July 10, 2026 • 47 mins
Andy Muir talks to Eric Roy, Ben Dooley, Bruce Ford, Peter Gardyne and Dave Biss.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Last night. I had the strange yesterday. A very good
morning and welcome into the best of the muster, a
collaboration of interviews and took her attention during yet another
busy week here at Hokanui HQ. My name's Andy Muer.
Thanks for joining us. We're starting off the hour by
catching up with Eric Roy, former MP. He's been involved
with the Pork Board a lot of portfolios over the years,
(00:27):
but he's talking today about election polls and how much
they actually met a look, it's been a hector queak
in politics as it has been well basically over the
last couple of months. Let's be honest, but Eric thinks
these political polls aren't really showing the full picture of
what will happen during the general election. Ben Dooey was
on the program Sheep, Beef and YouTube farmer based out
(00:50):
of Windham, talking about wilding pines and why he thinks
it's a good start this money that has been allocated
towards the problem that is going to become a massive
problem for New Zealand. Bruce Ford, our Stuart Island correspondent.
Always good to catch up with Bruce to see how
things are at the Deep South of New Zealand. I
actually asked Bruce A questioned the Deep South. You hear
(01:11):
it on TV all the time. Dunedin is considered the
Deep South. No it's not. Peter gardeim was on the
program Farming at Napdale. He reckons he was the reason
that the Young Farmer of the Year was jinxed as
far as being allowed on national TV. He tells us more.
And finally, our Western Australian correspondent, Dave Biss, a stock
agent formerly of the Manio Toto Bussy, goes into context
(01:35):
regarding a number of things sheep prices, mice plagues and
talking rugby over there in wa amongst other things. So,
without further ado, we'll start the hour and now with
Eric Royd. This is the best of the muster. Look
(02:01):
at this pace. Welcome back to the Muster. Eric Croix
joins us to talk politics on a Monday, and we
catch him as he's out mustering cattle it his Roxburgh block. Eric,
good afternoon, it sounds like it's just a little bit nippy.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, we've had warmer days, but it is July and
it is Rocksburh and the east or eastern part of
our target has had a bit of a whack and
we got probably a little bit more than the tail
end of that up here.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Is it reasonably dry up around Central O Targe At
the moment the TV.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Valley is the driest it's been for decades. So we yeah,
fifty years or so, and that what we're doing now,
we've got a bit of extravailer at We just put
the breeding cow through the right yards and taking out
the light end of them and they go back to
Tiana now and we'll bring them back with some balls
(02:57):
when it's the appropriate time. Who was fortunate that we've
had a great Automaiano and it's all going to work
for us.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Good news story of the weekend, Well, there's been a
few of them, but Tom Slay winning the FMG Young
Farmer of the Year the fourteenth from the Ittagan Southern
region and following on from the success of his father
Richard and his uncle Simon Hopcroft.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, no, it's a good story. And then we had
a brother and sister as well and met the cat
Well and they went from Southam. But then we had
the Cato twins they won it as well. So a
few families seemed to be quite good at this but
I think this is the first father son that's come
through on the Young Farmer of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Well, it just reflects on the young farmers down here
in the South as well. It just seems to be
going from strength to strength.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well yeah, and the organization is as well, which is
kind of cool because they got into a fairly part
of state there a few years ago and Federated Farmers
were sort of went to take them over, and then
they they've got their own identity back and they really
really grown. They're grown the whole organization again, and that's
(04:07):
pretty encouraging because what we need is'll be well and
we as young farmers who can stand up and articulate
the concerns of their industry and go in the roles
of leadership, and young farmers is one of the important
planks that actually does that. So I'm pretty encouraged by
all of that.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Okay, Eric, why don't we making these political polls at
the moment, because a lot of people who love politics
are talking election fatigue. You were still months out from
the general election.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well that's true, and look, I the first thing is,
I'm not sure how eggnorant the polls are because about
half the people don't actually have the white pages of
the telephone directory now, so I don't know how they
actually gather up people, and so that's a bit of
(04:58):
a mystery. The other thing that as a considerable concern
to me is that a number of people, a disproportionate
number of people, are saying that Tibby is better at
managing the economy than what National is. And I'm not
sure how they can forgive and forget the billions of
dollars or are wasted under COVID. I mean, that is
(05:19):
a real mystery. But having given it since thought, I've
come to the conclusion that if you live in a
state house or rented accommodation, you have no appreciation or
understanding of what death is. And so if you don't
know what death is, and when the government hands out
money by either borrowing it or printing it, you don't
mind because you don't understand all of that, and your
(05:40):
pleasure is the cost of living. You know, Tibby's going
to give us some more money, and it doesn't matter
whether he can explain where he's getting it from. It
sounds great, and they just don't understand the consequences for them.
Their kids and their grandkids. That might have been a
bit preachy, but that's how I feel anyway in the
cold day of a cargo.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
From the cold from the cold weather essential to targo
to the beehive where it's been windy and arguably the greens.
You're talking a lot of win too with the text
policy and didn't make sense.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, yeah, this is the bit that really kind of
irritates me or ebit because most of my life is
I've looked at different parties organizing. The argument is about
who gets the biggest piece of the pie, and what
we need to do is grow the pie. And any
text policy that doesn't grow the pie is actually creating
problems down the list. And that's why it's quite encouraging
(06:34):
to see Todd McKay and Chris Luxon saying we need
better trading partners, we need to do better and this
is the way we can grow the pie. We're pretty
much at peak numbers for stop, so we can run
aheak of a lot more stop without an environmental consequence.
But what we can do is lift the performance and
(06:55):
lift the value by going to the better markets around
the world, or they're going to pay the best possible
price for the best produced product.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Now, national coming out with these promises regarding prioritizing seven
trade deals are free elected, are you believe should this
be on the table now?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Well? Yeah, but these things take time, and you know,
the Indian deal was just about a world record for
getting something over the line. So you've got to start
and you've got to work, and you've got to just
take away the fear of what this all means to
some people. And then there's internal politics. There's a whole
(07:36):
other thing's got to go on, and so these trade
deals have got to be beneficial for both sides, and
you've got to work through all of that. But look,
they've identified seven countries that have some potential and we've
got to say, look, this is encouraging. It's better than
saying we're going to text the wealthy and have a
land tax and do whatever else we're doing, which is shrinking.
(08:00):
This is actually growing the pies. We can all have
a bigger slice.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Everybody looks a bit of pie, aren't they now. The
Indian Prime Minister having a fleeting visit later on this week,
but it's not a public holiday, so I don't know
if there actually been too much achieved here, or is
this a case of a guy who's in charge of
an economy of at one point four billion people being
in New Zealand. We just can't underestimate it.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
No, Look, this is significantly important. Forty odd years since
we've had a primer of English David Longi would have
been the last one and he formed a bit of
a friendship with the then Prime Minister and we haven't
had anybody since. So I've got to say, I think
this is positive and it's good and the growing middle
class in India and the trade deal. We just got
(08:43):
to keep making network better and better for us and
get clearer understanding of the expectations of both countries and
retain our sovereignty. That's why when we do trade deals,
we don't give away our sovereignty and so you know,
but we need to be talking to each other and
understanding what that means.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
The way techie seat is turning out to be quite
a pivotal one for more ways than one. Michael Laws
throwing his hat into the ring for New Zealand first,
Damian O'Connor has put in his name in there. Everybody
knows and of course Miles Anderson, the incumbent for National
This is interesting by New Zealand first is once perhaps
looking at personality politics to a degree.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I don't think there's any doubt about that, and I
think in a way there is an expectation still in
the country because we've had to send her return and
John Key and Chris Hipkins, who were pretty media savvy
and they were more personalities. And that's probably why Chris Luxon,
who's more of a manager and hasn't had that sort
(09:43):
of persona that has you know that the populace hasn't
warmed to in the same way because he's different. He's
more of a let's get this done kind of person
than telling you how I'm going to do it sort
of person and that to some people hasn't got down
quite as well. So I think Winston knows that Dick,
(10:04):
maybe Digg, Shane Jones and himself their personalities and so
he's gone for other personalities, where as well, like Stuo
Nash and Kane Randall and Michael Laws, he's lined up
some people to say, hey, we're the ones that know
what we're doing and we can tell you about it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
How would you describe Michael Laws in the political scenes.
He's an interesting character going by his background from the
early nineties.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, I was a whipped when he was in Parliament
between ninety three and ninety six, and I'm not going
to comment on that.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That might say enough, okay, Eric will leave it there.
He got plenty to do this afternoon on the hive
out there around Roxborough. Always appreciate your time on the muster.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Beg you good one.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
We're away down the wind in this afternoon on the muster.
Ben Dooley, sheep beef and YouTube farmer joins us, good afternoon, Dills.
It's a little bit wetter than what it was forty
eight hours ago.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, good am, you sure is a bit thirty mils
two nights ago. I haven't checked the rain gage this morning,
but neither's beund to miother teen or twelve and I guess,
but that is that time of year, isn't it. We
was supposed to get a bit of rain now just
made it.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
A little bit sloppy on top on the brakes.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, just a way. But to be fair, yesterday morning
I came out and I thought everything was going to
be just you know, not as your disaster or on
four day breaks and had a couple of couple of
mobs that were just just one day in and you
sort of think it's going to be wasted. But there's
the point where the rain washed the mud off the swede,
so it was quite good. But yeah, just at the
same time we're scanning on Wednesday, so just getting one
mob off swedes now it's the last one to come off,
(11:43):
and yeah, they've got a day on grass and then
a day and the arts full scanning. So yeah, kind
of good timing. It can dry up and then fingers
crossed what be bit dry when they go back on.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I suppose that's the issue when you're going for an
extend to break, say the four days, is that you
do get a weather event and you're just not going
to heavy uilzeization that you.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Wont Yeah, it's an interesting one. It's one I've had
a discussion with with a lot of people over the years.
Quite often guys on one day breaks in that situation,
we'll go back in the afternoon and give them another shift,
and so that that means you're wasting. You know, you're
running a fifty percent wastage on the four day break system.
At worst, we would be fifty percent. Quite often in
(12:21):
bad weather will be shifting the master of three days
instead of four, so you're losing one day out of four,
whereas with the one day break system we find in
much bad whether you're losing a day every day. So
we find actually on the four day breaks that you
do have less wastage. But there are the odd time
where you do lose three days in one go and
it is a little bit annoying. But in all fairness,
(12:43):
if it's if it's me, I've probably got run off
onto a grass paddock. Just for their heavy yields. We
we do struggle with just an animal welfare thing with
the sheep remaining on crop. You know, if you're going
to get fifty sixty eight one hundred mills in a
day sort of thing, we'll pull them off the day before,
or if you're going to get heavy snow, pull them
off just as it starts or something and just let
them have a grass paddock. And yeah, they use a
(13:05):
bit more feed that way, a bit more grass, but
as long as they're not fenced in a tight break somewhere,
it doesn't wreck the peddocks.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
So yeah, have you got a more of the plovers
in the background.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Ah, there's plovers bloody everywhere here. I hate the bloody things.
It's good to see the oyster catchers are hanging around
all of a sudden.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
But wait, when did you see your first oyster catcher?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Probably a week two days ago.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
It's an old wive style depending on what you want
to believe, but I saw black and blue. You'd always
see oyster catchers before the fifth of July.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, I never pay any attention to when they turn
up in the grass paddocks. What I do pay attention
to quite heavily is when they turn up crop paddicks
and I'm trying to work them, I wind up with
big missuses everywhere. I won't I won't for the plovers,
but for the oyster catchers, I definitely leave, leave the
nests untouched and then just have to go back afterwards
and try and do something with that. So yeah, there
are cool words to have around. Iould wish they wouldn't
(13:53):
miss the crop petticks, but they are quite cool critters
to see.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Absolutely, they are wilding pines. It's been the tour lately.
A bit of government money has been allocated towards it.
Ben is this going to do much. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Hey, look it's a great start, and I've got to
be fear here. I wasn't aware, but I had been
told the previous government actually did throw a bit of
money out of too. It wasn't possibly quite as well directed,
but funding was there. So fingers crossed. Was a bit
of cross party consensus here that it needs to carry on.
But yes, it's a great start. It's an awesome start,
but it is a start. So hopefully most of that
(14:25):
money makes it to activities on the ground and getting
rid of them. Yeah, no, great thing to see happening.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
One of the great analogies in life is talking about
an elephant you don't need in one go. It's a
bite by bite proposition. Wilding Pine certainly comes into the equation.
That's the elephant quite literally in the room.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, one hundred percent. If we don't get on top
of these things now, you know, thirty forty years ago
was the best time to start, but that's been and
gone now, so we'll forget about that. As it says,
right now, we've just got to get stuck in. Otherwise,
a lot of air, backcountry, high country, hinder land, whatever
you want to call it, is going to turn into
a wild pine plantation and it's not something that we want.
(15:04):
It's a bit of a shame to hear some of
the not feedback, the response or gives to the governments.
You know that they're trying to open up the high
country to let some grazing happen again, and the process
that have gone through to do that has met some
pretty fierce scrutiny from some people that I don't know
whether they've got an ulterior motive don't want the sheep
back on the high country or whatever, but they've certainly
(15:24):
gone a long way to misconstruing what was supposed to happen. Yeah,
it's just disappointing to see.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It makes a lot of sense, so to get the
grazing down a lot of these properties. I mean, you
look at the bigger picture as well as carbon farming
comes into the equation, a lot of these higher up
blocks they're just going to be fire risks. I mean
that's just one thing off the bat, but there's a
pleasora of things regarding high country that came that you've
got to think about.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, one hundred percent, hang on, I'm just going to
seem to dog out. I've just got a morbis sheep
have done something they shouldn't have done.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Still right, it was still wrong, and keep going. You
know what's the go right?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Just gone over a fence. Thankfully they've gone over it
and not throw it, but just surreal trying to get
them around the end of it to go out of
gate and they don't want to go through the bloody gateway.
But it looks like they're just about to work it out.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So it's all right, are you normally this composed and
the ship go over the fence?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I'd say no, no, no, no, definitely not. Can't respond
like that on either, can I?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Well, you can is just going to be frowned upon.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
It's not a major this time, so I thy'll be
right as you were. The high country situation like that,
There's no doubt the grazing does not destroy the worlden pines.
We're not saying it is the absolute answer and it
will get rid of them, but it certainly goes a
long way to knock on them back, especially the weathers.
You know, they love going out there and just having
enrivel or something green, and they will just strip them
(16:45):
back and definitely slow the progress to process down, and
that just goes a long way to making that government
money go further, doesn't it. But it's just the argument
with a lot of these little parcels of land that
are around. We're not talking about the you know, the
the land that was potentially going to be sold. It's
not the forty fifty thousand heat deer blocks. It's the
thirty forty to fifty heat deer blocks that the farmers
leased for decades and has to renew that every five years,
(17:08):
three years, ten years, whatever, And it's just not practical
to carry on going the way we have been. You know,
those farmers don't have any security in that land to
be able to actually do anything worth to improve it.
They've just got to run it and hope like hell
that they get the lease back next time. So, like
I say, a lot of those groups, it was quite
disappointing to see their reaction to that policing and fingers
(17:32):
crossed it hasn't actually yeah, damaged it to the point
where they can't get it across the line.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I say, you put a video out on social media.
We actually stopped in your holiday to put out wild
to pull out wi holding binds.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, we got stuck and they closed the road from
Tekboy all the way to a Marima on black because
of black ice, and hey got on for doing it,
Like you know, if the road's too dangerous to drive,
is dangerous to drive. We didn't really want to go
the other way. I've sort of felt at the Bricks
Pass road probably wasn't gonna be much safer, so we
just end up waiting for it to open. And yeah,
there's just a bank on the side of the road.
(18:04):
Wouldn't have been might have been five minutes square meters,
I suppose. And I pulled out fifty seedlings just on there,
all Walden pine seedlings. So that goes to show just
how big the problem is. It's amazing when jeff A
drive up through there at the moment, just hell, because
I haven't spent a lot of time there in the
last five years, just how big the problem's gotten. There's
(18:26):
just little great seedlings everywhere. So yeah, three or four
years from now, if we don't do something big now,
it's going to be a massive problem that I don't
think we'll.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Be able to be How is the rural social influencing
going from your perspective, I've.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Been pretty slow on it recently, just here really house
going on between feeds and everything else, sort of trying
to work out what I caount. I can't say these days,
but not that, not that anyone's telling me I can't
say anything. It's just that when you're representing other bodies,
you sort of want to be careful. But you know,
just the last sort of a couple of months, I
suppose it seems to have been a little bit more
of an upticker. I suppose, I know, the last sort
(19:02):
of three years it's been quite slow and you know,
just across the board quite hard. But yeah, just all
of a sudden, it feels that there might be a
mood change. Whether there's some sense of normality coming back
or something, I don't know, but yeah, it's it's a
happening thing.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
When you say there seems to be a change in
normality or a sense and a change of the mood,
what do you mean.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Well, if I put a post up on something today,
you know, I get people commenting, I get people asking questions,
I get feedback. You know, people are sharing it and whatever.
And it's just nice to see that again because for
a long time here you felt that you're doing a
whole lot of work for very little game or for
very little. You know, there was nothing coming out the
other end of it. People weren't interacting with those posts.
(19:43):
And it wasn't just me noticing that either. There was
a lot of people. If you look at what was
happening with their pages, things just weren't happening. But now,
like I say, it seems whether it's just the time
of year or what, I don't know, but it certainly
seems to be on the improved. So things crossed.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Get on your deals. You can go and do some
inappropriate words now that you're normally you go and fix
that vena.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Chieve any have found the right gate old hopefully just
got to straighten it up in the fence. Will be right.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
We love me yet.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
We're away down to Stuart Island this afternoon on the musk,
catching up with our correspondent down those ways, Bruce Ford,
former South Industrict councilor these days resides on the at
the island at the bottom of New Zealand. Bruce, Good, afternoon.
Do you get frustrated when people called the need in
the Deep South?
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Sometimes we do, you, but of course we usually try
and refute that it's we get off better than lots
of other places. You know, you've got floods and all
swat things at the moments, and you know they have
our sympathy for all us. We don't get flood so much.
It's about six degrees at the moment. We're we're a
wee bit climate control here.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, talking about the climate. How's it been over winter?
Has it been cooler than usual or a bit more mild?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Wow, it's only just this last few days that it's
the col's hit us a lieveit, And it's been very mild.
The lots of the stuff in the garden, the roses
and currents that all got buds on them, and you
know it's a we've been out to cool them. But
I suppose that's climate change. Will be ready for economic
fountains anytime.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Everything's just a little bit out of whack at the moment.
You reckon.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Well, I think everywhere everybody's having a different season.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Bus out of it, Yeah, for sure. Now the big
issue down there has been regarding the price of electricity.
This sol of farmer is on the horizon. What's happening
around this?
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I know the the ben a grant from our government
to established the solar farm, and that's being on the
competed on the road to the Estrap former gun sight
or rather former gun club site where a lot of
people around South and Wi'll be familiar with. And it's
(22:12):
all cleared off now the contractors been pleared or a
bush off it and supposedly it'll be operating by January.
So there's quite a lot of work to do yet,
but certainly the site's all nicely cleared and we'll be
very pleased about that. Because the electricity currently has been
changed out at ninety three cents per unit, which is
(22:34):
at least three four times more than what you people
might be paying.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
So it's fair to say this will be a game
changer for electricity on the island.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Well, it's certainly going to help, and of course we
skimp all the electricity we use. It's only lights and fringes,
so it's not as if you have water heating and
electric stoves and things. So we still have you know,
we've got the LPG and cold rangers and likes. But
certainly it'll be a big help. But I'm suspecting that
(23:04):
people will just use a bit very electricity. It may
not change the total bills, but will be a bit
easy to get on with.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Now. We spoke to you last time the task ceiling
was going on around the island. This is all be completed,
I understand.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Yep. It's taking them for six weeks or so to complete.
And the contractor has done all that. It's all looking
pretty tidy in. We get that about every fifteen years
or so, and they because our loadings are not as
great as they are on the other side, with heavy
trucks and things, we make it last a bit longer.
So let's all tidy up now. It's been remarked, and
(23:41):
I'm very conscious now that the parking tickets and any
road rules we breached the copper on his toes and
it could well be some tickets around.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Do you get parking tickets down there?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yes we do. And there's no point having complacency if
you're driving around here, because the first thing that has
happened with you go to the other side and you
get caught for doing something you shouldn't have and of
course it could be worse than that, you could have
an accident.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Now, as far as senior cottages, this is something that's
been on the horizon for a while for the elderly
members of your community and fundraising to get new digs.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Yes, there's been on the agenda for many many, well
quite a long time now, and it's been a pet
of mine, and of course it's been such that we
have a trustet up and we've bought some land and
we have all the fans are drawn up. We've been
fundraising for that. We've got about one point three million
lined up. We need a couple of million overall. So
(24:41):
each time I ride off to various politicians in Wellington
and beyond, they all come back. So what a great idea,
But we can't help you today, but this election might
be a bit more useful. But we don't hold your
bread yet.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Now. The pub down there at the South Seas Hotel
turned one hundred years old.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Yeah, so that's been a bit of a celebration weekend
because we like celebrations and it's another reason to get
the community moving and doing things. And they've been insisting
with part of the anniversary arrangements. There's lots and lots
of photographs come out and they've had a scavenger hunt
just to get people motivated and that look pretty successful.
(25:22):
Lot of fun and of course that all culminated on
the Sunday night for Quiz Night, so they had prizes
for all those things. But a great fun day or
fun weekend. And I expect the photographs are still there
for a few days yets. So a lot of memories
to be to come forward, just to remind people of
(25:43):
those that have been here before. And we did get
a lot of verses out of it, so that's been
part of the encouraging bonus.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You do hear a lot about this quiz nice it's
almost gone down as infamous.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Well it is, yes, and we've had lots of occasions
and different quiz masters, and of course the bigger one
was when Prince Harry was here and all his security team,
so that that was a massive night. So that's been
a major part of the publicity. And would you believe
it there were fifty security people on scene by that night. Yeah.
(26:17):
I didn't think it was that bad, but somebody else did.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I think he's pretty it's pretty sedate down of Steward Island.
Fifty fifty starts a bit of overkill, wouldn't you suggest.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Well, there was a few all sorts of cops talking
into the sleeve and they probably had a nice weekend
out of it on that occasion, but of course it
carries on. That's quite a wee while ago now and
we have lots of people from far and wide that
have heard about quiz and they just keep turning up
on Someday night. They're all getting into the pub early,
so you get the table and it's a great nightea.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Now the South Island South Island Stuart Island Players Group
Repertory Society is such I suppose, sounds like there's something
occurring there.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Yeah, we've got an amateur playing group that put on
a show over now and then, and that's progressed over
time for about the last soon thirty forty years, I suppose,
and we keep replacing the young new people and they
are going to show coming up and often can't tell
you what the show has pring me, but they've been
(27:21):
in practice in the meantime. And I won't be part
of it. I'll have to be a spectator, which would
certainly just find But it's great fun, keeps everybody out
there and increases the confidence and their public speaking and
the performance on stage. That's a great event for the
community as well.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And just finally, Bruce, because time is the year since
the doctor service or the health service to Stuart Island.
What's happening there.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
In recent times we've been short of a GP service
and the Luft Medical Center of recently introduced once service
to bring a doctor over to go around the customers here.
And of course we say there are ailments up for
a month and a time and the local nurses clinic
(28:10):
here will cater for that. We do have nurses here
all the time that are very very good and handle
most of our ailments. But that's a new service and
we're very pleased about that because it does save a
lot of money for a lot of people that not
having to buy a ticket to town and the consequent
costs that go with that. So the doctor has one
(28:30):
cost and we just pay them at the door here.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Good to hear, Bruce Hay. Always good to catch up
on the mustard to see what's happening at the Deep
South of New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Charlie good, thank you any too.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Blaffing in the peat Guardine Farms and Napdale and joins
us this afternoon on the muster on a rather damp
afternoon here in the Deep South. Pete good afternoon ground
conditions out. Your ways are pretty sticky, oh brand conditions.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
It's sticky on top, but it's got underneath. And I'm
actually in my happy place right now. The cattle and
sea for all shifted this morning and we're now going
to eat digger in and load it, and we're cleaning
out the sheepyards and we're about to rip in and
build new sheepyards. So I'm pretty excited about that.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It's probably one of the first times I've heard of
somebody talking about building a new wallsheet of sheepyards for
a very very long time.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Well, this will be the third set of sheepyards I've
built from scratch, and I've also built a seed of
cattle yards. And if you rip the internals out of
old ones and redo them. We extended the roof and
maybe the yards they go oh three or four years ago,
but we're now getting onto redoing the internals, which we
did half last winter and we're doing the other half
this winter.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
A lot of the timber from the bones of those
old buildings as well, the designed to last until now
it comes again.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
The design to last. This shed here was that sort
of called of Stuart's. I don't know if it was
seventies or eighty style where they decided to run the
race straight into the the tin wall and then wonder
what a sheep wouldn't run. And it's been a.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Secondary sheet for us for a while.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
But yeah, we're getting in and we're putting a curved
race and we'll get it running nicely. And I can
tell you the timber and all that, Like, it costs
a e bit of money, but what you save in
labor and animal stress and all that going forward is
just huge. And I'm a massive fan of good yards.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Well, if that's not a tick towards the future of
the sheep industry, I don't know what is pete.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
Oh yeah, no, the sheep industry is just amazing and
it's cranking.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Look at the prices yesterday they got four hundred dollars
a longful. Everything's pretty buoyant. So yeah, I mean it
wasn't something you heard about. I mean I've heard of
people who actually got rid of their wool sheds a
week the self sheating sheep.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Yeah, no, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Now.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
One I don't think the sheating sheep's gonna I hope
that wooly sheet come back, But I actually think the
shedding sheep's probably gonna keep going. And why that is
is unless the wall thing really fundamentally shows us some
long term stuff, you know, in the positive direction. The
shedding seat thing, I think in my block is more
(31:07):
about lower cost of production and lower labor units press
stock unit rather than being anti wool.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
So you're thinking for wall to eggs to have people
thinking differently, it's got to go up twice as much,
three times as much as its value at the moment.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
Yeah, So we just sent some will into town. So
I don't have the results on that yet, but I
have done my anual accounts roughly from last season, and
we've made a small profit on our wall account, which
is obviously cool, but when you compare it to the
scale of their business, it doesn't warrant any excitement yet. Yeah. No,
(31:45):
And I think the shedding sheet thing, I think that
we even careful because we're having a wee small play
on this front. At the moment. The genetics are not
as good as the normal sheep that are been bred
in New Zealand for one hundred and fifty years. But
I think in five years time to ten years time,
it'll be really interesting to see what's out there. I
(32:05):
love wall but I also like cool cars, and I
don't farm cool cars.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I don't think many people.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
Do, though, well we all wish we did. But yeah,
I think that well thing's an interesting space and I
don't think it's a done deal either way.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
How's everything on the rage anyway? Just pretty much July
being July.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah, July has been July. Feel a wee bit riffed
off when you go to bed at night and there's
a frost on the deck and then you wake up
and it's raining in the morning. I like a frosty
morning and less mud that. The window crops have all
done pretty well. The stock team's got the stock looking awesome.
That scanned really well, which is cool. There's probably another
thing to talk about that's interesting with the stud long
(32:49):
story short, we wanted to make the Hobits with the
US to keep linkages between age groups and time frames
at Lemming time, which I won't bore you on the details.
For so a couple of year years ago, we mated
Hoggits on their own, US on their own, and Hogits
and News mixed together, and we had no conception differences
between those mating groups. So this year on the we
(33:11):
block up at Pyramid there. We actually made it their
two doofs with their mixtage us, which is usually considered
to be a big no no. But we had under
one percent drise in that line. So yeah, I think
that sort of old old man's tail or, old farmer's taylor,
what do you want to call it. I think that's
actually not as correct as it may have been in
the past.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Interesting as well, the Green Party's policy would touch on
this pete wanting to get rid of synthetic fertilizers. Yet
the comparison has been made to Sri Lanka in twenty
twenty one and April twenty one, they're then president abruptly
banned all agrichemical imports to shift to exclusive organic agriculture
and reduce pressure on dwindling foreign exchange reserves. But what
(33:54):
happened was their corp failure went down by twenty percent
in the first six months. They had to actually import
four hundred and fifty million dollars worth of rice, which
is a staple food. And it got to the point
that with all the protests and everything else, economic decline
now Vember twenty twenty one are declined and went back
to the way it was. Sorry.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Well, what I'd say is, I'd say that ninety nine
point nine percent of your listeners are very intelligent and
none of that would surprise them. But unfortunately there is
a small percentage of our population and a high percentage
of them are in the Green Party that have no
idea about the realities of life. And I'm not you know,
we're definitely not organic here, and I don't want to
(34:37):
be organic. I respect organic people, but it's as one
organic farmer who I know well told me, he said,
it's like farming is one hand tied behind your back.
It's an intensification and it's a harder way of doing farming.
And on scale Nisgreen used sensibly is just an amazing
(34:57):
tool that I tell you I don't want to lose.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Is it on this property?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Hey? Just finally as well, Tom Slae winning the FMG
Young Farmer of the Year a few days back. Now,
fantastic effort. Now you went to the big dance of
this and you reckon you're responsible for getting taken off
the telly well a.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Couple of It's awesome that Tom one. He's a good
guy and he's from a great family personally, it's a
wee bit scary because I realized that I competed closer
to when his uncle and his father did than when
Tom had, So that makes me feel like a middle
aged farmer. But yeah, I was at the Grand Final
in Gore. And not many people probably know this, but
(35:39):
Gore was the biggest Grand Final they've ever had by
quite a margin, and it was the last time it
was televised on TV. So maybe I had a face
for radio and I scared them all off. Yeah, but no,
that Gore Grand Final, I mean, obviously a big fan
of Gore, living ten minutes out of the town, was
well regarded as the guess and probably one of the
(36:01):
best because a small town like Gore really got behind it,
and it was quite an event for the town.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
You're saying twelve hundred people there that night, There's.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Thirteen hundred people at the night show and it was
televised live on TV one and I was just a
young twenty two year old, And I tell you that
was probably one of the scariest nights of the life.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Andy Oh, he survived.
Speaker 5 (36:24):
I survived, And I can tell you that the three
months with the Gortos Masters leading up to that made
a heck of a lot easier than it would have
been beforehand. But it was quite a difference to the
single man's quarter that I was living on on farm
being in front of that many people, So that's probably
one thing to know. That's I heard Simon Hotcroft on
(36:47):
an interview I think it might have been on Jamie's show,
where he said that it was great to be there,
but he is glad that he didn't have to do
it again. And every Grand finalist will tell you that
it is such a massive undertaking and it's such a
it's such a lot of work those guys put into it,
and there's a lot of pressure, and it's it's something
(37:08):
that's hard to describe unless you've done it.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Did you find it terrifying that it takes you a
couple of days to actually realize that why the reasons
for you entering the event.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
I don't think it's terrifying. It's just it's just studying
for a school exam or a university exam, or your
driver's license or something like that. You know what's going
to be in the test. You know they can only
test you on things that are in the road code
or things that are in your year, that you've learned
at school. When at the Young Farmers Competition, you're rocking
(37:41):
up to something where you have absolutely zero an idea
what they're going to talk about. It could be asking
you about eavy fruit or dairy farming, or aquaculture or
sheep or you know. Yeah, for example, one of the
ones I entered and now I'm a sheep farmer and
I can do most sheep karma things really well. But
(38:02):
I walked into a sheep scanning module for pregnancy scanning,
and that's one thing that I cannot comprehend. It just
looks like a bunch of bubbles on the screen. And
you know, you walk into a module like that is
a sheep hockey, and you know there's no way up
to do any good at it.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Hey, good on repeat. We better leave it there, enjoy
the afternoon. We'll catch up again.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
Sounds good. Have a good.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
One back a welcome back to the muster. We're away
over the ditches afternoon to Western Australia. Dave Bussy bus
He is a stock agent over there. I formerly of
the many are Tato Bussy. Good afternoon. It's good morning
(38:47):
where you are, and it sounds as though you've got
southern temperatures today.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
Yes, good morning, Andy, It's sure is a bit nippy.
Speaker 7 (38:54):
It's three degrees here and I think we're going to
hit nineteen as o high the sun comes out and
the fog rolls back, the better. I think, at least
it's not as cold as there any Attata. With all
that snow and wet weather they've.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Had, it sounds like there's a bit of a complaint
happening over there, and rightly so. Mice plagues are a
real thing.
Speaker 6 (39:13):
Yes, it is real.
Speaker 7 (39:15):
Roughly about four hundred and fifty k's north of Perth,
in that Tower area. They've had a really bad run,
and I think they're starting to get on top of
it now, but they've had a bad run in the
respect that those the mice plague has just taken over.
Speaker 6 (39:29):
And I was.
Speaker 7 (39:30):
Reading some facts and figures the other day, and you know,
there's eight thousand mice per hectare, So you know they're
not just eating the tops. They're they're burrowing into sown
paddocks and eating the roots, attacking crops.
Speaker 6 (39:44):
Anything that's edible is edible.
Speaker 7 (39:46):
And then there's the health issues with families and kids
you know, bloody all sorts of illnesses that kids and
that pick up.
Speaker 6 (39:52):
So it's a pretty horrible, horrible thing to be happening.
Speaker 7 (39:56):
And then you've got all those woke UNPC people that
don't contribute to our community much and they're rallying the
big retailers not to sell poisons and baits. So it's
very hard to get on top of it. So once again,
once again it's those people sort of rattling the chain
and pushing the rest of us around, which is a
real concern going forward.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
So what's happening with your stock prices at the moment?
Busy over here in New Zealand, it's fear to say,
we're seeing record prices for lamb and sheep at the moment.
What's the situation there?
Speaker 7 (40:27):
Well, I was listening to your show the other day,
and I was listening to your local PGG rights an agent,
and I think on Sheep across the board, we're pretty
much on par you know, I'd say we're a bang
on the money.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
But our numbers and the saliards are back considerably.
Speaker 7 (40:43):
So you know, two months ago when you and I
were talking, we were doing fifteen to twenty thousand sheep
every week. Now we're down to four to five thousand
this week, so the numbers are dwindling.
Speaker 6 (40:55):
You know, the u flock is low, so farmers are keep.
Speaker 7 (41:00):
Bring new lambs upping their female so numbers are hard
to get.
Speaker 6 (41:04):
So prices for sheep are up right across the broad
cattle prices are strong.
Speaker 7 (41:10):
I sold some stairs this week at five ninety six
cents a kilo on shoot on Monday, and that's pushing
the cow price up too for that export all that
ground beef. So you know where we were at two
dollars seventy two dollars ninety two dollars ninety five, We're
now at three dollars eighty eight for the tops of
fat cows this week, so that's good money there. So yeah,
(41:32):
it's really pumping along nicely. But I just hope it
doesn't fall too quick. We just need it to sort
of mallow out and just just smell the flowers for
a while, you know.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
So why are sheep numbers dwindling?
Speaker 7 (41:43):
One You've got a live export business that's changing, so
a lot of farmers have changed their changed their sheep management.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
Two, we haven't got enough females.
Speaker 7 (41:53):
Three we shipped a lot of sheep the last two
and three years to the Eastern States. You know, some
weeks we'd sit we send when I say we, the
state might send fifty road trains thirty forty to fifty
road trains a week. So it's a hell of a
lot of sheep have gone out of the state. And
if you look at processes meat companies, a couple of
(42:16):
the guys have done the yearly maintenance on their chains.
And one guy, one process, he runs two factories, two
meat works.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
He's just locked the door on one.
Speaker 7 (42:23):
He's done his maintenance, it's ready to go, but the
numbers aren't there, so he's only running one side.
Speaker 6 (42:27):
So it's a real issue.
Speaker 7 (42:29):
It's just driving the money up, and then you get
those Eastern States buyers coming.
Speaker 6 (42:32):
And that just pushes it up again. So it's pretty
it's a bit of a balancing act at the moment.
I think we just need to be a bit careful.
Speaker 7 (42:38):
But you know, hopefully there'll be new season's lambs come
on shortly, so we'll.
Speaker 6 (42:43):
Just see how that goes. Talking money on for Sorry.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
No, that's all good, But I was about to say,
is this probably universal across the other states?
Speaker 7 (42:53):
I think so yeah, yeah, I think so, and a
lot of those states are restocking as well, so with
floods and droughts and different things that happen there.
Speaker 6 (43:00):
So it's just a chain effect. It just rolls on.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
As far as fuel levels, last time we spoke, it
was a key buzz word for a lot of people,
fuel retainment as such. What's happening now we've seen an
easing of the price here in New Zealand. We're not
hearing as much about it in the media. What's your situation, Yeah,
we're on par with you.
Speaker 7 (43:20):
So we've we've gone for a stressful time where you know,
diesel was well up around that.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
Three dollars fifty three dollars seventy, then it came back
to two fifty. Well, yes, that was a dollar seventy two.
Speaker 7 (43:31):
So it's come right back and it's now we're back
to normal now, I think you know, if you're down
at dollars seventy for a letter, it's not an issue anymore.
Speaker 6 (43:39):
We've come we've ridden that storm.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
So it was just a bit of hysteria at the time,
but everything seems to have gone back to normality.
Speaker 6 (43:46):
Then, yeah, it is.
Speaker 7 (43:48):
It's a bit like when COVID came. We all we
ran out of toilet paper, so now there's plenty.
Speaker 6 (43:53):
On the shelf. So I think we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
You know, I'll flow this year as well. Vissie regarding
five FO the industry over there in Wa, just state
how big it is for the economy.
Speaker 6 (44:05):
Oh wow, it's just out of control.
Speaker 7 (44:07):
It's a jugger or I think I said to you
one other time twenty years ago there was six sixty
seventy thousand people a week in and out of the
Perth airport, and I think it's one hundred and seventy
thousand out of the Perth airport and they could come
from Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin or Sydney or Fiji or wherever.
Speaker 6 (44:27):
That that business is just heaving, you know, and it
just drives the whole state.
Speaker 7 (44:34):
Like I've been here twenty five years and I've never
seen a depression or a downtime.
Speaker 6 (44:39):
It just doesn't happen.
Speaker 7 (44:39):
The rest of Australia can be in direstrates and Western
Australia doesn't miss a beat.
Speaker 6 (44:43):
That just keeps going. You know. You can roll in
here into Western.
Speaker 7 (44:47):
Australia and want to get a job on the mines,
and it's a tricky one, but if you know someone,
you can have a job in a week. It's easy
and that money's pretty healthy. It's pretty tidy. Even a
dump truck driver.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
The first job.
Speaker 7 (44:59):
You get on a mind, you know, three fifty four
hundred dollars a day and that's the base level that
they all start. So yeah, you can save a lot
of money and it doesn't take long. If you've got
half a brain and you've got some good skills behind you,
you can go up the food chain pretty quick.
Speaker 6 (45:13):
So the money goes up pretty quick, so it's healthy.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Does rugby union, like the Wallabies have much of a
posh through over there? Given that AFLs the buzzword freemantles
on top of the table. West Coast Eagles they're down
the bottom but very popular. Where does union stand during
the Test season?
Speaker 7 (45:29):
Well, when the Wallabies come out to play, Australia certainly
gets their canary gold jackets on and all their funny
and they turn the telly up.
Speaker 6 (45:37):
Yeah, it's pretty strong.
Speaker 7 (45:38):
The game has grown here in the state massively over
the last twenty years and the standard's gone up.
Speaker 6 (45:43):
And if you look at that Western Forest side.
Speaker 7 (45:45):
Now, obviously they're not homebred players, but you've got quite
a few Wallabies and good Eastern States players and that
in that side. So it's pretty strong at times, you know,
when they're when they're under pressure and they're not playing
that well.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
They struggle with the stadium with how many people getting
in the grounds. But yeah, it's pretty popular. It's pretty
popular club.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Rugby in Perith. Would you say it's in a boom
moment for the time being or as a generally pretty stable.
Speaker 7 (46:10):
It's generally pretty stable, I would. I would say this
year it's a bit flat of anything. I don't know
why that is, but the standard of rugby is perfectly
fine appared to what it was twenty years ago.
Speaker 6 (46:21):
It's certainly improved.
Speaker 7 (46:23):
You know that top tier two or three teams would
be able to foot the bill and christ Church or Dunedin.
I'm not saying they'd wudn't, but they'd hold their own
and they'd play a reasonable game. The younger crowd coming through,
the kids grades are massive. My middle boy when he
was five, I think our club side had nine teams
and now we have twenty three.
Speaker 6 (46:43):
And that's a general consensus. So rugby's really growing.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Daviasically wrapping up the best of the muster. Well, that's
us Ober and done with for the morning, remembering you
can catch any interview on iHeartRadio regarding the Muster on
hockey knowing my name's Andy Mueller. See you Monday. Have
the bars.
Last night. I had the strange yesterday. A very good
morning and welcome into the best of the muster, a
collaboration of interviews and took her attention during yet another
busy week here at Hokanui HQ. My name's Andy Muer.
Thanks for joining us. We're starting off the hour by
catching up with Eric Roy, former MP. He's been involved
with the Pork Board a lot of portfolios over the years,
(00:27):
but he's talking today about election polls and how much
they actually met a look, it's been a hector queak
in politics as it has been well basically over the
last couple of months. Let's be honest, but Eric thinks
these political polls aren't really showing the full picture of
what will happen during the general election. Ben Dooey was
on the program Sheep, Beef and YouTube farmer based out
(00:50):
of Windham, talking about wilding pines and why he thinks
it's a good start this money that has been allocated
towards the problem that is going to become a massive
problem for New Zealand. Bruce Ford, our Stuart Island correspondent.
Always good to catch up with Bruce to see how
things are at the Deep South of New Zealand. I
actually asked Bruce A questioned the Deep South. You hear
(01:11):
it on TV all the time. Dunedin is considered the
Deep South. No it's not. Peter gardeim was on the
program Farming at Napdale. He reckons he was the reason
that the Young Farmer of the Year was jinxed as
far as being allowed on national TV. He tells us more.
And finally, our Western Australian correspondent, Dave Biss, a stock
agent formerly of the Manio Toto Bussy, goes into context
(01:35):
regarding a number of things sheep prices, mice plagues and
talking rugby over there in wa amongst other things. So,
without further ado, we'll start the hour and now with
Eric Royd. This is the best of the muster. Look
(02:01):
at this pace. Welcome back to the Muster. Eric Croix
joins us to talk politics on a Monday, and we
catch him as he's out mustering cattle it his Roxburgh block. Eric,
good afternoon, it sounds like it's just a little bit nippy.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Well, we've had warmer days, but it is July and
it is Rocksburh and the east or eastern part of
our target has had a bit of a whack and
we got probably a little bit more than the tail
end of that up here.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
Is it reasonably dry up around Central O Targe At
the moment the TV.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
Valley is the driest it's been for decades. So we yeah,
fifty years or so, and that what we're doing now,
we've got a bit of extravailer at We just put
the breeding cow through the right yards and taking out
the light end of them and they go back to
Tiana now and we'll bring them back with some balls
(02:57):
when it's the appropriate time. Who was fortunate that we've
had a great Automaiano and it's all going to work
for us.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Good news story of the weekend, Well, there's been a
few of them, but Tom Slay winning the FMG Young
Farmer of the Year the fourteenth from the Ittagan Southern
region and following on from the success of his father
Richard and his uncle Simon Hopcroft.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah, no, it's a good story. And then we had
a brother and sister as well and met the cat
Well and they went from Southam. But then we had
the Cato twins they won it as well. So a
few families seemed to be quite good at this but
I think this is the first father son that's come
through on the Young Farmer of the year.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Well, it just reflects on the young farmers down here
in the South as well. It just seems to be
going from strength to strength.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
Well yeah, and the organization is as well, which is
kind of cool because they got into a fairly part
of state there a few years ago and Federated Farmers
were sort of went to take them over, and then
they they've got their own identity back and they really
really grown. They're grown the whole organization again, and that's
(04:07):
pretty encouraging because what we need is'll be well and
we as young farmers who can stand up and articulate
the concerns of their industry and go in the roles
of leadership, and young farmers is one of the important
planks that actually does that. So I'm pretty encouraged by
all of that.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Okay, Eric, why don't we making these political polls at
the moment, because a lot of people who love politics
are talking election fatigue. You were still months out from
the general election.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Well that's true, and look, I the first thing is,
I'm not sure how eggnorant the polls are because about
half the people don't actually have the white pages of
the telephone directory now, so I don't know how they
actually gather up people, and so that's a bit of
(04:58):
a mystery. The other thing that as a considerable concern
to me is that a number of people, a disproportionate
number of people, are saying that Tibby is better at
managing the economy than what National is. And I'm not
sure how they can forgive and forget the billions of
dollars or are wasted under COVID. I mean, that is
(05:19):
a real mystery. But having given it since thought, I've
come to the conclusion that if you live in a
state house or rented accommodation, you have no appreciation or
understanding of what death is. And so if you don't
know what death is, and when the government hands out
money by either borrowing it or printing it, you don't
mind because you don't understand all of that, and your
(05:40):
pleasure is the cost of living. You know, Tibby's going
to give us some more money, and it doesn't matter
whether he can explain where he's getting it from. It
sounds great, and they just don't understand the consequences for them.
Their kids and their grandkids. That might have been a
bit preachy, but that's how I feel anyway in the
cold day of a cargo.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
From the cold from the cold weather essential to targo
to the beehive where it's been windy and arguably the greens.
You're talking a lot of win too with the text
policy and didn't make sense.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, yeah, this is the bit that really kind of
irritates me or ebit because most of my life is
I've looked at different parties organizing. The argument is about
who gets the biggest piece of the pie, and what
we need to do is grow the pie. And any
text policy that doesn't grow the pie is actually creating
problems down the list. And that's why it's quite encouraging
(06:34):
to see Todd McKay and Chris Luxon saying we need
better trading partners, we need to do better and this
is the way we can grow the pie. We're pretty
much at peak numbers for stop, so we can run
aheak of a lot more stop without an environmental consequence.
But what we can do is lift the performance and
(06:55):
lift the value by going to the better markets around
the world, or they're going to pay the best possible
price for the best produced product.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Now, national coming out with these promises regarding prioritizing seven
trade deals are free elected, are you believe should this
be on the table now?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Well? Yeah, but these things take time, and you know,
the Indian deal was just about a world record for
getting something over the line. So you've got to start
and you've got to work, and you've got to just
take away the fear of what this all means to
some people. And then there's internal politics. There's a whole
(07:36):
other thing's got to go on, and so these trade
deals have got to be beneficial for both sides, and
you've got to work through all of that. But look,
they've identified seven countries that have some potential and we've
got to say, look, this is encouraging. It's better than
saying we're going to text the wealthy and have a
land tax and do whatever else we're doing, which is shrinking.
(08:00):
This is actually growing the pies. We can all have
a bigger slice.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Everybody looks a bit of pie, aren't they now. The
Indian Prime Minister having a fleeting visit later on this week,
but it's not a public holiday, so I don't know
if there actually been too much achieved here, or is
this a case of a guy who's in charge of
an economy of at one point four billion people being
in New Zealand. We just can't underestimate it.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
No, Look, this is significantly important. Forty odd years since
we've had a primer of English David Longi would have
been the last one and he formed a bit of
a friendship with the then Prime Minister and we haven't
had anybody since. So I've got to say, I think
this is positive and it's good and the growing middle
class in India and the trade deal. We just got
(08:43):
to keep making network better and better for us and
get clearer understanding of the expectations of both countries and
retain our sovereignty. That's why when we do trade deals,
we don't give away our sovereignty and so you know,
but we need to be talking to each other and
understanding what that means.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
The way techie seat is turning out to be quite
a pivotal one for more ways than one. Michael Laws
throwing his hat into the ring for New Zealand first,
Damian O'Connor has put in his name in there. Everybody
knows and of course Miles Anderson, the incumbent for National
This is interesting by New Zealand first is once perhaps
looking at personality politics to a degree.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
I don't think there's any doubt about that, and I
think in a way there is an expectation still in
the country because we've had to send her return and
John Key and Chris Hipkins, who were pretty media savvy
and they were more personalities. And that's probably why Chris Luxon,
who's more of a manager and hasn't had that sort
(09:43):
of persona that has you know that the populace hasn't
warmed to in the same way because he's different. He's
more of a let's get this done kind of person
than telling you how I'm going to do it sort
of person and that to some people hasn't got down
quite as well. So I think Winston knows that Dick,
(10:04):
maybe Digg, Shane Jones and himself their personalities and so
he's gone for other personalities, where as well, like Stuo
Nash and Kane Randall and Michael Laws, he's lined up
some people to say, hey, we're the ones that know
what we're doing and we can tell you about it.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
How would you describe Michael Laws in the political scenes.
He's an interesting character going by his background from the
early nineties.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, I was a whipped when he was in Parliament
between ninety three and ninety six, and I'm not going
to comment on that.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
That might say enough, okay, Eric will leave it there.
He got plenty to do this afternoon on the hive
out there around Roxborough. Always appreciate your time on the muster.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Beg you good one.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
We're away down the wind in this afternoon on the muster.
Ben Dooley, sheep beef and YouTube farmer joins us, good afternoon, Dills.
It's a little bit wetter than what it was forty
eight hours ago.
Speaker 3 (11:05):
Yeah, good am, you sure is a bit thirty mils
two nights ago. I haven't checked the rain gage this morning,
but neither's beund to miother teen or twelve and I guess,
but that is that time of year, isn't it. We
was supposed to get a bit of rain now just
made it.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
A little bit sloppy on top on the brakes.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, just a way. But to be fair, yesterday morning
I came out and I thought everything was going to
be just you know, not as your disaster or on
four day breaks and had a couple of couple of
mobs that were just just one day in and you
sort of think it's going to be wasted. But there's
the point where the rain washed the mud off the swede,
so it was quite good. But yeah, just at the
same time we're scanning on Wednesday, so just getting one
mob off swedes now it's the last one to come off,
(11:43):
and yeah, they've got a day on grass and then
a day and the arts full scanning. So yeah, kind
of good timing. It can dry up and then fingers
crossed what be bit dry when they go back on.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
I suppose that's the issue when you're going for an
extend to break, say the four days, is that you
do get a weather event and you're just not going
to heavy uilzeization that you.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Wont Yeah, it's an interesting one. It's one I've had
a discussion with with a lot of people over the years.
Quite often guys on one day breaks in that situation,
we'll go back in the afternoon and give them another shift,
and so that that means you're wasting. You know, you're
running a fifty percent wastage on the four day break system.
At worst, we would be fifty percent. Quite often in
(12:21):
bad weather will be shifting the master of three days
instead of four, so you're losing one day out of four,
whereas with the one day break system we find in
much bad whether you're losing a day every day. So
we find actually on the four day breaks that you
do have less wastage. But there are the odd time
where you do lose three days in one go and
it is a little bit annoying. But in all fairness,
(12:43):
if it's if it's me, I've probably got run off
onto a grass paddock. Just for their heavy yields. We
we do struggle with just an animal welfare thing with
the sheep remaining on crop. You know, if you're going
to get fifty sixty eight one hundred mills in a
day sort of thing, we'll pull them off the day before,
or if you're going to get heavy snow, pull them
off just as it starts or something and just let
them have a grass paddock. And yeah, they use a
(13:05):
bit more feed that way, a bit more grass, but
as long as they're not fenced in a tight break somewhere,
it doesn't wreck the peddocks.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
So yeah, have you got a more of the plovers
in the background.
Speaker 3 (13:13):
Ah, there's plovers bloody everywhere here. I hate the bloody things.
It's good to see the oyster catchers are hanging around
all of a sudden.
Speaker 1 (13:19):
But wait, when did you see your first oyster catcher?
Speaker 2 (13:23):
Probably a week two days ago.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
It's an old wive style depending on what you want
to believe, but I saw black and blue. You'd always
see oyster catchers before the fifth of July.
Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah, I never pay any attention to when they turn
up in the grass paddocks. What I do pay attention
to quite heavily is when they turn up crop paddicks
and I'm trying to work them, I wind up with
big missuses everywhere. I won't I won't for the plovers,
but for the oyster catchers, I definitely leave, leave the
nests untouched and then just have to go back afterwards
and try and do something with that. So yeah, there
are cool words to have around. Iould wish they wouldn't
(13:53):
miss the crop petticks, but they are quite cool critters
to see.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Absolutely, they are wilding pines. It's been the tour lately.
A bit of government money has been allocated towards it.
Ben is this going to do much. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Hey, look it's a great start, and I've got to
be fear here. I wasn't aware, but I had been
told the previous government actually did throw a bit of
money out of too. It wasn't possibly quite as well directed,
but funding was there. So fingers crossed. Was a bit
of cross party consensus here that it needs to carry on.
But yes, it's a great start. It's an awesome start,
but it is a start. So hopefully most of that
(14:25):
money makes it to activities on the ground and getting
rid of them. Yeah, no, great thing to see happening.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
One of the great analogies in life is talking about
an elephant you don't need in one go. It's a
bite by bite proposition. Wilding Pine certainly comes into the equation.
That's the elephant quite literally in the room.
Speaker 3 (14:43):
Yeah, one hundred percent. If we don't get on top
of these things now, you know, thirty forty years ago
was the best time to start, but that's been and
gone now, so we'll forget about that. As it says,
right now, we've just got to get stuck in. Otherwise,
a lot of air, backcountry, high country, hinder land, whatever
you want to call it, is going to turn into
a wild pine plantation and it's not something that we want.
(15:04):
It's a bit of a shame to hear some of
the not feedback, the response or gives to the governments.
You know that they're trying to open up the high
country to let some grazing happen again, and the process
that have gone through to do that has met some
pretty fierce scrutiny from some people that I don't know
whether they've got an ulterior motive don't want the sheep
back on the high country or whatever, but they've certainly
(15:24):
gone a long way to misconstruing what was supposed to happen. Yeah,
it's just disappointing to see.
Speaker 1 (15:32):
It makes a lot of sense, so to get the
grazing down a lot of these properties. I mean, you
look at the bigger picture as well as carbon farming
comes into the equation, a lot of these higher up
blocks they're just going to be fire risks. I mean
that's just one thing off the bat, but there's a
pleasora of things regarding high country that came that you've
got to think about.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Yeah, one hundred percent, hang on, I'm just going to
seem to dog out. I've just got a morbis sheep
have done something they shouldn't have done.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Still right, it was still wrong, and keep going. You
know what's the go right?
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Just gone over a fence. Thankfully they've gone over it
and not throw it, but just surreal trying to get
them around the end of it to go out of
gate and they don't want to go through the bloody gateway.
But it looks like they're just about to work it out.
Speaker 1 (16:11):
So it's all right, are you normally this composed and
the ship go over the fence?
Speaker 3 (16:15):
I'd say no, no, no, no, definitely not. Can't respond
like that on either, can I?
Speaker 1 (16:19):
Well, you can is just going to be frowned upon.
Speaker 3 (16:23):
It's not a major this time, so I thy'll be
right as you were. The high country situation like that,
There's no doubt the grazing does not destroy the worlden pines.
We're not saying it is the absolute answer and it
will get rid of them, but it certainly goes a
long way to knock on them back, especially the weathers.
You know, they love going out there and just having
enrivel or something green, and they will just strip them
(16:45):
back and definitely slow the progress to process down, and
that just goes a long way to making that government
money go further, doesn't it. But it's just the argument
with a lot of these little parcels of land that
are around. We're not talking about the you know, the
the land that was potentially going to be sold. It's
not the forty fifty thousand heat deer blocks. It's the
thirty forty to fifty heat deer blocks that the farmers
leased for decades and has to renew that every five years,
(17:08):
three years, ten years, whatever, And it's just not practical
to carry on going the way we have been. You know,
those farmers don't have any security in that land to
be able to actually do anything worth to improve it.
They've just got to run it and hope like hell
that they get the lease back next time. So, like
I say, a lot of those groups, it was quite
disappointing to see their reaction to that policing and fingers
(17:32):
crossed it hasn't actually yeah, damaged it to the point
where they can't get it across the line.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
I say, you put a video out on social media.
We actually stopped in your holiday to put out wild
to pull out wi holding binds.
Speaker 3 (17:44):
Yeah, we got stuck and they closed the road from
Tekboy all the way to a Marima on black because
of black ice, and hey got on for doing it,
Like you know, if the road's too dangerous to drive,
is dangerous to drive. We didn't really want to go
the other way. I've sort of felt at the Bricks
Pass road probably wasn't gonna be much safer, so we
just end up waiting for it to open. And yeah,
there's just a bank on the side of the road.
(18:04):
Wouldn't have been might have been five minutes square meters,
I suppose. And I pulled out fifty seedlings just on there,
all Walden pine seedlings. So that goes to show just
how big the problem is. It's amazing when jeff A
drive up through there at the moment, just hell, because
I haven't spent a lot of time there in the
last five years, just how big the problem's gotten. There's
(18:26):
just little great seedlings everywhere. So yeah, three or four
years from now, if we don't do something big now,
it's going to be a massive problem that I don't
think we'll.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Be able to be How is the rural social influencing
going from your perspective, I've.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
Been pretty slow on it recently, just here really house
going on between feeds and everything else, sort of trying
to work out what I caount. I can't say these days,
but not that, not that anyone's telling me I can't
say anything. It's just that when you're representing other bodies,
you sort of want to be careful. But you know,
just the last sort of a couple of months, I
suppose it seems to have been a little bit more
of an upticker. I suppose, I know, the last sort
(19:02):
of three years it's been quite slow and you know,
just across the board quite hard. But yeah, just all
of a sudden, it feels that there might be a
mood change. Whether there's some sense of normality coming back
or something, I don't know, but yeah, it's it's a
happening thing.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
When you say there seems to be a change in
normality or a sense and a change of the mood,
what do you mean.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Well, if I put a post up on something today,
you know, I get people commenting, I get people asking questions,
I get feedback. You know, people are sharing it and whatever.
And it's just nice to see that again because for
a long time here you felt that you're doing a
whole lot of work for very little game or for
very little. You know, there was nothing coming out the
other end of it. People weren't interacting with those posts.
(19:43):
And it wasn't just me noticing that either. There was
a lot of people. If you look at what was
happening with their pages, things just weren't happening. But now,
like I say, it seems whether it's just the time
of year or what, I don't know, but it certainly
seems to be on the improved. So things crossed.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Get on your deals. You can go and do some
inappropriate words now that you're normally you go and fix
that vena.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Chieve any have found the right gate old hopefully just
got to straighten it up in the fence. Will be right.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
We love me yet.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
We're away down to Stuart Island this afternoon on the musk,
catching up with our correspondent down those ways, Bruce Ford,
former South Industrict councilor these days resides on the at
the island at the bottom of New Zealand. Bruce, Good, afternoon.
Do you get frustrated when people called the need in
the Deep South?
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Sometimes we do, you, but of course we usually try
and refute that it's we get off better than lots
of other places. You know, you've got floods and all
swat things at the moments, and you know they have
our sympathy for all us. We don't get flood so much.
It's about six degrees at the moment. We're we're a
wee bit climate control here.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Yeah, talking about the climate. How's it been over winter?
Has it been cooler than usual or a bit more mild?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Wow, it's only just this last few days that it's
the col's hit us a lieveit, And it's been very mild.
The lots of the stuff in the garden, the roses
and currents that all got buds on them, and you
know it's a we've been out to cool them. But
I suppose that's climate change. Will be ready for economic
fountains anytime.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
Everything's just a little bit out of whack at the moment.
You reckon.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Well, I think everywhere everybody's having a different season.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
Bus out of it, Yeah, for sure. Now the big
issue down there has been regarding the price of electricity.
This sol of farmer is on the horizon. What's happening
around this?
Speaker 4 (21:49):
I know the the ben a grant from our government
to established the solar farm, and that's being on the
competed on the road to the Estrap former gun sight
or rather former gun club site where a lot of
people around South and Wi'll be familiar with. And it's
(22:12):
all cleared off now the contractors been pleared or a
bush off it and supposedly it'll be operating by January.
So there's quite a lot of work to do yet,
but certainly the site's all nicely cleared and we'll be
very pleased about that. Because the electricity currently has been
changed out at ninety three cents per unit, which is
(22:34):
at least three four times more than what you people
might be paying.
Speaker 1 (22:38):
So it's fair to say this will be a game
changer for electricity on the island.
Speaker 4 (22:44):
Well, it's certainly going to help, and of course we
skimp all the electricity we use. It's only lights and fringes,
so it's not as if you have water heating and
electric stoves and things. So we still have you know,
we've got the LPG and cold rangers and likes. But
certainly it'll be a big help. But I'm suspecting that
(23:04):
people will just use a bit very electricity. It may
not change the total bills, but will be a bit
easy to get on with.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Now. We spoke to you last time the task ceiling
was going on around the island. This is all be completed,
I understand.
Speaker 4 (23:18):
Yep. It's taking them for six weeks or so to complete.
And the contractor has done all that. It's all looking
pretty tidy in. We get that about every fifteen years
or so, and they because our loadings are not as
great as they are on the other side, with heavy
trucks and things, we make it last a bit longer.
So let's all tidy up now. It's been remarked, and
(23:41):
I'm very conscious now that the parking tickets and any
road rules we breached the copper on his toes and
it could well be some tickets around.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Do you get parking tickets down there?
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (23:54):
Yes we do. And there's no point having complacency if
you're driving around here, because the first thing that has
happened with you go to the other side and you
get caught for doing something you shouldn't have and of
course it could be worse than that, you could have
an accident.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Now, as far as senior cottages, this is something that's
been on the horizon for a while for the elderly
members of your community and fundraising to get new digs.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Yes, there's been on the agenda for many many, well
quite a long time now, and it's been a pet
of mine, and of course it's been such that we
have a trustet up and we've bought some land and
we have all the fans are drawn up. We've been
fundraising for that. We've got about one point three million
lined up. We need a couple of million overall. So
(24:41):
each time I ride off to various politicians in Wellington
and beyond, they all come back. So what a great idea,
But we can't help you today, but this election might
be a bit more useful. But we don't hold your
bread yet.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Now. The pub down there at the South Seas Hotel
turned one hundred years old.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
Yeah, so that's been a bit of a celebration weekend
because we like celebrations and it's another reason to get
the community moving and doing things. And they've been insisting
with part of the anniversary arrangements. There's lots and lots
of photographs come out and they've had a scavenger hunt
just to get people motivated and that look pretty successful.
(25:22):
Lot of fun and of course that all culminated on
the Sunday night for Quiz Night, so they had prizes
for all those things. But a great fun day or
fun weekend. And I expect the photographs are still there
for a few days yets. So a lot of memories
to be to come forward, just to remind people of
(25:43):
those that have been here before. And we did get
a lot of verses out of it, so that's been
part of the encouraging bonus.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
You do hear a lot about this quiz nice it's
almost gone down as infamous.
Speaker 4 (25:55):
Well it is, yes, and we've had lots of occasions
and different quiz masters, and of course the bigger one
was when Prince Harry was here and all his security team,
so that that was a massive night. So that's been
a major part of the publicity. And would you believe
it there were fifty security people on scene by that night. Yeah.
(26:17):
I didn't think it was that bad, but somebody else did.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
I think he's pretty it's pretty sedate down of Steward Island.
Fifty fifty starts a bit of overkill, wouldn't you suggest.
Speaker 4 (26:27):
Well, there was a few all sorts of cops talking
into the sleeve and they probably had a nice weekend
out of it on that occasion, but of course it
carries on. That's quite a wee while ago now and
we have lots of people from far and wide that
have heard about quiz and they just keep turning up
on Someday night. They're all getting into the pub early,
so you get the table and it's a great nightea.
Speaker 1 (26:51):
Now the South Island South Island Stuart Island Players Group
Repertory Society is such I suppose, sounds like there's something
occurring there.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
Yeah, we've got an amateur playing group that put on
a show over now and then, and that's progressed over
time for about the last soon thirty forty years, I suppose,
and we keep replacing the young new people and they
are going to show coming up and often can't tell
you what the show has pring me, but they've been
(27:21):
in practice in the meantime. And I won't be part
of it. I'll have to be a spectator, which would
certainly just find But it's great fun, keeps everybody out
there and increases the confidence and their public speaking and
the performance on stage. That's a great event for the
community as well.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
And just finally, Bruce, because time is the year since
the doctor service or the health service to Stuart Island.
What's happening there.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
In recent times we've been short of a GP service
and the Luft Medical Center of recently introduced once service
to bring a doctor over to go around the customers here.
And of course we say there are ailments up for
a month and a time and the local nurses clinic
(28:10):
here will cater for that. We do have nurses here
all the time that are very very good and handle
most of our ailments. But that's a new service and
we're very pleased about that because it does save a
lot of money for a lot of people that not
having to buy a ticket to town and the consequent
costs that go with that. So the doctor has one
(28:30):
cost and we just pay them at the door here.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Good to hear, Bruce Hay. Always good to catch up
on the mustard to see what's happening at the Deep
South of New Zealand.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Charlie good, thank you any too.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
Blaffing in the peat Guardine Farms and Napdale and joins
us this afternoon on the muster on a rather damp
afternoon here in the Deep South. Pete good afternoon ground
conditions out. Your ways are pretty sticky, oh brand conditions.
Speaker 5 (28:58):
It's sticky on top, but it's got underneath. And I'm
actually in my happy place right now. The cattle and
sea for all shifted this morning and we're now going
to eat digger in and load it, and we're cleaning
out the sheepyards and we're about to rip in and
build new sheepyards. So I'm pretty excited about that.
Speaker 1 (29:16):
It's probably one of the first times I've heard of
somebody talking about building a new wallsheet of sheepyards for
a very very long time.
Speaker 5 (29:24):
Well, this will be the third set of sheepyards I've
built from scratch, and I've also built a seed of
cattle yards. And if you rip the internals out of
old ones and redo them. We extended the roof and
maybe the yards they go oh three or four years ago,
but we're now getting onto redoing the internals, which we
did half last winter and we're doing the other half
this winter.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
A lot of the timber from the bones of those
old buildings as well, the designed to last until now
it comes again.
Speaker 5 (29:50):
The design to last. This shed here was that sort
of called of Stuart's. I don't know if it was
seventies or eighty style where they decided to run the
race straight into the the tin wall and then wonder
what a sheep wouldn't run. And it's been a.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Secondary sheet for us for a while.
Speaker 5 (30:05):
But yeah, we're getting in and we're putting a curved
race and we'll get it running nicely. And I can
tell you the timber and all that, Like, it costs
a e bit of money, but what you save in
labor and animal stress and all that going forward is
just huge. And I'm a massive fan of good yards.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
Well, if that's not a tick towards the future of
the sheep industry, I don't know what is pete.
Speaker 5 (30:27):
Oh yeah, no, the sheep industry is just amazing and
it's cranking.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
Look at the prices yesterday they got four hundred dollars
a longful. Everything's pretty buoyant. So yeah, I mean it
wasn't something you heard about. I mean I've heard of
people who actually got rid of their wool sheds a
week the self sheating sheep.
Speaker 5 (30:45):
Yeah, no, it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
Now.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
One I don't think the sheating sheep's gonna I hope
that wooly sheet come back, But I actually think the
shedding sheep's probably gonna keep going. And why that is
is unless the wall thing really fundamentally shows us some
long term stuff, you know, in the positive direction. The
shedding seat thing, I think in my block is more
(31:07):
about lower cost of production and lower labor units press
stock unit rather than being anti wool.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
So you're thinking for wall to eggs to have people
thinking differently, it's got to go up twice as much,
three times as much as its value at the moment.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
Yeah, So we just sent some will into town. So
I don't have the results on that yet, but I
have done my anual accounts roughly from last season, and
we've made a small profit on our wall account, which
is obviously cool, but when you compare it to the
scale of their business, it doesn't warrant any excitement yet. Yeah. No,
(31:45):
And I think the shedding sheet thing, I think that
we even careful because we're having a wee small play
on this front. At the moment. The genetics are not
as good as the normal sheep that are been bred
in New Zealand for one hundred and fifty years. But
I think in five years time to ten years time,
it'll be really interesting to see what's out there. I
(32:05):
love wall but I also like cool cars, and I
don't farm cool cars.
Speaker 1 (32:10):
I don't think many people.
Speaker 5 (32:11):
Do, though, well we all wish we did. But yeah,
I think that well thing's an interesting space and I
don't think it's a done deal either way.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
How's everything on the rage anyway? Just pretty much July
being July.
Speaker 5 (32:26):
Yeah, July has been July. Feel a wee bit riffed
off when you go to bed at night and there's
a frost on the deck and then you wake up
and it's raining in the morning. I like a frosty
morning and less mud that. The window crops have all
done pretty well. The stock team's got the stock looking awesome.
That scanned really well, which is cool. There's probably another
thing to talk about that's interesting with the stud long
(32:49):
story short, we wanted to make the Hobits with the
US to keep linkages between age groups and time frames
at Lemming time, which I won't bore you on the details.
For so a couple of year years ago, we mated
Hoggits on their own, US on their own, and Hogits
and News mixed together, and we had no conception differences
between those mating groups. So this year on the we
(33:11):
block up at Pyramid there. We actually made it their
two doofs with their mixtage us, which is usually considered
to be a big no no. But we had under
one percent drise in that line. So yeah, I think
that sort of old old man's tail or, old farmer's taylor,
what do you want to call it. I think that's
actually not as correct as it may have been in
the past.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
Interesting as well, the Green Party's policy would touch on
this pete wanting to get rid of synthetic fertilizers. Yet
the comparison has been made to Sri Lanka in twenty
twenty one and April twenty one, they're then president abruptly
banned all agrichemical imports to shift to exclusive organic agriculture
and reduce pressure on dwindling foreign exchange reserves. But what
(33:54):
happened was their corp failure went down by twenty percent
in the first six months. They had to actually import
four hundred and fifty million dollars worth of rice, which
is a staple food. And it got to the point
that with all the protests and everything else, economic decline
now Vember twenty twenty one are declined and went back
to the way it was. Sorry.
Speaker 5 (34:15):
Well, what I'd say is, I'd say that ninety nine
point nine percent of your listeners are very intelligent and
none of that would surprise them. But unfortunately there is
a small percentage of our population and a high percentage
of them are in the Green Party that have no
idea about the realities of life. And I'm not you know,
we're definitely not organic here, and I don't want to
(34:37):
be organic. I respect organic people, but it's as one
organic farmer who I know well told me, he said,
it's like farming is one hand tied behind your back.
It's an intensification and it's a harder way of doing farming.
And on scale Nisgreen used sensibly is just an amazing
(34:57):
tool that I tell you I don't want to lose.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Is it on this property?
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Hey? Just finally as well, Tom Slae winning the FMG
Young Farmer of the Year a few days back. Now,
fantastic effort. Now you went to the big dance of
this and you reckon you're responsible for getting taken off
the telly well a.
Speaker 5 (35:17):
Couple of It's awesome that Tom one. He's a good
guy and he's from a great family personally, it's a
wee bit scary because I realized that I competed closer
to when his uncle and his father did than when
Tom had, So that makes me feel like a middle
aged farmer. But yeah, I was at the Grand Final
in Gore. And not many people probably know this, but
(35:39):
Gore was the biggest Grand Final they've ever had by
quite a margin, and it was the last time it
was televised on TV. So maybe I had a face
for radio and I scared them all off. Yeah, but no,
that Gore Grand Final, I mean, obviously a big fan
of Gore, living ten minutes out of the town, was
well regarded as the guess and probably one of the
(36:01):
best because a small town like Gore really got behind it,
and it was quite an event for the town.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
You're saying twelve hundred people there that night, There's.
Speaker 5 (36:12):
Thirteen hundred people at the night show and it was
televised live on TV one and I was just a
young twenty two year old, And I tell you that
was probably one of the scariest nights of the life.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Andy Oh, he survived.
Speaker 5 (36:24):
I survived, And I can tell you that the three
months with the Gortos Masters leading up to that made
a heck of a lot easier than it would have
been beforehand. But it was quite a difference to the
single man's quarter that I was living on on farm
being in front of that many people, So that's probably
one thing to know. That's I heard Simon Hotcroft on
(36:47):
an interview I think it might have been on Jamie's show,
where he said that it was great to be there,
but he is glad that he didn't have to do
it again. And every Grand finalist will tell you that
it is such a massive undertaking and it's such a
it's such a lot of work those guys put into it,
and there's a lot of pressure, and it's it's something
(37:08):
that's hard to describe unless you've done it.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Did you find it terrifying that it takes you a
couple of days to actually realize that why the reasons
for you entering the event.
Speaker 5 (37:20):
I don't think it's terrifying. It's just it's just studying
for a school exam or a university exam, or your
driver's license or something like that. You know what's going
to be in the test. You know they can only
test you on things that are in the road code
or things that are in your year, that you've learned
at school. When at the Young Farmers Competition, you're rocking
(37:41):
up to something where you have absolutely zero an idea
what they're going to talk about. It could be asking
you about eavy fruit or dairy farming, or aquaculture or
sheep or you know. Yeah, for example, one of the
ones I entered and now I'm a sheep farmer and
I can do most sheep karma things really well. But
(38:02):
I walked into a sheep scanning module for pregnancy scanning,
and that's one thing that I cannot comprehend. It just
looks like a bunch of bubbles on the screen. And
you know, you walk into a module like that is
a sheep hockey, and you know there's no way up
to do any good at it.
Speaker 1 (38:18):
Hey, good on repeat. We better leave it there, enjoy
the afternoon. We'll catch up again.
Speaker 5 (38:23):
Sounds good. Have a good.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
One back a welcome back to the muster. We're away
over the ditches afternoon to Western Australia. Dave Bussy bus
He is a stock agent over there. I formerly of
the many are Tato Bussy. Good afternoon. It's good morning
(38:47):
where you are, and it sounds as though you've got
southern temperatures today.
Speaker 6 (38:52):
Yes, good morning, Andy, It's sure is a bit nippy.
Speaker 7 (38:54):
It's three degrees here and I think we're going to
hit nineteen as o high the sun comes out and
the fog rolls back, the better. I think, at least
it's not as cold as there any Attata. With all
that snow and wet weather they've.
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Had, it sounds like there's a bit of a complaint
happening over there, and rightly so. Mice plagues are a
real thing.
Speaker 6 (39:13):
Yes, it is real.
Speaker 7 (39:15):
Roughly about four hundred and fifty k's north of Perth,
in that Tower area. They've had a really bad run,
and I think they're starting to get on top of
it now, but they've had a bad run in the
respect that those the mice plague has just taken over.
Speaker 6 (39:29):
And I was.
Speaker 7 (39:30):
Reading some facts and figures the other day, and you know,
there's eight thousand mice per hectare, So you know they're
not just eating the tops. They're they're burrowing into sown
paddocks and eating the roots, attacking crops.
Speaker 6 (39:44):
Anything that's edible is edible.
Speaker 7 (39:46):
And then there's the health issues with families and kids
you know, bloody all sorts of illnesses that kids and
that pick up.
Speaker 6 (39:52):
So it's a pretty horrible, horrible thing to be happening.
Speaker 7 (39:56):
And then you've got all those woke UNPC people that
don't contribute to our community much and they're rallying the
big retailers not to sell poisons and baits. So it's
very hard to get on top of it. So once again,
once again it's those people sort of rattling the chain
and pushing the rest of us around, which is a
real concern going forward.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
So what's happening with your stock prices at the moment?
Busy over here in New Zealand, it's fear to say,
we're seeing record prices for lamb and sheep at the moment.
What's the situation there?
Speaker 7 (40:27):
Well, I was listening to your show the other day,
and I was listening to your local PGG rights an agent,
and I think on Sheep across the board, we're pretty
much on par you know, I'd say we're a bang
on the money.
Speaker 6 (40:40):
But our numbers and the saliards are back considerably.
Speaker 7 (40:43):
So you know, two months ago when you and I
were talking, we were doing fifteen to twenty thousand sheep
every week. Now we're down to four to five thousand
this week, so the numbers are dwindling.
Speaker 6 (40:55):
You know, the u flock is low, so farmers are keep.
Speaker 7 (41:00):
Bring new lambs upping their female so numbers are hard
to get.
Speaker 6 (41:04):
So prices for sheep are up right across the broad
cattle prices are strong.
Speaker 7 (41:10):
I sold some stairs this week at five ninety six
cents a kilo on shoot on Monday, and that's pushing
the cow price up too for that export all that
ground beef. So you know where we were at two
dollars seventy two dollars ninety two dollars ninety five, We're
now at three dollars eighty eight for the tops of
fat cows this week, so that's good money there. So yeah,
(41:32):
it's really pumping along nicely. But I just hope it
doesn't fall too quick. We just need it to sort
of mallow out and just just smell the flowers for
a while, you know.
Speaker 1 (41:40):
So why are sheep numbers dwindling?
Speaker 7 (41:43):
One You've got a live export business that's changing, so
a lot of farmers have changed their changed their sheep management.
Speaker 6 (41:50):
Two, we haven't got enough females.
Speaker 7 (41:53):
Three we shipped a lot of sheep the last two
and three years to the Eastern States. You know, some
weeks we'd sit we send when I say we, the
state might send fifty road trains thirty forty to fifty
road trains a week. So it's a hell of a
lot of sheep have gone out of the state. And
if you look at processes meat companies, a couple of
(42:16):
the guys have done the yearly maintenance on their chains.
And one guy, one process, he runs two factories, two
meat works.
Speaker 6 (42:22):
He's just locked the door on one.
Speaker 7 (42:23):
He's done his maintenance, it's ready to go, but the
numbers aren't there, so he's only running one side.
Speaker 6 (42:27):
So it's a real issue.
Speaker 7 (42:29):
It's just driving the money up, and then you get
those Eastern States buyers coming.
Speaker 6 (42:32):
And that just pushes it up again. So it's pretty
it's a bit of a balancing act at the moment.
I think we just need to be a bit careful.
Speaker 7 (42:38):
But you know, hopefully there'll be new season's lambs come
on shortly, so we'll.
Speaker 6 (42:43):
Just see how that goes. Talking money on for Sorry.
Speaker 1 (42:48):
No, that's all good, But I was about to say,
is this probably universal across the other states?
Speaker 7 (42:53):
I think so yeah, yeah, I think so, and a
lot of those states are restocking as well, so with
floods and droughts and different things that happen there.
Speaker 6 (43:00):
So it's just a chain effect. It just rolls on.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
As far as fuel levels, last time we spoke, it
was a key buzz word for a lot of people,
fuel retainment as such. What's happening now we've seen an
easing of the price here in New Zealand. We're not
hearing as much about it in the media. What's your situation, Yeah,
we're on par with you.
Speaker 7 (43:20):
So we've we've gone for a stressful time where you know,
diesel was well up around that.
Speaker 6 (43:25):
Three dollars fifty three dollars seventy, then it came back
to two fifty. Well, yes, that was a dollar seventy two.
Speaker 7 (43:31):
So it's come right back and it's now we're back
to normal now, I think you know, if you're down
at dollars seventy for a letter, it's not an issue anymore.
Speaker 6 (43:39):
We've come we've ridden that storm.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
So it was just a bit of hysteria at the time,
but everything seems to have gone back to normality.
Speaker 6 (43:46):
Then, yeah, it is.
Speaker 7 (43:48):
It's a bit like when COVID came. We all we
ran out of toilet paper, so now there's plenty.
Speaker 6 (43:53):
On the shelf. So I think we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (43:55):
You know, I'll flow this year as well. Vissie regarding
five FO the industry over there in Wa, just state
how big it is for the economy.
Speaker 6 (44:05):
Oh wow, it's just out of control.
Speaker 7 (44:07):
It's a jugger or I think I said to you
one other time twenty years ago there was six sixty
seventy thousand people a week in and out of the
Perth airport, and I think it's one hundred and seventy
thousand out of the Perth airport and they could come
from Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin or Sydney or Fiji or wherever.
Speaker 6 (44:27):
That that business is just heaving, you know, and it
just drives the whole state.
Speaker 7 (44:34):
Like I've been here twenty five years and I've never
seen a depression or a downtime.
Speaker 6 (44:39):
It just doesn't happen.
Speaker 7 (44:39):
The rest of Australia can be in direstrates and Western
Australia doesn't miss a beat.
Speaker 6 (44:43):
That just keeps going. You know. You can roll in
here into Western.
Speaker 7 (44:47):
Australia and want to get a job on the mines,
and it's a tricky one, but if you know someone,
you can have a job in a week. It's easy
and that money's pretty healthy. It's pretty tidy. Even a
dump truck driver.
Speaker 3 (44:58):
The first job.
Speaker 7 (44:59):
You get on a mind, you know, three fifty four
hundred dollars a day and that's the base level that
they all start. So yeah, you can save a lot
of money and it doesn't take long. If you've got
half a brain and you've got some good skills behind you,
you can go up the food chain pretty quick.
Speaker 6 (45:13):
So the money goes up pretty quick, so it's healthy.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Does rugby union, like the Wallabies have much of a
posh through over there? Given that AFLs the buzzword freemantles
on top of the table. West Coast Eagles they're down
the bottom but very popular. Where does union stand during
the Test season?
Speaker 7 (45:29):
Well, when the Wallabies come out to play, Australia certainly
gets their canary gold jackets on and all their funny
and they turn the telly up.
Speaker 6 (45:37):
Yeah, it's pretty strong.
Speaker 7 (45:38):
The game has grown here in the state massively over
the last twenty years and the standard's gone up.
Speaker 6 (45:43):
And if you look at that Western Forest side.
Speaker 7 (45:45):
Now, obviously they're not homebred players, but you've got quite
a few Wallabies and good Eastern States players and that
in that side. So it's pretty strong at times, you know,
when they're when they're under pressure and they're not playing
that well.
Speaker 6 (45:57):
They struggle with the stadium with how many people getting
in the grounds. But yeah, it's pretty popular. It's pretty
popular club.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
Rugby in Perith. Would you say it's in a boom
moment for the time being or as a generally pretty stable.
Speaker 7 (46:10):
It's generally pretty stable, I would. I would say this
year it's a bit flat of anything. I don't know
why that is, but the standard of rugby is perfectly
fine appared to what it was twenty years ago.
Speaker 6 (46:21):
It's certainly improved.
Speaker 7 (46:23):
You know that top tier two or three teams would
be able to foot the bill and christ Church or Dunedin.
I'm not saying they'd wudn't, but they'd hold their own
and they'd play a reasonable game. The younger crowd coming through,
the kids grades are massive. My middle boy when he
was five, I think our club side had nine teams
and now we have twenty three.
Speaker 6 (46:43):
And that's a general consensus. So rugby's really growing.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
Daviasically wrapping up the best of the muster. Well, that's
us Ober and done with for the morning, remembering you
can catch any interview on iHeartRadio regarding the Muster on
hockey knowing my name's Andy Mueller. See you Monday. Have
the bars.
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