September 6, 2026 • 8 mins
Blair Drysdale says the political cycle is moving so quickly at the moment that voters could get turned off by all the hijinks with still two months still to go.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
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 2 (00:26):
Good afternoon, Andy. Um, Spring, it's just frustration for a
third year in a row. Simple as that. You know,
I know 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
(00:48):
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 a
good week, 10 days more now. It was starting to
take away, but it's just stopped dead. So, yeah, a
little bit frustrating, getting sick of, you know, 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
(01:11):
and cold to do and windy to do your fur
at all spraying. So the ground's too wet largely to work.
I've done a little bit, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You've got the lambing going on at the moment. From
the man who coined the phrase of all the aphids,
how are they going?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Apart from being really unsettled, well, they've settled down about
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 early. I
don't do a lot, and I don't have to do
a hell of a lot with them. Had to lamb
(01:45):
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 he can't do much at night
about that, so it happens every now and then. But yeah,
all in all, they're taking on pretty nicely, and we'll be,
(02:06):
like the main ewes, we'll be well through them by
the end of this week, that's for sure. And then
just wait on Holger, so 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 it mitigates a bit of risk
and spreads workload too, so... All in all, they're going well, but, yeah, lambs,
(02:27):
the early ones, the black-faced ones, they're looking for a
little bit of sun. They're starting to eat grass too, so, yeah,
a bit of sun will be handy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
How many ewes are you lambing?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
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. See, ideally, you know,
I'd like to sort of, around that 500, 450, 500
next year. We'll sort of be where it's at. We
(02:59):
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 it 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
(03:19):
do the rest as per normal.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Remembering that you went away from use proper, I mean,
you're the guy who infamously just buried his wool shed.
So what are you thinking there? The market's looking pretty
good and you're just keeping your hand in a few
different pies as such?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
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
(03:56):
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
(04:17):
of workload, spreads of roofs, and makes it a little
bit more interesting too, doing some new things as well, Andy.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
With the way the arable sector is at the moment,
are you thinking of perhaps getting more sheep into the equation?
Or beef for that matter?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
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
(04:51):
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 (05:02):
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 Eatitwaimumi. That may change today. Where
are we at?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, we definitely, you wouldn't want to air my little
rant off air.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It was one for the ages, I'll say that.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
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 for the
policy and what we can do for free. 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
(05:42):
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 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
(06:02):
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 with their latest policy
about supermarkets, they should probably take a wee trip to
Zimbabwe and try and buy a loaf of bread and
(06:23):
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, actually, 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. Your sawmill's
closing down everywhere, for argument's sake. So I'd like to
(06:43):
see a lot more in that area, and every party's
guilty of not giving us enough in that area.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Is your vote up for grabs? Hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, you know, every farmer in this electorate would largely, normally,
and probably, like, 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,
because I think a lot of people are looking for,
(07:15):
you know, the policies that make sense from some of
the smaller parties. Let's exclude the Greens, because their policies
are mediocrity. 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 1 (07:35):
Good on you, Blair. We'll let you carry on. And
thank you for not getting me to the Broadcasting Standards
Authority today.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
No, I'll save my F-bombs for another day as much
as the Greens rile me.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Blair Blocker-Drysdale, based at Balfour in the Sargent Dan Farming Roundup. Thanks,
of course, to Sargent Dan's Stock Foods, based here in Gore.
Talking politics, Joseph Mooney, MP for Southlands, up next.
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 2 (00:26):
Good afternoon, Andy. Um, Spring, it's just frustration for a
third year in a row. Simple as that. You know,
I know 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
(00:48):
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 a
good week, 10 days more now. It was starting to
take away, but it's just stopped dead. So, yeah, a
little bit frustrating, getting sick of, you know, 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
(01:11):
and cold to do and windy to do your fur
at all spraying. So the ground's too wet largely to work.
I've done a little bit, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
You've got the lambing going on at the moment. From
the man who coined the phrase of all the aphids,
how are they going?
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Apart from being really unsettled, well, they've settled down about
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 early. I
don't do a lot, and I don't have to do
a hell of a lot with them. Had to lamb
(01:45):
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 he can't do much at night
about that, so it happens every now and then. But yeah,
all in all, they're taking on pretty nicely, and we'll be,
(02:06):
like the main ewes, we'll be well through them by
the end of this week, that's for sure. And then
just wait on Holger, so 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 it mitigates a bit of risk
and spreads workload too, so... All in all, they're going well, but, yeah, lambs,
(02:27):
the early ones, the black-faced ones, they're looking for a
little bit of sun. They're starting to eat grass too, so, yeah,
a bit of sun will be handy.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
How many ewes are you lambing?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
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. See, ideally, you know,
I'd like to sort of, around that 500, 450, 500
next year. We'll sort of be where it's at. We
(02:59):
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 it 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
(03:19):
do the rest as per normal.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Remembering that you went away from use proper, I mean,
you're the guy who infamously just buried his wool shed.
So what are you thinking there? The market's looking pretty
good and you're just keeping your hand in a few
different pies as such?
Speaker 2 (03:35):
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
(03:56):
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
(04:17):
of workload, spreads of roofs, and makes it a little
bit more interesting too, doing some new things as well, Andy.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
With the way the arable sector is at the moment,
are you thinking of perhaps getting more sheep into the equation?
Or beef for that matter?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
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
(04:51):
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 (05:02):
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 Eatitwaimumi. That may change today. Where
are we at?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, we definitely, you wouldn't want to air my little
rant off air.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
It was one for the ages, I'll say that.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
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 for the
policy and what we can do for free. 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
(05:42):
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 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
(06:02):
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 with their latest policy
about supermarkets, they should probably take a wee trip to
Zimbabwe and try and buy a loaf of bread and
(06:23):
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, actually, 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. Your sawmill's
closing down everywhere, for argument's sake. So I'd like to
(06:43):
see a lot more in that area, and every party's
guilty of not giving us enough in that area.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Is your vote up for grabs? Hell yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
Well, you know, every farmer in this electorate would largely, normally,
and probably, like, 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,
because I think a lot of people are looking for,
(07:15):
you know, the policies that make sense from some of
the smaller parties. Let's exclude the Greens, because their policies
are mediocrity. 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 1 (07:35):
Good on you, Blair. We'll let you carry on. And
thank you for not getting me to the Broadcasting Standards
Authority today.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
No, I'll save my F-bombs for another day as much
as the Greens rile me.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Blair Blocker-Drysdale, based at Balfour in the Sargent Dan Farming Roundup. Thanks,
of course, to Sargent Dan's Stock Foods, based here in Gore.
Talking politics, Joseph Mooney, MP for Southlands, up next.
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