September 6, 2026 • 8 mins
Andrew Welsh of Twin Farm Genetics catches up with lambing being just around the corner.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome back to the muster as we catch up with
Andrew Welsh out of Twin Farm Genetics, the home of
Tehran and the sponsors of the five-day forecast here on
the muster and Hokanui in general.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Andrew, good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That forecast has been a little bit lacking in sunshine recently.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah, yeah. Afternoon, Andy. You're dead right. It's been a
wee bit challenging around about, but we'll take it today.
We had fog this morning, but it's cleared beautiful blue
sky and really nice out there at the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
How often do you get fog in September?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We were actually talking about that with the staff this morning.
I can't actually ever remember having fog in September before.
It seems real strange.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Seasons seem out of whack.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
It does, yep. Yeah, well, you just sort of can
do what you can do and that's it, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So what's the state of play there, Snow? It'll be
wet on top, I'd imagine, and just needing sunshine. Everything's
there for the grass to grow. You just need a
bit of an element to come down.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Oh, definitely. Yep, no, the ground's definitely saturated at the moment. Yeah,
we were actually driving around some of the lambing paddocks
the other day and actually just about lost the bike.
The water was up nearly the top of the seat,
so I started to think that I was driving in
the wrong place.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The top of the seat?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, she was getting pretty deep there for a while.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
LAUGHTER What, were you crossing the river or something?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
No, just one of our paddocks. It's called the Swamp
Paddock for a reason. It's the first one on the
farm to fill up with water and use on the
far side of it. Just wanted to get round and
push them out onto the flood bank. So, yeah, luckily
we got them through and out and the water retreated
down before causing any troubles.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Oh, well, that's good to see that you got an
outcome there. So how is the state of play with
lambing at your place? You've got studs and the likes.
You've got split lambing mobs.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
How's it been?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yep, not too bad so far. Yeah, we managed to
avoid the worst of that weather last weekend, so they
didn't really start until about the Tuesday. So, yeah, they've
been going for about six days now, so with the
soft ticks, just the early sort of 400 or 500 ewes,
so it's been not too bad at the moment. The
bulk of the rest of the ewes don't start until
(02:12):
the end of this week, so they're all set stock
now and spread out. Yeah, we're just trying not to
drive around too many paddocks and create black marks behind
as you go. But yeah, just this time of year
and the weather we've been having, you've got to watch
out for casts and all that sort of thing with
having news in good condition.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Brenton Howden had a great idea and he started using
it this season as far as a drone and doing
the lambing beat in the morning before things get too
hectic just to go around looking for use. He said
it's just been a game changer regarding black marks and
paddocks and the like when it's wet.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah, that'd be right. It'd probably be quite fantastic up
on the hill. Dad actually had one and used to
have it a couple of years ago, but it doesn't
fly at the moment for some reason. But we found
that it's quite hard to see the screens. I think
new technology now, bigger screens, it's easier to see them and, yeah,
get round.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
There's a lot of these people who just don't get
around to wearing glasses anyway. Our tennis group on a
Wednesday night when we were at the moon having a
beer debriefing, the amount of people there that are holding
their phones about a metre away from their face because
they're too ignorant to go to the optician is ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, yep, that'd be about right.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Anyway, without naming names.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So are you changing anything as far as your feeding
cycle for September based on the conditions?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Not really. We actually, I suppose they're talking the sort
of drier summer, so we managed to actually go through
and put a fair bit of SOA on before lambing
this year, which has really kicked in and working really well.
And we also were lucky enough to get a bit
of grazing at the neighbour's grain farm for sort of
a week or 10 days for 1,000 ewes, which really
(03:52):
just gave us that extra buffer going into lambing, which
we would have been really tight if we hadn't had
that this year.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Nothing like the neighbours having a bit of grazing come available.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, it was really good. He sort of had a
few weed issues in his paddock, so he sort of
wanted to eat and off. And yeah, we were looking
for every blade of grass we could at the time.
So it's good to get those wee win-wins.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And how are the hoggarts looking?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Looking fantastic, but there's a bit of abortion going through
them at the moment, which is a bit frustrating. Because, yeah,
they scanned really well, and I was looking forward to
trying to beat that 110% lambing out of their hoggets
this year. But I've actually sent some samples away. We're
going to actually try and find out exactly what it is.
We think we know, talking to the vet, he thinks
(04:35):
he knows what it is, which I'm hoping it's not,
because we've already vaccinated for that, and I'll be pretty
hacked off if the vaccine hasn't worked. But that's all
you can do is try your best and, yeah, try
and avoid the problem next season.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Just a couple of abortions you're seeing on the ground daily.
What's the state of play there?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, you're sort of getting two or three a day
at the moment, and then you had a couple of
days where we were getting six a day there for
a few days. So it's just frustrating. The hoggets are
still happy and healthy, but, yeah, you do all the
effort taken right through to now, and then you have
them spit out those lambs and... Just frustrating, I suppose
you'd call it.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
So is it bordering on Brandenburg?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
No, no, it's not. They have a brown, rotten-y mummified
sort of a wee thing that they're splitting out in
one healthier sort of lamb. So we're suspecting it's Toxo,
but we'll wait and see.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Hopefully you guys get a resolution out of that. There's
nothing worse at this time of year with everything else.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, exactly. Yep, it's sort of early days to be saying,
but yeah, that's what we're... We're suspecting that's what it
looks like at the moment, but we're going to get
it tested and confirmed and just see if that's exactly
what it is. And then we can have some words
with some vaccine companies, maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Absolutely, if it goes like that. OK, so you're getting
to the middle of September. There might be a few
cattle just tidying up winter crops and the likes.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
You'll be pretty happy with the way they've played out,
I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, no, they've done really good, actually. We've actually, yeah,
the cattle have all finished the winter crops and the
cows are set stocked on the hill now with all
the ewes. Heifers are down. Heifers have been sort of
calving for the last three or four days now. So
we try to calve them a wee bit earlier just
so we've got a bit of time to keep an
eye on them. And then the cows sort of kick
in in another week's time with the rest of the
(06:22):
ewes up on the hill.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Wanderers, your football's all over for the season, I'd imagine?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yep, it's all tidied up. We just had prize giving
there the other night. So yeah, good to see a
good bunch of young guys coming through the team there
and had a really good season. And it sounds like
quite a few of them are sticking around again for
next year. Quite often the ones just leaving school, going
off to university, we lose a few of them. But
good young bunch this year that are hanging around, which
will be really good for next season.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yourself and Morgan Green, are you like the out-of-statesman in
the team? Are you nicknamed Grandad or anything yet?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
It's heading that way, but they keep giving us a
hard time about being the old man in the team. Yeah,
old enough that the young ones could be my kids
in the team and that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That's a reality.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Nothing like keeping them on their toes. You learn the
old trick with getting a bit older and cunning and
you still keep up with them most days.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Good on you, Snow. All the best over the next
six weeks or so. Twin Farm Genetics, the home of Tehran,
and the sponsors of the five-day forecast here on Hokonui.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Good as gold, Andy. And, yeah, everyone, keep your heads
up out there. Remember, it's just a short time in
the grand scheme of it, so enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Andrew Welsh of Twin Farm Genetics, a home of Tehran.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
The amount of people who aren't prepared to accept the
fact they need to go and see an optometrist is staggering.
Not naming names, but you sit around having a pint,
just sit there and watch people on their phone and
gradually glare. Their eyes bulge as the phone pulls away
from their face. Anyway, we'll go up to Garston next.
We're going to catch up with Thomas O'Brien.
Welcome back to the muster as we catch up with
Andrew Welsh out of Twin Farm Genetics, the home of
Tehran and the sponsors of the five-day forecast here on
the muster and Hokanui in general.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Andrew, good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
That forecast has been a little bit lacking in sunshine recently.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yeah, yeah. Afternoon, Andy. You're dead right. It's been a
wee bit challenging around about, but we'll take it today.
We had fog this morning, but it's cleared beautiful blue
sky and really nice out there at the moment.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
How often do you get fog in September?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
We were actually talking about that with the staff this morning.
I can't actually ever remember having fog in September before.
It seems real strange.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Seasons seem out of whack.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
It does, yep. Yeah, well, you just sort of can
do what you can do and that's it, isn't it?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So what's the state of play there, Snow? It'll be
wet on top, I'd imagine, and just needing sunshine. Everything's
there for the grass to grow. You just need a
bit of an element to come down.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Oh, definitely. Yep, no, the ground's definitely saturated at the moment. Yeah,
we were actually driving around some of the lambing paddocks
the other day and actually just about lost the bike.
The water was up nearly the top of the seat,
so I started to think that I was driving in
the wrong place.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
The top of the seat?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, she was getting pretty deep there for a while.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
LAUGHTER What, were you crossing the river or something?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
No, just one of our paddocks. It's called the Swamp
Paddock for a reason. It's the first one on the
farm to fill up with water and use on the
far side of it. Just wanted to get round and
push them out onto the flood bank. So, yeah, luckily
we got them through and out and the water retreated
down before causing any troubles.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Oh, well, that's good to see that you got an
outcome there. So how is the state of play with
lambing at your place? You've got studs and the likes.
You've got split lambing mobs.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
How's it been?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yep, not too bad so far. Yeah, we managed to
avoid the worst of that weather last weekend, so they
didn't really start until about the Tuesday. So, yeah, they've
been going for about six days now, so with the
soft ticks, just the early sort of 400 or 500 ewes,
so it's been not too bad at the moment. The
bulk of the rest of the ewes don't start until
(02:12):
the end of this week, so they're all set stock
now and spread out. Yeah, we're just trying not to
drive around too many paddocks and create black marks behind
as you go. But yeah, just this time of year
and the weather we've been having, you've got to watch
out for casts and all that sort of thing with
having news in good condition.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Brenton Howden had a great idea and he started using
it this season as far as a drone and doing
the lambing beat in the morning before things get too
hectic just to go around looking for use. He said
it's just been a game changer regarding black marks and
paddocks and the like when it's wet.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Yeah, that'd be right. It'd probably be quite fantastic up
on the hill. Dad actually had one and used to
have it a couple of years ago, but it doesn't
fly at the moment for some reason. But we found
that it's quite hard to see the screens. I think
new technology now, bigger screens, it's easier to see them and, yeah,
get round.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
There's a lot of these people who just don't get
around to wearing glasses anyway. Our tennis group on a
Wednesday night when we were at the moon having a
beer debriefing, the amount of people there that are holding
their phones about a metre away from their face because
they're too ignorant to go to the optician is ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
Yeah, yep, that'd be about right.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Anyway, without naming names.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
So are you changing anything as far as your feeding
cycle for September based on the conditions?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Not really. We actually, I suppose they're talking the sort
of drier summer, so we managed to actually go through
and put a fair bit of SOA on before lambing
this year, which has really kicked in and working really well.
And we also were lucky enough to get a bit
of grazing at the neighbour's grain farm for sort of
a week or 10 days for 1,000 ewes, which really
(03:52):
just gave us that extra buffer going into lambing, which
we would have been really tight if we hadn't had
that this year.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Nothing like the neighbours having a bit of grazing come available.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Yeah, it was really good. He sort of had a
few weed issues in his paddock, so he sort of
wanted to eat and off. And yeah, we were looking
for every blade of grass we could at the time.
So it's good to get those wee win-wins.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
And how are the hoggarts looking?
Speaker 3 (04:14):
Looking fantastic, but there's a bit of abortion going through
them at the moment, which is a bit frustrating. Because, yeah,
they scanned really well, and I was looking forward to
trying to beat that 110% lambing out of their hoggets
this year. But I've actually sent some samples away. We're
going to actually try and find out exactly what it is.
We think we know, talking to the vet, he thinks
(04:35):
he knows what it is, which I'm hoping it's not,
because we've already vaccinated for that, and I'll be pretty
hacked off if the vaccine hasn't worked. But that's all
you can do is try your best and, yeah, try
and avoid the problem next season.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Just a couple of abortions you're seeing on the ground daily.
What's the state of play there?
Speaker 3 (04:52):
Yeah, you're sort of getting two or three a day
at the moment, and then you had a couple of
days where we were getting six a day there for
a few days. So it's just frustrating. The hoggets are
still happy and healthy, but, yeah, you do all the
effort taken right through to now, and then you have
them spit out those lambs and... Just frustrating, I suppose
you'd call it.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
So is it bordering on Brandenburg?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
No, no, it's not. They have a brown, rotten-y mummified
sort of a wee thing that they're splitting out in
one healthier sort of lamb. So we're suspecting it's Toxo,
but we'll wait and see.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Hopefully you guys get a resolution out of that. There's
nothing worse at this time of year with everything else.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Yeah, exactly. Yep, it's sort of early days to be saying,
but yeah, that's what we're... We're suspecting that's what it
looks like at the moment, but we're going to get
it tested and confirmed and just see if that's exactly
what it is. And then we can have some words
with some vaccine companies, maybe.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Absolutely, if it goes like that. OK, so you're getting
to the middle of September. There might be a few
cattle just tidying up winter crops and the likes.
Speaker 2 (05:58):
You'll be pretty happy with the way they've played out,
I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, no, they've done really good, actually. We've actually, yeah,
the cattle have all finished the winter crops and the
cows are set stocked on the hill now with all
the ewes. Heifers are down. Heifers have been sort of
calving for the last three or four days now. So
we try to calve them a wee bit earlier just
so we've got a bit of time to keep an
eye on them. And then the cows sort of kick
in in another week's time with the rest of the
(06:22):
ewes up on the hill.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Wanderers, your football's all over for the season, I'd imagine?
Speaker 3 (06:27):
Yep, it's all tidied up. We just had prize giving
there the other night. So yeah, good to see a
good bunch of young guys coming through the team there
and had a really good season. And it sounds like
quite a few of them are sticking around again for
next year. Quite often the ones just leaving school, going
off to university, we lose a few of them. But
good young bunch this year that are hanging around, which
will be really good for next season.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Yourself and Morgan Green, are you like the out-of-statesman in
the team? Are you nicknamed Grandad or anything yet?
Speaker 3 (06:55):
It's heading that way, but they keep giving us a
hard time about being the old man in the team. Yeah,
old enough that the young ones could be my kids
in the team and that sort of thing.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
That's a reality.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Nothing like keeping them on their toes. You learn the
old trick with getting a bit older and cunning and
you still keep up with them most days.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Good on you, Snow. All the best over the next
six weeks or so. Twin Farm Genetics, the home of Tehran,
and the sponsors of the five-day forecast here on Hokonui.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Good as gold, Andy. And, yeah, everyone, keep your heads
up out there. Remember, it's just a short time in
the grand scheme of it, so enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Andrew Welsh of Twin Farm Genetics, a home of Tehran.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
The amount of people who aren't prepared to accept the
fact they need to go and see an optometrist is staggering.
Not naming names, but you sit around having a pint,
just sit there and watch people on their phone and
gradually glare. Their eyes bulge as the phone pulls away
from their face. Anyway, we'll go up to Garston next.
We're going to catch up with Thomas O'Brien.
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