Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster Full Show: 23/09/26

Transcript

The Muster Full Show: 23/09/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:00
Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hakanui.
0:11
Speaker 2: My name's Andy Muir. The show's brought to you by
0:13
Speaker 2: Peterson Helix. A little bit earlier than what we normally
0:17
Speaker 2: would be, but nonetheless.
0:19
Speaker 3: Not a problem.
0:19
Speaker 2: That means we get to enjoy a little bit more
0:21
Speaker 2: of Garth Brooks, right? Welcome along to the afternoon on
0:24
Speaker 2: Hunt Day. We're seeing a little bit of blue sky
0:27
Speaker 2: with cloud in the distance.
0:29
Speaker 3: It's not that warm, though. Where are we at?
0:32
Speaker 2: About eight degrees here in Gore, so we're just about
0:34
Speaker 2: at the high. Look, this weather continues to be a
0:38
Speaker 2: bit of a basket case. We're catching up with Chris
0:40
Speaker 2: Dillon of South Confederated Farmers very shortly, actually, just to
0:43
Speaker 2: give a bit of an update on what he's hearing
0:45
Speaker 2: on the ground anyway. But nonetheless, we crank straight into it.
0:48
Speaker 2: The music today, we're doing the country theme, Caleb Scobie.
0:52
Speaker 2: Keen to have a bit of country on a Wednesday.
0:54
Speaker 2: If you want to have music on the muster, you know,
0:56
Speaker 2: you've got a music choice you want, feel free to
0:58
Speaker 2: send in your suggestions.
1:00
Speaker 3: That goes for the jokes as well. Laugh out loud.
1:02
Speaker 3: Jamie King, very much.
1:04
Speaker 2: I thank you very much for your feedback yesterday taken
1:06
Speaker 2: on board.
1:06
Speaker 3: Send some in, son. That's the key.
1:09
Speaker 4: Right.
1:10
Speaker 3: Better crank into it anyway. Here's a bit of Garth.
1:16
Speaker 5: This afternoon showers of breezy westerlies and a high of
1:19
Speaker 5: 9 Thursday. Raymond or westerlies 4 and 12 Friday.
1:32
Speaker 2: Partly cloudy with calm variable winds, 3 and 13. Saturday,
1:36
Speaker 2: afternoon showers, a breezy north-westerly, 4 and 17. And on Sunday,
1:41
Speaker 2: all over the show, showers, a west-north-westerly, 4 and 8.
1:44
Speaker 2: Soil temperatures for a Wednesday, Clinton 8.5, Heriot 5.7, Northern
1:47
Speaker 2: Southland 7.5, Riverton 9.5, Te Anau 7.3, Ditto, Titiroa, Winton
1:49
Speaker 2: 6.5 and Woodlands 7.5. Hang on, here we go. Yeah,
2:03
Speaker 2: not a bad tune there. Chris Dillon of South Confederated
2:06
Speaker 2: Farmers gets us underway just looking at the situation and
2:10
Speaker 2: what he's hearing from a fed's perspective. Tom Shallott of
2:13
Speaker 2: Craig's Investment Partners joins us to talk all-thing finance. Nathan
2:18
Speaker 2: Nelson of Dairy NZ. Dairy NZ, the messaging they're sending,
2:22
Speaker 2: and you might have heard it before, but it's just
2:24
Speaker 2: to give you a bit of an understanding, just to
2:26
Speaker 2: look at the mindset and continually updating what you're thinking
2:30
Speaker 2: on the farm. And this is merely suggestions that the
2:32
Speaker 2: team are doing, and that's what Nathan's doing. presenting this
2:35
Speaker 2: afternoon as well. Then we're away over to WA. Dave
2:38
Speaker 2: Bissy Biss, formerly of the Maniatoato, these days he is
2:42
Speaker 2: a stock agent based just out of Perth. And a
2:44
Speaker 2: number of things going on over in WA at the moment.
2:47
Speaker 2: The big thing, though, in the sporting landscape is the
2:49
Speaker 2: AFL Grand Final. The Fremantle Dockers looking to get their
2:52
Speaker 2: first premiership. And AJ Aitken, talking sport, but coming back
2:56
Speaker 2: on the local front. He is the coach of a
2:58
Speaker 2: Southland development team after a great win over.
3:02
Speaker 3: Canterbury at the weekend.
3:03
Speaker 2: So we catch up with AJ just to get an
3:05
Speaker 2: understanding of what the depth level is regarding Southland rugby,
3:09
Speaker 2: but as well this concern regarding a structural change in
3:13
Speaker 2: the wind or in the air possibly that NZR has
3:15
Speaker 2: come out with regarding the MPC and Super Rugby. Seems
3:18
Speaker 2: to happen every couple of years, like you change jocks, right? Anyway,
3:22
Speaker 2: Mark Corder of PGG writes in, gives a rundown on
3:25
Speaker 2: a truncated about Clutha sale today, then we'll crank into it.
3:27
Speaker 2: Here's a bit of guff before we get into Chris Dillon.
3:30
Speaker 2: You're listening to The Muster, five after one.
3:40
Speaker 5: This interview is brought to you by AgriCenter South. Branches
3:44
Speaker 5: in Lawnville, Gore, Cromwell, Milton and Ranfurly. Drop by your
3:48
Speaker 5: local AgriCenter South branch today.
3:54
Speaker 2: Chris Dillon is President of South and Federated Farmers and
3:58
Speaker 2: joins us this afternoon.
3:59
Speaker 3: CD, g'day.
4:00
Speaker 2: Last time I spoke to you, you were in Australia
4:03
Speaker 2: or you're on your way over to the airport to
4:04
Speaker 2: get there.
4:05
Speaker 3: You probably wish you stayed there a bit longer.
4:08
Speaker 6: Yeah, I haven't come back to very good weather, all right. No,
4:12
Speaker 6: not at all, Andy.
4:14
Speaker 2: What is the situation that you're hearing from the fed
4:16
Speaker 2: side of the fence at the moment anyway? I mean,
4:19
Speaker 2: a lot of people talking about eight inches of rain
4:21
Speaker 2: so far for the month. We've still got a week
4:23
Speaker 2: of September to go. Is there certain parts of the
4:26
Speaker 2: region that are worse off than others?
4:29
Speaker 6: Certain parts are worse off. Everyone's coped the rain, but
4:33
Speaker 6: it's the soil types that... is causing the problem, and
4:37
Speaker 6: it's just relentless. But we've been there before, and we've
4:41
Speaker 6: got out the other side of it, so we just
4:44
Speaker 6: do all what we can.
4:46
Speaker 2: How are people coping, given it's the middle of lambing
4:49
Speaker 2: and calving's getting well through now, but feed reserves, feed levels,
4:53
Speaker 2: et cetera, are you hearing any sheep farmers just trying
4:55
Speaker 2: to find a plan Z?
4:56
Speaker 5: No.
4:59
Speaker 6: In the northern parts, there's grass, but they are wasting
5:02
Speaker 6: a bit of it. It's the cows in the lower
5:05
Speaker 6: part of the province that are really pugging the pastures,
5:07
Speaker 6: and it's difficult for them. And by all accounts, there's
5:11
Speaker 6: small amounts of feed reserves around, but not huge. So
5:16
Speaker 6: if you need to act early, I would say.
5:19
Speaker 2: Have you had many farmers get in touch with yourself
5:21
Speaker 2: or federated farmers expressing concern about the situation?
5:26
Speaker 6: Not directly to us, but... The Southern Executive's got a
5:30
Speaker 6: fairly active chat, so we keep in touch with each
5:33
Speaker 6: other and see what's going on around the different parts
5:35
Speaker 6: of the province regularly, so we keep informed that way.
5:39
Speaker 2: I think it's all about just pushing the messaging of
5:41
Speaker 2: checking in with your neighbours and your mates, because the
5:44
Speaker 2: big thing to reiterate is that everybody's in the same
5:46
Speaker 2: boat here.
5:48
Speaker 6: Exactly, and the Royal Support Trust is running a few
5:51
Speaker 6: events at the moment, and there's a few things. Just
5:54
Speaker 6: get off farm and have a breath and realise that
5:57
Speaker 6: you're not the only one that's... tied up with the
5:59
Speaker 6: bad weather and we can't control the weather unfortunately.
6:03
Speaker 2: Southland Rural Support Trust, just on that, their Brunch On
6:05
Speaker 2: Us event tomorrow at the Waikāia Hall at 11am. There's
6:10
Speaker 2: another one next week, I think, in Dipton, but as well,
6:13
Speaker 2: around Edendale, there's a Farmer's Shout happening at Herbert's Yard
6:17
Speaker 2: tomorrow at 11am. And as well, Cameron Contracting's Yard on
6:21
Speaker 2: the 28th, which is next Monday at the same time,
6:23
Speaker 2: 11am as well. And they're just encouraging anybody to go along,
6:27
Speaker 2: have a drink, have something to eat and just chew
6:29
Speaker 2: the fat. And yeah, three times the charm, right?
6:33
Speaker 6: Yeah, dead right. Have a chat about it and work
6:37
Speaker 6: through it that way.
6:39
Speaker 2: Like you say, there's nothing that really politicians ever like
6:43
Speaker 2: to get involved with in a situation like this because
6:46
Speaker 2: it's just weather.
6:47
Speaker 6: It is just weather and we had high hopes because
6:50
Speaker 6: we've had two bad springs, but to get a third one, well,
6:53
Speaker 6: we're either going to get used to them or we
6:55
Speaker 6: have to change slightly what we do. But it's not
6:58
Speaker 6: just one farming type. Everyone's caught up on this bad weather. So, yeah,
7:02
Speaker 6: just work through it.
7:04
Speaker 3: Well, you're a grain farmer based at Ard Lusser. What's
7:07
Speaker 3: it like? How bad is it there?
7:09
Speaker 6: It's fairly wet. We got the first round of fertiliser
7:11
Speaker 6: done last week when we had a window. We did
7:15
Speaker 6: think some of the heavy ground was too wet to
7:17
Speaker 6: be getting on, but we did it anyway. And we're
7:20
Speaker 6: glad we did because you'd be wanting to put a
7:23
Speaker 6: life jacket on before you flew over it this week.
7:26
Speaker 6: It has got very wet. But the crops on the
7:29
Speaker 6: dry land have sparked up and they've grown quite well.
7:33
Speaker 3: Well, the fur got washed in, I suppose.
7:35
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's one thing, yeah. It certainly didn't get volatilised.
7:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's for sure. Changes to the RMA getting ratified
7:42
Speaker 3: yesterday in Parliament.
7:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it's very good news. We've seen the Resource
7:47
Speaker 6: Management Act. I think it's close on 35 years it's been...
7:52
Speaker 6: It was put in place to do a job, but
7:55
Speaker 6: it has enabled a huge build-up of bureaucracy to stop
8:00
Speaker 6: you doing anything and... that frustration has led to the
8:04
Speaker 6: current government putting in two new bills to replace it.
8:07
Speaker 6: So we look forward to working through them in the
8:10
Speaker 6: next term.
8:11
Speaker 2: But all these RMA changes, they correlate to these plans
8:14
Speaker 2: that we've seen heaped on the councils as well. So
8:16
Speaker 2: it's been interesting times, especially here in Gore.
8:19
Speaker 6: Yeah, in every council. And as we said when we
8:23
Speaker 6: spoke a few months back, with the council reform, it's
8:26
Speaker 6: done a bit backwards now. The ALMA needed to be
8:30
Speaker 6: reformed before the council reformed. Now we have that, and
8:34
Speaker 6: we can set a clear direction for how the councils
8:36
Speaker 6: operate going forward.
8:39
Speaker 2: Right, we're not far out from the election, six weeks
8:41
Speaker 2: or so.
8:41
Speaker 3: Is there a Meet the Candidates night coming up?
8:44
Speaker 2: Is that correct?
8:45
Speaker 6: Yeah, Mataga Feds is hosting a few of them, and
8:47
Speaker 6: we're joining them on the 13th in Te Panui for
8:52
Speaker 6: a Southland Candidates one and two. The 15th of October
8:57
Speaker 6: in Invercargill, we're hosting the Invercargill electorate one at the
9:00
Speaker 6: Fed's building, 7pm on the 15th of October.
9:04
Speaker 3: It's coming around quicker than not as well.
9:06
Speaker 6: It will come around quick, yeah. But no, it's good
9:10
Speaker 6: to have a sort of informal chat and get a
9:12
Speaker 6: chance to ask some questions of the candidates that we
9:15
Speaker 6: have down here in the South.
9:17
Speaker 2: So just finally, Chris, just to reiterate what we talked
9:20
Speaker 2: about earlier on, anybody who's seeking any issues, feel free
9:23
Speaker 2: to get in touch with somebody from Feds or Rural
9:25
Speaker 2: Support Trust as well, 0800 787 254, because you've just
9:30
Speaker 2: got to keep connecting at the moment.
9:32
Speaker 6: That's key to it, yep. Anyone showing them, just get
9:36
Speaker 6: a hold of someone there, yep.
9:38
Speaker 2: Good on you, Chris. Thanks for your time again.
9:40
Speaker 7: Not a problem.
9:40
Speaker 2: Cheers.
9:41
Speaker 8: Cheers.
9:43
Speaker 2: Chris Dillon, President of Southland Federated Farmers. Like we said before,
9:47
Speaker 2: the Brunch On Us event tomorrow at Waikāia at the
9:50
Speaker 2: hall at 11am. And next week concluding, I think it's
9:54
Speaker 2: at Dipton as well. And like I said too, Herbert's
9:57
Speaker 2: Yard they're having a shout in Edendale tomorrow at 11am.
10:00
Speaker 2: So they're encouraging people to get off farm and go
10:03
Speaker 2: and just have a chinwag for a wee bit because
10:05
Speaker 2: everybody's in this together.
10:07
Speaker 3: Tom Shallard's up next out of Craig's Investment Partners.
10:12
Speaker 5: I fell into a muster. The muster financial segment with
10:16
Speaker 5: Craig's Investment Partners in Gore. This information is general in
10:20
Speaker 5: nature and is not financial advice. Craig's Investment Partners limited
10:24
Speaker 5: financial advice provider disclosure statement can be found at craigsip.com.
10:29
Speaker 9: The taste.
10:30
Speaker 2: Tom Shallard of Craig's Investment Partners joins us in studio
10:33
Speaker 2: once again.
10:34
Speaker 3: How you doing?
10:35
Speaker 10: Good afternoon, Andy. I'm doing not too bad, but just
10:39
Speaker 10: thinking back to last month when I was on the show,
10:41
Speaker 10: we were talking up a mild spring. That didn't materialise,
10:45
Speaker 10: did it?
10:45
Speaker 3: Was it my fault?
10:48
Speaker 2: You just can't ignore the situational way it's unfolding out there.
10:51
Speaker 2: It's not what you expect for September, but there's a
10:54
Speaker 2: lot of things out of the ordinary at the moment.
10:56
Speaker 2: We're talking finance matters today, Tom. Let's start off first.
11:00
Speaker 2: Regarding the domestic economy, how are we faring here in
11:03
Speaker 2: relation to the rest of the world, all things considered?
11:06
Speaker 10: Yeah, the domestic economy, I mean, closer to home, things
11:08
Speaker 10: are better than fared. So we had some GDP data
11:13
Speaker 10: for the June quarter, which came in mildly positive at 0.2%. Again,
11:19
Speaker 10: that's the rural sector doing the heavy lifting. Interestingly, annual
11:23
Speaker 10: GDP growth is at 2.6%. So That's actually the strongest
11:29
Speaker 10: in three years, despite a global energy shock. But that's
11:35
Speaker 10: on the back of, I guess, a couple of years
11:37
Speaker 10: that could be described as a bit of an economic pothole.
11:41
Speaker 10: But yeah, things domestically are OK. Housing remains soft. Prices
11:47
Speaker 10: are down about a percent year on year and still 17%
11:50
Speaker 10: below 2021. Southend's the obvious outlier, up 10% year-on-year, which
11:56
Speaker 10: has got a bit of coverage, and that's on the
11:59
Speaker 10: back of strong commodity prices.
12:01
Speaker 2: And that's on the back of all this investment happening
12:03
Speaker 2: down here as well? Yes, yep.
12:05
Speaker 10: No, Southend's the place to be at the moment, and
12:07
Speaker 10: it certainly is the jewel in the crown of the regions.
12:12
Speaker 2: Well, it might not be for the weather, but certainly
12:15
Speaker 2: for growth in other areas, and The fuel situation too,
12:19
Speaker 2: it sounds as though, I heard something the other day,
12:20
Speaker 2: depending on what happens with the US midterms, we're going
12:23
Speaker 2: to keep these high prices up.
12:25
Speaker 10: Yeah, what a difference a few weeks makes. I mean,
12:29
Speaker 10: last month we were talking easing tensions and falling oil prices,
12:33
Speaker 10: and here we are with oil over or around $ 100
12:36
Speaker 10: a barrel again. And what we're seeing is central banks responding.
12:40
Speaker 10: So the Federal Reserve lifted rates last week, and they're
12:44
Speaker 10: talking another rate into Christmas. That's the first time they've
12:47
Speaker 10: moved rates since 2023. So the Fed fund rate's at 4%.
12:52
Speaker 10: Bank of Japan, their cash rate's at the highest level
12:55
Speaker 10: since 1995. And Europe have hiked a couple of weeks
12:59
Speaker 10: ago as well. And our own Reserve Bank moved to 2.75.
13:03
Speaker 10: So back to a synchronised global tightening cycle, Andy, as
13:07
Speaker 10: a result of this energy shock.
13:09
Speaker 3: I heard something the other day as well.
13:11
Speaker 2: The OCR possibly moving like three days out before the election.
13:15
Speaker 10: Yeah, well, there's one more meeting before the election in October.
13:21
Speaker 10: One more meeting in October.
13:23
Speaker 2: Just before the election.
13:24
Speaker 10: Just before the election. So look, probably, well, almost certainly
13:29
Speaker 10: a hike there now, just on the back of what's
13:31
Speaker 10: happened in global interest rate markets. And yeah, there are
13:37
Speaker 10: some commentators out there that are forecasting even potentially a
13:42
Speaker 10: hike early into next year. So It's still a wait
13:45
Speaker 10: and see. It really just depends on what happens with
13:49
Speaker 10: this energy crisis and hopefully if the cost of oil
13:54
Speaker 10: gets back down to $ 70, $ 80, that might not be necessary.
14:00
Speaker 2: Generally speaking, are global share markets doing all right?
14:04
Speaker 8: Yep.
14:04
Speaker 10: No, despite all the noise, it's been a really strong
14:06
Speaker 10: year for global share markets. So in Kiwi dollar terms,
14:11
Speaker 10: the US share market's up around 12% year to date
14:14
Speaker 10: Japan's up more than 20%. And the emerging markets, which
14:18
Speaker 10: we've talked about before, are doing really well. They're up
14:22
Speaker 10: over 22%. So that's on the back of really robust
14:25
Speaker 10: corporate earnings. Economic growth has proven, as we've discussed, more
14:29
Speaker 10: resilient than expected. And look, this AI boom is continuing
14:33
Speaker 10: with the chip makers in Taiwan and Korea powering on
14:37
Speaker 10: some impressive corporate profits.
14:39
Speaker 2: From a financial perspective, is AI moving too quickly?
14:43
Speaker 10: It's an interesting one. I did actually scratch together a
14:46
Speaker 10: couple of notes for a client on some of the
14:50
Speaker 10: commentary in the media recently about AI and if things
14:53
Speaker 10: need to slow down. I mean, yeah, I'm not a regulator.
14:57
Speaker 10: I think things are moving at a pretty impressive pace
15:00
Speaker 10: and it's a revolutionary technology. So, yeah, my view, keep
15:05
Speaker 10: the foot on the gas.
15:06
Speaker 2: So we can't be going too quickly in the AI space,
15:09
Speaker 2: in your opinion? Because some people are saying it's moving
15:12
Speaker 2: too quickly.
15:12
Speaker 10: Yeah, but you've got to be realistic. If we regulate
15:15
Speaker 10: it in the West, it's not going to be regulated
15:17
Speaker 10: in China. So we'd rather have that technology than some
15:25
Speaker 10: of our trading partners.
15:27
Speaker 2: So we can continue to see New Zealand currency on
15:30
Speaker 2: the back burner in regards to the likes of the
15:32
Speaker 2: powers of about 40 cents to a pound now. Jeez,
15:35
Speaker 2: back in the early 2000s, we were like 30 cents.
15:38
Speaker 2: We're starting to get towards, we're not there yet, but
15:41
Speaker 2: all of a sudden it comes into the equation, doesn't it?
15:43
Speaker 10: The Kiwi remains quite depressed, I mean, pretty much against
15:46
Speaker 10: all of its major trading pairs. No quick fix to that.
15:49
Speaker 10: You look at where we are in our interest rate
15:53
Speaker 10: cycle versus globally. So Fed fund rate at 4 now.
15:58
Speaker 10: The RBA in Australia at 4.35 with a hike next
16:01
Speaker 10: week looking likely. We're at 2.75. So, you know, from
16:07
Speaker 10: what's called a carry trade, if you get a high
16:10
Speaker 10: risk-free rate in another country, money flows there and vice versa.
16:15
Speaker 10: So that's why the Kiwi's under pressure. But look, it's
16:17
Speaker 10: good for exporters. So, you know, if you're paid in
16:22
Speaker 10: US dollars for your commodities, if that's your benchmark, then,
16:26
Speaker 10: you know, there are some benefits.
16:28
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And look, closer to home as well, like GDP
16:32
Speaker 2: for the June quarter up 0.2%.
16:34
Speaker 10: No, and as I said, I'm on the back of
16:37
Speaker 10: a strong rural sector.
16:38
Speaker 8: Yeah.
16:38
Speaker 10: So it'll be interesting to see what happens into year end.
16:42
Speaker 10: Obviously the election can, September can be, September, October in
16:46
Speaker 10: an election year can be quite quiet months with lack
16:49
Speaker 10: of investment and whatnot as people wait to see what
16:52
Speaker 10: will unfold in early November.
16:55
Speaker 2: Foodstuffs, all this talk around supermarket duopolies, wanting to split
16:59
Speaker 2: things up, we'd heard nothing until about two or three
17:01
Speaker 2: weeks ago. Now anyone and everyone's wanting to do something
17:04
Speaker 2: around it.
17:05
Speaker 10: Isn't it fascinating that a supermarket break-up's found its way
17:09
Speaker 10: to the centre of the election? It seems to be
17:13
Speaker 10: the most popular topic at the moment. But from my
17:17
Speaker 10: point of view, I mean, a pack-and-save split from New
17:20
Speaker 10: World and Foursquare, it's not a solution for lower grocery prices.
17:27
Speaker 10: It's not the fix, I think. You know, some of
17:29
Speaker 10: these people think it, Might be. I mean, New Zealand's
17:32
Speaker 10: a very, very small, isolated country at the bottom of
17:36
Speaker 10: the earth. You know, we're spread out across a lot
17:39
Speaker 10: of land, which already makes getting food on shelves rather expensive. So,
17:45
Speaker 10: you know, foodstuff stores are owned independently, owner-operated. So splitting
17:50
Speaker 10: up a co-op, you'd be duplicating supply chains, distribution, and technology.
17:55
Speaker 10: So ultimately, consumers would be paying for that. Yeah, the
17:59
Speaker 10: idea to me of duplicating operating costs leading to cheaper
18:03
Speaker 10: groceries is illogical.
18:05
Speaker 2: There's a whole lot that's intriguing for me, to say
18:08
Speaker 2: the least, and that's when you look at Woolworths.
18:10
Speaker 3: They were Woolworths.
18:11
Speaker 2: That Woolworths superstore originally, like in the early 2000s, they
18:15
Speaker 2: rebranded to Countdown. Then they spent all these millions of
18:18
Speaker 2: dollars rebranding their organisation back to Woolworths again. So it
18:21
Speaker 2: makes you wonder how flippantly these outfits throw money about.
18:26
Speaker 10: Yeah, well, the only real winner, from what I can see,
18:31
Speaker 10: if foodstuff is split up, would be Woolworths. And they're Australian-owned. Yeah, exactly, offshore-owned.
18:39
Speaker 10: So if we want genuine competition and lower grocery prices,
18:44
Speaker 10: we do need to bring in a genuinely different model,
18:46
Speaker 10: bring in a global competitor with an established, structurally lower-cost model.
18:50
Speaker 10: I mean, that's how free markets work.
18:53
Speaker 3: Great investment partners. How do people get in touch, Tom?
18:56
Speaker 10: You can give me a call on 03 209 0152
18:58
Speaker 10: or we're at 1 Erick Street in Gore.
19:02
Speaker 3: Good on you, Tom. Thanks for coming in.
19:03
Speaker 8: Thanks, Andy.
19:07
Speaker 2: Tom Shellard of Craig's Investment Partners based here in Gore.
19:10
Speaker 2: You're listening to The Muster. Up next, Nathan Nelson from
19:13
Speaker 2: Dairy NZ. Welcome back to the muster. Nathan Nelson of
19:33
Speaker 2: Dairy NZ joins us on a hump day afternoon. G'day, Nathan.
19:37
Speaker 4: G'day, Andy.
19:38
Speaker 6: Good to be with you, as always.
19:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, always good to catch up with the team on
19:41
Speaker 2: what is an interesting period of weather. Well, what else
19:45
Speaker 2: can you say about it, I suppose? It hasn't already
19:47
Speaker 2: been said.
19:47
Speaker 4: Oh, dead right i think and that's um that's that's
19:52
Speaker 4: the situation that we're all facing across the board isn't
19:55
Speaker 4: it so um yeah look extremely tough out there um
20:00
Speaker 4: and very much in the trenches and i think like
20:02
Speaker 4: you and i said off here i think everyone's everyone's
20:05
Speaker 4: feeling it, but our farmers are certainly on the front
20:07
Speaker 4: line of dealing with that and, you know, trying to
20:09
Speaker 4: keep up with the battle.
20:11
Speaker 2: So how is it from a dairying perspective, I suppose,
20:14
Speaker 2: because you're getting well through calving now, but grass is
20:17
Speaker 2: the issue.
20:19
Speaker 4: Yes, very much so, yep, and utilisation of that, like
20:22
Speaker 4: as we said, not telling anyone what they don't already know,
20:25
Speaker 4: but utilising what feed is actually in the paddock is
20:29
Speaker 4: certainly the challenge with saturated sort of waterlogged soils, so Yeah, look,
20:34
Speaker 4: probably just keen to spend the time without telling farmers
20:37
Speaker 4: what they already know, but we've probably rounded up just
20:40
Speaker 4: some top comments from speaking to the vets that are
20:43
Speaker 4: out there on the front line one-on-one at the moment
20:46
Speaker 4: and some of our leading farm consultants and obviously some
20:49
Speaker 4: of our own DairyNZ insights. Just a few top tips,
20:52
Speaker 4: I suppose, or things to think about just to try
20:55
Speaker 4: and manage that feed situation at the moment. Most guys
20:58
Speaker 4: will be well and truly onto their second round and
21:01
Speaker 4: sort of charging through that second round. And we're probably
21:04
Speaker 4: still just in that tricky tail end of calving with
21:07
Speaker 4: still having a few mobs to juggle and still a
21:10
Speaker 4: few tail end calves and springer mobs and colostrums and
21:13
Speaker 4: dry cows. So yeah, that definitely adds a little bit
21:17
Speaker 4: of pressure and juggle into the system. But yeah, if
21:20
Speaker 4: we have a look at some of those options, and again,
21:22
Speaker 4: like I said, it'll be a range of options depending
21:24
Speaker 4: on what you've got on farm or what your system is.
21:27
Speaker 4: But yeah, first and foremost is probably looking for their
21:33
Speaker 4: ability to stand cows off or even hold them on
21:36
Speaker 4: the yard if you can after milking. Ideally, they have
21:40
Speaker 4: a palm kernel trailer or if you've got a trailer
21:43
Speaker 4: or a feeder, bale of baleage or whatever you've got,
21:47
Speaker 4: bale of hay or straw. If you've got a trailer available,
21:51
Speaker 4: then put some palm kernel or even a DDG mix
21:53
Speaker 4: in it just for a bit of higher energy so
21:55
Speaker 4: they've got something to eat before they go back to
21:57
Speaker 4: the paddock. Ideally, feeding outwise in terms of silage or baleage,
22:04
Speaker 4: that's going to be very dependent on your farm system,
22:06
Speaker 4: but feeding along a secondary lane and behind a hedge line,
22:12
Speaker 4: feeding out under a wire or along the edge of
22:14
Speaker 4: a paddock, just pulling any of those levers to try
22:17
Speaker 4: and lift the utilisation of that feed that is going
22:20
Speaker 4: out to animals if you haven't got an ability or
22:23
Speaker 4: any infrastructure on the farm. The other option, certainly if
22:26
Speaker 4: you're set up with trailers for that palm kernel DDG mix,
22:31
Speaker 4: then a trailer in the paddock, yep, you are going
22:33
Speaker 4: to make a black circle or a ring in the paddock.
22:36
Speaker 4: That's just the reality of it. We'll have to fix
22:38
Speaker 4: that or worry about that later, but again, just trying
22:41
Speaker 4: to get some feed into cows in that way. If
22:45
Speaker 4: you don't have that option or you have got a
22:47
Speaker 4: little bale buggy or a hay rack or a straw rack, again,
22:51
Speaker 4: having a bale buggy in the rack in the paddock
22:54
Speaker 4: with them just to give them some of that effective
22:56
Speaker 4: fibre and give them a bit of room and fill
22:58
Speaker 4: and gut fill is a good option. If you've got
23:00
Speaker 4: a herd size that you are able to split on
23:03
Speaker 4: we're seeing quite a bit of that happening so again
23:05
Speaker 4: just probably prioritising out those mobs anything that's a bit
23:09
Speaker 4: lighter or younger cow is going to get bossed around
23:11
Speaker 4: even more so at the moment in terms of feed
23:14
Speaker 4: competition so if you're at that point or running two
23:18
Speaker 4: herds or multiple herds definitely doing that split on younger
23:21
Speaker 4: stock and body condition score, just to help maybe prioritise
23:26
Speaker 4: that feed or those mobs.
23:29
Speaker 2: Supplement levels, though, after winter, how are they looking, considering
23:33
Speaker 2: normally around now, let's be honest, people have often done
23:35
Speaker 2: a couple of, they've done a first cut of baleage almost,
23:38
Speaker 2: or silage.
23:40
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, definitely, we definitely went into winter with, you know,
23:48
Speaker 4: like good stocks on hand, like autumn across sort of
23:53
Speaker 4: Lower South Island, sorry, South Island, Lower Southland was reasonably
23:57
Speaker 4: favourable and like silage pits obviously did get filled back
23:59
Speaker 4: up and baleage made. But yeah, no two ways about it. Definitely,
24:04
Speaker 4: you know, like worthwhile just taking stock of where that's
24:07
Speaker 4: at and Obviously the in-shed feeding option probably goes without
24:11
Speaker 4: saying that will be the best tool for increasing utilisation,
24:15
Speaker 4: slowing the platform down. Yeah, trying to put, obviously feed
24:20
Speaker 4: that way with it being higher energy and yeah, definitely
24:23
Speaker 4: good utilisation as goes without saying. And then, yeah, look,
24:29
Speaker 4: probably the really only other practical option is having a
24:32
Speaker 4: good look at if you have still got some of
24:33
Speaker 4: those later calving cows and there's a hint of any
24:35
Speaker 4: of them being empty or any obvious cows, then now's
24:40
Speaker 4: a good time to probably go through and get them
24:42
Speaker 4: scanned and just tickle away a few really obvious cows.
24:47
Speaker 4: It's not going to make a huge difference, but a
24:49
Speaker 4: couple of less mouths to feed if they're not going
24:52
Speaker 4: to be there for the season is probably the other
24:54
Speaker 4: option to have a look at.
24:57
Speaker 2: A few sheep farmers looking at lambing dates going forward.
25:00
Speaker 2: Is it realistic to change your calving dates?
25:04
Speaker 4: Yes, certainly that's a discussion that, like we said, many
25:08
Speaker 4: are having. I think once we're through the immediacy of
25:13
Speaker 4: what we're dealing with at the moment, then certainly that'll
25:16
Speaker 4: be a discussion in time heading into mating plans and
25:19
Speaker 4: having a think about that, especially if you've got tight
25:22
Speaker 4: calving patterns, sort of high stocking rates and on a
25:25
Speaker 4: farm without any level of infrastructure or standoff. That's certainly
25:29
Speaker 4: going to be a conversation for review, as we're certainly
25:33
Speaker 4: seeing You know, some of those paper calving dates just
25:36
Speaker 4: creep forward a little bit for various reasons. And, yeah,
25:39
Speaker 4: like cows calving a lot earlier than what, in theory,
25:42
Speaker 4: they should be in their calving dates. So, yep, I
25:45
Speaker 4: think that's going to be a conversation and area that
25:46
Speaker 4: we're very much going to look at in time and just,
25:49
Speaker 4: you know, cause for review around that.
25:52
Speaker 2: So you're encouraging people to get in touch if they've
25:54
Speaker 2: got any concerns?
25:55
Speaker 3: I mean, it sounds like... Without telling people to suck eggs,
25:58
Speaker 3: you've got to get out there, you've got to talk
25:59
Speaker 3: to others.
26:00
Speaker 2: If you're feeling a bit pigeonholed at the moment, everyone's
26:02
Speaker 2: in the same situation.
26:03
Speaker 3: That's the thing.
26:05
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. We're probably at the point where we're encouraging
26:08
Speaker 4: that phone call through to RST just to make sure
26:12
Speaker 4: if you need a fresh set of eyes and you
26:14
Speaker 4: haven't got a farm consultant or you're a bit newer
26:16
Speaker 4: into the district or not as well connected as some,
26:20
Speaker 4: it's yeah, it's definitely the right option to do to
26:24
Speaker 4: be able to get some support in there and just
26:26
Speaker 4: come alongside people that need it and just, like I said,
26:28
Speaker 4: have a look at that fresh set of eyes. They
26:29
Speaker 4: might just see something a little bit outside the train
26:32
Speaker 4: tracks that, you know, could be a practical idea or
26:34
Speaker 4: might be a little bit of a solution just to
26:37
Speaker 4: help you through, yeah, the next period of weather that
26:41
Speaker 4: we're facing and making sure animals are fed and just, yeah,
26:45
Speaker 4: checking in, conversation, human connection with those that need it.
26:48
Speaker 3: Good on you, Nathan. Thanks for your time as always.
26:51
Speaker 4: Excellent, Andy. Good to catch up.
26:56
Speaker 2: Nathan Nelson out of Dairy NZ. You're listening to The
26:59
Speaker 2: Muster before the end of the hour. AJ Aitken. AJ Aitken,
27:03
Speaker 2: I'll say that better. Southland rugby development coach. But up next,
27:07
Speaker 2: we're away over to Western Australia. Dave Biss, livestock rep
27:11
Speaker 2: over there.
27:11
Speaker 3: We catch up. I love to have a beer with.
27:26
Speaker 2: This is the muster on Hokanui. We're away over to
27:29
Speaker 2: Western Australia this afternoon to catch up with Dave Biss,
27:32
Speaker 2: formerly of Maniatoto, these days a stock agent based just
27:35
Speaker 2: out of Perth. Good afternoon, Bissy. What's it like to
27:38
Speaker 2: have warm weather? Because we sure as hell don't have
27:40
Speaker 2: it in the south.
27:43
Speaker 8: Well, good afternoon and good morning, Andy. Warm weather is
27:46
Speaker 8: a lovely thing.
27:48
Speaker 11: I think we're about 27, 28 here today, so it's
27:51
Speaker 11: just going to be beautiful. I've got a ram sale
27:54
Speaker 11: to go to this afternoon to buy some rams for
27:56
Speaker 11: a fella, a couple of blokes.
27:58
Speaker 8: So the day is starting off on a positive note.
28:01
Speaker 3: What's your average rain for where you're based?
28:04
Speaker 8: Well, it really varies so much.
28:09
Speaker 11: If we're talking inches, it's 8 inches to 15 inches
28:14
Speaker 11: depending on where you.
28:15
Speaker 8: Are in the state.
28:16
Speaker 3: That's not a lot of rain.
28:18
Speaker 8: No, it's not a lot of rain.
28:19
Speaker 11: Saying that, though, if you go down in that Esperance,
28:21
Speaker 11: Albany area, it's greater again. But it's, you know, scale
28:25
Speaker 11: of economy and the size of things, it's just such
28:28
Speaker 11: a variant everywhere. So it's hard to pin it down
28:30
Speaker 11: to one thing, you know.
28:31
Speaker 2: Speaking of economy of scale, we talk about this a
28:34
Speaker 2: lot with you, Bissy, but you reckon some of the
28:37
Speaker 2: farms over there, in excess of a million acres, and apparently,
28:41
Speaker 2: in your words, they're some of the smaller ones.
28:43
Speaker 11: Well, in that station country, a lot of those stock
28:45
Speaker 11: standard blocks that were carved up back in the day,
28:50
Speaker 11: they're 900 to a million and a bit acres. And
28:52
Speaker 11: then over the years, you've got families that have brought
28:55
Speaker 11: up the neighbour.
28:56
Speaker 8: I was speaking to a guy the other day in him.
28:58
Speaker 11: And his brother and father have got three and a
29:01
Speaker 11: half million acres.
29:02
Speaker 8: So that's a big day at the office.
29:04
Speaker 2: So how big are your blocks when you've got a
29:05
Speaker 2: farm that size, for goodness sake?
29:08
Speaker 11: Well, you might have a paddock that's 100,000 acres, or
29:10
Speaker 11: you might have a paddock that's 200,000 acres, or you
29:12
Speaker 11: might have a paddock that's bigger again.
29:15
Speaker 3: Is that flat land?
29:17
Speaker 11: Depending on where you are, most of it's flat land.
29:19
Speaker 11: You know, you go through the Pilbara and different areas
29:21
Speaker 11: of the Kimberleys and.
29:22
Speaker 8: Its rolling sort of country. But it's not hilly and steep.
29:27
Speaker 9: There are areas in the Pilbara where the touristy areas are,
29:32
Speaker 9: which is rocky outbreaks and cliffs and things, but generally
29:37
Speaker 9: it's flat, yeah.
29:39
Speaker 3: You speak.
29:40
Speaker 2: Of technology, it's the big thing. We hear about wearables
29:43
Speaker 2: on cattle over here. It's certainly a big deal over
29:46
Speaker 2: in WA now.
29:48
Speaker 11: Yeah, I was just speaking to the halter guys yesterday
29:51
Speaker 11: in regards to, you know, management and more efficient and
29:56
Speaker 11: Even the station country now, there's a massive opportunity. We're
30:00
Speaker 11: probably a bit behind the eight ball compared to you guys, but.
30:04
Speaker 8: That halter is an example. Man, that's a winner, isn't it?
30:06
Speaker 11: It's such a modern, positive, it's so good. And I
30:12
Speaker 11: just think all those big stations that have had a
30:14
Speaker 11: lot of country that's never been eaten, never seen an
30:17
Speaker 11: animal on them at all, you can now push those
30:20
Speaker 11: cattle into those areas and really go for it. That's
30:22
Speaker 11: going to make a big difference in stocking rates on
30:25
Speaker 11: those places.
30:26
Speaker 2: So this is potentially a game changer for these stations?
30:30
Speaker 8: Yeah, 100%.
30:31
Speaker 11: You know, if you're running a few thousand cows and
30:33
Speaker 11: you've got a thousand heifers.
30:35
Speaker 8: Every year, then, you know, you can run those heifers separately.
30:40
Speaker 11: You can graze them where you want to graze them
30:42
Speaker 11: and you can control them and you grow them out accordingly.
30:44
Speaker 8: Absolutely. Magnificent.
30:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, and on that as well, we talk about cattle
30:49
Speaker 2: prices and land prices. Not a lot of feed growing
30:52
Speaker 2: in the south at the moment. Possibly things have eased
30:55
Speaker 2: a little bit from where they've been. What are we
30:56
Speaker 2: seeing over there?
30:58
Speaker 8: Things are chugging along okay.
31:00
Speaker 11: We've had a reasonable run in the last sort of
31:02
Speaker 11: month with rainfall, depending on where you are, of course,
31:05
Speaker 11: because of the size of the place.
31:07
Speaker 8: We'll probably need another rain now, which is a fair call.
31:09
Speaker 11: But overall, we're trucking along not too bad in the
31:14
Speaker 11: east heading inland. guys all start to think about moving
31:19
Speaker 11: land now with the amount of water they've got in
31:22
Speaker 11: dams and runoffs.
31:24
Speaker 8: But as a general consensus, we're not too bad.
31:27
Speaker 3: Is irrigation a thing over there at all or just
31:31
Speaker 3: not possible?
31:33
Speaker 8: Well, it is.
31:34
Speaker 11: And I'll tell you what, we've got a hell of
31:35
Speaker 11: a good fellow out of the Hawke's Bay community a
31:37
Speaker 11: bloke called James O'Kane, and he started a business here
31:41
Speaker 11: called Get Wet Solutions, and he's got a hell of
31:44
Speaker 11: a good run with his pivots and irrigation business. He's
31:47
Speaker 11: got guys up in the Kimberleys there in the station countries,
31:51
Speaker 11: and some of those stations will have six or eight
31:52
Speaker 11: or ten pivots per station. So, yeah, the irrigation's going great,
31:58
Speaker 11: and the water table's so strong, some of those places
32:00
Speaker 11: you don't even need a pump to get the water
32:02
Speaker 11: out of the water. You just open the valve, and
32:04
Speaker 11: the pressure will run the whole pivot. So, you know,
32:06
Speaker 11: that might save you $ 100, 000 a year in diesel. So, yeah,
32:08
Speaker 11: it's pretty good. The grain and seed guys obviously not
32:12
Speaker 11: using that. Horticultural guys, vegetables, et cetera, yeah, big-time irrigation.
32:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting because I would have thought the other
32:20
Speaker 2: way regarding the water situation.
32:24
Speaker 11: Well, the aquifers below the ground in certain parts of
32:26
Speaker 11: the state are pretty big.
32:28
Speaker 8: So the water's, you know, it's.
32:30
Speaker 11: Like all that dairy country at home where those guys
32:33
Speaker 11: are pumping water out of the ground that's 200 years old.
32:35
Speaker 8: So I'd say it's a similar thing.
32:38
Speaker 3: So the Royal Show's coming up in Perth.
32:40
Speaker 2: I mean, you hear about the AMP shows in New Zealand,
32:43
Speaker 2: but yet again, economy of scale, you'd probably get a
32:45
Speaker 2: couple of hundred thousand through the gate or something ridiculous.
32:49
Speaker 11: I looked at the figures the other day when I
32:50
Speaker 11: was reading an article and it said two years ago
32:52
Speaker 11: they had... just under 400,000 people through the gate.
32:55
Speaker 3: Of course you did.
32:58
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, that's right. So the numbers are there. It's
33:04
Speaker 8: a big few days.
33:04
Speaker 11: I think it runs for seven or eight days over here.
33:07
Speaker 11: But yeah, it's a really good, it's a great event.
33:11
Speaker 2: So there's a real appreciation for the rural sector in
33:14
Speaker 2: cities like Perth?
33:15
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think so, yeah.
33:17
Speaker 11: We are getting invaded by the woke, green, untrustworthy people
33:22
Speaker 11: that try to dominate us all.
33:23
Speaker 8: But overall, yeah, very positive and, yeah, very popular.
33:28
Speaker 2: So the Royal Show, very similar to an A &
33:30
Speaker 2: P show, like you've got the animals there, you've got
33:32
Speaker 2: the rides and the carnies?
33:34
Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly the same. Exactly the same. No difference.
33:36
Speaker 11: You could be anywhere in New Zealand or you could
33:39
Speaker 11: be in Perth and it's the same thing, just a bit.
33:41
Speaker 2: Bigger, that's all.
33:43
Speaker 3: Of course it is.
33:44
Speaker 2: And what is big this weekend is Fremantle Dockers and
33:46
Speaker 2: the AFL. Any AFL fans will understand what I'm on about.
33:50
Speaker 2: They're in the final, the grand final, the MCG. There'll
33:53
Speaker 2: be 100,000 people at their game against the Brisbane Lions.
33:56
Speaker 2: Even though no Victorian team is involved, this is a massive,
33:59
Speaker 2: massive deal for Fremantle.
34:01
Speaker 11: Yeah, it certainly is. And it's Fremantle's big day at
34:04
Speaker 11: the office, this one. They're ready to go. The town
34:07
Speaker 11: is full of excitement. People are painting their fences purple,
34:11
Speaker 11: which is their colour. and a big anchor on their
34:13
Speaker 11: front gate. The kids are all getting dressed up, and, yeah,
34:17
Speaker 11: she's going to be a big one. Like you said,
34:19
Speaker 11: 100,000 people there. I don't know if you've been to
34:22
Speaker 11: the MCG when there's 100,000 people there, but, man, it's
34:26
Speaker 11: some event.
34:26
Speaker 8: It'll just be fantastic.
34:27
Speaker 2: I went there once for a Collingwood-Essendon game. There was
34:30
Speaker 2: only 75,000. It was a slow day.
34:35
Speaker 8: Yeah, exactly. It'll be sold out and some. And Melbourne
34:39
Speaker 8: is a great town to go to. You know, the
34:41
Speaker 8: bars and the restaurants and the food, and it's safe.
34:44
Speaker 8: It's a great place.
34:46
Speaker 3: Hey, good on you, Bissy. Thanks for your time as always.
34:48
Speaker 3: We'll catch up again.
34:49
Speaker 8: Yeah, have a lovely day and have a great weekend.
34:51
Speaker 8: All the best. Bye-bye.
34:54
Speaker 2: Dave Biss, Western Australian livestock representative.
34:58
Speaker 3: You're listening to The Muster.
34:59
Speaker 2: Up next, AJ Aitken, talking.
35:01
Speaker 3: A bit of rugby down here in the Deep South.
35:06
Speaker 2: Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
35:09
Speaker 8: Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
35:24
Speaker 2: One of the all-time great intros on a song there,
35:27
Speaker 2: Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy by Big and Rich.
35:29
Speaker 2: You're listening to the muster on Hakanui. AJ Aitken catches
35:32
Speaker 2: up next, of course. He won the Galbraith Shield earlier
35:35
Speaker 2: on in the rugby season with the Eastern Northern Barbarians. Currently,
35:38
Speaker 2: he's coaching Southland Development. and they had a massive win
35:42
Speaker 2: over Canterbury B at the weekend. And he's catching up
35:45
Speaker 2: just to give us a bit of an insight or
35:47
Speaker 2: an understanding of what the depth actually is like in
35:49
Speaker 2: Southland rugby. I mean, effectively, you hear about us running
35:53
Speaker 2: on the smell of a noily rag. AJ's going to
35:54
Speaker 2: give us a bit of an update.
35:56
Speaker 3: Good afternoon. How are you?
35:58
Speaker 12: Afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody. Yep, no, not bad now.
36:01
Speaker 12: Sun's out now. So, yeah, not too bad at all.
36:04
Speaker 2: Well, your heart would have been warmed up last weekend
36:06
Speaker 2: knocking over Canterbury.
36:09
Speaker 12: Oh, well, it's, yeah, obviously we were delighted with the result.
36:14
Speaker 12: You always go into those games or any game thinking
36:17
Speaker 12: that you're going to be able to get the job
36:19
Speaker 12: done and you prepare the whole week around, I guess,
36:24
Speaker 12: the climax of winning the game of rugby. We don't
36:28
Speaker 12: go into any week and think that we're going to
36:29
Speaker 12: come second. But, yeah, we worked really hard. The boys
36:34
Speaker 12: worked really hard through that game and through the first
36:37
Speaker 12: punch and just managed to, sort of withholding defence was
36:40
Speaker 12: outstanding and I don't know when the last time a
36:45
Speaker 12: development team knocked over a Canterbury development team which was
36:48
Speaker 12: a very classy outfit we were up against so yeah,
36:51
Speaker 12: huge scout for our boys and they thoroughly deserved it.
36:55
Speaker 2: With the Stags, you don't have a situation there, a
36:57
Speaker 2: lot of players brought in this year, a lot of
36:58
Speaker 2: people crying out to use local talent AJ, have we
37:01
Speaker 2: got the local talent to justify a Stags selection perhaps?
37:06
Speaker 12: Well, I think I think you've got to be realistic, Andy.
37:09
Speaker 12: If we want to compete in the current model of MPC,
37:13
Speaker 12: we've got to have the calibre of player. If you
37:16
Speaker 12: look at our current club competitions that we've got in Southland,
37:21
Speaker 12: can anyone honestly say that we've got enough high-quality players
37:27
Speaker 12: to be playing that level? Some of them definitely can,
37:29
Speaker 12: but there's a lot that probably aren't at that level.
37:35
Speaker 12: Can we develop them into MPC players?
37:36
Speaker 3: We sure can.
37:38
Speaker 12: But that takes time, and it's not in everybody's wheelhouse too.
37:41
Speaker 12: So for us to compete, we have to have those
37:45
Speaker 12: level of players, and I think, like Scott has said
37:51
Speaker 12: in prior interviews, even on the show, we're only bringing,
37:57
Speaker 12: the Stags are only mainly bringing in guys that are
38:01
Speaker 12: super rugby quality, so it's not like we're bringing in
38:05
Speaker 12: guys to take a Woody Kirkwood's place or a Gregor
38:09
Speaker 12: Rutledge's place or a Jimmy Taylor's place they're all homegrown
38:11
Speaker 12: guys that have come through the system and are able
38:16
Speaker 12: to apply their trade at a reasonable level because we're
38:20
Speaker 12: able to bring in those super rugby players Because.
38:23
Speaker 3: You would have heard this chat as well AJ a
38:24
Speaker 3: lot of.
38:25
Speaker 2: Talk out there about if we're going to get the
38:27
Speaker 2: results and unfortunately we're on the losing end more often
38:30
Speaker 2: than not then why not try and blood local players
38:32
Speaker 2: and give them a run.
38:33
Speaker 12: Well, I think if you actually look at the guys
38:35
Speaker 12: that we are blooding, though, mate, like with our academy
38:38
Speaker 12: guys and stuff like that, we actually are blooding a
38:42
Speaker 12: lot of guys, but the reality is we just don't
38:45
Speaker 12: have the population base to do it when you compare
38:47
Speaker 12: us to a lot of these other unions. But on
38:51
Speaker 12: the flip side of that, you know, last weekend.
38:56
Speaker 12: For our development team and for that famous one, like
38:59
Speaker 12: Friday night at 7.30, we had to go and scramble
39:02
Speaker 12: to find two players because we had that spewing bug
39:08
Speaker 12: go through and then there's, or the neuroviral, whatever it's called,
39:13
Speaker 12: and guys were dropping like flies. So, you know, look
39:16
Speaker 12: at Ryan Davis, for example. I called him at 7.30
39:19
Speaker 12: on Friday night and he was having a few beers
39:21
Speaker 12: and I said, how would you like to how would
39:23
Speaker 12: you like to play for the Southampton development team tomorrow?
39:25
Speaker 12: And he jumped at the chance. So there is lots
39:28
Speaker 12: of opportunities for our home ground. but we have to
39:31
Speaker 12: be realistic about the level that we are playing.
39:34
Speaker 2: Is that just a reflection of the Southland Club competition, AJ,
39:38
Speaker 2: as to where it's at?
39:40
Speaker 12: Well, I think if you really do, if we want
39:42
Speaker 12: to be completely honest about the level of club rugby,
39:46
Speaker 12: I think it's probably.
39:49
Speaker 7: it's probably.
39:50
Speaker 12: Deteriorated a little bit in the last maybe 10 years.
39:54
Speaker 12: And I think that's primarily around numbers as well. Okay, look,
39:57
Speaker 12: let's use the Barbarians, for example. Everyone will say, oh,
40:00
Speaker 12: you guys had an amazing year and, you know, you
40:02
Speaker 12: had an amazing team and this, that and the next thing.
40:05
Speaker 12: But what people don't understand is that there was lots
40:07
Speaker 12: of weeks where I'd be on the phone trying to
40:09
Speaker 12: get a team. We were leaning on the Albions and
40:13
Speaker 12: the Pioneers and the Vikings and like all those clubs,
40:18
Speaker 12: they chip in and help us get through those early
40:23
Speaker 12: parts of the year. And we try and return the
40:25
Speaker 12: favour where we can. But, you know, everybody's struggling. All
40:28
Speaker 12: the clubs are struggling to build teams nowadays, Andy, and
40:31
Speaker 12: that's a big reflection on the amount of players that
40:33
Speaker 12: are actually playing the game.
40:36
Speaker 2: Now, regarding these proposed changes to the MPC, like supercharging
40:42
Speaker 2: Super Rugby almost, but leaving Australia out of it, I think, like,
40:46
Speaker 2: so Hawke's Bay, maybe the Naki, someone like that, Tasman
40:48
Speaker 2: comes into the equation. Southland will be left out in
40:51
Speaker 2: the cold, though. So, once again, everything's up in the air.
40:55
Speaker 12: Yeah, and, you know, if you look at the players
41:00
Speaker 12: that are coming through now and playing EPC that have
41:02
Speaker 12: come out of, like, that Southland boys system, the Mika Mullineys,
41:05
Speaker 12: the Jimmy and I keep repeating, the Jack Taylors, the Withies,
41:08
Speaker 12: the Woody Kirkwoods, they're all homegrown guys. Like, if we
41:12
Speaker 12: don't have a team playing in that top tier... where
41:15
Speaker 12: are those players that have aspirations to play professional rugby,
41:18
Speaker 12: where are they going to go? Are they going to
41:19
Speaker 12: stay in an environment where they don't get paid? I
41:22
Speaker 12: don't know. Maybe they won't. I mean, it's all up
41:25
Speaker 12: in the air what it'll be structured like. But a
41:28
Speaker 12: lot of the good work that's been done over the
41:30
Speaker 12: last 10 years by our academy managers and guys that
41:34
Speaker 12: have got us to the point we are now, it
41:37
Speaker 12: could be very quickly unraveled by a sweeping change. But
41:40
Speaker 12: at the end of the day, like NZR, they're not
41:42
Speaker 12: going to let these competitions keep running if they're not
41:45
Speaker 12: making money. So, unfortunately, it's run as a business nowadays,
41:50
Speaker 12: and if it doesn't make money, well, then it could
41:51
Speaker 12: be on the chopping board.
41:53
Speaker 2: We've seen changes mooted in the past. I think it
41:55
Speaker 2: might have been in the mid-2000s. It was proposed that
41:58
Speaker 2: Tasman and possibly Manawatu were on the chopping block, but
42:01
Speaker 2: there was massive protests and backlash, and the NZR went
42:05
Speaker 2: back to the original model.
42:06
Speaker 3: I suppose that's it, though.
42:08
Speaker 2: If you're hemorrhaging money, AJ, you've got to make a
42:12
Speaker 2: profit somewhere aligned, and we all know the figures regarding
42:14
Speaker 2: the NZR. But, I mean, is that provincial rugby's fault?
42:19
Speaker 12: Well, I mean, I don't know. It could be argued
42:21
Speaker 12: that it's not. I mean, look at Rugby South. They
42:23
Speaker 12: made a profit this year, in the last financial year.
42:26
Speaker 12: So that's well and good. But, you know, if we're
42:29
Speaker 12: not playing against Otago and Stag Day, are we going
42:31
Speaker 12: to get 10,000 people at Rugby Park to come watch it?
42:33
Speaker 12: I don't know.
42:34
Speaker 3: Maybe we won't.
42:35
Speaker 12: So it's no secret, since we've been having those days,
42:38
Speaker 12: our books have looked a lot better. So, I mean,
42:43
Speaker 12: I don't know what the answer is, mate, but.
42:46
Speaker 12: I think it would be bad for our probably declining
42:53
Speaker 12: rugby base in Southland if that model was to be adopted.
42:57
Speaker 2: Just finally, the Galbraith Shield, are you looking after it?
43:00
Speaker 2: Who's got the responsibility?
43:02
Speaker 12: Oh, I know Brett Howden's trying to get it over
43:05
Speaker 12: to him. He's got a wee shrine over at home
43:07
Speaker 12: with pretty much every piece of silverware that are that
43:11
Speaker 12: exists in either east and south.
43:13
Speaker 3: Well, he's probably got a wee bit there too, to
43:14
Speaker 3: be fair.
43:15
Speaker 12: Yeah, it's always hard when you're trying to track something down.
43:17
Speaker 12: So I know he's trying to get it, but I
43:19
Speaker 12: actually think it might be at One Chef Kitchen now.
43:21
Speaker 12: So our plan with it was we wanted to, you know,
43:24
Speaker 12: we didn't want it to be sitting in one place
43:26
Speaker 12: for the summer. So we're going to spread it around
43:30
Speaker 12: the businesses and the people that support us around east
43:33
Speaker 12: and the northern. So, yeah, look out for it. You'll
43:36
Speaker 12: see it around the place. So, yeah, good to get
43:38
Speaker 12: it out and about because, as we all know, we
43:40
Speaker 12: We don't have it very often.
43:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, I know a certain radio station in Gord that
43:44
Speaker 2: wouldn't mind it for a week or two, mate.
43:47
Speaker 12: It'll be coming, mate. We'll get it up there.
43:48
Speaker 3: Nah, good, mate. Good on you, AJ. Thanks for your time. Thanks, Andy.
43:54
Speaker 1: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
43:57
Speaker 1: land can be a laughing matter.
43:59
Speaker 2: Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the
44:02
Speaker 2: livestock farmer. When I was a child, my father cheated
44:06
Speaker 2: on my mum. Later, my parents divorced. Soon after, my
44:10
Speaker 2: mother died in a car accident. My brother and I
44:13
Speaker 2: could only live in my grandmother's old house. Grandma's sister
44:16
Speaker 2: was an alcoholic. The whole family lived in my grandma's savings,
44:20
Speaker 2: and Grandma recently passed away. My Uncle Andy is barely
44:23
Speaker 2: keeping himself out of jail from day to day.
44:26
Speaker 3: My brother left home and won't talk.
44:27
Speaker 2: To us anymore. Dad's now in his 70s, but he's
44:30
Speaker 2: had to go out and work to support the family,
44:32
Speaker 2: and eventually he's going to want me to do the
44:34
Speaker 2: same thing. What am I supposed to do? Yours sincerely,
44:38
Speaker 2: Prince William. That's us over in Dunlith. The podcast will
44:44
Speaker 2: be up shortly.
44:45
Speaker 3: I'm Andy Muir.
44:45
Speaker 2: The muster is brought to you by Peters Genetics. Catch
44:48
Speaker 2: you tomorrow at one o'clock. PGG writes in, presents stock
45:03
Speaker 2: selling action which occurred at the Balclutha sale yards this morning.
45:06
Speaker 3: Mark Coulter's on the loan of prices.
45:08
Speaker 12: G'day, mate.
45:08
Speaker 3: How are we?
45:09
Speaker 4: Yeah, g'day everyone.
45:10
Speaker 7: Yep, very small yard here at Balclutha, but things still
45:14
Speaker 7: sold very well. Getting into the prime lambs, big heavy
45:16
Speaker 7: prime lambs, $ 270 to $ 300. Mediums, good mediums, $ 240 to $ 260,
45:21
Speaker 7: and your lighter end were $ 180 to $ 210. Store lambs,
45:27
Speaker 7: very small yard, and again, I've store lambs, as I said.
45:29
Speaker 7: The big tops, good tops, forward store lambs were $ 150
45:33
Speaker 7: to $ 175. Mediums were $ 125 to $ 140, and your wee
45:34
Speaker 7: lighter end.
45:38
Speaker 7: Lambs are $ 70 to $ 90. Into the ewes, small yarding
45:41
Speaker 7: of ewes again as well. Big, heavy ewes are $ 280
45:44
Speaker 7: to $ 320. Your mediums are $ 240 to $ 270, and your
45:46
Speaker 7: lighter-eating girls are $ 110 to $ 160. That was us here
45:49
Speaker 7: at Balclutha.
45:49
Speaker 6: Thank you.