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The Muster- Matt McRae: Getting Through Spring · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:11
  Speaker 1: We're away to Mokorita this afternoon to start the muster.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Matt McRae farms that way in extensive sheep and beef operation.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Matt.
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: Afternoon, Andy. How are you?
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, going very well, mate. Look, we're getting through September now.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: It's been a hell of a month for a lot
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: of people. What's the state of play where you are?
• 0:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, the tour will have to count down the hours
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: to the end of the month yet. But, yeah, no,
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: we're in the same boat as most of Southland and Mataga,
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: by the sound of it, just wet, wet, wet, wet.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: And hopefully there'll be some endless light at the end
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: of the tunnel soon.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Are you seeing any signs of growth? I mean, soil temperatures,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: all things considered, don't seem too bad. And the rain,
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: it feels a bit warmer than, say, two, three weeks ago.
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it comes and goes a wee bit. Like we were,
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: for all the rain we'd had, we'd still had growth.
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: I think just when you get rain and wind and
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: a few cold days, obviously the demand is higher than
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: what it would be on a sunny day. So they
• 1:11
  Speaker 3: eat a wee bit more and trample a wee bit more.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: And certainly the stuff that have come off crop are
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: reflecting that and looking around at some of the dairy farms.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: between here and Wyndham too, they're certainly feeling the effects
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: of that in their second round. So I'd say it's
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: certainly not as good as what it could be. The
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: urinary that we put on has worked. I'd hate to
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: see what it would be like without that, what our
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: covers would be like. But you can see strips in
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: the paddock where they haven't got. So I guess that's
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: a sign it's working, isn't it?
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: As far as your lambing beat, have you had to
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: change tack because of the conditions?
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Not too much. Like, yeah, there's a few gateways in.
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: bits and pieces we've got a grass line out onto
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: a new block that has um yeah it's got fairly
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: cut up and pretty hard to get a bike in
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: and out there after winter cropping out that way so
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: yeah i've went and got a drone and done a
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: bit of lambing with the drone to be fair just
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: to see um we marched all used so we'd been
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: getting a few casts at the start of lambing so
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: probably navigated a few hours driving around on the bike
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: tipping over car sheet but um Yeah, everyone's got their
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: own system for lambing, isn't it? But we don't deviate
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: too much. We want ewes in the long term that
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: are doing it themselves like everyone else. We try and
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: breed by that mantra, but you've still got to know
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: what's going on all the time.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Brenton Howden, he talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Well,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: before he got right into the guts of lambing, so
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: to speak, getting the drone out there in the mornings,
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: he reckoned a three-hour job turned into a 30-minute runaround.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: He can go around and pick up the casts before
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: he got busy. So if you can get away with
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: it and you're not having the issues, you can see
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: the merit.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. And I did have a drone, but I got...
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: I've been talking to another couple of mates about it
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: that have got reasonably modern ones and... how technology's changed
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: with zooms and things like that too. So yeah, I
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: went and upgraded mine after listening to Brenton the other
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: day and shit, it's been good too. Zoom on it,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: I can get around the farm in a battery and
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: zoom in from 100 metres high without disturbing stock and
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: get a fairly good look. So yeah, it paid for
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: itself in cast use in the first few days and
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: you can get some pretty cool footage along the way too.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: So it is a good bit of technology and it
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: saves a bit, like the bikes and that take a
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: fair hiding. sliding around gateways and that, but I'm probably
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: lucky I don't tie a trailer or anything like that,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: so I'm just going to pick up a few dead
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: lambs and cast ewes. But the drone's certainly paying for itself,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: and I know a few that have gone down that
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: track too.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Have you changed your stocking rates due to the inclement weather?
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: I haven't yet. Yeah, we've still got cattle on crop,
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: and like we always plan for a wet plan at
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: some stage, it's just... I don't know if we're up
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: to D or E, plan D or E yet, but yeah,
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: it is on my mind to look at alternate, like
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: what our next move is, if we do get another two,
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: three weeks like this. But I guess we're lucky, the
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: state of our industry at the moment, that we know
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: it's profitable to feed the stock and we're going to
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: get good payback on it. So probably look at things
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: like nitrogen or, buying in feed and we can do
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: that with being fully confident we'll make a return on it.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Have you encouraged your staff to do that and take
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: a bit of time off farm given the conditions? I
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: mean I'm hearing of a few guys like on a
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Saturday for example the weather was hideous so he went
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: and had a round of golf where the course was
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: open just to take his mind off things for a
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: couple of hours.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. Like I say, we're probably a week away
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: from finishing what would be a first round in lambing
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: and just started vaccinating hoggarts. It'll go in a week's
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: time too, so it's just about rotating it, giving everyone
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: a chance for a break and that'll increase over the
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: next few weeks. Opportunities for a bit more time off,
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: especially the way the weather's locking, we're not going to
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: be racing out to start burning diesel down this end
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: of the woods, so Yeah, we'll certainly get into that
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: in the next weeks too, but I guess in the
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: thick of lambing, everyone likes putting their shoulder to the
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: wheel and doing what they can, isn't it? Just being
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: mindful of that.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: So what are you changing around taving or groundwork for
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: this year, Matt? Just pretty much what we said before,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: a matter of just put things in perspective and play
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: it as it comes?
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've tried. You always try and rip in and
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: get stuff done. I don't have a great track record
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: at getting tractors stuck, so I'll probably leave it that
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: extra day and wait for the conditions to be good. Now,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: in shift work stuff too, I'd rather put stuff on
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: tractor during the day and I'd jump on it at
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: night or first thing in the morning and just keep
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: it working around the clock a wee bit better. But, yeah,
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: and it's just been wonderful. Obviously, if you're using other
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: people's sharing gear, everyone's in the same boat, so just
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: communication and a plan and... And, yeah, working through it
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: like the weather's going to come and go. But generally
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: we get it in sooner or later. So, yeah, it's
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: one of those things in the spring. Like I say,
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: last year we had about 400 mils in September, October
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: as well. So, yeah, the way I'm looking at it
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: at the moment, we're not actually too different from the
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: last few years and we've still managed to get everything
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: done by Christmas.
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: Any cattle left on breaks? And if so, what's the
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: plan when they come off?
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so I've got, most of the dairy stock are
• 6:41
  Speaker 3: off now, and part of the Angus are too, so
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: I've got two mobs of Angus left. I've got about
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: five days of fodder beet left in front of them,
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: and yeah, the plan is with them that they'll get
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: set stock down amongst the ewes and lambs. My plan
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: was that the grass would have been growing in September,
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: and they would have had a bit of grass to
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: get spread out in amongst the ewes and lambs, but
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: That plan hasn't eventuated yet, so they'll suck it up
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: for a wee bit. And, yeah, and when the grass comes,
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: we'll get them in a bit of rotation. So, yeah,
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: I'd ideally have a wee bit more for them to
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: get them through another week or two, but it's probably
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: been double-shifting them a wee bit to keep them going
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: and settled during the last month. And they're certainly knocking
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: it right, so it'll be interesting how they're up.
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Good on you, Matt. Always appreciate your time on the muster.
• 7:35
  Speaker 3: We've got Andy in there, just thinking of everyone out
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: there in the wet, and, yeah, one day closer to
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: a fine one.
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: Matt McRae of Mokorita.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: By the way, Southland Rural Support Trust, they're doing their
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Brunch On Us events. Waikāia was today, I think next
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: week's dipped in.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: 0800 787 254.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Get in touch with the Southland Rural Support Trust. There's
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: always somebody at the end of the line to have
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: a chinwag with you if you need it.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: Dean Carson's up next on the Beef and Lamb slot.