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The Muster- Steve Henderson: Supporting Local Charities · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is The Muster on Hokanui.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Pearl Jam is the artist today.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: That song is called Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: a Small Town.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Great song. Great guest up next as well, Steve Henderson,
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: farming at Awarua. Good afternoon.
• 0:29
  Speaker 4: Afternoon, Andy.
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: How's everything down south today? Are you getting a little
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: bit of rain as predicted after two days of sun?
• 0:35
  Speaker 5: Yes, yes, after two days of sun. And it's come
• 0:39
  Speaker 5: through as the forecast predicted, which is good.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: And that's all.
• 0:45
  Speaker 5: Yeah, hopefully the forecast is true and it does stop shortly.
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: And next week is going to be higher temperatures and
• 0:53
  Speaker 4: calmer weather.
• 0:53
  Speaker 5: So those last two days, soil temperatures.
• 0:56
  Speaker 4: Jumped out of the ground and The grass has followed suit.
• 0:59
  Speaker 5: And, yeah, I think I'm optimistic that that is the
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: turn that we need.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Lots of grass growth there.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: Are you starting to see early signs at the moment
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: or is it still too early after all that moisture?
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: No, it's still a little bit early.
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: Yeah, we are getting that bounce regrowth behind cows that
• 1:17
  Speaker 5: have just eaten paddocks out, but we aren't getting that 50, 60,
• 1:21
  Speaker 5: 70 kilos a day yet. We're still doing 40 kilos
• 1:24
  Speaker 5: a day. So we are, you know, we're still feeding
• 1:27
  Speaker 5: half of their diet as supplement brought in. So the
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: quicker we can grow grass, the cheaper the milk's going
• 1:35
  Speaker 5: to be, and that's going to be pretty key because, yeah,
• 1:37
  Speaker 5: there's been a lot of supplement within Southam that's been
• 1:39
  Speaker 5: brought in for September.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: Are you having to buy much feed in?
• 1:44
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we are, yep.
• 1:45
  Speaker 5: So we've got a little bit of milk and quality
• 1:48
  Speaker 5: baitage left, but we're trying to sort of.
• 1:50
  Speaker 4: tease that out as far.
• 1:51
  Speaker 5: As it can go and also have just a little
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: bit left on hand because you could always get those
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: cold days or some sort of pinch in October. So, yeah,
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: we're feeding pretty much our maximum in the cow shed
• 2:02
  Speaker 5: we can and also bulk PK and DDG going out
• 2:06
  Speaker 5: into the paddocks.
• 2:07
  Speaker 4: So, yeah, we're feeding up to 10 kilos and that
• 2:11
  Speaker 4: won't be dissimilar.
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  Speaker 5: Some people will be doing more of the cow's diet,
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: you know, that's.
• 2:15
  Speaker 4: Being brought in.
• 2:15
  Speaker 5: So, Yeah, it's time-consuming too, which is probably the biggest
• 2:19
  Speaker 5: constraint at the moment.
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: I suppose that's a positive, though, being a dairy farmer,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: being able to feed the cows on the platform.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: It's another way to get tucker into them.
• 2:28
  Speaker 4: Yeah, dead right, dead right.
• 2:30
  Speaker 5: And we did talk about what does it look like
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: if this continues for another two weeks and sort of
• 2:37
  Speaker 5: banter around. Maybe you go on once a day, but
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: here you do it once a day. The cows need fed,
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: so bringing them into the shed to feed them two
• 2:44
  Speaker 5: and a half, three kilos is worth taking milk off them.
• 2:48
  Speaker 5: So hopefully we don't get to that stage, but bringing
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: them to the shed, they obviously get fed.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: So it is quite a useful tool.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: So you've contemplated once a day?
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we did.
• 2:59
  Speaker 5: It was just sort of a chat around what if,
• 3:03
  Speaker 5: what if that weather did continue for next week plus
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: the week after. So yeah, I think once a day
• 3:09
  Speaker 5: would have been a step, but it wouldn't be a
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: first step. We'd still be trying to feed them, send
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: them out of the paddock and bring them back into milk.
• 3:15
  Speaker 5: So yeah, We want to keep them fully fed because
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: mating's just around the corner and you don't really want
• 3:19
  Speaker 5: to pinch them yet.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: How does your critical thinking change then in the lead
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: into mating?
• 3:26
  Speaker 5: So I think it changed when I saw that forecast
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: for next week and the last two days they were
• 3:33
  Speaker 5: what the forecast said.
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: So we've changed.
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: We've actually increased the cow square metres now. We've been
• 3:39
  Speaker 5: optimistic and gone down to a 25-day round.
• 3:42
  Speaker 4: We were on a 30, so.
• 3:44
  Speaker 5: We're trying to pull out as much supplement as we
• 3:46
  Speaker 5: can and obviously grow as much grass as we can
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: to try and give that rising plane of nutrition and
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: give the cows as much grass as they can because
• 3:53
  Speaker 5: that's obviously the cheapest feed.
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: Non-cyclists and body.
• 3:57
  Speaker 5: Condition scoring, we just condition scored Sam, condition scored them
• 4:00
  Speaker 5: a couple of days ago, so we'll go through them
• 4:03
  Speaker 5: and pair them up with non-cyclists and just have a
• 4:06
  Speaker 5: look to see if we do make a group of possibly,
• 4:09
  Speaker 5: you know, we only milk them once a day, that
• 4:11
  Speaker 5: those cows still stay within the herd and come to
• 4:13
  Speaker 5: the shed twice a day, but We just take milk
• 4:15
  Speaker 5: off them once a day to try and reduce their
• 4:17
  Speaker 5: demand and.
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: Get them cycling.
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  Speaker 5: So we've got a bit of information to go through
• 4:21
  Speaker 5: for the next week and we'll make a plan for
• 4:24
  Speaker 5: non-cyclists because we're October now and we're only four weeks away.
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: Plans start a mating. So those decisions need to be
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: made now. And it's always good to be on the
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: front foot. You can get to.
• 4:34
  Speaker 5: November and deal with those non-cyclists, but you've probably missed
• 4:37
  Speaker 5: an opportunity if you start doing it then.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Hey, Steve, we'll touch on this too. We had the
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: Field Days AGM last night. Firstly, congratulations. You've had your
• 4:45
  Speaker 3: four-year stint as chair. Simon Vallali taking over the role now.
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: But really interesting last night, Amelia from Hospice South came
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: and had a yarn with us, telling us all about
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: what they do down here. And that is one organisation
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: that is a really, really good thing to have.
• 5:02
  Speaker 5: Oh, I was sort of, yeah, gobsmacked about how... how
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: much they do in the community and the intensity of
• 5:10
  Speaker 5: their care and the families that are involved. And there's
• 5:12
  Speaker 5: only been great things spoken about them.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: And the funding was also an interesting thing.
• 5:19
  Speaker 5: They get half it through the government, but the other
• 5:23
  Speaker 5: half comes from businesses and charities supporting them in Southland. Yeah, well,
• 5:29
  Speaker 5: she spoke about the $ 3 million that comes through the
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: hospice shops. So that's That's people going in, buying from
• 5:35
  Speaker 5: the hospice shops that have been donated to go back
• 5:37
  Speaker 5: to the community. And every family will be touched by
• 5:41
  Speaker 5: hospice at some point. If it's not now, it could
• 5:43
  Speaker 5: well be later on. And you'll probably obviously know someone
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: that's been through.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: The need of hospice.
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: So, yeah, it was a real eye-opener and, yeah, real
• 5:52
  Speaker 5: credit to hospice. And they're a very vital organisation for
• 5:55
  Speaker 5: the South, eh?
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Mealy was one of two palliative care nurses from
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: this region anyway, based in Riversdale. And you're just really interesting,
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: just putting it into context, what it means. And Southern
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: Indoor Charity Dog Trails, they send any money that they
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: raise goes towards Hospice South. So you're dead right, it
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: affects everybody in some way, shape or form at some stage.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it does.
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and to have someone come in and speak about it, yeah,
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: I think the whole committee.
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: gained something out of it and, yeah, we're now a
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: little bit more wiser as to the needs around that.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: Now, your term's over as chair. When you look back
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: and reflect on those four years, you'll be pretty chuffed.
• 6:39
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it was a good four years and,
• 6:43
  Speaker 5: you know, you've always got to thank the committee for
• 6:47
  Speaker 5: having a bit of faith in you and, And the
• 6:50
  Speaker 5: committee is probably the biggest thing around the Southern Field Days.
• 6:52
  Speaker 5: They're just a get-on-and-get-it-done sort of committee.
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: So it made life reasonably easy.
• 6:59
  Speaker 5: And, yeah, I do look forward to seeing what the
• 7:01
  Speaker 5: Southern Field Days can do for the next.
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: Four years, eight years, you know, in 20 years' time.
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: It's a pretty big evolving beast. And, yeah, Simon will
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: really enjoy it. And, yeah, four years will fly for him.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: Too right. Good on you, Steve. Enjoy the weekend. Always
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: appreciate your time.
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: No worries.
• 7:17
  Speaker 4: Thanks, Andy.
• 7:17
  Speaker 5: And, yep, listeners, if the sun's out tomorrow, enjoy it and, yeah,
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: get a bit of vitamin D.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Steve Henderson, based down at Awarua. This is the muster
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: before we wrap up for the week. Jason Pine of
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: Newstalk ZB. Let's talk a bit of sport ahead of
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: the weekend.