The Muster- Blair Drysdale: Spring Arable Prices

Blair Drysdale looks at the price of grain and how the market is looking.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Thanks for Sergeant Dan stock Food. We catch up with
blaired Drysdale and the southern farm around up of course,
Sergeant Dan stock Food here pretty much the skyline of
the good CBD. We catch up with somebody from around
the region every Monday, and this afternoon's bleared Drysdale get
a blocker. Firstly, the seat's holding. You're looking at it.
You're looking at it, six and sevens there to be honest.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good afternoon. It's been a while, wasn't. I've been in
here and this damn seat won't go down. Some sort
of legs of jammed under your desk. It's not the
most comfortable situation. But anyway, Yeah, good for you out there.
To Sergeant Dan.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
You're based at Balfa there, of course a mixed operation.
How have you been over the past few weeks? I
mean you guys experienced those wins like everybody else. What
was the lock at your place?

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah, no doubt, it was bloody, windy andy, but we
escaped a lot of damage. I only spent sort of
four or five hours cleaning up trees, so you know,
they might have only been fifteen sort of trees down total.
So now we weren't too bad, I think you go.
But further north of us was a weave bit worse,
and then definitely behind the Hokanui's south of Targo. You know,

(01:11):
through that area they got smashed and now we were
really lucky, got off really lightly. Surprisingly surprisingly, I did
think her hay barn roof was going to come off.
I was watching it lifting up and down, but it
managed to stay there, so we got off pretty lately.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Would you say it was a once in a lifetime
we have experienced as such?

Speaker 2 (01:27):
No, Look, I remember back in it was mid eighties,
eighty five to eighty seven, somewhere in there. It was
probably worse. I actually said to a truck driver this
mornings were loading grain. You know there was a soilo
sitting behind beside a hay barn. It went down between
the hay barn and the hen house. Roof come off
the hay barn, you know it was that was There's
a lot more carnage then than there was this time around.
So no, it's one of those things that just I

(01:48):
guess it happens every now and then. It's just you
don't want them to happen to Offen, that's for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Us a comparison to twenty seventeen.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I can't even remember what happened in twenty So we.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
Had wicked winds up Kettle Flat there. We had to
move everything away from the wallshed because a mess of
macrocarp was about to come crashing down. We had power
lines come down, power poles just fall down by a
wall shehed for the other wallshed, and it was just
carnage all around.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, no, I can't remember that one. But anyway, but look,
you just don't want to happen too often. My sympathies
go up those guys. They've got the hidings, you know,
in South Totigo was there's definitely some carnage and it's
a it's a time and energy and the cost that
goes with it, not only clean out the trees, but
the fencing, et cetera. So yeah, there's a long road
ahead for some of those guys.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
So how's everything else going At the moment, though, you're
starting to get that feed growing.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
Yeah, it's been Look, it got going pretty good couple
three weeks ago, and if anything, it's sort of slowed
down a little. It's just you know, we're on the
edge of we're just drying out a little bit, so
it's probably slowed it up a weaver it again. But
all in all, look, all the crops are looking really good.
They've established really well, and I've come through the spring
really well. The cold spring actually, while it was frustrating
being cold and windy, they've established and tillered really well

(02:55):
and it set them up well. So I'm pretty happy
with all the crops. All the spring someone ones are
in the ground now, so they're all up and looking
pretty good. Once again, a little bit later than I
have liked, but it was still, you know, frustratingly wet,
winding everything else and cold, so things like peas, I
just decided to leave them in the bag. All temps
warmed up and they are you know, put them on
the ground and they got up and got off their

(03:15):
ars and gone into it a bit quicker. So there's
a lot. I think we learned a lot. Everyone should
have learned a lot from las Spring about working with
mother nature, not trying to fight it. And we probably
put a lot of seeds in the ground too early.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Is why's it become the normal All of a sudden,
things go in the ground early.

Speaker 2 (03:31):
People think they're missing out on a blade of grass
if you if you, I mean the grass is always
the thing I see going in earliest. That probably shouldn't
same with winter crops, you know, if you're putting in
kale start in November here, you're really running the gauntlet
with getting up and getting a minus too frost you know,
two or three weeks later, and then it veronilized in
going to seed. So yeah, you're just sometimes it's best

(03:52):
it's patience. Isn't the virtue we could have done off
either sometimes andy, but you'll learn. So, Yeah, it pays
to be patient sometimes and lo you weight the less
weed pressure you generally have too, So there's a lot
of benefits to just being a little bit patient waiting
and working with the season with it.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Yeah, I would have thought the weed situation alone, as
far as spraying and everything, trying to eliminate as much
as you can.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Right well, you're looking a grass seed situation. If you've
got you know, your RD grass, timothy red and white clover,
there's not a lot of options to clean your past
us up. So if it's you know, full of fat
en and willow weed, et cetera, you've got to wait
a while. But we can do much about it. So
and those things all come generally when it's early cold
and a bit wet, so.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
You're pretty much up with the plane now.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yep. So week it's all due for. We'll actually overdue
for a flag leaf spray, so that'll get done in the
next couple three days. For it's all done on all
the crops, including the spring. Someone's it's all finished. So yeah,
another round of spraying, and then on the wheat, and
then year the peas and as andbraskas and oats and stuff.
They'll need a few more passes. The spray are yet going,
you know, leading up to Christmas. But now really happy

(04:52):
with how everything's looking. And you know, we've got through
a frustrating spring pretty well.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
So let's talk about the price of gray. We're hearing
about aero prices not being flesh. Give us a rundown.
What's happening in that space in general?

Speaker 2 (05:05):
It's a margins are just being trimmed up year on year. Really, Andy,
if we go back ten years ago, when grain prices
were around about that four sixty a ton, you know,
back then your ear was off memory round about that
high three hundreds a ton, you know, it's now high
eight hundred of ton. All our chemistry inputs have gone up,
All other fertilizers have gone up in price, if not doubled,

(05:27):
and grain price at the moment for wheat i've seen
at the moments five forty five, five fifty. So when
your inputs are all doubling, it's just trimming your margin.
So that's the fight in the arable world at the moment,
especially with cereals, is that margin. And you know, if
you haven't got livestock in your system with a diversity
about your system, if you're all ourble, it's a little
bit of hard game unless you've got a lot of scale.
So here's some long term issues there. We're largely tied

(05:50):
now to you know, what products can be imported and
landed in New Zealand for and that includes saving wheat
and barley from Australia, you know, soykernel, DDGs, cornstarch, the
whole lot where we're all our prices very much relative
to that now. So yeah, some battles ahead, but I
guess they're not insurmountable if your system's right.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
So more or less, it's not a case of the
price is moving being up and down, But it's all
about on farm inflation.

Speaker 2 (06:16):
A bit of both. Yeah, on farm inflation's a big
one of the struggle now is arrible. Well, once again,
if you haven't got scale, or I guess even with scale,
it's probably a bit tough as a round machinery replacement.
So you know, once again we're seeing combine track the
prices in the last ten years double. But you know,
a grain prices relative haven't moved up a great deal,
so it's a bit of a battle, there's no doubt
about that.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
So where would you say arable is on a scale
of one to ten at the moment?

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Oh damn, that's a tricky one.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
All the hard questions here.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
I would say around about a six or seven. That's
not too bad, So probably a six.

Speaker 1 (06:49):
Hey, before we wrap up, Hey, I'm going to give
a shout out abalf for young farmers. Miss belf is
coming up. That's a fun time. You know where I'm
going here?

Speaker 2 (06:57):
In your ear?

Speaker 1 (06:57):
No what, I've just got a long remick memory. Let Hey, now,
are you actually part of my spell for one year?
Are we going to see a resurgence from you on
the side this year? Just out of solidarity with the
Young Farmers.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
I was never part of miss Bell for that. When
I did that was actually a theater restaurant with Steve
Wilkins and Girk. So there are photos floating around, lady,
and you'll have seen them. But and yep, a couple
of young ladies and bellf Young Farmers Club. Troyd very
hard to make me do it again, but no buger
that I'm too old for that sort of stuff now compromised,

(07:29):
compromised with sponsoring someone to do it for us. That
was a compromise. It is good fun, but I'm a
little bit past on that sort of thing.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Ye, that's happening in a couple of weeks at the
Bow for a whole two I'm going to be a part
of it. Even it's going to be a good night.
Blair Drysdale. We'll let you go out of here and
don't break the cheer as you get out.

Speaker 3 (07:45):
I'll try not to endy blear, dry stale in the
Southern Sergeant Dan Southern farm around off of course, SE's
the Sergeant Dan stock Foods here in Gore, South MP.

Speaker 1 (07:57):
Joseph Moodey, we have a catch up next. This is
the Uster