Best Of The Muster: 06/08/26

Andy Muir talks to Jeff Grant, Mark Dillon, Connor Millar, Terry Collins and Shane Gerken.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
A very good morning and welcome into the Best of
the Muster, a collaboration of interviews that took our attention
during a busy week here at Hokanui HQ. My name's
Andy Muir. We're starting off the hour by catching up
with Geoff Grant, former MP. He's wore a number of
hats over the years. Talking about political parties and their
vote slowly disappearing to the minority parties. And who's going

(00:29):
to play the role of kingmaker at the general election,
which is only a couple of months away. Mark Dillon,
ploughman extraordinaire, joins us on the ground in Croatia. We
talked to Bob before the competition got underway properly earlier
on in the week and it's been well documented the
issues he's had getting his gear or the lack of
it due to a stuff-up with the shipping container company.

(00:49):
He's had to go and borrow gear from Wales. So
we catch up and he tells us all about the
mood on the ground. Connor Miller of Balfour Young Farmers
shares a really relevant message today. Looking at yourself and
just taking that time out during the busy season and
the top three inches plays an important part in running
an operation, very relevant. Terry Collins of the AA, talking

(01:13):
fuel excise taxes, talking fuel supply, what's the situation going
to be for the South? Because these figures that are
coming out, I think only 12% of road funding nationally
comes down to the South Island. So Terry puts it
into perspective. And finally, Shane Gerakin of PDG writes in
talking about this lamb that went for $ 506 at Longville

(01:35):
Sail Yards earlier this week. And he's saying, well, this
is a bit of a blip and why it just
deviates away from the norm, even though we are seeing
some fantastic prices. So without further ado, we'll start the
hour next with Jeff Grant. This is the Best of
the Buster. Welcome back to The Mustard. Geoff Grant joins

(02:05):
us once again to talk a bit of politics on
a Monday. Good afternoon, Geoff. It's fair to say the
political landscape is anything but stale at the moment. It's
just an evolving feast.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Oh, look, we're in that period now, you know, where
everybody has started to set out their policies in terms
of political parties and the run-up to the election. And
so it will be one of those things, by the
time Election Day comes, you're really pleased that it's all
over and you don't have to listen to it anymore.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Well, in a way, it's almost like lack of policies.
I mean, for example, the Labour Party have still heard
nothing regarding agriculture that they've released.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, you do operate on this, especially in opposition, you
operate on this principle of providing 80% of your policies
in the last 20% of your time because, you know,
the public are reasonably turned off still. They don't want
to take too big an interest except in some of
the headline stuff. But we are seeing a trend where

(03:03):
the minority parties are dominating to a certain extent. So
top's probably created some of that momentum, but you're starting
to see where these minor parties are going to have
quite an impact, possibly, on this election.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Do you think there's a chance that the top party
has peaked? Because the more people look into them, the
more they realise we're going to be taxed into a
welfare state.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
A classic example would be Peter Dunn with the United
Future Party, And, you know, had the worm in a
particular debate shot through the roof in terms of the
percentage of the polls, everybody thought they were going to
come third as a political party and then it all
disappeared on election day. There is this trend always where

(03:46):
the minority parties lift in that last period of the
90s sort of days and they start to look quite
high as a proportion of the total vote and then
it sort of disappears on election day and, you know,
people sort of resort back to the two major parties
to a certain extent. But I don't think that's going
to happen quite the way it normally does this time around.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Labour, Greens, the party Maori and top, if it was
to be a left-wing coalition, depending on numbers, of course.
And I mean, Pete, they gave, who have we got,
at New Zealand First and National enough beans over the
last three years. But that surely is just part of
the script for Christopher Luxon heading into November.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Well, if the two major parties sit below 30% on
election day, the reality is we're probably looking at four
political parties to make up a coalition, on either both
the right or the left. And the Lord help us
if that's where we end up, because it'll just be
a bugger's muddle for the next three years. So I

(04:51):
think two things are going to happen. The minority parties
are going to have a bigger play in this election,
and the second thing is... Don't rush for a coalition
to be formed after Election Day. This could drag on
for some time.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
What's your gut feeling? What do you think is going
to happen?

Speaker 2 (05:08):
Oh, look, it's like an economist trying to predict what
the economy is going to do in terms of inflation
rate or asking a lawyer to give you an opinion
and the next lawyer gives you a completely different one.
There's too much movement between now and Election Day to
be certain. But there is definitely a trend where the

(05:28):
minority parties have got a bigger portion of the total vote.
So once those two major parties get below that 30%,
that's a risk area for them. Secondly, I think that
as we get closer to the election.
The polls will have some influence in terms of what
people are thinking, but I think there is a certain

(05:49):
amount baked in already where people have decided to walk
away from the major two parties. How much that is
will really dramatically change the outcome.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
OK, all these polls that come out, there seems to
be a new one every couple of days, and you
sit there and look at them, you get very cynical
about the numbers because they do deviate a lot, but
you think we need to look at the trends as
to what we're seeing in these polls, especially save for top?

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, so look, top will get there, as in, you know,
they'll keep going up in the poll or sit around
where they are now. The question will be, will they
be a 4.9 or 5.1 on election day? Because it matters.
because it's a redistribution of votes. So if top are
not there, it'll look more traditional even than what we do,

(06:38):
but it shows you just how a minority party can
change things. If top are there, it means that that's 5%
of vote that's come out of somewhere, and it's come
out of probably Labour and National and a little bit
out of New Zealand First. And so that's a redistribution,
and it changes the dynamics quite significantly. So I think top.

(07:00):
Look, they'll probably get up around 8% in the polling, possibly,
and then, as you say, as people start to read
the policies more, the real question will be, do they
get to the 5% on Election Day?

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Regarding tax, just how big an issue is it going
to be, though, for voters in the election?

Speaker 2 (07:18):
I think paying bills is more important, and, you know,
that sort of, you know, what impact is the current...
economic climate having and future economic climate going to have
on my lifestyle in terms of paying the mortgage and
feeding the kids sort of stuff. So that's always number one.

Speaker 5 (07:34):
I think that unless there is a mature proposal to
change the tax system, I think the tax debate gets
a bit lost in all this stuff because the reality
everybody understands, COP's not going to get a land tax
like they say they are because no political party is
going to, major political party is.

Speaker 2 (07:52):
Going to touch it. So that's not going to happen.
So it then becomes, you know, what is the tinkering
around the edges that might apply? Yes, there'll be some
form of capital gains tax. It'll get watered down by
Labour when they get to actually doing it. But I
don't think tax is going to change people's voting patterns.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
Commodity prices around the world. What are we seeing or
what are we predicting?

Speaker 2 (08:15):
Look, it's really interesting. In the last two weeks, We've
seen a real surge in terms of pricing of commodities.
So right from soya bean through to beef, you're seeing,
you know, even overnight, things like sugar and cocoa, cotton,
jumping 3% to 5% in the commodity prices. And so

(08:36):
that surge is starting to show that it's still going
to be a trend for the next season where the
prices are going to hold up reasonably well. But there is,
as you've seen with beef, a $ 24 price. for months,
that we'll start to get some consumer resistance. But there
seems to be some underlying trends.

Speaker 6 (08:54):
One is.

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Security supply by countries that don't produce enough food, still,
you know, post-COVID, still sitting around. Transport logistics, the whole
just-in-time delivery internationally has still been upsurged by now two wars,
and so that's become an influence. Protein demand's increased. And
then the good old one we get every time, El Nino,

(09:18):
weather impacts. So if you look at Europe at the moment,
where these dry periods have been so significant, we're just
seeing the likes of grain prices. Wheat jumped 12.5% in
the last month, 46% for the year today.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Food security, those two words that we talk about more
often than not, that's just going to come to the
fore more and more then.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Yeah, I think without any doubt there'll be a bit
of softening in terms of, you know, the three big
ones for us, dairy, beef and sheep meat, there'll be
a bit of softening, you know, from where we are
now as we get into summer. But the reality is
there is a protein shortage.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
U.S.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
Beef, current number. are the lowest since 1951. And so,
you know, when you think about that and the population
growth since the 50s, you can start to understand why
beef is in shortage. Having said that, Brazil are at
risk of being shut off by the Europeans, about 10,000 tons.

(10:19):
next few days over some regulatory and tariff issues. If
that happens, there will have to be a redistribution in
terms of beef around the world, and that will have
a bit of an impact on the price for a while,
but it will settle down again.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Scurryworm in Texas, another example of the beef industry in
America struggling.

Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah. And so they'll go through a rebuild, so that
tends to hold production as well. You don't see the
volumes coming through the feedlots, so there's a rebuild of
capital stock and females So I think we're still going
to be reasonably solid.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
For a while.

Speaker 1 (10:55):
Geoff Grant, always appreciate your time on the muster.

Speaker 3 (10:58):
Cheers, Andy.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
I'll bring over some of your own Motown records. We'll
put the speakers in the window and we'll go. Welcome
back to the muster. We're away over to Croatia this
afternoon and we're catching up with Mark Dillon, ploughman extraordinaire
at the World Ploughing Championships and it's been pretty well
documented the issues he's had getting over there without his

(11:22):
tractor or his plough for that matter. We've talked to
Bob previously about the situation there but we thought it's
a good chance to have a catch up. The competition
proper starts in the next 24 hours or 36 hours
or so. Bob, good afternoon, good to catch up. How's
it going?

Speaker 3 (11:36):
Yeah, not too bad, Andy. Yeah, just out enjoying the
sun again. It's been hot and dry every day over
here so far.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Yeah, ground conditions over there, temperature-wise, what have you got?

Speaker 3 (11:45):
Oh, we've been sort of 36 to 39 most days.
We pulled out of the paddock the other day at
lunchtime and the car was telling us it was 43.
So we've been starting early in the morning, not trying
to get to the paddock at 6 and then knock
off during the day for a few hours, let it
cool down and then go back out later in the
day when it's cooling down. It's just the heat is intense,
it's too much.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
That must be presenting a whole separate lot of challenges
for the competitors.

Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, it is. Some guys are persevering, but it just
weighs you down, that heat, so that's why we thought
we'd try and be clever and get out of bed
a bit earlier.

Speaker 1 (12:16):
Okay, you've had to go and borrow a tractor and
a plough, and luckily you've got your own brand, so
you've been able to leave the Balclava at home, considering
it's 40-odd degrees. Everything going to plan, though, as well
as it can with the borrowed gear?

Speaker 3 (12:30):
Yeah, it's still different. I was doing a And I
was planning one coming, what part of the pilot was,
and I was just thinking, right, I'll be in my
tractor and grab the wrong lever. It's just different habits
when you're used to doing stuff. But every day we're
in there practising, I'm getting more and more adapted to
the borrowed gear. So once again, we're really appreciative to
the Welsh guys that reached out to us. I don't
know if I told you, but we've been over to

(12:51):
Wales for five days and we're practising and modifying the
gear over there before we helped the guys load and
trucked over here to Ausgec in Croatia. Ausgec, sorry, in Croatia.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
So what was that like, trying to modify the gear
in Wales? I've seen your social media, what was going
on there. Is everything running as you'd like it to?

Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, just different fine tuning bits and pieces, just where
they had the control mount mounted and just had a
slightly different cab layout. The more tractors are just moving
bits and pieces, so it's just more ergonomically friendly, I suppose,
to what I'm used to. And we're lucky because we're
on the guy's gear we borrowed. They're contractors, so they
had a pretty handy workshop and bits and pieces lying around,

(13:29):
so we could build stuff out of what was lying
around to suit what we wanted.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Well, you and MacGyver's something up with a 16mm spatter
and some CRC, surely?

Speaker 3 (13:39):
Oh, pretty much, yeah. We made some pole carriers for
the tractor and a colder holder and a few other
bits and pieces, just out of bits of junk we
found lying around the yard.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Hey, so was it quite the occasion or quite the
storyline at the event regarding your gear as where it
got around?

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Oh, definitely. Yeah, that's where a lot of countries reach
out to us once they've seen it come up on
social media that we're in a spot of bother. So
it was really cool to have these other countries reach
out and other people I've met over the years and
even some of the Spanish team reached out. We've seen
them for years but probably aren't as tight as we
are with some of the other countries and they reached
out offering us gear. So it's pretty humbling, all that
sort of stuff.

Speaker 1 (14:11):
That's really cool. And this isn't your first rodeo, so
therefore the camaraderie, you'll be building quite strong connections with
a lot of these other people.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Oh, definitely, definitely. A couple of the American guys, one
day me and the boys were shifting the cows, and
I spoke to Gene for probably, I think it was
half an hour or 40 minutes in the middle of
the paddock. The boys were getting a bit salty with me.
They thought we should have been working, but it was
a call I needed to have, and have a good
year into it. from the other side of the world.

Speaker 1 (14:36):
How many different makes of tractors are actually involved with
the event? I mean, you've got your obvious brands and
you're loyal to the bright red, but is there anything
and everything?

Speaker 3 (14:44):
Yeah, pretty much, yeah. There's a new model of tractor
out there, like a Chinese motorcycler, a couple of them
lined up in the Marshalling compound yesterday. But yeah, there's everything.
From the ones we got away with, Balaclava to Massey's cases, Ford's,
New Holland's, Star's, Linder's. There's not many not there.

Speaker 1 (15:03):
Well, like I say, I'm glad you're not wearing a
belt clother in 40-odd degrees. But what about EV tractors?
Is there such a thing at these events?

Speaker 3 (15:09):
No, I've never seen an electric tractor as of yet. So, no,
that would be something new to come. But whether they'd
have enough battery power to play a whole lot without
having to recharge, I'm not sure on that.

Speaker 1 (15:22):
Well, you'd need a diesel generator to charge a darn thing.
That's the irony.

Speaker 3 (15:27):
Oh, you would if they had one straight for the roof.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
LAUGHTER Pretty much. Okay, so tell us about the land
you're dealing with. I mean, there's different conduits of land
you're having to work with all the time. What's it
like over there? I'd say it's pretty dry. It'd be
hard going.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
Oh, it was tough going and very undulating as well.
It's sort of the story of what's going on all
around the world. A lot of mintill nowadays, so paddocks
are only getting top work and then they don't get
levelled properly, so really undulating. So, yeah, you've got to
be working on that hydrogelot top leg all the time
to try and get the plough to follow a consistent depth,
to get consistent fires. And then the second day, we're
actually ploughing half alpha or looser and over here, and

(16:03):
it is like concrete. A lot of guys are really,
really struggling because it's that hard trying to even get
the plough on the ground. If you do it, you
get it on the ground. Trying to keep it straight's
another issue.

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Does this give you an advantage going into this competition?
People might get frustrated with their gear, trying to comprehend
what they're up against, but for you, I suppose it's
a case you hadn't known with Bowery gear going into
hard conditions.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
I don't know if it gives me an advantage, but
I suppose we have more determination with what we're headed
to deal with.

Speaker 4 (16:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
You've got a good support crew over there. I see
your mum and dad have made the journey yet again.
Sonia's there. It'll be good to have some people from
home helping out.

Speaker 3 (16:38):
Oh, definitely, definitely. We're all part of the team. So, yeah,
we've been working away. It's really good. And then I
was talking to another mate from Scotland. He wasn't going
to come over, but I said, I've got you a
meal ticket organised, so he's going to get in a
plane to Spok today, and he'll be over later in
the week.

Speaker 1 (16:53):
So whereabouts exactly are you in Croatia? I looked up
the name, and I didn't want to try and pronounce it.
I'll let you do that.

Speaker 6 (17:00):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
Ozziek is where we are. Ozziek? Which is up, yeah, Ozziek.
As far as it goes on the map, I'm not sure.
We just hopped in a, we flew into Zagreb and
then it was a three-hour drive down the motorway. We
pulled out of the airport, Sonia and I in the
rental car. Yeah, that all went pretty well. And then
it was like a thunderstorm. It was raining cats and dogs.
So we're just about down to 50 Ks and on

(17:22):
the side of the road, just letting things settle down.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
Now, like I've told you last year and the year before,
you pretty much should buy yourself a farm over there.
You're over there that bloody often. What are you looking at?

Speaker 3 (17:33):
We're actually on a bus trip today, so I think
we're looking at wineries and stuff like that. Oh, the
farm we're on, I think it's 22,000 hectares. It's a
big government-owned block, so they've got a heap of gear
and a heap of guys floating around. They do, I
think there's 8,000 cows they're milking. They've got a big glasshouse.
They produce a heap of vegetables and stuff. All that
sort of stuff is interesting to hear how the sort
of the world people operate.

Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well, like I say, though, you're not tempted to buy yourself, say,
20 hectares or a couple of hundred hectares. You're there
that often.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
Oh, well, yeah, when we were in Germany, we ducked
over there on the way past him where we hadn't
seen an onion farmer over there, and his ground's $ 260, 000
a hectare, so, yeah, not sure if that would cut
the mustard.

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Why is it so expensive?

Speaker 3 (18:11):
Well, I think it's, I suppose, just a shortage of ground,
but I don't know how they make it work myself,
but it's demand, I suppose, is what drives it up.

Speaker 1 (18:18):
That's crazy. Well, likes of where you're there in Croatia,
is it all privately owned, the farmland as such, or
is it all likes of English and goes down through
the generations?

Speaker 3 (18:29):
That's a good question. I think there's a lot of
little farmers, but there's a lot of big corporate farms
over here as well. The younger generation over here speak English,
but the older guys don't speak any English, so communicating
with them can be challenging. But get the Google Translate
going on the phone.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
But at the end of the day, everybody appreciates a drink, right?

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Oh, they do, yeah. Decoration is like having a beer
as well.

Speaker 1 (18:54):
Right, so.

Speaker 3 (18:55):
You've got to keep hydrated in these hot conditions.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
Oh, absolutely, and you're the perfect... You know that better
than nobody else, Bob, especially if I'm doing the pack patrol,
the track to pull out at Waimumu, eh?

Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, Andy, you're right.

Speaker 1 (19:10):
So what are you hoping to achieve position-wise? OK, the
odds are against you. You've borrowed gear. It's pretty dry
land you're going into. Where do you hope to get?

Speaker 3 (19:18):
I don't like to speculate too much on that. We're
here with the borrowed gear. We've been practising hard. Really
lucky with the coach we've got this year. We've got
a two-time world champion as our coach for New Zealand.
Just pretty cool. The wealth of knowledge he's got is unreal.
So reasonably happy with how the gear's going. But you
never know the luck of the draw and the plot
draw on the day, what you come across. yeah we're

(19:39):
able to do the best we can improve on last
year's position considerably it'll be awesome but we'll find out
on Saturday.

Speaker 1 (19:46):
Night Hey Mark Dillon all the best over there good
luck over the upcoming days. It's going to be a
pretty cool occasion for you, Sonia, and everybody once again.
And we'll catch up, might even catch up later on
in the week, see how you're trekking.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Yep, sounds good, Andy. Thanks a lot.

Speaker 1 (19:59):
Feel the rain on your skin.

Speaker 7 (20:01):
No one else can feel it for you.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
This is the muster on Hakanui, that song there, unwritten
by Natasha Bedingfield. It was released in 2004, but over
the last couple of years, thanks to TikTok and all
these social media channels, which our next guest is going
to tell us all about because he's all over it
like a rash. But before we go and catch up
with Connor, just briefly brunch on us, thanks to Southland
Rural Support Trust. It's getting underway tomorrow at Gorge Road,

(20:29):
the country club there. Getting underway, what time? 11 o'clock
through to 1.30, so a good chance to get off,
go and get a snag and something to, or a
hot drink and just reconnect, even if it's just for
a short time. That's thanks to Southland Rural Support Trust
and a plethora of dates on there as well. Go
to their Facebook page and have a look. Connor Miller,
good afternoon. You are the TikTok generation. How's things?

Speaker 6 (20:51):
Oh, not too bad. That song's an absolute banger. Nothing
better than that on a Saturday night, I reckon.

Speaker 1 (20:58):
It's one of those songs that has come back big
time thanks to social media. There's a few of them
you can think of like that. For Natasha Bedingfield, have
you heard of her brother? I'm playing him today as well,
Daniel Bedingfield. Does that resonate at all?

Speaker 6 (21:10):
No, it doesn't resonate, but I tell you what, if
you play some tunes, it'll bring back some memories more
than likely. I might be an older statesman than the
young farmers, but yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:21):
Right, stand by. Here we go, this one. You said
I'm gonna get better Yes or no?

Speaker 7 (21:29):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (21:31):
You're chuckling away. It must be another Saturday Night Bagger,
is it? Because that's actually his sister, Natasha. And another
unknown fact, Daniel Bedingfield was born in Auckland.

Speaker 6 (21:42):
Are we going to claim that, are we?

Speaker 1 (21:44):
Well, he's not too bad. He was big once upon
a time, like his sister, but he had a car accident,
and he's just got back on the touring scene. But anyway, look,
we'll talk the obvious, and that's not the betting fields,
but it is the fields of the lambing beat. How's
it all going in your neck of the woods, mate?

Speaker 6 (22:00):
We're not too bad at the moment. We had a
few earlys taken away.

Speaker 8 (22:03):
I'm just currently sitting behind the yews, and we're spreading
out today, so we probably should have done it yesterday,
but and the sleet and the rain and the snow,
it's probably not the best idea to be doing, so
we're just slowly ticking through it.

Speaker 1 (22:18):
Well, technically yesterday was winter, so the argument's there the
day's going to be better on the 1st of September.

Speaker 6 (22:24):
Yeah, maybe. Hopefully this is the snowstorm for lambing and
we have a crack of spring.

Speaker 1 (22:31):
Is there snow on the hills around where you were
based there? I dare say yes.

Speaker 6 (22:35):
Yeah, I'm looking at the Hockanoos at the moment. They're
absolutely covered in white and upwinding and went inside and
up the white kayak valley, that's all white as well.
Luckily it's all melted around us so grass is back
for the sheep.

Speaker 1 (22:49):
How are your covers looking heading into the busy season though?
I mean they've probably taken a hit. It's just the
season we've been dealt with.

Speaker 6 (22:56):
If we were talking two weeks ago I would have
been going, oh we're not probably too bad to be
fair but the sun kind of disappeared and last week
that really cold snap we had and then obviously over
the weekend today and yesterday it's The grass seems to
be disappearing a little bit too quick. I thought we
were going in pretty good, but I think it's going

(23:16):
to be tight for maybe 10 or so days until
we get a bit more warmth into the old soil
and the grass starts sucking up again, but it just
is what it is.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
The good news is the next couple of days it
is pretty warm. 15 tomorrow and Thursday, sorry, a higher 17.
Cooler again for a couple of days, but hey, anything's
better than what we've had.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
Yeah, it would be just nice to see the big
yellow or get some warmer days.

Speaker 6 (23:43):
Probably the bone-chilling wind at the moment is the one
that's the land killer, but hopefully that'll disappear. All we
can do is hope. We can't do anything to affect
the weather. We get given what we're given, so we
just have to try and prepare as good as we can.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
Would you say September's as much about mindset as anything?

Speaker 6 (24:04):
Yeah, I think it's just... You've just got to tick
on and do what you can do, really. You can't
really change a lot of weather conditions and stuff, and
hopefully you've brought in good covers and got some spring
growth coming through. So as long as you just keep
positive with what you're doing out on farm, make sure

(24:24):
you reset when you go home. That's always a good start.

Speaker 1 (24:28):
Winter crops, have you still got stock on them, like
hoggets and the like, or is it all finished?

Speaker 6 (24:33):
Oh, we've got like a little, little bit of swede
that my late lambers are still on. They'll tidy that
up and get that out of the way and then
they're away up the hill out of sight, out of mind,
I guess. Yeah, we've been good with crop. We've gotten
through pretty good. We've still got cattle flat out on
Flutterbeet and they'll be on Flutterbeet until October, so that'll
save some covers for a quarter of a while.

Speaker 1 (24:54):
You had that infamous 36-tonne of beet. You probably won
the local comp with that, did you?

Speaker 9 (24:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (24:59):
Oh, it's a fairly big paddock of beet that is, yeah.
It's kicking away, we're getting into it. A couple of more,
we might end up having three mobs in there for
a week or two, but then get the old dairy
grazers back out and they'll be flushing up for mating. So, yeah,
the beefies will stick away into it. It's always good
down on that flatter river part that we've got. You
can get them on crop and if they run around

(25:22):
on the grass too soon, they wreck it all and
then it's a long season then.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
So how have you readjusted your budget in a good way, too,
by having a crop like that?

Speaker 6 (25:32):
I brought more cattle at the start of winter.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
That's a good way to deal with it, I suppose?

Speaker 6 (25:39):
Yeah, I think I would have just got it on
there until Christmas time with the cattle we had. Yeah,
we need that paddock back in the young grass in
November so we can have it for the new season
going around in New Year's. We can't be having them
on there all summer as well.

Speaker 1 (25:59):
So young farmers, it'll be pretty quiet at the moment.
It's just that time of year. You guys will be connecting,
you know, social channels. Like I say, I joked about
the TikTok before, but truth be known, that's the way
a lot of you people communicate.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Now, right?

Speaker 6 (26:12):
Yeah, it is. Like Facebook, Instagram, they're the two main ones.
A couple of clubs have got a TikTok account kicking around. But,
you know, it is like lambing and carving is always
a little bit of a quiet period. Clubs just try... consolidate,
take them themselves, and do a couple of things just
as a club, as a week dinner, like lambing and
carving dinners and stuff. The region, we did a wool

(26:34):
workshop last week or two weekends ago, and that was
quite good. Hopefully some people learned some stuff, and you
never know, it might come up in districts and regional finals. But, yeah,
once we get through October, that's when everything starts really
kicking into life.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
That was really cool, that wool day you had, or seminar,
whatever it was, and I've seen the socials. Good to
see people turning up and actually taking a bit of interest,
because hopefully the fibre's on a bit of a renaissance.

Speaker 6 (27:01):
Yeah, and that was the whole idea of it. The
team at the interior, you know, they approached us, and
we put something together, and we had a really good buy-in,
and it was about 35 people from all across the
Targa South. We had a car load come down from
Terrace and up a man, so that's quite cool, all
the way to Mandeville, so... big thank you to Mt
Peel and Logan for putting us up with some hoggets

(27:22):
to shear and to go through some wool class and
everything that was really good so hopefully people learn something
like you say it's an industry that's on the rise
I think we're the generation that we're going to have
to really push keep pushing it so we may as
well learn something about it instead of just standing in
the shed and watching the feathers come off.

Speaker 1 (27:38):
And one thing about Logan Evans you won't find anybody
more passionate about the fibre of wool than Logie yeah no.

Speaker 6 (27:44):
He was really good he poked his head on a
couple of times and he was We're happy to see
so many young people kicking around, which is good.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
So are you guys doing a dinner at all over
the spring season, or are you just leaving things be
and getting the work done?

Speaker 6 (27:58):
Balfour Club's pretty relaxed. We still do our Thirsty Thursdays.
It's kind of our one night a week get-off farm,
and especially at this time of year, it's really important.
People could have bad weeks or a bad day, and
it's just good to go and chew the fat with
other members, other people, even some members of the public
as well.

Speaker 3 (28:13):
That's always a bonus, so.

Speaker 6 (28:15):
And that's our way of doing it. I know other clubs,
Thornberry did a carving dinner two weeks ago, I think
it was. So that was pretty cool. Small things like
that are really important for young people, especially when they
work in bigger areas than usual at this time of year.

Speaker 5 (28:30):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Hey, wise words, Connor. Good luck over the next couple
of weeks. About for young farmers, give your club a
plug in the glory land. What are the details people
need to know?

Speaker 6 (28:40):
Hit us up on Facebook or Instagram. Our social media
channels are the way to get in touch. We have
a meeting on this coming Monday at the Balfour Bowls
Club at 7 o'clock. So if you're around the area,
come along, say hello.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Connor Miller, thanks for your time. Good luck in the paddocks.

Speaker 6 (28:56):
Thanks very much, Andy.

Speaker 7 (29:00):
Laugh out loud with Ag Proud. Because life on the
land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
Shearwell Data. Working to help the livestock farmer. What's the
difference between a giraffe and a tractor? One's got hydraulics
and one's got hybolics.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
This is the muster on Hakanui. We're heading up north
now to catch up with Derry Collins. He's a spokesman
for the AA. A lot of things happening regarding roading infrastructure,
fuel and the likes as we get closer to the election. Terry,
welcome to the muster. Good to catch up once again. Thanks, Andy.
Always a pleasure to be here. Yeah, exactly right. Look,
we have.

Speaker 4 (29:37):
Something called the National Transport Fund.

Speaker 3 (29:39):
It funds the maintenance of our roads.

Speaker 4 (29:55):
And the AA always wants that, the number one pick
of where we spend our money. Let's just maintain what
we've got now. The second thing that we're always after is, hey,
let's not have this stop-and-go thing where we announce that
we're going to do some building projects, we make a
whole lot of plans to do them, we spend money
on developing and doing all the drawings, and then we
don't go ahead with them, which costs us a fortune
and gets us nothing. And this is what the risk

(30:16):
around that fund is doing. The government announced that it
wouldn't be increasing the fuel exhaust duty on petrol. Currently,
that fund gets its revenue from a couple of places.
One's from fuel excise duty. One's from road user charges.
The other is crown loans, when the money is lent
by the crown. And the other is top-up by general taxation.

(30:38):
So what the government announced was they were going to
do a $ 0. 12 a litre increase on the 1st of January,
and they've now wiped that for about a year. And
they've got to turn it into a $ 0. 05, increased on
the 1st of June, 2028, followed by six months later,
another five cents, then waiting a year and put some
more five cents on, and then slowly just added up
so that fund gets the money that it needs.

Speaker 1 (31:03):
Are they aware of the pressures that people are facing
at the pump? Is it purely what this is about?

Speaker 4 (31:08):
Well, look, it's purely under-engineering. Labour went and announced that
they weren't going to do anything for three years and
put the excise up, which was absolutely fiscally stupidity. No,
it just kind of, I think to myself, well, we
got into debt hugely over COVID, and now all you
want to do is spend money we haven't got. No,
exercise some fiscal restraint. The whole purpose around roading is

(31:29):
user pays. The users of the road contribute to the
maintenance and building of these roads, and sometimes we need
a little bit of a top-up. What we've done is going, well,
times are tough. We've announced this thing. Now we're not
going to do it. One of the things they could
have done is just gone, hey, instead of 12 cents,
it's going to be 5 cents. because what we've found

(31:49):
is small and frequent increases in anything are hardly noticeable.
In areas in New Zealand, in between areas, we see
price fluctuations on, say, a litre of 91, ranging from
about 20 to 50 cents, depending on what region. Five
cents gets lost in the background noise from the week-to-week fluctuations,
and most motorists wouldn't notice it. 12 cents, you kind

(32:11):
of do. And so... If they'd even done that, the
hole that they've made, which would cause about a billion
dollars of taxation to top it up, would have been
much smaller. So it's just a silly idea.

Speaker 1 (32:23):
So just how underfunded is the New Zealand roading system then?

Speaker 4 (32:28):
If you look at all the charts, we're just... Well,
the other thing I mentioned about how we get crown loans,
so many of the roads that were built in the
past didn't have the money, so we borrowed to build them. Well,
a chunk of that fund in the Land Transport Fund
is now going off to pay... those loans off. It's
like getting an income and your mortgage keeps going up
because you've got to pay for the house that you live,

(32:49):
kind of thing, the debt that you've already acquired. And
so then somebody just says you've got to take a
pay cut. No, it just squeezes everything up with that
remaining money you've got to spend on maintenance and building
new roads.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Should toll roads become the norm in a lot of places?

Speaker 4 (33:04):
I don't know about the norm, but they may be
the only alternative we get. I mean, However, I look
at places like New South Wales where they've got billions
of dollars owing for tolls, and it's just a huge
revenue flow for motorists into these private companies, and I
wouldn't want to see something like that. Our kind of
public-private partnerships haven't been the success that previous governments have

(33:27):
touted them to be. Maybe we just need to do
it because we need the money to build them.

Speaker 1 (33:35):
Well, like the Harbour Bridge, the arguments there, that would
be a prime example if you could get something up
and running in that way. Not a big amount, but
an amount nonetheless.

Speaker 4 (33:43):
Well, that's what we did in the 50s when we
built it. We built the bridge, we put a toll
on it, we paid it off, we kept treating the
toll and then we stopped it. Nothing wrong with that, no.
If people are prepared to do it and the expense
of going the alternative. Our only policy at the AA
is if you're going to have a toll, you've got
to have another road that people can have a choice about.
So you either decide to use the expressway that's going

(34:03):
to speed up, you pay a bit of a toll,
or you're going to take the longer way and not
pay a toll. But as long as you've got an alternative,
we accept that there is a place for tolls.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
Terry, the South Island's only got an allocation of 12%
funding regarding their network roading system. Why is this so
disproportionate compared to the North?

Speaker 4 (34:23):
I think what they're doing is spending a lot, except
for a couple of major areas. Obviously, we know around
Christchurch there's been a lot of changes around going on,
down the Wollaston area and the development down there. Also,
Lake Districts, Queenstown, obviously with the demand for population increase,
tourism and other things in the roading down there, is
getting probably the bulk of that money. The rest of
it is just on maintenance. We've got a lot of

(34:45):
remote roads that were built. They're not actually economically viable,
but they're absolutely necessary for the social cohesion and the
other factors that we need in this country. And so
we need them, but they're often very costly to maintain.
So I think what's happening down there is most of
those roads that aren't, I'll call it uneconomic, but just

(35:06):
for easy terms, that is maintaining those. A bit of
spending on new roads and around those areas I mentioned earlier,
And then most of it, because of the population density
and the pressure going on around the growth of Auckland,
that triangle of Hamilton, Melbourne and Auckland, a big chunk

(35:26):
of the roading's going.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
Up in there.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
Well, the arguments here in the Deep South of the
amount of GDP that's produced and the vehicles that are
on the road, we've got potholes here on State Highway
1 that are pretty much looking like meteors have hit them.

Speaker 4 (35:39):
Yeah. And look, you remember a year ago when the
government was talking about, hey, we've got to, well, three
years ago, we've got to get these potholes fixed. We
thoroughly agree that some of the roading needs to be done.
Which is why I'll mention again, your number one call
from the AA is that the first preference for all
roading is to fix what we've got. If you've got
a house, you've got a car, you do whatever, you
don't worry about getting it. You've got to fix it

(36:00):
to make sure it goes. Well, the same principle applies.
We just can't let the thing be unmaintained, get worse,
and just cause damage and delays and other things. So
if we've first got the money, let's look after what
we've got before we decide building new things.

Speaker 1 (36:14):
Regarding the fuel situation, we caught up with you last
time and you said we'll have the fuel, it's just
a matter of having to pay a little bit more.
I looked at a highlight before on my socials and
Gasby was saying it was $ 1. 10 cheaper for a litre
of diesel than what it is two years later. Is
this just going to be the norm for the next 6, 12,
18 months?

Speaker 4 (36:34):
Yeah, look, we've got all that uncertainty. They've been attacking
each other over Iran, again, the US and the kind
of the combatants that basically shut the Strait of Hormuz down.
There's very little traffic going through it. But what we've
found with all our previous geopolitical interruptions like this, people
come up with a plan B. No, they reroute. There's
more pipelines being built. They're trying to minimize the impact

(36:56):
that the Strait of Hormuz will have in the future.
Things are just adjusting. At the same time, Ukrainians are
determinedly attacking Russian oil infrastructure to try and remove that
from the global market. and their customers were the primary, sorry,
China and India, and they'll go looking elsewhere to get
their fuel. So look, supply's tight. That means that it'll

(37:17):
be a bit more expensive for a while because it's
that law of supply and demand. But will we run
out of it?

Speaker 9 (37:23):
No.

Speaker 4 (37:23):
We're a rich enough country to afford to pay what
we have to pay, so we'll always get it.

Speaker 1 (37:29):
Was it more or less just an overreaction of what
we've seen three or four months ago then?

Speaker 4 (37:33):
Well, it's not an overreaction, but what it is, refiners
were fighting hard. It's still a cracking spread. We still
know today it was $ 92 US a barrel. Now that's
below the $ 100 mark, but it's the refining margins that
have been going up and the shipping margins. That kind
of pressure that's been going on, that's been keeping the
price up. We're just basically at the mercy of those

(37:56):
external factors. We have very little control over it. Those
four factors, the price of oil, the price of shipping
and the price of refining. Our only little benefit over
the last month or so is that our interest rates, sorry,
our exchange rate has improved. So that's helped soften the
blow a little bit.

Speaker 1 (38:14):
Good on you, Terry. You always appreciate your time on
The Master.

Speaker 4 (38:17):
OK, thanks, Andy. You have a good day.

Speaker 1 (38:20):
London calling to the faraway towns Now war.

Speaker 8 (38:24):
Is declared.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Welcome back to the muster on Hokanui. Well, the stock
prices that came out of Longville yesterday, arguably one of
the highest you'll ever see, $ 506 for a fat prime lamb.
And we almost need a bit of context about why
this is happening. Is it sustainable and the like? So
on the line is Shane Gerakin. He is South Island
Livestock Manager for PDG Wrightson. And he's going to give

(38:49):
us an understanding about what these prices are like and
how long are we going to see them for? Shane,
good afternoon. Thanks for joining us.

Speaker 9 (38:56):
Thanks, Andy. Pleased to be here to talk to you,
to your listeners.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
No problem.

Speaker 4 (39:00):
So I'll just guess.

Speaker 9 (39:02):
Probably on Ruanval. I've done a bit of homework, but yes,
you're right. It was only for one sheep. Apparently that
sheep or lamb was 45 to 50 kilos. So it
was a monster. And I think, to be fair, there
was a bit of probably fun between a couple of
buyers just where they could take it to. And you're right,
that $ 506 did achieve that. But certainly we're not seeing

(39:25):
that as the norm. That's certainly extraordinary through the sale yards. Yeah,
so that's a bit of context around that, Andy.

Speaker 1 (39:33):
So that was almost like a joke between a couple
of buyers, like, oh, we've gone this high, what can
we get to create a bit of a storm?

Speaker 9 (39:40):
A bit of that, yeah, exactly. So on one sheep
it wasn't going to really matter too much, but it
certainly got the bloody media and social media gossiping around
the traps, no doubt about that.

Speaker 1 (39:55):
Well, we're still seeing an average price for a few
pens of lambs in the $ 400 bracket nonetheless, Shane, especially
at Lawnville over the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 9 (40:03):
Yeah, and they'll be probably, again, they'll be heavy, heavy lambs.
probably studs that have been culled, Andy. So if you
multiply that by $ 12, $ 12 and a bit, it doesn't
take much, say, for a 30-kilo lamb or a 35-kilo
deadweight lamb to make that over that $ 400 for that.

(40:24):
But as I say, that's very extraordinary rather than being normal. Normally,
if you're seeing through the sale yards, you can get
anywhere sort of between that sort of 20 to 30-kilo lamb.

Speaker 4 (40:35):
And.

Speaker 9 (40:36):
and it's just not one or two, you're probably talking
pen falls to them, so that'll probably give you a
true reflection of where that pricing is around here.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
So who's paying that money for a lamb? Is it butchers?
Is it third party?

Speaker 8 (40:48):
What is it?

Speaker 10 (40:49):
Butcher, yeah, butchers, third parties are buying, so on behalf
of third parties, so yeah, probably the main two, that's
happening there, and a few going direct into processes, but certainly.

Speaker 9 (41:04):
That's where the market's been around the sale yards through
the South Island.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
Well, sale yards up north and especially around your neck
of the woods there at Colgate, I think a pen
of lambs going $ 460 over the past fortnight. So it's
just not the one area we're seeing these prices. It
certainly seems to be up and down the island.

Speaker 4 (41:23):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 9 (41:24):
And again, look, it's probably earlier comment, Andy, it's the
heavy lambs and hence, you know, they can pay that.
But as I say, it's... As I say, that's not
the run-of-the-mill lambs that are coming through the system around that.
But saying that, we're seeing lambs, as I said earlier,
$ 12 a kilo plus. And certainly, if you looked on

(41:45):
last year, we're probably a good couple of bucks a
kilo ahead of that, which is good. And this year, particularly,
there hasn't been the volumes of lamb coming through. And
that's normal, but we're just probably seeing, just looking, if
you look on the weekly kill, those numbers have definitely
dropped back off from this time last year. And we
probably won't see an uptake or an increase in lamb

(42:08):
numbers for the next two to three weeks. Normally July, August,
because of the cold and wet, can be really challenging.
And so once we see the weather improve, get spring,
we'll see these lambs starting to move and hence the
numbers will increase going forward. So, yeah, so I would think,

(42:29):
you know, they're sort of talking main season. It'll have
a 10 in front of it, which I think is
still outstanding money. But obviously the next few months there
will be premiums paid for winter lambs to obviously meet
markets for overseas. So, and that's always been my time
in the business. That's always been the way.

Speaker 1 (42:49):
Shane, probably a good chance to give a little bit
of context around the sale yards as well in regards
to how the selling process works because it all depends
on buyers on the day, forward orders. You hear about
possibly Easter or Christmas contracts and things like that all
comes into the equation. I suppose just briefly, just describe
to those that aren't aware of it how the sale
yards actually operates and we see these fluctuations.

Speaker 9 (43:12):
Yeah, that's a good question, Andy. A lot of it's
around supply and demand. And I think, you know, if
you've got stuff going through the sale yards and if
there is a special order, which we do get now
and again, comes through or there's a surplus of feed,
you'll see that demand for livestock through the yards. And
I guess the good thing about it isn't even playing field. So,

(43:33):
you know, you have got buyers that will line up,
they'll prepare to bid to what they think the value
is of those animals. And then it's a true and
fair contest situation. I guess, for each of those guys
that purchased that livestock. So, yeah, that's generally how that works.
But as you say, it can fluctuate. And a lot
of that probably is around its feed conditions, especially for store.

(43:57):
It feeds tight. Obviously, we haven't got that demand coming
through the yards. But to be fair, the yards are
used as a benchmark for on-farm sales as well. or
private sale, as we call it. And so, yeah, the
sale yards has a big bearing on what's paid around

(44:18):
the place.

Speaker 1 (44:19):
Shane, we look at the beef market. It's looking pretty
positive heading into spring.

Speaker 4 (44:23):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 9 (44:25):
You know, we've seen probably a big increase from last year.
You know, if you looked at, say, bull and steer,
you're probably looking at $ 1. 50, what we were getting this
last year, and cow a buck. But what's probably just
dampening things a wee bit, Andy, is that the states,
you know, they have just released 300,000 tonne of quota

(44:46):
to South America, Argentina, or sorry, Brazil. And so that's
100,000 tonnes they're going to export into the US tariff-free
each month. And hence, you know, that has put a
bit of pressure on our grinder beef, that's our bull
and cow beef. And we've seen shingles come back in
the last week, two weeks, by 20 or 30 cents

(45:08):
a kilo. So that will have an impact. Now, what
we don't know is just how much impact that will
have going forward. But certainly, if you look at the states,
and probably what's the driver behind that is that their
beef herd is the lowest since the late 1940s. And hence,

(45:28):
that's why they have been very active in the beef market.
So They want to reduce that pricing, so hence that's
why South America has got that 300,000 tonne quota for
the next three months.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
Just finally, Shane, it's fair to say the positives are
outweighing the negatives as we head into springtime, especially down
here in the Deep South. Weather aside, I don't know,
how long can we see these highs stay up for
in the red meat industry?

Speaker 9 (45:57):
Well, I'd like to personally, I'd like to see it forever.
The boom and bust cycle, we just cannot work on.
Whereas you see prices go up and then they come
down sharply. I still think, you know, if you look
at your sheep meats, the whole sheep meats, I'm talking
world scene here is the lowest we've ever seen. So
that supply and demand is working well and that will continue.

(46:20):
It's a very good product and New Zealand is recognised
of producing a very good product. So I think going
forward I'd like to see that both beef and sheep
meats will stay up reasonably strong and hence very positive
that going forward we're going to see some good results.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
Shane Gherkin there of PTG Wrightson wrapping up the best
of the muster. Enjoy the weekend. If you get a chance,
get off farm, catch up with mates, take a bit
of time out. Go the All Blacks, go the Stags,
up the wars. I'm Andy Muir. See you Monday.