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Best Of The Muster: 31/10/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: A very good morning and welcome into The Best of
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the Muster, brought to you by The Gopher. My name's
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Andy Muir. The Best of the Muster is a collaboration
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: of interviews that took our attention during a busy week
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: here at Hokanui HQ. We're starting off by catching up
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: with Grant Disaster McMaster, based at... Closeburn Station on the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: edges of Lake Wakatipu and Disaster's got some messaging around
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Fishing Game. Now Fishing Game's been controversial for a few
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: people over the past 12 months but lately a few
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: things have changed within the organisation and Disaster says yep,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: credit where credit is due. Eric Roy joined us from
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: China and the messaging was loud and clear. New Zealand
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: is open for business and we have a name overseas
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: that we can be proud of. And Eric goes on
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to say, look, we need to utilise this New Zealand
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: name as much as we can because especially in the
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: Chinese market, they can't get enough of us. Elliot Warrender,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: a PTG rights and auctioneer. He's competing up at Christchurch
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: this Tuesday, upcoming Tuesday, in the Young Auctioneer of the
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: Year Award. So Elliot was on the show to tell
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: us about getting into the world of auctioneering, what was
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: the drawcard for him, and what to expect next week.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: James Edgar, he's based at Mower Flat, and talks about
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: local council. Of course, he's involved with the ORC, the
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Targa Regional Council, where he's based there. And are you
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: getting bang for buck for your dollar? James says no,
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: but he's like, look, the whole political landscape at the moment,
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: there's a lot going on. But as farmers, we just
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: need to concentrate on what we can do. And we've
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: got good prices. We keep going. And finally, Geordie Yead
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: from the Riviera of the South, which is beautiful Riverton.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: We caught up with Geordie and he had all the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: perilous of sayings coming up this week as he contemplates...
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: tailing on his farm there near Riverton. So without further ado,
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: we'll start the best of the muster with disaster. Of course,
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: it's proudly brought to you by the gopher. Grant Disaster
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: McMaster Farms on the edge of Lake Wakatipa at Closeburn
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Station and joins us once again thanks to Batman and
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the team at Arby Rura who are based here in Gore. Disaster,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: good afternoon.
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody. On the edge of
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: Quick Trip, it seems to be getting closer to the road.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Another 77 mils of rain last night, or yesterday afternoon,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: and just bucketed down. So it tipped out 77 mils
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: this morning. And actually, I had a cup of tea
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the other day, yesterday, and it blew the milk right
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: out of it. So actually, I don't even have milk
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: in my tea because we couldn't have got it in.
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: So it just blew, and obviously, after those... Those blows,
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: you get the rain. But the forecasting was right on
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the money, Andy. You know, we keep saying when it rains,
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: it's an event now. It's not just 10 mils, 15 mils. Oh, whoops,
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: we've got 20, you know.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: 77 mils.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're still below what we got last year, which
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: is not a bad thing. But, yeah, the ponds are
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: filled up again. The water's fine. pouring off the hills,
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: and there's snow around all the mountains. So I just
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: was over the hills this morning, shifting cattle around, and
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: looking up at Kynette Peak, all the ski runs have
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: got snow on them. Admittedly, not a feat, a lot
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: of it, but it's a pretty good covering, and it's
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: about six degrees at the moment with the sun trying
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: to poke through.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Cam Nicholson keeps me informed on the weather in the
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: Ida Valley where he's based their disaster, and they had
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: snow on the hills, so he's had to put off
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: tailing for another day, apparently.
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I'd say it's come through there all right,
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: and of course Cam, he's a proud rural fireman, so
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: he'll be lighting a fire somewhere today to keep warm,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: no doubt, knowing Cam.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Gee, fires are happening here, there, and everywhere at the moment.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: It's a buzzword that you don't want flying.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Exactly, but if we keep getting this rain, and they
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: talk about the El Nino and whatever it is, but
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: it says it's more wetter for the west coast region,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: and it's certainly proving that with that rain that came
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: through yesterday. But the winds were as strong as we get,
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: and haven't seen many trees down or anything, so it
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: must have just been... Yeah, the way it was coming,
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: I guess, but yeah, that rain has certainly made the water,
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: you know, the shot overs as black as anything, and
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: the creeks around here are up too, and there'll be
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: a few lambs that have had a bit of a wash,
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: but sort of well, that first cycle's just about finished now,
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: so I don't think it's, I haven't had a look
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: around the back at this stage, but going there this
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: afternoon just to see what awaits, but hopefully.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: It's not too bad So far, lambing's been all right,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: albeit a bit wet.
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you know, this 77 mils of rain we
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: got yesterday, that's probably, we haven't had rain for a
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks since, you know, prior to that. So
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: it's been quite a good spell of weather. And, you know,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: the grass has been ticking away, as I said the
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: other day, and still it's looking, you know, it's looking
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: pretty good. It's a great time of the year, isn't it,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: in the spring before the bloody thistles come up and,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: that stuff and you've got your pasture all, you're just,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: you're on top of it. It always looks, it always
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: looks pretty good. And, uh, over to, over to Ayrtown where,
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: you know, it's a bit, bit warmer there and a
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: bit more advanced and, and there's a lot of new
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: grass in those paddocks. Uh, it's, it's really, uh, boring
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: into it. So, uh, Yeah, it's very pleasing.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Now, you want to comment today on Fish and Game.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Down here in Southland, a well-documented stouch last year with
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Southland Fish and Game and Feds went on. That was
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: a while ago. Now, time's moved on, and a lot
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: of positive things coming out of Fish and Game, truth
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: be known. Dave McGregor and co there. You just want
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: to talk on Fish and Game, though, a couple of experiences.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so Fish and Game, you know, I've always been
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: aware of it, and, you know, there's been a bit
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: of a... There's been a bit of a.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Anti-farmer come fishing game at times for various reasons that
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: i'm not all that familiar with but you know they
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: both you know sort of they we sort of go
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: hand in hand really don't we and it should be
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: you know it should be a pretty straightforward relationship but
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: you know there's personalities come in and various political things
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: happen and um it's uh you know it's been a
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: bit rocky i'd be it'd be fair to say but
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: We've got three lakes on the property at Closeburn, and
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: there's Lake Dispute, Moat Lake, and Lake Kirkpatrick. And Fish
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: and Game, a couple of years ago, someone suggested that
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: they perhaps come and put some more fish in the lake.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: So they arrived last week and organised, and they had.
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: All these fish, they come from over at Macrae's. Macrae's,
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: that were the miners. And so as part of Oceana's
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: agreement with mining over there, putting things back in the
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: community like they do, they set up a fish hatchery
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: and they raise 8,000 fish there. And those fish are
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: then distributed around ponds and fields and lakes within their
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: target catchment area. So they came up here, had a
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: little trailer on behind their vehicle with oxygen going through it,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: and they were letting 1,200... They were doing three drops,
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: and they were dropping off about, in these three lakes,
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: about 1,200 fish. So what they do, they take these fish...
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: So they rear 8,000. 6,000 of them they put into
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: lakes and ponds for people. And the other 2,000, they
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: grow them out like tutus. So we've got these ones
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: are the ewe lambs. They keep them another six months.
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: And those 2,000 other fish are then put into reservoirs
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: around Dunedin and some other towns that kids visit. made
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: available for kids to go and fish, which is, you know,
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: it's pretty, it's good. It's getting young people involved in
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: the fishing. But anyway, they come here and I said
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: to the guys doing it, I said, well, I've counted
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: a lot of sheep and you count a lot of
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: lambs at weaning time. And I said, that's pretty hard going.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: I said, how do you count 200 fish out of
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: the back of this thing?
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Very carefully.
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: They put the net in and they let them go.
• 9:13
  Speaker 2: And that's what they were doing. I said to him
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: I used to see a lot of fish spawning in
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: the creeks here around May, June but I haven't seen
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: as many as the last few years and he said
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: well they've actually got a wand that they can put
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: in the water and they can get a tally of
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: somehow they know it picks up fish around the place
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: which sounds pretty bloody technical to me but He said,
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: you know, they're always liberating more fish. And I thought
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: it was just quite a good thing. And an example,
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: he said that the Hills Golf Course, where I talk about,
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: we lease that land around from the hills, they're doing
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: a big divider. there and it's changed completely and they
• 10:04
  Speaker 2: asked they were going to put some ponds in for
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: reservoirs and they asked Fish and Game could they have
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: some fish and they said yeah we can deliver some
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: fish but on proviso that at least once a year
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: we can it's opened up for children in the district
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: to come and fish there. So, uh, all in all,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: a pretty good story.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: Yeah, really good story there. Your landline's going in the background.
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: You're a man in demand. We'd better leave it there, disaster.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, just a bit before we go, um, I
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: said to these guys from Fishing Game that, uh, there was,
• 10:39
  Speaker 2: there was, when I was growing up in Te Anau, the,
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: when I was in Asian society back then, they had
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: the fish hatchery out, um, just before the, uh, the gone. And, um,
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: When I was just a little tacker, my father, he
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: drove to the transport, and we brought a tank load
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: of fish up and dropped some off at the Staircase
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: Creek and put the rest into Lake Johnson, and I
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: reckon that was about 1968. So that brought back really
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: good memories.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Great story there, Disaster, and good to hear some positivity
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: around fishing, Gabe. Always appreciate your time, mate.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: All right, I'll go out and see if I can
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: catch one.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: Eric Roy joins us once again this afternoon, although in
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: a bit more of an exotic location than down here
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: in the Deep South. He's over in China. Eric, good afternoon,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: or in your case, good morning.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we're in southern China at a place called Ji Yang.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: And the big day today is opening a pavilion for
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: New Zealand associated with the Chaoshan Group, which is developing
• 11:45
  Speaker 4: business links between, well, Chinese and New Zealand. And it's
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: not only just the Chaoshan Group is established in a
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: number of countries, but its centre is here in Zhejiang
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: in China.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Describe the Chinese economy for us in a nutshell, knowing
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: that it's an absolute behemoth.
• 12:09
  Speaker 4: Well, it's simply huge, and it would be wrong to
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: say it doesn't have issues. For example, one of the
• 12:19
  Speaker 4: things that I've been alerted to is that they've created
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: quite a business building dormitory cities, and they've got whole
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: rafts of people, millions of people and companies involved in construction,
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: and they're now, I'm told, building more of these high-rise
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: dormitory buildings rental properties, then they've got people to fill
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: them and they can't sort of stop doing it because
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: it's going to create an opportunity. Oh, well, what are
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: these people going to do? So they've sort of got
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: the tiger by the tail. But look, here's my kind
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: of take on what's actually happening. If you look at
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: New Zealand, trading internationally is only a bit over 200
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: years old. And for the first hundred years, we did
• 13:04
  Speaker 4: exceptionally well being linked to Britain and Europe. After the
• 13:07
  Speaker 4: First and Second World Wars, we benefited from associations with
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: the USA. If you look now and say, where's the
• 13:15
  Speaker 4: compass pointing? It's going to Asia and growing middle classes
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: in China and India and millions and millions of people
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: wanting the products that New Zealand produces. And that's why
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: I'm kind of involved. And there's no doubt that This
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: is a bit personal. People look at me and say,
• 13:34
  Speaker 4: how are you so big? What have you been eating?
• 13:37
  Speaker 4: Can we get some of this stuff? There's just a
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: desire to have good quality food. And so I'm the
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: perfect example to be wandering around saying, eat New Zealand.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: As far as the prosperity of the state of where
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: you're based, what would you say?
• 13:53
  Speaker 4: Oh, look, it goes from really quite poor people to
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: people that are exceptionally wealthy. Like getting out of the
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: car park, I was jammed between a Maserati and a
• 14:06
  Speaker 4: Ferrari in the hotel car park yesterday. So to see
• 14:10
  Speaker 4: the sort of money that is about, you know, you've
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: just got to say that Tommy and here are exceptionally wealthy.
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: And there's millions and millions of them. And as I said,
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: they want to deal with New Zealand. So the other
• 14:24
  Speaker 4: interesting thing, though, when I just talk about the Chao
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: Shan group. So in the diaspora of people that left
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: China in the 1800s, and some came to New Zealand
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: as gold miners, and some went to Singapore and America
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: and the Caribbean and Australia, some of them did quite well.
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: And then they formed this association when.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: China opened up in the mid-70s and said, hang on,
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: China's now lost a lot of momentum. We've got the ability,
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: we've got the money, we've got the know-how, we can
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: go back in there. So that's where the Chaoshan Group
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: came from. And there's probably 20,000 people with connections into
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: Canton and Auckland alone. This is New Zealand's opportunity as
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: part of a big international group. So there's a pavilion
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: being opened And New Zealand has the second away from
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: that pavilion where we'll have a presence of Chinese New
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: Zealand people saying, this is what we offer. So there's
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: quite a formidable range of people. Canada's there, America's there,
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: Australia's there, Germany's there. And we're all part of it,
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: but we're right in the inner sanctum of that. So
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: it's about China looking and saying, internationally, we need to
• 15:44
  Speaker 4: do better. And if we're not there, then we're missing out.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: Simple as that.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: So the likes of Australia, for example, they'll be there
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: as well, I suppose, given the economic benefits?
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: They are, but they're not as close to the main
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: pavilion as we are.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Why are you so close to the main pavilion then?
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Is that just luck of the draw?
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: No, we've got some very impressive New Zealand Cantonese people
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: in the Chaoshan movement. One of them has been the
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: president of the organization internationally, and he looks after our interests,
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: and he's the guy that I support. It's all about
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: connectivity and knowing the right people. That's how international detente
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: and just... Development all works. You've just got to work
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: away at this stuff. It's a bit like aerial top dressing.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: You fly around putting on the super and you kind
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: of hope it works. Spring comes and away it goes.
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: That's how it works.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: That's one of the great comparisons of China I've had
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: with top dressing, Eric. But as far as selling our
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: story with China, what do we need to do better
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: or differently?
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: Well, it's about forming those associations and just saying to people,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: This is where we're at now. One of the big
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: growth things that's really helping New Zealand is tourism from
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: China into New Zealand. I think they're about third or
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: fourth now as a visiting nation. And when they're here,
• 17:07
  Speaker 4: we need to give them the very best experiences they
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: can get. And that all helps as well. And the
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: work that's been done with free trade agreements and things,
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: Things like I'm doing today, having a presence where trade
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: is being talked and business is going on, all of
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: that just forms into this. There's no one sectional thing.
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: We just have to be aware of all opportunities and
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: have people standing there doing their promotion or answering the
• 17:37
  Speaker 4: questions or just being available. That's how it works.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: What about New Zealand wool? What opportunities do you see?
• 17:44
  Speaker 4: Well, obviously, it hasn't come up on this occasion so
• 17:52
  Speaker 4: I'm just sort of answering questions so I haven't run
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: into anybody that's had that question but interestingly you say
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: that the last time I was in India a man
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: said what have I got to do to buy the
• 18:04
  Speaker 4: whole New Zealand wool clip so there is interest in
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: doing wool stuff and that's starting to come again which
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: we've seen in the resultant auction price and that we're
• 18:18
  Speaker 4: getting paid for raw wool in New Zealand. So I
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: think that will develop again, but it's not an area
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: I've been embraced into.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Is it fair to say that we're underselling ourselves, Ian,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: based on what you're seeing as a trading nation, Eric?
• 18:33
  Speaker 4: Oh, no, I think we're doing well, and I think...
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: The fact that we were off the blocks early with
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: a free trade agreement into China and again into India,
• 18:45
  Speaker 4: I think we're doing our bit, but I think we
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: are now, but there are times when we have not
• 18:50
  Speaker 4: performed as well or as enthusiastically as we should have done.
• 18:55
  Speaker 4: But I think the message is pretty clear right now.
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: This is where we need to be. The other thing
• 19:02
  Speaker 4: I'd say about developing markets into Asia is If we
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: become dependent on one particular country and then they start
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: doing some things that are a bit against our trade
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: or they don't like us or whatever, our strength is
• 19:17
  Speaker 4: not in being able to knock them around verbally because
• 19:20
  Speaker 4: we're small and we're little, but we're saying, OK, we've
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: got other places we can send this product. We've got
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: other people that want this. So that's where we're going
• 19:28
  Speaker 4: to trade. And that's really our only option. When the
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: chips are down and we get loaded up with tariffs
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: or something that we find unacceptable, it's to say, well,
• 19:37
  Speaker 4: we do have other markets.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: When do you think we can start seeing the benefits
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: from the likes of what you're at at the moment, Eric?
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: What's the timeframe?
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: Oh, well, we're seeing them now and we're seeing them
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: in prices so protein all around the world right now. So,
• 19:53
  Speaker 4: you know, as I say, it's a bit like erosion
• 19:57
  Speaker 4: or aerial top dressing. You stop doing it, you stop
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: your aerial top dressing, in the first year you don't
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: really notice the benefits. too much happening. But after five years,
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: you've got a disaster. So it's something we just need
• 20:10
  Speaker 4: to keep plugging away at.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Just finally, Eric, all the other countries are there trying
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: to put their name in the pot as well. Without
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: sounding patronising, does New Zealand have a good name amongst
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: these other countries too? They realise New Zealand's serious competition?
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: Well, I have not come across any negative impressions about
• 20:30
  Speaker 4: New Zealand, and I People are even acknowledging the turnaround
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: in the All Blacks and a few other things that
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: are happening. So we do have an international profile that
• 20:40
  Speaker 4: is above our station. I think we're about something like 115th.
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: population-wise in the world. That's our size. But we're 53rd
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: in international trade. So we do punch above our weight,
• 20:58
  Speaker 4: and that is acknowledged. We're not a superpower, but we're
• 21:02
  Speaker 4: a super product place, and that's the way in which
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: I think we need to look at ourselves.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Eric, thanks for your time and getting up early, considering
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: what it is, bricky time over there as such. All
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: the best over there too. Sounds interesting. We'll catch up
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: again to get a bit of a follow-up.
• 21:19
  Speaker 4: That'll be good. We'll look forward to that. Thanks a lot, Andy.
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Muster. Yes, you've heard that song
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: twice today. Now, of course, it is the intro music
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: for our PGG Rights and Stock Sale report, but we
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: are using it for Elliot Warrender. He is competing in
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: the New Zealand Young Auctioneers competition next Tuesday up at Christchurch.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: It coincides with the Canterbury AMP show. He's a PGG
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Rights and Lifestyle Cajun based out of Winton. Elliot, good afternoon.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: How are you going, Andy?
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Oh, look, I appreciate your time on what is something
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: pretty unique. The Young Auctioneer competition happening next week, it's
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: a bit of a random one for a lot of people,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: but it's certainly an art form.
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah.
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: I don't really know a lot about it myself, but
• 22:18
  Speaker 5: pretty much I think it's under the age of 29
• 22:21
  Speaker 5: or 30 and get out there and have a crack
• 22:25
  Speaker 5: against other young auctioneers around the country.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: How long is it since you had to do your
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: first auction? What is the back story to this, Elliot?
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: Well, I head down to the Lawnville sale yards and
• 22:38
  Speaker 5: Charlton sale yards once every week. And I've always been
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: intrigued about it, I guess, watching it and seeing how
• 22:48
  Speaker 5: it works. And I pretty much just got chucked on
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: the spot to sell an old ram down at Lawnville
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: one day and the rest is history, really.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: It's an art form, though. It's something you just can't
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: pick up. I've seen something online a couple of weeks
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: ago over in the States, and it was like a
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: school they had for auctioneers. Does that sound about right?
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think there is a lot of training camps
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: or whatever they do for it. But, yeah, I sort
• 23:17
  Speaker 5: of just try to pick it up as I go
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: down to the sale yards. We've got some pretty established
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: auctioneers down there.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: They always tend to.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: give a hand and chuck some tips out. But, yeah,
• 23:28
  Speaker 5: they just let you do it, really, and you're always
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: picking up stuff as you go.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: Now, when you're doing the auctioneering and the likes, are
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: you just having to think on the spot as to
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: what to do, or does it come naturally?
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm still definitely thinking about what I have to
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: do and what I've got to say and when's a
• 23:47
  Speaker 5: good time to close the sale and.
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: How the bids are coming in.
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: I'm still trying to pick up that knack, definitely.
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: But every time I do it.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: I feel like I'm improving every time. So hopefully it's
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: enough to give me a good crack up the road.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: So what is it you reckon, Elliot, that makes a
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: good auctioneer from what you're doing and what you've seen?
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: Well, some of the advice I've been given and what
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: I've really taken on board is just just being clear
• 24:21
  Speaker 5: and concise about what you're selling, the bidders understand where
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: the bid is, what the money is, and yeah, pretty
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: much just being really clear, really.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: So who encouraged you to go in for the New
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Zealand Young Auctioneers competition? Was there anybody as a mentor
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: as such?
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: No, not really.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: I've been doing it for not really that long, really,
• 24:48
  Speaker 5: about four months or so, and I just got asked
• 24:52
  Speaker 5: if I was interested in doing it and I'm always
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: keen to give stuff a crack and yeah it's just
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: another opportunity to have a go and get my name
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: out there and meet some other auctioneers around the country really.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: You've only been doing it for four months?
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: Nah yeah I haven't really been doing it that long
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: really so it's a bit nerve wracking but yeah you
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: know what I'll be keen just to get up there
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: and give it a go, get the experience and I'll
• 25:16
  Speaker 5: be better for it.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: So what were you doing before you were a livestock rep?
• 25:21
  Speaker 5: I was sort of just floating around, to be fair.
• 25:25
  Speaker 5: I was doing jobs here and there. I was a
• 25:28
  Speaker 5: student for four years up in Dunedin, and now I'm here.
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: So it's been a bit of an interesting journey, really.
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: You're going into the unknown yourselves. I think all the
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: other firms, though, they've got people involved as well. So
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: it's just across the industry as such, is that right?
• 25:46
  Speaker 5: Yes, just across the industry. I see there's about four
• 25:48
  Speaker 5: different companies who have young auctioneers in the comp. So
• 25:52
  Speaker 5: we'll be going up against them.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: So it's pretty much a case of the unknown then,
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: as you said before. It's like, what have they got
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: to present? You've got no idea what you need to
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: do on the day?
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I have a rough idea.
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: There's sort of a bit of an itinerary.
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: So we're selling some prime lambs on the first day down.
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: At Canterbury Park there.
• 26:14
  Speaker 5: And then on the Tuesday, we'll be selling prime cattle
• 26:18
  Speaker 5: and sheep. So, yeah, obviously the difference between that is
• 26:22
  Speaker 5: we'll be selling the prime cattle in cents per kilo,
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: which is all a big learning curve for me because
• 26:29
  Speaker 5: down at Lawnville and Charlton, I primarily just sell a
• 26:32
  Speaker 5: lot of the mutton and the prime lamb. So I've
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: been doing a wee bit of practice in my own time,
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: trying to get my head around that. And instead of
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: saying hundreds, you're saying dollars, that sort of stuff. So, yeah,
• 26:45
  Speaker 5: it's all just learning along the way, really.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: Well, the terminology CPK as opposed to schedule or prime market,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: it's a different thing altogether.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: Yes, yeah.
• 26:55
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and even just speaking in dollars compared to hundreds,
• 27:01
  Speaker 5: I find it was a bit challenging at the start,
• 27:04
  Speaker 5: but I'm thinking I'm starting to get my head around it.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: So what do you do to practice for this? Is
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: there such a thing?
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think the best way to practice is
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: just getting in there and doing it, like.
• 27:16
  Speaker 5: Putting yourself out there and having a good grow and
• 27:19
  Speaker 5: taking on feedback obviously you can always practice they say
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: practice in your car and take bids on the power
• 27:27
  Speaker 5: poles as you.
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: Drive along the road that's a good way to get
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: your head.
• 27:35
  Speaker 5: Around a bit of timing and finding new filler words
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: and stuff but definitely the best way is out there
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: doing it with real bidders and real stock on the line.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah So tomorrow at Charlton, you're going to kick Teagle
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: off the rails and give it a crack, you reckon?
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: Yeah, Teagle's pretty stern up there, so I think I
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: might still have to buy my time for a few
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: more years for that, but if he definitely gives me
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: the nod, I'll jump up there and give it a
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: good go.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah, Teagle, he'll be one of the young bucks. Hey,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: you don't want to give us a bit of a
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: demo on the spot, do you, mate?
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, just to save it. It'll be live on Bidart.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: You'd have to come and tune in and Watch it yourself.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: So, OK, what are the details people need to know
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: if they're up at Christchurch next week? What time does
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: it get underway?
• 28:22
  Speaker 5: Well, I believe the prime stock on the Tuesday, I
• 28:28
  Speaker 5: think that kicks off at 1pm in Canterbury Park rank there,
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: and it's live-streamed through Bitter, and, yeah, so that's pretty
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: much the way it's going to.
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: Go, I think.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Elliot. All the best for next week.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: Certainly a different kind of competition than what is very
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: much quesential Kiwi. Yeah, we'll see. We'll catch up with
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: you next week, see how it all goes. All the
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: best for the unknown.
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: No, cheers for that, Andy. Appreciate it.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: Hey, well, all right, sir, here we go there. Laugh
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: out loud with Ag Proud, cos life on the land
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by Shearwell Data,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: working to help the livestock farmer. I had a steak
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: at a restaurant last night that moved at me and
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: I thought, it's rare. Go to school, you'd sneak away and.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: James Edgar farms at Mower Flat and joins us once again.
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: Good afternoon, James. We caught up a couple of weeks ago.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: You were enjoying... James Edgar farms at Mower Flat and
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: joins us once again. Good afternoon, James. We caught up
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. You were enjoying the run
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: of golden weather. How have things been since?
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: They've been busy, Andy.
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: We seem to have got a lot of airs, which
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: you sort of get this time of the year, and
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: the job list is getting ticked off, I suppose. But, yeah,
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: it's just sort of spring in Otago South, and there's...
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: The job's just about to get put on the list
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: faster than what you're ticking them off some days.
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: Has October recalculated what September did?
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, and I was starting to build a grass
• 30:09
  Speaker 3: buffer now, which is good. There's still some of the
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: sort of harder grey stuff maybe hasn't done quite as well.
• 30:17
  Speaker 3: There's definitely still some water logging in some of the
• 30:20
  Speaker 3: paddocks and other areas. Obviously, the water table must be
• 30:24
  Speaker 3: quite high at the moment, so we've still got lakes
• 30:27
  Speaker 3: and some of the low stuff on the river flats.
• 30:29
  Speaker 3: But by the by, we've, yeah, started to accumulate quite
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: a bit of grass around us. So it's fantastic. We've
• 30:36
  Speaker 3: got our sort of land finishing props in, and then
• 30:39
  Speaker 3: we're just working away at the fodder beat at the moment,
• 30:41
  Speaker 3: which is the next job. And then we'll be into
• 30:44
  Speaker 3: Swedes after that, I suppose, and halfway through tailing. Yeah, no,
• 30:48
  Speaker 3: it's good. We had... Oh, everyone but me got away
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: for the long weekend, which was good just to get
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: everyone a break. So everyone was all around the country.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: And to be honest, it was two of the nicest
• 31:00
  Speaker 3: days in that long weekend, wasn't it? It was about
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: 25 degrees and just absolutely beautiful. So that was quite nice, taking.
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: Around the home too.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: How wet is it there, bearing in mind you had about,
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: what was it, eight snowfalls in September?
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: We are not too bad now. There's definitely where our
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: breeding cows are through the winter. lambing grounded with some
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: of the sheep paddocks we've still got quite pugs here
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: you know where the cows have gone through a bit
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: during that wet period and then our other farm like
• 31:29
  Speaker 3: to be honest we're actually probably enjoying the moisture as
• 31:31
  Speaker 3: it's coming sort of dried up probably not too bad
• 31:36
  Speaker 3: underneath but it seemed to dry quite quickly on top
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: which sort of put a bit of a cap on
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: so you still need moisture to grow grass but we're
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: hoping the taps don't turn off too much OK.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: You look back at the winter that we've had and
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: the spring in particular, we're starting to see some better
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: weather correction over the next couple of days. And do
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: you start to breathe again and realise we've got through
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: that storm and we can look forward to the rest
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: of the year because the arguments there are not the argument,
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: but the case is you've got a pretty good understanding
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: of what needs done before Christmas.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: You're sort of always looking forward, I guess, because you
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: can't make up... You start missing your timings, you know,
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: in the next job. you can't make that up. So
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: I think we naturally are just very good at that,
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: maybe as people as well. I certainly, you know, you
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: take your reflections from what happened, but we won't be
• 32:30
  Speaker 3: changing too much in terms of our whole farming system.
• 32:33
  Speaker 3: We've sort of been changing a little bit, just a
• 32:35
  Speaker 3: little bit, or up our sleeve for the poorer times,
• 32:40
  Speaker 3: so not so drought or too much rain in the
• 32:42
  Speaker 3: spring or this and that. So we're adjusting that anyway,
• 32:45
  Speaker 3: but yeah, so I think we're just, we're moving on
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: and looking forward and those, um, product prices are looking
• 32:51
  Speaker 3: really good, which is, which is great. So there's always
• 32:54
  Speaker 3: something else to, um, be excited about when.
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: We get these lambs.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: The price for red meat in particular, very, very good.
• 33:04
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: And this is a level it's got to be though,
• 33:06
  Speaker 3: as I've said before, Andy, but this puts us, um,
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: I was in, we were, it basically puts us on
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: par with dairy farming at the moment. So we have
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: been behind probably for the last 10 years, um, you know,
• 33:18
  Speaker 3: and that's good for everyone, as I said last time,
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: it's good for the country, it's good for everyone involved
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: that we're doing well and then it all goes to
• 33:25
  Speaker 3: the rural sectors and, you know, just to personally touch
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: on the election that everyone's absolutely sick of, but, you know,
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: I think what definitely shows is a massive differentiation between
• 33:35
  Speaker 3: the urban sector and those big cities and the rural guys,
• 33:39
  Speaker 3: because by the by, rurally, I mean, I think things
• 33:42
  Speaker 3: are really positive and, you know, there's a lot of
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: spending happening and You don't have to drive very far
• 33:47
  Speaker 3: to see a lot of diggers on farm or new
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: posts or, you know, all the different rural supply companies.
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: Things are going very well rurally. And then, obviously, those
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: big cities, you know, they're still under a bit of
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: pain and suffering with the cost of living, you know, prices. So, yeah,
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: I think that's sticking out now, isn't it?
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: The argument's there, though. We're in a bubble down here
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: regarding GDP and everything compared to a lot more.
• 34:13
  Speaker 2: Of the country.
• 34:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we are, but I still think because we,
• 34:20
  Speaker 3: what are we, about 65% of our exports or something. So,
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, at the end of the day, it all
• 34:24
  Speaker 3: starts and finishes with us in most ways. So, you know,
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: like this will sort of move through and without triggering people,
• 34:33
  Speaker 3: I guess the other in government did try and really
• 34:38
  Speaker 3: negatively impact the rural sector. And I don't think that,
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: did us any favours for three or four or five
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: years and hopefully now it's popping back up again and
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: I see also with exchange rate like down at 56,
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: 57 of course all our imports and fuel and everything
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: is more expensive but it is very helpful when we're
• 35:03
  Speaker 3: selling things to the rest of the world.
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: Well, that was the big news yesterday. The OCR stayed
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: where it is. It was a very close vote, four
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: against three, but they're just thinking, look, we've just got
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: to rein things in at the moment.
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually thought that was really good management, Matt,
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: and I know it's nothing to do with politics, but
• 35:24
  Speaker 3: from the Reserve Bank Governor, I thought that was brilliant.
• 35:27
  Speaker 3: I just don't see when a lot of the inflation
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: is coming from council rates, which by putting the interest
• 35:32
  Speaker 3: rates up, you're not going to change how fast the
• 35:35
  Speaker 3: council's lifting their rates. And then a lot of the
• 35:38
  Speaker 3: stuff was fuel, which is all overseas. There was just
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: a lot of foreign factors. It's not like the housing
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: market's going crazy. It's holding, if not slightly falling. To me,
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: there's not a lot there to warrant putting it massively up,
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: but just from the outside looking in, because we do
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: need to be careful to keep our economy at one piece,
• 35:57
  Speaker 3: because otherwise, in real terms, we're all going backwards.
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: OK, James, based on that, you're in Otago, the ORC's
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: who you work with. Do you think you get good
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: value for your rates?
• 36:09
  Speaker 2: Well, no.
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: It's pretty simple. No, no, we get not a lot.
• 36:14
  Speaker 3: So we get the roads done and.
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: No, look, I.
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: Be a bit careful. But, yeah, there seems to be
• 36:22
  Speaker 3: a lot of trucks on the road with people driving
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: around would be my one comment, Andy, without from the
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: outside looking in. You know, there's a lot to be
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: said for private business, in my opinion. You know, it
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: just creates more efficiency. And to be frank, I've never
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: seen central or local government be more efficient than private
• 36:39
  Speaker 3: business in my whole life. So, yeah, I'll put them
• 36:42
  Speaker 3: both in the same box there.
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: Well, you can be cynical about it and say it's
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: not your money. You can kind of think outside the
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: square a bit, rightly or wrongly.
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I guess it's a bit like the lolly
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: scramble on the left at the moment in the election, Andy,
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: because at the end of the day, the money always
• 37:02
  Speaker 3: comes from somewhere.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: There's no.
• 37:05
  Speaker 3: Well, you can print it like the last one and
• 37:06
  Speaker 3: then you get inflation and end up with a massive
• 37:09
  Speaker 3: borrowing for a country, but that's not the way to
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: run an economy. You know, you need to grow it
• 37:15
  Speaker 3: If you can grow the pie, you'll always achieve more.
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: I still, once again, without talking too much about individual circumstances, but,
• 37:23
  Speaker 3: you know, like, when you've got a resource consent, a
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: hay barn, to me, that's not a good use of
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: council time and money. So, anyway, it costs... Well, it
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: was actually my money, I suppose, to resource consent a
• 37:36
  Speaker 3: hay barn, but, you know, you've got to ask yourself
• 37:39
  Speaker 3: at what stage... and why you're resourcing consenting at a
• 37:43
  Speaker 3: hay barn, and that was what I legally had to do.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: The mind boggles are that one, James. We'll leave it there,
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: and next time we catch up, we might have a
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: bit more certainty about what's happening government-wise, eh?
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. We're away over to Riverton,
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: the Riviera of the South, and catching up with Geordie Yead, sheep,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: beef and dairy farm owner over that way. Geordie, good afternoon.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: How are you?
• 38:23
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I'm good, Andy. How's things with you?
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: Well, if that wind would bugger off, for want of
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: a better word, it would be a lot better. It's
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: been pretty nippy over the past couple of days. That
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: wind chill is just horrific.
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it's really caught off to what we had.
• 38:37
  Speaker 6: We sort of got spoiled there for sort of two
• 38:39
  Speaker 6: and a half, three weeks. And, yeah, no, it's just
• 38:42
  Speaker 6: a bit extreme river here in the south here today.
• 38:44
  Speaker 6: We've got Forrest Gump sideways rain.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: Forrest Gump sideways rain. Haven't heard that one before. Must
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: be pretty full on.
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it is. It's like lambing weather in a water blaster, really.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: That is one of the great descriptions, lambing weather with
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: a water blaster.
• 39:02
  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, it can bloody bugger off. It
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: sort of seems to be the last three lambings, and
• 39:07
  Speaker 6: I mean, this year was probably more extreme with the wind,
• 39:09
  Speaker 6: and it probably didn't, it lacked a bit of windshield,
• 39:11
  Speaker 6: or it has in the past, which has made it
• 39:13
  Speaker 6: a wee bit better, but it was certainly the wettest.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: You have had over 500 mils there over the spring
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: cycle so far. Dare I say it, how have things
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: dried up?
• 39:24
  Speaker 6: You know, they have dried up reasonably well, but you know,
• 39:26
  Speaker 6: the last four or five days, you know, we're back
• 39:29
  Speaker 6: over that 100 again for October. We're only, you know,
• 39:32
  Speaker 6: we nearly got two-thirds of October over and only about
• 39:35
  Speaker 6: 40 mils. So, yeah, things have dried up really well.
• 39:37
  Speaker 6: Got into the cow ground and got all that ripped
• 39:40
  Speaker 6: well ahead of time. I got the last of that
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: done in the middle of last week, so they're all done,
• 39:44
  Speaker 6: and I didn't get into them until about the 4th
• 39:46
  Speaker 6: of November last year when I looked it up. So, yeah,
• 39:49
  Speaker 6: so no... It's quite good to be advanced for that.
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: I've got some drains unblocked, just a bit of maintenance.
• 39:54
  Speaker 6: And then, yeah, probably in the next week or so,
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: we'll do some tailing. The contract tailers will come in. Yeah, no,
• 40:00
  Speaker 6: everything's looking not too bad. But, yeah, it'll be nice
• 40:03
  Speaker 6: if the sun comes back again.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: Well, sunshine is underrated. When you do get it, it's fantastic.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: And October's been the month that has provided it.
• 40:13
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it really provided, compared to this October last year,
• 40:15
  Speaker 6: sort of maybe, you know, we had a good August,
• 40:19
  Speaker 6: a little better August last year, and we had a
• 40:21
  Speaker 6: crap one this year, so maybe they swapped around a
• 40:22
  Speaker 6: wee bit. But yeah, no, October's been better than I
• 40:25
  Speaker 6: would have said probably average, particularly for us over here anyway.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: But you're talking about wind damage yet again.
• 40:31
  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I was just doing a round again this
• 40:33
  Speaker 6: morning and the trees are going back the other way. But, yeah,
• 40:35
  Speaker 6: that was fair fierce last night. I don't know whether
• 40:37
  Speaker 6: they've come down last night or, yeah, no, it's just
• 40:40
  Speaker 6: losing all power. So I'm going to have to go
• 40:42
  Speaker 6: and sort that this afternoon. But, yeah, it just seems
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: to be endless, whether it's these fronts hitting one another,
• 40:47
  Speaker 6: the wind just getting very strong. I think I was
• 40:52
  Speaker 6: sort of holding my breath for Monday's weather, thinking, well,
• 40:54
  Speaker 6: was that going to be round two of last year?
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: I was coming back from Te Arau, I was in
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: the farm you'd had a load on, and going over
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: the centre hill there, I mean, it's a case of
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: sparking the steam engine. I think I can, I think
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: I can, I know I can. You're going to get
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: up that hill eventually, but, yeah, you're crawling at about 45,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: 50 clicks to get up there. It was pretty ferocious.
• 41:16
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we had been up at my mother-in-law's 80th in Crosschurch,
• 41:19
  Speaker 6: and we were coming back in on the airplane, and
• 41:22
  Speaker 6: the north-west coming out of Crosschurch probably led more bumps
• 41:25
  Speaker 6: to the plane than landing, but it was a bit
• 41:26
  Speaker 6: of very... Quite a hairy landing to land in the Macargo.
• 41:29
  Speaker 6: We're all quite glad to hit the ground and not
• 41:31
  Speaker 6: have to do round two of it anyway.
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: So how are the stock faring at the moment anyway?
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Things have started correcting themselves weather-wise. You're getting a bit
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: of a cover base around you. Are they starting to
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: pick up?
• 41:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah, they are starting to pick up, but there's still,
• 41:44
  Speaker 6: you know, there's that bottom end of the Alams that
• 41:46
  Speaker 6: are probably never going to recover. You know, I think
• 41:48
  Speaker 6: there's still going to be that bottom end all the
• 41:49
  Speaker 6: way through going round there, you know. It's probably, it's
• 41:53
  Speaker 6: not 10%, but there's certainly some dregs there that... have
• 41:56
  Speaker 6: been challenged all the way along, and I suppose it's
• 41:58
  Speaker 6: just the wet conditions. Well, I'm not picking up any
• 42:01
  Speaker 6: dead ones. They're still there, but they're not thriving like
• 42:06
  Speaker 6: we'd normally love in the south in spring. But I
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: suppose there's still a few numbers there, which is probably positive.
• 42:11
  Speaker 6: There's still a lot of ewes of twins and the
• 42:13
  Speaker 6: odd set of triplets. But, yeah, sunshine they need, vitamin S.
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: Are you going to flick those tail landers off at
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: weaning and the likes based on the season and a
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: bit of the unknown, although prices could correct by then,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: but I don't know. What's your thoughts? What do you
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: do there?
• 42:29
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I sort of cross that bridge when I come.
• 42:32
  Speaker 6: If I'm on a dairy farm, there's an opportunity cost
• 42:34
  Speaker 6: of every blade of grass, so you sort of... tie
• 42:37
  Speaker 6: up everything um last year i didn't have a bottom
• 42:40
  Speaker 6: end at all and they just sort of come up
• 42:42
  Speaker 6: so you know certainly evaluate how big that bottom end
• 42:45
  Speaker 6: is that certainly um if someone wants to finish them
• 42:47
  Speaker 6: off there's money for them and it's money for us
• 42:49
  Speaker 6: but uh you know the top of the discussion yesterday
• 42:52
  Speaker 6: but we'll say a belief in land that you know
• 42:54
  Speaker 6: store lands looking around about that six dollars well that's
• 42:57
  Speaker 6: you know 30 kilo land it's 180 dollars.
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: You're not going to say no to that No, no, no, no.
• 43:04
  Speaker 6: Definitely, if you're sipping that off not long after weaning,
• 43:06
  Speaker 6: it's a pretty good coin, and then you've got an
• 43:09
  Speaker 6: opportunity cost to the rest of your grass. It's going
• 43:11
  Speaker 6: to be a $ 10 pass to pay out on the
• 43:12
  Speaker 6: dairy side of things as well.
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: So what are you budgeting on for lambs this year, Geordie?
• 43:17
  Speaker 6: Well, I've been probably conservative. I'm thinking we might have
• 43:21
  Speaker 6: come back $ 30, $ 40 on last year's, but the way
• 43:24
  Speaker 6: it is tracking, we're probably looking and may have another
• 43:27
  Speaker 6: two in front of it, but yeah. I don't see
• 43:30
  Speaker 6: $ 2 dropping out of it between now and Christmas, put
• 43:32
  Speaker 6: it that way anyway. And Easter being early, it's probably
• 43:35
  Speaker 6: not going to drop much out of it until the
• 43:37
  Speaker 6: end of January, in my thoughts anyway.
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: The old Easter contracts come into play then as well.
• 43:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah, well, that's true too. Yeah, that'll be interesting to see.
• 43:45
  Speaker 6: But I mean, saying that, you know, I was talking
• 43:48
  Speaker 6: to Francis Cousin last week and they supply silver ferns
• 43:53
  Speaker 6: there in Methven. and they're having to truck their lambs
• 43:56
  Speaker 6: down to Finnegan because Pariora's shut. So, you know, there
• 44:00
  Speaker 6: is a shortage of lambs out there, so where there's
• 44:02
  Speaker 6: going to be a bit of competition, it might hold
• 44:03
  Speaker 6: the price up along the way as well.
• 44:05
  Speaker 1: When does Pariora open?
• 44:06
  Speaker 6: I would have thought it would probably be open any time,
• 44:08
  Speaker 6: but in saying that, you know, who knows? Because, you know,
• 44:10
  Speaker 6: I would have thought, yes, funny enough, these lambs went
• 44:13
  Speaker 6: from the Townhill Basin to Methven and then back to Finnegan.
• 44:16
  Speaker 6: So there nearly is more toad than I've been for
• 44:18
  Speaker 6: the last three or four months.
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: Those lambs need a passport to get through the provinces.
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: Very well-travelled individuals.
• 44:26
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, it was actually quite a good fact
• 44:27
  Speaker 6: at a beef last week is that there's only 7%
• 44:31
  Speaker 6: of lambs leave Southland. We are, you know, there is
• 44:33
  Speaker 6: some exported, but we, you know, we kill something like 92, 93%
• 44:38
  Speaker 6: of our lambs we produce in this region. So that
• 44:40
  Speaker 6: was quite a satisfying, well, good fact to hear.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: That's a really good fact, but it's good to know
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: that the way that Canterbury, with the way their seasons work,
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: it's a backstop effectively as well, if needed.
• 44:53
  Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it's a good backstop for a lot of
• 44:55
  Speaker 6: us around here. You know, we often, if they're doing
• 44:57
  Speaker 6: pretty well, it's an opening for us to unload lambs
• 44:59
  Speaker 6: if we want to. And, you know, they do well
• 45:01
  Speaker 6: out and we do well out too. So, you know,
• 45:03
  Speaker 6: it's certainly, you know, they've had pretty good seasons and
• 45:07
  Speaker 6: they don't seem to be having that El Nino that
• 45:09
  Speaker 6: everybody was saying was going to come. Yeah, if I
• 45:11
  Speaker 6: don't know, I think it's just a load of crap,
• 45:13
  Speaker 6: to me anyway.
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: I'll ask you that in six weeks, eh? Yeah.
• 45:19
  Speaker 6: Yeah, we were just up there the weekend. It was
• 45:20
  Speaker 6: a hot, stinker weekend, but they got seven mils, they said,
• 45:23
  Speaker 6: on Monday night. So, you know, that just kept things
• 45:26
  Speaker 6: properly going. I thought the irrigator was going to need
• 45:27
  Speaker 6: turned on, but there wasn't too many irrigators going yet.
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: In the beef and lamb side of life, the AGM
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: yesterday at the Riversdale pub, how did it go?
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it was at the Riversdale Community Centre just.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: Across the road. Oh, Community Centre. Oh, right.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: You just think pub when you think Riversdale for some reason.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 45:44
  Speaker 6: So, no, we had the farmer... for the meeting to
• 45:47
  Speaker 6: start off with and we elected our new chairman well
• 45:51
  Speaker 6: she was already the sitting chairman Courtney Nimmo and we've
• 45:54
  Speaker 6: got Robert Young as our vice chair now and then
• 45:57
  Speaker 6: when I moved on the afternoon to our AGM and
• 46:01
  Speaker 6: that was open to the public we had probably about
• 46:03
  Speaker 6: 20-ish farmers Joseph Mooney business people from the Alliance you
• 46:10
  Speaker 6: know other businesses people there and it went along pretty
• 46:13
  Speaker 6: well and then it finished off the day with the
• 46:16
  Speaker 6: Roberts to speak to us, the winners of the Gordon
• 46:18
  Speaker 6: Stevenson trophy and they spoke really well and gave us
• 46:21
  Speaker 6: an indication of how they're very worthy winners.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: That would have been fascinating to listen to. I should
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: get them on for a chat sooner than later, just
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: based on what's changed in their operation since their success.
• 46:32
  Speaker 6: Oh yes, they haven't to be fair, they haven't had
• 46:34
  Speaker 6: a lot of speaking engagements and you know, they are
• 46:37
  Speaker 6: marvellous speakers and the journey they've come from Taranaki to
• 46:40
  Speaker 6: West Otago from Deering to now Deer and how they've
• 46:43
  Speaker 6: developed their farm and You know, the Dunn Farm succession
• 46:47
  Speaker 6: and the journey it's gone along, it's certainly something that
• 46:49
  Speaker 6: probably the media probably could be tapping into a bit
• 46:51
  Speaker 6: more because they're great ambassadors, you would call them.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: Join a ye there at Riverton, the Riviera of the South. Well,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: that's us over in Dunlith. The best of the muster
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: is proudly brought to you by the gopher. My name's
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: Andy Muir. Enjoy the weekend. If you're starting summer sport
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: this afternoon, good luck with the weather. See you Monday,
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: 1 o'clock.