involved, this is a massive, massive deal for Fremantle.
34:43
Speaker 6: Yeah, it certainly is.
34:44
Speaker 5: And it's Fremantle's big day at the office, this one.
34:47
Speaker 5: They're ready to go. The town is full of excitement.
34:50
Speaker 5: People are painting their fences purple, which is their colour.
34:53
Speaker 5: and a big anchor on their front gate. The kids
34:56
Speaker 5: are all getting dressed up, and, yeah, she's going to
34:58
Speaker 5: be a big one. Like you said, 100,000 people there.
35:01
Speaker 5: I don't know if you've been to the MCG when
35:04
Speaker 5: there's 100,000 people there, but, man, it's some event.
35:07
Speaker 6: It'll just be fantastic.
35:09
Speaker 1: I went there once for a Collingwood-Essendon game. There was
35:11
Speaker 1: only 75,000. It was a slow day.
35:16
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly.
35:17
Speaker 5: It'll be sold out and some. And Melbourne is a
35:21
Speaker 5: great town to go to. You know, the bars and
35:23
Speaker 5: the restaurants and the food, and it's safe. It's a
35:26
Speaker 5: great place.
35:27
Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Busy. Thanks for your time as always.
35:29
Speaker 1: We'll catch up again.
35:30
Speaker 6: Yeah, have a lovely day and have a great weekend.
35:32
Speaker 6: All the best.
35:52
Speaker 1: One of the all-time great intros on a song there,
35:55
Speaker 1: Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy by Big and Rich.
35:57
Speaker 1: You're listening to the muster on Hakanui. AJ Aitken catches
36:00
Speaker 1: up next, of course. He won the Galbraith Shield earlier
36:03
Speaker 1: on in the rugby season with the Eastern Northern Barbarians. Currently,
36:07
Speaker 1: he's coaching Southland Development. and they had a massive win
36:10
Speaker 1: over Canterbury B at the weekend. And he's catching up
36:13
Speaker 1: just to give us a bit of an insight or
36:15
Speaker 1: an understanding of what the depth actually is like in
36:18
Speaker 1: Southland rugby. I mean, effectively, you hear about us running
36:21
Speaker 1: on the smell of a noily rag. AJ's going to
36:22
Speaker 1: give us a bit of an update. Good afternoon. How
36:25
Speaker 1: are you?
36:26
Speaker 7: Afternoon, Andy.
36:27
Speaker 4: Good afternoon, everybody.
36:28
Speaker 7: Yep, no, not bad now. Sun's out now. So, yeah,
36:31
Speaker 7: not too bad at all.
36:32
Speaker 1: Well, your heart would have been warmed up last weekend
36:35
Speaker 1: knocking over Canterbury.
36:37
Speaker 7: Oh, well, it's, yeah, obviously we were delighted with the result.
36:42
Speaker 7: You always go into those games or any game thinking
36:45
Speaker 7: that you're going to be able to get the job
36:47
Speaker 7: done and you prepare the whole week around, I guess,
36:52
Speaker 7: the climax of winning the game of rugby. We don't
36:56
Speaker 7: go into any week and think that we're going to
36:57
Speaker 7: come second. But, yeah, we worked really hard. The boys
37:02
Speaker 7: worked really hard through that game and through the first
37:05
Speaker 7: punch and just managed to, sort of withholding defence was
37:08
Speaker 7: outstanding and I don't know when the last time a
37:13
Speaker 7: development team knocked over a Canterbury development team which was
37:16
Speaker 7: a very classy outfit we were up against so yeah,
37:19
Speaker 7: huge scout for our boys and they thoroughly deserved it.
37:23
Speaker 1: With the Stags, you don't have a situation there, a
37:25
Speaker 1: lot of players brought in this year, a lot of
37:26
Speaker 1: people crying out to use local talent AJ, have we
37:29
Speaker 1: got the local talent to justify a Stags selection perhaps?
37:34
Speaker 7: Well, I think I think you've got to be realistic, Andy.
37:38
Speaker 7: If we want to compete in the current model of MPC,
37:41
Speaker 7: we've got to have the calibre of player. If you
37:44
Speaker 7: look at our current club competitions that we've got in Southland,
37:49
Speaker 7: can anyone honestly say that we've got enough high-quality players
37:55
Speaker 7: to be playing that level? Some of them definitely can,
37:57
Speaker 7: but there's a lot that probably aren't at that level.
38:03
Speaker 7: Can we develop them into MPC players? We sure can.
38:06
Speaker 7: but that takes time, and it's not in everybody's wheelhouse too.
38:09
Speaker 7: So for us to compete, we have to have those
38:13
Speaker 7: level of players, and I think, like Scott has said
38:19
Speaker 7: in prior interviews, even on the show, we're only bringing,
38:25
Speaker 7: the Stags are only mainly bringing in guys that are
38:29
Speaker 7: super rugby quality, so it's not like we're bringing in
38:33
Speaker 7: guys to take a Woody Kirkwood's place or a Gregor
38:37
Speaker 7: Rutledge's place or a Jimmy Taylor's place. They're all homegrown
38:40
Speaker 7: guys that have come through the system and are able
38:44
Speaker 7: to apply their trade at a reasonable level because we're
38:48
Speaker 7: able to bring in those super rugby players.
38:50
Speaker 1: Because you would have heard this chat as well, AJ,
38:52
Speaker 1: a lot of talk out there about if we're going
38:55
Speaker 1: to get the results and unfortunately we're on the losing
38:57
Speaker 1: end more often than not, then why not try and
38:59
Speaker 1: blood local players and give them a run?
39:01
Speaker 7: Well, I think if you actually look at the guys
39:03
Speaker 7: that we are blooding though, mate, like with our academy
39:06
Speaker 7: guys and stuff like that, we actually are blooding a
39:10
Speaker 7: lot of guys, but the reality is we just don't
39:13
Speaker 7: have the population base to do it when you compare
39:15
Speaker 7: us to a lot of these other unions. But on
39:19
Speaker 7: the flip side of that, you know, last weekend for
39:24
Speaker 7: our development team and for that famous one, like Friday
39:27
Speaker 7: night at 7.30, we were, we had to go and
39:30
Speaker 7: scramble to find two players because we had a, had the,
39:36
Speaker 7: that spewing bug go through and then there's, well, the neuroviral,
39:39
Speaker 7: whatever it's called, and they, and guys were dropping like flies. So,
39:44
Speaker 7: you know, look at Ryan Davis, for example. I called
39:46
Speaker 7: him at 7.30 on Friday night and he was having
39:48
Speaker 7: a few beers and I said, how would you like
39:50
Speaker 7: to play for the Southland Development team tomorrow? And he
39:54
Speaker 7: jumped at the chance. So there is lots of opportunities
39:57
Speaker 7: for our homegrown guys, but we have to be realistic
40:00
Speaker 7: about the level that we are playing.
40:02
Speaker 1: Is that just a reflection of the Southland Club competition, AJ,
40:06
Speaker 1: as to where it's at?
40:08
Speaker 3: Well, I think.
40:09
Speaker 7: If you really do, if we want to be completely
40:11
Speaker 7: honest about the level of club rugby.
40:14
Speaker 4: I think it's probably.
40:17
Speaker 7: it's probably deteriorated a little bit in the last maybe
40:20
Speaker 7: 10 years. And I think that's primarily around numbers as well. Okay, look,
40:25
Speaker 7: let's use the Barbarians, for example. Everyone will say, oh,
40:29
Speaker 7: you guys had an amazing year and, you know, you
40:30
Speaker 7: had an amazing team and this, that and the next thing.
40:33
Speaker 7: But what people don't understand is that there was lots
40:35
Speaker 7: of weeks where I'd be on the phone trying to
40:38
Speaker 7: get a team. We were leaning on the Albions and
40:41
Speaker 7: the Pioneers and the Vikings and, All those clubs, they
40:47
Speaker 7: chip in and help us get through those early parts
40:51
Speaker 7: of the year. We try and return the favour where
40:54
Speaker 7: we can, but all the clubs are struggling to field
40:58
Speaker 7: teams nowadays, Andy, and that's a big reflection on the
41:01
Speaker 7: amount of players that are actually playing the game.
41:04
Speaker 1: Now, regarding these proposed changes to the MPC, like supercharging,
41:10
Speaker 1: super rugby almost, but leaving Australia out of it, I
41:13
Speaker 1: think like to Hawke's Bay, maybe the Naki, something like that,
41:16
Speaker 1: Tasman comes into the equation. Southland will be left out
41:19
Speaker 1: in the cold, though. So once again, everything's.
41:21
Speaker 4: Up in the air.
41:26
Speaker 7: Yeah, and if you look at the players that are
41:28
Speaker 7: coming through now and playing MPC that have come out
41:30
Speaker 7: of that Southland boys' system, the Mika Mullineys, the Jimmy
41:33
Speaker 7: and I keep repeating, the Jack Taylors, the Withies, the
41:36
Speaker 7: Woody Kirkwoods, they're all homegrown guys. Like, if we don't
41:40
Speaker 7: have a team playing in that top tier, where are
41:44
Speaker 7: those players that have aspirations to play professional rugby? Where
41:46
Speaker 7: are they going to go? Are they going to stay
41:48
Speaker 7: in an environment where they don't get paid? Well, I
41:51
Speaker 7: don't know. Maybe they won't. I mean, it's all up
41:54
Speaker 7: in the air what it'll be structured like, but a
41:56
Speaker 7: lot of the good work that's been done over the
41:58
Speaker 7: last 10 years by our academy managers and Guys that
42:02
Speaker 7: have got us to the point we are now could
42:05
Speaker 7: be very quickly unraveled by a sweeping change. But at
42:08
Speaker 7: the end of the day, like NZR, they're not going
42:11
Speaker 7: to let these competitions keep running if they're not making money.
42:13
Speaker 7: So unfortunately, it's run as a business nowadays. And if
42:18
Speaker 7: it doesn't make money, well, it could be on the
42:20
Speaker 7: chopping board.
42:21
Speaker 1: We've seen changes mooted in the past. I think it
42:23
Speaker 1: might have been in the mid-2000s. It was proposed that
42:26
Speaker 1: Tasman and possibly Manawatu were on the chopping block, but
42:29
Speaker 1: there was massive protests and backlash, and the NZR went
42:33
Speaker 1: back to the original model. I suppose that's it, though.
42:36
Speaker 1: If you're hemorrhaging money, AJ, you've got to make a
42:40
Speaker 1: profit somewhere aligned, and we all know the figures regarding
42:42
Speaker 1: the NZR. But, I mean, is that provincial rugby's fault?
42:47
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, I don't know.
42:48
Speaker 7: It could be argued that it's not. I mean, look
42:49
Speaker 7: at Rugby South. They made a profit this year, in
42:53
Speaker 7: the last financial year. So that's well and good. But,
42:56
Speaker 7: you know, if we're not playing against Otago and Stag Day,
42:59
Speaker 7: are we going to get 10,000 people at Rugby Park
43:01
Speaker 7: to come watch it? I don't know.
43:02
Speaker 4: Maybe we won't.
43:03
Speaker 7: So it's no secret, since we've been having those days,
43:06
Speaker 7: our books have looked a lot better. So, I mean,
43:11
Speaker 7: I don't know what the answer is, mate, but... I
43:15
Speaker 7: think it would be bad for our probably declining rugby
43:21
Speaker 7: base in Southland if that model was to be adopted.
43:25
Speaker 1: Just finally, the Galbraith Shield, are you looking after it?
43:28
Speaker 1: Who's got the responsibility?
43:30
Speaker 7: Oh, I know Brett Howden's trying to get it over
43:33
Speaker 7: to him. He's got a wee shrine over at home
43:35
Speaker 7: with pretty much every piece of silverware that exists in
43:39
Speaker 7: either East and Southland.
43:41
Speaker 1: Well, he's probably got a wee bit there too, to
43:42
Speaker 1: be fair.
43:43
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's always hard when you're trying to track something down.
43:45
Speaker 7: So I know he's trying to get it, but I
43:47
Speaker 7: actually think it might be at One Chef Kitchen now.
43:49
Speaker 7: So our plan with it was we wanted to, you know,
43:52
Speaker 7: we didn't want it to be sitting in one place
43:54
Speaker 7: for the summer. So we're going to spread it around
43:58
Speaker 7: the businesses and the people that support us around east
44:01
Speaker 7: and the northern. So, yeah, look out for it. You'll
44:04
Speaker 7: see it around the place. So, yeah, good to get
44:06
Speaker 7: it out and about because, as we all know, we
44:08
Speaker 7: don't have it very often.
44:10
Speaker 3: Yeah.
44:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know a certain radio station in Gord that
44:12
Speaker 1: wouldn't mind it for a week or two, mate.
44:15
Speaker 7: It'll be coming, mate. We'll get it up there.
44:17
Speaker 1: Nah, good, mate. Good on you, AJ. Thanks for your time.
44:19
Speaker 7: Thanks, Andy.
44:22
Speaker 4: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, cos life on the
44:25
Speaker 4: land can be a laughing matter.
44:27
Speaker 1: Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the
44:30
Speaker 1: livestock farmer. When I was a child, my father cheated
44:34
Speaker 1: on my mum. Later, my parents divorced. Soon after, my
44:38
Speaker 1: mother died in a car accident. My brother and I
44:41
Speaker 1: could only live in my grandmother's old house. Grandma's sister
44:44
Speaker 1: was an alcoholic. The whole family lived in my grandma's savings,
44:48
Speaker 1: and Grandma recently passed away. My Uncle Andy is barely
44:51
Speaker 1: keeping himself out of jail from day to day. My
44:54
Speaker 1: brother left home and won't talk to us anymore. Dad's
44:57
Speaker 1: now in his 70s, but he's had to go out
44:59
Speaker 1: and work to support the family, and eventually he's going
45:01
Speaker 1: to want me to do the same thing. What am
45:03
Speaker 1: I supposed to do? Yours sincerely, Prince William. Last night
45:09
Speaker 1: I had the strangest dream. Dave Biss there, wrapping up
45:12
Speaker 1: the best of the muster. Remember, if you want to
45:15
Speaker 1: catch up with any interviews, they're available online. Just search
45:18
Speaker 1: the muster on Hakanui through iHeartRadio. My name's Andy Muir.
45:22
Speaker 1: Enjoy the weekend. See you Monday. Ain't nothing gonna break
45:26
Speaker 1: my side.
45:28
Speaker 6: No, that's no story.