June 5, 2024 • 8 mins
The Marlborough-based Resilient Farmer has his say on the ongoing drought and the prospects for sheep and beef farmers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Resilient Farmer. He's just in from a bike ride
around the hills of Marlborough doug Avery, where they tell
me it's very, very dry.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, Jamie, it is dry. It's the whole of Marlbra's
dry to one extent through the other. I was out
fishing in the Sounds the other day. Hills down there,
brown grasps, me as dry. Everywhere is dry. I'm in
the North Bank, which is normally one of the weather areas,
and it's really dry up here.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I was watching some video footage on the telly. It
might have been with Dan Hodgson Hodgeon who was on
the show a week or two ago. He's the Federated
Farmer's guy in North Canterbury there, and it was just
the background footage and the country wasn't green. It was
gray in the background. That's the sort of scene you
would see in February, not June.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, you know, I'm pray to three good mates with
Mark Xino. He's in a sort of discussion group with him,
and I think they've only had seventy five mills since Christmas,
but they were pretty good. In the spring. We've been
dry here in Marlborough and specially eastern Marlborough since this
time last year. So I actually don't know exactly how
(01:11):
much rain we've had in Tital, but I think it's
defly under three hundred mills. And my whole time in farming,
the worst year I ever had was nineteen ninety seven
when we had three twenty. But it's not really about
that in my view. It's just the whole general state
of affairs has really capot at the moment, isn't it.
And you can't expect much else when you've been as
(01:32):
poorly lead as we have been for the last six years.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, but in fairness, farmers or the primary sector using
a wider broom here can't complain. They've got a pretty
farmer friendly government now, so we can kick that one
to touch. I know a lot of damage has been
done in the past six years, but you can't do
anything battling mother nature, Doug. And I know that the drought,
(01:57):
the big drought of ninety seven and why are up
and nearly finished you off in more ways than one.
But you found a way to get through it. And
there's probably lots of young farmers out there or younger farmers, Doug,
who may not have experienced this on this scale. What
do you tell them? What advice do you give him?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, well, I'm just see on Facebook the other day
there's been a coverage of the Smash Dairy Farming Conference,
small dairy Farmer's conference in the North Island or somewhere,
and they had Peter Alexander And I'll tell you what,
if you get hold of the list of things to
do from him, it's just first class. It's the dos
(02:36):
and don'ts. And you know, one of the things that
those young people are probably are realizing now. But when
so us old fellows grumbled about some of the ties
we'd had, they probably didn't really realize how tough they were. Well,
I'm sure they all are understanding how tough it is,
because it's extremely tough out there for everybody at the moment,
(02:56):
even if you haven't got a drought. And my big
advice to them as think about a fellow like me,
I found the best place in my whole life from
those difficult times. That was where I adjusted some of
the processes and practices that we did on the farm,
and that transformed the rest of my life. And if
(03:19):
you actually think about pretty much everybody there'll be a
lot of business people in towns like the hurt at
the moment is right across the spectrum, and those people
who have got the presence of mind to keep looking
for solutions, to keep calm, to seek advice from others
that they may feel could help them. And you know,
(03:41):
these times never last forever, and when they finish, that's
where the gold is a.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Common denominator and getting through tough times, no matter what
industry you're in, making early decisions.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Doug, yep, yep. And I was just talking to one
of the guys out biking with me. We were chuckling
about some of the tough times we've had, and he
reminded me of a time when he actually sort of
de stocked really early, which is a great thing to do,
but not everybody does that. It's never too late to
start doing that. But then he said he was able
(04:13):
to buy stock so cheap after that that he actually
ended up making a lot of money out of that process.
And everyone I have their own little different environment to
try to thread their way through, but one of the
most important things is just keep reminding yourself at these
times finishing when they do, we usually going to really
(04:33):
good times and that might be a couple of years away,
but we're heading that way.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Are we going to see sheep farmers diverting or diversifying
into more beef? I know, you can't change your farming
practices overnight, but you can certainly change your stocking mix
to a degree.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
See, a lot of people that are currently farming now
will exit the industry, and that's nothing new. I made
a about six eight months ago that forty to forty
five percent of the current sheep and bee farmers would
exit the industry in the next five years. I still
don't think I'll be very far off that.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Where are they We're sorry, where are they going to go?
Who's going to buy their farms?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, what happened to Jamie McKay. It went into broadcasting
and he ended up getting her gone. Yeah, I mean,
you know, like one of the things is, you know,
I've leaved farming and I'm doing other things now, and
there is other things to do other than farming, and
so you know, like one of the most important things
(05:38):
that a human being can have is what I tried
to enthroll on people right through the tail end of
my farming years was resilience and there's nothing in the
book that says you have to be a farmer for
the whole of your life. And there's nothing that says
you have to be a jeweler or a banker or
a publican or whatever. And you know, to me, I've
(05:58):
actually found it incredibly exciting doing other things. They keep
looking up and out.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, I guess though, but you still have to exit
your farming operation and get some money or get some
equity out of it. And it's just not that easy
at the moment. But now, like I reckon, well, it's
easy for me to say, hang in there. I just
think that I worry about Wall Dug. I've been on
public record of saying this, I worry about strong crossbred
wall and I hope I'm wrong, but I'm thinking LAMB
(06:25):
is such a wonderful product. There's got to be a
good future.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah. One of the things that we've done in this country.
I've just come back from three weeks in the ball
where I've had the most amazing experience. And one of
the things you realize when you go to a country
like that, a third of the population don't have more
money than a cup of coffee. Value in New Zealand
to spend each day. And so when you actually look
at the hell of Arond, the world like that and
(06:49):
they simply can't afford our meat anymore. We have created
a system. We will put layer on layer on layer
of Eastrap costs and farmers have been trying to warn
people about that, but no one wants to listen. And
now in the situation where we've just got to we've
got to readjust and it seems like something that pretty
much everyone has to go through from time to time.
(07:10):
And the message that I send to people is be
a part of the adjustment, be a part of the change,
Be a part and surround yourself by people who can
do kind of people. It maybe that you've got a
great future and farm, maybe you haven't, but whatever it is,
start getting your head around the direction and get on
(07:30):
with it, because your life doesn't you know. I want
you to my age and you look at us every
day out there having funds a good day, and this
morning's been one of those. A group of got those
ten of us. We've been up to about seven hundred
meters elevation we did this morning and on a forestry
road and been absolutely magnificent. Tomorrow I'll be out on
the farm doing our sellow tussock.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Good on your dog. Always appreciate your sage advice. Here
on the country, here is the resilient farmer Doug Avery.
What a champion bloke.
The Resilient Farmer. He's just in from a bike ride
around the hills of Marlborough doug Avery, where they tell
me it's very, very dry.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Yeah, Jamie, it is dry. It's the whole of Marlbra's
dry to one extent through the other. I was out
fishing in the Sounds the other day. Hills down there,
brown grasps, me as dry. Everywhere is dry. I'm in
the North Bank, which is normally one of the weather areas,
and it's really dry up here.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
I was watching some video footage on the telly. It
might have been with Dan Hodgson Hodgeon who was on
the show a week or two ago. He's the Federated
Farmer's guy in North Canterbury there, and it was just
the background footage and the country wasn't green. It was
gray in the background. That's the sort of scene you
would see in February, not June.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, you know, I'm pray to three good mates with
Mark Xino. He's in a sort of discussion group with him,
and I think they've only had seventy five mills since Christmas,
but they were pretty good. In the spring. We've been
dry here in Marlborough and specially eastern Marlborough since this
time last year. So I actually don't know exactly how
(01:11):
much rain we've had in Tital, but I think it's
defly under three hundred mills. And my whole time in farming,
the worst year I ever had was nineteen ninety seven
when we had three twenty. But it's not really about
that in my view. It's just the whole general state
of affairs has really capot at the moment, isn't it.
And you can't expect much else when you've been as
(01:32):
poorly lead as we have been for the last six years.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, but in fairness, farmers or the primary sector using
a wider broom here can't complain. They've got a pretty
farmer friendly government now, so we can kick that one
to touch. I know a lot of damage has been
done in the past six years, but you can't do
anything battling mother nature, Doug. And I know that the drought,
(01:57):
the big drought of ninety seven and why are up
and nearly finished you off in more ways than one.
But you found a way to get through it. And
there's probably lots of young farmers out there or younger farmers, Doug,
who may not have experienced this on this scale. What
do you tell them? What advice do you give him?
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yeah, well, I'm just see on Facebook the other day
there's been a coverage of the Smash Dairy Farming Conference,
small dairy Farmer's conference in the North Island or somewhere,
and they had Peter Alexander And I'll tell you what,
if you get hold of the list of things to
do from him, it's just first class. It's the dos
(02:36):
and don'ts. And you know, one of the things that
those young people are probably are realizing now. But when
so us old fellows grumbled about some of the ties
we'd had, they probably didn't really realize how tough they were. Well,
I'm sure they all are understanding how tough it is,
because it's extremely tough out there for everybody at the moment,
(02:56):
even if you haven't got a drought. And my big
advice to them as think about a fellow like me,
I found the best place in my whole life from
those difficult times. That was where I adjusted some of
the processes and practices that we did on the farm,
and that transformed the rest of my life. And if
(03:19):
you actually think about pretty much everybody there'll be a
lot of business people in towns like the hurt at
the moment is right across the spectrum, and those people
who have got the presence of mind to keep looking
for solutions, to keep calm, to seek advice from others
that they may feel could help them. And you know,
(03:41):
these times never last forever, and when they finish, that's
where the gold is a.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Common denominator and getting through tough times, no matter what
industry you're in, making early decisions.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Doug, yep, yep. And I was just talking to one
of the guys out biking with me. We were chuckling
about some of the tough times we've had, and he
reminded me of a time when he actually sort of
de stocked really early, which is a great thing to do,
but not everybody does that. It's never too late to
start doing that. But then he said he was able
(04:13):
to buy stock so cheap after that that he actually
ended up making a lot of money out of that process.
And everyone I have their own little different environment to
try to thread their way through, but one of the
most important things is just keep reminding yourself at these
times finishing when they do, we usually going to really
(04:33):
good times and that might be a couple of years away,
but we're heading that way.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Are we going to see sheep farmers diverting or diversifying
into more beef? I know, you can't change your farming
practices overnight, but you can certainly change your stocking mix
to a degree.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
See, a lot of people that are currently farming now
will exit the industry, and that's nothing new. I made
a about six eight months ago that forty to forty
five percent of the current sheep and bee farmers would
exit the industry in the next five years. I still
don't think I'll be very far off that.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Where are they We're sorry, where are they going to go?
Who's going to buy their farms?
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Well, what happened to Jamie McKay. It went into broadcasting
and he ended up getting her gone. Yeah, I mean,
you know, like one of the things is, you know,
I've leaved farming and I'm doing other things now, and
there is other things to do other than farming, and
so you know, like one of the most important things
(05:38):
that a human being can have is what I tried
to enthroll on people right through the tail end of
my farming years was resilience and there's nothing in the
book that says you have to be a farmer for
the whole of your life. And there's nothing that says
you have to be a jeweler or a banker or
a publican or whatever. And you know, to me, I've
(05:58):
actually found it incredibly exciting doing other things. They keep
looking up and out.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Yeah, I guess though, but you still have to exit
your farming operation and get some money or get some
equity out of it. And it's just not that easy
at the moment. But now, like I reckon, well, it's
easy for me to say, hang in there. I just
think that I worry about Wall Dug. I've been on
public record of saying this, I worry about strong crossbred
wall and I hope I'm wrong, but I'm thinking LAMB
(06:25):
is such a wonderful product. There's got to be a
good future.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah. One of the things that we've done in this country.
I've just come back from three weeks in the ball
where I've had the most amazing experience. And one of
the things you realize when you go to a country
like that, a third of the population don't have more
money than a cup of coffee. Value in New Zealand
to spend each day. And so when you actually look
at the hell of Arond, the world like that and
(06:49):
they simply can't afford our meat anymore. We have created
a system. We will put layer on layer on layer
of Eastrap costs and farmers have been trying to warn
people about that, but no one wants to listen. And
now in the situation where we've just got to we've
got to readjust and it seems like something that pretty
much everyone has to go through from time to time.
(07:10):
And the message that I send to people is be
a part of the adjustment, be a part of the change,
Be a part and surround yourself by people who can
do kind of people. It maybe that you've got a
great future and farm, maybe you haven't, but whatever it is,
start getting your head around the direction and get on
(07:30):
with it, because your life doesn't you know. I want
you to my age and you look at us every
day out there having funds a good day, and this
morning's been one of those. A group of got those
ten of us. We've been up to about seven hundred
meters elevation we did this morning and on a forestry
road and been absolutely magnificent. Tomorrow I'll be out on
the farm doing our sellow tussock.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
Good on your dog. Always appreciate your sage advice. Here
on the country, here is the resilient farmer Doug Avery.
What a champion bloke.
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