September 2, 2026 • 40 mins
Hamish McKay talks to Wayne Langford, Laura Koot, David Short, and Carla de Wet.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Country with Jamie Mackay and Isuzu Utes. Get a
double cab D-Max from $ 55, 990.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
People tell me I should stay, but.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I got to get my fun.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
This is The Country. I'm Hamish Mackay.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
G'day.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I've always wondered about the April sun in Cuba. Sounds
pretty good down the Dragon Way, doesn't it? Welcome into
the show. Only 63 hours to kick off in Soweto,
the big decider, I guess you could call it that,
of the battle between the All Blacks and South Africa.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Great to have your company today.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Later on, I will give you those emails that I
promised I'd give you to get a hold of that book,
The History of the.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Hawke Cup 1910-2025.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The emails from Alec Astle and Murray Brown, the authors,
we'll get you those because there's been a lot of
interest in that book.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
On the show today, former Fed's President Wayne Langford.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
What's he up to?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Where's he heading?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The boardroom, the bedroom, the back barn and all things
in between. Laura Coote, live from the Lumsden hairdressers. Sort
of makes me think of Hilda Ogden for some reason,
but Laura's nothing like Hilda Ogden. David Rabshort in the
Pure Genius, that is the Handypiece story, an update on that.
We talked to Waikato farmer Carla DeVette on the Sue's
(01:19):
Red Main bill to enable Kiwis to use.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
KiwiSaver to buy a farm. Makes a lot of sense,
doesn't it? But first up, the former president. Why, Langford,
good afternoon, sir.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Hello.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
How much good to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
How's things?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, no, very good, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Now, how are you getting on?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
How have you reallocated your time? I know you like
to stay busy, but you would have had to sort
of make a few adjustments since finishing as Federated Farmers President.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
Yeah, no, I have had to a bit, but no,
it's been good. I'm not going to lie. I've just
finished my first three weeks since calving started, and the
old body's feeling it a bit, the old... The old
body that got used to a few cheeses in the
quarry lounges is now lifting a few calves this year.
(02:08):
So it's taking a bit to adapt, but actually absolutely
loving it. Yeah, we've got our farm kind of humming
along pretty well this year, and it's the first year
that we haven't had any heifers on farm. We've gone
all bulls and no AI, which is something different, and
it's meant that no heifers in the shed, so.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
A lot.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Less excitement there and also a very, very quick calving.
So they calve down about 80% to 90% in the
first three weeks, which is just a bang. So it
all just happens like that. So it's been a heck
of a three weeks, but we're coming out the other
end of it now.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, I'm pleased to hear you saying you're loving it
because I know when you were sort of hoping to
get that fourth year, you were a bit gutted at
the time to sort of be stepping away because of
all the progress you'd made. But that's good to hear
that you're sort of right into it back on the farm.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Oh, well, you know, I always said my favorite part
of the week, whether I was feds or not feds,
was milking my cows on the weekend. And we really do.
I know I did. I took it for granted at times,
you know, being able to get out on the farm
and just do things. And what's been the good thing
since leaving feds is that, you know, feds takes up
(03:19):
a lot of the time. It's a heck of a
lot more than a full-time role. And so I've been
able to get a fair few of those smaller jobs
done now rather than a kind of patching up things
after I've come back from being away or getting things
set up for when I've got to go away next.
Now I've got a bit of time on farm to
actually get some stuff done, which has been great. I
absolutely loved it.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You only live once, the YOLO, that's still the motto,
the modus operandi.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Yeah, absolutely, but I've actually had a month off just
over the last month of August of kind of posting
it publicly. I'm a natural introvert, believe it or not,
and we've actually just leaned into carving and just my
wife and I, you know, just here on the farm
and enjoying it and enjoying the sunshine and the calves
and the birds and the bees and everything else that's
(04:05):
come with it, you know what I mean? It's just
been great. So getting back into it, you'll see a
post pop up tonight now that we're into September, but...
But yeah, I have enjoyed a bit of quiet time
in that. But I think you just brought up before,
the other big massive part of this spring is that
greatest rivalry, right? Every Sunday morning, having the All Blacks
show up. How good is that thing?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Absolutely outstanding. It's brought back some wonderful memories, especially I
think for me, I know a lot of people refer
to that sort of, one-off test in uh 92 and
then the 96 series but actually the 76 series for
me and kirk patrick in that that era but um
uh okay so a couple of topics the land care
trust 30 years.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Yeah oh yeah as part of the chair of um
As part of being president of FEDS, I'm also on
the Landcare Trust Board. There's eight different organisations that form
up the Landcare Trust. You know, some pretty big ones
like Fish and Game and Rural Woman and Forest and
Bird and the Federation of Marriott Authorities as well as
a few others as well. So Landcare Trust was kind
(05:07):
of the early adopters in the catchment group phase. And...
While they've kind of had the tsunami of catchment groups,
I guess, come at them over the last probably 10
or 15 years, now they're starting to really find their
feet again in terms of their really specialised advice for
catchment groups and helping out some of the work that
catchment groups are doing, which is awesome. Yeah, to think
(05:30):
of where it's come from over the last 30 years
and all the catchment work that's gone on in New
Zealand and how much of a role Landcare Trust has
played in that. It's pretty cool just to hold the
mantle for a little bit to keep that going.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And there's some, as you say, great work of the
various catchment groups around the country.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Now, home kill rules, there's been a few adjustments there.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Yeah, it's good to see you, Mr Hoggart. I'm working
on something here, which is great, Minister Hoggart. And, yeah, just–
and it's good because, you know, we deal with all
these big issues, you know, climate change and farm plans
and emissions and everything else. But there are all these
little things that often need tweaking as well and just
the home-kill rules around that. You know, you're saying, you know,
(06:13):
a farmer or someone having to own a stock for
28 days before you can actually legally send it to
a home go operator, you know, seems a bit daft.
It's something that's kind of probably not being followed too
much and do we need to make some changes there? Also,
I really need to clarify the rules around donating meat
in particular and what that is because I can tell
(06:33):
you from working in the space, as you know, I've
done a fair bit in the space, it is a
bit of a grey area, and so it would be
good to tidy that up and get it sorted. But
good on Minnesota Guard for taking this on. Like I say,
I know he's got a lot on his plate, and
this may seem like small fry to some, but it
actually can have quite a big impact within our rural communities.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Can you just clarify for me, so what is the
grey area around that donated me? What do you mean,
what needs to be sorted there?
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Well, that's probably the exact question, because if I was
to ring MPI five times, I'd probably get five different
answers on what I am or aren't allowed to do.
The main gist of what we're working on, as long
as you're donating meat at the moment, then you can
donate it. Obviously, food banks and stuff can't sell donated
meat or anything like that. And so it's just getting
(07:22):
some real clear rules around what you are and aren't
allowed to do in that space. and making sure, obviously,
that we're keeping everyone safe through this all, because food
safety is absolutely paramount, and we want to make sure
that people are being looked after.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, you mentioned the All Blacks. What do you see
happening in how many, 62 and a half hours' time
in Soweto?
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Yeah, an 8.1 to the All Blacks. Just how good
has it been? That running rugby that we've lost for
10 years is back, and it's so good. I feel
like we can attack from anywhere on the park. And,
you know, that's why we love the Dan Carter, Richard
McCoy era, was because they just grabbed their ball and
no matter where they were, they took off with it,
(08:06):
you know. And I feel like we've got that back.
We've got some muscle up front again, and I'm looking
forward to it. It's just great to have a series.
I'm not quite as old as you. You know, I
remember the 96 series, and I was 13, 14 at
the time for that. You know, and to live through
this one again, this is pretty cool. So it's awesome
to see them plan so well.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, it is, Wayne. Somebody I want to give a
little bit of praise to that I don't know that
I always have, and we mentioned Dan Carter.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I'm loving watching Ruben Love, the way he runs onto
the ball.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
He tests defences, but when he looks to then offload,
it's always so accurate in the past. Somebody who did
that beautifully and regularly against the South Africans was Andrew Mertens.
I just saw a random feed pop up on social
media today of Mertz running into space or turning the
defence around and then offloading a beautiful pass.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
And that's the sort of footy we've got back to.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yeah, we dominated the world for 10 years playing a
certain type of rugby and the rest of the world
caught up and started playing similar rugby to us. Now
we've started, I think we've started playing a different type
of rugby that the world is then going to have
to look at and say, how are we going to
beat these guys again? And hopefully that takes us back
to the dominant side that we were because, man, it's
good to watch. I just love watching.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And there's too much good stuff going on in the
All Blacks side now. The media are sort of trying
to beat up this war of words. Well, Rassi Erasmus
has just been Rassi, and Dave Rennie's just been the quiet,
silent cheever that he is.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
So we all look forward to the footy.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And we've enjoyed having you on the show, Wayne Lankford.
Thank you very much for joining us. Love it.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Cheers.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Great stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
There he is out of the Golden Bay, back on
the farm, busy as ever.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Former Federated Farmers President Wayne Langford joining us on the country.
Still to come, Laura Coote out of the hairdressers in Lumsden.
Looking forward to her next ventures. What's the latest with Laura?
The handy piece story, Dave Rabson. is going to be
with us. And we head to the Waikato and a
little bit of a discussion on Sue's Red Mains bill
to enable KiwiSaver to be used to buy a farm.
(10:07):
All that coming up on The Country. Well, joining us
on the country now from down in the deep south,
(10:30):
a woman who has been mentoring other women in farming for, well,
more than sort of half a decade now, but is
branching out into other avenues, which will be no doubt
fantastic to those who will benefit from this. Laura Coote.
How are you, Laura?
Speaker 7 (10:45):
I'm much better now that I'm talking with you, Hamish.
It's been a long time.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, well, I saw you having a nice little session
with my good friend, Ryan Bridge, a few weeks ago. So,
you know, I thought it was high time that I
stepped up to the plate. I did love the hat
you were wearing. Tell me about the changes that are
ahead for you.
Speaker 7 (11:01):
Yeah, it's been an amazing six years with the Fairlight Foundation.
I've loved everything we've built and grown there. But handing
the reins over to Christy Wright was exactly the right
decision for me and my family right now. And I
still am doing similar things, but just in my own way.
(11:21):
So I've set up two new businesses. The first one,
Vantage People, is helping workplaces grow. better communicate and get
better relationships with their team. And the second one is
the online Southern Girl Finishing School, where I mentor women
in a one-on-one or online capacity. I'm excited about both.
And of course, real country's still going strong. So I'm
(11:44):
still trying to convince people to come to the farm
and watch me shear a sheep.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Watch you shear a sheep and crack that whoop as
you do as well. So still very much a rural
bent to everything you're doing.
Speaker 7 (11:55):
Absolutely. Well, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
the rural community. Everything I love about my life is
because I live in a rural community. And all of
these things that I do is just basically anyone who
wants to get from where they are to where they
want to be, whether that's professionally or personally, that gap
(12:17):
is filled entirely with doing all the stuff that you
keep putting off. And everything I've set up is to
just help people close that gap.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
When I was talking to you in another life, and
it does feel like a lifetime ago, five or six,
seven years ago, and there were big things happening. There
was COVID. It was tougher times down on the farm.
There wasn't the same sort of farm gate returns.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
You know, the world looked pretty different.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I mean, how have you changed, and what have you
seen change in those five or six years?
Speaker 7 (12:47):
I think the biggest thing for me, and every mum
will attest to this, having children is probably the biggest
change that happens to women. And being a mum, all
that's done is it's given me a laser focus. My
priorities are clear. I only put time and energy into
the exact things that I want to now because I
(13:08):
want to be hanging out and riding horses with my kids.
I want to be spending as much time with them
as possible. And, you know, the other thing that I've
learned is hard times happen all the time, but hard
people get through them. And I had so much support
when shit went wrong with COVID and the business and
me personally. And now me helping others is my way
(13:32):
of giving back. And I get a lot of satisfaction
from that. That to me is success. Helping other people
succeed to me is success.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
When you say hard people, I think part of that
is also being soft on yourself a little bit too, right?
Speaker 7 (13:48):
Yeah, you have to be, but that takes time and experience.
We are, particularly rurally, I think all raised to be
hard on the inside and hard on the outside, but
that is just not realistic. And I used to put
a lot of pressure on myself. And that pressure led
to all sorts of anxiety and stress and drama that
(14:09):
honestly was just taking a lot of energy. So I
have worked with professionals. I have worked on myself and
I have compiled all of these lessons into practical tools
to help others because you don't need to be where
you are right now. You can get to where you
want to, but you've got to do the uncomfortable work.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
To get there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Practical tools to build women's confidence, right? Does that sort
of encapsulate a lot of what you do?
Speaker 7 (14:35):
A hundred percent. And I also went and became DISC accredited. Now,
DISC is a behavioural profiling tool. I did a little
bit of it in corporate as well as the Myers-Briggs and,
you know, the Colours and the TetraMAT. But the reason
I love DISC is it helps people understand how they
respond under pressure and And it gives people a language
(14:57):
to understand why they work the way that they do.
So personality test, it's not quite. It's actually a framework
that explains why two people see situations differently. And it
helps you actually adapt to get more out of every relationship,
both professionally and personally. And this is really underpinning a
(15:18):
lot of my mentorship at the moment because it's.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Bloody good stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, fantastic. Fantastic. So we talk about with you, Laura Coote,
the boardroom, the bedroom, the back.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Barn and all things in between. I mean, you cover
a lot of bases, don't you?
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Yeah, but that's life, isn't it? Like we're not all
in one box. We don't all just have our working personality.
We have our personal relationships. We have conversations that we
keep putting off. Some of us are great with finances.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Some are not.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Some of us are confident in the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Some are not.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
And it all stems back to being a well-rounded individual,
whether you're male or female. So why not talk about.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
All of it?
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Why not teach all of it?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So if I asked you right now, where are you right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Now and what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Because I have an inkling you might have been getting
your hair done.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
Like literally right now, I have my hair in foils
at Willow Society, the best hairdresser in New Zealand and London.
My kids are at Kindy just across the road at London.
I spend the day here. I'm on my computer. I'm
taking calls. I'm working on the fly. And then I'll
pick the kids up and we'll go jump on the horses.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
On the way home.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Oh, outstanding. The hair and foils. I mean, it's a look.
It is fantastic. So you're very, let's talk just the
rural community, farming, the ag sector, the primary sector, the outlook.
I feel for the first time in a long time
that there's this sort of medium to long term hope, longevity,
(16:50):
if you like.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Isn't it incredible what an increase in land prices and
milk prices and things does, cross-bred wool prices does for
the industry? That is incredible in itself. But I think
over the last 10 years that I've been working in
this space, there has never been more work being done
on growing good people. Farmers have always grown good grass.
(17:15):
But there's more and more focus now on growing good people.
And when you grow good people, that then leeches positively
into the rest of the community. And I honestly, I
wouldn't cope if I wasn't part of a rural community.
Like I carpool with other rural mums to get our
kids to kindy because kindy is 45 minutes away. You
(17:35):
can't do that yourself every single day. we've got Fairlight
Station is putting on a road party on Friday night
so all the farmers in the area are invited winter's
a tough time in Southland it's brutal it's isolating it's
you know long days and short days at the same
time because it's so dark and so the rural community
(17:57):
constantly pulls together constantly supports each other and when you
get a little lift and a little bit of positivity
it's like we just shoot for the stars there and
then and Spring's in the air. We've got lambs coming in.
It's a good time to be farming in Southland right now.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Too right, Laura Coote.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
We will catch up soon, my friend, and no more promises, promises.
We will do that.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And thank you so much for joining us today on
The Country and all the best with the next great
moves you're making.
Speaker 7 (18:25):
We will talk again very soon.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thanks, Hamish.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
For so long.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Broken car.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
This is the country.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Hamish Mackay with you on your Thursday. Hope you're having
a good day wherever you are, whatever you might be doing.
Hope there's a bit of sunshine at your place today.
No doubt a lot of you very busy with carving, lambing,
all that time of the year. I mean, there's never
not a busy time on the farm, is there? But
it's as busy as ever right now. And a man
who always keeps himself really busy doing absolutely outstandingly interesting things.
(19:06):
Ever since I've known him, since he was about 15, well,
I've known him longer than that. I knew him, we
were at boarding school together, actually, so I make the declaration.
David Rabb, short out of the Manawatu.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Rabb, how are you?
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Very good, Hayne.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yeah, no, no, I'm keeping well.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
How's the, of course, you're famous for many things, actually,
but we won't go into those on the radio today.
But the handy piece, of course, the portable mobile shearing handpiece.
How is that world treating you?
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Very good, home.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Very good.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Look, I tell you what, we've actually had a boomer
of a winter, too, because our orders over to the
UK have sort of doubled. And the reason for that being,
I rang up the guy who sells the motor. there
and he says, well, look, you know, our guys are
getting up to nine pounds a kilo for their lamb. So,
you know, we would have doubled our sales over there
(19:59):
in the last 12 months. And, you know, that's flowed
through to New Zealand. So I was thinking about it
just the other day, you know, the contrast between now
and two years ago, you know, like two years ago,
it would have cost you 12 lambs, good lambs for
a handy piece. Now you're talking six.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, yeah. So guys with the more disposable cash have
got it and they want something that's, you know, obviously
very handy to have, but they might have been just
a little standoffish. They're in like Flynn now.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Yeah, I would say that. Well, you know, we've got
20,000 of them out there now, Haynes. So, you know,
most people who are buying them off us now have
already had one and they're just upgrading.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I mean.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
You know, there's some tigers out there. We get some
sent back that'll be 15 years old, and, you know,
it's pretty worn out, and I'll ring them up and say, hey, look,
you know, have you thought about upgrading? You know, our
new model one's got three times more power than the
old one. Oh, well, as soon as you tell them that, then,
you know, providing they're not thinking of getting out of farming, but,
(21:06):
you know, it's been pretty good. We've got some new
stuff with it. Lately, we've just brought into our... list
of stuff that we sell with it. We've got a
car charger. Now, that's mainly for guys who go around
sharing lifestyle blocks. We've got two or three hundred out
there in New Zealand alone. For guys, it's just so
(21:28):
easy to bowl into a paddock, flip the sheep over,
especially if someone's only got five. And a lot of them,
what they were doing, they would just end up buying
four or five batteries off us. And then we had
to get a special charger made so now they can
charge while they're on the run. And the other thing
is our batteries. We've just had a new mould made
for our batteries, so it's basically pretty water-resistant. We were
(21:49):
having trouble with dairy cockies getting a lot of water
in the cow shed, and they were sort of creeping
into the battery. So, yeah, it's good times. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh, that's fantastic. And you raise an interesting point about
how far the handy pieces come from when you started
to what it is now. I mean, my one, which is,
you know, I haven't had a chance to be Auckland's
sort of share five sheep guy because it's a loner
and I haven't seen it back. But that's all right.
How far have they come in that time? You talk
(22:19):
about battery, the car charger.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Yeah, we've done probably four different models since I won
the innovation thing in 2007 at Mystery Creek. So the
latest one is the best because it's all this drone technology.
We've got a motor off basically a drone helicopter. So
it's got heaps of torque. It's got no brushes to
wear out. And, you know, it's variable speed. So we
(22:43):
make ours. We can go from... 2.6, which is sort
of clipper speed if you want to do alpacas and
that sort of thing, right up to 3.6. So it's actually,
we found that like a normal overhead runs at 2.5, sorry, 3.5.
We found that 3.6, they actually just run a little
bit smoother. We had guys trialing them and they said, no,
(23:04):
it's the way to go. But yes, look, long may
it continue. I just, I have to say, you know,
I'm what you'd call a small hobby farmer, which I
have Now, you know, I've got 300 acres, but we
still test a few hand pieces out here if we
get the odd one and we can't work out what
might be wrong with it. And the other day I
(23:26):
had some lambs I realised I've just had my ankle replaced.
So I've had a bit of staff in helping me.
And this guy called me up and he said, you
better come down and have a look at these things.
They're a bit overcooked. So we stuck a few of
them into the field and sale on the Monday and $ 367, Hayne.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, you know, I can just, how wide was the smile?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I mean, I visualise every other week the Warwick Clausen
and Richard Osborne and, you know, all you townie farmers
in there, you know, with the big smiles. It's good though,
isn't it?
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Oh, mate, it's fantastic. We just have to hope that
in November, come November, that Chloe or Chippy don't get
too near the old decision-making table, really.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yes, well, I can't possibly comment on anything like that, Rab,
but you're perfectly entitled to, of course. Now, look, I
just want a couple of, yeah, anything else you're sort
of tinkering around with in the engineering world or?
Speaker 6 (24:24):
Oh, well, many, many years ago, I used to build
Lamborghini replicas. So I've been trying to make one of
those up to race. But the only problem with that
is I've got old while I've been doing that. So
every time my wife looks out into it and sees
something flash getting bolted onto it, she says, you're too old.
You're too old for that.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, I tell you what, if you needed sort of
a promotional one to run around the leafy berms of
the eastern suburbs of Auckland, you've got to volunteer here.
You know, the Mackay's and the Shorts, we've always been
very close. I mean, I was just thinking about this
before we talked, and I'm going to mention this, because
I was reading an article on Murray Ball the other day,
and I think your dad, Tony, played with Murray, didn't he,
for a few years? Were they in similar teams? And
(25:03):
I'm going to say this, my dad would always say
to me that your dad, Tony Short, was one of.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
The most beautiful rugby players he ever saw. And, of course,
he was, yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Unfortunately, as you know, it just didn't get passed down
to his offspring.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Oh, I wouldn't say that because I played with you
and your late brother, Tim, and you were both pretty
bloody handy footballers, eh?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, we were all in team together, I think, at
one stage back in the day. Hey, Rabshaw, all the best.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Yes. Good to hear.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Great to chat.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
All the best. There we go. That is David Rabshort
out of the Manawatu.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
And, of course, he makes those wonderful handy pieces that
are gangbusters in the UK. The orders have doubled. See,
it is a great New Zealand story. As he said,
it's 2007, nearly 20 years since he won the big
award at Mystery Creek.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
You are listening to The Country. I'm Hamish McCoy.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Back shortly.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
We have the moon in time behind us.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
The country's rural news with Cub Cadet, New Zealand's leading
ride-on lawnmower brand. Visit steelfort.co.nz for your local stockist.
Speaker 8 (26:08):
And time for rural news. Now, I've scraped through the
news and tried to find some interesting things. And I
actually found this one when I've got a wee story
to go with it, Hamish, from my own background with
this noxious weed.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (26:20):
So, in rural news, farmers are being urged to stay
alert as a toxic weed's been found in South Wairarapa
threatening cattle and horses. Madagascar ragwort is a yellow-flowered daisy
weed which can rapidly invade pastures and cause serious illness
and death in livestock. The Greater Wellington Regional Council says
it's hoping to act before it becomes rife. Now, a
little story about ragwort. I have my pony club certificate
(26:42):
up to level C, and as part of that pony
club certificate, yes, I was a horse girl. I know
everyone was shocked by that fact probably out there today.
We actually had to go through all the weeds and
learn them all. And I only just remembered this the
other day. when someone was talking to me about ragwash
and I said, oh, I had to learn all that.
And all the stuff started coming back to me. So
interesting stuff. You don't see it too much down here.
(27:03):
It's a little bit around the place. I would recognise
it if I saw it, but it's a very noxious,
horrible thing and it's really hard to pull out. It's actually,
it sticks to the ground really tough. So hopefully they
managed to eradicate that. But that's rural news. Hamish, you've
got some sport there.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Sport on the country with AFCO. 100% Kiwi owned. That's rare.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
What was that, Madagascar ragwort?
Speaker 9 (27:26):
Yeah, it looks like a yellow daisy.
Speaker 8 (27:28):
It can get quite big, a reasonably decent-sized plant, and
it's really, really bad for horses and, well, any livestock, really,
if they eat it.
Speaker 9 (27:35):
But like I said, it's really hard to pull out.
That's what I remember about it.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, it reminds me, when you talk of things like that,
I actually spent six months of my life stamping out
Clematis vitalba. You know, you know, the old clematis that
was just strangling our native bushes back in the 80s.
You wouldn't remember.
Speaker 9 (27:52):
No, I don't know the one you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
It's really tough to get rid of. I used to
carry it around buckets of 245T and just cut and paint. Oh,
I'll tell you what. But anyway, that's another story. Sport. OK, Mr.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Luxon, this was a bit of a shocker, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Up the waratahs. I think he meant up the wars. Unfortunately,
from the prime minister, a bit of a fail there.
I see the flyover has been cancelled for this weekend
in Soweto. Michelle, what was your take on that?
Speaker 9 (28:17):
I think, personally, people need to let it go. It happened.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
It was there.
Speaker 9 (28:21):
It happened. It's over now. Let's move on.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So every time a plane comes into Heathrow, which is
about every 30 seconds, and they have to practice a
certain amount of control and be a reasonably experienced pilot
to do that, I would have thought they were in
control too. And I think at the end of the day,
I think it's probably gone a bit too far. Because
I quite liked it myself at first.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I thought, oh, that's close.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
But anyway. Now, Liam Lawson to drive Red Bull, the
main team, this weekend again at the Italian Grand Prix.
Just need to pop up a couple more places on
the old finish line there. And the all-black team. That's
going to be named at 10 o'clock tonight. 10 o'clock tonight.
I wouldn't expect to be too many changes unless there
(29:04):
are some injuries that we know about. 62 hours to
kick off, Michelle. There you go.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
That is our sport here on the country.
Speaker 9 (29:13):
Are you going to be getting up early to watch
that game? I do say you will.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
You're not a replay man. I can't deal with the
sort of the anxiety. I mean, you know, I'd have
to get my pills out. You know, like I just
have to watch it live now that it's so good
and we're going so well together. And they're such a
good opposition. I don't buy into all this sort of
stuff about Rassi. I love Rassi. He's good for the game.
He's got a good footy side. Dave, Rennie, of course,
(29:38):
I love the way all the media now. sort of
made out they picked him. None of them actually said
a thing about him. He was always going to be
Jamie Joseph, and look at the job that Rennie's done.
But there'll be a little bit of judgment day, really,
this third test early hours of Sunday morning. Yes, I
will be up the shelf.
Speaker 8 (29:55):
And we'll talk more about the rugby tomorrow, and I'll
ask you what your score predictions are as well.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Coming up next, who are we talking to next, Tame?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
We are going to be talking to Carla DeBette, who's
a Waikato dairy farmer, on this issue around Suze Redmayne's
bill to get Kiwis to buy a farm through KiwiSaver.
Good idea, eh?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And I just wanted to mention one other quick thing,
if I could.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That History of the Hawk Cup book that we talked
to Alec Astor, a teacher, author, historian, fine cricketer himself.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
For that, we would give out an email.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I'll give it out now. Alec Astle. So it's alec, A-L-E-C,
dot Astle, A-S-T-E-L-E, alec.astle at hotmail.com or mtbrown, m.t.brown at extra.co.nz.
There you go for that great book on the Hawke
Cup of cricket.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Back shortly here on The Country.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
On the country now, time to look at the KiwiSaver
First Home or Farm Amendment Bill. This is the ability
to utilise KiwiSaver to buy a farm. It's a bill
put forward by Rangitika MP, Suze Redmayne. Now, to look
at this, we're heading to the Waikato, where we are
joined by a farmer there, Carla DeVette. Carla, how are you?
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Good, thanks.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah, no, very well, thank you. Very well. So this
is something that's obviously that you've been a strong advocate of.
Where are we at in terms of the KiwiSaver being
able to be used as part of a purchase for
a farm?
Speaker 4 (31:32):
So I believe that it's been read in Parliament and
is sort of about to go in front of the
select committee. So, yeah, I'm not too sure how long
that process is all going to take. Hopefully it's not
a long one because we want to get those young
people off onto their new farms.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah, I mean, it's a bit of a no-brainer, isn't it,
in terms of like, kind of like your house comes
with your farm probably in most cases too. So there's
sort of a double whammy there as well.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Yeah, I think there's... It kind of makes no sense
that it wasn't like that from the start to me.
Like I think there's been a massive gap and it's probably,
I think that this is also going to incentivize a
lot of rural people to actually invest into KiwiSaver where
before it probably felt a little bit pointless in some ways.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, and they were probably looking for other avenues of
investment to try and get the best return to get
that deposit, to get into a farm. But you did right.
It should point them in the direction of KiwiSaver, where
there are, as we know, some very good options, aren't there?
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Yeah, I absolutely believe that. And yeah, it's just having
access to that capital when you need it the most.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, absolutely. Carla, are you still involved? Are you a
former chair of Young Farmers in your area?
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Yes, I was chair of Morinsville Nara Young Farmers Club
a couple of years ago now. But yeah, I'm sort
of getting a little bit old, long in the tooth
for young farmers. So, yeah, starting to put a little
bit more effort into the federated farmer side of things now,
I think. But, yeah, I'm still a farm member. I
still enjoy going along to everything.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah, absolutely. But believe me, if you're only a couple
of years out of Young Farmers, you're a long way
from being long in the tooth. You're coming from somebody
who knows. How's things on your property where you are
at the moment? How's conditions been? How's the winter? How's
carving going?
Speaker 4 (33:23):
It's going well, thanks. It's good. Kind of at that
point where I wanted to speed up, but then also
every day with no calves is quite a good day. So, yeah,
it's been a pretty dry winter, which has been good
because I'm on quite a flat farm. So when it's wet,
it's very wet. But yeah, it's sort of kept grass
a little bit tight, but that's all easing up now
(33:43):
with that last bit of rain. So it's definitely looking good.
It's a beautiful day today.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Fantastic. What about the mood across the dairy and the
ag sector in the greater Waikato? Is everybody pretty buoyant?
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Yeah, I'd say so. I think there's a lot of people,
I suppose there's quite a few farm owners who would
have benefited from the recent Ontario payout, which always helps.
It's quite nice when you've got a little bit of
spare cash available to go and do the things that
you want to do on your farm that make your
daily life a bit easier. So yeah, I think overall
people are pretty happy. We're in a pretty good spot. Yep.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Absolutely outstanding. Hey, Carla, good to chat. And you be
on our show and from a part of the country
that we don't always get to, the Waikato, and all
the very best. And, yeah, looking forward to this being
raced through Parliament so we can finally use the KiwiSaver
there to help purchase the farm. Great stuff.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Thank you for your time.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
So won't you tell me, won't you tell me the truth?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
This is the country on your Thursday. Hamish Mackay in
for cousin.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Beau Duke, Luke Duke, Jamie Mackay. He's on the road
to recovery. Well, great to have your company so far
on the show today. Great to talk to Dave Rabshort
out of the mud over to their double orders on
his handy piece, the ingenious handy piece, which is just him.
A work of art as far as mobile sharing facility goes.
(35:17):
Double the orders into the UK. That's great to hear.
Another Kiwi success story. Brought in a chat earlier with
old foils in her hair. She sounds a bit like
Hilda Ogden. She looks nothing like Hilda Ogden. Laura Coote,
professional mentor. I might talk to her later. to Heather
Duplessy-Allen about her later on, actually, about what she's doing
(35:37):
in that women's confidence space as well. Wayne Lankford, too,
keeping himself busy. The former Federated Farmers President. It was
good to chat to Wayne. He's keeping himself very busy
down there on the farm in Golden Bay, although I
did notice he had a very high degree of expertise
around the All Black side and the tour of South Africa. So,
(35:59):
you know, he probably had a bit of time just
to have a look at the old screens as well.
62 hours to kick off in Soweto. This is The Country.
I'm Hamish McKay. Great to have your company on Thursday.
(36:33):
The country on your Thursday. Hamish Mackay out of Auckland today.
And Michelle Watt, of course, executive producer down there in Dunedin.
I know you're champing at the bit to ask me
about somebody who I mentioned earlier. Who was that?
Speaker 9 (36:47):
Yeah, who's this? Is it Hilda?
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Hilda Rogden.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Yeah, who's that?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh, goodness me. I'm showing my age, aren't I? Coronation Street,
of course, is Coronation Street. You're familiar with Coronation Street.
Have you ever been a Coro watcher?
Speaker 9 (37:01):
No, but my grandmother.
Speaker 8 (37:03):
was a very loyal fan to Coro.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
So Hilda Ogden was sort of like a staple, if
you like, of the wonderful Coronation Street. I actually went
to the Coronation Street studios on an All Black tour many,
many years ago. It was quite funny. It was myself
and Wynne Gray, who used to be the New Zealand
Herald rugby writer, and we turned up and, of course,
it had been all arranged for John Macbeth and Keith
(37:28):
Quinn from TVNZ to go And we said, yes, Mr
Quinn and Mr McBeath. So they took us through. It
was actually outstanding. Yes, great memory there. Righty-ho. Well, yes,
great to have had on the show today President Wayne
Lankford still following on with his YOLO.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
I mean, the man's full of energy, isn't he? You
only live once.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
He's taken a bit of time off social media, but
he's been loving being back on the farm, which is
very nice, Michelle. Very nice.
Speaker 9 (37:57):
Yeah, it is. It's good to hear him happy and
enjoying life on the farm.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, absolutely. Want to mention the secondary school's top four rugby.
I'll mention the girls tomorrow. But today, the top four
who are playing off in Palmerston North this weekend. Westlake
Boys have won the Blues. They play Tauranga Boys College
out of the Chiefs. St Pat's Silverstream are the Hurricanes team.
And from the South Island... St Andrews. Michelle, I just
(38:23):
think that's a wonderful cross-section of teams that are not,
you know, they've all been there or thereabouts in the past,
but great to see.
Speaker 8 (38:30):
It's great to see a mix of North and South
and all that in there. And also, shout out to
all the parents out there that are dealing with carving
and the secondary sports tournaments at the moment, trying to
pull double duty.
Speaker 9 (38:40):
That's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Well, there's every kind of hockey tournament going. I know
the Rankin Cup is always on this time of year,
isn't it? Which is... one of the main secondary school tournaments,
but they play all sorts of tournaments all over the country,
don't they? Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (38:55):
There'll be a lot going on at the moment, and
add carving into the mix and everything else you have
to do on top of that, it's a lot. And
speaking of, like, just happy things that are going on,
I see that up in the Northland, the Rural Support
Trust put lollies in people's mailboxes to say, hey, you know,
you're doing well, keep going, here's something to brighten your day,
because it was international, I think it was... pay it
(39:17):
forward day type thing on the 1st of September.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Sort of friendly moment sort of time was it? So
they've got a bag with sort of those milk bottle
chews and the old jet planes and I think the
message was, jump in the Uta or on the four-wheeler
and eat them yourself before you get home. You know?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Indulge a little. Is that all right, Michelle?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Are you allowed to indulge a little? Always. Yeah, I
think so. He's our great band from the 70s and
the 80s. How good were these boys out of Tamarine Dragon? God,
we were blessed. Hello, sailor, the dudes. Absolutely fantastic. This
has been The Country. We'll do it all again tomorrow.
Bye for now. Oh, we can't.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
Stick it out in this cold and gray.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
Snake eyes on the.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
The Country with Jamie Mackay and Isuzu Utes. Get a
double cab D-Max from $ 55, 990.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Newstalk ZV.
The Country with Jamie Mackay and Isuzu Utes. Get a
double cab D-Max from $ 55, 990.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Newstalk ZB.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
People tell me I should stay, but.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
I got to get my fun.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
This is The Country. I'm Hamish Mackay.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
G'day.
Speaker 2 (00:22):
I've always wondered about the April sun in Cuba. Sounds
pretty good down the Dragon Way, doesn't it? Welcome into
the show. Only 63 hours to kick off in Soweto,
the big decider, I guess you could call it that,
of the battle between the All Blacks and South Africa.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
Great to have your company today.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Later on, I will give you those emails that I
promised I'd give you to get a hold of that book,
The History of the.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Hawke Cup 1910-2025.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The emails from Alec Astle and Murray Brown, the authors,
we'll get you those because there's been a lot of
interest in that book.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
On the show today, former Fed's President Wayne Langford.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
What's he up to?
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Where's he heading?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
The boardroom, the bedroom, the back barn and all things
in between. Laura Coote, live from the Lumsden hairdressers. Sort
of makes me think of Hilda Ogden for some reason,
but Laura's nothing like Hilda Ogden. David Rabshort in the
Pure Genius, that is the Handypiece story, an update on that.
We talked to Waikato farmer Carla DeVette on the Sue's
(01:19):
Red Main bill to enable Kiwis to use.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
KiwiSaver to buy a farm. Makes a lot of sense,
doesn't it? But first up, the former president. Why, Langford,
good afternoon, sir.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
Hello.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
How much good to be here.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
How's things?
Speaker 3 (01:37):
Yeah, no, very good, thank you.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
Very good.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Now, how are you getting on?
Speaker 2 (01:39):
How have you reallocated your time? I know you like
to stay busy, but you would have had to sort
of make a few adjustments since finishing as Federated Farmers President.
Speaker 5 (01:48):
Yeah, no, I have had to a bit, but no,
it's been good. I'm not going to lie. I've just
finished my first three weeks since calving started, and the
old body's feeling it a bit, the old... The old
body that got used to a few cheeses in the
quarry lounges is now lifting a few calves this year.
(02:08):
So it's taking a bit to adapt, but actually absolutely
loving it. Yeah, we've got our farm kind of humming
along pretty well this year, and it's the first year
that we haven't had any heifers on farm. We've gone
all bulls and no AI, which is something different, and
it's meant that no heifers in the shed, so.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
A lot.
Speaker 5 (02:29):
Less excitement there and also a very, very quick calving.
So they calve down about 80% to 90% in the
first three weeks, which is just a bang. So it
all just happens like that. So it's been a heck
of a three weeks, but we're coming out the other
end of it now.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Yeah, I'm pleased to hear you saying you're loving it
because I know when you were sort of hoping to
get that fourth year, you were a bit gutted at
the time to sort of be stepping away because of
all the progress you'd made. But that's good to hear
that you're sort of right into it back on the farm.
Speaker 5 (02:57):
Oh, well, you know, I always said my favorite part
of the week, whether I was feds or not feds,
was milking my cows on the weekend. And we really do.
I know I did. I took it for granted at times,
you know, being able to get out on the farm
and just do things. And what's been the good thing
since leaving feds is that, you know, feds takes up
(03:19):
a lot of the time. It's a heck of a
lot more than a full-time role. And so I've been
able to get a fair few of those smaller jobs
done now rather than a kind of patching up things
after I've come back from being away or getting things
set up for when I've got to go away next.
Now I've got a bit of time on farm to
actually get some stuff done, which has been great. I
absolutely loved it.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
You only live once, the YOLO, that's still the motto,
the modus operandi.
Speaker 5 (03:44):
Yeah, absolutely, but I've actually had a month off just
over the last month of August of kind of posting
it publicly. I'm a natural introvert, believe it or not,
and we've actually just leaned into carving and just my
wife and I, you know, just here on the farm
and enjoying it and enjoying the sunshine and the calves
and the birds and the bees and everything else that's
(04:05):
come with it, you know what I mean? It's just
been great. So getting back into it, you'll see a
post pop up tonight now that we're into September, but...
But yeah, I have enjoyed a bit of quiet time
in that. But I think you just brought up before,
the other big massive part of this spring is that
greatest rivalry, right? Every Sunday morning, having the All Blacks
show up. How good is that thing?
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Absolutely outstanding. It's brought back some wonderful memories, especially I
think for me, I know a lot of people refer
to that sort of, one-off test in uh 92 and
then the 96 series but actually the 76 series for
me and kirk patrick in that that era but um
uh okay so a couple of topics the land care
trust 30 years.
Speaker 5 (04:46):
Yeah oh yeah as part of the chair of um
As part of being president of FEDS, I'm also on
the Landcare Trust Board. There's eight different organisations that form
up the Landcare Trust. You know, some pretty big ones
like Fish and Game and Rural Woman and Forest and
Bird and the Federation of Marriott Authorities as well as
a few others as well. So Landcare Trust was kind
(05:07):
of the early adopters in the catchment group phase. And...
While they've kind of had the tsunami of catchment groups,
I guess, come at them over the last probably 10
or 15 years, now they're starting to really find their
feet again in terms of their really specialised advice for
catchment groups and helping out some of the work that
catchment groups are doing, which is awesome. Yeah, to think
(05:30):
of where it's come from over the last 30 years
and all the catchment work that's gone on in New
Zealand and how much of a role Landcare Trust has
played in that. It's pretty cool just to hold the
mantle for a little bit to keep that going.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, fantastic.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And there's some, as you say, great work of the
various catchment groups around the country.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Now, home kill rules, there's been a few adjustments there.
Speaker 5 (05:53):
Yeah, it's good to see you, Mr Hoggart. I'm working
on something here, which is great, Minister Hoggart. And, yeah, just–
and it's good because, you know, we deal with all
these big issues, you know, climate change and farm plans
and emissions and everything else. But there are all these
little things that often need tweaking as well and just
the home-kill rules around that. You know, you're saying, you know,
(06:13):
a farmer or someone having to own a stock for
28 days before you can actually legally send it to
a home go operator, you know, seems a bit daft.
It's something that's kind of probably not being followed too
much and do we need to make some changes there? Also,
I really need to clarify the rules around donating meat
in particular and what that is because I can tell
(06:33):
you from working in the space, as you know, I've
done a fair bit in the space, it is a
bit of a grey area, and so it would be
good to tidy that up and get it sorted. But
good on Minnesota Guard for taking this on. Like I say,
I know he's got a lot on his plate, and
this may seem like small fry to some, but it
actually can have quite a big impact within our rural communities.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Can you just clarify for me, so what is the
grey area around that donated me? What do you mean,
what needs to be sorted there?
Speaker 5 (07:00):
Well, that's probably the exact question, because if I was
to ring MPI five times, I'd probably get five different
answers on what I am or aren't allowed to do.
The main gist of what we're working on, as long
as you're donating meat at the moment, then you can
donate it. Obviously, food banks and stuff can't sell donated
meat or anything like that. And so it's just getting
(07:22):
some real clear rules around what you are and aren't
allowed to do in that space. and making sure, obviously,
that we're keeping everyone safe through this all, because food
safety is absolutely paramount, and we want to make sure
that people are being looked after.
Speaker 4 (07:37):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Okay, you mentioned the All Blacks. What do you see
happening in how many, 62 and a half hours' time
in Soweto?
Speaker 5 (07:45):
Yeah, an 8.1 to the All Blacks. Just how good
has it been? That running rugby that we've lost for
10 years is back, and it's so good. I feel
like we can attack from anywhere on the park. And,
you know, that's why we love the Dan Carter, Richard
McCoy era, was because they just grabbed their ball and
no matter where they were, they took off with it,
(08:06):
you know. And I feel like we've got that back.
We've got some muscle up front again, and I'm looking
forward to it. It's just great to have a series.
I'm not quite as old as you. You know, I
remember the 96 series, and I was 13, 14 at
the time for that. You know, and to live through
this one again, this is pretty cool. So it's awesome
to see them plan so well.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Yeah, it is, Wayne. Somebody I want to give a
little bit of praise to that I don't know that
I always have, and we mentioned Dan Carter.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
I'm loving watching Ruben Love, the way he runs onto
the ball.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
He tests defences, but when he looks to then offload,
it's always so accurate in the past. Somebody who did
that beautifully and regularly against the South Africans was Andrew Mertens.
I just saw a random feed pop up on social
media today of Mertz running into space or turning the
defence around and then offloading a beautiful pass.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
And that's the sort of footy we've got back to.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
Yeah, we dominated the world for 10 years playing a
certain type of rugby and the rest of the world
caught up and started playing similar rugby to us. Now
we've started, I think we've started playing a different type
of rugby that the world is then going to have
to look at and say, how are we going to
beat these guys again? And hopefully that takes us back
to the dominant side that we were because, man, it's
good to watch. I just love watching.
Speaker 6 (09:22):
It's great.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And there's too much good stuff going on in the
All Blacks side now. The media are sort of trying
to beat up this war of words. Well, Rassi Erasmus
has just been Rassi, and Dave Rennie's just been the quiet,
silent cheever that he is.
Speaker 3 (09:34):
So we all look forward to the footy.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
And we've enjoyed having you on the show, Wayne Lankford.
Thank you very much for joining us. Love it.
Speaker 5 (09:40):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Cheers.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
Great stuff.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
There he is out of the Golden Bay, back on
the farm, busy as ever.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Former Federated Farmers President Wayne Langford joining us on the country.
Still to come, Laura Coote out of the hairdressers in Lumsden.
Looking forward to her next ventures. What's the latest with Laura?
The handy piece story, Dave Rabson. is going to be
with us. And we head to the Waikato and a
little bit of a discussion on Sue's Red Mains bill
to enable KiwiSaver to be used to buy a farm.
(10:07):
All that coming up on The Country. Well, joining us
on the country now from down in the deep south,
(10:30):
a woman who has been mentoring other women in farming for, well,
more than sort of half a decade now, but is
branching out into other avenues, which will be no doubt
fantastic to those who will benefit from this. Laura Coote.
How are you, Laura?
Speaker 7 (10:45):
I'm much better now that I'm talking with you, Hamish.
It's been a long time.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Yeah, well, I saw you having a nice little session
with my good friend, Ryan Bridge, a few weeks ago. So,
you know, I thought it was high time that I
stepped up to the plate. I did love the hat
you were wearing. Tell me about the changes that are
ahead for you.
Speaker 7 (11:01):
Yeah, it's been an amazing six years with the Fairlight Foundation.
I've loved everything we've built and grown there. But handing
the reins over to Christy Wright was exactly the right
decision for me and my family right now. And I
still am doing similar things, but just in my own way.
(11:21):
So I've set up two new businesses. The first one,
Vantage People, is helping workplaces grow. better communicate and get
better relationships with their team. And the second one is
the online Southern Girl Finishing School, where I mentor women
in a one-on-one or online capacity. I'm excited about both.
And of course, real country's still going strong. So I'm
(11:44):
still trying to convince people to come to the farm
and watch me shear a sheep.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Watch you shear a sheep and crack that whoop as
you do as well. So still very much a rural
bent to everything you're doing.
Speaker 7 (11:55):
Absolutely. Well, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for
the rural community. Everything I love about my life is
because I live in a rural community. And all of
these things that I do is just basically anyone who
wants to get from where they are to where they
want to be, whether that's professionally or personally, that gap
(12:17):
is filled entirely with doing all the stuff that you
keep putting off. And everything I've set up is to
just help people close that gap.
Speaker 4 (12:25):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
When I was talking to you in another life, and
it does feel like a lifetime ago, five or six,
seven years ago, and there were big things happening. There
was COVID. It was tougher times down on the farm.
There wasn't the same sort of farm gate returns.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
You know, the world looked pretty different.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
I mean, how have you changed, and what have you
seen change in those five or six years?
Speaker 7 (12:47):
I think the biggest thing for me, and every mum
will attest to this, having children is probably the biggest
change that happens to women. And being a mum, all
that's done is it's given me a laser focus. My
priorities are clear. I only put time and energy into
the exact things that I want to now because I
(13:08):
want to be hanging out and riding horses with my kids.
I want to be spending as much time with them
as possible. And, you know, the other thing that I've
learned is hard times happen all the time, but hard
people get through them. And I had so much support
when shit went wrong with COVID and the business and
me personally. And now me helping others is my way
(13:32):
of giving back. And I get a lot of satisfaction
from that. That to me is success. Helping other people
succeed to me is success.
Speaker 4 (13:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
When you say hard people, I think part of that
is also being soft on yourself a little bit too, right?
Speaker 7 (13:48):
Yeah, you have to be, but that takes time and experience.
We are, particularly rurally, I think all raised to be
hard on the inside and hard on the outside, but
that is just not realistic. And I used to put
a lot of pressure on myself. And that pressure led
to all sorts of anxiety and stress and drama that
(14:09):
honestly was just taking a lot of energy. So I
have worked with professionals. I have worked on myself and
I have compiled all of these lessons into practical tools
to help others because you don't need to be where
you are right now. You can get to where you
want to, but you've got to do the uncomfortable work.
Speaker 4 (14:27):
To get there. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Practical tools to build women's confidence, right? Does that sort
of encapsulate a lot of what you do?
Speaker 7 (14:35):
A hundred percent. And I also went and became DISC accredited. Now,
DISC is a behavioural profiling tool. I did a little
bit of it in corporate as well as the Myers-Briggs and,
you know, the Colours and the TetraMAT. But the reason
I love DISC is it helps people understand how they
respond under pressure and And it gives people a language
(14:57):
to understand why they work the way that they do.
So personality test, it's not quite. It's actually a framework
that explains why two people see situations differently. And it
helps you actually adapt to get more out of every relationship,
both professionally and personally. And this is really underpinning a
(15:18):
lot of my mentorship at the moment because it's.
Speaker 4 (15:20):
Bloody good stuff.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
Yeah, fantastic. Fantastic. So we talk about with you, Laura Coote,
the boardroom, the bedroom, the back.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
Barn and all things in between. I mean, you cover
a lot of bases, don't you?
Speaker 7 (15:34):
Yeah, but that's life, isn't it? Like we're not all
in one box. We don't all just have our working personality.
We have our personal relationships. We have conversations that we
keep putting off. Some of us are great with finances.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Some are not.
Speaker 7 (15:48):
Some of us are confident in the bedroom.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Some are not.
Speaker 7 (15:51):
And it all stems back to being a well-rounded individual,
whether you're male or female. So why not talk about.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
All of it?
Speaker 7 (15:58):
Why not teach all of it?
Speaker 2 (16:00):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
So if I asked you right now, where are you right.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Now and what are you doing?
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Because I have an inkling you might have been getting
your hair done.
Speaker 7 (16:08):
Like literally right now, I have my hair in foils
at Willow Society, the best hairdresser in New Zealand and London.
My kids are at Kindy just across the road at London.
I spend the day here. I'm on my computer. I'm
taking calls. I'm working on the fly. And then I'll
pick the kids up and we'll go jump on the horses.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
On the way home.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Oh, outstanding. The hair and foils. I mean, it's a look.
It is fantastic. So you're very, let's talk just the
rural community, farming, the ag sector, the primary sector, the outlook.
I feel for the first time in a long time
that there's this sort of medium to long term hope, longevity,
(16:50):
if you like.
Speaker 7 (16:52):
Isn't it incredible what an increase in land prices and
milk prices and things does, cross-bred wool prices does for
the industry? That is incredible in itself. But I think
over the last 10 years that I've been working in
this space, there has never been more work being done
on growing good people. Farmers have always grown good grass.
(17:15):
But there's more and more focus now on growing good people.
And when you grow good people, that then leeches positively
into the rest of the community. And I honestly, I
wouldn't cope if I wasn't part of a rural community.
Like I carpool with other rural mums to get our
kids to kindy because kindy is 45 minutes away. You
(17:35):
can't do that yourself every single day. we've got Fairlight
Station is putting on a road party on Friday night
so all the farmers in the area are invited winter's
a tough time in Southland it's brutal it's isolating it's
you know long days and short days at the same
time because it's so dark and so the rural community
(17:57):
constantly pulls together constantly supports each other and when you
get a little lift and a little bit of positivity
it's like we just shoot for the stars there and
then and Spring's in the air. We've got lambs coming in.
It's a good time to be farming in Southland right now.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Too right, Laura Coote.
Speaker 3 (18:15):
We will catch up soon, my friend, and no more promises, promises.
We will do that.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
And thank you so much for joining us today on
The Country and all the best with the next great
moves you're making.
Speaker 7 (18:25):
We will talk again very soon.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thanks, Hamish.
Speaker 6 (18:27):
For so long.
Speaker 2 (18:39):
Broken car.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
This is the country.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Hamish Mackay with you on your Thursday. Hope you're having
a good day wherever you are, whatever you might be doing.
Hope there's a bit of sunshine at your place today.
No doubt a lot of you very busy with carving, lambing,
all that time of the year. I mean, there's never
not a busy time on the farm, is there? But
it's as busy as ever right now. And a man
who always keeps himself really busy doing absolutely outstandingly interesting things.
(19:06):
Ever since I've known him, since he was about 15, well,
I've known him longer than that. I knew him, we
were at boarding school together, actually, so I make the declaration.
David Rabb, short out of the Manawatu.
Speaker 3 (19:16):
Rabb, how are you?
Speaker 6 (19:17):
Very good, Hayne.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
How are you?
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yeah, no, no, I'm keeping well.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
How's the, of course, you're famous for many things, actually,
but we won't go into those on the radio today.
But the handy piece, of course, the portable mobile shearing handpiece.
How is that world treating you?
Speaker 6 (19:35):
Very good, home.
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Very good.
Speaker 6 (19:36):
Look, I tell you what, we've actually had a boomer
of a winter, too, because our orders over to the
UK have sort of doubled. And the reason for that being,
I rang up the guy who sells the motor. there
and he says, well, look, you know, our guys are
getting up to nine pounds a kilo for their lamb. So,
you know, we would have doubled our sales over there
(19:59):
in the last 12 months. And, you know, that's flowed
through to New Zealand. So I was thinking about it
just the other day, you know, the contrast between now
and two years ago, you know, like two years ago,
it would have cost you 12 lambs, good lambs for
a handy piece. Now you're talking six.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah, yeah. So guys with the more disposable cash have
got it and they want something that's, you know, obviously
very handy to have, but they might have been just
a little standoffish. They're in like Flynn now.
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Yeah, I would say that. Well, you know, we've got
20,000 of them out there now, Haynes. So, you know,
most people who are buying them off us now have
already had one and they're just upgrading.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
I mean.
Speaker 6 (20:44):
You know, there's some tigers out there. We get some
sent back that'll be 15 years old, and, you know,
it's pretty worn out, and I'll ring them up and say, hey, look,
you know, have you thought about upgrading? You know, our
new model one's got three times more power than the
old one. Oh, well, as soon as you tell them that, then,
you know, providing they're not thinking of getting out of farming, but,
(21:06):
you know, it's been pretty good. We've got some new
stuff with it. Lately, we've just brought into our... list
of stuff that we sell with it. We've got a
car charger. Now, that's mainly for guys who go around
sharing lifestyle blocks. We've got two or three hundred out
there in New Zealand alone. For guys, it's just so
(21:28):
easy to bowl into a paddock, flip the sheep over,
especially if someone's only got five. And a lot of them,
what they were doing, they would just end up buying
four or five batteries off us. And then we had
to get a special charger made so now they can
charge while they're on the run. And the other thing
is our batteries. We've just had a new mould made
for our batteries, so it's basically pretty water-resistant. We were
(21:49):
having trouble with dairy cockies getting a lot of water
in the cow shed, and they were sort of creeping
into the battery. So, yeah, it's good times. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh, that's fantastic. And you raise an interesting point about
how far the handy pieces come from when you started
to what it is now. I mean, my one, which is,
you know, I haven't had a chance to be Auckland's
sort of share five sheep guy because it's a loner
and I haven't seen it back. But that's all right.
How far have they come in that time? You talk
(22:19):
about battery, the car charger.
Speaker 6 (22:22):
Yeah, we've done probably four different models since I won
the innovation thing in 2007 at Mystery Creek. So the
latest one is the best because it's all this drone technology.
We've got a motor off basically a drone helicopter. So
it's got heaps of torque. It's got no brushes to
wear out. And, you know, it's variable speed. So we
(22:43):
make ours. We can go from... 2.6, which is sort
of clipper speed if you want to do alpacas and
that sort of thing, right up to 3.6. So it's actually,
we found that like a normal overhead runs at 2.5, sorry, 3.5.
We found that 3.6, they actually just run a little
bit smoother. We had guys trialing them and they said, no,
(23:04):
it's the way to go. But yes, look, long may
it continue. I just, I have to say, you know,
I'm what you'd call a small hobby farmer, which I
have Now, you know, I've got 300 acres, but we
still test a few hand pieces out here if we
get the odd one and we can't work out what
might be wrong with it. And the other day I
(23:26):
had some lambs I realised I've just had my ankle replaced.
So I've had a bit of staff in helping me.
And this guy called me up and he said, you
better come down and have a look at these things.
They're a bit overcooked. So we stuck a few of
them into the field and sale on the Monday and $ 367, Hayne.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
Ah.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
Yeah, you know, I can just, how wide was the smile?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I mean, I visualise every other week the Warwick Clausen
and Richard Osborne and, you know, all you townie farmers
in there, you know, with the big smiles. It's good though,
isn't it?
Speaker 6 (23:58):
Oh, mate, it's fantastic. We just have to hope that
in November, come November, that Chloe or Chippy don't get
too near the old decision-making table, really.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Yes, well, I can't possibly comment on anything like that, Rab,
but you're perfectly entitled to, of course. Now, look, I
just want a couple of, yeah, anything else you're sort
of tinkering around with in the engineering world or?
Speaker 6 (24:24):
Oh, well, many, many years ago, I used to build
Lamborghini replicas. So I've been trying to make one of
those up to race. But the only problem with that
is I've got old while I've been doing that. So
every time my wife looks out into it and sees
something flash getting bolted onto it, she says, you're too old.
You're too old for that.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Well, I tell you what, if you needed sort of
a promotional one to run around the leafy berms of
the eastern suburbs of Auckland, you've got to volunteer here.
You know, the Mackay's and the Shorts, we've always been
very close. I mean, I was just thinking about this
before we talked, and I'm going to mention this, because
I was reading an article on Murray Ball the other day,
and I think your dad, Tony, played with Murray, didn't he,
for a few years? Were they in similar teams? And
(25:03):
I'm going to say this, my dad would always say
to me that your dad, Tony Short, was one of.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
The most beautiful rugby players he ever saw. And, of course,
he was, yeah.
Speaker 6 (25:12):
Unfortunately, as you know, it just didn't get passed down
to his offspring.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Oh, I wouldn't say that because I played with you
and your late brother, Tim, and you were both pretty
bloody handy footballers, eh?
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Yeah, we were all in team together, I think, at
one stage back in the day. Hey, Rabshaw, all the best.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Yes. Good to hear.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
Great to chat.
Speaker 3 (25:32):
All the best. There we go. That is David Rabshort
out of the Manawatu.
Speaker 2 (25:35):
And, of course, he makes those wonderful handy pieces that
are gangbusters in the UK. The orders have doubled. See,
it is a great New Zealand story. As he said,
it's 2007, nearly 20 years since he won the big
award at Mystery Creek.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
You are listening to The Country. I'm Hamish McCoy.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Back shortly.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
We have the moon in time behind us.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
The country's rural news with Cub Cadet, New Zealand's leading
ride-on lawnmower brand. Visit steelfort.co.nz for your local stockist.
Speaker 8 (26:08):
And time for rural news. Now, I've scraped through the
news and tried to find some interesting things. And I
actually found this one when I've got a wee story
to go with it, Hamish, from my own background with
this noxious weed.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Okay?
Speaker 8 (26:20):
So, in rural news, farmers are being urged to stay
alert as a toxic weed's been found in South Wairarapa
threatening cattle and horses. Madagascar ragwort is a yellow-flowered daisy
weed which can rapidly invade pastures and cause serious illness
and death in livestock. The Greater Wellington Regional Council says
it's hoping to act before it becomes rife. Now, a
little story about ragwort. I have my pony club certificate
(26:42):
up to level C, and as part of that pony
club certificate, yes, I was a horse girl. I know
everyone was shocked by that fact probably out there today.
We actually had to go through all the weeds and
learn them all. And I only just remembered this the
other day. when someone was talking to me about ragwash
and I said, oh, I had to learn all that.
And all the stuff started coming back to me. So
interesting stuff. You don't see it too much down here.
(27:03):
It's a little bit around the place. I would recognise
it if I saw it, but it's a very noxious,
horrible thing and it's really hard to pull out. It's actually,
it sticks to the ground really tough. So hopefully they
managed to eradicate that. But that's rural news. Hamish, you've
got some sport there.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Sport on the country with AFCO. 100% Kiwi owned. That's rare.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
What was that, Madagascar ragwort?
Speaker 9 (27:26):
Yeah, it looks like a yellow daisy.
Speaker 8 (27:28):
It can get quite big, a reasonably decent-sized plant, and
it's really, really bad for horses and, well, any livestock, really,
if they eat it.
Speaker 9 (27:35):
But like I said, it's really hard to pull out.
That's what I remember about it.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Yeah, it reminds me, when you talk of things like that,
I actually spent six months of my life stamping out
Clematis vitalba. You know, you know, the old clematis that
was just strangling our native bushes back in the 80s.
You wouldn't remember.
Speaker 9 (27:52):
No, I don't know the one you're talking about.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
It's really tough to get rid of. I used to
carry it around buckets of 245T and just cut and paint. Oh,
I'll tell you what. But anyway, that's another story. Sport. OK, Mr.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Luxon, this was a bit of a shocker, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Up the waratahs. I think he meant up the wars. Unfortunately,
from the prime minister, a bit of a fail there.
I see the flyover has been cancelled for this weekend
in Soweto. Michelle, what was your take on that?
Speaker 9 (28:17):
I think, personally, people need to let it go. It happened.
Speaker 3 (28:20):
It was there.
Speaker 9 (28:21):
It happened. It's over now. Let's move on.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
So every time a plane comes into Heathrow, which is
about every 30 seconds, and they have to practice a
certain amount of control and be a reasonably experienced pilot
to do that, I would have thought they were in
control too. And I think at the end of the day,
I think it's probably gone a bit too far. Because
I quite liked it myself at first.
Speaker 3 (28:42):
I thought, oh, that's close.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
But anyway. Now, Liam Lawson to drive Red Bull, the
main team, this weekend again at the Italian Grand Prix.
Just need to pop up a couple more places on
the old finish line there. And the all-black team. That's
going to be named at 10 o'clock tonight. 10 o'clock tonight.
I wouldn't expect to be too many changes unless there
(29:04):
are some injuries that we know about. 62 hours to
kick off, Michelle. There you go.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
That is our sport here on the country.
Speaker 9 (29:13):
Are you going to be getting up early to watch
that game? I do say you will.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
You're not a replay man. I can't deal with the
sort of the anxiety. I mean, you know, I'd have
to get my pills out. You know, like I just
have to watch it live now that it's so good
and we're going so well together. And they're such a
good opposition. I don't buy into all this sort of
stuff about Rassi. I love Rassi. He's good for the game.
He's got a good footy side. Dave, Rennie, of course,
(29:38):
I love the way all the media now. sort of
made out they picked him. None of them actually said
a thing about him. He was always going to be
Jamie Joseph, and look at the job that Rennie's done.
But there'll be a little bit of judgment day, really,
this third test early hours of Sunday morning. Yes, I
will be up the shelf.
Speaker 8 (29:55):
And we'll talk more about the rugby tomorrow, and I'll
ask you what your score predictions are as well.
Speaker 4 (30:00):
Yes.
Speaker 9 (30:00):
Coming up next, who are we talking to next, Tame?
Speaker 2 (30:03):
We are going to be talking to Carla DeBette, who's
a Waikato dairy farmer, on this issue around Suze Redmayne's
bill to get Kiwis to buy a farm through KiwiSaver.
Good idea, eh?
Speaker 3 (30:16):
And I just wanted to mention one other quick thing,
if I could.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
That History of the Hawk Cup book that we talked
to Alec Astor, a teacher, author, historian, fine cricketer himself.
Speaker 3 (30:27):
For that, we would give out an email.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
I'll give it out now. Alec Astle. So it's alec, A-L-E-C,
dot Astle, A-S-T-E-L-E, alec.astle at hotmail.com or mtbrown, m.t.brown at extra.co.nz.
There you go for that great book on the Hawke
Cup of cricket.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Back shortly here on The Country.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
On the country now, time to look at the KiwiSaver
First Home or Farm Amendment Bill. This is the ability
to utilise KiwiSaver to buy a farm. It's a bill
put forward by Rangitika MP, Suze Redmayne. Now, to look
at this, we're heading to the Waikato, where we are
joined by a farmer there, Carla DeVette. Carla, how are you?
Speaker 4 (31:19):
Good, thanks.
Speaker 5 (31:19):
How are you?
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Yeah, no, very well, thank you. Very well. So this
is something that's obviously that you've been a strong advocate of.
Where are we at in terms of the KiwiSaver being
able to be used as part of a purchase for
a farm?
Speaker 4 (31:32):
So I believe that it's been read in Parliament and
is sort of about to go in front of the
select committee. So, yeah, I'm not too sure how long
that process is all going to take. Hopefully it's not
a long one because we want to get those young
people off onto their new farms.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Yeah, I mean, it's a bit of a no-brainer, isn't it,
in terms of like, kind of like your house comes
with your farm probably in most cases too. So there's
sort of a double whammy there as well.
Speaker 4 (32:00):
Yeah, I think there's... It kind of makes no sense
that it wasn't like that from the start to me.
Like I think there's been a massive gap and it's probably,
I think that this is also going to incentivize a
lot of rural people to actually invest into KiwiSaver where
before it probably felt a little bit pointless in some ways.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
Yeah, and they were probably looking for other avenues of
investment to try and get the best return to get
that deposit, to get into a farm. But you did right.
It should point them in the direction of KiwiSaver, where
there are, as we know, some very good options, aren't there?
Speaker 4 (32:35):
Yeah, I absolutely believe that. And yeah, it's just having
access to that capital when you need it the most.
Speaker 2 (32:41):
Yeah, absolutely. Carla, are you still involved? Are you a
former chair of Young Farmers in your area?
Speaker 4 (32:48):
Yes, I was chair of Morinsville Nara Young Farmers Club
a couple of years ago now. But yeah, I'm sort
of getting a little bit old, long in the tooth
for young farmers. So, yeah, starting to put a little
bit more effort into the federated farmer side of things now,
I think. But, yeah, I'm still a farm member. I
still enjoy going along to everything.
Speaker 2 (33:08):
Yeah, absolutely. But believe me, if you're only a couple
of years out of Young Farmers, you're a long way
from being long in the tooth. You're coming from somebody
who knows. How's things on your property where you are
at the moment? How's conditions been? How's the winter? How's
carving going?
Speaker 4 (33:23):
It's going well, thanks. It's good. Kind of at that
point where I wanted to speed up, but then also
every day with no calves is quite a good day. So, yeah,
it's been a pretty dry winter, which has been good
because I'm on quite a flat farm. So when it's wet,
it's very wet. But yeah, it's sort of kept grass
a little bit tight, but that's all easing up now
(33:43):
with that last bit of rain. So it's definitely looking good.
It's a beautiful day today.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Fantastic. What about the mood across the dairy and the
ag sector in the greater Waikato? Is everybody pretty buoyant?
Speaker 4 (33:56):
Yeah, I'd say so. I think there's a lot of people,
I suppose there's quite a few farm owners who would
have benefited from the recent Ontario payout, which always helps.
It's quite nice when you've got a little bit of
spare cash available to go and do the things that
you want to do on your farm that make your
daily life a bit easier. So yeah, I think overall
people are pretty happy. We're in a pretty good spot. Yep.
Speaker 2 (34:19):
Absolutely outstanding. Hey, Carla, good to chat. And you be
on our show and from a part of the country
that we don't always get to, the Waikato, and all
the very best. And, yeah, looking forward to this being
raced through Parliament so we can finally use the KiwiSaver
there to help purchase the farm. Great stuff.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
Thank you for your time.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (34:43):
So won't you tell me, won't you tell me the truth?
Speaker 3 (34:51):
This is the country on your Thursday. Hamish Mackay in
for cousin.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Beau Duke, Luke Duke, Jamie Mackay. He's on the road
to recovery. Well, great to have your company so far
on the show today. Great to talk to Dave Rabshort
out of the mud over to their double orders on
his handy piece, the ingenious handy piece, which is just him.
A work of art as far as mobile sharing facility goes.
(35:17):
Double the orders into the UK. That's great to hear.
Another Kiwi success story. Brought in a chat earlier with
old foils in her hair. She sounds a bit like
Hilda Ogden. She looks nothing like Hilda Ogden. Laura Coote,
professional mentor. I might talk to her later. to Heather
Duplessy-Allen about her later on, actually, about what she's doing
(35:37):
in that women's confidence space as well. Wayne Lankford, too,
keeping himself busy. The former Federated Farmers President. It was
good to chat to Wayne. He's keeping himself very busy
down there on the farm in Golden Bay, although I
did notice he had a very high degree of expertise
around the All Black side and the tour of South Africa. So,
(35:59):
you know, he probably had a bit of time just
to have a look at the old screens as well.
62 hours to kick off in Soweto. This is The Country.
I'm Hamish McKay. Great to have your company on Thursday.
(36:33):
The country on your Thursday. Hamish Mackay out of Auckland today.
And Michelle Watt, of course, executive producer down there in Dunedin.
I know you're champing at the bit to ask me
about somebody who I mentioned earlier. Who was that?
Speaker 9 (36:47):
Yeah, who's this? Is it Hilda?
Speaker 2 (36:50):
Hilda Rogden.
Speaker 3 (36:51):
Yeah, who's that?
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh, goodness me. I'm showing my age, aren't I? Coronation Street,
of course, is Coronation Street. You're familiar with Coronation Street.
Have you ever been a Coro watcher?
Speaker 9 (37:01):
No, but my grandmother.
Speaker 8 (37:03):
was a very loyal fan to Coro.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
So Hilda Ogden was sort of like a staple, if
you like, of the wonderful Coronation Street. I actually went
to the Coronation Street studios on an All Black tour many,
many years ago. It was quite funny. It was myself
and Wynne Gray, who used to be the New Zealand
Herald rugby writer, and we turned up and, of course,
it had been all arranged for John Macbeth and Keith
(37:28):
Quinn from TVNZ to go And we said, yes, Mr
Quinn and Mr McBeath. So they took us through. It
was actually outstanding. Yes, great memory there. Righty-ho. Well, yes,
great to have had on the show today President Wayne
Lankford still following on with his YOLO.
Speaker 3 (37:49):
I mean, the man's full of energy, isn't he? You
only live once.
Speaker 2 (37:51):
He's taken a bit of time off social media, but
he's been loving being back on the farm, which is
very nice, Michelle. Very nice.
Speaker 9 (37:57):
Yeah, it is. It's good to hear him happy and
enjoying life on the farm.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, absolutely. Want to mention the secondary school's top four rugby.
I'll mention the girls tomorrow. But today, the top four
who are playing off in Palmerston North this weekend. Westlake
Boys have won the Blues. They play Tauranga Boys College
out of the Chiefs. St Pat's Silverstream are the Hurricanes team.
And from the South Island... St Andrews. Michelle, I just
(38:23):
think that's a wonderful cross-section of teams that are not,
you know, they've all been there or thereabouts in the past,
but great to see.
Speaker 8 (38:30):
It's great to see a mix of North and South
and all that in there. And also, shout out to
all the parents out there that are dealing with carving
and the secondary sports tournaments at the moment, trying to
pull double duty.
Speaker 9 (38:40):
That's a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (38:41):
Well, there's every kind of hockey tournament going. I know
the Rankin Cup is always on this time of year,
isn't it? Which is... one of the main secondary school tournaments,
but they play all sorts of tournaments all over the country,
don't they? Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (38:55):
There'll be a lot going on at the moment, and
add carving into the mix and everything else you have
to do on top of that, it's a lot. And
speaking of, like, just happy things that are going on,
I see that up in the Northland, the Rural Support
Trust put lollies in people's mailboxes to say, hey, you know,
you're doing well, keep going, here's something to brighten your day,
because it was international, I think it was... pay it
(39:17):
forward day type thing on the 1st of September.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
Sort of friendly moment sort of time was it? So
they've got a bag with sort of those milk bottle
chews and the old jet planes and I think the
message was, jump in the Uta or on the four-wheeler
and eat them yourself before you get home. You know?
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Indulge a little. Is that all right, Michelle?
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Are you allowed to indulge a little? Always. Yeah, I
think so. He's our great band from the 70s and
the 80s. How good were these boys out of Tamarine Dragon? God,
we were blessed. Hello, sailor, the dudes. Absolutely fantastic. This
has been The Country. We'll do it all again tomorrow.
Bye for now. Oh, we can't.
Speaker 7 (40:00):
Stick it out in this cold and gray.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
Snake eyes on the.
Speaker 1 (40:15):
The Country with Jamie Mackay and Isuzu Utes. Get a
double cab D-Max from $ 55, 990.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Newstalk ZV.
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