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The Muster- Geordie Eade: Rain Gauges Have Been Full · The Muster on Hokonui

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Riverton is a Riviera of the South and it is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: our first port of call this afternoon on the muster
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: where we catch up with Geordie Yead, sheep, beef and
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: dairy farmer, all part of his operation over there. Good afternoon, Geordie.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: How would you describe the last six to eight weeks?
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, g'day, Andy. Yeah, no, it's certainly a challenge, but
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: we choose to live in Southland, so we've sort of
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: got to take those the good or the bad, but, yeah,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: that was really pretty stretching everything, really. 500mm since the
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: beginning of August, it was a challenge.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: So where does that put your rainfall? Because you're normally
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: about 1,300, 1,400mm as it is, though, aren't you?
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, we're up to about 1,300 for the year already now,
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: particularly when you have half a metre in two months.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: So we're running probably above average, which is quite good,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: sort of, you know, I would have said on the
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: law of averages for Southland that, you know, We should
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: probably be a wee bit drier from now on, but yeah,
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: we'll keep their fingers crossed and go from there. I mean,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: the last, we're up to about 20 mils for October,
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: so that's good to be day eight and only 20
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: mils in. I'll take that.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Well, anything's better than half a metre of rain over
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: eight weeks. I'll give you that tip for free. Yeah, 100%.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: I've never seen the farm so wet. I think everything
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: was just at capacity, and you think when it couldn't
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: get any worse, it got worse, because there'd be another
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: 20 mils come the next day, and then another 20 mils,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: and Yeah, I think new condition, and I wasn't that
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: happy with the grass cover I had at the start
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: of September, so I put some nitrogen on. And yeah, 100%,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: that certainly made things a lot easier, new condition and grass.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: You know, you can't really, just strings you've got to pull, really.
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: The animals would have taken and checked though with all
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: that wet weather. It's just part and parcel of the course.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it is part and parcel, you know, like you're
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: going around picking up lambs there. They've sort of stopped
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: the past week now, but lambs are just sort of
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: two weeks old and, you know, just really got that
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: whole thrift look to them and, you know, they've just
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: dropped off. You know, yeah, that's just what happens. I
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: don't blame them. It was pretty tough out there, but,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: you know, we've turned, we're up, we're down the hill now.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: As far as ground conditions, were you able to get
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: around the lambing beat okay?
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: It's probably my first lambing I've ever done where I
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: haven't really clocked out a four-wheel drive. Yeah, like, I mean,
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: anywhere you went, you needed four-wheel drive. The gateway probably
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: was muddy, but I've got gravel under all that gateway,
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: so you get through that part, but the rest of
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: the paddock doesn't, and... Yeah, no, just, you know, if
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: you had to catch a sheep, it was hard going
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: because you couldn't, I don't use a dog, I've just
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: got a long crook. And, you know, if they run
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: off a bit, it's hard to get into a vehicle
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: and drive, well, it's a full-time four-wheel drive. But, yeah, no,
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: it's just, we look back at it, it's a challenge
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: we have, and we decide just, we farm in Southland,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: we're just going to take the good with the bad.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: So you don't have a dog for catching the ewes?
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: I knew you were pretty handy for blues, but that's pretty,
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: you're doing pretty well not needing a dog.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah, nah, I still look pretty sharp, try to be
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: pretty sharp anyway, especially the hoggets, they're pre-lammed shorn, so
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: they're really quick. But I've got about a two and
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: a half metre long crook that you line them up
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: and you get reasonably good at it. I've done probably
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: a 25 year apprenticeship on driving it, so yeah, it
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: takes a few while. It's quite interesting watching new staff
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: trying to operate it. They sort of operate it as
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: though it's a pole vault. Yeah, quite entertaining really.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, you wouldn't want to run
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: along and stick it in the ground accidentally.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they're lucky they're only aluminium. They can't take any weight. Yeah.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: So how's the drop been, though, considering the conditions?
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: Yeah, generally pretty good. I mean, we've had a few
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: drop-offs probably of triplets. That's just what happens with that weather. But,
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: you know, you've just got to take the good or
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: the bad. I would have said probably not. The singles,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: we had good survivability of the singles. We never really
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: had to bring any of them in. Just the multiples, really. But,
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I mean, so, multiples, they had still one alive. You know,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: we've probably kept our wheat dries to a minimum, but,
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: you know, it's still reasonably big on mothering up, so
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: you always try and get a lamb on any sheep,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: any which way.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: How many extra mother raps would you have done this season,
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: or have you?
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I wouldn't have said I've probably done any more.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's probably just more carton stuff to shelter
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: and whatnot. Yeah, and I mean, we've, you know, we're
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: down 500 ewes to what we used to be before
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: we bought the dairy farm, so, you know, things have probably...
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: got a wee bit less intense, so you haven't got
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: that big drop happening, you know, you haven't got a
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: couple hundred sheep lambing in one day, the same as
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: what we did have in those days.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: So you've got the calving going on on one farm,
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: the lambing on the other, I mean, how are the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: stress levels for you?
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and they're starting to bust at the seams, so
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: we've done a load, we've got 50 calves on here,
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: beef calves on here at the moment, done a load
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: from the dairy farm really, just we've weaned half of
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: them just the past week. The other half are still
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: on milk powder and whatnot. So the kids have been
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: great at that for the school holidays and Francie. So, yeah,
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: so we've had calves here sort of trying to find pockets.
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: We've got a feeder that feeds 12, so we've got
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: them all in little paddocks all around sheds and everything.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: So that's been quite, I think it's been quite rewarding
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: for the kids and whatnot.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: So, yeah. Dean Rabbit said he's looking forward to tailing
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: because it meant he could look forward, but he also
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: talked about having to go and gravel, putting gravel in
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: all the gateways because it was all just muddy ruts.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: And I think that's just the situation everywhere.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. A couple of days ago I thought, oh,
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: the ground looks quite dry on the winter crop ground.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: I thought I'll go and wind some fences up there,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: but it's just dry on the surface. You still sink
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: through it and you definitely couldn't wind it up in
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: your work boots yet, so. Yeah, so they're still a
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: wee way off. But in saying that, I don't normally
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: get into them until about the 20th of October anyway,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: so I think we might be just pushing the barrel.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: I think the expectations are getting in there as early
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: as now anyway.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: Your grass should be starting to bolt with some sunshine.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: The soil temperature at Riverton today is 12.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you really notice if you leave a paddock for
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: three or four days, there's nothing in it. It's got
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: that look to it as though it's got quite a
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: fresh pick, and certainly the sheep put their heads down,
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: so it's there. We turned the corner. The dairy farm
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: we put nitrogen on down there for helicopter about coming
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: up two weeks ago. Yeah, two weeks today. So that's
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: kicked in. It was probably quite good timing, but you
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: don't really want to be doing that too often because
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: the price of the helicopter was half the price of
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: the nitrogen. So you work that out. It's not really
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: a cheap exercise, but it's just one of those exercises
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: that has to be done. It's been very common around here.
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: I know that Southern Helicopters had 13 helicopters on the
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: go at one stage.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: You're starting to see the rise of drones putting on
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: nitrogen as well, which is something you never thought about,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: but it makes sense.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, it is. I understood my brother-in-law was telling
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: me they're not certified. So you can't, nobody's certified a
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: drone to be able to spread or sow. So you can't,
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: you're sort of taking it at your own risk, apparently.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I know of an individual in Corry who's actually
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: looking at getting a business up like that too. So
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: it'll be interesting how that transpires given the season we've had.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: But you just can't get bulkies on the land where
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: you haven't been able to. oh, yeah, well, that's it.
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: You can't get, you know, just taking it side by side.
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: You know, like I've had my nephews and brothers and
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: sisters all here for a week, you know, and they
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: sort of, I think the older kids sort of said, oh,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: can we take the ute down to the bottom? And
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I was like, nah, that was probably about a week ago.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: You know, there's no way you could take a ute
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: through the paddock, but you could now. But, yeah, so,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, yeah, it's just one of those things that
• 7:17
  Speaker 2: we'll just have to take, this being in Southam.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: How's the hogget lambing been?
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's ticked along pretty well. I have all Dorfers
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: over the Hoggarts, so they're a pretty good survival in
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: the twins. I mark the Hoggart twin lambs. I don't
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: mark my ewe twin lambs, but just mark them because
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: they often will lose one and you know exactly where
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: it belongs and they're quite happy to take it back again. But,
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: you know, they've really done well. They're all Dorfers over them,
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: so all Dorfer lambs, so they're fairly lively. And, yeah,
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: so I'd expect to hopefully do over 100 out of
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: them again But time will tell. We won't make too
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: much applause until the end of the season.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: So regarding lambing dates and the likes, nothing changes? Remembering
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: that Henry Buckingham's only just got underway with his lambing?
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: He's delayed it?
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, our hoggart group is going to go down there
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: in November to have a look and see what Henry's
• 8:14
  Speaker 2: doing down there, you know, just from his other part
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: of his operation. But we're intrigued. But, yeah, I know
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Henry's quite big on... rotational grazing. So that'll be interesting
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: to see how he fits that into a system when
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: you've got grass getting out of control. Yeah, I don't know.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: I think if I did move it, I'd only move
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: it 10 days, but definitely not until October. But, you know,
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: we're all open to suggestions, really.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I think the whole of Southland's intrigued. If there's a
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: field day, you'd probably have half the bloody district turn up.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, that's right, too. I mean, I know when
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: I come back home to the farm, my father always said,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: you need to be about the middle of September because
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: your grass growth doubles. So you sort of need to
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: lamb based on that bell-shaped curve. And, I mean, if
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: you move outside it, you've either got to mechanically mow
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: it or do something else. And, yeah, I don't know.
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: It's food for thought. But, you know, we've always lambed
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: when we've lambed for a reason. You know, we always
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: still complain about the weather. So, yeah, so, you know,
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: surely this is our third one. That's it. That's got
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: to be the three.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: It's a southern farmer's prerogative. Joy to yeet. Always appreciate
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: your time.
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: No, good as gold. Let the sun shine and we'll
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: be all good.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Geordie Yead, based down at Riverton. 500 mils of rain
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: over eight weeks. It's a bit of precipitation no matter
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: how you look at it, right? The music stops, we'll
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: carry on. Hilary Copeland of Bannerman Crookshank Pride Deloitte is
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: up next. Here we go, some more Jim Wigmore. MUSIC