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The Muster- Dave Biss: Western Australia Correspondent · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. We're away over to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Western Australia this afternoon to catch up with Dave Biss,
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: formerly of Maniatoato, these days a stock agent based just
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: out of Perth. Good afternoon, Bissy. What's it like to
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: have warm weather? Because we sure as hell don't have
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: it in the south.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Well, good afternoon and good morning, Andy. Warm weather is
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: a lovely thing.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: I think we're about 27, 28 here today, so it's
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: just going to be beautiful. I've got a ram sale
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: to go to this afternoon to buy some rams for
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: a fella, a couple of blokes.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: So the day is starting off on a positive note.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: What's your average rain for where you're based?
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Well, it really varies so much.
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: If we talk in inches, it's 8 inches to 15
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: inches depending on where you.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Are in the state.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: That's not a lot of rain.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: No, it's not a lot of rain.
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  Speaker 3: Saying that, though, if you go down in that Esperance,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Albany area, it's greater again. But it's, you know, scale
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: of economy and the size of things, it's just such
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: a variant everywhere.
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  Speaker 2: So it's hard to pin it down to one thing,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: you know.
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  Speaker 1: Speaking of economy of scale, we talk about this a
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: lot with you, Bissy, but you reckon some of the
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: farms over there, in excess of a million acres, and apparently,
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  Speaker 1: in your words, they're some of the smaller ones.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: Well, in that station country, a lot of those stock
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: standard blocks that were carved up back in the day,
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: they're 900 to a million and a bit acres. And
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: then over the years, you've got families that have brought
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: up the neighbour. I was speaking to a guy the
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  Speaker 3: other day in him and his brother and father have
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: got three and a half million acres.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a big day at the office.
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  Speaker 1: So how big are your blocks when you've got a
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  Speaker 1: farm that size, for goodness sake?
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  Speaker 3: Well, you might have a paddock that's 100,000 acres, or
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: you might have a paddock that's 200,000 acres, or you
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: might have a paddock that's bigger again.
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: Is that flat land?
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  Speaker 2: Depending on where you are, most of it's flat land.
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  Speaker 3: You know, you go through the Pilbara and different areas
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  Speaker 3: of the Kimberleys and it's rolling sort of country.
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  Speaker 2: But it's not hilly and steep. There are areas.
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  Speaker 3: In the Pilbara where it's sort of where the tourist
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: areas are, which is rocky outbreaks and cliffs and things,
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: but generally it's flat, yeah.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, speaking of technology, it's the big thing. We hear
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: about wearables on cattle over here. It's certainly a big
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: deal over in WA now.
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was just speaking to the halter guys yesterday
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: in regards to, you know, management and more efficient.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: And even the station country now, there's a massive opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: We're probably a bit behind the eight ball compared to
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: you guys, but that halter is an example.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Man, that's a winner, isn't it? It's such a modern, positive,
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: it's so good.
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  Speaker 3: And I just think all those big stations that have
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: had a lot of country that's never been eaten, never
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: seen an animal on them at all, you can now
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  Speaker 3: push those cattle into those areas and really go for it.
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  Speaker 2: That's going to make a big difference in stocking rates
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: on those places.
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  Speaker 1: So this is potentially a game changer for these stations?
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%.
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: You know, if you're running a few thousand cows and
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: you've got a thousand heifers every year, then, you know,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: you can run those heifers separately. You can graze them
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: where you want to graze them and you can control
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: them and you grow them out accordingly.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Magnificent.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and on that as well, we talk about cattle
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: prices and land prices. Not a lot of feed growing
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: in the south at the moment. Possibly things have eased
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: a little bit from where they've been. What are we
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: seeing over there?
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Things are chugging along okay.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: We've had a reasonable run in the last sort of
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: month with rainfall, depending on where you are, of course,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: because of the size of the place.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: We'll probably need another rain now, which is a fair call.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: But overall, we're trucking along not too bad in the
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: east heading inland. guys all start to think about moving
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: land now with the amount of water they've got in
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: dams and run-offs.
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  Speaker 2: But as a general consensus, we're not too bad.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: Is irrigation a thing over there at all or just
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: not possible?
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: Well, it is.
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  Speaker 3: And I'll tell you what, we've got a hell of
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: a good fellow out of the Hawke's Bay area a
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: bloke called James O'Kane, and he started a business here
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: called Get Wet Solutions, and he's got a hell of
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: a good run with his pivots and irrigation business. He's
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: got guys up in the Kimberleys there in the station countries,
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  Speaker 3: and some of those stations will have six or eight
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  Speaker 3: or ten pivots per station. So, yeah, the irrigation's going great,
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: and the water table's so strong, some of those places
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  Speaker 3: you don't even need a pump to get the water
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  Speaker 3: out of the water.
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  Speaker 2: You just open the valve, and the pressure will run
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  Speaker 2: the whole pivot. So, you know, that might save you
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: $ 100, 000 a year in diesel.
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  Speaker 3: So, yeah, it's pretty good. The grain and seed guys
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: obviously not using that. Horticultural guys, vegetables, et cetera, yeah,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: big-time irrigation.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting because I would have thought the other
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  Speaker 1: way regarding the water situation.
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  Speaker 3: Well, the aquifers below the ground in certain parts of
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: the state are pretty big. So the water's, you know,
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: it's like all that dairy country at home where, those
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: guys are pumping water out of the ground that's 200
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: years old.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: So I'd say it's a similar thing.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: So the Royal Show is coming up in Perth. I mean,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: you hear about the A & P shows in New Zealand,
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  Speaker 1: but yet again, economy of scale, you'd probably get a
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: couple of hundred thousand through the gate or something ridiculous.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: I looked at the figures the other day when I
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: was reading an article and it said two years ago
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: they had just under 400,000 people through the gate.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Of course you did.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. So the numbers are there.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: It's a big few days.
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  Speaker 3: I think it runs for seven or eight days over here.
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: But yeah, it's a really good, it's a great event.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: So there's a real appreciation for the rural sector in
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: cities like Perth?
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so, yeah.
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  Speaker 3: We are getting invaded by the woke, green, untrustworthy people
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  Speaker 3: that try to dominate us all.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: But overall, yeah, very positive and yeah, very popular.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So the Royal Show, very similar to an A &
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: P show, like you've got the animals there, you've got
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: the rides and the carnies?
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly the same. Exactly the same. No difference. You
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: could be anywhere in New Zealand or you could be
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: in Perth and it's the same thing, just a bit bigger,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: that's all.
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: Of course it is. And what is big this weekend
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: is Fremantle Dockers and the AFL. Any AFL fans will
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: understand what I'm on about. They're in the final, the
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: grand final, the MCG. There'll be 100,000 people at their
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: game against the Brisbane Lions. Even though no Victorian team
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: is involved, this is a massive, massive deal for Fremantle.
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it certainly is.
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  Speaker 3: And it's Fremantle's big day at the office, this one.
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  Speaker 3: They're ready to go. The town is full of excitement.
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  Speaker 3: People are painting their fences purple, which is their colour.
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  Speaker 3: and a big anchor on their front gate. The kids
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: are all getting dressed up, and, yeah, she's going to
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  Speaker 3: be a big one. Like you said, 100,000 people there.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know if you've been to the MCG when
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: there's 100,000 people there, but, man, it's some event.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: It'll just be fantastic.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: I went there once for a Collingwood-Essendon game. There was
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: only 75,000. It was a slow day.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. It'll be sold out and some.
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  Speaker 3: And Melbourne is a great town to go to, you know,
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: the bars and the restaurants and the food.
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: And it's safe. It's a great place.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Bissy. Thanks for your time as always.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: We'll catch up again.
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, have a lovely day and have a great weekend.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: All the best. Bye-bye.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Dave Biss, Western Australian livestock representative. You're listening to The Muster.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Up next, AJ Aitken, talking a bit of rugby down
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: here in the Deep South.