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The Muster- Robin Greer: A Wet Spring At Tuturau · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:06
  Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. Toto is the music today.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: That song there called 99. Wouldn't it be nice to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: have 99 minutes of sun every day in September? Anyway,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Robin Greer catches up next. He is farming out at Tutorau.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Robin, good afternoon. How are you coping with things out there?
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: Good afternoon, Andy and listeners. Well, I guess my heart
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: goes out to the sheep farmers. Lambing, like, you know,
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: as dairy farmers, this is flinging hard going, but, you know...
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: Lambs being born in this weather is a bit more
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: challenging than what we're dealing with. We'll get through this
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: and it'll dry out. But yeah, sheep farmers with the
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: lamb losses, that's what I really feel for at the moment.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: How wet is it exactly at your place?
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: It can't be any wetter. Yeah, it's as wet as
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: it can be. When you're leaving... trenches in a pasture
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: paddock with a four-wheeler, that's wet.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: As far as your feeds, how's it lasting there? Are
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you getting well through your first round yet?
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah, like, well, we've still got a bit to go yet.
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: We'll get pretty close to the end of the month,
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: which is pretty normal for us. But we've had very
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: good growth. Like, yeah, we've still got extremely good covers.
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: So feed isn't a problem. It's just that damage that
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: we want to avoid.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: It's just being able to get on the paddocks and
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: utilise the tucker, Rob, and same old story.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. One thing Phillip has been doing,
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: some paddocks, is starting the cows at the back of
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: it so they walk down over the grass and break
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: feed them back up, which that has certainly helped. So,
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: you know, it's saved gateways and all that sort of thing.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: And Holter has just enabled that to be a bit
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: easier to do.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: That, yeah. So how far through calving are you?
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Oh, we've probably got, I don't know, about 90 left
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: to go out of, 480 or 490, yeah.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: That's not bad going.
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: It has been a bit slow this year for us.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Lowest carving we've had for a lot of years. But
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: probably with the wet, that hasn't been a bad thing.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Well, has it been a bit slower then?
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: You've still got 90 to go in the scheme of things.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: You're still getting well through.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, last spring, obviously that storm hit just at
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: a bad time. And yeah, we've been wondering ourselves why
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: it's quite so bad. We didn't think the spring was
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: quite as bad as what our mating is saying it was. So, yeah,
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: we're evaluating everything, looking at everything, seeing what we can
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: do this year to make sure we don't end up
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: with another calving like this.
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: So what are you thinking you need to change?
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: We're working on everything. And working with the vets, like,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: because there's nothing obvious that was wrong last year, which is,
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: you know, really surprised us just how slow calving has been.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: The girls have just been really relaxed, I suppose.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. They knew the weather was going to be
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: like it was and decided that'd be a bit later.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Decided they'd cross their legs for an extra couple of days.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. But, hey, you know, certainly we're lining up
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: for a reasonable sort of season, that's for sure, you know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: because feed-wise we're still well enough off. And, you know,
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: them cows will calve soon because there's only so many
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: more days that they've got that they've got to calve.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: So, yeah.
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: In your neck of the woods there, Robin, you've got
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: a bit of a get-together going on tomorrow and you're
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: encouraging people to come along.
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so tomorrow the Tutorau community at the hall, there's
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: a continuous lunch from 11 o'clock until about 2 o'clock,
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: I think it is. And everybody's welcome to come along
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: and just take a bit of time out from the farm.
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: It's just an opportunity for you to go along, have
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: a chat to someone. have a feed. You don't have
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: to just turn up in your bling and farm clothes,
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: kick your gumboots off at the door and come in
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: and have a hot feed and have a chat to
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: someone and hopefully go home feeling a bit better.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: That's the big thing at the moment, isn't it?
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: It's about keeping in touch with a couple of people,
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: not a couple of people, just whoever your networks are
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: and just chewing the fat because everybody's in the same
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: position ultimately.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: Exactly. It's just so good to take a little bit
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: of time out for yourself and go and have a
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: chat to someone and have something to eat and go
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: back to the farm feeling a bit refreshed anyway and
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: feeling that, you know, hey, you're not on your own
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: and everybody else is in the same boat.
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Well, from your perspective, Robin, because you've had a bit
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: of a skit in the game for a while, do
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: you notice that when you get older you still need
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to take a bit of time off and just reset
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: the top three inches? Because the argument is that when
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: you get older you get a bit pragmatic or dogmatic
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: for that matter and just want to keep working.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Um... It's probably a bit of both for me. Yeah,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: I see the need for other people, you know, for
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: younger ones that are in the thick of it. Like, obviously,
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: I'm not in the thick of it. I have life
• 5:05
  Speaker 3: a little bit easier now than what I used to
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: 20 years ago. But for those that are in the
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: thick of it, like, it's tough going and you need
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: to just take a bit of time out and go
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: back feeling a bit more refreshed and knowing that you're
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: not the only one in that situation. It certainly does help.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: So tomorrow at 11 o'clock at the Tooterail Hall, is
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: that right?
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: That's right, yep, at the Tooterail Hall from 11 o'clock.
• 5:29
  Speaker 3: Turn up whatever time suits your programme for the day,
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: 11 till 2, and, you know, there'll be hot meal
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: there for anybody that turns up that wants to turn
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: up and have a hot meal.
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: Fantastic.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: And like I say, you know, just kick your gumboots
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: off at the door and come in. You don't have
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: to go and have a shower or bling and get
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: cleaned up before you come. We're all farmers. We're all
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: in the same boat.
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: So this event's just being put on by the local community?
• 5:53
  Speaker 3: Yep, the local community hall committee have organised it. Yeah, yeah.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: Now, how good. Hey, good on you, mate.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: Hopefully the sun comes out and stays out, not just
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: for today, and all the best for tomorrow.
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: A great initiative.
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: Hey, thanks very much, Andy, and all the best to
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: all the farmers out there that are trying to get
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: through each day.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Robin Greer of Tutorau, the Paddock to Plate event tomorrow,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the free drop-in lunch for farmers happening at 11am at
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the Tutorau Community Hall. Also, the Southern Rural Support Trust
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: and their Brunch on Us events are continuing too.
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: Look at their social channels.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: I just had a look at Dogmatic, Pragmatic and Dogmatic.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Dogmatic is someone who is completely certain their opinions and
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: beliefs are right and expects everyone else to accept them
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: without question.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: So I think I'll just go with Pragmatic.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Up next, we are away down to Invercargill to catch
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: up with our resident.
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: Sporting guru, Nathan Burton, on the Thursday. This is the muster.