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The Muster- Peter Gardyne: Keeping Fresh During The Grind · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster, Pete Gardine Farms in Natdale.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: A mixed operation there. Enjoyed this? Pete, good afternoon. How's things?
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Oh, the sun's shining out here, so it's a better
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: day than yesterday, Andy, but we are a wee bit
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: damp underfoot.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: I was about to say, it wasn't shining yesterday, yet
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: 48 hours ago it was like the mid-teens.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's just definitely another rollercoaster spring from what
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: I can see. A bit of snow on the ground
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: yesterday afternoon at home on the sort of higher end
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: of the farm. And yeah, pretty wet underfoot. But we're
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: sort of getting that wet and then we're getting these
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: nice days in between. So we're having relatively good lamb,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: or pretty good lamb survival actually. So it's not terrible.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: But not great for growing grass and not great for
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: driving tractors.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Must be so frustrating with those iron horses sitting in
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the sheds just getting bird nests.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the tractor boys are getting pretty itchy, to be fair,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: and it's sort of finding them some jobs to do,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and then once they're going, they'll be into it.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: So you reckon lamb survival rates have been pretty good,
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: all things considered?
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're having pretty good survival. There was that really
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: nasty weekend, it was at the end of August or
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: right at the start of September, that wasn't very fun.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: But apart from that, we've sort of been ticking away
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: pretty good.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: Lambing as such, though, your main mob's only really cranking in?
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the studs were going at that early stage and
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: now our main started on about the 10th and yeah,
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: they've been taken away not too bad. But I do
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: think it's a good time of year to go for
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: a wee hoon in the middle of the day. We've
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: got a wee block up at Pyramid that we lamb
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: sheep up there fully unsheverted and if you had a
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: few tough days, you go for a drive and check
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: the sheep up the road and you just, you know,
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: you hoon up there and you drive around the road
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: and see what's happening and you take the long way
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: home and it's just good to get out and see
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: what other people are up to and see what other
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: people's situations are and how to put your own one
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: into perspective, I think.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: So you reckon it's a good chance to realise everybody's
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: in the same boat in this situation?
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think when you get a spare moment in
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: the middle of the day, go to your local township
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: if you've got one and grab a pie and just
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: take the long way home or something along those lines
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: and Yeah, that'll be my hot tip at the moment.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Do you encourage your staff to do that at this
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: time of year when it is full on? Just saying, look,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: go away for lunch, take an hour, go and do
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: what you need to do just to get a bit
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: of a reset. Is that the case? Yeah, 100%.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: We've actually got a bike that needs to go to
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: town at the moment and that's what the staff are
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: doing today. Give them a bit of cash, tell them
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: to go to McDonald's or wherever the heck they want
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: to go and tell them to have a wee tiki tour.
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: That's a big thing in September, isn't it? It's a marathon,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: not a sprint. And you can see the finish line,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: but it's all about just working it out in case.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: 100%. And especially in the weekends and that, not packing
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: more into the middle of the day than what needs
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: to happen. Just try and keep it as realistic as possible. But,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: you know, we are busy as much as everyone else is. So, yeah,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: we're not perfect. Don't get that illusion of me.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: How intensive is a lambing beat at your farm?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Well, on the hill it's very un-intensive. We set stock
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: and then we go back at pailing time. On the flats,
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: we check them twice a day. We do a little
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: bit of mothering up, but we're just very strict that
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: we cull anything that we touch. So you're sort of
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: on the medium intensity, I guess you'd say. On the
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: good country where you're going around, you can actually save
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: a bit of money by doing it, but just the
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: key thing is that we don't keep anything that we touch.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: So in general though, you think this is, how would
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: it compare to the last couple of seasons? A lot
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: of people saying this is the worst.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: For us, I think the last few have all been
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: sort of similar-ish. It's definitely pretty weird. I don't know,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: I think it's another, you know, less than ideal lambing,
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: but I don't think it's, it's not terrible compared to
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: what 2010 was for us personally, but I know every
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: little district's got its own microclimate, so... Everyone will be
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: in a different boat on that front.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: 2010, a lot of snow fell.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: 2010, a lot of snow fell. Our drainage wasn't very
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: good at that stage. We didn't have much shelter at home.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: And it was 10 days with no sort of stop
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and no break. When I think these last few years,
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: there's been sunny days in between, and I think that
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: makes a huge difference.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: Now, a few people look at lambing dates at the moment.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: I just spoke to Henry Buckingham before. He's putting it
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: back until the start of October. Do you see merit
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: in that?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: That would be a wee bit too late for us,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: and I think would mismatch our grass growth curve. But
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: then it depends what the enterprise looks like in regards to,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: you know, other crops or baleage for, you know, cattle, whatever.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: We have been ticking our lambing dates slowly back with
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: these springs. because we seem to be getting a slower,
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: later spring. So, yeah, I'm definitely not a big fan
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: of lambing before we've got grass.
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting, eh? The people's mindset with the weather
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: being the way it is. Previously, it's like September. It
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: is what it is. You've just got to deal with it. But,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, this year's just kind of been the tipping
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: point to a degree, I suppose.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: Oh, I think we need to invite back global warming.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: I think we've done too much to stop global warming,
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: and I think we need that global warming to come
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: back again, eh?
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Well, anything's better than snow in the middle of September, yes.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. So no, I think everyone needs to get
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: those V8s cranked up this weekend and warm up the
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: atmosphere a bit.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Well, there you go. Pete's spoken. What about you? Like
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I said today, the middle of September, what does it entail?
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: How full on is it?
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: So I'm tagging stud lambs, so it's running around and
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: every lamb that's born we chuck a tag and it's there.
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: We do have a few that are on the DNA system.
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: There's different pros and cons to both ones. And then, yeah,
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: so I start work at about 7 and then probably
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: knocking off at about 6.30 and, yeah, probably lamb for
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: two or three hours in the morning and then, yeah,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: two or three hours at night and then, yeah, just
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: the middle of the day, whatever other jobs need to happen.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: I am driving to Pokerau, so that adds a bit
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: of time into my day. But that's life. And then
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: next week I'll be placed out of home, which will
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: be a bit less travelling for me. I actually really
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: love tagging the lambs at birth. You get to see
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: your sheep up close. You get to see what's good.
• 6:35
  Speaker 2: You get to see what's bad and, you know, what
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: size that you want to keep you and which ones
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: you've done. Yeah, and I actually really enjoy lambing, but
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: that probably makes me a bit messed up.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I wouldn't say it makes you messed up.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: It means you care about your craft, Pete.
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: I do care about my craft, and I do... I
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: don't know. I just think this job that we work
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: in is actually pretty cool. There's a lot of other
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: jobs out there that are, I don't know, they just
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: don't get to do what we do. Yeah.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, Pete. We'll let you carry on. Thanks for your time,
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: and we'll catch up in a few weeks, and appreciate
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: your time.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: Awesome. Good to talk.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Pete Gardine, based at Napdale. This is the must-a-wait-a-toot-a-round next,
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and we're catching up with Robin Greer. And before the
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: end of the hour, our resident sporting guru, Nathan Burden. Bye.