Latest / The Muster on Hokonui / Best Of The Muster: 12/09/26

Transcript

Best Of The Muster: 12/09/26 · The Muster on Hokonui

0:04
Speaker 1: A very good morning and welcome into the Best of
0:06
Speaker 1: the Mustard, a collaboration of interviews that took our attention
0:09
Speaker 1: during a busy week here at Hokanui HQ. My name's
0:12
Speaker 1: Andy Muir. Thanks for your company. We're starting off by
0:14
Speaker 1: catching up with Blair Drysdale. Farming at Balfour, a mixed
0:18
Speaker 1: operation there, and having... Well, interesting season to say the
0:22
Speaker 1: least due to the way the weather conditions have been.
0:24
Speaker 1: But Blair talks about the synergies on his operation and
0:27
Speaker 1: how they work. Well, he's gone back into sheep after notoriously, well,
0:31
Speaker 1: he had an old wool shed. We'll put that out there,
0:33
Speaker 1: but he got sick of it, so he just buried it.
0:36
Speaker 1: And he runs a few ewes on his property to
0:38
Speaker 1: go along with his arable side of things and winter
0:40
Speaker 1: grazing as well. So we catch up with Blocker to
0:43
Speaker 1: see how things have been during this season.
0:46
Speaker 2: Mark Dillon.
0:47
Speaker 1: Once again, we catch up with Bob after the World
0:49
Speaker 1: Ploughing Champs. They happened last weekend at Croatia. We caught
0:53
Speaker 1: up with him earlier on in the week and tells
0:54
Speaker 1: us how he got on and did pretty darn well
0:57
Speaker 1: in the circumstances as well. Laurie Margrain is chairman of
1:00
Speaker 1: Open Country, and we catch up with the team on
1:02
Speaker 1: a regular basis.
1:03
Speaker 2: Always good to catch up with Laurie.
1:05
Speaker 1: Tim Baker of Clinton Young Farmers talks about the season
1:09
Speaker 1: they're having on the farm. He's pretty pragmatic, actually, Tim,
1:13
Speaker 1: saying that, yes, we've been there before, but it is
1:16
Speaker 1: what it is. The big thing with Tim is that
1:18
Speaker 1: Clinton Young Farmers, he's a member there, they recorded wicked numbers,
1:23
Speaker 1: massive numbers at their meeting.
1:24
Speaker 2: This week, which was unprecedented, to say the least.
1:27
Speaker 1: And finally, Murray Heath, ahead of the 1970 Southland Rugby Reunion,
1:33
Speaker 1: which got underway last night at Ascot Park, goes through
1:36
Speaker 1: this weekend, finishing up tomorrow at the Bay of Plenty game,
1:40
Speaker 1: which is actually celebrating, between the two unions, 50 years,
1:45
Speaker 1: when I say that, because Bay of Plenty won the MPC,
1:47
Speaker 1: inaugural MPC, back in 1976. So Murray talks about what's
1:52
Speaker 1: going to be happening and certainly you've got to celebrate
1:54
Speaker 1: these milestones. So without further ado, we'll start the hour
1:57
Speaker 1: next with Blair Drysdale. This is The Best of the Muster.
2:02
Speaker 3: I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell.
2:05
Speaker 2: I know right now you can't tell, but stay a
2:09
Speaker 2: while and.
2:10
Speaker 4: Maybe then you'll see.
2:12
Speaker 1: We're away to Balfour this afternoon on the muster to
2:14
Speaker 1: catch up with Blair Drysdale. Mixed farming operation up that way.
2:18
Speaker 1: And the Sergeant Dan Farming Roundup brought to you by
2:20
Speaker 1: Sergeant Dan Stock Foods here in Goreblocker. Good afternoon. How
2:25
Speaker 1: are you coping up there at Balfour with the spring
2:27
Speaker 1: to date?
2:28
Speaker 5: Good afternoon, Andy. Spring is just frustration for a third
2:33
Speaker 5: year in a row. Simple as that.
2:36
Speaker 4: You know, I know.
2:38
Speaker 5: After that first bad spring, it's like, oh, you won't
2:40
Speaker 5: get two of these in a row, and then there
2:41
Speaker 5: was a hold my beer moment with Mother Nature, and,
2:44
Speaker 5: you know, well, shit, you won't get three, will you?
2:45
Speaker 5: Let's hope not, but the early spring has been very
2:50
Speaker 5: similar to the last two, so let's see what happens,
2:53
Speaker 5: but yeah, I think everyone's pretty wet now, lack of sunshine,
2:58
Speaker 5: grass has stopped here, we haven't had any growth for
3:00
Speaker 5: a good, you know, week, ten days more now, it
3:02
Speaker 5: was starting to take away, but it's just stopped dead, so, yeah,
3:05
Speaker 5: a little bit frustrating, getting sick of I'm just tidying
3:09
Speaker 5: up with the tractor at the moment, doing odd jobs
3:10
Speaker 5: because you can't really spray. It's been too wet and
3:13
Speaker 5: cold to do, and windy to do, for a horse spraying,
3:17
Speaker 5: so ground's too wet largely to work. I've done a
3:19
Speaker 5: little bit, but yeah.
3:21
Speaker 1: You've got the lambing going on at the moment from
3:23
Speaker 1: the man who coined the phrase, the woolly aphids.
3:25
Speaker 2: How are they going?
3:27
Speaker 5: Apart from being really unsettled, well, they've settled down a
3:31
Speaker 5: bit the last few days since the winds dropped, but yeah,
3:33
Speaker 5: they've been a little bit flighty, so at least it's
3:35
Speaker 5: best with the shooting ones. So I go around them
3:38
Speaker 5: once a day largely to make sure there's nothing cast
3:41
Speaker 5: and to pick up dead ewes and lambs. Really, I
3:42
Speaker 5: don't do a lot and I don't have to do
3:45
Speaker 5: a hell of a lot with them. Had to lamb
3:47
Speaker 5: the old ones and the really early ones that have
3:49
Speaker 5: finished lambing. They've been finished for 10 days more now.
3:52
Speaker 5: But no, all in all, good numbers hitting the ground.
3:55
Speaker 5: Took a bit of a pasting on, what was it,
3:57
Speaker 5: Monday night, that real cold night. We lost a lot
3:59
Speaker 5: of newborn lambs that night, but um he can't do
4:03
Speaker 5: much at night about that so happens every now and
4:05
Speaker 5: then but yeah all in all they're taking on pretty
4:07
Speaker 5: nicely and we'll be looking at the main ewes we'll
4:10
Speaker 5: be well through them by the end of this week
4:12
Speaker 5: that's for sure and then just um wait on hogwarts
4:15
Speaker 5: they'll start on the 1st of october so yeah considering
4:18
Speaker 5: i started on the i think it was the 20th
4:21
Speaker 5: of august that will be a long spread out lambing
4:23
Speaker 5: but uh mitigates a bit of risk and work spreads
4:25
Speaker 5: workload too so all in all they're going well but
4:28
Speaker 5: yeah lambs the The early ones, the black-faced ones, they're
4:32
Speaker 5: looking for a little bit of sun. They're starting to
4:33
Speaker 5: eat grass too, so a bit of sun will be handy.
4:36
Speaker 2: How many ewes are you lambing?
4:39
Speaker 5: Mixed-age ewes, there's 300 and there's 300 hoggets, but I
4:43
Speaker 5: actually can't fit all those numbers in next year, the
4:46
Speaker 5: way it's looking, so I'm probably going to cut the
4:47
Speaker 5: heads off some hoggets either late next week or early
4:50
Speaker 5: next week. So we'll do that. Ideally, I'd like to
4:54
Speaker 5: round that 500, 450, 500 next year. we'll sort of
5:00
Speaker 5: be where it's at we won't lamb hoggets again next
5:02
Speaker 5: year we've just sort of done that to get numbers
5:04
Speaker 5: up in a hurry really so we'll quit that next
5:06
Speaker 5: year it does have you know a lot of hoggets
5:08
Speaker 5: last year had twins and boy shit it's hard on
5:10
Speaker 5: them so I can still see those ones now as
5:13
Speaker 5: a two tooth so yeah we'll quit that game and
5:16
Speaker 5: just lamb the ewes only but we'll still do lamb
5:19
Speaker 5: the old girls early to a terminal and do the
5:22
Speaker 5: rest as per.
5:22
Speaker 1: Normal Remembering that you went away from use proper, I mean,
5:25
Speaker 1: you're the guy who infamously just buried his wool shed.
5:30
Speaker 2: So what are you thinking there?
5:31
Speaker 1: The market's looking pretty good and you're just keeping your
5:33
Speaker 1: hand in a few different pies as such?
5:37
Speaker 5: We've always run a diverse operation. We've always had, yes,
5:42
Speaker 5: we dropped sheep numbers back to nothing for a while
5:44
Speaker 5: down to 30 or 40 ewes, but we've always had
5:47
Speaker 5: sheep and beef. We're just changing the mix a wee
5:49
Speaker 5: bit at the moment, doing a lot more beef. We've
5:51
Speaker 5: just We bought a block next door a year ago,
5:53
Speaker 5: so it's all re-fenced now, and the cattle yards, they
5:57
Speaker 5: should be finished by the end of the day, and
5:58
Speaker 5: then water seemed to go in. So just changing up
6:01
Speaker 5: a bit. There's more margin in beef than there is
6:05
Speaker 5: in wheat at the moment, which is still the main
6:07
Speaker 5: arable crop really in Southland. So yeah, just go with
6:10
Speaker 5: the margin rather than, you know, we're not chasing markets
6:14
Speaker 5: as such. Like I say, we've always had beef, but
6:16
Speaker 5: we're just increasing it there a bit. So yeah, spreads
6:19
Speaker 5: of workloads, spreads of roofs, and makes it a little
6:22
Speaker 5: bit more interesting too, doing some new things as well, Andy.
6:25
Speaker 1: With the way the arable sector is at the moment,
6:27
Speaker 1: are you thinking of perhaps getting more sheep into the equation?
6:31
Speaker 2: Or beef for that matter?
6:33
Speaker 5: Sheep sort of have to fit into the system around
6:36
Speaker 5: everything else. So the arable and beef sort of take priority,
6:39
Speaker 5: and the sheep, you know, they fit around it. We
6:42
Speaker 5: can change those numbers pretty quickly, so they fit around
6:44
Speaker 5: everything else. So they're largely there. Yeah. You know, to
6:49
Speaker 5: tidy up behind the combine and do that sort of thing,
6:51
Speaker 5: keep fence lines tidy, lanes tidy. We do have a
6:53
Speaker 5: lot of smaller paddocks around the house that aren't really
6:56
Speaker 5: much good for anything else but our sheep. So they
6:59
Speaker 5: largely have a job to do and just have to
7:01
Speaker 5: fit in. That's where they sit.
7:04
Speaker 1: You want to talk about tax today, Blair. Now, you
7:06
Speaker 1: had a wee rant off air before we came on
7:08
Speaker 1: for a chat. Possibly, I haven't had an F-bomb on
7:12
Speaker 1: the show since Bruce Eaton at Waimumi. That may change today.
7:14
Speaker 2: Where are we at?
7:16
Speaker 5: Well, we definitely, you wouldn't want to air my little
7:18
Speaker 5: rant off air.
7:19
Speaker 2: It was one for the ages, I'll say that.
7:23
Speaker 5: But as we get close to the election, things get serious.
7:25
Speaker 5: And from no party, really, it's all sort of tax-based
7:29
Speaker 5: policy and what we can do give away the policy
7:33
Speaker 5: and what.
7:34
Speaker 6: We can do for free.
7:35
Speaker 5: Nothing's ever free. It always has to be paid from
7:38
Speaker 5: from somewhere. And you have to rob Peter to pay Paul.
7:41
Speaker 5: And what we're not seeing a lot of is how
7:43
Speaker 5: do we grow our economy? How do we get that
7:46
Speaker 5: good fiscal and economic policy to get this country to
7:51
Speaker 5: a position where we're back in the top tier of
7:53
Speaker 5: the world's nations? Because you look at our health system
7:56
Speaker 5: and education, we're slipping behind the eight ball a lot.
7:59
Speaker 5: You look at our... And then, you know, You can't,
8:03
Speaker 5: Winston Churchill said it very famously, trying to tax yourself
8:06
Speaker 5: to prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying
8:08
Speaker 5: to lift yourself up by a handle. And unfortunately, that's
8:11
Speaker 5: where Labour and the once socialist and now seemingly communist
8:15
Speaker 5: Greens are at. So it's terrible. And if the Greens
8:19
Speaker 5: with their latest policy about supermarkets, they should probably take
8:22
Speaker 5: a wee trip to Zimbabwe and try and buy a
8:24
Speaker 5: loaf of bread and see what it costs them. They
8:26
Speaker 5: are raving lunatics with no idea of economics whatsoever. They're
8:31
Speaker 5: in la-la land. So it'd just be nice from all
8:34
Speaker 5: parties to see how we can grow the country's economy,
8:37
Speaker 5: how we can grow industry, because industry's just leaving this country.
8:42
Speaker 5: Your sawmill's closing down everywhere, for argument's sake. So I'd
8:45
Speaker 5: like to see a lot more in that area, and
8:46
Speaker 5: every party's guilty of not giving us enough in that area.
8:50
Speaker 2: Is your vote up for grabs?
8:53
Speaker 4: Hell yeah.
8:53
Speaker 7: Yeah.
8:54
Speaker 5: Well, you know, every farmer in this electorate would largely, normally,
8:58
Speaker 5: and probably take the last election out of it, would
9:00
Speaker 5: have voted National. You know, Joseph's got a pretty safe seat,
9:05
Speaker 5: there's no doubt about that, but there'll be a lot
9:06
Speaker 5: more tactical voting going on, that's for sure, around where
9:11
Speaker 5: your electorate and party vote goes. There's no doubt about that,
9:15
Speaker 5: because a lot of people are looking for, you know,
9:18
Speaker 5: the policies that make sense from some of the smaller parties.
9:20
Speaker 5: Let's exclude the Greens, because their policies are videocracy. But
9:24
Speaker 5: I'm talking ACT and New Zealand First. So it's going
9:27
Speaker 5: to be a very interesting election. It's probably going to
9:29
Speaker 5: be the messiest one in living memory, I believe. So
9:34
Speaker 5: that's going to be very interesting come November.
9:37
Speaker 2: Good on you, Blair. We'll let you carry on.
9:39
Speaker 1: And thank you for not getting me to the Broadcasting
9:41
Speaker 1: Standards Authority today.
9:43
Speaker 5: No, I'll save my F-bombs for another day as much
9:46
Speaker 5: as the Greens rile me.
9:52
Speaker 2: This is the muster on Hokanui.
9:54
Speaker 1: Mark Dillon has been representing New Zealand at the World
9:56
Speaker 1: Ploughing Championships yet again over in Croatia.
10:00
Speaker 2: Of course, he's based at Riversdale in northern Southland.
10:03
Speaker 1: And we've all heard about the issues Bob had with
10:07
Speaker 1: shipping containers and lack of them getting to their destinations.
10:10
Speaker 1: The event occurred over the weekend, the World Champs. Bob
10:13
Speaker 1: joins us to give us a rundown on how it
10:15
Speaker 1: all went.
10:16
Speaker 2: Bob, good afternoon. Firstly, how did the weekend treat you?
10:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, g'day Andy. Yeah, not bad. Yeah, I thought I
10:25
Speaker 3: played a pretty coldy plot on Friday, which was a
10:28
Speaker 3: stubble ground, but the judges didn't agree with me. Yeah,
10:31
Speaker 3: the Saturday we had what was meant to be grass turn,
10:34
Speaker 3: but it was alfalfa ground, which is looser and extremely hard.
10:39
Speaker 3: It'd be some of the hardest ground I reckon I've
10:40
Speaker 3: ever played, but yeah, I did have a better day
10:43
Speaker 3: on the Saturday and got a bit further up the
10:45
Speaker 3: points list.
10:45
Speaker 5: What were the.
10:46
Speaker 2: Issues that the judges had for the first day?
10:53
Speaker 3: Oh, they must have been listening to different stuff than me,
10:54
Speaker 3: and they decided to keep their points and not give
10:57
Speaker 3: them to me, the buggers.
10:58
Speaker 1: Can you say anything to them at the time, or
11:01
Speaker 1: do you just have to just bite your tongue and
11:02
Speaker 1: carry on with it?
11:03
Speaker 2: I mean, there's no third umpire or anything, is there?
11:05
Speaker 3: No, there's no third umpire, you can't really, but then
11:09
Speaker 3: once we get back and you're looking, it's hard to
11:12
Speaker 3: tell when you're sitting on the track to see, but
11:13
Speaker 3: once you go and have a look after you've done
11:15
Speaker 3: the job, and compared to the top trailmen, what they've
11:18
Speaker 3: been and what you've been, oh, it's a big learning curve,
11:21
Speaker 3: and different gear and everything else. Yeah, it wasn't a disaster,
11:27
Speaker 3: but it's all there. It's learning and learning. It's been
11:30
Speaker 3: a great experience. It's been challenging with the different gear.
11:33
Speaker 3: I turned up here 10 days ago and I pinched
11:35
Speaker 3: a nerve in my back, so that hasn't been that
11:37
Speaker 3: cool either. I know the physio over here by first-name
11:40
Speaker 3: basis as well, so that's been part of the experience.
11:44
Speaker 1: You say the ground yesterday was some of the hardest
11:46
Speaker 1: ploughing you've ever done. Just put into context what you
11:49
Speaker 1: came up against.
11:52
Speaker 3: Oh, so they haven't had any rain over here for
11:54
Speaker 3: 75 days, and this foam we were ploughing on, it's
11:57
Speaker 3: pretty much mint till, so it would have come out
12:01
Speaker 3: of a cereal crop maybe or maize or something like that,
12:04
Speaker 3: and this mint till with the looser on top of it,
12:05
Speaker 3: so the ground's reasonably undulating, very compacted. The whole time
12:11
Speaker 3: we've been here, I don't think I've seen one worm
12:12
Speaker 3: in the soil, so it probably explains a bit about
12:15
Speaker 3: soil health and how that goes towards the compaction issue.
12:20
Speaker 2: So overall, result-wise, where did you end up?
12:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, 14th, which is a bit better than last year.
12:27
Speaker 3: I was 11th on the second day in the FFL,
12:30
Speaker 3: which is, yeah, I was happy enough. I drove straight,
12:33
Speaker 3: which a lot of people couldn't drive straight, which probably
12:35
Speaker 3: got me a bit further up the points list. Had
12:37
Speaker 3: a pretty good crown, got a very good split. Haven't
12:40
Speaker 3: actually seen the final breakdown of the points, just to
12:42
Speaker 3: chew the fat on what kind of, there's always room
12:45
Speaker 3: for improvement, yep. As I said to someone, the ever-elusive
12:49
Speaker 3: perfect plot has still eluded me, but we'll keep chipping
12:51
Speaker 3: away and trying to get better.
12:52
Speaker 1: Well, you say some individuals are having issues having a
12:55
Speaker 1: straight line on their plots. Was that due to the
12:57
Speaker 1: state of the ground?
13:00
Speaker 5: Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah.
13:00
Speaker 3: If your gear's just not running dead true, then it'll
13:03
Speaker 3: start walking a lot, and a lot of guys had
13:05
Speaker 3: issues with that during their splits, that the plough was
13:07
Speaker 3: walking around the paddock. Actually, if you studied, watched the ploughs,
13:10
Speaker 3: you could feel it from the seat. The ploughs are
13:12
Speaker 3: shuddering or shaking when they're going through the ground. It
13:15
Speaker 3: was that hard, and I didn't hear it, but there's
13:18
Speaker 3: a guy from, no, the Netherlands, just about seven or
13:22
Speaker 3: eight plots up from me, and he must have hit
13:24
Speaker 3: something and broke a colder stalk, and it went off
13:26
Speaker 3: like a shotgun.
13:27
Speaker 1: Remembering you weren't in your own gear either, how did
13:29
Speaker 1: you adapt to the messy and the plough that you
13:32
Speaker 1: got lent?
13:34
Speaker 3: Pretty good, I think. It was the first day, it
13:36
Speaker 3: was one bit, and I was getting under the pump,
13:38
Speaker 3: and getting a wee bit frustrated, and I went to
13:39
Speaker 3: lean and reach for the wrong lever, but the second day, yeah,
13:43
Speaker 3: just took it in my stride, and and everything, yeah,
13:46
Speaker 3: I was getting frustrated halfway through the plot, thinking, what, yeah,
13:48
Speaker 3: I've got to do something different here, this thing ain't working,
13:50
Speaker 3: and Ed started tinkering and did this wee fine-tuning of things,
13:53
Speaker 3: and the ploughing improved, and it was quite funny, my
13:56
Speaker 3: coach was on the end of the headland, and he goes,
13:58
Speaker 3: he needs to give her a couple of screws on
13:59
Speaker 3: that land well, that's about what I did, and tinkered
14:01
Speaker 3: with a few other bits and pieces, and it improved,
14:03
Speaker 3: and it's always a good feeling when you do something
14:05
Speaker 3: like that, and the result at the back looks better.
14:09
Speaker 2: This is fascinating. You have a coach for ploughing.
14:12
Speaker 1: What can somebody who's watching what you do compared to
14:15
Speaker 1: your average ploughman on the tractor going about his business
14:19
Speaker 1: in the lands and logs, what can he see differently?
14:24
Speaker 3: Oh, we're pretty lucky. Thomas is a two-time world champion
14:26
Speaker 3: and ploughs his jam. He lives and breathes it. Well,
14:31
Speaker 3: he just knows. He's got that much experience under his belt.
14:33
Speaker 3: He can see or he knows what to do to
14:36
Speaker 3: make the result of it. back change um then it
14:41
Speaker 3: just but it's an experience in the seat really.
14:44
Speaker 1: So yeah i dare say you had a good shindig
14:46
Speaker 1: after the event finished.
14:49
Speaker 3: Oh yeah really awesome um awards dinner last night there's
14:52
Speaker 3: a big business center on the other side of town
14:54
Speaker 3: we didn't realize that building was a huge big building
14:56
Speaker 3: and yeah great music um a couple of babies and
15:00
Speaker 3: they had a band plan as well so you know
15:01
Speaker 3: it was a good way to finish off the week.
15:03
Speaker 1: So therefore, the plough and the tractor you were using,
15:06
Speaker 1: your French mates, they'll just take your Welsh mates, sorry,
15:09
Speaker 1: it'll go back to Wales. You and Sonia and your
15:11
Speaker 1: mum and dad, you'll get back on the plane and
15:12
Speaker 1: come back to New Zealand shortly, I'd imagine.
15:16
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, so we started stripping gear down last night.
15:19
Speaker 3: We think we finished ploughing about 12 o'clock and then
15:23
Speaker 3: the finishing or the end of the ploughing ceremony was
15:26
Speaker 3: about 3.30, then back to the compound, started stripping gear
15:28
Speaker 3: down and stuff and then we were about to get
15:30
Speaker 3: in the car, head back out there now, start washing
15:32
Speaker 3: stuff up and packing it away, and then I've got
15:34
Speaker 3: a few bits and pieces I've had shipped here that
15:36
Speaker 3: I've ploughed with to clean them up, and they're going
15:39
Speaker 3: to go on to the Cavourland dealers, they're going to
15:41
Speaker 3: ship them back to New Zealand for me.
15:42
Speaker 2: Next year, it's in Kenya.
15:44
Speaker 1: I mean, it sounds like a very close-knit community, the
15:47
Speaker 1: ploughing fraternity, especially at these events. A lot of these individuals,
15:52
Speaker 1: have they qualified to go over to Africa next year
15:54
Speaker 1: as well?
15:57
Speaker 3: There's not a whole lot because we're this sort of world.
16:00
Speaker 3: We qualify, I suppose, half six months earlier than anyone else.
16:04
Speaker 3: But this is sort of why the Welsh guys want
16:05
Speaker 3: to get the gear home. So it was James and
16:08
Speaker 3: Roger George's gear from Wales I used. And James is
16:11
Speaker 3: heading over to Ireland to have all his planners to
16:14
Speaker 3: qualify so he can come to Kenya next year.
16:18
Speaker 2: So that is the plan.
16:19
Speaker 1: That is the intention next year to go to Kenya,
16:21
Speaker 1: isn't it?
16:23
Speaker 3: Yeah, I've already qualified. So when I won the nationals
16:26
Speaker 3: back in April, that qualified me to come and play
16:29
Speaker 3: on Kenya for next year. So that's the next thing
16:32
Speaker 3: to get home. And there's a few bits and pieces
16:35
Speaker 3: I want to do to the playoff and just keep
16:36
Speaker 3: practising and tinkering away and improving on the art.
16:41
Speaker 2: Now, it's not that long.
16:42
Speaker 1: What is it, Kenya next year, back to the Netherlands
16:44
Speaker 1: and then New Zealand the year after. Are people asking
16:47
Speaker 1: you about what to expect when they come to New Zealand?
16:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, so because next year we were thinking that there
16:54
Speaker 3: may not be as many countries go to Kenya, so
16:58
Speaker 3: we did a bit of a brief presentation and had
17:01
Speaker 3: a bit of a video running there so people can
17:02
Speaker 3: sort of see what New Zealand's up to and that
17:04
Speaker 3: a lot of people, if it's on their bucket list
17:07
Speaker 3: or if they've never been to New Zealand, they think, well,
17:09
Speaker 3: what better time to come over and compete in the
17:12
Speaker 3: world or even just come over and judge or manage
17:14
Speaker 3: and be part of the team and come and be,
17:16
Speaker 3: as you say, Andy, there's a big family. The amount
17:19
Speaker 3: of people that reached out to us when When we
17:21
Speaker 3: were in a pickle with the shipping, it was really,
17:23
Speaker 3: really awesome and humbling. And, yeah, it's been great to
17:25
Speaker 3: catch up with people from our playing family that we
17:28
Speaker 3: only catch up with once a year.
17:30
Speaker 1: Mark Dillon, congratulations once again on finishing 11th. That's no
17:33
Speaker 1: mean feat over at World Ploughing Champs. Safe travels for you, Sonia,
17:37
Speaker 1: your mum and dad, and all your support team. And,
17:39
Speaker 1: once again, mighty congratulations. That's a hell of an effort.
17:42
Speaker 4: Thanks, Eddie. MUSIC PLAYS.
17:53
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. Laurie Margrain is chairman of
17:57
Speaker 1: Open Country. Joins us this afternoon as we get through
18:01
Speaker 1: the calving season. Truth be known, down here in the south. Laurie,
18:04
Speaker 1: good afternoon. Always good to catch up.
18:07
Speaker 6: Nice to talk to you, Andy. Always very keen to
18:09
Speaker 6: have a chat.
18:11
Speaker 1: It's been an interesting spring down here in the south.
18:13
Speaker 1: You guys will know all about that. I suppose around
18:16
Speaker 1: the country, though, how's the feeling at the moment?
18:18
Speaker 6: Well, are you talking on the rugby front or are
18:21
Speaker 6: you talking as far as the dairy industry is concerned?
18:23
Speaker 1: We'll talk on rugby at the end of the interview
18:25
Speaker 1: because you've got some interesting stats of harbour for this
18:28
Speaker 1: year I want to touch on, but I think just
18:29
Speaker 1: in a rural sense.
18:31
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, look, the milk flows for the period, the
18:36
Speaker 6: first period, the weakest period of the year or lowest
18:38
Speaker 6: period of the year for milk production, that's in June
18:41
Speaker 6: to September. They are up, but I hesitate to put
18:46
Speaker 6: too much store by that. These are the lower milk
18:49
Speaker 6: flow months, and being up or down a few percent
18:52
Speaker 6: is neither here nor there. Clearly, there's some climatic issues
18:57
Speaker 6: or weather issues affecting the south. You'd expect those to
19:01
Speaker 6: manifest themselves in some milk production negativity down there, but
19:07
Speaker 6: it's not currently doing so, but I'd expect they would.
19:10
Speaker 6: Around the country, conditions are pretty good. We've had enough
19:13
Speaker 6: rain when we want it. We've had enough sunshine when
19:15
Speaker 6: we want it. Taranaki, Manawatu, Waikato, King Country, Bay of Plenty,
19:22
Speaker 6: all pretty good. I guess now the main focus is
19:26
Speaker 6: on the supply-demand matrix and ensuring that whatever the variabilities
19:33
Speaker 6: the world's providing, the volatility around the world is not
19:35
Speaker 6: interfering too much in the supply-demand, which currently is pretty
19:39
Speaker 6: well in balance.
19:41
Speaker 2: Carving will be well through up north now, I'd imagine.
19:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, pretty well done. I would have thought, well, in fact,
19:46
Speaker 6: not pretty well done, totally done. Carving up here is
19:49
Speaker 6: probably mid-July, mid-July on at the peak. Well done. Into insemination,
19:57
Speaker 6: I guess, very shortly, October. Well, soon. Yeah, I mean,
20:02
Speaker 6: the season's well advanced and I don't think there's a
20:04
Speaker 6: lot of negativity other than ongoing concerns for on-farm costs, Andy,
20:10
Speaker 6: so that doesn't go away. But otherwise, the mood's pretty positive.
20:14
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're talking about a break-even point. Well, a lot
20:17
Speaker 1: of farmers, depending on who you talk to and what
20:21
Speaker 1: structure their base and their payout are on, Laurie, possibly
20:25
Speaker 1: around the mid $ 8.
20:26
Speaker 2: 40 was the.
20:26
Speaker 1: Mark I've heard quite a bit, although that was last season,
20:29
Speaker 1: perhaps this year. A lot of volatility going on, like
20:31
Speaker 1: you say, on-farm inflation just perhaps rises.
20:35
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, we've consistently had a view that And
20:39
Speaker 6: this is easy to say and more difficult to achieve.
20:41
Speaker 6: We know that. But nevertheless, you have to understand what
20:44
Speaker 6: you need to achieve in the current environment. We think
20:48
Speaker 6: mid to low eights in terms of fully absorbed cost
20:51
Speaker 6: of production is where it should not be exceeded. And
20:56
Speaker 6: then we take the view as a company that above nine,
21:00
Speaker 6: you'll be profitable. Around 10, you'll be strongly profitable. $ 10,
21:03
Speaker 6: that is. Below eight, you will struggle to, as we say,
21:08
Speaker 6: wash your face, but you won't lose your shirt. And
21:11
Speaker 6: that's the way. Managing a business, including farming, Andy, is
21:15
Speaker 6: a lot about managing risk. And to manage risk, you've
21:18
Speaker 6: got to have very, very tight cost controls when much
21:22
Speaker 6: of the world in terms of cost is against you.
21:24
Speaker 6: But you do have to control cost, efficiency, and productivity.
21:29
Speaker 6: We're very, very hot on that in our own business,
21:32
Speaker 6: and we work hard with our farmers to encourage them
21:34
Speaker 6: to take the same view.
21:36
Speaker 1: Supply chain volatility, Laurie, are you guys experiencing anything?
21:42
Speaker 6: Well, there are stress points, Andy, but not points that
21:46
Speaker 6: are causing us undue concern. I mean, the things we
21:49
Speaker 6: worry about, can we get the imports that we need?
21:53
Speaker 6: Can we get the boxes, the container boxes, both reefers
21:57
Speaker 6: and dry boxes? Can we get those that we need? Yes,
22:00
Speaker 6: there are cost issues. But availability of them and keeping
22:04
Speaker 6: the product moving is the first requirement. The costing is
22:08
Speaker 6: more difficult to do something about, but we manage it.
22:11
Speaker 6: So we're doing all right. We haven't come across any
22:15
Speaker 6: critical choke points in the supply chain that are causing
22:20
Speaker 6: us anything other than what we've expected in terms of irritation.
22:25
Speaker 2: Well, the question's there, not the question, I suppose.
22:27
Speaker 1: The answer being, for the New Zealand economy, is that
22:30
Speaker 1: rural is driving anything and everything.
22:33
Speaker 6: Oh, well, no question. I mean, anybody who thinks otherwise
22:38
Speaker 6: clearly probably belongs to the Flat Earth Society, to be frank.
22:43
Speaker 6: I mean, you can't have imports. You can't import anything.
22:46
Speaker 6: I spoke to somebody the other day who votes, shall
22:50
Speaker 6: we dare I say it, significantly centre-left. and are very,
22:55
Speaker 6: very antagonistic towards farming. I asked that person, I said,
23:00
Speaker 6: do you have anything in your house of note that
23:03
Speaker 6: was made in New Zealand? The answer, as we all know,
23:06
Speaker 6: is probably not. Therefore, do you understand that to have imports,
23:10
Speaker 6: you must have exports? You must export in order to
23:14
Speaker 6: create currency to import. That seemed to come as a
23:18
Speaker 6: bit of a shock to him, which worries me enormously. But,
23:23
Speaker 6: you know, we're doing all right and New Zealand is
23:27
Speaker 6: marching now, maybe not so much on the sheep's back,
23:30
Speaker 6: although sheep meat prices are very good and wool's better,
23:33
Speaker 6: not great, but better. But we are marching on the farmers' backs.
23:37
Speaker 6: Of that, there is absolutely no argument.
23:39
Speaker 1: Well, you can tell your lefty friend, farmers are asset
23:42
Speaker 1: rich yet cash poor.
23:44
Speaker 6: Well, that's right. Well, of course, that in a strange
23:49
Speaker 6: respect is not that unusual in business. I mean... Andy,
23:53
Speaker 6: you and I would both know a lot of people
23:54
Speaker 6: in small to medium-sized enterprises. As your business grows and succeeds,
24:00
Speaker 6: you need to fund more working capital. It puts more
24:03
Speaker 6: pressure on your balance sheet. So being asset-rich or your
24:08
Speaker 6: business growing in terms of a balance sheet does not
24:11
Speaker 6: necessarily create surplus cash. So, yeah, I mean, the city
24:17
Speaker 6: people in many respects would think that the farmers are
24:20
Speaker 6: rolling in it. as we all know, most of what
24:22
Speaker 6: the farmers earn goes back into improving and growing their
24:27
Speaker 6: balance sheet on their farm.
24:29
Speaker 2: Open days, Laurie. MVM's coming up in a few weeks' time.
24:33
Speaker 6: Yes, I think, from memory, Thursday the 1st of October.
24:38
Speaker 6: That'll be a big day. We've had one in Wanganui recently.
24:41
Speaker 6: We do them on a regular basis. Farmers love them.
24:45
Speaker 6: We feed them. They get to have a beer if
24:47
Speaker 6: they want or a wine if they want or a
24:49
Speaker 6: soft drink if they want. and it gives them an opportunity.
24:52
Speaker 6: They're not shareholders, but they are stakeholders. So it gives
24:56
Speaker 6: them an opportunity to see what they are inherently and
24:58
Speaker 6: essentially involved in. These plants are theirs as much as
25:02
Speaker 6: they are ours. Our futures are entwined. They love it.
25:05
Speaker 5: We love doing them.
25:07
Speaker 1: Well, the open day, you were telling me briefly off
25:09
Speaker 1: air about the one held recently at Whanganui. You just
25:12
Speaker 1: say the reception of these events is fantastic.
25:16
Speaker 6: Well, it is. I mean, it just helps farmers understand
25:19
Speaker 6: how they belong. their place in our business, if you like,
25:25
Speaker 6: they are really at the centre of what we do.
25:26
Speaker 6: No milk, no plant, no plant, no jobs, no jobs,
25:30
Speaker 6: no exports. So the farmers are the key, key, key component.
25:35
Speaker 6: Everything is about them being able to witness and see
25:38
Speaker 6: why they're doing things and how we pay them effectively.
25:44
Speaker 2: Supplier meetings, how often do you hold these?
25:50
Speaker 6: With the exception of mid-winter, when we put a lot
25:52
Speaker 6: of focus into Mystery Creek field days, we hold them
25:55
Speaker 6: every three months. The next round of meetings in Taranaki, Manawatu, Southman,
26:01
Speaker 6: and all through the Waikato, they are from mid-September through
26:05
Speaker 6: to the beginning of October. And then we'll do a
26:07
Speaker 6: big round of Christmas functions through November and early December.
26:12
Speaker 6: And then we'll go back to farmer briefings again in March,
26:14
Speaker 6: April next year. So they are critical to us. We
26:18
Speaker 6: We put ourselves, our senior management, myself, we put ourselves
26:22
Speaker 6: in front of our farmers on a regular basis, and
26:25
Speaker 6: we expect them to tell us what they think. We
26:29
Speaker 6: love it. It's an opportunity for us to learn, to hear,
26:32
Speaker 6: to learn, to give them feedback. And we don't tell
26:37
Speaker 6: them necessarily what it is they want to hear. We
26:39
Speaker 6: tell them what it is we see, and that seems
26:42
Speaker 6: to work really, really well.
26:44
Speaker 1: Just to wrap up, Laurie, your beloved North Harbour, as
26:46
Speaker 1: Northland rugby deemed you on social media, South Northland. I'm
26:51
Speaker 1: sure that'll go down like a cup of cold sick,
26:53
Speaker 1: but I'll give you guys kudos. 16 people away last
26:57
Speaker 1: game against Northland with the flu, vomiting, diarrhoea and the likes.
27:01
Speaker 2: You turned around and you beat them.
27:02
Speaker 1: And this time last year we had a conversation and
27:04
Speaker 1: you were saying that Harbour were losing all these games
27:07
Speaker 1: because they were taking a homegrown approach. Has that been
27:10
Speaker 1: the case this year?
27:12
Speaker 6: Largely, yes, largely. Well, a homegrown approach, which I know
27:16
Speaker 6: many other unions are doing these days, including, I guess, Southland.
27:19
Speaker 2: Kind of.
27:20
Speaker 6: But the homegrown approach, Andy, it's the only approach. There
27:24
Speaker 6: is not the money in provincial rugby, NPC rugby, there
27:29
Speaker 6: is not the money to throw it around on imports.
27:32
Speaker 6: So if you aren't committed to a largely homegrown... But
27:40
Speaker 6: if you're not committed to a largely homegrown strategy, you
27:44
Speaker 6: are destined to fall over.
27:46
Speaker 1: What are your words of wisdom for any Stags fan
27:49
Speaker 1: at the moment who are craving success?
27:52
Speaker 6: I'll convert to North Harbour.
27:53
Speaker 2: You mean South Northland?
27:55
Speaker 6: No, convert.
27:57
Speaker 4: To.
27:58
Speaker 6: I mean North.
28:00
Speaker 2: Got you there.
28:01
Speaker 5: Very good.
28:02
Speaker 6: Well done.
28:03
Speaker 1: Hey, Laurie Margrave, Chairman of Open Country, thanks as always
28:06
Speaker 1: for coming on, having you out on the muster.
28:08
Speaker 2: Great to catch up with the team.
28:10
Speaker 6: Always a pleasure, Andy. You take care.
28:23
Speaker 2: This is the muster on Hokanui.
28:24
Speaker 1: Tim Baker of Clinton Young Farmers catches up on a
28:28
Speaker 1: Tuesday afternoon.
28:30
Speaker 2: Tim, good afternoon. How are you, mate?
28:32
Speaker 4: Good, Andy, and yourself?
28:33
Speaker 1: Can't really complain. Now, you're farming on the old coach road.
28:37
Speaker 1: How are ground conditions there, dare I ask?
28:40
Speaker 4: Still quite soggy, very waterlogged. The wave of the sun
28:45
Speaker 4: and the wave of the wind start drawing things out
28:47
Speaker 4: pretty quick.
28:49
Speaker 1: How many seasons have you been there now, Tim, based
28:52
Speaker 1: where you are?
28:53
Speaker 4: This is my second season here now, so I'll be
28:56
Speaker 4: just coming up two years in November.
28:58
Speaker 1: Well, OK, you compare this back to last September, which
29:01
Speaker 1: wasn't flash. We all know the state of play there,
29:03
Speaker 1: but where you're based, I'm not far from quite aware of.
29:06
Speaker 2: How are you finding it?
29:08
Speaker 4: Well I already worked about 80 hectares of ground in
29:12
Speaker 4: August last year, haven't done that this year. Bit more
29:17
Speaker 4: snow this year, last two weeks we've had a couple
29:20
Speaker 4: of good dumps of that and the wind has just
29:22
Speaker 4: been something unreal over here. I mean I'm sure a
29:25
Speaker 4: lot of other people around the area have been getting
29:27
Speaker 4: it too, especially the coastal blocks but it's just been
29:30
Speaker 4: hammering us here.
29:32
Speaker 2: How are you looking for grass covers?
29:34
Speaker 6: Good, really good, Oh, nice.
29:36
Speaker 4: We do a fair bit of winter crop, 100 hectares
29:39
Speaker 4: of swedes and 100 hectares of chow as well, so
29:43
Speaker 4: we're looking pretty good for cover at the moment. These
29:46
Speaker 4: will be going onto nice, comfy pastures and all in
29:50
Speaker 4: good order at the moment, so everything's looking good. We
29:52
Speaker 4: just need some sun.
29:54
Speaker 2: It's good to see you've got some tucker.
29:56
Speaker 7: Oh, yeah, yeah.
29:58
Speaker 4: No, we're good for that. To be honest, it's been
30:00
Speaker 4: pretty mild over the winter, though. Like, grass has still
30:02
Speaker 4: been growing.
30:03
Speaker 1: Yeah.
30:04
Speaker 4: So everything's been pretty cruisy, really.
30:06
Speaker 1: Everything was really good up until about mid-June. Then the
30:09
Speaker 1: tap went on.
30:10
Speaker 4: Correct, yeah. Yeah, it's thought, hey, you guys are having
30:13
Speaker 4: a wee bit good here. I might change that up.
30:16
Speaker 1: That's just a state of play, unfortunately. But look, there's
30:18
Speaker 1: a lot of things going on. This afternoon, it's... It's
30:21
Speaker 1: not going to be tropical by any means, but like
30:23
Speaker 1: you say, we've got the rain away for a little bit,
30:26
Speaker 1: hopefully for quite a while. But look, Clinton Young Farmers, Tim,
30:29
Speaker 1: you're involved with the team there. How's it all been recently?
30:33
Speaker 4: Going really good at the moment. Actually hosted our biggest
30:36
Speaker 4: meeting bloody near ever last night. We had 58 members there. 58? 58.
30:43
Speaker 4: 58 people turned up. We were a bit crammed in.
30:45
Speaker 4: They started running our chairs.
30:47
Speaker 2: Where were you holding the meeting?
30:49
Speaker 4: We have the meeting down at the Crossroads pub, but
30:51
Speaker 4: usually speaking we usually get around that sort of 25
30:54
Speaker 4: to 30 mark and they just kept pouring through the door.
30:57
Speaker 4: I thought this is great, but I was watching the
30:59
Speaker 4: tables dwindle. It's unreal.
31:02
Speaker 2: The bar staff would have loved it.
31:04
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, yeah. Kitchen was a wee bit busy, but
31:07
Speaker 4: they pulled through. They made it happen.
31:09
Speaker 2: So why the surge in numbers?
31:12
Speaker 4: We few internationals at the moment... A few come over
31:16
Speaker 4: from the UK, they must be doing a wee bit
31:18
Speaker 4: of a holiday or exchange or something over here. I
31:21
Speaker 4: didn't quite get round all the tables last night, which
31:23
Speaker 4: was a bit busy, but we must just be doing
31:26
Speaker 4: some pretty good advertising. Everyone's keen to get involved.
31:29
Speaker 2: Now, how good?
31:29
Speaker 1: All from farming backgrounds or just non-farming backgrounds as well,
31:33
Speaker 1: as you guys always encourage?
31:35
Speaker 4: I'd say probably about 90% from the rural sector, sort
31:38
Speaker 4: of dairy, machine beef. There's only a few rural professionals
31:41
Speaker 4: in there, a couple of ferret reps and... bankers and whatnot,
31:45
Speaker 4: but the majority of the club is in the farming sector.
31:51
Speaker 1: Yeah.
31:51
Speaker 4: Which is cool. Usually our biggest meeting's the first one
31:55
Speaker 4: of the year, sort of around February. You get a
31:58
Speaker 4: lot of people, you know, it's a bit cruisier time
32:00
Speaker 4: of the year on the farm, but everyone must have
32:02
Speaker 4: just been keen to come and have a yak and
32:04
Speaker 4: have a beer, because, well, I mean, it's been pretty
32:07
Speaker 4: miserable on farm, so try to get off as much
32:10
Speaker 4: as you can.
32:11
Speaker 1: Do you reckon that had a bit to do with
32:13
Speaker 1: it last night, and as a result of that, will
32:16
Speaker 1: there be a flow-on effect for membership?
32:18
Speaker 4: Well, hopefully. The idea is to try and turn those
32:22
Speaker 4: numbers into members, but I just think with how miserable
32:27
Speaker 4: things have been on farm, everyone's just keen to get
32:29
Speaker 4: out and just have a yak, catch up with their
32:30
Speaker 4: fellow people. You're not the only one out there that's
32:33
Speaker 4: going through it, so... Get to talk to people, really.
32:38
Speaker 4: That's the main thing.
32:39
Speaker 1: Connor Miller said exactly the same thing last week. Tim,
32:42
Speaker 1: of course, Balfour, they do their Thirsty Thursday, funny enough,
32:46
Speaker 1: every Thursday. But you guys there at Clinton, are you
32:49
Speaker 1: actively involved in social channels during lambing time just to
32:53
Speaker 1: keep the chat going when the going's tough?
32:55
Speaker 4: We're starting to get that running. So we've been heading down,
32:58
Speaker 4: having a catch-up on a Friday night. at the moment,
33:01
Speaker 4: just sort of trying to encourage to get as many
33:03
Speaker 4: people along to that as we can.
33:05
Speaker 2: Nice.
33:06
Speaker 4: But, yeah, we're trying to keep in contact as much
33:08
Speaker 4: as we can because we know how tough it can get.
33:11
Speaker 1: And it's the same old story, you know. A problem
33:13
Speaker 1: shared is a problem halved. And if you're having a
33:15
Speaker 1: bit of a, well, let's be honest, it's a shit
33:17
Speaker 1: day on the carving, on the lambing or whatever, and
33:19
Speaker 1: everything's just flat out and the chance just to talk
33:22
Speaker 1: to other people and realise, as you alluded to before,
33:24
Speaker 1: you're not the only one on that boat.
33:26
Speaker 6: Yep, yep.
33:27
Speaker 4: It's easy to get the look down a bit, but,
33:29
Speaker 4: you know... You just get out and have a yak
33:31
Speaker 4: and catch up with your mates and everything. It makes
33:34
Speaker 4: life a bit easier.
33:34
Speaker 6: Doesn't it?
33:35
Speaker 2: No, absolutely.
33:36
Speaker 1: What about Telford? Any Telford ones coming along? I think
33:38
Speaker 1: I've asked you guys this before. Are you in cahoots
33:40
Speaker 1: with them?
33:41
Speaker 4: Yep, yep, yep, yep. So we still get a wee handful.
33:44
Speaker 4: They sort of come in waves. It must just be
33:46
Speaker 4: as they sort of slow on from holidays and whatnot
33:48
Speaker 4: and if they're actually about. But no, Telford's still floating around.
33:53
Speaker 4: We don't see as many of them now as we
33:54
Speaker 4: used to, but they're still coming out every now and
33:57
Speaker 4: then in good numbers.
33:59
Speaker 2: That's a good thing, though.
34:00
Speaker 1: I mean, an organisation like that, are you actively working
34:03
Speaker 1: with Telford to get them to come out? Because there's
34:06
Speaker 1: no club as such without going, what, probably up to Milton,
34:09
Speaker 1: I'd imagine.
34:10
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, the closest club to us, you know, you're
34:12
Speaker 4: sort of heading towards Gore, and in the Otago region,
34:16
Speaker 4: you're actually heading out to sort of Tapanui, Dunedin way,
34:19
Speaker 4: and sort of the two closest clubs to us. But no,
34:23
Speaker 4: Telford's a real good place to start because that's like
34:25
Speaker 4: the grassroots of the young farmer sector.
34:27
Speaker 1: Yeah.
34:28
Speaker 4: So get them involved in.
34:30
Speaker 2: Their members for life.
34:32
Speaker 1: So as far as activities, anything coming up while it's
34:35
Speaker 1: busy over the next few weeks, meals and the likes,
34:37
Speaker 1: what are you doing?
34:38
Speaker 4: We're reasonably quiet. We might try to head along to
34:41
Speaker 4: a Stags game or an Otago game within the next
34:43
Speaker 4: month if we can, but it's really just heads down
34:48
Speaker 4: and get through the tailing, the carving and all the
34:50
Speaker 4: ones that are starting lambing now. Let's just groove through that.
34:54
Speaker 4: But we'll definitely be trying to have some social events.
34:55
Speaker 4: But no bigger events on the calendar just for this month.
35:00
Speaker 4: October we'll start hooking into it again.
35:02
Speaker 2: Okay, you had your meeting last night.
35:03
Speaker 1: But of those 58 people that turned up and listening, like, yeah,
35:08
Speaker 1: it was good last night. I want to come back
35:09
Speaker 1: and have another go and get involved with YFC. What
35:11
Speaker 1: are the dates?
35:13
Speaker 4: So we meet the first of every month. At 7.30,
35:18
Speaker 4: first Monday of every month, sorry, at 7.30.
35:20
Speaker 2: Yeah.
35:21
Speaker 4: At Crossroads in Clinton. We've got a group chat, so
35:24
Speaker 4: most of those ones that turned up last night will
35:26
Speaker 4: be part of that, so we're posting that regularly.
35:28
Speaker 2: Awesome.
35:29
Speaker 4: Facebook, all social medias and that, we're posting all that.
35:33
Speaker 4: There's flyers up, lots of in the pubs and everything
35:36
Speaker 4: around the area, and really just word of mouth. Like,
35:39
Speaker 4: everyone I catch up with, I'm telling. Yeah, yeah. With
35:43
Speaker 4: a few other members in the club, so... drum up
35:46
Speaker 4: as much as we can.
35:47
Speaker 1: Hey, thanks for the chat. Congratulations on those numbers for
35:50
Speaker 1: last night. That's staggering when you think about it. And
35:53
Speaker 1: it's going to be, it's a marathon, not a sprint,
35:55
Speaker 1: but there is a finish line in sight over the
35:58
Speaker 1: next three or four weeks.
35:59
Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks for your time. Hope it goes well.
36:02
Speaker 4: Oh, that's good. Sun's out now, Andy, so smiles are
36:04
Speaker 4: all going.
36:08
Speaker 1: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
36:12
Speaker 1: land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
36:15
Speaker 1: Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. I was
36:18
Speaker 1: shopping for a tuxedo, but the salesman just wouldn't stop
36:21
Speaker 1: hovering over me. I finally said I'd look on my own.
36:25
Speaker 1: He shrugged and said, suit yourself.
36:27
Speaker 2: I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.
36:34
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the muster. It's all happening down in
36:38
Speaker 1: Invercargill this weekend. A reunion is going on for Southland Rugby,
36:42
Speaker 1: the team. Well, the players featured in the 1970s decade
36:46
Speaker 1: are having a get-together ahead of Bay of Plenty in
36:49
Speaker 1: Invercargill on Sunday afternoon. Murray Heath is one of the
36:52
Speaker 1: organisers of the event. He's played 48 games for the
36:55
Speaker 1: Stags himself. He's a life member of Riverton Rugby Club,
36:59
Speaker 1: and he's just got back from the Gold Coast back
37:01
Speaker 1: into chilly Southland.
37:02
Speaker 2: Murray, welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
37:05
Speaker 7: Oh, absolutely, Andy. It's a privilege to be here speaking
37:08
Speaker 7: on behalf.
37:08
Speaker 6: Of the boys.
37:10
Speaker 1: Firstly, 1970s rugby. They were like the Halcyon days, I'd imagine.
37:15
Speaker 7: Oh, yes, certainly. When the country was strong in Southland,
37:20
Speaker 7: the Southland team was strong. So, yes, I'm just reflecting
37:24
Speaker 7: through here. The names that are coming to the reunion,
37:27
Speaker 7: over half of them are for country boys.
37:29
Speaker 1: That was just rugby back in the day, I suppose.
37:31
Speaker 1: I mean, all the farmers were playing, all your rural teams,
37:34
Speaker 1: I mean, Country Pirates was very strong, all your northern teams, Eastern,
37:39
Speaker 1: the likes, a few teams have amalgamated since. But back
37:42
Speaker 1: in the day, I mean, it was always rugby on
37:44
Speaker 1: a Saturday and Trust Cup on a Wednesday.
37:47
Speaker 7: Absolutely. You didn't have a day off, really, in South
37:50
Speaker 7: and training on the Sunday. So sub-union games, Monday, club, Tuesday, sub-union,
37:56
Speaker 7: rugby on Wednesday. And as it went on, yes, absolutely.
38:00
Speaker 1: So training for Southland back in the 1970s, how many
38:04
Speaker 1: practices a week was there?
38:08
Speaker 7: Sometimes three. Three. You would train on a Sunday, most
38:14
Speaker 7: likely Wednesday, captain's run, and then we'd play. So, yeah,
38:20
Speaker 7: so it was a fair commitment. Everyone, you know... We
38:23
Speaker 7: weren't paid. We all travelled together. Or if you're like me,
38:28
Speaker 7: I travel from Riverland by myself. People prefer... But we
38:31
Speaker 7: had the Tokanui bus, though. There was a fair few
38:33
Speaker 7: from Tokanui that all hopped in the car and come in. And,
38:36
Speaker 7: you know, the Wyndham boys and northern guys. We all
38:41
Speaker 7: made our way there, gave up the day's, afternoon's work. Yeah,
38:47
Speaker 7: I can recall in 1980, I got transferred to Gore
38:51
Speaker 7: Post Office. I met my boss, and then I had
38:53
Speaker 7: to tell him that I need to go to training
38:55
Speaker 7: in the afternoon at 3 o'clock, and this is my
38:57
Speaker 7: first day on the job in Gore. He let me off,
39:01
Speaker 7: paid me, so that was great.
39:03
Speaker 2: Town and country, all the players got along back in
39:06
Speaker 2: the day?
39:08
Speaker 7: Oh, yeah, we did, after we'd played our town and
39:11
Speaker 7: country game. Yeah, that was always a bit of a
39:15
Speaker 7: grudge match on the day, but, you know, we're all
39:18
Speaker 7: great mates off the paddock. It didn't matter if you
39:20
Speaker 7: played one game for Southam or... or one for the country,
39:24
Speaker 7: you're part of the team. And, you know, when we
39:27
Speaker 7: get together, it's just like the good old days, you know.
39:30
Speaker 7: So I did catch up with a couple of old
39:32
Speaker 7: buddies on the Gold Coast, Ken McRae and Jeff Gardner,
39:38
Speaker 7: having a bit of a holiday in the sun and
39:40
Speaker 7: caught up with them and told a few stories.
39:44
Speaker 1: You think of the 1970s and straight off the bat,
39:47
Speaker 1: you got the Holden HQs or the Falcons, whatever you
39:50
Speaker 1: were driving to get to practice. And yeah, you could ruck.
39:54
Speaker 1: Rucking was an integral part of the game, I'd imagine.
39:57
Speaker 1: I mean, if you didn't come off the game with stripes,
40:00
Speaker 1: there was something not right.
40:01
Speaker 7: Oh, absolutely. You certainly tell them to move them back
40:08
Speaker 7: or rake them back. Absolutely. You know, like go to
40:11
Speaker 7: the shower and you'll see their Marks down the back,
40:13
Speaker 7: you know, I was just thinking of Asher McGregor being
40:17
Speaker 7: the Marks down the back of him many a time,
40:21
Speaker 7: many a time. You know, tough boys, played hard, enjoyed life. And, yes,
40:31
Speaker 7: it was good, rugged days, you know. I can remember
40:35
Speaker 7: I dived past once and Dave Shanks, the late Dave Shanks,
40:41
Speaker 7: and just ran all over top of me. Anyway, we
40:45
Speaker 7: had a beer together and are still great mates. His
40:48
Speaker 7: daughter is actually joining us on the Sunday of the reunion,
40:53
Speaker 7: which is lovely.
40:55
Speaker 1: Now, former All Blacks, for example, Bob Barber, Lester Rutledge,
40:59
Speaker 1: Ken Stewart, Steve Pakiri, Ash McGregor, Brian McKechnie, names synonymous
41:03
Speaker 1: to Southland rugby, they're going to be along as well.
41:06
Speaker 1: But I use those names because back in the day,
41:10
Speaker 1: playing international rugby or playing these international visiting teams, likes
41:14
Speaker 1: of France in 78, I think you had the 77,
41:17
Speaker 1: you had the Lions, for example. I think England possibly
41:21
Speaker 1: in 73 as well. I mean, it must have been
41:23
Speaker 1: a real buzz to go and play these guys. And,
41:26
Speaker 1: you know, you almost had a bounty on these teams
41:27
Speaker 1: when they came to Invercargill.
41:29
Speaker 7: Oh, yes. Yes, you know, I can recall the Irish
41:33
Speaker 7: game in 76. It was a bit of a riot.
41:36
Speaker 7: We had Boss McGowan from Matara play prop that day
41:41
Speaker 7: and up she went. And I had to go out
41:44
Speaker 7: the second five that day because of a late withdrawal.
41:48
Speaker 7: and they're fighting at my feet, you know, like, uh,
41:52
Speaker 7: but they're great guys off the paddock, but yeah, we've
41:55
Speaker 7: certainly had, you know, Ken Stewart, he played against the
42:00
Speaker 7: 71 Lions and stood out, you know, and then in
42:04
Speaker 7: 77 Lions, we had, uh, Bakiri that was a standout,
42:06
Speaker 7: you know, there was all those games and, you know,
42:11
Speaker 7: we had Romania as well. Uh, people come along to
42:15
Speaker 7: the games because, you know, they knew everyone out there, um,
42:18
Speaker 7: It was just a big focus and just great to
42:22
Speaker 7: have all these guys coming home. And, you know, to
42:25
Speaker 7: say coming home, I don't know if you could say
42:27
Speaker 7: that if I had a reunion another 50 years' time
42:30
Speaker 7: of all these guys that are playing for Southend now.
42:33
Speaker 1: So, like I said, the occasion for this weekend is
42:37
Speaker 1: celebrating the comradeship while you can, the camaraderie.
42:40
Speaker 7: Yes. Well, Sam.
42:45
Speaker 7: Well, Lester Rutledge has said to me, why don't we
42:47
Speaker 7: organise it and let's get together before it's too late?
42:50
Speaker 7: Because in one photo, there's 13 that passed. So this
42:56
Speaker 7: is their swan song, really, our goodbyes to one another. Yeah,
43:02
Speaker 7: it's going to be a enjoyable time, but a sad
43:04
Speaker 7: time as well. And we'll also be honouring all those
43:09
Speaker 7: guys that we played with and that have passed today.
43:14
Speaker 7: We'll light a candle in remembrance to those guys and
43:18
Speaker 7: thank them for their services to Southland. Yeah, it's a
43:23
Speaker 7: great occasion, but a sad occasion too.
43:26
Speaker 1: Now the weekend's kicking off, I think, Friday night at
43:29
Speaker 1: the Ascot. There's a retired Riversdale farmer who's the MC
43:32
Speaker 1: for the event.
43:33
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, that's quite hilarious. Well, it's outstanding, really. I
43:39
Speaker 7: started the Facebook page. It's actually 12 months today. And
43:43
Speaker 7: a few days after, I got a phone call from
43:48
Speaker 7: Jamie and said, Murray, I want to be EMC for
43:53
Speaker 7: that function. That's my era. I know everybody. I just
43:59
Speaker 7: want to be there. And we've kept in contact, and
44:03
Speaker 7: he's honouring that commitment. And we were talking yesterday, so
44:07
Speaker 7: he's on his way down, which is great.
44:11
Speaker 1: Awesome.
44:12
Speaker 7: He'll share some stories, and he knows a lot of
44:14
Speaker 7: those guys. You know, like, he, you know, I think
44:20
Speaker 7: he played for Southland B. Did he tell you that?
44:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, apparently he made the giddy heights of Southland B in,
44:26
Speaker 1: I think it might have been 86 of the likes.
44:28
Speaker 2: No doubt he'll message me and let me know if
44:30
Speaker 2: I'm wrong.
44:31
Speaker 7: Yeah, did he have a white mate met?
44:35
Speaker 2: I'm not too sure. I haven't heard that story yet.
44:38
Speaker 6: Catch the ball.
44:40
Speaker 2: LAUGHTER So, okay, you've got that on the Friday.
44:44
Speaker 1: Saturday night you're having a bit of a gala dinner
44:47
Speaker 1: of the likes, and then Sunday the Bay of Plenty game.
44:50
Speaker 7: Yeah, so Sunday we'll have a lunch together. A lot
44:53
Speaker 7: of them won't have seen the Richardson Transport Museum, so
44:57
Speaker 7: we'll have lunch there. The Supporters Club want us to
45:00
Speaker 7: come along to the Supporters Club at 3 o'clock. We'll
45:03
Speaker 7: get together at the Supporters Club, and of course it's
45:07
Speaker 7: Kick-off time at 5.05, so Rugby Southland are supporting us
45:12
Speaker 7: all the way, of course. They're getting us in, they're organising.
45:18
Speaker 7: We're going to be a guard of honour as the
45:20
Speaker 7: players come out. We're just organising someone to talk and
45:26
Speaker 7: give the jerseys to the players for the weekend.
45:29
Speaker 2: Awesome.
45:31
Speaker 7: It's 50 years ago NPC started.
45:34
Speaker 4: Yes.
45:35
Speaker 7: And they have plenty won that. first NPC tournament.
45:39
Speaker 2: They did.
45:40
Speaker 7: And there's eight of us at the reunion who played
45:42
Speaker 7: against Bay of Plenty that 50 years ago, Wakatane. And
45:49
Speaker 7: we were all billeted out. You wouldn't get that nowadays.
45:53
Speaker 1: Back at the start of the NPC, was it all
45:54
Speaker 1: about the billeting system as such, or if you were
45:57
Speaker 1: lucky when you went to the big smoke every now
45:59
Speaker 1: and then they put you up in a hotel?
46:01
Speaker 7: Yeah, when you went to the big smoke, yeah, I'm
46:04
Speaker 7: billeted out. But yeah, we're billeted out at Wakatane, hard
46:10
Speaker 7: and fast ground. Quite a number of those guys in
46:15
Speaker 7: the Bay of Plenty team went with the New Zealand
46:18
Speaker 7: 15 to Argentina because the All Blacks were in South
46:22
Speaker 7: Africa in 76. So Eddie Stokes, yeah, a name that
46:27
Speaker 7: comes to mind with a few stories. So, yeah, so,
46:32
Speaker 7: you know, it's 50 years ago since the two unions
46:34
Speaker 7: played in the NPC. So it's sort of, we didn't
46:38
Speaker 7: plan it that way, but it's really iconic that it's
46:41
Speaker 7: happened like that.
46:46
Speaker 1: Murray Heath there, and what is going to be a
46:48
Speaker 1: great weekend for Southland's 1970s rugby players as they have
46:53
Speaker 1: their reunion. Got underway last night and continuing through the weekend. Well,
46:56
Speaker 1: that's us over in Dunmouth for the afternoon. For the morning,
46:59
Speaker 1: there should be. Used to say in the afternoon. My
47:02
Speaker 1: name's Andy Muir. Enjoy the weekend. If you get the
47:04
Speaker 1: opportunity to get off farm, I suggest you take it.
47:07
Speaker 2: Enjoy the weekend. See you Monday.