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The Muster- Jamie Mackay: Country Crossover · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: The Country Crossover, brought to you by Bioactive Soils. Growing
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: together with healthy soils. Become a proactive farmer with Bioactive
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Ag Fertiliser.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: Jamie Mackay joins us for The Country Crossover, host of
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  Speaker 2: The Country, based in Dunedin. Good afternoon, Jamie, as we
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: roll into the middle of September.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, 18th of September, or September, should I say. peak
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  Speaker 3: lambing time and the weather couldn't be worse. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: we can't make any bones about it. I had a
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  Speaker 3: terrible feeling when they were talking about this Super El
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  Speaker 3: Nino that not only would it get dry on the
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  Speaker 3: east coast of both islands, which it hasn't done yet,
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  Speaker 3: but when they were talking about wetter for the southwest
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  Speaker 3: of the bottom of the country, I'm just thinking, oh no,
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  Speaker 3: not one of those springs. And it looks like it's
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  Speaker 3: three in a row. I've been listening to your show, Andy,
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  Speaker 3: listening to some of your farmers talking about how tough
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  Speaker 3: it is out there. And we've got to be careful,
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  Speaker 3: you and I, because we're seated in air-conditioned, heated studios,
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  Speaker 3: and it's easy for us to talk about it. But
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  Speaker 3: we've both been there in the past, and I haven't
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  Speaker 3: got much advice to offer to farmers other than I
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  Speaker 3: just think it's really important. I remember, and I'm showing
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  Speaker 3: my age here, only Graeme Edgar would be old enough
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  Speaker 3: to remember this, the lambing of 1987. It literally rained
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  Speaker 3: for three weeks. It was a disaster. Maybe not as
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  Speaker 3: big a disaster as the lambing of 2010 when the
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  Speaker 3: snow collapsed Stadium South. But I think that the mental
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  Speaker 3: saviour was having a beer afterwards in the shed with
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  Speaker 3: one of your mates or going to the pub on
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  Speaker 3: Friday night or doing whatever you want to do just
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  Speaker 3: to talk to someone else because there's something weirdly comforting
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  Speaker 3: about the fact that you're not the only one going
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  Speaker 3: through it. And sometimes I think you get stuck in
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  Speaker 3: your own little world and you think, you know, no
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  Speaker 3: one's worse off than me. Well, there are a lot
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  Speaker 3: of people in the same boat, and I really feel
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  Speaker 3: for the farmers in Southland and southwest Otago.
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  Speaker 2: That's a great message, Jamie, and I'll reiterate every single
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  Speaker 2: word you said there. Go to the pub tonight. Get
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  Speaker 2: a carload, go for a point or two, get a feed,
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  Speaker 2: watch the rugby on the big screen and just chew
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  Speaker 2: the fat. Balfour Pub reopened as well. Anybody in Northern Southland,
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  Speaker 2: head along for a pint. Apparently it was a good
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  Speaker 2: night last night.
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  Speaker 3: Well, there you go. The Balfour Pub. I had many,
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  Speaker 3: many great days in the Balfour Pub in my youth
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  Speaker 3: when Wayne Butler was the– remember Wayne Butler?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I remember Wayne Butler.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, he was a good publican. It was a good
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  Speaker 3: pub back in the day, but anyhow. What was the slogan?
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  Speaker 2: If you drive your old man to drink, drive him
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  Speaker 2: to Butler's DB Belfort Haven.
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  Speaker 3: I can't remember what it was, but anyhow. I don't know. Look,
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  Speaker 3: Chris Brandolino– and you don't want to sugarcoat this stuff–
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  Speaker 3: he's saying– there's going to be maybe a bit of
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  Speaker 3: a break. I mean, I'm quoting him here, a bit
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  Speaker 3: of a break coming for late September into early October.
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  Speaker 3: And this is the bit I don't necessarily like, but
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  Speaker 3: you can't sugarcoat it. He said things are likely to
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  Speaker 3: get quite gnarly second half of October. So it's with us, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 3: and you just got to try and farm around it. But,
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  Speaker 3: you know, production for the dairy farmers that you miss
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  Speaker 3: out on now, You never catch up on, and obviously
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  Speaker 3: those lambs hitting the ground, landing in a puddle, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the survival rates are going to be down and the
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  Speaker 3: growth rates are going to be down. So, Andy, you've
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  Speaker 3: just got to hope and pray for a few of
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  Speaker 3: those warm Norwest days like we got on Tuesday.
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  Speaker 2: Interesting, too. The mind set a few people. Henry Buckingham yesterday,
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  Speaker 2: for example. I'll ask Andrew Cochran about this shortly. A
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  Speaker 2: few farmers contemplating changing lambing date for next year and
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  Speaker 2: looking at their farming system.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it was interesting. Was Graham Butcher on your show
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  Speaker 3: this week? Yeah, he was on Tuesday. Yeah, and Graham's
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  Speaker 3: a great numbers man, and he was talking about these
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  Speaker 3: trials done at woodlands way back in the early 80s
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  Speaker 3: on lambing dates. And you do know, as a sheep
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  Speaker 3: farmer yourself, you think of those late lambers, and they
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  Speaker 3: might lamb in early October or something like that, but
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  Speaker 3: by the time you got to weaning, they were nearly
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  Speaker 3: as big as the ones that were born in the
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  Speaker 3: middle of September. And Honestly, I don't know about this.
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  Speaker 3: The problem with lambing, obviously, in October, Andy, is that
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  Speaker 3: it's the other end of the deal. You've got to
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  Speaker 3: feed them longer into winter, into May or whatever, you know,
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  Speaker 3: in the mating period. But it seems to me that
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  Speaker 3: I remember May as being a cold, often wet month
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  Speaker 3: when I was younger. But I think of recent times,
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  Speaker 3: you just think of duck shooting. It's always quite mild.
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  Speaker 3: There seems to be good growth. I think the seasons
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  Speaker 3: are changing. Maybe that's just my perception. But maybe with
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  Speaker 3: the climatic patterns, that's the way to go. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: look at the deer farmers who are fawning, for instance, in, what, November.
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  Speaker 3: So that's kind of Mother Nature. I don't know. If
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  Speaker 3: I was still a Southland sheep farmer, maybe I'd think
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  Speaker 3: twice about lambing in early October.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what people's mindset is
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  Speaker 2: regarding all this. Look, you had a pretty good weekend, though.
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  Speaker 2: Murray Heath and co. organising this 1970s rugby reunion. I've
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  Speaker 2: seen a bit of the socials that went up there.
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  Speaker 2: It looked like a pretty good shindig.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, it was absolutely fantastic. And I must say, Andy,
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  Speaker 3: I've been off the scene a bit because I've been
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  Speaker 3: a bit crook. Thankfully, I'm on the men now. But
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  Speaker 3: I drove down on Saturday and back up on Sunday
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  Speaker 3: and called into the Riversdale Duck Pond just to check
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  Speaker 3: things on Sunday on the way home. And I couldn't
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  Speaker 3: believe how, well, it was bloody cold and it was
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  Speaker 3: bloody windy, but I couldn't believe how much water was
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  Speaker 3: lying on the paddocks of Southland on the way down.
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  Speaker 3: And obviously, since Saturday and Sunday, when I was down there,
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  Speaker 3: you've had a hell of a lot of more rain.
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  Speaker 3: So I was aware of how tough it was. But
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  Speaker 3: the reunion was fantastic. I think they had about 70
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  Speaker 3: people at the dinner and, you know, there was five
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  Speaker 3: All Blacks in the room. Bob Barber couldn't make it.
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  Speaker 3: He got the flu, so he didn't get there. But
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  Speaker 3: we had, you know, that great loose forward trio, Kenny Stewart, Lester, Rutledge,
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  Speaker 3: Ash McGregor, Steve Pokiri, Brian McKechnie, who was one of
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  Speaker 3: the speakers, spoke really well. And it was just a
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  Speaker 3: great matchup with people that I hadn't caught up with
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  Speaker 3: for a number of years. You know, characters larger than
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  Speaker 3: life like Lex Chisholm Chis from Tokanui, Geoffrey John Gardner.
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  Speaker 3: Do you remember him playing for Southland?
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  Speaker 2: Vaguely, but I know the name, yes.
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  Speaker 3: Well, he was a legend in his own lunchtime, just
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  Speaker 3: ask him. But he was a very good fullback. He
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  Speaker 3: got an all-black trial way back in, I think, about 1974.
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  Speaker 3: But he played some great rugby for Southland. He could
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  Speaker 3: literally kick the ball the length of the paddock. Real
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  Speaker 3: characters like that. Geoff Vallee was there. You mightn't remember
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  Speaker 3: Geoff Vallee, but he was a fullback for Southland, and
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  Speaker 3: he kind of came and went. He spent some time
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  Speaker 3: in Australia, but he got a game for the All Blacks,
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  Speaker 3: albeit an unofficial test match against Fiji in 1980. He
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  Speaker 3: was a great player, and on my table I had
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  Speaker 3: Ken Stewart and Lester Rutledge and Gus Dermody, Murray Brown,
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  Speaker 3: the chair of Southland. On either side of me I
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  Speaker 3: had Phil Young, who was one of the unluckiest players
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  Speaker 3: in Southland rugby history because he came along as a
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  Speaker 3: young loose forward the time that Rutledge and Stewart and
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  Speaker 3: McGregor were in their pomp. And on the other side
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  Speaker 3: of me, I had a bloke who was the same
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  Speaker 3: age as me. We played a bit of age group
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  Speaker 3: rugby together. He went on to great things. I never
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  Speaker 3: went on to anything. Paul Tunga Laidlaw, more than 100
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  Speaker 3: games for Southland. And he's been in Australia for a
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  Speaker 3: number of years. And it was just Great to catch
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  Speaker 3: up with him. And Calvin Farrington was another one of
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  Speaker 3: my generation. They were the young guys who were there.
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  Speaker 3: But it was just great to catch up. John Polson,
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  Speaker 3: you know, Brian Dickerson was there. And I made special
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  Speaker 3: mention of Brian going on to be an all-black dog trialist. So,
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  Speaker 3: you know, they've done interesting things, these guys. And, you know,
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  Speaker 3: a lot of them won't see each other again. A
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  Speaker 3: lot of them hadn't seen each other for about 30
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  Speaker 3: or 40 years. but they just had a great time,
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  Speaker 3: and Murray Heath did a fantastic job of organising it,
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  Speaker 3: and everyone had a great time, and I think the
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  Speaker 3: weekend was absolutely capped off by the Guard of Honour
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  Speaker 3: for the Bay of Plenty game, and then the Stags
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  Speaker 3: playing their best game of the year in front of
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  Speaker 3: these guys. Stags went wild.
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  Speaker 2: They got the knacky at the Graveshift game, 5pm on Sunday,
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  Speaker 2: yet again.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I know. It's a bit of a tough draw,
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  Speaker 3: isn't it? 5pm Sunday games. I don't know whether this
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  Speaker 3: is because the Stags aren't sexy enough to draw a crowd,
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  Speaker 3: and I would argue about that. They've probably got the
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  Speaker 3: best supporter base in NPC rugby. Probably results. Possibly results,
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  Speaker 3: but these draws were obviously done a long time ago.
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  Speaker 3: Taranaki ain't a bad side. Look, I'm enthused by what
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  Speaker 3: I saw Andy... last Sunday, and I think of, you know,
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  Speaker 3: Jimmy Taylor, how good's that kid for an 18-year-old? Young
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  Speaker 3: Muli Aina and Gregor Rutledge in there now, you know,
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  Speaker 3: we're bringing these young guys, and they are very young, 18,
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  Speaker 3: 19 years of age, and they're coming through, in Gregor's case,
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  Speaker 3: third generation Southland rugby player, legend of a father, legend
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  Speaker 3: of a grandfather, and that's the future for Southland rugby.
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  Speaker 3: Build a team, a bit like we did around the
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  Speaker 3: likes of Jimmy Cowan and Jamie McIntosh back in the
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  Speaker 3: day and when we won the Shield in 2009. We
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  Speaker 3: build a team around these really good young rugby players
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  Speaker 3: who have played age group for Southland and have come
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  Speaker 3: through the system. That's the future of Southland rugby.
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  Speaker 2: And Finn Hurley getting back from his injuries and that
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  Speaker 2: run last week, that last try he got, that was
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  Speaker 2: just pure pace. There was gas.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, see, I watched a wee bit of that
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  Speaker 3: Otago game last night, and Finn was, I think, was
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  Speaker 3: scheduled to start. Whether he was injured or not, I
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  Speaker 3: don't know. Now, he's brilliant, but imagine if we had,
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  Speaker 3: and I've said this before, but imagine if we had
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  Speaker 3: Finn Hurley and Cam Miller and... What's Jack Taylor's older
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  Speaker 3: brother's name?
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  Speaker 2: Harry.
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  Speaker 3: You know, I don't know where Harry is at the moment,
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  Speaker 3: but I mean, they're all Southland boys. They're all Gore boys. And,
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  Speaker 3: you know, all of a sudden, if you had that,
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  Speaker 3: you've got the nucleus of a great side. But I
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  Speaker 3: understand why people go north and Otago are playing really well.
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  Speaker 3: And maybe you get better exposure. I don't know. But
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  Speaker 3: I would just love to see those Southland lads playing
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  Speaker 3: for Southland. But, you know. being a Southland rugby supporter
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  Speaker 3: is a bit like being a sheep farmer in Southland
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  Speaker 3: in September, Andy. It's not for the faint hearted. I
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  Speaker 3: was just about to say, better leave it there, mate. Yeah, OK.
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  Speaker 3: Go the Stags.
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  Speaker 2: Jamie Mackay and the Country Crossover. Thanks to Bioactive Soils.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: Andrew Cochran of NSVETS. Let's catch up next.