The Country 06/06/25: Emma Poole talks to Jamie Mackay

In the absence of Winston Peters, we yarn to the 2023 Young Farmer of the Year about Fieldays and the wind up of the 24/25 dairy season.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
We have got Emma Paul the Cavalry and the form
of the twenty twenty three Young Farmer of the Year,
the first woman to win said title. Broke the grass ceiling. Emma,
thanks for saving the bacon. We can't find Winston. We're
going to get your brother Tim Awee but later in
the hour. Now you no doubt we'll have a big
role to play next week at field Days.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Yes, can be a busy one, Jamie. Thanks for having
us on and I'm sorry if you hear kids in
the background. It was a bit of a last minute
call up to replace Winston. But it's all good. But yeah,
I'm looking forward to field Days and it should be
a good one. Pretty excited to see see some local
faces as well as some people that have traveled from
aboard and just a good chin leg was everyone really yeah?

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Now? Was this the biggest accolade filling in for Winston
or winning Young Farmer of the Year.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
I think this would be right up there, Jamie. I'll
diferently be putting it on the CV.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Good on you now. You posed the question to me
earlier this morning when we were swapping texts. That will
the resurgence in the rural economy mean the return of
the free giveaway at field Days.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, I think so, Jamie. I think for years we've
been going now and you don't even get the free
kettle product these days. But I think the last two
years at the field Days have been quite tricky for
rural salesmen and trying to get things across the line
with farmers who had high interest rates and the milk
payout was buoyant but not quite buoyant enough to keep

(01:23):
people spending. So this year the interest rates are coming down,
the milk pout's looking pretty good. I think farmers are
going to be looking to make some improvements and you know,
spend some money on some capital on their farms. So
there could be a bit of a hard graft from
the salesman going on there, and I'm hoping that we
get some free stuff out of it.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well, I think Field Days is going to be really positive,
and it's been kick started by this investment investment tax
boost whatever they call it. It's effectively another twenty percent
you can claim off depreciation of these big ticket items
in year one.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, and it's certainly going to have an impact on
the way farmers spend and use their money on, isn't it.
It's you know, things that we're already starting to think about,
especially with here in terms of some of those big
cattle items that you were sinking our teeth.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Into, where we have to now, what are you going
to be doing? Who are you representing at Field Days.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
I'll be there with the New Holland Crew on Friday,
floating around the New Holland tent as well as joining
up with the Young Farmer's Crew. So we've got the
contestants coming together and they'll be showcased around the sponsors
and all of the intents. I'll be catching up with
some of them, and on the Wednesday, I'll be at
the Innovation Hub helping with some of the judging there.
So looking forward to seeing some of the young faces

(02:35):
there at Young and Old and some of the great
innovation prizes and things that are coming forward out of
the industry there.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
FMG Young Farmer of the Year Grand Final and early
July on and the cargol this year. Do we have
any early favorites. I'm not sure how many repeat offenders
we've got, but it's definitely an advantage to have competed before.

Speaker 2 (02:56):
Oh, absolutely, Jamie and I found that going back it
was just so much which more cool. Carmen collected the
second time and it was just easy to get on
with it. Tim managed to just take it out in
one Grand final, so you did a bit better than I.
But in terms of favorites are it's hard to pick one.
But you know, Hugh Jackson competed with me and he's
become a great friend, which is, you know, a cool

(03:18):
thing to have come out of young farmers. You get
really close with those finalists, so I'll be backing him
this year. Sorry to the other contestants.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Well good on. Your friendship goes a long way. Hell
has the dairy season wound up for you?

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Or do you?

Speaker 1 (03:34):
Are you one of these suckers for punishment who milks
all the way through with a split carving.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Yeah, we are split carving, so yeah, we haven't exactly
wound up. We're wound down. We're wounding up a little
bit here, but we've finished autumn carving, which is nice.
And one of the farms, oh is a spring calving
farm and that ended up up for the season. And
speaking to most people in the wy Keadow region, Jamie,
most people have ended up ahead and that's the spy.

(04:00):
They're being a large drought in the waykido. So I
think there's two really interesting things that probably have come
from that, And the first is that it's a higher
payout season, so farmers probably milked a little bit longer
and maybe milked a few extra numbers. But the second
thing is that because it was a drought, there was
a higher level of supplementation used. And I'm a great
advocate for putting in supplement to help balance your grass

(04:22):
because I think New Zealand grass is very imperfect and
it's not actually great fodder for cows to be eating constantly,
So it's great where farmers can use supplement tactically to
help balance that diet and extract the most out of
their grass. So it might be something we will be
seeing more of in the future, even though it's sort
of not the drum that may be perhaps your in

(04:43):
Zet's beating well.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
Dairy farming is a tough way to make a living.
You work your backside off effectively for nine or ten
months of the year and then you do get a
bit of an off season, but not if you're split carving.
Why would you do that to yourself I'm.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
Not sure, Jammy. Maybe Tom, maybe they cover the bank debt,
but it's I think the way ketto regions really suited
to winter milking, and you obviously get a bit of
an elevated payout milking through that winter period. Fonterra incentivizes
you a little, which is really nice. And we love
wearing wearing autumn calves. I think that the calves are

(05:20):
hard to catch in the peddock. We hardly get any
metabolic diseases with our cows have just got so much
sunshine and vitamin D, so all in all, it's actually
quite a pleasant experience until we sort of hit September.

Speaker 1 (05:30):
Probably okay, Emma, I thank you very much for filling
in for Winston. I'm texting him as we speak to
see if he's landed. He's flying from somewhere to somewhere
and due to get off a plane.