The Country 26/03/25: Steve Wyn-Harris talks to Jamie Mackay

We ask a Central Hawkes Bay farmer, broadcaster and a founder of Fireballs Aotearoa, if he has he found his missing meteorite and his farming mojo in his semi-retirement. And has he recovered his golfing mojo after his collapse in front of the late great Sir BJ Lochore.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Steve Wan Harris, Central hawks By Farmer broadcaster. He runs
a rural show two days a week on Central FM
and one of the founders of Fireballs at c Rower.
But because they've been talking about a great b j Lahore, Steve,
I have to relive your collapse in front of him
after three shanks in a row at the Ekatahuna golf course.

(00:21):
And I believe you're very close to that said same
piece of turf here.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well that's isn't that ironic? Jamie? Yes, I'm not far
from I Kadhuna delivering Marlow genetic rams into Derek Daniel's district,
which has given me a great deal of pleasure. And
hopefully he's listening.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Well, I don't think Derek will be too toughed about that.
Are you still breeding lambs rams? I thought you'd sort
of retired from farming.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Oh, my son, he's doing all of that. I'm I'm
advisor and junior shepherd, so you know I'm still there
in the fringes.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Has farm succession worked for you pretty good?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah? First year was a shocker coming out of Gabriel
and everything that we could go wrong did go wrong.
You know you's got dough I got Lepto nearly died,
and then we got Salimonella. I mean, stock Men and
beast was under huge pressure inland after Gabriel and what
had preceded it, because we've had a lot of other
big weather events. But this year huh so much better.

(01:14):
And you know, I do feel sorry for the West
coast with their drought, but you know, we're having a
good season and then probably deserved to break, to be honest.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Although I look, maybe not central Hawk's pay but up
the road, but and you know, mainland hawks by if
I can call it that. On my drought index, Matt says,
it's getting away bit dry.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Yeah, yeah, but we've got some feet. You know, we've
had a few falls, and you know, no one on
the east coast of the North Island should be complaining.
We know what's happing over on the west side. So no, no,
we're pretty good. Hey, you've been talking about nineteen sixty eight, yep,
and a guy called George Wallace stood as an independent.
He had been a Democrat, and he stood in that
presidential election that Nixon won, and a commentator at the

(01:55):
time said America is not ready for George Wallace, but
there is a Wallace in the future.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
And that's and that's the Trumpster. Yes, hey, but didn't
George Wallace get shot? Is it the right guy? Am
I talking about the same guy?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
I can't remember? With Kennedy?

Speaker 1 (02:13):
No, no, no, no, I know Bobby Kennedy and Martin
Luther King.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
JI with John Kennedy. Do you remember someone else took
a bot in that car too, didn't they?

Speaker 1 (02:19):
No? No, no, no, that's nineteen sixty three. We're talking
sixty eighty RFK and Martin Luther King Junior. But I
reckon that George Wallace got shot because he was against
the integration of the schools.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yeah, yeah, I can't remember that, but but yeah, anyway,
I thought it was. There was an interesting little lamb
quote from from back in nineteen sixty eighth.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
Okay, but not as interesting as being a member of
Fireballs lt r R.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
That's right, Jamie, And you've been pitching me as a
co founder. Not true. It was a Johnny cum Lately,
But I joined a couple of years ago when it
was getting underway. And yeah, a big fire ball two
or three weeks ago. It's seen from around the North Island.
We were undercloud here on the East coast and this
fireble almost certainly dropped a meter right. And I was

(03:06):
in the Marquuri district with a few willing volunteers looking
for for this meta right on a farm farm. They're
called Marhoe Station and Rick and elly Hart co owners
and that they were part of the search, and they
were very keen. And guess what, they've joined firebles out
there own. They're going to get it. They're going to get.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Cameras, get they're going to get bored silly by you.
But literally Steve, because I know you found one on
the Mackenzie district and you were very excited about it.
It is needle and a haystacks sort of stuff.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Oh yeah, Well, in fact, the day after finding that
one down and it's called Takapor that met right, you
interviewed me and apparently one of your most listened to
interviews on replay.

Speaker 1 (03:47):
Because only because you played it over about six hundred
times probably.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
But yeah, yes, I have. I had one hundred percent
success rate of organizing search parties and then finding meta rights.
But it's just slump to fifty percent because we didn't
find this one out there. But Rick and Eliot continding
to search and now all the shepherds are sort of
instead of digging sheep, I think they're wandering around looking
for it.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
But it could be a rock smaller than the size
of your fists, so they're going to have to be
lucky to come across. George Wallace, Michelle's just passed me
a note. It was a victim of an attempted assassination.
Did he end up in a wheelchair? Michelle, you need
to find that out. Yeah, no, okay, I think he
might have been anyhow, Steve Balance Farm Environment Awards, you
nearly won that in twenty twelve, pipped at the post

(04:31):
by my good friends Grant and Bernie Weller. I don't
think you've forgiven grunt of sins, have you? Oh?

Speaker 2 (04:37):
You know I'm forgiving me. It takes a few years
to go and no, I'm all about that. But I
was at that East Coast Beyond Farm Environ Awards last night.
It was great actually because I had been the chairman
for FID and nine years, so it's great just sitting
in the audience and watching and yes, Simon Simon and
Lou White won the overall one. And it's funny actually

(04:58):
because leek Ashworth who's one of John Swid's sons. And
Tom Tenant they were the other finalists, and I knew
leave Tom and Simon all his small boys. So starting
to feel old, Jamie.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah, while we all get none of us are getting
any younger, Steve, George Wallace did end up in a wheelchair,
so my memory serves me well there and someone else's
texted and didn't Wallace get hit by a deflecting bullet
off Reagan? No he didn't. Reagan's assassination attempt was in
the nineteen eighties, So there you go, Steve. I had
one more question to ask you, but I've forgotten completely

(05:31):
what it was. Oh you just your reflections of that
day three shanks in a row. You had the game
under control, three shanks in a row, falling to the
ground into a rocking fetal position, saying I hate myself,
I hate myself in front of Rugby Royalty.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah. It was pretty embarrassing really because I was actually cared,
caring Brian, he was my partner, and then then I
had that bad incident, three shanks in a row in
front of one of New Zealand's great the sporting eys,
and I completely and utterly went to pieces for the
final couple of holes, and he looked at me at
the end of it and he said, you've cost me

(06:08):
a Heineken. And a couple of years later, I was
doing a big EMC job down in Marsden and I
got up there. I had all these Hurricane guys to
to interview on the stage and I looked down and
the end the front row was Sir Brian and he's
just MP and he's just looking up at me berg
smile on his face, just quietly shaking his head. It

(06:28):
really put it didn't didn't help my composure at all.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Okay, Steve got to go. There we go. Steven Harris
from Fireballs Rah. If you're getting bored or playing golf
where you're playing golf badly, maybe you could join that
esteemed organization.