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The Muster- Ben Dooley: Be Wary Of Snig Chains · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Ben Dooley joins us next, a sheep, beef and YouTube
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: farmer based just out of Wyndham. Ben, good afternoon, blue sky,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: it's good.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: G'day Andy, yep, no, it's good to see it for
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: a change. We still haven't forgiven Mother Nature for the
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: previous month but we'll enjoy this while it's here.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: You guys down there have been pretty wet over the
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: past six to eight weeks. What's the situation now?
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so typical, typical, typical weather. The day we stopped
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: the first cycle of lambing, the sun came out and
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: it hasn't stopped shining since, which has been great, but
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: would have been nice the previous three weeks. But yeah,
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: we're just sort of at a point now where we've
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: dried out, things are looking better and we're starting to
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: sort of get a bit of a picture of where
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: we think we'll be at. I'm putting tailing off a
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: bit just because shedding out was a bit later this year.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: But I've got 148 wet dryers out, two of them
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: have since lambed, so 146, which is good. Out of
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: 2350 ewes, 146 isn't very good, and I expect there'll
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: be another 40 to 50 to join that mob. So
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: a lot of wet dries, and there'll be a lot
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: of ones out there where there should be twos. So
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: the effects will certainly be felt, but I was thinking
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a few of those days there that that number could
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: be down there, double that. So we'll take that as
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: a bit of a win. Yeah, so things won't be
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: quite as bad as we thought. They'll still be not ideal.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: Still a lot of wasted opportunity, you'd say, because of
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: the weather. But we should still scrape through looking okay
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: for the season. So, yeah.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Well, that's the state of play, and you won't be
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: the only one in that boat deals given the way
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: the weather's been.
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely not. No, I expect that to be relatively
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: repeated over most of the province, to be fair. We
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: sort of feel like we might have been a bit
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: hard to hit over here, but it's pretty easy to
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: feel that when you're in it. I don't think anybody
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: got off scot-free. So, yeah. Just on that, I did
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: hear someone on your show the other day a while
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: ago talking about wet-dries and and killing wet dries because
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: some ewes and paddocks have had live lambs and some hadn't.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go the other way. I'm going to
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: go through ears pretty toughly, and I'll cull out anything
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: that needs to go and anything that I think maybe
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: should go. But, oh, man, in the worst days there,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: we had whole paddocks where nothing born for three days survived.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: It actually got to a point at one time where
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I shedded out about 40% of my maternal ewes halfway
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: through lambing. just to get those ewes out of those
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: wet paddocks. So the lambs were born in drier paddocks.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: That also had pretty serious implications when you start talking
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: 20 or 25 ewes to the heat there in paddocks,
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: but at least the lambs were alive when they hit
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: the ground. So you've just got to be a bit
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: reasonable and bear in mind that you could be throwing
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: away some pretty bloody good ewes there that really have
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: done nothing wrong. Yeah, and there may be other ewes
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: on your farm somewhere else that are probably more deserving
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: to go to the works than those ones that The
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: only thing they did wrong was, yeah, you put them
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: in that paddock. So just something for people to keep
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: in mind. I'm not saying no one should be killing
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: all their wet dries. The money is exceptional. But, yeah,
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: if anyone's sort of thinking about it and thinking, oh,
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: maybe it's not the right thing to do, just make
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: your own decision. Don't worry about what other people are
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: going to think of it. Just do what you think's right.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I think you're referring to Matt Ward, who was on
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: the show a couple of weeks ago, and, yeah, he
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: stood by what he thought was a way to look
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: at his genetics, too. It was interesting. Not everybody will
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: agree with it, but Matt said it worked for his system.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. People do what works for them, and I do agree.
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: If that's what he wants to do, he should absolutely
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: go for it and do that. But, yeah, I just
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: know of a fair few people out there that might
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: be thinking of keeping them and wondering whether it's a
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: good idea or not. and like I say make that
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: decision for yourself don't let what other people are saying
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: or doing influence that decision if you think they're a
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: good you and you think you want to give them
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: another chance there is nothing wrong with doing that because
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: from the genetic selection point of view like when everything's
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: dying you're not you're not selecting anything you're you're just
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: throwing good use away basically for quite good money a
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: little bit but yeah when 50% are surviving you'd say
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: there's a there's an avenue there to say, well, there's
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: some pretty good genetics there. It could just be, though,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: that they land at the top of the paddock and
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: one land at the bottom. If the ground wasn't so wet,
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: the one at the bottom might have had a better
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: chance of survival. But, yeah, when everything's dying, there's no
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: selection pressure there at all. It's just, yeah, not giving
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: them a chance, really.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: When you're hoping to tail then, saying you've delayed it,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: what's the date you've got in mind?
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Probably next week or the week after hopefully next week
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: I've sort of got a hold of the contract a
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: couple of other things going on and said we might
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: be a wee bit late and I said I wouldn't
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: be stressed if it was the last week of October
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: but hopefully next week but yeah the following week will
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: be fine as well so just whenever it happens.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: You're not a fan of snake chains?
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: No now a bit of a caveat here we have
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: snake chains and I do use snake chains to tow
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: things out when they get stuck But yeah, a few
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: years ago, I got a Snapchat from a mate in Australia,
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: and he was very lucky he was in a kit challenger,
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: because their seats are very strongly built, apparently. Tying a
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: truck out, and, you know, a bit of pain going
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: on the chain, I'll admit, but it broke at the
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: truck end, and the back window exploded when the chain
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: hit it, and if it had been six inches higher, yeah,
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: we probably would have been going to his funerals. I
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: just heard you make a comment about snake chain sales
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: the other day, and I thought it's a good opportunity
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: to pass on a bit of messaging around it. They're
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: great things as long as they're used within their means,
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: and quite often when people get heavy gear stuck, they
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: get panicked and they get stroppy, and then all of
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: a sudden you start using the chain as a snatch
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: strap and pulling on it and jerking on it, and
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: if I see anybody do that, I'm likely to go
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: and take the chain off them and throw it in
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: the bottom of a deep river somewhere. Bit of messaging
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: I'm quite keen to get out there. Like I say,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: we've got them, we use them, but when it comes
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: time for you to replace your snig chain, please, I
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: ask everybody to consider it. Go and buy yourself a strap,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: a nylon type, whatever they are, the straps that have
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: a bit of stretch in them. Find out what the
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: breaking strain is and get D shackles or whatever that
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: have at least twice the breaking strain of the strap.
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: and use that for towing in future, because that way
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: you don't have heavy metal projectiles going through the air
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: at the speed of sound trying to, yeah, kill you.
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: There's far too many instances around the world where people
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: have been seriously hurt or killed by chains breaking, and
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: just with how things are out there at the moment,
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: I thought it might be a good time to, yeah,
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: put some messaging out there around, not that I'm usually
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: a big advocate of health and safety type stuff, but
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: in this situation, it's one of those things that, Yeah,
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: have the right tools for the job. And I'm not
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: saying everyone should rush out and buy one, throw your
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: snake chains away. But when it gets to the point
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: where you think you want to replace it, go and
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: have a look at something a bit different.
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Well, the fact is, if you go to a cocky's
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: yard and go into the tractor, nine times out of
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: ten almost, you'll see a snake chain here because it's
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: so portable.
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Convenient. But then the straps weigh half the amount.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: All the contractors these days seem to use straps. A
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: lot of them have them tied around the front of
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: the big tractors just waiting to go, especially the John
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: Deere's because they need pulled out more. But yeah, no,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: they just, yeah. The chains are still great for lifting
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: and stuff like that, but when it comes to towing,
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: especially if you think you might need to take a
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: bit of a run up, just leave the chains in
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: the shed and get the right tool for the job.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: How many straps do you own?
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: I've got probably four or five for full driving, but
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: like I say, for the tractor side of things, we
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: still have chains. But when we do go to replace them,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: we won't be buying more chains. Like I say, it's
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: just one of those things that it's a huge risk.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: And if it all does go wrong, it doesn't usually
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: result in a hospital visit. It's usually a whole lot
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: worse than that. So, yeah.
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: Wise messaging, Dills. Enjoy the afternoon.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy.
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: Ben Dooley, sheep thief and YouTube farmer. And messaging around
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: strops as well, interesting too. You talk about the breaking
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: strain of a snake chain, and you do hear about
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: it more often than not as well, when it snaps
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and bang, glass goes everywhere. So strops, something to consider.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: Hopefully the paddocks dry out, you don't have to do that, right? Anyway,
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: Greg Erickson's up next. Let's go over to Canada, catch
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: up with our correspondent, formerly of Waimumu.