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The Muster- Matt Ward: Some Sunshine After The Rain · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: We're away to Morton Mains this afternoon on the muster
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: to catch up with Matt Ward, sheep and cattle farmer.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: In the middle of lambing, Matt, good afternoon.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: How are you coping in the wet?
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, g'day Andy. Yeah, we're chipping away. It's certainly not easy,
• 0:22
  Speaker 3: but we're getting there. Good day, good sunny day. Well,
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: it's sunny, it's not very warm, but it changes perspective
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: on things pretty quickly, doesn't it?
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Tuesday, 19 degrees. Yesterday is what it was. If that
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: makes any sense, then today it's just cool with a
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: bit of blue sky.
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: I mean, September is anything but settled.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%. It's changeable, isn't it? And I think after
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: the last couple of years, we've grew to expect it
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: to be one extreme to the other. Like I was
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: out planting trees on Tuesday afternoon, like it was a
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: beautiful afternoon. Good wind drying everything out and then I
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: think we tipped out 25 mil of rain from yesterday.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: It's just reverted straight back to mud and there's an
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: enormous amount of water lying around in some paddocks. Yeah,
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: it's not too flashy out there at the moment.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Is it as wet as you've seen it there?
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I keep thinking like, I feel like I've got
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: a pretty short memory because I know last year and
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: the year before that was pretty average. Like, pretty, pretty average.
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: And then this year, like, I feel like we're probably
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: just as bad. I felt like we got bad earlier
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: this year. We copped all that August, like, that rain
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: at the end of August there. Was it the Monday
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: or whatever it was, just before I started lambing.
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: 31st of August, yeah, arguably the coldest day of winter.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I reckon that's just put us on the
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: back foot from the start, to be fair. And we
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: had quite a bit of easterly stuff blowing, and it's
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: got all that shelter all west, and from there like
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: it's you start on the back foot like she's a
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: long way out of the hole and it's just got
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: worse and worse and worse whereas uh last year i
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: felt like we started off pretty well and it just
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: continuously got wet um so but that is what it
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: is i can't can't do too much about it it's
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: one thing we can't control the weather so yeah just
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: got to.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Soldier on so how far through are you uh i.
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: Reckon the years would be probably three quarters of the
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: way through And then hoggets start on Wednesday. So I'm
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: sort of just in that low point at the moment of, yeah,
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: probably 300 or 400 ewes lemon at the moment. And
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: then once the hoggets get underway, it gets busier again.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: But I was saying to you last time or the
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: time before, I used ram harnesses for the first time.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: So in 10-day intervals. So the first 10 days I
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: had 73, 74% of my ewes lemon, which has just
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: been a game changer. Having them, they're all finished and
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: now they're all mobbed up, starting on a rotation. And
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: it's just, I've gone from being like 22, 23 paddocks
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: to go around down to six, just like that. It's just, yeah,
• 2:51
  Speaker 3: giving myself a lot more time. And I'm a big
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: fan of getting ewes mobbed up as soon as, get
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: them rotating around and try and get a bit of
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: grass growing in front of them and try to get them,
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: like that peak milk's around that three weeks post-lamming. So
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: if everything's mobbed up by then and rotating around and, well,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: hopefully getting some grass growing in front of them sets
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: them up pretty well.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: I remember you talking about going to a ram harness,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and it's interesting, a lot of people have gone the
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: opposite way.
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and I sort of thought, I'd never used one before,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: and I sort of thought it's easy to, it's quite
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: easy not to use it. And I was like, oh God,
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: just try it for this year, and if it works,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't work, you know.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: So it's definitely a lot more work during mating, bringing
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: mobs in and drafting rams out and changing crayons and
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: a bit of mucking around. But far out, it saved
• 3:38
  Speaker 3: me a lot of time at this end of the year.
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: I'm just here by myself chipping about. So if I
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: can save a few hours a day going around sheep
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: that don't need looked at, yeah, it's all for the better.
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: And to be fair, I've still had, like, I've had
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: these ewes that are lambing 20 days after the ram
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: went out. Like, they've still been on crop up until
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: the start of this week. So it's just been, not
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: that there's been a big majority of them, but it's
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: just saved a bit more feed and stretched my swedes
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: out a bit further. And, yeah, that's definitely been a
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: bit of a game changer for me.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: So how intensive on the lambing beat are you, bearing
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: in mind you're doing everything by yourself, so there's only
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: so many hours in the day to contemplate?
• 4:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I try not to be too intensive, like I
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: certainly know I could be doing more, but time is
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: the thing, like try and get around in the morning,
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: I've still got about nearly 180 catawombs that are behind
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: the wire at the moment, so I'm still shifting them
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: on grass each day, and we're doing a few lambs
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: on a feeder at the moment, so there's a bit
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: of time in that. Yeah, but one thing that's definitely
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: got better is I've sort of culled out all my
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: ewes that get mothered on. Like the first couple of
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: years I might have mothered on 30 or 40 ewes,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: whereas this year I might have had seven or eight
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: through the pen that are good young ewes that deserve
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: a chance to have a lamb. Whereas, yeah, back at
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: the start, like far out, you're mothering on sheep all
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: the time, and that's where the time is. So now
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: that they're all gone out of the system, trying to
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: just make them, well, I sort of believe they've got
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: to do it themselves, don't they? You can't pamper them
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: too much. And when a ewe's worth what it is
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: at the moment, sending a wet-dry ewe to the works
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: is worth a fair bit of coin. So get them
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: out of it, off the gate, and yeah, no more
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: problems for next year, hopefully.
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: But if it's a wet-dry because of the weather, what
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: philosophy then?
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: Ah that's a good question I think it's yeah it's
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: sort of hard like it's I definitely think if we
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: have a real bad storm come through and there's a
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: majority of lambs in the paddock that have been born
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: overnight are down and down and out then I think
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: they have a case to to uh to survive another
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: year that you but like even like yeah even this
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: morning like a few lambs that were down and cold
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: like the there's a majority of the paddock that were
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: born last night up and feeding well, and you've sort
• 5:58
  Speaker 3: of got to ask the question, like, why hasn't that
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: ewe got up and got her lambs going again? So
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: I sort of do it case by case, but I'm
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: a sort of believer that I've sort of got to
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: get up and do it unless it's real average.
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: It's interesting the way that thinking has gone the way
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: it has regarding husbandry. I mean, case in point for
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: dry hog, it's a lot of people culling there now. Yes,
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: the money's good, but there's still young animals. And regarding
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: what you're talking about right there, Matt, if an animal,
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: if a sheep isn't prepared to get up and look
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: after a young, even if it is a hideous night,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: then that's kind of on her.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. And some people would say it's
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: pretty harsh, and especially like you put a lot of
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: time into getting a hog into lamb or a, ewe
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: into lamb just to go colour but you've got to
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: remember like there's 95% of the rest of the flock
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: have got up and got that lamb going and given
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: it a feed or lambed that lamb in shelter and
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: then the old ewe that's gone and lambed in the
• 6:55
  Speaker 3: middle of the storm in the middle of the paddock
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: you've got to ask yourself you know like I'm trying
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: to trying to breed survivability into my flock and to
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: be fair after the last two years like it hasn't
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: been real hard to do. Kenny lamb that survived the
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: last couple of years, and this year as well, has got,
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: it's pretty hearty. And it's sort of what I want
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: to be, what I want to be breeding for. Like
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: I'm not into pampering my stock through too much. And
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: like I was saying earlier, like it's here by myself,
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: so you've got to prioritize your time. If you're there
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: trying to keep everything alive and keep every ewe to
• 7:29
  Speaker 3: rear a lamb, like I'd be pulling my hair out.
• 7:32
  Speaker 3: And then it's sort of like you go and get
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: a lambing shepherd at, $ 400 or $ 500 a day, like,
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: it's a lot of money to... I know we're getting
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: good money for our lands, but it's a lot of
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: money to be paying someone to just be helping as well.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: So you've boxed up your ewes already, got them going
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: around on the feed. What are your covers like, given
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the situation?
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: Average. Average. Very average, to be fair. And I know
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: that's definitely the tricky part of getting them onto a
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: rotation is trying to... because I put a bit of
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: N in the system back in mid-August, so you can
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: definitely tell those paddocks that have got the N in
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: them compared to the paddocks that haven't, so they've got
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: a bit of good cover in them where the mobs
• 8:13
  Speaker 3: sort of start, and there's definitely a lot of shuffling
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: around to begin with. Got a few paddocks of Italian
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: and a few hybrid paddocks in that have kept pumping
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: a bit of feed, so they're sort of targeted first,
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: and then sort of just, yeah, it's a bit of
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: a shambles for the first few weeks. But once the
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: feed comes, then they're on a good rotation. Once they're
• 8:32
  Speaker 3: in that rotation, they're away then, aren't they? It makes
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: life a bit easier later on.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Therefore, it's organised chaos, but it's like the plan coming
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: together eventually.
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, 100% it is. Yeah, it is. And I'd rather
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: have them tight in a mob and know I'm going
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: feed in front of them than having them spread out
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: and being tight and having nowhere to go. Like it's
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: sort of, yeah, it gets a wee bit tricky, but
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: it's sort of, once the sun comes out and you've
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: got everything mobbed up and moving around, like even though
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: it's all temps up and we're still, feed's still freshening
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: up in front of us. So get these hoggets spread
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: out and then they'll create a bit of space as well.
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: And yeah, slowly it's all gets a bit easier.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: Righto mate, we'll leave it there. Thanks for your time.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: Good luck out there. And one good thing about today
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: is you can wear your sunnies.
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, cheers for that Andy. They're not on just yet,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: but we'll get there eventually.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Matt Ward, based at Morton Mains. Interesting philosophy as well
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: regarding stock and wet dries. Everybody's got their theories, but fascinating,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the mindset these days, like I've talked about before, how
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: it's all changed. Nonetheless, that's the evolution of farming, if
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: you will. Henry Buckingham's up next in the beef and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: lamb slot. Now, Henry has gone against the grain this year,
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: and he's changed his lambing date.
• 9:49
  Speaker 2: I'm fascinated to know his rationale behind this. He's up next.