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The Muster- Henry Buckingham: Lambing Update · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: We're away down to Tokanui next to catch up with
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Henry Buckingham.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Henry bucked the trend, so to speak.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: He went for a later lambing date this year, starting
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: around the 4th or so of October. We caught up
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: with him before lambing and we're going to have a
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: bit of a debrief now to see how it's all gone. Henry,
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: good afternoon. The first reaction for you would be pulled
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: it off.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I guess we got pretty lucky, Andy, with
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: the weather. Had a three-week window there of hardly a
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: day of rain, which you feel quite bad saying that
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: after the spring we had, but yeah. It is what
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: it is, and, yeah, we'll take it. So, yeah, it
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: was one out of the box for us, really.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: It was because of the weather of the previous couple
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: of springs.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: That was the rationale behind you changing your date, though,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: wasn't it?
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: Yeah, partly so. It was half based off that and
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: the fact that my hoggets have lammed that year for
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: the past seven seasons, and we have had probably five
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: good seasons out of those seven. So we're working on
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: a percentage game there. but mainly for feed also. There's
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: been a lot of work done into survivability and feeding
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: the ewes right up to and around lambing, and all
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: year round really is quite important to the survivability of
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: the lambs and the size of them. So, yeah, that's
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: our main reason, and I think that's reflected too into
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: the stock this year. So, yeah, no, it's all good.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: So doing pros and cons regarding your later lambing date,
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: what were the biggest findings you've seen?
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: Well, pros this year was definitely the conditions, but that
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: might not be a massive thing going forward. But just
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: number of lambs, I think. Number of ewes left in paddocks.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: We normally do upwards of 150 mother-ons each season. We
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: would We halved that this year. We did 75 in
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: our use, so that's a massive pro for me, a
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: lot less work. Cons would be a lot more workload
• 2:34
  Speaker 3: at one time. We lambed our hoggets and our use
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: at once, which it was flat out, don't get me wrong,
• 2:41
  Speaker 3: but it's good to be flat out when the weather's good,
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: so yeah, we'll take that.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: Did you get any tractor work done while the weather
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: was good?
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we actually did in the last, well, last week,
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: we were still sort of at the tail end of lambing.
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: We were getting on the tractors. But, yeah, I don't
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: think we would have gone much sooner than that anyway. So, yeah,
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: like I said, it was quite busy. And even up
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: till last week with all the tractor stuff going on.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: But we managed to get all our summer crop in
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: the ground last weekend. So... I'm still feeling up to date,
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: but it was pretty hectic for a couple of weeks.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: Pretty up to date, but if you've got the crops
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: in the ground, you're kicking goals.
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. Well, I saw that window and this sort
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: of snap in the weather coming and thought that might
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: be the window to go for it. So it doesn't
• 3:41
  Speaker 3: take us too much to get over our paddocks just
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: with having sheep in them over the winter.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: Feed utilisation for the month, how's it been? Uh.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: Yeah nah pretty good we probably weren't real good in
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: September with it being so wet and on breaks we
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: just had to keep moving stock on but since we've
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: spread out we've utilised our feed pretty well we're just
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: starting to get a bit of a surplus at the
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: moment in which the mowers just got attached and topped
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: the first paddock today but Yeah, we generally top the
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: farm twice before Christmas or before New Year, so yeah,
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: that's sort of our main way of controlling feed from
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: now onwards, but I still think it's better to have
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: the feed up till peak lactation at least, and then
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: you can start topping and slowing them down a little bit.
• 4:44
  Speaker 2: Having the hog at slamming at the same time as
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: the main flock, how did you find that?
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: I did have a lambing shepherd on this year, which
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: was quite good. We did half the farm each. And so, yeah,
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: that just eased the workload a bit. I'm not sure
• 5:00
  Speaker 3: if I could have done it all by myself with
• 5:02
  Speaker 3: the hoggets and the ewes at the same time. But, yeah,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: that's the way we've made it work. So, yeah, it
• 5:09
  Speaker 3: worked out.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: So tailing's not too far away, I'd imagine?
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we're talking next. week or early the week after, yeah,
• 5:21
  Speaker 3: just when the contract gets around to it because we've
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: sort of gone to the back of the pile, which
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: is fair enough because we're a bit later.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: And you're weaning around New Year's, is that right?
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll probably aim for that from the first week
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: of January on to mid-January, just depending on how feed's
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: holding up as you usually do with your weaning dates.
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: We're pretty flexible around that. But yeah, we'll just wait
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: and see with that.
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: Are you looking at doing this again next year?
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, 100%. Unless we have a major shortage, which
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: I am expecting in the autumn, which we're going to
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: use a bit of nitrogen to try and bridge that gap.
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: But unless we end up having to store a heap
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: of lands or something silly like that, we'll continue to
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: do the system and there'll be tweaks and that we
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: have to make along the way but yeah open to that.
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: Have many people been in touch with you regarding the
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: later lambing and just picking your brain as such?
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah a lot of farmers have talked to me
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: about it but yeah a lot sit on the fence
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: whether they could work it into their own system like
• 6:43
  Speaker 3: it yeah You have to change quite a few things and, yeah,
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: a few farmers probably not so willing to do that
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: just with workload and that, which is fair enough too.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: But you've obviously got a bit of scope in your
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: system where everything, you make it all work, I'd imagine.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: Well, like I said, it's our first year of going
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: back this far, so, yeah, we're going to try and
• 7:11
  Speaker 3: make it work and, yeah, we'll have a reflection. when
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: the season's closer to the end, but it's looking positive,
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: I think.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: I think it's fair to say you had a pretty
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: good drop then, just of what you're saying, and tailing
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: will be interesting.
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I am excited to see what tailing actually brings.
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: I think we should be near our best slamming, just
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: going off what it looks like. You never know until
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: the tails are.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Off, do you? Good on you, Henry. Thanks for your time. And, yeah,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: you'll be looking back in October. That's been a rewarding one.
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: Enjoy the weekend. You probably deserve a bit of a break.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, thank you, Andy. Sounds good.
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: Henry Buckingham, based down at Tokanui, just finished on the
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: lambing beat. Before we wrap up for the afternoon as well,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: Nathan Burden's up next, our resident sporting guru.