September 3, 2026 • 9 mins
Brenton Howden looks at drone use during lambing time and how it has made life easier at the start of the busy season.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is the muster on Hokanui for a Friday afternoon.
The artist there is Avicii, the late great Avicii. The
song is Levels as we head over to Benmore in
central Southland and we catch up with Brenton Howden farming
over that way on the road between Benmore and Ditton.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good afternoon Howdy, how's things in your neck.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Of the woods?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
G'day Andy, things aren't too bad. It's certainly wet but
sun's trying to poke through so we'll take what we
can get.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
For the first week of September, like the last couple
of years, is this a continuation?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I think so, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if it's
just as wet as the last two. I hope not, but, yeah,
I'd say it will be.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So what are your, like, ground condition-wise there? What's happening?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Oh, she's fairly wet, yeah. Everywhere you drive, splat marks.
So not lambing just yet. I don't start till Monday,
but still got to get around and check things. Yeah.
It's a hell of a mess.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Have you had a few earlies?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I had 200 earlies back about the 3rd of August
that weren't supposed to, but luckily we got them out
at scanning and they were all done and dusted by
about the 15th.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Who was the culprit there? Bloody a rig on the
loose or something?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, something like that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, you know, get some early season premiums for them
if you've got some grass for them.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, it'll soften the workload a bit in the next
couple of weeks, but put a bit of pressure on feed,
but Yeah, we'll get there.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So you've managed to get them through okay to this stage,
like death rate and everything?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It hasn't been too bad?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
No, they've been pretty good, yeah. Once they all sort
of lamb down, I move them to some paddocks that
are not normally that nice to lamb in. So, yeah,
it's kind of handy in that regard. Yeah, that's where
it did all right.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
How are your covers looking?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Gone.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Gone?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Nah, that's still not too bad. I'm pretty happy with
sort of where they are, considering there's a couple of
paddocks that are a wee bit there, but just spread
a few of these out in those ones and a
few extras in the ones beside them, make it work, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Noticeably, sorry, mate, the feed's been pretty slow for the
first week of September, but you're not too concerned about
things on a whole day, like.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The feed will come?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It should come. I've put plenty of nitrogen on just about...
Probably 80% of the lambing paddocks have nitrogen, and it
should grow as we get a bit of heat, and, yeah,
it should come right. Yeah, it's definitely been a standstill
for the last 10 days since I spread the ewes out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I suppose if there's one positive at the moment is
the fact that the temperatures are around the double-digit mark.
I mean, what we had the other day was about
four or whatever. Yesterday was one out of the box,
being 17, 18 degrees. But just staying in double digits
at least, it's a saving grace.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, definitely. If you can stay in double digits, we'll
get a bit of growth, and as long as you
don't drive over too much of it, it'll come away. Yeah,
that Monday, that was the coldest day of winter, I reckon.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
August the 31st, it'll go down in history as being
one of the worst days we've had for the last
half of winter for a very long time, and that's
just a southern persona, right?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's just going to bite you in the butt every
now and then.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, yeah, I just don't want to say it, but
that old saying, I won't let you down.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You use technology for going around the yews at the moment.
You've got the drone out and about before you crank
into gear.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, I've bought a drone this year and I've been
using that. Instead of going around twice for the day
at the moment, I've just been going around once and
then using the drone the other time just if anything
needs tipped up or whatnot, shoot straight to those paddocks. Yeah,
just saves making as much marks on the paddock. It's
definitely been really handy actually.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So how long does it take you to go around
the lambing beat doing the drone?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
About 35 minutes, 40 minutes, get around the whole lot,
as opposed to three hours.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Far out. And what did the drone cost you? Was
it a big outlay?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Nah, it was about $ 2, 000, or too bad. Yeah, but
I see it, yeah, a lot of uses for it
going forward, definitely.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
You just don't want to crash it?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
No, but they've got all their own safety stuff on it.
You've actually got to try and crash them these days.
They've got sensors and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So how far can a drone go away from the
house as such? What's the range on it?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Oh, I think it'll go a fair way. It'll go
until it knows it's got enough battery to get back, basically.
And once it gets down to a certain battery level,
it makes its own way back, backlakes its course back
and comes straight back. You don't have to fly it back.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So what are the dimensions? How big would it be?
How wide? Say, 18 inches?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It's probably just a little bit bigger than an A4
bit of paper. Sort of wide, and then it's, I
don't know, two inches tall.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, it's not very big, but yeah, very, very good
camera on it. Like, you can be quite high up
and zoom right in, and yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
When drones first got talked about and the cynics said, well,
what's the point of going out? Why be a farmer
if you're going to do it from your doorstep? But
I think with the way the weather conditions have been
and you made the observation, leaving the black marks out
of the paddock due to the saturation point we're seeing,
it's actually pretty wise thinking.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, I'm like, what's the point of driving around that
paddock if there's nothing going on in there? Yeah, like
yesterday I went around and I seen two cast ewes.
I just went straight to those paddocks, tipped them up
and then, yeah. Then we did went around them on
the bike in the afternoon, but, yeah, it was just
saved driving around for no reason.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
What do the animals make of the drone? They won't
even notice it, I suppose.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Oh, if you get close enough, they move. I did
muster a mile of a sheep with it a couple
of months ago on my rough bit. Yeah, they'd know
it's there if you're close enough.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Mustering by a drone, that must have felt quite a
hard case.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Yeah, I just thought I'd see how it'd go, and
I did the job.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So you reckon it's the equivalent of half a labour unit,
almost a labour unit at the moment?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Oh, it can be at times, yeah. Like, they've definitely
got their place, but they do have their limitations too. Like,
they don't open gates and they don't cast us over,
but yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Well, you don't need to. You can just fly around
and not have to worry about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
No, that's right. No, I think it's well worth the investment.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So what, you just charge it up at night, just
minimal charge time, and whoosh, you're away.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, it comes with three batteries. You don't have to, yeah,
they all charge up pretty quick. So you get about
30 to 40 miles flight out of a battery just
depending on the wind and, yeah, how much moving around
you do.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Do you know of many other people who have started
doing this as well, Howdy, as far as early lambing stage?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, I think there was a couple of guys on
the country team that had them or were talking about
getting them just to, Yeah, just try and minimise those
losses through past years, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense as well. If
you can work smarter, not harder, that's the thought that
comes to mind.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, definitely. Yep, yep, you've just got to find all these.
It's the same with any technology. It's all just a tool.
It's how you use them, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Did you buy it online or just go into Invis
and have a look in a couple of shops there?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, that's pretty much what I did. Yeah, I went
to one of the shops in there and, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Oh, interesting. Interesting. Oh, well, it just shows your technology
certainly has its place. But just to wrap up, though,
we'll talk a bit of footy. You talked about Southland
Country before. You guys had a really good win on
the weekend for your last game, beating Otago Country.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
That's the big grudge match for you guys.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
It is, yes. That's the best match. That's the one
we should aim for. The Southland Town game's a big one, too,
but I always think the Otago Country ones were the
one you want to make sure we win. We hadn't
won it since 2021, so it was good to get
the win over them Over the game, we drew with
them last year, but we got the win this year,
so we took home the Donaghy Shield for the first time.
It's been played between us for the last three or
(08:02):
four years now, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Jeez, you won a few Shields this year, haven't you?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
A couple, yeah. That one's sitting in my lounge at
the moment. I just need the Galbraiths parked upside it,
and we're looking pretty good.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So who's got the Galbraiths?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Do you have turns about like a month each or
a couple of weeks at someone's house or wall shed
or whatever, or what's the go?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Yeah, we're just sort of sharing it around. I think
Tom Simmers got it at the moment. Yeah, going to
get it next for a while and, yeah, share it
around and, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Share the love.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
For a wedding or a birthday, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh, too good.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Hey, good on you, mate. We'll let you carry on.
Go and get that drone going and, yeah, and all
the best for lambing. We'll catch up again. Always appreciate
the chat.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
No, cheers, Andy, and good luck to everyone out there.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Brenton Howden of Benmore. The hub of technology, by the
sounds of it. Morgan Green's up next out of NSFest.
Let's just talk about the situation we're seeing at the moment.
This is the muster on Hokanui for a Friday afternoon.
The artist there is Avicii, the late great Avicii. The
song is Levels as we head over to Benmore in
central Southland and we catch up with Brenton Howden farming
over that way on the road between Benmore and Ditton.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good afternoon Howdy, how's things in your neck.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Of the woods?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
G'day Andy, things aren't too bad. It's certainly wet but
sun's trying to poke through so we'll take what we
can get.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
For the first week of September, like the last couple
of years, is this a continuation?
Speaker 3 (00:39):
I think so, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if it's
just as wet as the last two. I hope not, but, yeah,
I'd say it will be.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
So what are your, like, ground condition-wise there? What's happening?
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Oh, she's fairly wet, yeah. Everywhere you drive, splat marks.
So not lambing just yet. I don't start till Monday,
but still got to get around and check things. Yeah.
It's a hell of a mess.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Have you had a few earlies?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I had 200 earlies back about the 3rd of August
that weren't supposed to, but luckily we got them out
at scanning and they were all done and dusted by
about the 15th.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Who was the culprit there? Bloody a rig on the
loose or something?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Yeah, something like that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Well, you know, get some early season premiums for them
if you've got some grass for them.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Yeah, it'll soften the workload a bit in the next
couple of weeks, but put a bit of pressure on feed,
but Yeah, we'll get there.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
So you've managed to get them through okay to this stage,
like death rate and everything?
Speaker 2 (01:38):
It hasn't been too bad?
Speaker 3 (01:40):
No, they've been pretty good, yeah. Once they all sort
of lamb down, I move them to some paddocks that
are not normally that nice to lamb in. So, yeah,
it's kind of handy in that regard. Yeah, that's where
it did all right.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
How are your covers looking?
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Gone.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
Gone?
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Nah, that's still not too bad. I'm pretty happy with
sort of where they are, considering there's a couple of
paddocks that are a wee bit there, but just spread
a few of these out in those ones and a
few extras in the ones beside them, make it work, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Noticeably, sorry, mate, the feed's been pretty slow for the
first week of September, but you're not too concerned about
things on a whole day, like.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
The feed will come?
Speaker 3 (02:20):
It should come. I've put plenty of nitrogen on just about...
Probably 80% of the lambing paddocks have nitrogen, and it
should grow as we get a bit of heat, and, yeah,
it should come right. Yeah, it's definitely been a standstill
for the last 10 days since I spread the ewes out. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
I suppose if there's one positive at the moment is
the fact that the temperatures are around the double-digit mark.
I mean, what we had the other day was about
four or whatever. Yesterday was one out of the box,
being 17, 18 degrees. But just staying in double digits
at least, it's a saving grace.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Yeah, definitely. If you can stay in double digits, we'll
get a bit of growth, and as long as you
don't drive over too much of it, it'll come away. Yeah,
that Monday, that was the coldest day of winter, I reckon.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
August the 31st, it'll go down in history as being
one of the worst days we've had for the last
half of winter for a very long time, and that's
just a southern persona, right?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
It's just going to bite you in the butt every
now and then.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, yeah, I just don't want to say it, but
that old saying, I won't let you down.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
You use technology for going around the yews at the moment.
You've got the drone out and about before you crank
into gear.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Yeah, I've bought a drone this year and I've been
using that. Instead of going around twice for the day
at the moment, I've just been going around once and
then using the drone the other time just if anything
needs tipped up or whatnot, shoot straight to those paddocks. Yeah,
just saves making as much marks on the paddock. It's
definitely been really handy actually.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
So how long does it take you to go around
the lambing beat doing the drone?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
About 35 minutes, 40 minutes, get around the whole lot,
as opposed to three hours.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Far out. And what did the drone cost you? Was
it a big outlay?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Nah, it was about $ 2, 000, or too bad. Yeah, but
I see it, yeah, a lot of uses for it
going forward, definitely.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
You just don't want to crash it?
Speaker 3 (04:18):
No, but they've got all their own safety stuff on it.
You've actually got to try and crash them these days.
They've got sensors and whatnot.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Oh, wow.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So how far can a drone go away from the
house as such? What's the range on it?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Oh, I think it'll go a fair way. It'll go
until it knows it's got enough battery to get back, basically.
And once it gets down to a certain battery level,
it makes its own way back, backlakes its course back
and comes straight back. You don't have to fly it back.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:48):
So what are the dimensions? How big would it be?
How wide? Say, 18 inches?
Speaker 3 (04:53):
It's probably just a little bit bigger than an A4
bit of paper. Sort of wide, and then it's, I
don't know, two inches tall.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Yeah, it's not very big, but yeah, very, very good
camera on it. Like, you can be quite high up
and zoom right in, and yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
When drones first got talked about and the cynics said, well,
what's the point of going out? Why be a farmer
if you're going to do it from your doorstep? But
I think with the way the weather conditions have been
and you made the observation, leaving the black marks out
of the paddock due to the saturation point we're seeing,
it's actually pretty wise thinking.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
Yeah, I'm like, what's the point of driving around that
paddock if there's nothing going on in there? Yeah, like
yesterday I went around and I seen two cast ewes.
I just went straight to those paddocks, tipped them up
and then, yeah. Then we did went around them on
the bike in the afternoon, but, yeah, it was just
saved driving around for no reason.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
What do the animals make of the drone? They won't
even notice it, I suppose.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Oh, if you get close enough, they move. I did
muster a mile of a sheep with it a couple
of months ago on my rough bit. Yeah, they'd know
it's there if you're close enough.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
Mustering by a drone, that must have felt quite a
hard case.
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Yeah, I just thought I'd see how it'd go, and
I did the job.
Speaker 1 (06:07):
So you reckon it's the equivalent of half a labour unit,
almost a labour unit at the moment?
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Oh, it can be at times, yeah. Like, they've definitely
got their place, but they do have their limitations too. Like,
they don't open gates and they don't cast us over,
but yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Well, you don't need to. You can just fly around
and not have to worry about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
No, that's right. No, I think it's well worth the investment.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
So what, you just charge it up at night, just
minimal charge time, and whoosh, you're away.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, it comes with three batteries. You don't have to, yeah,
they all charge up pretty quick. So you get about
30 to 40 miles flight out of a battery just
depending on the wind and, yeah, how much moving around
you do.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
Do you know of many other people who have started
doing this as well, Howdy, as far as early lambing stage?
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Yeah, I think there was a couple of guys on
the country team that had them or were talking about
getting them just to, Yeah, just try and minimise those
losses through past years, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Yeah, it makes a lot of sense as well. If
you can work smarter, not harder, that's the thought that
comes to mind.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah, definitely. Yep, yep, you've just got to find all these.
It's the same with any technology. It's all just a tool.
It's how you use them, so yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
Did you buy it online or just go into Invis
and have a look in a couple of shops there?
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Yeah, that's pretty much what I did. Yeah, I went
to one of the shops in there and, yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Oh, interesting. Interesting. Oh, well, it just shows your technology
certainly has its place. But just to wrap up, though,
we'll talk a bit of footy. You talked about Southland
Country before. You guys had a really good win on
the weekend for your last game, beating Otago Country.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
That's the big grudge match for you guys.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
It is, yes. That's the best match. That's the one
we should aim for. The Southland Town game's a big one, too,
but I always think the Otago Country ones were the
one you want to make sure we win. We hadn't
won it since 2021, so it was good to get
the win over them Over the game, we drew with
them last year, but we got the win this year,
so we took home the Donaghy Shield for the first time.
It's been played between us for the last three or
(08:02):
four years now, so yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Jeez, you won a few Shields this year, haven't you?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
A couple, yeah. That one's sitting in my lounge at
the moment. I just need the Galbraiths parked upside it,
and we're looking pretty good.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
So who's got the Galbraiths?
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Do you have turns about like a month each or
a couple of weeks at someone's house or wall shed
or whatever, or what's the go?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Yeah, we're just sort of sharing it around. I think
Tom Simmers got it at the moment. Yeah, going to
get it next for a while and, yeah, share it
around and, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Share the love.
Speaker 3 (08:30):
For a wedding or a birthday, yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:34):
Oh, too good.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
Hey, good on you, mate. We'll let you carry on.
Go and get that drone going and, yeah, and all
the best for lambing. We'll catch up again. Always appreciate
the chat.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
No, cheers, Andy, and good luck to everyone out there.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Brenton Howden of Benmore. The hub of technology, by the
sounds of it. Morgan Green's up next out of NSFest.
Let's just talk about the situation we're seeing at the moment.
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