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The Muster- Jared Stockman: Dairy NZ · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. It sounds like the pokies
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: win feature, but rest assured it is the Kaiser Chiefs.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I predict a riot. Anything but a riot as we
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: catch up with Jared Stockman of Dairy NZ. G'day, Jared.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: G'day, Andy.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: You're out at a pass at a profit field day today,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: and it sounds like half a district's there.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we've got 200 farmers out. We're out at Kenny
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: and Gaye Antink's farm at... What do we see with Downs? Oh, like,
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: awesome turnout. 200-plus farmers, a whole lot of farm staff.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: And we're out to see, you know, one of the
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: best operators around just in terms of how Henny runs
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: his farms. And, geez, he's turned on a great day
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: for us.
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: So what's he doing differently out there to negate the
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: current situation?
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: Hmm. Look, this will surprise you. So he's making bailiffs today.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: But look, Henny is very, he's got a very good herd.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: He's got kiwi crossbreeds doing 600 plus a cow. 83%
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: of their diet is pasture. He's harvesting about 15.3 tonnes
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: on his petaheek deer. His milk productions over 2000 a
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: hectare and more importantly his operating profit is over 8800
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: per hectare which puts him in probably the top 5%
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: in Southland when we look at our dairy based numbers
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: so yeah incredibly strong operator hugely focused on pasture management
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: so targets post-grazing residuals of 1600 and uses the mower
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: to make sure that that happens. But yeah, just a
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: great operator, great family, and geez, they run a great operation.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: He's invested in infrastructure and drainage on the farm. He's
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: had this farm since 2001, so what are we, kind
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: of 25 years. He's got about 50 kilometres of drainage
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: in there. He's got a 650-car concrete feed pad. that
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: he uses throughout the season. Um, you know, he's just got, uh,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: just a really, really good setup here and, um, really
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: focused on, you know, pasture management and harvesting as much
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: pasture as he can. But, um, look, he's, he's not
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: immune to the challenges that Southland, you know, currently got.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: So he's got, he's, you know, some of his paddocks
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: are pretty well pegged like everyone else, but, um, yeah,
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: just that focus on residuals, um, and, you know, making
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: sure that he's not forcing cows back into, you know,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: clean-up paddocks. That's what he's using the mower for. And, yeah,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: it's a tried-and-true method that he's developed, you know, over
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: the years, and it really pays dividend from a production
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: as well as a proper point of view.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: Gerard, are people starting to contemplate wintering and composting barns
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: as a result of these springs?
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: Yeah, huge uptake. Actually, talking to some of the farmers
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: this afternoon, like, There's a number that have been thinking
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: about it that have really pulled the trigger on it,
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: starting with design and things like that. And we've seen
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: that in recent field days with a number of farmers
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: turning up. And look, I kind of think that if
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: you want to run a top resilient business, Southland's a
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: tough place in the spring. And A lot of farmers
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: are really sort of saying, right, we need to do something.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: We need to be able to make sure we can
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: feed and carve these cows with the appropriate infrastructure. And so, yeah,
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: large numbers are looking at investing in that, which I
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: think is really positive.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: Speaking to the pundits out there, how have they survived
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: the spring?
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, pretty good. Like, you know, just chatting to some
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: of the farmers this afternoon, yep there's been most of
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: them have kind of moved into that yep there's been
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: some challenges and now we just need to get on
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: and get things done I guess you know farmer fatigue
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: is something that we talk about a lot and look
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: they haven't had a lot of breaks but yeah I
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: think in the most part farmers have done very well
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: I think if you ask most of them it's about
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: well what can we do better next time so yeah
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: farmers are really good at adapting and learning and stuff
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: and that's where I think off paddock infrastructure is going
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: to play a key role in their farming businesses going forward.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: The other key thing this week is the anniversary of
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: the winds occurs on Friday when you think back all
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: those weeks ago already what's your immediate thoughts? Dare I
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: say it?
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah look I guess you can look back and laugh
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: but I think I think the learnings that farmers took
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: out of that event were really positive, and a lot
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: of farmers started to think, well, hey, if we've got
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: an issue, we can't always rely on other people's soil
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: for us, so a number of farmers, or most farmers,
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: have got themselves sorted with alternative power arrangements through generators,
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: and I think the The spring is just a tough
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: time in Southland and South Otago and stuff. So again,
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: people are thinking about, well, how do we mitigate some
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: of the risks that we're facing? And look, it just
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: makes sense. Balance sheets have never been stronger. So banks
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: have never been more favourable in terms of access to capital.
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: So it's a really good time to And, you know,
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: just have a think about what are the risks in
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: your farming operation and within your business and then start
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: to close some of those gaps and just make it
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: easy on yourself because it's, you know, farming's tough enough
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: as it is without having to deal with, you know,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: adverse events and stuff like that. But, yeah, I think, geez,
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: there's still a few trees that are down and haven't
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: been chipped or dealt to. Absolutely.
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 6:37
  Speaker 2: That's, yeah, that's my thoughts. Bit of deja vu. Bit
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: of deja vu, I think. Bit of PTSD.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Bit of good news to wrap up as well. The
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: GDT rose overnight solid at that as well.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. I mean, it's really positive for this time
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: of the year to get those wee bumps and rises
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: and stuff. And, you know, I'm reasonably confident that, I guess, pay-it-wise,
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: it's going to be a pretty solid year. And, again,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: I think that will be.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: You know, that'll be helpful for a lot of farmers
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: as well because there's been some big feed bills in
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: the last six or eight weeks. So, yeah, very positive.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Good on you, Jared. Thanks for your time as always.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: Appreciate it. Thanks, Andy.
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: Jared Stockman of Dairy NZ. You're listening to The Muster.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Beautiful afternoon here down here in the Deep South. In studio, actually,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: Senior Sergeant Gary Eddington of the Gore Police.