The Country 17/06/26: Jane Smith talks to Jamie Mackay

North Otago farmer, award-winning environmentalist and champion Angus bull breeder. Today we talk about record beef breeding prices and "woke eggs" at Sainsburys. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
She is a north Otago farmer, former winner of the
Balanced Farm Environment Awards and along with Harvey Blair, a
breeder of black Angus bulls. So that is like black gold,
Jane Smith, you must be rolling in it on your
north Otago farm.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
Good afternoon, Jamie, Not at all, but I think you know,
it just shows the positivity and the buoyancy of the
sheef and beef sector, well, the entire primary production sector, Jamie.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
And I think this is a new norm.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
I mean, I think particularly sheef and beef farmers always
sort of look over their shoulder.

Speaker 3 (00:31):
And say, oh, I hope this last. I hope this lasts.
But actually the world wants.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Our free range, clean green protein, and so this is
the new norm.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
And I think we.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Need to absolutely make heywoy the sunshines and also celebrate it.
I mean, the success in the livestock system has been
is completely based around efficient productivity and genetics that are
a key role. Have a key role in that, Jamie.
So you're onwards and upwards.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
Well you probably won't have caught up with us. But
in the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence, the sheep and beef
farmers are the most confident of the lot. Talk to me,
because you were at the sale Tai Matti Angus selling
a ball for one hundred and sixty eight thousand dollars,
beating last year's record of one hundred and sixty one
thousand to tunguy how Hang tonguey how Angus get it right,

(01:18):
who set the record last year?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Exactly, Jamie, And we were lucky to be at tangy
how last year because of course that high, highly priced
ball was sighed by one of our fossil crete balls.
And it's just again, I mean, I know that that's
a sort of the peak of the bull sALS, but gosh,
all of the ball sales have been strong, and that
is clearly a factor of the positivity and the buoyancy
and the fact that people understand that genetics are the

(01:42):
way forward. And you know, since nineteen eighty four, Jamie,
we've had to forge your own way in the sector,
and that is exactly what we've done in.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Intensive efficient productivity.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
And you know, again as a food producing sector, this
is happening despite all of our our sector enter and
our government trying to nail is on things and waste
time and money on things like emissions, and you know
what actually Sainsbury and Tesco and Nestle don't understand is
you know, the natural carbon cycle and that we actually

(02:11):
are doing our very best past rays free range nutritionally
dents and we're not using our natural competitive advantage as
soon as we go into those type of practices. And
it was disappointing to see the Crown give another what's
fifty one million of taxpayer money to Egary zero last
week at the Field Days Jamie. I mean again, that's
a call it what you like, but it's a subsidy

(02:32):
and it's playing out like an episode of a bad
episode of Clarkson's Farm. I mean, it's something we don't
need and we don't want, and you know, would be
foolish to go down that sort of vaccine bowls feed
edit of pathway when actually the world just wants our
free range meats.

Speaker 3 (02:47):
Jamie.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
I'm going to come back to Sainsbury's when you get
to the Pearly Gates, the drafting gates, Jane Smith at
the Pearly Gates, So it'll be a lot are we
way away for you? I'm a lot closer than you,
but I think you might get these straight through Drafting
Gate because in the past couple of weeks you and
Blair have donated ten thousand dollars from the proceeds of

(03:08):
one of your angers balls to the Otago Rescue helicopter.
And then you offered a bottle of your plum gin
and it sold for two three hundred dollars at the
Manetoto Winter Feed competition. Who bought that big stew duncan?
I know he's got plenty of money.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Well, you know, you think it would be stew but
now it was a guy called in a shout at him,
Darryl Richards from doll clother and thank you to him
because he also donated a very good contracting package that
sold for thousands of dollars later on as well. So
I haven't had much feedback on my gin. And it's
probably highly illegal to sell homemade bootleg gin in the
public arena, Jamie. But you know again, the Targo South

(03:47):
and any helicopter rescue trusters is amazing. But Graham Gale
and his team do an amazing job down there. They've
got the area that they cover, including the maritime area,
is more than a quarter of the entire and just
what they do is fascinating and I was fortunate enough
to sit beside Graham that evening and just see even
the messages coming through on his phone, because after ours,

(04:09):
he is still the man that gets all of those
emergency alerts. And I just found that fascinating. The technology
that they are investing in is amazing. So now we're
really delighted to put that ball up at our ballsale
and can't wait to hand over that money.

Speaker 3 (04:21):
Jamie or which it just honored to be part of that.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Talk to me about Sainsbury's and the woke eggs.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Oh yes, so they've announced that they're only stocking white
eggs and white Hen's eggs on their shelves now because
at some point he he has done a calculation around
them being and again this maybe justifiable, but I mean
in terms of what it's going to do for climate change, it.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Will not be justifiable.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
But apparently white eggs are a more efficient way of
producing eggs, and so they are getting rid of.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Brown eggs, which you know, a weave.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
It like the day that everyone got rid of plastic
straws and the store what is there a million plastic
bottles sold a minute the world, So you know, again
it's just green washing but I know, apparently only white eggs,
and you know, like when you talk to local producers here,
and we obviously are very I don't know a lot
about the sector itself, but we're very based around brown
eggs and utilizing our own homegrown feed. If you want

(05:15):
to look at environmental footprints and the most cost effective
weigh it's probably it maybe white hens and cages, But
is that what the consumer wants? And that's the thing, like,
it's very very I guess narrow focus, if you're just
talking about emissions, would exactly what they're doing. And again
we've almost fallen into that trap with our pasture raised
systems too, Jamie. So if everyone could just take even

(05:36):
a minute, and all I would need was the back
of an envelope and I could actually explain the biogenet
methane carbon cycle, particularly with pasture raised animals, and none
of this.

Speaker 3 (05:46):
Would have occurred.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
But anyway, SAME's free each to their own. But again,
it's just another example of green washing, Jamie, and humans
need to sort of step up with it. I mean,
it's just another pointless exercise, Jamie.

Speaker 1 (05:58):
Jane, I've got thirty seconds left. Are you prepping on
your north Otago Farm for the super al Nino.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
Look, we're always everyone's a lot more resilient now Jamie,
for those dry conditions. And I mean we don't need
ford dry conditions because that can make you quite conservative
and your farming operation. But you know, again, if you
look at genetics both in animals and pastures, we're pretty
high altitude here, so it's probably the cold rather than
the dry that really limits us on our hell block.

(06:25):
And also there's also a lot of alarmism that goes
on in the sector, isn't as from from our supposed
academic experts, and they could sort of change change that any.

Speaker 3 (06:35):
Day as well.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
So look, we just we just built a resilient system,
and I guess we look at ourselves as dry land specialists, Jamie,
and this type of country does. So Again, we've had
much worse and we've also had a really good run
of the last two or three years. So I dare
say there's something around the corner Jamie, that we'll be
ready for it.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
Jane Smith, thanks for your time. Congratulations on selling a
ball for ten grand and giving every cent to the
Otago Rescue helicopter.

Speaker 3 (06:59):
Go well, thank you, Jamie,