Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / The Muster Full Show: 02/11/26

Transcript

The Muster Full Show: 02/11/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:03
Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hakanui. My
0:06
Speaker 1: name is Andy Muir. The show is brought to you
0:08
Speaker 1: by Petersonetics. On an overcast afternoon here in Gore, the
0:12
Speaker 1: sun is trying to peek through, but no such joy
0:15
Speaker 1: to speak of. Currently on 17 degrees, though, which isn't
0:19
Speaker 1: too bad in the scheme of things. A big weekend
0:22
Speaker 1: of sport, but I think the story around Liam Lawson...
0:26
Speaker 1: It is such an intriguing one. Will he or won't
0:28
Speaker 1: he have a seat at Racing Bulls next year? He
0:30
Speaker 1: started at the bottom of the grid or the back
0:33
Speaker 1: of the grid for the Mexican Grand Prix, which finished
0:36
Speaker 1: about an hour or two ago. And he still managed
0:38
Speaker 1: to make his way up to ninth. So that is
0:42
Speaker 1: one of the sporting stories of the weekend. I don't know,
0:45
Speaker 1: Formula One, it's almost delusional to the average person when
0:49
Speaker 1: you try and comprehend the money and everything that's involved.
0:52
Speaker 1: But look, Liam Lawson only doing what he can there.
0:55
Speaker 1: The Black Caps got two back against the Indians in
0:57
Speaker 1: the T20. And the league, the Kiwis, semifinal next weekend
1:01
Speaker 1: against Tonga and Australia against Samoa. They're going to be immense.
1:06
Speaker 1: Talking about immense, that's Billy Ocean. The music today, this
1:09
Speaker 1: song here, Get Out of My Dreams and Into My Car,
1:12
Speaker 1: huge hit from 1988.
1:17
Speaker 2: Hockanui's five-day forecast with Twin Farm, Tefrom and Softex.
1:21
Speaker 1: The proof is in the progeny. Tefrom.co.nz Monday afternoon, see
1:27
Speaker 1: showers of breezy south westerlies and 18. Tuesday, sunny with
1:31
Speaker 1: breezy south westerlies, 8 and 17. Wednesday, afternoon showers, light
1:35
Speaker 1: north easterlies, 10 and 20. Thursday, partly cloudy with calm
1:38
Speaker 1: variable winds, 12 and 24. And Friday, showers of breezy
1:43
Speaker 1: north westerlies, 10 and 20. Soil temperatures, Clinton 11.2, Heriot 10.1,
1:48
Speaker 1: Northern Southland 12, Riverton 12.3, Te Anau 12.4, Titiroa 12,
1:55
Speaker 1: Winton 11.5 and Woodlands 10.5. Coincidentally, the Tour of Southland
1:59
Speaker 1: finishing in Gore, I think in about 10 minutes' time
2:02
Speaker 1: or so, about 1.15. But anyway, you're in town, something
2:05
Speaker 1: to keep an eye out for. Jamie King of Lake
2:07
Speaker 1: Heroko starts us off in the Sargent Dam Farming Roundup,
2:10
Speaker 1: followed up by Geoff Grant. The election, less than seven
2:14
Speaker 1: days to go, and it certainly seemed like a long,
2:17
Speaker 1: long campaign. Jeff just passed a bit of comment around it.
2:20
Speaker 1: Dean Ravage, based out of Glenham. Have a regular catch-up.
2:25
Speaker 1: Tony Roberts, along with his wife, Michelle, they were awarded
2:29
Speaker 1: the Gordon Stevenson Trophy at the Balance Farm Environment Awards
2:34
Speaker 1: back in July. And we catch up with Tony. You
2:36
Speaker 1: see how things have been. Because he spoke at the
2:38
Speaker 1: Beef and Lamb AGM last week. And, yeah, always good
2:40
Speaker 1: to catch up with Tony. And finally, Thomas O'Brien, our
2:44
Speaker 1: correspondent from Garston. You're not an influencer anymore, social media influencer.
2:50
Speaker 1: There's a new term. For some reason, Tom knows this,
2:54
Speaker 1: so he tells us all about it today. Anyway, let's
2:56
Speaker 1: crank into the show. We'll start the hour with Jamie King.
2:59
Speaker 1: You're listening to The Must have brought to you by
3:00
Speaker 1: Peters Genetics. Jamie King farms at Lake Iroko and joins
3:10
Speaker 1: us in the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup. Good afternoon, Jamie,
3:13
Speaker 1: and happy birthday.
3:15
Speaker 2: G'day, mate. Yeah, thanks for that. Yeah, no, it is
3:18
Speaker 2: another year above the ground and a bit of milestone
3:22
Speaker 2: ones there. It's got a zero at the end of it, so.
3:24
Speaker 2: But no time for a party this next couple of months, Andy.
3:27
Speaker 2: We'll see how the New Year's looking and get a
3:28
Speaker 2: break and have a beer or two then. But yeah, no,
3:31
Speaker 2: every day on the top of the ground is a
3:32
Speaker 2: good day, isn't it?
3:33
Speaker 1: So what's the state of affairs over at your place then?
3:36
Speaker 1: What's been happening?
3:38
Speaker 2: Um, just mucking around today, mate. Just drenched me wiener
3:40
Speaker 2: deer and cutting a bit of velvet off some stags. Um,
3:43
Speaker 2: and yeah, probably just reviving from our boot on the
3:46
Speaker 2: fair on the backside last week from that southerly that
3:48
Speaker 2: just didn't, didn't relinquish for about two or three days. Um,
3:52
Speaker 2: we were just humming along so good and then that
3:55
Speaker 2: sort of just brought him into a bit of a standstill. Um,
3:58
Speaker 2: so growth-wise and, uh, getting some diesel burnt. So, yeah. But, um, oh,
4:04
Speaker 2: we'll get back there again. I think this week looks
4:05
Speaker 2: not too bad, so... Just going for the motions, Andy, really.
4:09
Speaker 1: Those winds have been pretty severe.
4:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, it wasn't so much the wind. I'd say more
4:14
Speaker 2: so the hail and the, yeah, and the south-westerly. It
4:16
Speaker 2: was just cold, mate, probably colder than it was all spring,
4:18
Speaker 2: to be fair. The fire was back going and everything. Yeah,
4:22
Speaker 2: all the clover that was plucking its head up sort
4:24
Speaker 2: of shriveled back into itself. And, yeah, just not what
4:27
Speaker 2: we needed. Mind you, we were a pretty sport for
4:29
Speaker 2: a week there, weren't we? Like 28 degrees and back
4:31
Speaker 2: to Shorts of Singlet.
4:33
Speaker 1: Henry Buckingham was on the show on Friday. He put
4:36
Speaker 1: his lambing back to the start of October, and I'll
4:38
Speaker 1: be honest, it sounds like he's had a dream run, Jamie.
4:41
Speaker 1: So it all depends on how you view the situation.
4:45
Speaker 2: Yeah, 100%. He would have nailed it anyway. The first cycle,
4:49
Speaker 2: the last couple of weeks have been terrific for that. Yeah,
4:52
Speaker 2: it's interesting, Andy, too. A lot of guys tailing percentages
4:56
Speaker 2: around this area over here. Everyone's up quite a bit, so...
5:00
Speaker 2: You know, we arguably probably didn't get as much of
5:03
Speaker 2: a tell up over here as what you guys got
5:05
Speaker 2: towards your direction, but everyone was anticipating the worst. But yeah,
5:09
Speaker 2: there's some big increases. I'd argue that it probably wasn't
5:13
Speaker 2: as cold. It was wet, but it probably wasn't as cold.
5:16
Speaker 2: We're probably more in the westerly rain, more so than
5:19
Speaker 2: the south-westers. Anybody on the south coast is probably going
5:22
Speaker 2: to call me a lying prick about now, but that's
5:25
Speaker 2: all right. But, yeah, it wasn't bitterly cold. We're in
5:29
Speaker 2: leggings and coat, but we didn't have killing winds. Most
5:34
Speaker 2: of our cold wind comes off the mountains, and there
5:35
Speaker 2: was no snow up there because it was that wet, mate.
5:37
Speaker 2: It was washed off.
5:39
Speaker 1: What about rainfall tallies?
5:41
Speaker 2: Oh, great question. It felt like 200 mil last week,
5:45
Speaker 2: but I think we ended up with about 80-odd, I
5:47
Speaker 2: think it was, for the weekend. So, yeah, plenty. But
5:52
Speaker 2: the ground's handled it, though. Like, it's all disappeared. I
5:54
Speaker 2: was back down over there right in there last night. So, yeah,
5:57
Speaker 2: it handled it all.
5:59
Speaker 3: Interesting.
6:00
Speaker 1: You talk about tailing tallies over in your neck of
6:03
Speaker 1: the woods being up on last season, considering the way that,
6:06
Speaker 1: let's be honest, that goes against the trend for a
6:08
Speaker 1: lot of people.
6:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, 100%. And even down the south coast, a
6:13
Speaker 2: couple of guys down at Tokanui are still running to
6:15
Speaker 2: and Yeah, they were anticipating the worst and had a
6:18
Speaker 2: terrible go, but their tellies were up too. So, oh,
6:21
Speaker 2: it's all good, isn't it? We've just got to get
6:23
Speaker 2: them fat and get them to the works. Yeah, that
6:26
Speaker 2: could be challenging. We'll see what El Nino's got up
6:28
Speaker 2: its sleeve for us.
6:29
Speaker 1: How's your feed? How's your covers looking there?
6:33
Speaker 2: We're hanging in there, but we haven't got an abundance yet, Andy.
6:37
Speaker 2: Probably to be fair, it's probably biting us a wee
6:39
Speaker 2: bit now. It's sort of had to pull back in
6:40
Speaker 2: a bit of... capital and maintenance for it the previous
6:44
Speaker 2: sort of three or four years we got a bit
6:45
Speaker 2: more on last year because we'd afford to but just
6:47
Speaker 2: those tough years financially we pulled back and that's really
6:50
Speaker 2: starting to show now i believe so we'll get we'll
6:54
Speaker 2: start making that this month um start chipping away and
6:56
Speaker 2: getting that on uh and weeds i can just see
6:59
Speaker 2: weeds are having a prolific run at the moment i've
7:02
Speaker 2: got freaking thistles and cutty grass and bulrushes are growing
7:05
Speaker 2: in places i've never seen it before so It's interesting,
7:11
Speaker 2: but we'll just take that as we come.
7:12
Speaker 1: What's your major focus at the moment, just groundwork and
7:15
Speaker 1: the likes?
7:16
Speaker 2: You haven't really got too excited. I've got my cereal
7:18
Speaker 2: and my spring barley's all in, and there's a couple
7:21
Speaker 2: of young grass pets that are ready to go. Well, thereabouts,
7:23
Speaker 2: a couple more passes, but haven't got too excited. We
7:26
Speaker 2: don't panic too much, mate, until we get well into November,
7:29
Speaker 2: just with some stock work. Our focus at the moment
7:32
Speaker 2: is just getting velvet off and Just want to flush
7:35
Speaker 2: a few cows, they'll start mating at the end of
7:36
Speaker 2: the month. And yeah, tailings all tidied up. So the
7:41
Speaker 2: sheep cub is actually really good. They're charging away real
7:45
Speaker 2: good and the lambs are good, that bit of heat
7:47
Speaker 2: last week. So yeah, just go into motions and we'll
7:49
Speaker 2: start burning that expensive fuel here soon. So that'll probably
7:53
Speaker 2: be a bit of a sobering thought really. I don't
7:55
Speaker 2: really want to, but we're going to have to, aren't we?
7:57
Speaker 1: As far as your deer side of the operation, how's
8:00
Speaker 1: that been?
8:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, good, mate. Yeah, it's good to see velvet going
8:03
Speaker 2: to be worth a buck or two again this year,
8:06
Speaker 2: and it's coming off, and weaners have got a bit
8:08
Speaker 2: of cover in front of them, and obviously I expanded
8:10
Speaker 2: my deer operation a bit last year, so I've got
8:13
Speaker 2: the pressure on there a wee bit. Mate, I've got
8:15
Speaker 2: to get a set of deer yards built up on
8:16
Speaker 2: that run block before, I suppose, March, so I can,
8:19
Speaker 2: because at the moment there's about 700 hinds running around
8:21
Speaker 2: up there, and I've got no amenities or facilities yet
8:24
Speaker 2: to get them weaned and out to my other block,
8:27
Speaker 2: so that's looming up close too, so get the orders
8:30
Speaker 2: and some pricing organised, and Get a set of deer
8:32
Speaker 2: yards to whack up in January, February. And so, yeah.
8:37
Speaker 1: Prattly would do a set of deer yards for you, portables,
8:39
Speaker 1: wouldn't they?
8:40
Speaker 2: Oh, alloy annoys, mate. I'll just stick to what we know,
8:43
Speaker 2: I think. We'll stick with timber and posts and, yeah,
8:46
Speaker 2: so to be fair, I've got a few good ideas.
8:48
Speaker 2: There's quite a few good deer farmers out there throughout
8:51
Speaker 2: the South Island. Well, I'll say the South Island because
8:53
Speaker 2: it's the only ones I've been in. We've got quite
8:55
Speaker 2: a good discussion group too, so I've had a fair
8:58
Speaker 2: old look around the last four or five years and
9:01
Speaker 2: a few photos, so I've got some interesting ideas because
9:03
Speaker 2: it is, probably the deer thing is probably still the
9:06
Speaker 2: third poorest cousin here and it shouldn't be because it's
9:09
Speaker 2: probably got the most room to move, um, profitability-wise, so,
9:13
Speaker 2: just trying to target that a wee bit and just
9:14
Speaker 2: seeing how we go going forward. It could grow into
9:16
Speaker 2: a bit of a, hopefully grow into a bit of
9:18
Speaker 2: a beast, but, um, yeah, just trying to mop that up, so,
9:21
Speaker 2: be interesting. Everyone loves a challenge though, Andy.
9:24
Speaker 1: Venison's schedules are still sitting pretty good though?
9:27
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, they're good, they're good, mate, yeah, they need
9:29
Speaker 2: to be better, um, Probably the only saving grace, though,
9:32
Speaker 2: with the venison is just the lack of inputs. You know,
9:35
Speaker 2: you can talk about schedules all you like, but for
9:37
Speaker 2: me it's efficiencies and what occupies the most time or
9:41
Speaker 2: time and absorbs the most cost, and that's where the
9:43
Speaker 2: venison's probably pretty easy. You know, deer just keep them
9:45
Speaker 2: fed and watered, and you don't have to, no shearing
9:47
Speaker 2: or crutching or any of that sort of stuff with them.
9:49
Speaker 2: You know, cattle, beef cattle are probably just as easy to,
9:53
Speaker 2: just on a breeding system. But yeah, it'd be nice
9:57
Speaker 2: to set up around that $ 14, $ 15 mark, That would
10:00
Speaker 2: be the goal. But yeah, as long as this protein
10:04
Speaker 2: market keeps going the way it goes, there's obviously looking
10:06
Speaker 2: like a pretty good future still in the medicine, hopefully,
10:09
Speaker 2: which would be nice because we need some more deer
10:11
Speaker 2: in this country, Andy. There's been a lot disappear over
10:13
Speaker 2: the last few years. So I encourage you, if I've
10:15
Speaker 2: got a bit of deer netting, go and grab some
10:17
Speaker 2: hines and get stuck into it.
10:18
Speaker 1: Talking about the price of meat, I was in the
10:20
Speaker 1: supermarket doing the shop yesterday. What do you reckon a
10:22
Speaker 1: kilo of duck's worth?
10:25
Speaker 2: Of duck, mate? Oh, I wouldn't have a clue.
10:27
Speaker 1: Have a wild stab in the duck.
10:30
Speaker 2: Oh, well, it'd have to be around $ 20, isn't it?
10:33
Speaker 2: Or $ 25, you know? It's all lean meat, isn't it?
10:36
Speaker 1: Now, the price of duck was $ 12 a kilo. It
10:38
Speaker 1: was a 2kg duck, and it was just over $ 24. Oh, well,
10:41
Speaker 1: there you go.
10:42
Speaker 2: Will you let us know what it tastes like, mate? No.
10:45
Speaker 4: No.
10:46
Speaker 1: We get that opportunity to do that at a particular
10:49
Speaker 1: time of the year without having to buy the bloody things.
10:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's dead right, dead right. $ 12, right. I
10:55
Speaker 2: wonder what the ducks are. Well, to be fair, if
10:58
Speaker 2: we keep getting these springs, mate, we might be off
11:00
Speaker 2: going into duck farming.
11:02
Speaker 1: It's a dead duck. That's all I can tell you
11:04
Speaker 1: about it, to be honest.
11:05
Speaker 5: Oh, right.
11:06
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. Well, that's interesting. You've aroused my suspicion.
11:08
Speaker 2: I have to do some Googling now. I have never
11:10
Speaker 2: seen duck in a New Zealand food market, I don't think.
11:12
Speaker 2: Not that I've ever looked for it either, though.
11:14
Speaker 1: Well, it's interesting. Just take a bit of time when
11:16
Speaker 1: you're in the supermarket and have a look through the
11:19
Speaker 1: meat section. You'll be surprised what you find.
11:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't sort of go in from that often either. Well, no,
11:24
Speaker 2: I do the odd time, but I'd get more dishevelled
11:27
Speaker 2: and probably peed off with everything when I wander in
11:29
Speaker 2: the supermarket and see the amount of crap food that's
11:33
Speaker 2: in them nowadays, mate, the processed stuff and the aisles
11:36
Speaker 2: of frigging chocolate and fizz and lollies and that. It's
11:39
Speaker 2: just scary, and you see the... the real food section
11:42
Speaker 2: getting smaller and smaller, and then we wonder why we've
11:44
Speaker 2: got these problems with humankind.
11:47
Speaker 1: The scariest thing in the supermarket is the fact that
11:49
Speaker 1: soft drink is cheaper than water.
11:52
Speaker 2: Oh, it's nuts, mate, absolutely nuts. And then us as humans,
11:55
Speaker 2: people go, I wonder what's wrong with me, and, well,
11:57
Speaker 2: we've got all this sort of stuff, you know, you
11:58
Speaker 2: are what you eat, and it's just, yeah, but we
12:00
Speaker 2: won't go down those rabbit holes. There's a lot bigger
12:04
Speaker 2: forces at play than what we can handle, mate.
12:07
Speaker 1: Good on you, Jamie. Enjoy the afternoon.
12:09
Speaker 2: Hey, spot on.
12:09
Speaker 6: Thanks, Andy.
12:12
Speaker 1: Jamie King of Lake Oroko and the Sgt Dan Farming Roundup,
12:15
Speaker 1: thanks to Sgt Dan's Stock Foods. Duck in the supermarket.
12:18
Speaker 1: Never seen it before, but I did come across it yesterday.
12:21
Speaker 1: Something to keep an eye out for. Geoff Grant's up
12:23
Speaker 1: next talking politics. The Muster Political Roundup brought to you
12:30
Speaker 1: by BioCharge. Feed your soil and grow stronger systems with BioCharge.
12:35
Speaker 1: Visit biocharge.co.nz. Geoff Grant joins us to talk politics this
12:46
Speaker 1: afternoon on the muster as we're in the last, or
12:50
Speaker 1: pretty much in the straight, in the lead up to
12:52
Speaker 1: the general election, 2026 edition. Good afternoon, Geoff. Good afternoon, Andy.
12:58
Speaker 1: I think the correlation of the term is a marathon,
13:00
Speaker 1: not a sprint, and that's what we've seen.
13:03
Speaker 4: Yes, although the last six days are short of a bombshell,
13:06
Speaker 4: I don't think much will change. But this is, as
13:09
Speaker 4: I've said for some time, I think this is for
13:11
Speaker 4: the first real time under MMP, this is an election
13:15
Speaker 4: for the minority parties.
13:16
Speaker 1: This election, though, do you think there's a real possibility
13:19
Speaker 1: of election fatigue setting in out there amongst the voters?
13:23
Speaker 4: I've often made the comment I think the media have
13:25
Speaker 4: been more excited about this than the public this time around. And,
13:29
Speaker 4: you know, mainly because the top sort of popped out
13:31
Speaker 4: of nowhere early on in terms of the campaign. And
13:35
Speaker 4: on that basis, they have regularly polled in around... above
13:40
Speaker 4: the 5%, so they've legitimately got the media. And so
13:45
Speaker 4: on that basis, I think that's where the interest has
13:47
Speaker 4: really sort of peaked, but most people are probably sick
13:50
Speaker 4: of it by now.
13:51
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts around MMP?
13:54
Speaker 4: Look, I was never a fan of it right at
13:55
Speaker 4: the start. I actually do like proportional representation, but in
14:00
Speaker 4: a minor way, I was probably in favour of having
14:06
Speaker 4: 90 electorates and 30 on the basis of the party vote.
14:10
Speaker 4: I think the system, you know, it's better than New Zealand.
14:14
Speaker 4: New Zealand know how to use it. Voters normally get
14:17
Speaker 4: it pretty right in terms of their voting. And so,
14:21
Speaker 4: you know, I'm not a fan of reviewing it. I
14:24
Speaker 4: think we've got a whole couple of generations that know
14:28
Speaker 4: how to work MMP, and I think we'll see that
14:30
Speaker 4: on Saturday.
14:31
Speaker 1: Now, if we do happen to have a change of government,
14:33
Speaker 1: like Labour's been referred to in a lot of corners
14:37
Speaker 1: as being national light. What do you make of that?
14:40
Speaker 1: Do you think there'll be a big change on the
14:41
Speaker 1: farming landscape if we do have a change next week?
14:45
Speaker 4: Well look, I think firstly the election on the November
14:49
Speaker 4: the 7th will trigger a process that I think will
14:52
Speaker 4: go beyond Christmas on the basis that there will not
14:56
Speaker 4: be a clear configuration similar to the three on the
15:02
Speaker 4: right and the opposition being led by Labour, I think
15:06
Speaker 4: that it will be more confused after November 7th. And
15:09
Speaker 4: on that basis, I think the minority parties will have
15:13
Speaker 4: more influence on the way the make-up of the new
15:17
Speaker 4: government is, either on the right or the left. So
15:20
Speaker 4: on that basis, you're either going to get not centre-right
15:22
Speaker 4: or centre-left, you're going to get a party that's probably
15:26
Speaker 4: going to be much more aligned to what the minorities
15:30
Speaker 4: have been saying.
15:31
Speaker 1: And that's the other thing with MMP, all this talk
15:33
Speaker 1: around overhang and extra seats, the possibility of an extra
15:37
Speaker 1: 10 MPs being in Parliament due to the MMP system,
15:40
Speaker 1: it's been very confusing.
15:43
Speaker 4: Yeah, look, the reality is under MMP, the National Party
15:47
Speaker 4: tends to do well in the provincial and smaller cities,
15:51
Speaker 4: and so they tend to get close, or if not exceed,
15:55
Speaker 4: their total percentage vote. And so that looks like we'll
16:00
Speaker 4: be more extreme this time around. And on top of that,
16:02
Speaker 4: with the Māori Party, if they succeed in, say, getting
16:05
Speaker 4: four seats, they will be total overhang because they're more
16:09
Speaker 4: than likely only to get 1% of the vote. So
16:12
Speaker 4: it will see a Parliament possibly of 124 or 126 seats. Yeah,
16:14
Speaker 4: it'll be interesting.
16:16
Speaker 1: To see how this pans out. Now, the Local Government
16:19
Speaker 1: Commission report is due out this month regarding all this
16:23
Speaker 1: talk on amalgamations.
16:27
Speaker 4: Yes, so the Commission has worked through Phase 2, as
16:31
Speaker 4: they call it, which was to look at the economics
16:34
Speaker 4: and also the practicality of either a two-unitary council or
16:38
Speaker 4: a single council with a range of local boards. They
16:42
Speaker 4: are intending to report, as I understand, mid-November. That may
16:45
Speaker 4: get delayed because of the election. And then on the
16:48
Speaker 4: basis of that, they will either make a decision one way,
16:52
Speaker 4: status quo, or that there will be a proposal... around
16:56
Speaker 4: an option for change, and then they have to go
16:58
Speaker 4: through a process phase three, which is effectively consulting with
17:03
Speaker 4: the public and also the local government authorities within Southland.
17:08
Speaker 4: And then a proposal will be final, which would require
17:14
Speaker 4: the constituents of the Southland Province to vote.
17:18
Speaker 1: Because the whole process, the arguments there, it's been, depending
17:22
Speaker 1: on who you speak to, a big waste of time
17:24
Speaker 1: with the election just around the corner and, I don't know,
17:27
Speaker 1: just people seem to lose focus very easily.
17:30
Speaker 4: Well, we'll get a rest for a week or two
17:32
Speaker 4: after the election and then we'll probably be focusing on
17:35
Speaker 4: the Southland model for the future. And I think that,
17:39
Speaker 4: you know, inevitably, my view is there should be change.
17:43
Speaker 4: It just doesn't matter now what it might look like.
17:47
Speaker 1: It's still a long way away, though, if we do
17:49
Speaker 1: get change announced, though.
17:51
Speaker 4: Yes, I would have thought it's probably another 12 or
17:53
Speaker 4: 18 months after that because you're going to go through
17:55
Speaker 4: quite a process, they have to. And that will be
17:58
Speaker 4: also subject to central government. If you get a centre-left
18:04
Speaker 4: or a left-leaning government, it may have a different view
18:09
Speaker 4: about the future amalgamation of local government. And if we
18:13
Speaker 4: get a centre right, there's still the proposals that each
18:17
Speaker 4: of the regional councils and territorial authorities put in. But
18:22
Speaker 4: my stance for Commission 1 will probably come ahead of
18:25
Speaker 4: all that.
18:26
Speaker 1: You bring up an interesting point there, Geoff, and that
18:28
Speaker 1: is bipartisan agreement from the parties. This is something that
18:32
Speaker 1: needs to occur, though, because otherwise we're just going to
18:35
Speaker 1: see an exorbitant waste of money. And that's just not
18:38
Speaker 1: from this election now. But this is upcoming elections and
18:41
Speaker 1: it shouldn't happen.
18:43
Speaker 4: Look, I think it's one of the reasons why the
18:44
Speaker 4: minority parties have been polling better. I think people are
18:48
Speaker 4: looking for more consensus within the political system. And we've
18:52
Speaker 4: seen a bit of that in recent times, you know,
18:55
Speaker 4: between Labour. A good example was the Indian FTA. The
18:59
Speaker 4: National Party couldn't get a majority with New Zealand First.
19:02
Speaker 4: On their side, so they turned to Labour, and Labour
19:05
Speaker 4: supported the FDA. So I think you're going to see
19:08
Speaker 4: a bit more of that, and that'll be a bit
19:10
Speaker 4: of a signal from the election on November 7th.
19:14
Speaker 1: Good on you, Geoff. Always appreciate your time. We'll chat again.
19:16
Speaker 6: Cheers.
19:17
Speaker 4: We'll catch you again, Andy.
19:18
Speaker 2: Bye.
19:21
Speaker 1: Geoff Grant, trying to make sense of what's happening with MMP.
19:25
Speaker 1: It's confusing for a lot of people, that's for sure.
19:28
Speaker 1: You're listening to The Muster. Up next, Dean Ravage farming
19:30
Speaker 1: at Glenham. Glenham.
19:37
Speaker 3: The Muster on the farm with Southland District Council working
19:41
Speaker 3: together for a better Southland.
19:46
Speaker 1: Dean Ravage farms at Glenham. Sheep and beef farmer in
19:50
Speaker 1: joins us on this rather overcast, rainy type afternoon here
19:55
Speaker 1: in the Deep South. G'day Dean.
19:57
Speaker 6: Afternoon Andy.
19:58
Speaker 1: How's everything in your neck of the woods in mighty Glenham?
20:03
Speaker 1: Pretty busy actually.
20:04
Speaker 6: Yeah, sort of lambing's all done and dusted. We're just
20:07
Speaker 6: waiting to tail the hoggarts. one heifer left to carve
20:11
Speaker 6: and yeah just that silly time of year of trying
20:14
Speaker 6: to get grass in fodder beet in made some baleage
20:20
Speaker 6: over the weekend and we've also got the digger here
20:22
Speaker 6: doing a bit of drainage on some crop ground that
20:25
Speaker 6: we want to get back into grass as well so
20:28
Speaker 6: yeah just as you think there's starting to be a
20:30
Speaker 6: bit of a break in the system the next cycle
20:33
Speaker 6: of jobs kicks into gear in a hell of a
20:35
Speaker 6: hurry really.
20:36
Speaker 1: It's crazy how we're talking about baleage and only a
20:39
Speaker 1: matter of weeks ago we were looking for feed.
20:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I know.
20:44
Speaker 6: It's more of a, yeah, a quality control thing, sort
20:47
Speaker 6: of a paddock. Just got away and this is pretty
20:49
Speaker 6: hard to, I find it, struggle to maintain feed quality,
20:53
Speaker 6: especially with the hoggarts and lemmings. So, yeah, made a
20:57
Speaker 6: light cut of baleage and it will recover quite quickly
21:00
Speaker 6: and come away with some good feed for the hoggarts
21:02
Speaker 6: and lambs. But, yeah, the grass here is, come away
21:06
Speaker 6: quite quickly, yeah we've been buying a few store cattle
21:09
Speaker 6: as well to sort of compensate for what I suspect
21:12
Speaker 6: will be a small reduction in lamb numbers as well
21:15
Speaker 6: so yeah we're just trying to make the most of
21:19
Speaker 6: the opportunities available really.
21:21
Speaker 1: So tailing tallies, you talk about a bit of a
21:23
Speaker 1: reduction but not as bad as you feared?
21:26
Speaker 6: Oh no it'll be probably what I suspected I'm never
21:31
Speaker 6: happy with tailing numbers anyway even if it's a good year,
21:34
Speaker 6: so we'll just be even less happy this year. But
21:39
Speaker 6: there'll be enough to balance the books at the end
21:42
Speaker 6: of the day, so that's the main thing.
21:44
Speaker 1: It's a good year not to be having all these
21:46
Speaker 1: triplets like a lot of people are, though, dare I
21:48
Speaker 1: say it in that way.
21:50
Speaker 6: Oh, yeah, triplets, I hate them. I actively choose rams
21:55
Speaker 6: with no triplet history in their pedigree, so to speak,
22:00
Speaker 6: and there's been times they've even sold one-year triplet use
22:04
Speaker 6: at scanning. They've got no place here for me, I'm afraid.
22:07
Speaker 1: Really? You're just that harsh about them? If you've got
22:09
Speaker 1: three lambs, or dare I say it, quads, you're gonski.
22:14
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah, I have done in the past. If we
22:16
Speaker 6: weren't trying to build new numbers, that would have happened
22:19
Speaker 6: this year also. Yeah, I just don't seem to be
22:23
Speaker 6: able to incorporate them into my system very well. So, yeah, no,
22:28
Speaker 6: I'd rather have two solid lambs than three average ones.
22:31
Speaker 1: So whereabouts are you for the start of November compared
22:34
Speaker 1: to where you would be normally, or have you caught
22:36
Speaker 1: up on stuff pretty good?
22:37
Speaker 6: We're pretty much status quo, Andy, yeah. We haven't really
22:44
Speaker 6: started any significant groundwork yet and sort of wait for
22:47
Speaker 6: that soil temperature to become a bit more stable. And yeah,
22:51
Speaker 6: like I said, we've been waiting on the digger to
22:53
Speaker 6: tie up a few things, get some drainage in before
22:56
Speaker 6: we start getting paddocks back into permanent pasture. But, you know,
23:00
Speaker 6: there's plenty of time. Still got well over a month
23:03
Speaker 6: before we even contemplate getting Swedes in the ground. And, yeah,
23:06
Speaker 6: sort of an opportunist time getting beaten, hopefully this week too,
23:11
Speaker 6: which is a lot earlier than normal. It's just we
23:15
Speaker 6: had a sacrifice paddock. We carved some heifers on this year.
23:17
Speaker 6: So it was sitting there pretty buggered. So we thought
23:21
Speaker 6: we'd take the opportunity and get it turned over and
23:23
Speaker 6: hopefully get some beaten quickly.
23:25
Speaker 1: Yeah. The electioneering cycle is amongst us this time next week.
23:29
Speaker 1: We may have a better idea of what's happening with
23:32
Speaker 1: our government, or we might not. It depends, Dean. But
23:35
Speaker 1: it's been a marathon, not a sprint, though, this whole
23:38
Speaker 1: election cycle.
23:40
Speaker 6: Yeah, look, I'm a bit over it, to be honest,
23:43
Speaker 6: and I think a lot of people are. They can't
23:44
Speaker 6: wait for next weekend just to get out and get
23:47
Speaker 6: the votes in. Yeah, I doubt we're going to hear
23:52
Speaker 6: what government we've got for a while. It's one of
23:54
Speaker 6: the downfalls or embarrassments about MMP. We could quite possibly
24:00
Speaker 6: end up with a minority party that's just scraped over
24:04
Speaker 6: the 5% threshold dictating who runs the country for the
24:08
Speaker 6: next three years. So that's just an unfortunate reality that
24:12
Speaker 6: we're in at the moment.
24:14
Speaker 1: How have you found politics over the last month? Do
24:18
Speaker 1: you engage in it or do you zone out because
24:20
Speaker 1: you find it just a bit of overkill?
24:24
Speaker 6: I think the reporting from mainstream media has been childish
24:28
Speaker 6: and pathetic, to be honest. They haven't really delved into
24:32
Speaker 6: the big issues behind the scenes and actually really dug
24:36
Speaker 6: deep into parties' policies. They've been focused on soundbites and some, yeah,
24:43
Speaker 6: rather irrelevant things, just trying to create gotcha moments to
24:47
Speaker 6: suit their narrative. So I was sort of really disengaged
24:50
Speaker 6: from the whole process, really, and just.
24:53
Speaker 6: Yeah, tried to get on with it.
24:56
Speaker 1: Do you sit down and watch the election coverage on
24:58
Speaker 1: TV on Saturday nights when it's on?
25:00
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, it'll be on, but whether I pay too
25:05
Speaker 6: much attention to it is another thing, because like I said,
25:08
Speaker 6: I don't think we're going to get a result next weekend.
25:12
Speaker 6: It could be a while, but yeah, I think it's
25:16
Speaker 6: just a bit over it, to be honest, yeah.
25:20
Speaker 1: Yeah, not the only one. It's been a lot. It's
25:22
Speaker 1: like the Tour of Southland this week. It's not a
25:26
Speaker 1: one-day event. It's certainly longer than that. But, hey, Dean,
25:29
Speaker 1: we're going to touch on this as well, the Southland
25:31
Speaker 1: Rural Support Trust. You're a trustee there. Their SBS Bank
25:35
Speaker 1: Tour of Southland coffee shout is happening this week. Tomorrow
25:38
Speaker 1: it's happening at Oropoki from 10 a.m. So, look, it's
25:43
Speaker 1: been a hell of a sprint. You're involved with the
25:46
Speaker 1: Rural Support Trust, but certainly some good stuff's been coming
25:49
Speaker 1: out of it from the organisation recently.
25:52
Speaker 6: Yeah, unfortunately, it's been another spring where the Trust and
25:58
Speaker 6: other groups around the province have had to facilitate some events, again,
26:04
Speaker 6: just to try and get people off farm and chew
26:06
Speaker 6: the fat this spring. So, yeah, it's just another way.
26:13
Speaker 6: Sort of get out there, watch a tour of South
26:15
Speaker 6: and watch something a bit different I suppose and have
26:19
Speaker 6: a coffee as well and yeah like I said just
26:21
Speaker 6: get off farm for even if it's 10-15 minutes it
26:24
Speaker 6: can be quite a good mental refresh for a lot
26:26
Speaker 6: of people.
26:27
Speaker 1: The tour goes through Glenham doesn't it?
26:31
Speaker 6: Yeah it does go through Glenham, you quite often go
26:33
Speaker 6: down to the end of the road here and watch
26:36
Speaker 6: what's passed for all of 30 seconds that you see
26:39
Speaker 6: them for but Yeah, no, it's quite a cool event
26:42
Speaker 6: and it's great to see it growing in numbers year
26:44
Speaker 6: on year and I think this is its 70th year
26:47
Speaker 6: or edition, so something that stands a test of time
26:51
Speaker 6: that long is obviously doing something right.
26:54
Speaker 1: And considering this is the second time this year we've
26:56
Speaker 1: had the event because of 12 months ago with those winds,
27:00
Speaker 1: and yeah, a lot of interest in it, as it
27:02
Speaker 1: always is, and the arguments there, people enjoy the tour
27:06
Speaker 1: because of the challenges that the weather brings it, so
27:08
Speaker 1: if you want to find that, come to Southland in November,
27:10
Speaker 1: it's a given.
27:12
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's not just the conditions that they cycle in,
27:15
Speaker 6: I guess either. Southland's a pretty big and diverse province
27:18
Speaker 6: when you start looking around, so the variations of terrain
27:21
Speaker 6: and and that's pretty awesome too. So great province to
27:26
Speaker 6: have a good cycle racing, I guess.
27:28
Speaker 1: Yeah, worst places for it, Dean. We'll let you carry on, mate.
27:31
Speaker 1: Always good to catch up. Get all that cropping while
27:34
Speaker 1: you can.
27:36
Speaker 6: Yep, no, thanks, Andy.
27:39
Speaker 1: Dean Ravage. Based at Glenham, of course, Southland Rural Support Trust.
27:43
Speaker 1: If you need to talk, 0800 787 254. These events
27:47
Speaker 1: happening over this week during the Tour of Southland. Oropoki, Mosburn,
27:50
Speaker 1: Riverton and Woodlands as well. Tony Roberts is up next.
28:04
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. We're away down to Merino
28:07
Speaker 1: Downs now. Tony Roberts, he was, along with his wife Michelle,
28:12
Speaker 1: they were awarded the 2026 Gordon Stevenson Trophy at the
28:16
Speaker 1: Balanced Farm Environment Awards. We caught up with the couple
28:20
Speaker 1: the morning after their success. And actually, Geordie Yeats said
28:23
Speaker 1: the other day we needed to get back in touch
28:25
Speaker 1: with Tony because he spoke at the recent Beef and
28:27
Speaker 1: Lamb AGM and he said, really interesting to listen to
28:31
Speaker 1: him speak. So I thought, what better idea than listen
28:34
Speaker 1: to Geordie. So Tony, welcome to the muster. Good to
28:36
Speaker 1: catch up again.
28:38
Speaker 5: Yep, no, great to be on the show today, Andy. Yeah,
28:41
Speaker 5: good to hear from you.
28:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, it's been a couple of months since your
28:44
Speaker 1: success with the Gordon Stevenson Trophy. I suppose the obvious
28:49
Speaker 1: question is, how long did it take you to get
28:51
Speaker 1: down from that high, or has it continued, and positivity
28:54
Speaker 1: for the sector from what you're doing?
28:57
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, like I say, it was certainly, as we
29:00
Speaker 5: said at the time, it was a big shock to us,
29:02
Speaker 5: but we were so chuffed to, you know, take that
29:05
Speaker 5: title and bring it back to Southland. And yeah, no,
29:08
Speaker 5: we've just been on a real high ever since. It's
29:12
Speaker 5: been a great experience and we've had amazing support from
29:15
Speaker 5: all people through all sectors, you know, congratulating us and
29:18
Speaker 5: saying well-deserved. And, yeah, and as you said, we've just
29:22
Speaker 5: been down to the Beef and Lamb AGM in Riversdale
29:25
Speaker 5: the other day and spoke there and it was a
29:27
Speaker 5: great crowd.
29:27
Speaker 4: So, yeah, no, awesome, awesome.
29:29
Speaker 1: Your story of arriving in the South is interesting. You
29:32
Speaker 1: came down in the middle of the 1990s to go
29:36
Speaker 1: share milking ahead of the dairy boom, which is around, yeah,
29:40
Speaker 1: the year 2000, 2001. What made you decide to come
29:43
Speaker 1: to Southland?
29:46
Speaker 5: I think the big thing, Andy, was at the time
29:48
Speaker 5: we were in share milking in Taranaki and there was
29:50
Speaker 5: a lot of competition for share milking positions and they
29:53
Speaker 5: were fairly small operations. So when you came and looked
29:58
Speaker 5: at what Southland had to offer, you know, there were
30:01
Speaker 5: bigger share-working jobs, there was a lot more choice and
30:04
Speaker 5: a lot more opportunity for our future as in to
30:08
Speaker 5: purchase land and get ahead as a family and as
30:11
Speaker 5: a business. So that was the main emphasis for us
30:15
Speaker 5: at that time.
30:15
Speaker 2: So, yeah.
30:16
Speaker 1: It's fair to say that land in Southland was cheaper
30:19
Speaker 1: than what you'd experienced on North Island as well, because
30:22
Speaker 1: speaking to a couple of people who made the move
30:24
Speaker 1: similar to you, they said that was one of the reasons.
30:27
Speaker 5: Yep, definitely, definitely. No, it was quite a difference in
30:31
Speaker 5: price of to heat their land at that time, and
30:35
Speaker 5: you're getting better quality land for that price too, as
30:38
Speaker 5: you're well aware. In Southland, we've got some beautiful rolling
30:42
Speaker 5: country down to your flats at Winton and Dacre down
30:45
Speaker 5: through there, so we're Pretty lucky, pretty lucky.
30:47
Speaker 4: So, yeah.
30:49
Speaker 1: Now, you went from a share milking operation to deer
30:51
Speaker 1: farming with dairy grazing as part of it. What made
30:54
Speaker 1: you transition?
30:55
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, that's a pretty good question, actually. Yeah, no, well,
30:58
Speaker 5: we did 29 years milking cows and we thoroughly enjoyed
31:01
Speaker 5: every bit of it. But it was really just time
31:02
Speaker 5: for a change, really. That was the big part of it.
31:04
Speaker 5: And I've always enjoyed... and that's where the deer came
31:08
Speaker 5: into it, and we wanted a business that was sustainable
31:12
Speaker 5: and resilient and having multiple income streams just to give
31:15
Speaker 5: us that protection, so that's why we included the dairy
31:18
Speaker 5: grazing in that aspect too, and then we've got the
31:21
Speaker 5: fallow deer too, so it gives us that diversity and
31:25
Speaker 5: income streams for our business and protection, so yeah.
31:29
Speaker 1: So it's fair to say you've got a lot of
31:30
Speaker 1: positivity for farming heading into the tail end of 2026?
31:36
Speaker 2: Definitely.
31:36
Speaker 5: Things are looking pretty good right across the red meat
31:39
Speaker 5: sector and the milk and fibre. So I think there's
31:42
Speaker 5: a lot of positivity there. I just need a few
31:45
Speaker 5: other some of those costs to come down as in
31:48
Speaker 5: fuel and fertiliser and all the rest of it. But yeah, no,
31:52
Speaker 5: we're in a good space. We're in a good space.
31:54
Speaker 1: Now at the awards. You were described as someone who
31:57
Speaker 1: was prepared to challenge conventional thinking, embrace new technology and ask,
32:01
Speaker 1: why not? What's a couple of examples of this, do
32:04
Speaker 1: you reckon, that made you come to the fore?
32:06
Speaker 5: Oh, God, Andy, that's putting me on the spot. I
32:09
Speaker 5: think the big one was just looking at the resources
32:12
Speaker 5: that you have on your properties and saying, well, what
32:14
Speaker 5: can we utilise, whether it's been sheds for winter barns,
32:18
Speaker 5: for the deer grazing inside, sorry, winter deer grazing inside.
32:25
Speaker 5: and then, yeah, looking at those options and saying, well,
32:29
Speaker 5: how can we repurpose them and actually make a difference
32:33
Speaker 5: to our environmental rules and protect the land or the
32:37
Speaker 5: valuable land that we have? So that's just one example. But, yeah,
32:41
Speaker 5: technology has been a big part of it for me,
32:43
Speaker 5: you know, whether it's been using resolution, whether it's been
32:46
Speaker 5: using our Gallagher programs, you know, water monitoring apps, just
32:50
Speaker 5: so that we're, you know, utilising that technology to its
32:54
Speaker 5: best for the productivity of our operation, really.
32:57
Speaker 1: Would you say it's fair to say, though, if you're
32:59
Speaker 1: not utilising technology, you're going to fall behind?
33:01
Speaker 4: Oh, definitely, definitely.
33:04
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I say you've got this whole revolution of
33:06
Speaker 5: AI coming on stream, and I've just been mucking around
33:09
Speaker 5: with it for the last few days, playing with records and,
33:12
Speaker 5: you know, producing, I wouldn't say apps, but programmes on
33:17
Speaker 5: my computer so that we can record our velveting, usage
33:22
Speaker 5: of our low-pane ore, and then the other one was
33:26
Speaker 5: I managed to make a tallies record that we can
33:29
Speaker 5: update for our stock tallies, whether it be our cattle,
33:32
Speaker 5: our deer, our sheep, so that we can have a
33:34
Speaker 5: running tally of that, and it sounds pretty simple stuff, but,
33:36
Speaker 5: you know, I did all that in about, you know,
33:39
Speaker 5: an hour and a half on a computer at home
33:41
Speaker 5: in the office. Well, those things were never dreamt about five,
33:45
Speaker 5: six years ago, so... Technology has come a long way,
33:48
Speaker 5: come a long way.
33:49
Speaker 1: You're the National Ambassadors for Sustainable Farming and Growing. I'll
33:52
Speaker 1: offer for Michelle. So that must mean a lot of
33:55
Speaker 1: travel around the country at the moment, but only for
33:57
Speaker 1: the better.
33:59
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, we haven't actually had too many engagements yet. But, yeah, no,
34:03
Speaker 5: there's a few things coming up in the pipeline. And, yeah,
34:06
Speaker 5: we've got the study tour that we're working on at
34:08
Speaker 5: the moment. So we're looking at going over to China
34:12
Speaker 5: and studying how's their inside and their operations over there.
34:18
Speaker 2: So, yeah.
34:19
Speaker 5: But, no, it's been great. It's been great.
34:22
Speaker 1: How long are you over in China for? Because I'll
34:24
Speaker 1: be honest, it's a country that sounds fascinating.
34:28
Speaker 5: Oh, look, incredibly fascinating. The more you find out, the
34:31
Speaker 5: more you want to go and visit all these places. But, well, obviously,
34:33
Speaker 5: we've got a limited... schedule or time schedule and there
34:37
Speaker 5: are specific places that we want to go and visit
34:39
Speaker 5: but yeah no it's quite mind-blowing when you actually start
34:41
Speaker 5: doing your homework and we've got to talk to a
34:43
Speaker 5: few key people within DINS and MPI and draw up
34:47
Speaker 5: a bit of a plan so we're busy working on
34:49
Speaker 5: that at the moment and we'll come up with a
34:51
Speaker 5: schedule that will work for our tour so yeah so
34:53
Speaker 5: we're quite excited about that part of it very excited.
34:56
Speaker 1: So how's spring been in Merino Downs Tony or do
34:59
Speaker 1: you say it's been like everywhere else and been a
35:01
Speaker 1: bit of a challenge?
35:03
Speaker 5: Yeah, well unfortunately we were away for most of the
35:05
Speaker 5: September when that bad weather was on, so we were
35:07
Speaker 5: over in Europe, Michelle and I, and we left Kate
35:10
Speaker 5: and Mark in charge, and they did an amazing job
35:13
Speaker 5: under some very testing conditions, but they came through with
35:18
Speaker 5: flying colours, and since then October's been pretty amazing, we've
35:21
Speaker 5: had some pretty good growth, but the last week or
35:24
Speaker 5: so has been a bit average with the cooler weather
35:26
Speaker 5: and things have really slowed up in the grass production,
35:29
Speaker 5: but looks like this week coming ahead's going to be good,
35:32
Speaker 5: and we've managed to get fodder beaten, and we've got
35:35
Speaker 5: young grass in, so we're pretty happy about that. So
35:39
Speaker 5: we've only got, what have we got, kale to go
35:42
Speaker 5: in and a few summer turnips. So we're pretty well
35:45
Speaker 5: looking pretty good at the moment, pretty good.
35:46
Speaker 1: So the season's corrected itself, it's fair to say?
35:50
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it was like we had two weeks of
35:52
Speaker 5: great weather there, and it literally turned around overnight with
35:55
Speaker 5: the heat and the grass growth and, yeah, dried things out.
35:59
Speaker 5: So Pretty incredible, actually, from what you had in September.
36:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a pretty good time in getting off farm
36:05
Speaker 1: in September, I must say.
36:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, it was sort of a window that sort
36:10
Speaker 5: of worked for us because, like I say, most of
36:12
Speaker 5: the animals were off the... Well, some were still on
36:14
Speaker 5: winter crops and some were still in the sheds, but
36:16
Speaker 5: it was sort of a bit of a quiet time,
36:18
Speaker 5: so we thought, why not? So, yeah, we shot over
36:21
Speaker 5: and visited a few places in Europe and had an
36:23
Speaker 5: absolutely fantastic time with some friends of ours and saw
36:26
Speaker 5: some amazing cities and... tourist spots and it was pretty incredible. So, no,
36:32
Speaker 5: it was good.
36:33
Speaker 1: Hey, good on you, Tony. Thanks for the chat this afternoon.
36:35
Speaker 1: Great to catch up and I'm quite happy to catch
36:37
Speaker 1: up in the future as well. You're somebody who reeks
36:40
Speaker 1: of positivity for the sector and worthy recipient yourself and
36:44
Speaker 1: your wife, Michelle, of a 2026 Gordon Stevenson trophy. Thanks
36:48
Speaker 1: for your time.
36:49
Speaker 4: No, awesome, Andy.
36:50
Speaker 5: Thank you very much for the call.
36:52
Speaker 2: You have a great day.
36:55
Speaker 1: Tony Roberts, along with Michelle at Top Deck Trading, winners
36:59
Speaker 1: of the 2026 Gordon Stevenson Trophy. Thomas O'Brien's up next.
37:03
Speaker 1: Based up in Garston, you're listening to The Muster. This
37:17
Speaker 1: is the muster on Hakanui. The artist today is Billy Ocean.
37:21
Speaker 1: That is one of his songs, which I think is underrated,
37:23
Speaker 1: called Red Lights Spouse Danger. Thomas O'Brien, no correlation to
37:28
Speaker 1: that song title, by the way, but he is up next.
37:30
Speaker 1: He is our Garston correspondent in upper northern Southland. G'day, Tom.
37:35
Speaker 5: G'day, mate.
37:35
Speaker 3: It's all green as go. There's no red light going on.
37:38
Speaker 3: It's green light. It's all go up here, and it's
37:41
Speaker 3: all go around Southland, and it's.
37:43
Speaker 2: Bloody good to see.
37:44
Speaker 1: Absolutely. Getting into November now, where has the year gone?
37:47
Speaker 1: But up in your neck of the woods, how's it been?
37:50
Speaker 3: Oh, it's been pretty good, mate. Yeah, I mean, obviously, well, weather-wise,
37:53
Speaker 3: you know, the weekend on that, well, you know, beginning
37:56
Speaker 3: of last weekend on the Friday was pretty full on,
38:00
Speaker 3: pretty crap all over the place, really. Yeah, we had,
38:02
Speaker 3: I was coming down the hill and, yeah, I had
38:04
Speaker 3: a decent sort of a hailstorm near the end of
38:06
Speaker 3: the day. I could see it coming up the valley
38:08
Speaker 3: and I was, you know, forewarned, but I was like,
38:10
Speaker 3: earlier on, it was quite pleasant, you know, quite nice.
38:13
Speaker 3: And then, Yeah, but I was heading down to the coast,
38:17
Speaker 3: right down to the south coast on that Friday anyway.
38:19
Speaker 3: So it wasn't a bad day for driving. You know,
38:21
Speaker 3: I don't mind driving when the weather's crap. But yeah,
38:24
Speaker 3: and then, of course, the Saturday was beautiful. Even right
38:28
Speaker 3: down on the south coast, bluebird day, beautiful, amazing.
38:31
Speaker 1: You've been out and about doing a few walks and
38:33
Speaker 1: the likes.
38:35
Speaker 4: Oh, yeah.
38:36
Speaker 3: Like, I mean, well, interestingly enough, this time last year,
38:38
Speaker 3: I was doing the Humbridge track. And you say, where
38:41
Speaker 3: the hell, it's November already, where the hell has the
38:43
Speaker 3: year gone? Oh, truth be told, it's like, yeah, I
38:46
Speaker 3: couldn't agree more. And so, yeah, it was a bit
38:49
Speaker 3: of a revisit down there. Yeah, I managed to spend
38:52
Speaker 3: a bit of time, a couple of nights in a
38:54
Speaker 3: hut down there at the mouth of the Waikoikoa River. And,
38:58
Speaker 3: of course, the Huntridge Track goes right past the doorstep there.
39:02
Speaker 3: And it was just really heartening to see people young
39:05
Speaker 3: and old and old you know, obviously a lot of
39:08
Speaker 3: local people and a lot of travellers, you know, doing
39:11
Speaker 3: the Hunt Ridge track as well. And, you know, it's
39:13
Speaker 3: always a bit of a hard case thing when, you know,
39:15
Speaker 3: there's a bit of Kiwi ingenuity kicking in when you've
39:17
Speaker 3: got like half a dozen, six or seven people and
39:20
Speaker 3: you've only got one quad bike and obviously you can't
39:22
Speaker 3: fit them all. So what do you do? You hook
39:23
Speaker 3: up the trailer and you chuck a couple of couches
39:25
Speaker 3: on the back and you load everyone on there and
39:29
Speaker 3: then you chuck the floundernet in, and then off you
39:31
Speaker 3: go down the beach and do a drag with the
39:33
Speaker 3: floundernet for a feed. Yeah, it's pretty cool.
39:36
Speaker 1: It sounds very similar to going to India, though, and
39:39
Speaker 1: an old Ford 4000 tractor's got about seven individuals floating
39:42
Speaker 1: on it.
39:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I used to have a 6.610, actually, and... Yeah,
39:49
Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure. Well, I've got interesting memories of sitting
39:53
Speaker 3: on the mudguard of that tractor with the old man
39:56
Speaker 3: driving the tractor and I think at the time, would
40:00
Speaker 3: we be spraying bloody 245T or something like that? You know,
40:04
Speaker 3: with the big gun, with the big spray gun on
40:06
Speaker 3: the nozzle on the back and even though there's no
40:08
Speaker 3: way in hell you'd do it now and you probably
40:10
Speaker 3: shouldn't either, but yeah, sort of fond memories of spending
40:14
Speaker 3: time doing that sort of thing and And, you know,
40:17
Speaker 3: getting the job done and just, yeah, no. But, yeah,
40:21
Speaker 3: India is a country I've never been to, but I'm
40:24
Speaker 3: fascinated by it. And, yeah, it's got a lot of
40:27
Speaker 3: diversity and weird and wonderful cultures and ways and environments
40:32
Speaker 3: and things of doing things. But, man, they can do
40:34
Speaker 3: things efficiently in some areas, and that's one of them, transportation.
40:37
Speaker 1: My wife and I went to India not long after
40:39
Speaker 1: we first met, actually. We'd been together a few months,
40:41
Speaker 1: and Shannon had never left New Zealand. She goes, I'm
40:43
Speaker 1: going to India.
40:44
Speaker 6: Are you coming?
40:44
Speaker 5: I'm coming.
40:45
Speaker 1: So I was like, yeah, okay, it's a case of
40:47
Speaker 1: sink or swim. Went to Delhi to Kathmandu, totally recommend it,
40:51
Speaker 1: although apart from her nearly getting medivaced off the edges
40:54
Speaker 1: of the Ganges for drinking water, apart from that, it
40:57
Speaker 1: was great.
40:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, right.
40:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and that's the thing, right?
41:00
Speaker 3: I mean, that was a different time even then, Andy,
41:03
Speaker 3: but yeah, you can sort of, yeah, you can, I mean,
41:06
Speaker 3: things can go incredibly well, but they can also come
41:09
Speaker 3: unstuck quite literally in terms of saying, well, If I
41:12
Speaker 3: drink this or eat this, I might come unstuck, quite literally. But,
41:18
Speaker 3: you know, there's a lot of amazing sort of things
41:23
Speaker 3: you can do and there's a lot of information to
41:25
Speaker 3: be able to research into, you know, seeing what's good
41:29
Speaker 3: and what's not and what's recommended. So I'm sure it
41:32
Speaker 3: was an incredible trip, mate.
41:33
Speaker 1: It's absolutely an attack on your senses, but it is
41:36
Speaker 1: so rewarding. But look, back on your place there, you've
41:39
Speaker 1: had influencers running up and about. How did that go?
41:43
Speaker 3: Well, look, I mean, I got smacked on the hand
41:45
Speaker 3: when I called them influencers, Andy. And I was like,
41:48
Speaker 3: what do you mean? Are they not influencers? And I said, oh,
41:51
Speaker 3: I beg your pardon. Oh, they're Conti creators. And then
41:54
Speaker 3: I got another smack on the hand. No, they're not
41:55
Speaker 3: called Conti creators anymore. And I was like, geez, I'm
41:58
Speaker 3: behind the eight ball. I'm not down with the kids
42:00
Speaker 3: at all. And, uh, I said, well, what do we
42:01
Speaker 3: call these buggers? And they said, no, they're called key
42:04
Speaker 3: opinion leaders, KOL. And I was just like, well, I
42:09
Speaker 3: felt like I just got a TKO, a technical knockout
42:11
Speaker 3: in terms of going, well, I'm just, what? What does
42:14
Speaker 3: that mean? So yeah, it's very, very hard to keep
42:19
Speaker 3: up with what's hot and what's not in the IT
42:21
Speaker 3: world of social media. But yeah, had these five characters
42:24
Speaker 3: come up and they were from different walks of life
42:27
Speaker 3: and But yeah, they were, yeah, it's such a weird
42:31
Speaker 3: and wonderful strange world of marketing and advertising now, Andy,
42:34
Speaker 3: and these content creators were up there doing some content
42:39
Speaker 3: creation or whatever, product placement with, you know, with some
42:44
Speaker 3: advertising and branding up at Welcome Rock. So yeah, but
42:47
Speaker 3: all of that is embargoed and under wraps until the
42:51
Speaker 3: 9th of November. So we're only about a week away
42:54
Speaker 3: and then we can sort of like tell everybody Well,
42:58
Speaker 3: you know, I sort of tell people what we're up
42:59
Speaker 3: to up there. But it's pretty cool. It's pretty interesting.
43:03
Speaker 3: And everybody is welcome to come along.
43:05
Speaker 1: Is it fair to say these influencers hadn't been on
43:09
Speaker 1: a wheelchair before?
43:09
Speaker 3: That would be pretty much fair to say. But interestingly enough,
43:14
Speaker 3: the journalist there from the New Zealand Herald, we had
43:17
Speaker 3: a journalist as well. She was from a farming background.
43:20
Speaker 3: She's actually got a lot of cousins and stuff like
43:22
Speaker 3: that in Fairleigh, and they're still farming in Fairleigh. She's
43:26
Speaker 3: based up north in Tauranga now. But yeah, she was
43:30
Speaker 3: arguably the only one, yeah, that had sort of had
43:34
Speaker 3: anything to do from a rural perspective. Yeah, the rest
43:37
Speaker 3: of them were well and truly city slickers, but they'd
43:40
Speaker 3: come from Oh, I think one had come from Timaru
43:43
Speaker 3: originally and one from Mimba Cargill originally. But yeah, they're
43:45
Speaker 3: predominantly sort of based up in Auckland because I guess
43:47
Speaker 3: that's where all the action is and, you know, all that.
43:51
Speaker 2: Sort of hoo-ha.
43:51
Speaker 3: So yeah, but it was, I mean, the point is
43:54
Speaker 3: they loved the environment down here. They loved the good
43:56
Speaker 3: southern hospitality. They loved the campaign. And I did get
44:01
Speaker 3: an email back from the specialist marketing company that are
44:04
Speaker 3: procuring this between the client and myself and these people
44:09
Speaker 3: just saying how it helped how great it was. They
44:11
Speaker 3: love being down south in Southland and just enjoying that
44:16
Speaker 3: point of difference that we have here as opposed to,
44:18
Speaker 3: you know, a place like Auckland.
44:20
Speaker 1: So once again, what do you call an influencer these
44:22
Speaker 1: days for all the hip kids out there?
44:25
Speaker 3: For all the hip kids, you know, so we're actually
44:28
Speaker 3: heading into the elections, as you know, and I would
44:30
Speaker 3: have thought it would have been like some sort of
44:32
Speaker 3: political person or leader or someone would be called a
44:36
Speaker 3: key opinion leader. But that's up for debate quite literally too, Andy.
44:39
Speaker 3: That's what they're called, key opinion leaders. But I tell
44:42
Speaker 3: you what, it's ironic because from a marketing and advertising perspective,
44:46
Speaker 3: it just doesn't stick for me. It really doesn't.
44:49
Speaker 1: Yeah, second on that one, Tom. Hey, always appreciate your
44:52
Speaker 1: time on the muster. You enjoy the week and we
44:54
Speaker 1: look forward to the 9th of November.
44:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, sounds good, mate. I'll look forward to reporting back
44:59
Speaker 3: to you and enjoying your company, hopefully.
45:06
Speaker 1: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
45:10
Speaker 1: land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
45:13
Speaker 1: Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. It was
45:16
Speaker 1: 10 years ago today that James came running out of
45:19
Speaker 1: the room shouting, it's a boy, with tears streaming down
45:22
Speaker 1: his face. He never did go back to Thailand. No, no, no.
45:29
Speaker 1: That is us done and dusted for the afternoon. The
45:32
Speaker 1: podcast is up shortly thanks to iHeartRadio. I'm Andy Muir.
45:35
Speaker 1: The muster is brought to you by Peters Genetics. Enjoy
45:37
Speaker 1: the afternoon. See you tomorrow at 1 o'clock.