The Muster- Grant McMaster: Taking A Break Before The Busy Season

Grant McMaster looks at the positives of getting a break away off-farm before the busy season hits.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Yeah, so this song is about.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Grand disaster.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
McMaster kicks us off this afternoon here on the Muster.
Good afternoon, Grant Cally Simon. The song is You're So Vain.
But I'm playing that song because it's just come out.
In the last Dy'll say that Callie Simon is suffering
from Parkinson's disease.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
Oh that's terrible. Good happening, Andy, good appen and everybody.
That's a great song and its day. Well, it's still
a great song, and I remember it well and in
the days of old one of the one of the
one of the songs we will sing along too. So yeah,
but a lot of it Parkinson's around, isn't it And
one of those things that people you know, if you're
lucky enough to dodge it, you do if you don't.
But I guess one thing, you know, there's a lot

(00:49):
of there's a lot of research and that goes into
into illnesses now, and Parkinson's one of them that I do.
But I've been reading a bit about and I guess
the longer you know, the old we get, the more
chances of those things happening. Well, you don't have to
be old, but I guess, you know, technology and medicine
is you know, striving all the time and you know

(01:09):
one day it'll be probably they'll have something for it
and it'll be all good.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
That's one of the things we can look forward to
and later on when these breakthroughs do occur. A bit
as well, you know, it's a bit of said twenty
four hours. I mean the passing of Jim Hopkins, a
long time correspondent for Jamie McKay, but as well Bill Oddie,
one of the goodies, Goodie goody, Yum yum from back
in the late seventies early eighties, but as well, a
guy you've seen a lot on TV doing documentaries.

Speaker 3 (01:36):
Yeah, and a lot of those. Ye're all very sad,
isn't it. But it does come to all of us,
as you know, dodge you can't dodge there for tex
and so but it's I was just listening to Jim
the other day and on Jamie Show, and he was
always quite a lightning to listen to and sort of
you know him and Tom Sherbolt, Gary McCormick, they were

(01:58):
they were right and they hate we're running the running
the satire here where they and you know, and Jim
did a lot you know, for the young farmers. And yeah,
he certainly put that on the map, I reckon.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, absolutely so to Jim's family and friends, we're sending
on their condolences. So how's everything.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Clothes burn, Oh, beautiful bluebird day, as they say, and
five degrees at the moment, suns out, not a breath
of wind. Feels quite warm. But we've had some quite
hard frosts the last three or four days and probably
been as good a frost as as we've had that
we were having earlier on. But as just as I said,
you know, great days out of it. It's very Yeah,

(02:41):
the roads, a lot of the roads are pretty slippery
at the moment, and out at Moat Lake, which is
gravel they just spend a lot of money putting gravel
on it, just sort of during the winter, and now
it's frozen and when the when it starts sawing, it's
just a bit sloppy. But you know, in a few
months time the dust to be coming off it again, hopefully, So.

Speaker 2 (02:59):
It's pretty much it's just winter, big winter. Suppose of
a lot of tourists around at the moment, Yeah, I
don't think, you know.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Very busy with the school holidays, on the roads, just
just choc a block. But it sort of eased off
a little bit since the children have gone back to
school the road, but it's still, you know, it's still
you can't you can't guarantee how long it's going to
take you to get through town. If you know, an
appointment the other day in town and it was for
at nine o'clock and I left at eight o'clock and

(03:29):
got to the appointment at at half past eight, But
that could have quite easily been quarter past nine. So
that's the worst thing about it. You don't you just can't.
You don't know when when the traffic is going to be.
There's no rhyme nor reason for how quick you get
through town. It's pretty hard to find them. You but
on a good day you can you start twenty five
to the airport. So but and some day you might,

(03:52):
you might some day you're able to, but a lot
of times it could take you over an air But
with going to going to the block and our town undering,
you know, every second day we'll go through Arthur's Point. Yeah,
so that that quickens it up a little bit, speeds
it up absolutely.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
Grant you want to touch on the south and Rural
Support Trust today they had their ski day up there
at Carnean Peak.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
Yeah, and I would have known anything about it, but
our daughter and one of the grandchildren, they were part
of it. So it was the South and Rural Support
Trust and so there were forty rural tago off some
from Otaga and Southern folk that went to it families
and they took advantage of the skiing for farmers that
the South and Rural Support Trusted running. And it was

(04:36):
a cornete peak and it was apparently a really good
day and all the food was that was generously provided
by the Catalyst Performance Economy and beef and lamb New
Zealand and Southern for the South Island branch, and apparently
they had good snow up there and it was a
great day and a good catch up for people, a
bit like we spoke about the week before Andy going

(04:57):
to the dog trials. You have a catch up and
it's off farm and it's always good. But I didn't
really know a thing about the Support Trust and what
they do. But congratulation to that because I think I'm
sure it made a lot of people happy and it
was a great day had by all and.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
The South and Real Support Trust does some fantastic work
for real News for rural South and like the Real
Support Trust does around the country, grant and look their
number as well if anybody needs that is eight hundred
and seven eight seven two five four. Because the problem
shared is a problem Halved. I'm more than happy to
bring this message out because you need to get it
out there. If anybody is struggling, then there is somebody

(05:34):
who is going to listen.

Speaker 3 (05:36):
Yeah, well that's really good. I might have to give
them a ring. And just because of that barbecue, they
had looked pretty good to have seen a couple of
snarls up. But know that I was really impressed with
what they've done. I sort of dug into it a
bit more. And you know, I suppose a lot of
people know what's happening, but I certainly didn't have much
idea about it. But I thought, you know, congratulations all

(05:58):
those people involved. And just to get people off farm,
as they say, and especially you know, moms and dads
and children up there skiing. They must go a good
break for that, and you know, great to see kids
to be able to go up and with their parents
and enjoy something that is you know, generally a pretty
expensive sport.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
I would imagine when you're talking to cockies or your
mates around your age Greek grant, do they are they
better at getting off the farm now and just not
staying on the farm and marrying themselves to the job
as such.

Speaker 3 (06:25):
I think it's a pretty hard habit to break, really,
you know. And my mates are all getting a bit
older now, and yeah, I mean it's that the pub
was always a great and you know people sort of
you know, meant meant to be over drinking or what
have you, not meant over eat either, but you know
some of those Friday nights and rural pubs and and

(06:47):
new tellen that that's that was sort of what the
Royal that was sort of the equivalent of the Royal Trust.
I guess you know, you all got down there, had
a few beers, and you know, you had chewed the
fat and and and it'd certainly changed from that now
because it's not not so many pubs around, and you
can't drink and drive, not that we ever did because
always to say it's spill too much, but you know,
nowadays it's probably a bit different. I think the older generation,

(07:09):
my generation probably haven't changed a lot and the respect
that you sort of think you're the only one that
can do the job on the farm. But it's good
to know that, you know, to your point, people do
get off a lot more, I think, and it's even
if it's only for a day to dog trials or
fishing or like skiing, but it's it's always good and

(07:29):
there's no doubt about it. You come back refreshed.

Speaker 2 (07:34):
Yeah, great words of advice today. As always, grab McMaster.
Let's catch up next week.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Look forward to it, Andy, grab McMaster.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
Thanks to Batman on the team at Abu rurra w
in the shout out to Simon Hotcroft and everybody involved
the South and real support trust once again that number
eight hundred and seven eight seven two five four if
you do doing to reach out and he can tempt
us up.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Next this is the Muster