September 11, 2026 • 47 mins
Andy Muir talks to Blair Drysdale, Mark Dillon, Laurie Margrain, Tim Baker and Murray Heath.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
A very good morning and welcome into the Best of
the Mustard, a collaboration of interviews that took our attention
during a busy week here at Hokanui HQ. My name's
Andy Muir. Thanks for your company. We're starting off by
catching up with Blair Drysdale. Farming at Balfour, a mixed
operation there, and having... Well, interesting season to say the
least due to the way the weather conditions have been.
(00:24):
But Blair talks about the synergies on his operation and
how they work. Well, he's gone back into sheep after notoriously, well,
he had an old wool shed. We'll put that out there,
but he got sick of it, so he just buried it.
And he runs a few ewes on his property to
go along with his arable side of things and winter
grazing as well. So we catch up with Blocker to
see how things have been during this season.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Mark Dillon.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Once again, we catch up with Bob after the World
Ploughing Champs. They happened last weekend at Croatia. We caught
up with him earlier on in the week and tells
us how he got on and did pretty darn well
in the circumstances as well. Laurie Margrain is chairman of
Open Country, and we catch up with the team on
a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Always good to catch up with Laurie.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Tim Baker of Clinton Young Farmers talks about the season
they're having on the farm. He's pretty pragmatic, actually, Tim,
saying that, yes, we've been there before, but it is
what it is. The big thing with Tim is that
Clinton Young Farmers, he's a member there, they recorded wicked numbers,
massive numbers at their meeting.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
This week, which was unprecedented, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And finally, Murray Heath, ahead of the 1970 Southland Rugby Reunion,
which got underway last night at Ascot Park, goes through
this weekend, finishing up tomorrow at the Bay of Plenty game,
which is actually celebrating, between the two unions, 50 years,
when I say that, because Bay of Plenty won the MPC,
(01:47):
inaugural MPC, back in 1976. So Murray talks about what's
going to be happening and certainly you've got to celebrate
these milestones. So without further ado, we'll start the hour
next with Blair Drysdale. This is The Best of the Muster.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I know right now you can't tell, but stay a
while and.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Maybe then you'll see.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We're away to Balfour this afternoon on the muster to
catch up with Blair Drysdale. Mixed farming operation up that way.
And the Sergeant Dan Farming Roundup brought to you by
Sergeant Dan Stock Foods here in Goreblocker. Good afternoon. How
are you coping up there at Balfour with the spring
to date?
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Good afternoon, Andy. Spring is just frustration for a third
year in a row. Simple as that.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
You know, I know.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
After that first bad spring, it's like, oh, you won't
get two of these in a row, and then there
was a hold my beer moment with Mother Nature, and,
you know, well, shit, you won't get three, will you?
Let's hope not, but the early spring has been very
similar to the last two, so let's see what happens,
but yeah, I think everyone's pretty wet now, lack of sunshine,
grass has stopped here, we haven't had any growth for
(03:00):
a good, you know, week, ten days more now, it
was starting to take away, but it's just stopped dead, so, yeah,
a little bit frustrating, getting sick of I'm just tidying
up with the tractor at the moment, doing odd jobs
because you can't really spray. It's been too wet and
cold to do, and windy to do, for a horse spraying,
so ground's too wet largely to work. I've done a
little bit, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You've got the lambing going on at the moment from
the man who coined the phrase, the woolly aphids.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How are they going?
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Apart from being really unsettled, well, they've settled down a
bit the last few days since the winds dropped, but yeah,
they've been a little bit flighty, so at least it's
best with the shooting ones. So I go around them
once a day largely to make sure there's nothing cast
and to pick up dead ewes and lambs. Really, I
don't do a lot and I don't have to do
a hell of a lot with them. Had to lamb
(03:47):
the old ones and the really early ones that have
finished lambing. They've been finished for 10 days more now.
But no, all in all, good numbers hitting the ground.
Took a bit of a pasting on, what was it,
Monday night, that real cold night. We lost a lot
of newborn lambs that night, but um he can't do
much at night about that so happens every now and
then but yeah all in all they're taking on pretty
nicely and we'll be looking at the main ewes we'll
(04:10):
be well through them by the end of this week
that's for sure and then just um wait on hogwarts
they'll start on the 1st of october so yeah considering
i started on the i think it was the 20th
of august that will be a long spread out lambing
but uh mitigates a bit of risk and work spreads
workload too so all in all they're going well but
yeah lambs the The early ones, the black-faced ones, they're
(04:32):
looking for a little bit of sun. They're starting to
eat grass too, so a bit of sun will be handy.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
How many ewes are you lambing?
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Mixed-age ewes, there's 300 and there's 300 hoggets, but I
actually can't fit all those numbers in next year, the
way it's looking, so I'm probably going to cut the
heads off some hoggets either late next week or early
next week. So we'll do that. Ideally, I'd like to
round that 500, 450, 500 next year. we'll sort of
(05:00):
be where it's at we won't lamb hoggets again next
year we've just sort of done that to get numbers
up in a hurry really so we'll quit that next
year it does have you know a lot of hoggets
last year had twins and boy shit it's hard on
them so I can still see those ones now as
a two tooth so yeah we'll quit that game and
just lamb the ewes only but we'll still do lamb
the old girls early to a terminal and do the
(05:22):
rest as per.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Normal Remembering that you went away from use proper, I mean,
you're the guy who infamously just buried his wool shed.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So what are you thinking there?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
The market's looking pretty good and you're just keeping your
hand in a few different pies as such?
Speaker 5 (05:37):
We've always run a diverse operation. We've always had, yes,
we dropped sheep numbers back to nothing for a while
down to 30 or 40 ewes, but we've always had
sheep and beef. We're just changing the mix a wee
bit at the moment, doing a lot more beef. We've
just We bought a block next door a year ago,
so it's all re-fenced now, and the cattle yards, they
should be finished by the end of the day, and
(05:58):
then water seemed to go in. So just changing up
a bit. There's more margin in beef than there is
in wheat at the moment, which is still the main
arable crop really in Southland. So yeah, just go with
the margin rather than, you know, we're not chasing markets
as such. Like I say, we've always had beef, but
we're just increasing it there a bit. So yeah, spreads
(06:19):
of workloads, spreads of roofs, and makes it a little
bit more interesting too, doing some new things as well, Andy.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
With the way the arable sector is at the moment,
are you thinking of perhaps getting more sheep into the equation?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Or beef for that matter?
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Sheep sort of have to fit into the system around
everything else. So the arable and beef sort of take priority,
and the sheep, you know, they fit around it. We
can change those numbers pretty quickly, so they fit around
everything else. So they're largely there. Yeah. You know, to
tidy up behind the combine and do that sort of thing,
keep fence lines tidy, lanes tidy. We do have a
(06:53):
lot of smaller paddocks around the house that aren't really
much good for anything else but our sheep. So they
largely have a job to do and just have to
fit in. That's where they sit.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You want to talk about tax today, Blair. Now, you
had a wee rant off air before we came on
for a chat. Possibly, I haven't had an F-bomb on
the show since Bruce Eaton at Waimumi. That may change today.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Where are we at?
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Well, we definitely, you wouldn't want to air my little
rant off air.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
It was one for the ages, I'll say that.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
But as we get close to the election, things get serious.
And from no party, really, it's all sort of tax-based
policy and what we can do give away the policy
and what.
Speaker 6 (07:34):
We can do for free.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Nothing's ever free. It always has to be paid from
from somewhere. And you have to rob Peter to pay Paul.
And what we're not seeing a lot of is how
do we grow our economy? How do we get that
good fiscal and economic policy to get this country to
a position where we're back in the top tier of
the world's nations? Because you look at our health system
(07:56):
and education, we're slipping behind the eight ball a lot.
You look at our... And then, you know, You can't,
Winston Churchill said it very famously, trying to tax yourself
to prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying
to lift yourself up by a handle. And unfortunately, that's
where Labour and the once socialist and now seemingly communist
Greens are at. So it's terrible. And if the Greens
(08:19):
with their latest policy about supermarkets, they should probably take
a wee trip to Zimbabwe and try and buy a
loaf of bread and see what it costs them. They
are raving lunatics with no idea of economics whatsoever. They're
in la-la land. So it'd just be nice from all
parties to see how we can grow the country's economy,
how we can grow industry, because industry's just leaving this country.
(08:42):
Your sawmill's closing down everywhere, for argument's sake. So I'd
like to see a lot more in that area, and
every party's guilty of not giving us enough in that area.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Is your vote up for grabs?
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Hell yeah.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Well, you know, every farmer in this electorate would largely, normally,
and probably take the last election out of it, would
have voted National. You know, Joseph's got a pretty safe seat,
there's no doubt about that, but there'll be a lot
more tactical voting going on, that's for sure, around where
your electorate and party vote goes. There's no doubt about that,
(09:15):
because a lot of people are looking for, you know,
the policies that make sense from some of the smaller parties.
Let's exclude the Greens, because their policies are videocracy. But
I'm talking ACT and New Zealand First. So it's going
to be a very interesting election. It's probably going to
be the messiest one in living memory, I believe. So
that's going to be very interesting come November.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Good on you, Blair. We'll let you carry on.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And thank you for not getting me to the Broadcasting
Standards Authority today.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
No, I'll save my F-bombs for another day as much
as the Greens rile me.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
This is the muster on Hokanui.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Mark Dillon has been representing New Zealand at the World
Ploughing Championships yet again over in Croatia.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Of course, he's based at Riversdale in northern Southland.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
And we've all heard about the issues Bob had with
shipping containers and lack of them getting to their destinations.
The event occurred over the weekend, the World Champs. Bob
joins us to give us a rundown on how it
all went.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Bob, good afternoon. Firstly, how did the weekend treat you?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, g'day Andy. Yeah, not bad. Yeah, I thought I
played a pretty coldy plot on Friday, which was a
stubble ground, but the judges didn't agree with me. Yeah,
the Saturday we had what was meant to be grass turn,
but it was alfalfa ground, which is looser and extremely hard.
It'd be some of the hardest ground I reckon I've
ever played, but yeah, I did have a better day
(10:43):
on the Saturday and got a bit further up the
points list.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
What were the.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Issues that the judges had for the first day?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Oh, they must have been listening to different stuff than me,
and they decided to keep their points and not give
them to me, the buggers.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Can you say anything to them at the time, or
do you just have to just bite your tongue and
carry on with it?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I mean, there's no third umpire or anything, is there?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
No, there's no third umpire, you can't really, but then
once we get back and you're looking, it's hard to
tell when you're sitting on the track to see, but
once you go and have a look after you've done
the job, and compared to the top trailmen, what they've
been and what you've been, oh, it's a big learning curve,
and different gear and everything else. Yeah, it wasn't a disaster,
(11:27):
but it's all there. It's learning and learning. It's been
a great experience. It's been challenging with the different gear.
I turned up here 10 days ago and I pinched
a nerve in my back, so that hasn't been that
cool either. I know the physio over here by first-name
basis as well, so that's been part of the experience.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
You say the ground yesterday was some of the hardest
ploughing you've ever done. Just put into context what you
came up against.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Oh, so they haven't had any rain over here for
75 days, and this foam we were ploughing on, it's
pretty much mint till, so it would have come out
of a cereal crop maybe or maize or something like that,
and this mint till with the looser on top of it,
so the ground's reasonably undulating, very compacted. The whole time
we've been here, I don't think I've seen one worm
(12:12):
in the soil, so it probably explains a bit about
soil health and how that goes towards the compaction issue.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So overall, result-wise, where did you end up?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah, 14th, which is a bit better than last year.
I was 11th on the second day in the FFL,
which is, yeah, I was happy enough. I drove straight,
which a lot of people couldn't drive straight, which probably
got me a bit further up the points list. Had
a pretty good crown, got a very good split. Haven't
actually seen the final breakdown of the points, just to
chew the fat on what kind of, there's always room
(12:45):
for improvement, yep. As I said to someone, the ever-elusive
perfect plot has still eluded me, but we'll keep chipping
away and trying to get better.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Well, you say some individuals are having issues having a
straight line on their plots. Was that due to the
state of the ground?
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
If your gear's just not running dead true, then it'll
start walking a lot, and a lot of guys had
issues with that during their splits, that the plough was
walking around the paddock. Actually, if you studied, watched the ploughs,
you could feel it from the seat. The ploughs are
shuddering or shaking when they're going through the ground. It
was that hard, and I didn't hear it, but there's
a guy from, no, the Netherlands, just about seven or
(13:22):
eight plots up from me, and he must have hit
something and broke a colder stalk, and it went off
like a shotgun.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Remembering you weren't in your own gear either, how did
you adapt to the messy and the plough that you
got lent?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Pretty good, I think. It was the first day, it
was one bit, and I was getting under the pump,
and getting a wee bit frustrated, and I went to
lean and reach for the wrong lever, but the second day, yeah,
just took it in my stride, and and everything, yeah,
I was getting frustrated halfway through the plot, thinking, what, yeah,
I've got to do something different here, this thing ain't working,
and Ed started tinkering and did this wee fine-tuning of things,
and the ploughing improved, and it was quite funny, my
(13:56):
coach was on the end of the headland, and he goes,
he needs to give her a couple of screws on
that land well, that's about what I did, and tinkered
with a few other bits and pieces, and it improved,
and it's always a good feeling when you do something
like that, and the result at the back looks better.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
This is fascinating. You have a coach for ploughing.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
What can somebody who's watching what you do compared to
your average ploughman on the tractor going about his business
in the lands and logs, what can he see differently?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oh, we're pretty lucky. Thomas is a two-time world champion
and ploughs his jam. He lives and breathes it. Well,
he just knows. He's got that much experience under his belt.
He can see or he knows what to do to
make the result of it. back change um then it
just but it's an experience in the seat really.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So yeah i dare say you had a good shindig
after the event finished.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Oh yeah really awesome um awards dinner last night there's
a big business center on the other side of town
we didn't realize that building was a huge big building
and yeah great music um a couple of babies and
they had a band plan as well so you know
it was a good way to finish off the week.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So therefore, the plough and the tractor you were using,
your French mates, they'll just take your Welsh mates, sorry,
it'll go back to Wales. You and Sonia and your
mum and dad, you'll get back on the plane and
come back to New Zealand shortly, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, yeah, so we started stripping gear down last night.
We think we finished ploughing about 12 o'clock and then
the finishing or the end of the ploughing ceremony was
about 3.30, then back to the compound, started stripping gear
down and stuff and then we were about to get
in the car, head back out there now, start washing
stuff up and packing it away, and then I've got
a few bits and pieces I've had shipped here that
(15:36):
I've ploughed with to clean them up, and they're going
to go on to the Cavourland dealers, they're going to
ship them back to New Zealand for me.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Next year, it's in Kenya.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I mean, it sounds like a very close-knit community, the
ploughing fraternity, especially at these events. A lot of these individuals,
have they qualified to go over to Africa next year
as well?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
There's not a whole lot because we're this sort of world.
We qualify, I suppose, half six months earlier than anyone else.
But this is sort of why the Welsh guys want
to get the gear home. So it was James and
Roger George's gear from Wales I used. And James is
heading over to Ireland to have all his planners to
qualify so he can come to Kenya next year.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
So that is the plan.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
That is the intention next year to go to Kenya,
isn't it?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, I've already qualified. So when I won the nationals
back in April, that qualified me to come and play
on Kenya for next year. So that's the next thing
to get home. And there's a few bits and pieces
I want to do to the playoff and just keep
practising and tinkering away and improving on the art.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Now, it's not that long.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What is it, Kenya next year, back to the Netherlands
and then New Zealand the year after. Are people asking
you about what to expect when they come to New Zealand?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, so because next year we were thinking that there
may not be as many countries go to Kenya, so
we did a bit of a brief presentation and had
a bit of a video running there so people can
sort of see what New Zealand's up to and that
a lot of people, if it's on their bucket list
or if they've never been to New Zealand, they think, well,
what better time to come over and compete in the
(17:12):
world or even just come over and judge or manage
and be part of the team and come and be,
as you say, Andy, there's a big family. The amount
of people that reached out to us when When we
were in a pickle with the shipping, it was really,
really awesome and humbling. And, yeah, it's been great to
catch up with people from our playing family that we
only catch up with once a year.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Mark Dillon, congratulations once again on finishing 11th. That's no
mean feat over at World Ploughing Champs. Safe travels for you, Sonia,
your mum and dad, and all your support team. And,
once again, mighty congratulations. That's a hell of an effort.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Thanks, Eddie. MUSIC PLAYS.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Welcome back to the muster. Laurie Margrain is chairman of
Open Country. Joins us this afternoon as we get through
the calving season. Truth be known, down here in the south. Laurie,
good afternoon. Always good to catch up.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Nice to talk to you, Andy. Always very keen to
have a chat.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
It's been an interesting spring down here in the south.
You guys will know all about that. I suppose around
the country, though, how's the feeling at the moment?
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Well, are you talking on the rugby front or are
you talking as far as the dairy industry is concerned?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
We'll talk on rugby at the end of the interview
because you've got some interesting stats of harbour for this
year I want to touch on, but I think just
in a rural sense.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
Yeah, no, look, the milk flows for the period, the
first period, the weakest period of the year or lowest
period of the year for milk production, that's in June
to September. They are up, but I hesitate to put
too much store by that. These are the lower milk
flow months, and being up or down a few percent
(18:52):
is neither here nor there. Clearly, there's some climatic issues
or weather issues affecting the south. You'd expect those to
manifest themselves in some milk production negativity down there, but
it's not currently doing so, but I'd expect they would.
Around the country, conditions are pretty good. We've had enough
(19:13):
rain when we want it. We've had enough sunshine when
we want it. Taranaki, Manawatu, Waikato, King Country, Bay of Plenty,
all pretty good. I guess now the main focus is
on the supply-demand matrix and ensuring that whatever the variabilities
the world's providing, the volatility around the world is not
(19:35):
interfering too much in the supply-demand, which currently is pretty
well in balance.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Carving will be well through up north now, I'd imagine.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Yeah, pretty well done. I would have thought, well, in fact,
not pretty well done, totally done. Carving up here is
probably mid-July, mid-July on at the peak. Well done. Into insemination,
I guess, very shortly, October. Well, soon. Yeah, I mean,
the season's well advanced and I don't think there's a
(20:04):
lot of negativity other than ongoing concerns for on-farm costs, Andy,
so that doesn't go away. But otherwise, the mood's pretty positive.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, you're talking about a break-even point. Well, a lot
of farmers, depending on who you talk to and what
structure their base and their payout are on, Laurie, possibly
around the mid $ 8.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
40 was the.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Mark I've heard quite a bit, although that was last season,
perhaps this year. A lot of volatility going on, like
you say, on-farm inflation just perhaps rises.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Yeah, I mean, we've consistently had a view that And
this is easy to say and more difficult to achieve.
We know that. But nevertheless, you have to understand what
you need to achieve in the current environment. We think
mid to low eights in terms of fully absorbed cost
of production is where it should not be exceeded. And
(20:56):
then we take the view as a company that above nine,
you'll be profitable. Around 10, you'll be strongly profitable. $ 10,
that is. Below eight, you will struggle to, as we say,
wash your face, but you won't lose your shirt. And
that's the way. Managing a business, including farming, Andy, is
a lot about managing risk. And to manage risk, you've
(21:18):
got to have very, very tight cost controls when much
of the world in terms of cost is against you.
But you do have to control cost, efficiency, and productivity.
We're very, very hot on that in our own business,
and we work hard with our farmers to encourage them
to take the same view.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Supply chain volatility, Laurie, are you guys experiencing anything?
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Well, there are stress points, Andy, but not points that
are causing us undue concern. I mean, the things we
worry about, can we get the imports that we need?
Can we get the boxes, the container boxes, both reefers
and dry boxes? Can we get those that we need? Yes,
there are cost issues. But availability of them and keeping
(22:04):
the product moving is the first requirement. The costing is
more difficult to do something about, but we manage it.
So we're doing all right. We haven't come across any
critical choke points in the supply chain that are causing
us anything other than what we've expected in terms of irritation.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Well, the question's there, not the question, I suppose.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The answer being, for the New Zealand economy, is that
rural is driving anything and everything.
Speaker 6 (22:33):
Oh, well, no question. I mean, anybody who thinks otherwise
clearly probably belongs to the Flat Earth Society, to be frank.
I mean, you can't have imports. You can't import anything.
I spoke to somebody the other day who votes, shall
we dare I say it, significantly centre-left. and are very,
(22:55):
very antagonistic towards farming. I asked that person, I said,
do you have anything in your house of note that
was made in New Zealand? The answer, as we all know,
is probably not. Therefore, do you understand that to have imports,
you must have exports? You must export in order to
create currency to import. That seemed to come as a
(23:18):
bit of a shock to him, which worries me enormously. But,
you know, we're doing all right and New Zealand is
marching now, maybe not so much on the sheep's back,
although sheep meat prices are very good and wool's better,
not great, but better. But we are marching on the farmers' backs.
Of that, there is absolutely no argument.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Well, you can tell your lefty friend, farmers are asset
rich yet cash poor.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
Well, that's right. Well, of course, that in a strange
respect is not that unusual in business. I mean... Andy,
you and I would both know a lot of people
in small to medium-sized enterprises. As your business grows and succeeds,
you need to fund more working capital. It puts more
pressure on your balance sheet. So being asset-rich or your
(24:08):
business growing in terms of a balance sheet does not
necessarily create surplus cash. So, yeah, I mean, the city
people in many respects would think that the farmers are
rolling in it. as we all know, most of what
the farmers earn goes back into improving and growing their
balance sheet on their farm.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Open days, Laurie. MVM's coming up in a few weeks' time.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
Yes, I think, from memory, Thursday the 1st of October.
That'll be a big day. We've had one in Wanganui recently.
We do them on a regular basis. Farmers love them.
We feed them. They get to have a beer if
they want or a wine if they want or a
soft drink if they want. and it gives them an opportunity.
They're not shareholders, but they are stakeholders. So it gives
(24:56):
them an opportunity to see what they are inherently and
essentially involved in. These plants are theirs as much as
they are ours. Our futures are entwined. They love it.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
We love doing them.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well, the open day, you were telling me briefly off
air about the one held recently at Whanganui. You just
say the reception of these events is fantastic.
Speaker 6 (25:16):
Well, it is. I mean, it just helps farmers understand
how they belong. their place in our business, if you like,
they are really at the centre of what we do.
No milk, no plant, no plant, no jobs, no jobs,
no exports. So the farmers are the key, key, key component.
Everything is about them being able to witness and see
(25:38):
why they're doing things and how we pay them effectively.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Supplier meetings, how often do you hold these?
Speaker 6 (25:50):
With the exception of mid-winter, when we put a lot
of focus into Mystery Creek field days, we hold them
every three months. The next round of meetings in Taranaki, Manawatu, Southman,
and all through the Waikato, they are from mid-September through
to the beginning of October. And then we'll do a
big round of Christmas functions through November and early December.
(26:12):
And then we'll go back to farmer briefings again in March,
April next year. So they are critical to us. We
We put ourselves, our senior management, myself, we put ourselves
in front of our farmers on a regular basis, and
we expect them to tell us what they think. We
love it. It's an opportunity for us to learn, to hear,
(26:32):
to learn, to give them feedback. And we don't tell
them necessarily what it is they want to hear. We
tell them what it is we see, and that seems
to work really, really well.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Just to wrap up, Laurie, your beloved North Harbour, as
Northland rugby deemed you on social media, South Northland. I'm
sure that'll go down like a cup of cold sick,
but I'll give you guys kudos. 16 people away last
game against Northland with the flu, vomiting, diarrhoea and the likes.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
You turned around and you beat them.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
And this time last year we had a conversation and
you were saying that Harbour were losing all these games
because they were taking a homegrown approach. Has that been
the case this year?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Largely, yes, largely. Well, a homegrown approach, which I know
many other unions are doing these days, including, I guess, Southland.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Kind of.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
But the homegrown approach, Andy, it's the only approach. There
is not the money in provincial rugby, NPC rugby, there
is not the money to throw it around on imports.
So if you aren't committed to a largely homegrown... But
if you're not committed to a largely homegrown strategy, you
(27:44):
are destined to fall over.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
What are your words of wisdom for any Stags fan
at the moment who are craving success?
Speaker 6 (27:52):
I'll convert to North Harbour.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
You mean South Northland?
Speaker 6 (27:55):
No, convert.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
To.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
I mean North.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Got you there.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Very good.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
Well done.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Hey, Laurie Margrave, Chairman of Open Country, thanks as always
for coming on, having you out on the muster.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Great to catch up with the team.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Always a pleasure, Andy. You take care.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
This is the muster on Hokanui.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Tim Baker of Clinton Young Farmers catches up on a
Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Tim, good afternoon. How are you, mate?
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Good, Andy, and yourself?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Can't really complain. Now, you're farming on the old coach road.
How are ground conditions there, dare I ask?
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Still quite soggy, very waterlogged. The wave of the sun
and the wave of the wind start drawing things out
pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
How many seasons have you been there now, Tim, based
where you are?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
This is my second season here now, so I'll be
just coming up two years in November.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Well, OK, you compare this back to last September, which
wasn't flash. We all know the state of play there,
but where you're based, I'm not far from quite aware of.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
How are you finding it?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Well I already worked about 80 hectares of ground in
August last year, haven't done that this year. Bit more
snow this year, last two weeks we've had a couple
of good dumps of that and the wind has just
been something unreal over here. I mean I'm sure a
lot of other people around the area have been getting
it too, especially the coastal blocks but it's just been
(29:30):
hammering us here.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
How are you looking for grass covers?
Speaker 6 (29:34):
Good, really good, Oh, nice.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
We do a fair bit of winter crop, 100 hectares
of swedes and 100 hectares of chow as well, so
we're looking pretty good for cover at the moment. These
will be going onto nice, comfy pastures and all in
good order at the moment, so everything's looking good. We
just need some sun.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
It's good to see you've got some tucker.
Speaker 7 (29:56):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
No, we're good for that. To be honest, it's been
pretty mild over the winter, though. Like, grass has still
been growing.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
So everything's been pretty cruisy, really.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Everything was really good up until about mid-June. Then the
tap went on.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Correct, yeah. Yeah, it's thought, hey, you guys are having
a wee bit good here. I might change that up.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
That's just a state of play, unfortunately. But look, there's
a lot of things going on. This afternoon, it's... It's
not going to be tropical by any means, but like
you say, we've got the rain away for a little bit,
hopefully for quite a while. But look, Clinton Young Farmers, Tim,
you're involved with the team there. How's it all been recently?
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Going really good at the moment. Actually hosted our biggest
meeting bloody near ever last night. We had 58 members there. 58? 58.
58 people turned up. We were a bit crammed in.
They started running our chairs.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Where were you holding the meeting?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
We have the meeting down at the Crossroads pub, but
usually speaking we usually get around that sort of 25
to 30 mark and they just kept pouring through the door.
I thought this is great, but I was watching the
tables dwindle. It's unreal.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
The bar staff would have loved it.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Oh yeah, yeah. Kitchen was a wee bit busy, but
they pulled through. They made it happen.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
So why the surge in numbers?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
We few internationals at the moment... A few come over
from the UK, they must be doing a wee bit
of a holiday or exchange or something over here. I
didn't quite get round all the tables last night, which
was a bit busy, but we must just be doing
some pretty good advertising. Everyone's keen to get involved.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Now, how good?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
All from farming backgrounds or just non-farming backgrounds as well,
as you guys always encourage?
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I'd say probably about 90% from the rural sector, sort
of dairy, machine beef. There's only a few rural professionals
in there, a couple of ferret reps and... bankers and whatnot,
but the majority of the club is in the farming sector.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Which is cool. Usually our biggest meeting's the first one
of the year, sort of around February. You get a
lot of people, you know, it's a bit cruisier time
of the year on the farm, but everyone must have
just been keen to come and have a yak and
have a beer, because, well, I mean, it's been pretty
miserable on farm, so try to get off as much
as you can.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Do you reckon that had a bit to do with
it last night, and as a result of that, will
there be a flow-on effect for membership?
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Well, hopefully. The idea is to try and turn those
numbers into members, but I just think with how miserable
things have been on farm, everyone's just keen to get
out and just have a yak, catch up with their
fellow people. You're not the only one out there that's
going through it, so... Get to talk to people, really.
That's the main thing.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Connor Miller said exactly the same thing last week. Tim,
of course, Balfour, they do their Thirsty Thursday, funny enough,
every Thursday. But you guys there at Clinton, are you
actively involved in social channels during lambing time just to
keep the chat going when the going's tough?
Speaker 4 (32:55):
We're starting to get that running. So we've been heading down,
having a catch-up on a Friday night. at the moment,
just sort of trying to encourage to get as many
people along to that as we can.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
But, yeah, we're trying to keep in contact as much
as we can because we know how tough it can get.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
And it's the same old story, you know. A problem
shared is a problem halved. And if you're having a
bit of a, well, let's be honest, it's a shit
day on the carving, on the lambing or whatever, and
everything's just flat out and the chance just to talk
to other people and realise, as you alluded to before,
you're not the only one on that boat.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
It's easy to get the look down a bit, but,
you know... You just get out and have a yak
and catch up with your mates and everything. It makes
life a bit easier.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
No, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
What about Telford? Any Telford ones coming along? I think
I've asked you guys this before. Are you in cahoots
with them?
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Yep, yep, yep, yep. So we still get a wee handful.
They sort of come in waves. It must just be
as they sort of slow on from holidays and whatnot
and if they're actually about. But no, Telford's still floating around.
We don't see as many of them now as we
used to, but they're still coming out every now and
then in good numbers.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
That's a good thing, though.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I mean, an organisation like that, are you actively working
with Telford to get them to come out? Because there's
no club as such without going, what, probably up to Milton,
I'd imagine.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Yeah, well, the closest club to us, you know, you're
sort of heading towards Gore, and in the Otago region,
you're actually heading out to sort of Tapanui, Dunedin way,
and sort of the two closest clubs to us. But no,
Telford's a real good place to start because that's like
the grassroots of the young farmer sector.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
So get them involved in.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Their members for life.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So as far as activities, anything coming up while it's
busy over the next few weeks, meals and the likes,
what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
We're reasonably quiet. We might try to head along to
a Stags game or an Otago game within the next
month if we can, but it's really just heads down
and get through the tailing, the carving and all the
ones that are starting lambing now. Let's just groove through that.
But we'll definitely be trying to have some social events.
But no bigger events on the calendar just for this month.
(35:00):
October we'll start hooking into it again.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Okay, you had your meeting last night.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
But of those 58 people that turned up and listening, like, yeah,
it was good last night. I want to come back
and have another go and get involved with YFC. What
are the dates?
Speaker 4 (35:13):
So we meet the first of every month. At 7.30,
first Monday of every month, sorry, at 7.30.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
At Crossroads in Clinton. We've got a group chat, so
most of those ones that turned up last night will
be part of that, so we're posting that regularly.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Facebook, all social medias and that, we're posting all that.
There's flyers up, lots of in the pubs and everything
around the area, and really just word of mouth. Like,
everyone I catch up with, I'm telling. Yeah, yeah. With
a few other members in the club, so... drum up
as much as we can.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Hey, thanks for the chat. Congratulations on those numbers for
last night. That's staggering when you think about it. And
it's going to be, it's a marathon, not a sprint,
but there is a finish line in sight over the
next three or four weeks.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Yeah, thanks for your time. Hope it goes well.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Oh, that's good. Sun's out now, Andy, so smiles are
all going.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. I was
shopping for a tuxedo, but the salesman just wouldn't stop
hovering over me. I finally said I'd look on my own.
He shrugged and said, suit yourself.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Welcome back to the muster. It's all happening down in
Invercargill this weekend. A reunion is going on for Southland Rugby,
the team. Well, the players featured in the 1970s decade
are having a get-together ahead of Bay of Plenty in
Invercargill on Sunday afternoon. Murray Heath is one of the
organisers of the event. He's played 48 games for the
(36:55):
Stags himself. He's a life member of Riverton Rugby Club,
and he's just got back from the Gold Coast back
into chilly Southland.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Murray, welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
Speaker 7 (37:05):
Oh, absolutely, Andy. It's a privilege to be here speaking
on behalf.
Speaker 6 (37:08):
Of the boys.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Firstly, 1970s rugby. They were like the Halcyon days, I'd imagine.
Speaker 7 (37:15):
Oh, yes, certainly. When the country was strong in Southland,
the Southland team was strong. So, yes, I'm just reflecting
through here. The names that are coming to the reunion,
over half of them are for country boys.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
That was just rugby back in the day, I suppose.
I mean, all the farmers were playing, all your rural teams,
I mean, Country Pirates was very strong, all your northern teams, Eastern,
the likes, a few teams have amalgamated since. But back
in the day, I mean, it was always rugby on
a Saturday and Trust Cup on a Wednesday.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
Absolutely. You didn't have a day off, really, in South
and training on the Sunday. So sub-union games, Monday, club, Tuesday, sub-union,
rugby on Wednesday. And as it went on, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
So training for Southland back in the 1970s, how many
practices a week was there?
Speaker 7 (38:08):
Sometimes three. Three. You would train on a Sunday, most
likely Wednesday, captain's run, and then we'd play. So, yeah,
so it was a fair commitment. Everyone, you know... We
weren't paid. We all travelled together. Or if you're like me,
I travel from Riverland by myself. People prefer... But we
(38:31):
had the Tokanui bus, though. There was a fair few
from Tokanui that all hopped in the car and come in. And,
you know, the Wyndham boys and northern guys. We all
made our way there, gave up the day's, afternoon's work. Yeah,
I can recall in 1980, I got transferred to Gore
Post Office. I met my boss, and then I had
(38:53):
to tell him that I need to go to training
in the afternoon at 3 o'clock, and this is my
first day on the job in Gore. He let me off,
paid me, so that was great.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Town and country, all the players got along back in
the day?
Speaker 7 (39:08):
Oh, yeah, we did, after we'd played our town and
country game. Yeah, that was always a bit of a
grudge match on the day, but, you know, we're all
great mates off the paddock. It didn't matter if you
played one game for Southam or... or one for the country,
you're part of the team. And, you know, when we
get together, it's just like the good old days, you know.
(39:30):
So I did catch up with a couple of old
buddies on the Gold Coast, Ken McRae and Jeff Gardner,
having a bit of a holiday in the sun and
caught up with them and told a few stories.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
You think of the 1970s and straight off the bat,
you got the Holden HQs or the Falcons, whatever you
were driving to get to practice. And yeah, you could ruck.
Rucking was an integral part of the game, I'd imagine.
I mean, if you didn't come off the game with stripes,
there was something not right.
Speaker 7 (40:01):
Oh, absolutely. You certainly tell them to move them back
or rake them back. Absolutely. You know, like go to
the shower and you'll see their Marks down the back,
you know, I was just thinking of Asher McGregor being
the Marks down the back of him many a time,
many a time. You know, tough boys, played hard, enjoyed life. And, yes,
(40:31):
it was good, rugged days, you know. I can remember
I dived past once and Dave Shanks, the late Dave Shanks,
and just ran all over top of me. Anyway, we
had a beer together and are still great mates. His
daughter is actually joining us on the Sunday of the reunion,
(40:53):
which is lovely.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Now, former All Blacks, for example, Bob Barber, Lester Rutledge,
Ken Stewart, Steve Pakiri, Ash McGregor, Brian McKechnie, names synonymous
to Southland rugby, they're going to be along as well.
But I use those names because back in the day,
playing international rugby or playing these international visiting teams, likes
of France in 78, I think you had the 77,
(41:17):
you had the Lions, for example. I think England possibly
in 73 as well. I mean, it must have been
a real buzz to go and play these guys. And,
you know, you almost had a bounty on these teams
when they came to Invercargill.
Speaker 7 (41:29):
Oh, yes. Yes, you know, I can recall the Irish
game in 76. It was a bit of a riot.
We had Boss McGowan from Matara play prop that day
and up she went. And I had to go out
the second five that day because of a late withdrawal.
and they're fighting at my feet, you know, like, uh,
(41:52):
but they're great guys off the paddock, but yeah, we've
certainly had, you know, Ken Stewart, he played against the
71 Lions and stood out, you know, and then in
77 Lions, we had, uh, Bakiri that was a standout,
you know, there was all those games and, you know,
we had Romania as well. Uh, people come along to
(42:15):
the games because, you know, they knew everyone out there, um,
It was just a big focus and just great to
have all these guys coming home. And, you know, to
say coming home, I don't know if you could say
that if I had a reunion another 50 years' time
of all these guys that are playing for Southend now.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
So, like I said, the occasion for this weekend is
celebrating the comradeship while you can, the camaraderie.
Speaker 7 (42:40):
Yes. Well, Sam.
Well, Lester Rutledge has said to me, why don't we
organise it and let's get together before it's too late?
Because in one photo, there's 13 that passed. So this
is their swan song, really, our goodbyes to one another. Yeah,
(43:02):
it's going to be a enjoyable time, but a sad
time as well. And we'll also be honouring all those
guys that we played with and that have passed today.
We'll light a candle in remembrance to those guys and
thank them for their services to Southland. Yeah, it's a
(43:23):
great occasion, but a sad occasion too.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Now the weekend's kicking off, I think, Friday night at
the Ascot. There's a retired Riversdale farmer who's the MC
for the event.
Speaker 7 (43:33):
Yeah, well, that's quite hilarious. Well, it's outstanding, really. I
started the Facebook page. It's actually 12 months today. And
a few days after, I got a phone call from
Jamie and said, Murray, I want to be EMC for
that function. That's my era. I know everybody. I just
(43:59):
want to be there. And we've kept in contact, and
he's honouring that commitment. And we were talking yesterday, so
he's on his way down, which is great.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Awesome.
Speaker 7 (44:12):
He'll share some stories, and he knows a lot of
those guys. You know, like, he, you know, I think
he played for Southland B. Did he tell you that?
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yeah, apparently he made the giddy heights of Southland B in,
I think it might have been 86 of the likes.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
No doubt he'll message me and let me know if
I'm wrong.
Speaker 7 (44:31):
Yeah, did he have a white mate met?
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I'm not too sure. I haven't heard that story yet.
Speaker 6 (44:38):
Catch the ball.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
LAUGHTER So, okay, you've got that on the Friday.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Saturday night you're having a bit of a gala dinner
of the likes, and then Sunday the Bay of Plenty game.
Speaker 7 (44:50):
Yeah, so Sunday we'll have a lunch together. A lot
of them won't have seen the Richardson Transport Museum, so
we'll have lunch there. The Supporters Club want us to
come along to the Supporters Club at 3 o'clock. We'll
get together at the Supporters Club, and of course it's
Kick-off time at 5.05, so Rugby Southland are supporting us
(45:12):
all the way, of course. They're getting us in, they're organising.
We're going to be a guard of honour as the
players come out. We're just organising someone to talk and
give the jerseys to the players for the weekend.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Awesome.
Speaker 7 (45:31):
It's 50 years ago NPC started.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (45:35):
And they have plenty won that. first NPC tournament.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
They did.
Speaker 7 (45:40):
And there's eight of us at the reunion who played
against Bay of Plenty that 50 years ago, Wakatane. And
we were all billeted out. You wouldn't get that nowadays.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Back at the start of the NPC, was it all
about the billeting system as such, or if you were
lucky when you went to the big smoke every now
and then they put you up in a hotel?
Speaker 7 (46:01):
Yeah, when you went to the big smoke, yeah, I'm
billeted out. But yeah, we're billeted out at Wakatane, hard
and fast ground. Quite a number of those guys in
the Bay of Plenty team went with the New Zealand
15 to Argentina because the All Blacks were in South
(46:22):
Africa in 76. So Eddie Stokes, yeah, a name that
comes to mind with a few stories. So, yeah, so,
you know, it's 50 years ago since the two unions
played in the NPC. So it's sort of, we didn't
plan it that way, but it's really iconic that it's
happened like that.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Murray Heath there, and what is going to be a
great weekend for Southland's 1970s rugby players as they have
their reunion. Got underway last night and continuing through the weekend. Well,
that's us over in Dunmouth for the afternoon. For the morning,
there should be. Used to say in the afternoon. My
name's Andy Muir. Enjoy the weekend. If you get the
opportunity to get off farm, I suggest you take it.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Enjoy the weekend. See you Monday.
A very good morning and welcome into the Best of
the Mustard, a collaboration of interviews that took our attention
during a busy week here at Hokanui HQ. My name's
Andy Muir. Thanks for your company. We're starting off by
catching up with Blair Drysdale. Farming at Balfour, a mixed
operation there, and having... Well, interesting season to say the
least due to the way the weather conditions have been.
(00:24):
But Blair talks about the synergies on his operation and
how they work. Well, he's gone back into sheep after notoriously, well,
he had an old wool shed. We'll put that out there,
but he got sick of it, so he just buried it.
And he runs a few ewes on his property to
go along with his arable side of things and winter
grazing as well. So we catch up with Blocker to
see how things have been during this season.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Mark Dillon.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Once again, we catch up with Bob after the World
Ploughing Champs. They happened last weekend at Croatia. We caught
up with him earlier on in the week and tells
us how he got on and did pretty darn well
in the circumstances as well. Laurie Margrain is chairman of
Open Country, and we catch up with the team on
a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Always good to catch up with Laurie.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Tim Baker of Clinton Young Farmers talks about the season
they're having on the farm. He's pretty pragmatic, actually, Tim,
saying that, yes, we've been there before, but it is
what it is. The big thing with Tim is that
Clinton Young Farmers, he's a member there, they recorded wicked numbers,
massive numbers at their meeting.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
This week, which was unprecedented, to say the least.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And finally, Murray Heath, ahead of the 1970 Southland Rugby Reunion,
which got underway last night at Ascot Park, goes through
this weekend, finishing up tomorrow at the Bay of Plenty game,
which is actually celebrating, between the two unions, 50 years,
when I say that, because Bay of Plenty won the MPC,
(01:47):
inaugural MPC, back in 1976. So Murray talks about what's
going to be happening and certainly you've got to celebrate
these milestones. So without further ado, we'll start the hour
next with Blair Drysdale. This is The Best of the Muster.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
I'm not crazy, I'm just a little unwell.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
I know right now you can't tell, but stay a
while and.
Speaker 4 (02:10):
Maybe then you'll see.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
We're away to Balfour this afternoon on the muster to
catch up with Blair Drysdale. Mixed farming operation up that way.
And the Sergeant Dan Farming Roundup brought to you by
Sergeant Dan Stock Foods here in Goreblocker. Good afternoon. How
are you coping up there at Balfour with the spring
to date?
Speaker 5 (02:28):
Good afternoon, Andy. Spring is just frustration for a third
year in a row. Simple as that.
Speaker 4 (02:36):
You know, I know.
Speaker 5 (02:38):
After that first bad spring, it's like, oh, you won't
get two of these in a row, and then there
was a hold my beer moment with Mother Nature, and,
you know, well, shit, you won't get three, will you?
Let's hope not, but the early spring has been very
similar to the last two, so let's see what happens,
but yeah, I think everyone's pretty wet now, lack of sunshine,
grass has stopped here, we haven't had any growth for
(03:00):
a good, you know, week, ten days more now, it
was starting to take away, but it's just stopped dead, so, yeah,
a little bit frustrating, getting sick of I'm just tidying
up with the tractor at the moment, doing odd jobs
because you can't really spray. It's been too wet and
cold to do, and windy to do, for a horse spraying,
so ground's too wet largely to work. I've done a
little bit, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
You've got the lambing going on at the moment from
the man who coined the phrase, the woolly aphids.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
How are they going?
Speaker 5 (03:27):
Apart from being really unsettled, well, they've settled down a
bit the last few days since the winds dropped, but yeah,
they've been a little bit flighty, so at least it's
best with the shooting ones. So I go around them
once a day largely to make sure there's nothing cast
and to pick up dead ewes and lambs. Really, I
don't do a lot and I don't have to do
a hell of a lot with them. Had to lamb
(03:47):
the old ones and the really early ones that have
finished lambing. They've been finished for 10 days more now.
But no, all in all, good numbers hitting the ground.
Took a bit of a pasting on, what was it,
Monday night, that real cold night. We lost a lot
of newborn lambs that night, but um he can't do
much at night about that so happens every now and
then but yeah all in all they're taking on pretty
nicely and we'll be looking at the main ewes we'll
(04:10):
be well through them by the end of this week
that's for sure and then just um wait on hogwarts
they'll start on the 1st of october so yeah considering
i started on the i think it was the 20th
of august that will be a long spread out lambing
but uh mitigates a bit of risk and work spreads
workload too so all in all they're going well but
yeah lambs the The early ones, the black-faced ones, they're
(04:32):
looking for a little bit of sun. They're starting to
eat grass too, so a bit of sun will be handy.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
How many ewes are you lambing?
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Mixed-age ewes, there's 300 and there's 300 hoggets, but I
actually can't fit all those numbers in next year, the
way it's looking, so I'm probably going to cut the
heads off some hoggets either late next week or early
next week. So we'll do that. Ideally, I'd like to
round that 500, 450, 500 next year. we'll sort of
(05:00):
be where it's at we won't lamb hoggets again next
year we've just sort of done that to get numbers
up in a hurry really so we'll quit that next
year it does have you know a lot of hoggets
last year had twins and boy shit it's hard on
them so I can still see those ones now as
a two tooth so yeah we'll quit that game and
just lamb the ewes only but we'll still do lamb
the old girls early to a terminal and do the
(05:22):
rest as per.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
Normal Remembering that you went away from use proper, I mean,
you're the guy who infamously just buried his wool shed.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So what are you thinking there?
Speaker 1 (05:31):
The market's looking pretty good and you're just keeping your
hand in a few different pies as such?
Speaker 5 (05:37):
We've always run a diverse operation. We've always had, yes,
we dropped sheep numbers back to nothing for a while
down to 30 or 40 ewes, but we've always had
sheep and beef. We're just changing the mix a wee
bit at the moment, doing a lot more beef. We've
just We bought a block next door a year ago,
so it's all re-fenced now, and the cattle yards, they
should be finished by the end of the day, and
(05:58):
then water seemed to go in. So just changing up
a bit. There's more margin in beef than there is
in wheat at the moment, which is still the main
arable crop really in Southland. So yeah, just go with
the margin rather than, you know, we're not chasing markets
as such. Like I say, we've always had beef, but
we're just increasing it there a bit. So yeah, spreads
(06:19):
of workloads, spreads of roofs, and makes it a little
bit more interesting too, doing some new things as well, Andy.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
With the way the arable sector is at the moment,
are you thinking of perhaps getting more sheep into the equation?
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Or beef for that matter?
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Sheep sort of have to fit into the system around
everything else. So the arable and beef sort of take priority,
and the sheep, you know, they fit around it. We
can change those numbers pretty quickly, so they fit around
everything else. So they're largely there. Yeah. You know, to
tidy up behind the combine and do that sort of thing,
keep fence lines tidy, lanes tidy. We do have a
(06:53):
lot of smaller paddocks around the house that aren't really
much good for anything else but our sheep. So they
largely have a job to do and just have to
fit in. That's where they sit.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
You want to talk about tax today, Blair. Now, you
had a wee rant off air before we came on
for a chat. Possibly, I haven't had an F-bomb on
the show since Bruce Eaton at Waimumi. That may change today.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
Where are we at?
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Well, we definitely, you wouldn't want to air my little
rant off air.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
It was one for the ages, I'll say that.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
But as we get close to the election, things get serious.
And from no party, really, it's all sort of tax-based
policy and what we can do give away the policy
and what.
Speaker 6 (07:34):
We can do for free.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
Nothing's ever free. It always has to be paid from
from somewhere. And you have to rob Peter to pay Paul.
And what we're not seeing a lot of is how
do we grow our economy? How do we get that
good fiscal and economic policy to get this country to
a position where we're back in the top tier of
the world's nations? Because you look at our health system
(07:56):
and education, we're slipping behind the eight ball a lot.
You look at our... And then, you know, You can't,
Winston Churchill said it very famously, trying to tax yourself
to prosperity is like standing in a bucket and trying
to lift yourself up by a handle. And unfortunately, that's
where Labour and the once socialist and now seemingly communist
Greens are at. So it's terrible. And if the Greens
(08:19):
with their latest policy about supermarkets, they should probably take
a wee trip to Zimbabwe and try and buy a
loaf of bread and see what it costs them. They
are raving lunatics with no idea of economics whatsoever. They're
in la-la land. So it'd just be nice from all
parties to see how we can grow the country's economy,
how we can grow industry, because industry's just leaving this country.
(08:42):
Your sawmill's closing down everywhere, for argument's sake. So I'd
like to see a lot more in that area, and
every party's guilty of not giving us enough in that area.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Is your vote up for grabs?
Speaker 4 (08:53):
Hell yeah.
Speaker 7 (08:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (08:54):
Well, you know, every farmer in this electorate would largely, normally,
and probably take the last election out of it, would
have voted National. You know, Joseph's got a pretty safe seat,
there's no doubt about that, but there'll be a lot
more tactical voting going on, that's for sure, around where
your electorate and party vote goes. There's no doubt about that,
(09:15):
because a lot of people are looking for, you know,
the policies that make sense from some of the smaller parties.
Let's exclude the Greens, because their policies are videocracy. But
I'm talking ACT and New Zealand First. So it's going
to be a very interesting election. It's probably going to
be the messiest one in living memory, I believe. So
that's going to be very interesting come November.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Good on you, Blair. We'll let you carry on.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
And thank you for not getting me to the Broadcasting
Standards Authority today.
Speaker 5 (09:43):
No, I'll save my F-bombs for another day as much
as the Greens rile me.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
This is the muster on Hokanui.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
Mark Dillon has been representing New Zealand at the World
Ploughing Championships yet again over in Croatia.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Of course, he's based at Riversdale in northern Southland.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
And we've all heard about the issues Bob had with
shipping containers and lack of them getting to their destinations.
The event occurred over the weekend, the World Champs. Bob
joins us to give us a rundown on how it
all went.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Bob, good afternoon. Firstly, how did the weekend treat you?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
Yeah, g'day Andy. Yeah, not bad. Yeah, I thought I
played a pretty coldy plot on Friday, which was a
stubble ground, but the judges didn't agree with me. Yeah,
the Saturday we had what was meant to be grass turn,
but it was alfalfa ground, which is looser and extremely hard.
It'd be some of the hardest ground I reckon I've
ever played, but yeah, I did have a better day
(10:43):
on the Saturday and got a bit further up the
points list.
Speaker 5 (10:45):
What were the.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Issues that the judges had for the first day?
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Oh, they must have been listening to different stuff than me,
and they decided to keep their points and not give
them to me, the buggers.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Can you say anything to them at the time, or
do you just have to just bite your tongue and
carry on with it?
Speaker 2 (11:03):
I mean, there's no third umpire or anything, is there?
Speaker 3 (11:05):
No, there's no third umpire, you can't really, but then
once we get back and you're looking, it's hard to
tell when you're sitting on the track to see, but
once you go and have a look after you've done
the job, and compared to the top trailmen, what they've
been and what you've been, oh, it's a big learning curve,
and different gear and everything else. Yeah, it wasn't a disaster,
(11:27):
but it's all there. It's learning and learning. It's been
a great experience. It's been challenging with the different gear.
I turned up here 10 days ago and I pinched
a nerve in my back, so that hasn't been that
cool either. I know the physio over here by first-name
basis as well, so that's been part of the experience.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
You say the ground yesterday was some of the hardest
ploughing you've ever done. Just put into context what you
came up against.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Oh, so they haven't had any rain over here for
75 days, and this foam we were ploughing on, it's
pretty much mint till, so it would have come out
of a cereal crop maybe or maize or something like that,
and this mint till with the looser on top of it,
so the ground's reasonably undulating, very compacted. The whole time
we've been here, I don't think I've seen one worm
(12:12):
in the soil, so it probably explains a bit about
soil health and how that goes towards the compaction issue.
Speaker 2 (12:20):
So overall, result-wise, where did you end up?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Yeah, 14th, which is a bit better than last year.
I was 11th on the second day in the FFL,
which is, yeah, I was happy enough. I drove straight,
which a lot of people couldn't drive straight, which probably
got me a bit further up the points list. Had
a pretty good crown, got a very good split. Haven't
actually seen the final breakdown of the points, just to
chew the fat on what kind of, there's always room
(12:45):
for improvement, yep. As I said to someone, the ever-elusive
perfect plot has still eluded me, but we'll keep chipping
away and trying to get better.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Well, you say some individuals are having issues having a
straight line on their plots. Was that due to the
state of the ground?
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Oh, yeah, definitely, yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
If your gear's just not running dead true, then it'll
start walking a lot, and a lot of guys had
issues with that during their splits, that the plough was
walking around the paddock. Actually, if you studied, watched the ploughs,
you could feel it from the seat. The ploughs are
shuddering or shaking when they're going through the ground. It
was that hard, and I didn't hear it, but there's
a guy from, no, the Netherlands, just about seven or
(13:22):
eight plots up from me, and he must have hit
something and broke a colder stalk, and it went off
like a shotgun.
Speaker 1 (13:27):
Remembering you weren't in your own gear either, how did
you adapt to the messy and the plough that you
got lent?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
Pretty good, I think. It was the first day, it
was one bit, and I was getting under the pump,
and getting a wee bit frustrated, and I went to
lean and reach for the wrong lever, but the second day, yeah,
just took it in my stride, and and everything, yeah,
I was getting frustrated halfway through the plot, thinking, what, yeah,
I've got to do something different here, this thing ain't working,
and Ed started tinkering and did this wee fine-tuning of things,
and the ploughing improved, and it was quite funny, my
(13:56):
coach was on the end of the headland, and he goes,
he needs to give her a couple of screws on
that land well, that's about what I did, and tinkered
with a few other bits and pieces, and it improved,
and it's always a good feeling when you do something
like that, and the result at the back looks better.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
This is fascinating. You have a coach for ploughing.
Speaker 1 (14:12):
What can somebody who's watching what you do compared to
your average ploughman on the tractor going about his business
in the lands and logs, what can he see differently?
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Oh, we're pretty lucky. Thomas is a two-time world champion
and ploughs his jam. He lives and breathes it. Well,
he just knows. He's got that much experience under his belt.
He can see or he knows what to do to
make the result of it. back change um then it
just but it's an experience in the seat really.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
So yeah i dare say you had a good shindig
after the event finished.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Oh yeah really awesome um awards dinner last night there's
a big business center on the other side of town
we didn't realize that building was a huge big building
and yeah great music um a couple of babies and
they had a band plan as well so you know
it was a good way to finish off the week.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So therefore, the plough and the tractor you were using,
your French mates, they'll just take your Welsh mates, sorry,
it'll go back to Wales. You and Sonia and your
mum and dad, you'll get back on the plane and
come back to New Zealand shortly, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
Yeah, yeah, so we started stripping gear down last night.
We think we finished ploughing about 12 o'clock and then
the finishing or the end of the ploughing ceremony was
about 3.30, then back to the compound, started stripping gear
down and stuff and then we were about to get
in the car, head back out there now, start washing
stuff up and packing it away, and then I've got
a few bits and pieces I've had shipped here that
(15:36):
I've ploughed with to clean them up, and they're going
to go on to the Cavourland dealers, they're going to
ship them back to New Zealand for me.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
Next year, it's in Kenya.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
I mean, it sounds like a very close-knit community, the
ploughing fraternity, especially at these events. A lot of these individuals,
have they qualified to go over to Africa next year
as well?
Speaker 3 (15:57):
There's not a whole lot because we're this sort of world.
We qualify, I suppose, half six months earlier than anyone else.
But this is sort of why the Welsh guys want
to get the gear home. So it was James and
Roger George's gear from Wales I used. And James is
heading over to Ireland to have all his planners to
qualify so he can come to Kenya next year.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
So that is the plan.
Speaker 1 (16:19):
That is the intention next year to go to Kenya,
isn't it?
Speaker 3 (16:23):
Yeah, I've already qualified. So when I won the nationals
back in April, that qualified me to come and play
on Kenya for next year. So that's the next thing
to get home. And there's a few bits and pieces
I want to do to the playoff and just keep
practising and tinkering away and improving on the art.
Speaker 2 (16:41):
Now, it's not that long.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
What is it, Kenya next year, back to the Netherlands
and then New Zealand the year after. Are people asking
you about what to expect when they come to New Zealand?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, so because next year we were thinking that there
may not be as many countries go to Kenya, so
we did a bit of a brief presentation and had
a bit of a video running there so people can
sort of see what New Zealand's up to and that
a lot of people, if it's on their bucket list
or if they've never been to New Zealand, they think, well,
what better time to come over and compete in the
(17:12):
world or even just come over and judge or manage
and be part of the team and come and be,
as you say, Andy, there's a big family. The amount
of people that reached out to us when When we
were in a pickle with the shipping, it was really,
really awesome and humbling. And, yeah, it's been great to
catch up with people from our playing family that we
only catch up with once a year.
Speaker 1 (17:30):
Mark Dillon, congratulations once again on finishing 11th. That's no
mean feat over at World Ploughing Champs. Safe travels for you, Sonia,
your mum and dad, and all your support team. And,
once again, mighty congratulations. That's a hell of an effort.
Speaker 4 (17:42):
Thanks, Eddie. MUSIC PLAYS.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Welcome back to the muster. Laurie Margrain is chairman of
Open Country. Joins us this afternoon as we get through
the calving season. Truth be known, down here in the south. Laurie,
good afternoon. Always good to catch up.
Speaker 6 (18:07):
Nice to talk to you, Andy. Always very keen to
have a chat.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
It's been an interesting spring down here in the south.
You guys will know all about that. I suppose around
the country, though, how's the feeling at the moment?
Speaker 6 (18:18):
Well, are you talking on the rugby front or are
you talking as far as the dairy industry is concerned?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
We'll talk on rugby at the end of the interview
because you've got some interesting stats of harbour for this
year I want to touch on, but I think just
in a rural sense.
Speaker 6 (18:31):
Yeah, no, look, the milk flows for the period, the
first period, the weakest period of the year or lowest
period of the year for milk production, that's in June
to September. They are up, but I hesitate to put
too much store by that. These are the lower milk
flow months, and being up or down a few percent
(18:52):
is neither here nor there. Clearly, there's some climatic issues
or weather issues affecting the south. You'd expect those to
manifest themselves in some milk production negativity down there, but
it's not currently doing so, but I'd expect they would.
Around the country, conditions are pretty good. We've had enough
(19:13):
rain when we want it. We've had enough sunshine when
we want it. Taranaki, Manawatu, Waikato, King Country, Bay of Plenty,
all pretty good. I guess now the main focus is
on the supply-demand matrix and ensuring that whatever the variabilities
the world's providing, the volatility around the world is not
(19:35):
interfering too much in the supply-demand, which currently is pretty
well in balance.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Carving will be well through up north now, I'd imagine.
Speaker 6 (19:44):
Yeah, pretty well done. I would have thought, well, in fact,
not pretty well done, totally done. Carving up here is
probably mid-July, mid-July on at the peak. Well done. Into insemination,
I guess, very shortly, October. Well, soon. Yeah, I mean,
the season's well advanced and I don't think there's a
(20:04):
lot of negativity other than ongoing concerns for on-farm costs, Andy,
so that doesn't go away. But otherwise, the mood's pretty positive.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Yeah, you're talking about a break-even point. Well, a lot
of farmers, depending on who you talk to and what
structure their base and their payout are on, Laurie, possibly
around the mid $ 8.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
40 was the.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Mark I've heard quite a bit, although that was last season,
perhaps this year. A lot of volatility going on, like
you say, on-farm inflation just perhaps rises.
Speaker 6 (20:35):
Yeah, I mean, we've consistently had a view that And
this is easy to say and more difficult to achieve.
We know that. But nevertheless, you have to understand what
you need to achieve in the current environment. We think
mid to low eights in terms of fully absorbed cost
of production is where it should not be exceeded. And
(20:56):
then we take the view as a company that above nine,
you'll be profitable. Around 10, you'll be strongly profitable. $ 10,
that is. Below eight, you will struggle to, as we say,
wash your face, but you won't lose your shirt. And
that's the way. Managing a business, including farming, Andy, is
a lot about managing risk. And to manage risk, you've
(21:18):
got to have very, very tight cost controls when much
of the world in terms of cost is against you.
But you do have to control cost, efficiency, and productivity.
We're very, very hot on that in our own business,
and we work hard with our farmers to encourage them
to take the same view.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Supply chain volatility, Laurie, are you guys experiencing anything?
Speaker 6 (21:42):
Well, there are stress points, Andy, but not points that
are causing us undue concern. I mean, the things we
worry about, can we get the imports that we need?
Can we get the boxes, the container boxes, both reefers
and dry boxes? Can we get those that we need? Yes,
there are cost issues. But availability of them and keeping
(22:04):
the product moving is the first requirement. The costing is
more difficult to do something about, but we manage it.
So we're doing all right. We haven't come across any
critical choke points in the supply chain that are causing
us anything other than what we've expected in terms of irritation.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Well, the question's there, not the question, I suppose.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
The answer being, for the New Zealand economy, is that
rural is driving anything and everything.
Speaker 6 (22:33):
Oh, well, no question. I mean, anybody who thinks otherwise
clearly probably belongs to the Flat Earth Society, to be frank.
I mean, you can't have imports. You can't import anything.
I spoke to somebody the other day who votes, shall
we dare I say it, significantly centre-left. and are very,
(22:55):
very antagonistic towards farming. I asked that person, I said,
do you have anything in your house of note that
was made in New Zealand? The answer, as we all know,
is probably not. Therefore, do you understand that to have imports,
you must have exports? You must export in order to
create currency to import. That seemed to come as a
(23:18):
bit of a shock to him, which worries me enormously. But,
you know, we're doing all right and New Zealand is
marching now, maybe not so much on the sheep's back,
although sheep meat prices are very good and wool's better,
not great, but better. But we are marching on the farmers' backs.
Of that, there is absolutely no argument.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Well, you can tell your lefty friend, farmers are asset
rich yet cash poor.
Speaker 6 (23:44):
Well, that's right. Well, of course, that in a strange
respect is not that unusual in business. I mean... Andy,
you and I would both know a lot of people
in small to medium-sized enterprises. As your business grows and succeeds,
you need to fund more working capital. It puts more
pressure on your balance sheet. So being asset-rich or your
(24:08):
business growing in terms of a balance sheet does not
necessarily create surplus cash. So, yeah, I mean, the city
people in many respects would think that the farmers are
rolling in it. as we all know, most of what
the farmers earn goes back into improving and growing their
balance sheet on their farm.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Open days, Laurie. MVM's coming up in a few weeks' time.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
Yes, I think, from memory, Thursday the 1st of October.
That'll be a big day. We've had one in Wanganui recently.
We do them on a regular basis. Farmers love them.
We feed them. They get to have a beer if
they want or a wine if they want or a
soft drink if they want. and it gives them an opportunity.
They're not shareholders, but they are stakeholders. So it gives
(24:56):
them an opportunity to see what they are inherently and
essentially involved in. These plants are theirs as much as
they are ours. Our futures are entwined. They love it.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
We love doing them.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
Well, the open day, you were telling me briefly off
air about the one held recently at Whanganui. You just
say the reception of these events is fantastic.
Speaker 6 (25:16):
Well, it is. I mean, it just helps farmers understand
how they belong. their place in our business, if you like,
they are really at the centre of what we do.
No milk, no plant, no plant, no jobs, no jobs,
no exports. So the farmers are the key, key, key component.
Everything is about them being able to witness and see
(25:38):
why they're doing things and how we pay them effectively.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Supplier meetings, how often do you hold these?
Speaker 6 (25:50):
With the exception of mid-winter, when we put a lot
of focus into Mystery Creek field days, we hold them
every three months. The next round of meetings in Taranaki, Manawatu, Southman,
and all through the Waikato, they are from mid-September through
to the beginning of October. And then we'll do a
big round of Christmas functions through November and early December.
(26:12):
And then we'll go back to farmer briefings again in March,
April next year. So they are critical to us. We
We put ourselves, our senior management, myself, we put ourselves
in front of our farmers on a regular basis, and
we expect them to tell us what they think. We
love it. It's an opportunity for us to learn, to hear,
(26:32):
to learn, to give them feedback. And we don't tell
them necessarily what it is they want to hear. We
tell them what it is we see, and that seems
to work really, really well.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Just to wrap up, Laurie, your beloved North Harbour, as
Northland rugby deemed you on social media, South Northland. I'm
sure that'll go down like a cup of cold sick,
but I'll give you guys kudos. 16 people away last
game against Northland with the flu, vomiting, diarrhoea and the likes.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
You turned around and you beat them.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
And this time last year we had a conversation and
you were saying that Harbour were losing all these games
because they were taking a homegrown approach. Has that been
the case this year?
Speaker 6 (27:12):
Largely, yes, largely. Well, a homegrown approach, which I know
many other unions are doing these days, including, I guess, Southland.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
Kind of.
Speaker 6 (27:20):
But the homegrown approach, Andy, it's the only approach. There
is not the money in provincial rugby, NPC rugby, there
is not the money to throw it around on imports.
So if you aren't committed to a largely homegrown... But
if you're not committed to a largely homegrown strategy, you
(27:44):
are destined to fall over.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
What are your words of wisdom for any Stags fan
at the moment who are craving success?
Speaker 6 (27:52):
I'll convert to North Harbour.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
You mean South Northland?
Speaker 6 (27:55):
No, convert.
Speaker 4 (27:57):
To.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
I mean North.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
Got you there.
Speaker 5 (28:01):
Very good.
Speaker 6 (28:02):
Well done.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Hey, Laurie Margrave, Chairman of Open Country, thanks as always
for coming on, having you out on the muster.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
Great to catch up with the team.
Speaker 6 (28:10):
Always a pleasure, Andy. You take care.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
This is the muster on Hokanui.
Speaker 1 (28:24):
Tim Baker of Clinton Young Farmers catches up on a
Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 2 (28:30):
Tim, good afternoon. How are you, mate?
Speaker 4 (28:32):
Good, Andy, and yourself?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Can't really complain. Now, you're farming on the old coach road.
How are ground conditions there, dare I ask?
Speaker 4 (28:40):
Still quite soggy, very waterlogged. The wave of the sun
and the wave of the wind start drawing things out
pretty quick.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
How many seasons have you been there now, Tim, based
where you are?
Speaker 4 (28:53):
This is my second season here now, so I'll be
just coming up two years in November.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Well, OK, you compare this back to last September, which
wasn't flash. We all know the state of play there,
but where you're based, I'm not far from quite aware of.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
How are you finding it?
Speaker 4 (29:08):
Well I already worked about 80 hectares of ground in
August last year, haven't done that this year. Bit more
snow this year, last two weeks we've had a couple
of good dumps of that and the wind has just
been something unreal over here. I mean I'm sure a
lot of other people around the area have been getting
it too, especially the coastal blocks but it's just been
(29:30):
hammering us here.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
How are you looking for grass covers?
Speaker 6 (29:34):
Good, really good, Oh, nice.
Speaker 4 (29:36):
We do a fair bit of winter crop, 100 hectares
of swedes and 100 hectares of chow as well, so
we're looking pretty good for cover at the moment. These
will be going onto nice, comfy pastures and all in
good order at the moment, so everything's looking good. We
just need some sun.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
It's good to see you've got some tucker.
Speaker 7 (29:56):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:58):
No, we're good for that. To be honest, it's been
pretty mild over the winter, though. Like, grass has still
been growing.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
So everything's been pretty cruisy, really.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Everything was really good up until about mid-June. Then the
tap went on.
Speaker 4 (30:10):
Correct, yeah. Yeah, it's thought, hey, you guys are having
a wee bit good here. I might change that up.
Speaker 1 (30:16):
That's just a state of play, unfortunately. But look, there's
a lot of things going on. This afternoon, it's... It's
not going to be tropical by any means, but like
you say, we've got the rain away for a little bit,
hopefully for quite a while. But look, Clinton Young Farmers, Tim,
you're involved with the team there. How's it all been recently?
Speaker 4 (30:33):
Going really good at the moment. Actually hosted our biggest
meeting bloody near ever last night. We had 58 members there. 58? 58.
58 people turned up. We were a bit crammed in.
They started running our chairs.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Where were you holding the meeting?
Speaker 4 (30:49):
We have the meeting down at the Crossroads pub, but
usually speaking we usually get around that sort of 25
to 30 mark and they just kept pouring through the door.
I thought this is great, but I was watching the
tables dwindle. It's unreal.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
The bar staff would have loved it.
Speaker 4 (31:04):
Oh yeah, yeah. Kitchen was a wee bit busy, but
they pulled through. They made it happen.
Speaker 2 (31:09):
So why the surge in numbers?
Speaker 4 (31:12):
We few internationals at the moment... A few come over
from the UK, they must be doing a wee bit
of a holiday or exchange or something over here. I
didn't quite get round all the tables last night, which
was a bit busy, but we must just be doing
some pretty good advertising. Everyone's keen to get involved.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Now, how good?
Speaker 1 (31:29):
All from farming backgrounds or just non-farming backgrounds as well,
as you guys always encourage?
Speaker 4 (31:35):
I'd say probably about 90% from the rural sector, sort
of dairy, machine beef. There's only a few rural professionals
in there, a couple of ferret reps and... bankers and whatnot,
but the majority of the club is in the farming sector.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Which is cool. Usually our biggest meeting's the first one
of the year, sort of around February. You get a
lot of people, you know, it's a bit cruisier time
of the year on the farm, but everyone must have
just been keen to come and have a yak and
have a beer, because, well, I mean, it's been pretty
miserable on farm, so try to get off as much
as you can.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Do you reckon that had a bit to do with
it last night, and as a result of that, will
there be a flow-on effect for membership?
Speaker 4 (32:18):
Well, hopefully. The idea is to try and turn those
numbers into members, but I just think with how miserable
things have been on farm, everyone's just keen to get
out and just have a yak, catch up with their
fellow people. You're not the only one out there that's
going through it, so... Get to talk to people, really.
That's the main thing.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Connor Miller said exactly the same thing last week. Tim,
of course, Balfour, they do their Thirsty Thursday, funny enough,
every Thursday. But you guys there at Clinton, are you
actively involved in social channels during lambing time just to
keep the chat going when the going's tough?
Speaker 4 (32:55):
We're starting to get that running. So we've been heading down,
having a catch-up on a Friday night. at the moment,
just sort of trying to encourage to get as many
people along to that as we can.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
Nice.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
But, yeah, we're trying to keep in contact as much
as we can because we know how tough it can get.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
And it's the same old story, you know. A problem
shared is a problem halved. And if you're having a
bit of a, well, let's be honest, it's a shit
day on the carving, on the lambing or whatever, and
everything's just flat out and the chance just to talk
to other people and realise, as you alluded to before,
you're not the only one on that boat.
Speaker 6 (33:26):
Yep, yep.
Speaker 4 (33:27):
It's easy to get the look down a bit, but,
you know... You just get out and have a yak
and catch up with your mates and everything. It makes
life a bit easier.
Speaker 6 (33:34):
Doesn't it?
Speaker 2 (33:35):
No, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
What about Telford? Any Telford ones coming along? I think
I've asked you guys this before. Are you in cahoots
with them?
Speaker 4 (33:41):
Yep, yep, yep, yep. So we still get a wee handful.
They sort of come in waves. It must just be
as they sort of slow on from holidays and whatnot
and if they're actually about. But no, Telford's still floating around.
We don't see as many of them now as we
used to, but they're still coming out every now and
then in good numbers.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
That's a good thing, though.
Speaker 1 (34:00):
I mean, an organisation like that, are you actively working
with Telford to get them to come out? Because there's
no club as such without going, what, probably up to Milton,
I'd imagine.
Speaker 4 (34:10):
Yeah, well, the closest club to us, you know, you're
sort of heading towards Gore, and in the Otago region,
you're actually heading out to sort of Tapanui, Dunedin way,
and sort of the two closest clubs to us. But no,
Telford's a real good place to start because that's like
the grassroots of the young farmer sector.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (34:28):
So get them involved in.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
Their members for life.
Speaker 1 (34:32):
So as far as activities, anything coming up while it's
busy over the next few weeks, meals and the likes,
what are you doing?
Speaker 4 (34:38):
We're reasonably quiet. We might try to head along to
a Stags game or an Otago game within the next
month if we can, but it's really just heads down
and get through the tailing, the carving and all the
ones that are starting lambing now. Let's just groove through that.
But we'll definitely be trying to have some social events.
But no bigger events on the calendar just for this month.
(35:00):
October we'll start hooking into it again.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Okay, you had your meeting last night.
Speaker 1 (35:03):
But of those 58 people that turned up and listening, like, yeah,
it was good last night. I want to come back
and have another go and get involved with YFC. What
are the dates?
Speaker 4 (35:13):
So we meet the first of every month. At 7.30,
first Monday of every month, sorry, at 7.30.
Speaker 2 (35:20):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
At Crossroads in Clinton. We've got a group chat, so
most of those ones that turned up last night will
be part of that, so we're posting that regularly.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Awesome.
Speaker 4 (35:29):
Facebook, all social medias and that, we're posting all that.
There's flyers up, lots of in the pubs and everything
around the area, and really just word of mouth. Like,
everyone I catch up with, I'm telling. Yeah, yeah. With
a few other members in the club, so... drum up
as much as we can.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Hey, thanks for the chat. Congratulations on those numbers for
last night. That's staggering when you think about it. And
it's going to be, it's a marathon, not a sprint,
but there is a finish line in sight over the
next three or four weeks.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
Yeah, thanks for your time. Hope it goes well.
Speaker 4 (36:02):
Oh, that's good. Sun's out now, Andy, so smiles are
all going.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. I was
shopping for a tuxedo, but the salesman just wouldn't stop
hovering over me. I finally said I'd look on my own.
He shrugged and said, suit yourself.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
I shot the sheriff, but I did not shoot the deputy.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Welcome back to the muster. It's all happening down in
Invercargill this weekend. A reunion is going on for Southland Rugby,
the team. Well, the players featured in the 1970s decade
are having a get-together ahead of Bay of Plenty in
Invercargill on Sunday afternoon. Murray Heath is one of the
organisers of the event. He's played 48 games for the
(36:55):
Stags himself. He's a life member of Riverton Rugby Club,
and he's just got back from the Gold Coast back
into chilly Southland.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
Murray, welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
Speaker 7 (37:05):
Oh, absolutely, Andy. It's a privilege to be here speaking
on behalf.
Speaker 6 (37:08):
Of the boys.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Firstly, 1970s rugby. They were like the Halcyon days, I'd imagine.
Speaker 7 (37:15):
Oh, yes, certainly. When the country was strong in Southland,
the Southland team was strong. So, yes, I'm just reflecting
through here. The names that are coming to the reunion,
over half of them are for country boys.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
That was just rugby back in the day, I suppose.
I mean, all the farmers were playing, all your rural teams,
I mean, Country Pirates was very strong, all your northern teams, Eastern,
the likes, a few teams have amalgamated since. But back
in the day, I mean, it was always rugby on
a Saturday and Trust Cup on a Wednesday.
Speaker 7 (37:47):
Absolutely. You didn't have a day off, really, in South
and training on the Sunday. So sub-union games, Monday, club, Tuesday, sub-union,
rugby on Wednesday. And as it went on, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
So training for Southland back in the 1970s, how many
practices a week was there?
Speaker 7 (38:08):
Sometimes three. Three. You would train on a Sunday, most
likely Wednesday, captain's run, and then we'd play. So, yeah,
so it was a fair commitment. Everyone, you know... We
weren't paid. We all travelled together. Or if you're like me,
I travel from Riverland by myself. People prefer... But we
(38:31):
had the Tokanui bus, though. There was a fair few
from Tokanui that all hopped in the car and come in. And,
you know, the Wyndham boys and northern guys. We all
made our way there, gave up the day's, afternoon's work. Yeah,
I can recall in 1980, I got transferred to Gore
Post Office. I met my boss, and then I had
(38:53):
to tell him that I need to go to training
in the afternoon at 3 o'clock, and this is my
first day on the job in Gore. He let me off,
paid me, so that was great.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
Town and country, all the players got along back in
the day?
Speaker 7 (39:08):
Oh, yeah, we did, after we'd played our town and
country game. Yeah, that was always a bit of a
grudge match on the day, but, you know, we're all
great mates off the paddock. It didn't matter if you
played one game for Southam or... or one for the country,
you're part of the team. And, you know, when we
get together, it's just like the good old days, you know.
(39:30):
So I did catch up with a couple of old
buddies on the Gold Coast, Ken McRae and Jeff Gardner,
having a bit of a holiday in the sun and
caught up with them and told a few stories.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
You think of the 1970s and straight off the bat,
you got the Holden HQs or the Falcons, whatever you
were driving to get to practice. And yeah, you could ruck.
Rucking was an integral part of the game, I'd imagine.
I mean, if you didn't come off the game with stripes,
there was something not right.
Speaker 7 (40:01):
Oh, absolutely. You certainly tell them to move them back
or rake them back. Absolutely. You know, like go to
the shower and you'll see their Marks down the back,
you know, I was just thinking of Asher McGregor being
the Marks down the back of him many a time,
many a time. You know, tough boys, played hard, enjoyed life. And, yes,
(40:31):
it was good, rugged days, you know. I can remember
I dived past once and Dave Shanks, the late Dave Shanks,
and just ran all over top of me. Anyway, we
had a beer together and are still great mates. His
daughter is actually joining us on the Sunday of the reunion,
(40:53):
which is lovely.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
Now, former All Blacks, for example, Bob Barber, Lester Rutledge,
Ken Stewart, Steve Pakiri, Ash McGregor, Brian McKechnie, names synonymous
to Southland rugby, they're going to be along as well.
But I use those names because back in the day,
playing international rugby or playing these international visiting teams, likes
of France in 78, I think you had the 77,
(41:17):
you had the Lions, for example. I think England possibly
in 73 as well. I mean, it must have been
a real buzz to go and play these guys. And,
you know, you almost had a bounty on these teams
when they came to Invercargill.
Speaker 7 (41:29):
Oh, yes. Yes, you know, I can recall the Irish
game in 76. It was a bit of a riot.
We had Boss McGowan from Matara play prop that day
and up she went. And I had to go out
the second five that day because of a late withdrawal.
and they're fighting at my feet, you know, like, uh,
(41:52):
but they're great guys off the paddock, but yeah, we've
certainly had, you know, Ken Stewart, he played against the
71 Lions and stood out, you know, and then in
77 Lions, we had, uh, Bakiri that was a standout,
you know, there was all those games and, you know,
we had Romania as well. Uh, people come along to
(42:15):
the games because, you know, they knew everyone out there, um,
It was just a big focus and just great to
have all these guys coming home. And, you know, to
say coming home, I don't know if you could say
that if I had a reunion another 50 years' time
of all these guys that are playing for Southend now.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
So, like I said, the occasion for this weekend is
celebrating the comradeship while you can, the camaraderie.
Speaker 7 (42:40):
Yes. Well, Sam.
Well, Lester Rutledge has said to me, why don't we
organise it and let's get together before it's too late?
Because in one photo, there's 13 that passed. So this
is their swan song, really, our goodbyes to one another. Yeah,
(43:02):
it's going to be a enjoyable time, but a sad
time as well. And we'll also be honouring all those
guys that we played with and that have passed today.
We'll light a candle in remembrance to those guys and
thank them for their services to Southland. Yeah, it's a
(43:23):
great occasion, but a sad occasion too.
Speaker 1 (43:26):
Now the weekend's kicking off, I think, Friday night at
the Ascot. There's a retired Riversdale farmer who's the MC
for the event.
Speaker 7 (43:33):
Yeah, well, that's quite hilarious. Well, it's outstanding, really. I
started the Facebook page. It's actually 12 months today. And
a few days after, I got a phone call from
Jamie and said, Murray, I want to be EMC for
that function. That's my era. I know everybody. I just
(43:59):
want to be there. And we've kept in contact, and
he's honouring that commitment. And we were talking yesterday, so
he's on his way down, which is great.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
Awesome.
Speaker 7 (44:12):
He'll share some stories, and he knows a lot of
those guys. You know, like, he, you know, I think
he played for Southland B. Did he tell you that?
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Yeah, apparently he made the giddy heights of Southland B in,
I think it might have been 86 of the likes.
Speaker 2 (44:28):
No doubt he'll message me and let me know if
I'm wrong.
Speaker 7 (44:31):
Yeah, did he have a white mate met?
Speaker 2 (44:35):
I'm not too sure. I haven't heard that story yet.
Speaker 6 (44:38):
Catch the ball.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
LAUGHTER So, okay, you've got that on the Friday.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
Saturday night you're having a bit of a gala dinner
of the likes, and then Sunday the Bay of Plenty game.
Speaker 7 (44:50):
Yeah, so Sunday we'll have a lunch together. A lot
of them won't have seen the Richardson Transport Museum, so
we'll have lunch there. The Supporters Club want us to
come along to the Supporters Club at 3 o'clock. We'll
get together at the Supporters Club, and of course it's
Kick-off time at 5.05, so Rugby Southland are supporting us
(45:12):
all the way, of course. They're getting us in, they're organising.
We're going to be a guard of honour as the
players come out. We're just organising someone to talk and
give the jerseys to the players for the weekend.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
Awesome.
Speaker 7 (45:31):
It's 50 years ago NPC started.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (45:35):
And they have plenty won that. first NPC tournament.
Speaker 2 (45:39):
They did.
Speaker 7 (45:40):
And there's eight of us at the reunion who played
against Bay of Plenty that 50 years ago, Wakatane. And
we were all billeted out. You wouldn't get that nowadays.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Back at the start of the NPC, was it all
about the billeting system as such, or if you were
lucky when you went to the big smoke every now
and then they put you up in a hotel?
Speaker 7 (46:01):
Yeah, when you went to the big smoke, yeah, I'm
billeted out. But yeah, we're billeted out at Wakatane, hard
and fast ground. Quite a number of those guys in
the Bay of Plenty team went with the New Zealand
15 to Argentina because the All Blacks were in South
(46:22):
Africa in 76. So Eddie Stokes, yeah, a name that
comes to mind with a few stories. So, yeah, so,
you know, it's 50 years ago since the two unions
played in the NPC. So it's sort of, we didn't
plan it that way, but it's really iconic that it's
happened like that.
Speaker 1 (46:46):
Murray Heath there, and what is going to be a
great weekend for Southland's 1970s rugby players as they have
their reunion. Got underway last night and continuing through the weekend. Well,
that's us over in Dunmouth for the afternoon. For the morning,
there should be. Used to say in the afternoon. My
name's Andy Muir. Enjoy the weekend. If you get the
opportunity to get off farm, I suggest you take it.
Speaker 2 (47:07):
Enjoy the weekend. See you Monday.
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