July 7, 2026 • 8 mins
Dave Biss talks all matters farming in Western Australia.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
He's back. It's welcome back to the muster. We're away
over the ditches afternoon to Western Australia. Dave Bussy bus
He is a stock agent over there, I formerly of
the Many are Tato. Bussy Good afternoon. It's good morning
where you are. And it sounds as though you've got
southern temperatures today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yes, good morning, Andy. It's sure is a bit nippy.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's three degrees here and I think we're going to
hit nineteen is our high. So sooner the sun comes
out in the fog rolls back, the better.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I think. At least it's not as cold as the
Many Atato. With all that snow and wet weather they've.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Had, it sounds like there's a bit of a complaint
happening over there, and rightly so. Mice plagues are a
real thing.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yes, it is real.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Roughly about four hundred and fifty k's north of Perth
in that our area. They've had a really bad run,
and I think they're starting to get on top of
it now. But they've had a bad run in the
respect that those the mice plague has just taken over.
And I was reading some facts and figures the other
day and you know there's eight thousand mice per hectare,
so you know they're not just eating the tops, they're
(01:13):
they're burrowing into sown paddocks and eating the roots, attacking crops.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Anything that's edible is edible.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
And then there's the health issues with families and kids,
you know, bloody all sorts of illnesses that kids and
that pick up.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So it's a pretty horrible, horrible.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Thing to be happening. And then you've got all those
woke UNPC people that don't contribute to our community much
and they're rallying the big retailers not to sell poisons
and baits, so it's very.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Hard to get on top of it.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
So once again, once again it's those people sort of
rattling the chain and pushing the rest of us around,
which is a real concern going forward.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So what's happening with your stock prices at the moment?
Busy over here in New Zealand, and it's fear to say,
we're seeing record prices for lamb and sheep at the moment.
What's the situation there?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Well, I was listening to your show the other day
and I was listening to your local PGG rights an agent,
and I think on sheep across the board, we're pretty
much on par. You know, i'd say we're a bang
on the money. But our numbers and the saliards are
back considerably. So you know, two months ago when you
and I were talking, we were doing fifteen to twenty
(02:23):
thousand sheep every week. Now we're down to four to
five thousand this week, so the numbers are dwindling.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know, the U flock is low, so farmers are.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Keeping new lambs upping their female so numbers are hard
to get.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So prices for sheep are up right across the broad
cattle prices are strong.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I sold some stairs this week at five ninety six
cents a kilo on shoot on Monday, and that's pushing
the cow price up too, for that export all that
ground beef. So you know, we we were at two
dollars seventy two dollars ninety two dollars ninety five. We're
now at three dollars eighty eight for the tops of
fat cows this week, so that's good money there. So yeah,
(03:07):
it's really pumping along nicely. But I just hope it
doesn't fall too quick. We just need it to sort
of mellow out and just just smell the flowers for
a while, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So why are sheep numbers dwindling?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
One you've got a live export business that's changing, so
a lot of farmers have changed their changed their sheep management.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Two, we haven't got enough females. Three.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
We shipped a lot of sheep in the last two
and three years to the Eastern States.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
You know, some weeks we'd set we'd send.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
When I say we, the state might send fifty road
trains thirty forty fifty road trains a week.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So it's a hell of a lot of sheep have
gone out of the state.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
And if you look at processes meat companies, a couple
of the guys have done the yearly maintenance on their chains.
And one guy, one process, he's he runs two factories,
two meatworks.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
He's just locked the door on one.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
He's done his maintenance, it's ready to go, but the
numbers aren't there, so he's only running one side.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
So it's a real issue.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
It's just driving the money up, and then you get
those Eastern States buyers coming.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And that just pushes it up again.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So it's pretty it's a bit of a balancing act
at the moment, I think we just need to be
a bit careful. But you know, hopefully there'll be new
season's Lambs come on shortly, so.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We'll just see how that goes. Are they talking money
on for Sorry.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
No, that's all good. But I was about to say,
is this probably universal across the other states?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I think so? Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And a lot of those states are restocking as well,
so with floods and droughts and different things that happen
in Australia.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So it's just a chain effect. It just rolls on.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
As far as fuel levels, last time we spoke, it
was a key buzz word for a lot of people,
fuel retainment as such. What's happening now we've seen an
easing of the price here in New Zealand we're not
hearing as much about it in the media. What's your situation.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, we're on par with you.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
So we've we've gone for a stressful time where you know,
diesel was well up round that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Three dollars fifty three dollars seventy.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
There and it came back to two fifty Well, yes,
that was a dollar seventy two.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So it's come right back and it's.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Now we're back to normal now, I think, you know,
if you're down a dollar seventy for a leader, it's
not an issue anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
We've come, we've ridden that storm.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So it was just a bit of hysteria at the time.
But everything seems to have gone back to normality.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Then, yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's a bit like when COVID came or we ran
out of toilet paper. So now there's plenty on the shelf.
So I think we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
You know, I'll float this year as well. For see
regarding five FO the industry over there in Wa, just
state how big it is for the economy.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Oh wow, it's just out of control. It it's a juggernaut.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I think I said to you one other time twenty
years ago there was six sixty to seventy thousand people
a week in and out of the Perth airport, and
I think it's one hundred and seventy thousand.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Out of the Perth airport.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
And they could come from Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin or
Sydney or Fiji or wherever that that that business is
just heaven, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
It just drives the whole state.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Like I've been here twenty five years and I've never
seen a depression or at downtime.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
It just doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
The rest of Australia can be in direstrates and Western
Australia doesn't miss a beat.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That just keeps going.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
You know, you can roll in here into Western Australia
and want to get a job on the mines and
it's a tricky one, but if you know someone, you
can have a job in a week. It's easy and
that money is pretty healthy. It's pretty tidy, even a
dump truck driver.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The first job you get on a mind site, you.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Know, three fifty four hundred dollars a day and that's
the base level that they all start.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So yeah, you can save a lot of money and
it doesn't take long.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
If you've got half a brain and you've got some
good skills behind you, you can go up the food
chain pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So the money goes up pretty quick, so it's healthy.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Does rugby union, like the Wallabies have much of a
push through over there, given that AFLs the buzzword freemantles
on top of the table. West Coast Eagles they're down
the bottom but very popular. Where does union stand during
the Test season.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Well, when the Wallabies come out to play, Australia certainly
gets their Canary gold jackets on and all they're funny
and they turn the telly up.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, it's pretty strong.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
The game has grown here in the state massively over
the last twenty years and the standard's gone up. And
if you look at that Western Forest side, now obviously
they're not homebred players, but you've got quite a few
Wallabies and good Eastern States players in that side.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So it's pretty strong at times.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
You know, when they're when they're under pressure and they're
not playing that well, they struggle with the stadium with
how many people they are getting in the grounds.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
But yeah, it's pretty popular. It's pretty popular.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Club rugby in Perith. Would you say it's in a
boom moment for the time being or as a generally
pretty stable.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
It's generally pretty stable, I would. I would say this
year it's a bit flat of anything. I don't know
why that is, but the standard of rugby is perfectly
fine appeared to what it was twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's certainly improved.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know that top tier two or three Tames would
be able to foot the bill and christ Church or Dunedin.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I'm not saying they wouldn't. They'd hold their own and
they'd play a reasonable game.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
The younger crowd coming through the kids' grades are massive.
My middle boy when he was five, I think our
club side had nine teams and now we have twenty three.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And that's a general consensus. So rugby's really growing.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Hey, good on, you're bussy. Who're better leave it there?
You wrap up warm in the Western Australia will catch
up again.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, great to talk to you and you have a
lovely day and all of this all the kiwis well,
have a great day back a little.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Bit Dave busy. This Western Australian corresponded here on the
Master coming back local Next Nicola Blair from darien Z,
we have a catchup.
He's back. It's welcome back to the muster. We're away
over the ditches afternoon to Western Australia. Dave Bussy bus
He is a stock agent over there, I formerly of
the Many are Tato. Bussy Good afternoon. It's good morning
where you are. And it sounds as though you've got
southern temperatures today.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yes, good morning, Andy. It's sure is a bit nippy.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
It's three degrees here and I think we're going to
hit nineteen is our high. So sooner the sun comes
out in the fog rolls back, the better.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I think. At least it's not as cold as the
Many Atato. With all that snow and wet weather they've.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Had, it sounds like there's a bit of a complaint
happening over there, and rightly so. Mice plagues are a
real thing.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yes, it is real.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Roughly about four hundred and fifty k's north of Perth
in that our area. They've had a really bad run,
and I think they're starting to get on top of
it now. But they've had a bad run in the
respect that those the mice plague has just taken over.
And I was reading some facts and figures the other
day and you know there's eight thousand mice per hectare,
so you know they're not just eating the tops, they're
(01:13):
they're burrowing into sown paddocks and eating the roots, attacking crops.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Anything that's edible is edible.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
And then there's the health issues with families and kids,
you know, bloody all sorts of illnesses that kids and
that pick up.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
So it's a pretty horrible, horrible.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Thing to be happening. And then you've got all those
woke UNPC people that don't contribute to our community much
and they're rallying the big retailers not to sell poisons
and baits, so it's very.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Hard to get on top of it.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
So once again, once again it's those people sort of
rattling the chain and pushing the rest of us around,
which is a real concern going forward.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
So what's happening with your stock prices at the moment?
Busy over here in New Zealand, and it's fear to say,
we're seeing record prices for lamb and sheep at the moment.
What's the situation there?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Well, I was listening to your show the other day
and I was listening to your local PGG rights an agent,
and I think on sheep across the board, we're pretty
much on par. You know, i'd say we're a bang
on the money. But our numbers and the saliards are
back considerably. So you know, two months ago when you
and I were talking, we were doing fifteen to twenty
(02:23):
thousand sheep every week. Now we're down to four to
five thousand this week, so the numbers are dwindling.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
You know, the U flock is low, so farmers are.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
Keeping new lambs upping their female so numbers are hard
to get.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
So prices for sheep are up right across the broad
cattle prices are strong.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I sold some stairs this week at five ninety six
cents a kilo on shoot on Monday, and that's pushing
the cow price up too, for that export all that
ground beef. So you know, we we were at two
dollars seventy two dollars ninety two dollars ninety five. We're
now at three dollars eighty eight for the tops of
fat cows this week, so that's good money there. So yeah,
(03:07):
it's really pumping along nicely. But I just hope it
doesn't fall too quick. We just need it to sort
of mellow out and just just smell the flowers for
a while, you know.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
So why are sheep numbers dwindling?
Speaker 3 (03:18):
One you've got a live export business that's changing, so
a lot of farmers have changed their changed their sheep management.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Two, we haven't got enough females. Three.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
We shipped a lot of sheep in the last two
and three years to the Eastern States.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
You know, some weeks we'd set we'd send.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
When I say we, the state might send fifty road
trains thirty forty fifty road trains a week.
Speaker 2 (03:43):
So it's a hell of a lot of sheep have
gone out of the state.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
And if you look at processes meat companies, a couple
of the guys have done the yearly maintenance on their chains.
And one guy, one process, he's he runs two factories,
two meatworks.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
He's just locked the door on one.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
He's done his maintenance, it's ready to go, but the
numbers aren't there, so he's only running one side.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
So it's a real issue.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
It's just driving the money up, and then you get
those Eastern States buyers coming.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
And that just pushes it up again.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So it's pretty it's a bit of a balancing act
at the moment, I think we just need to be
a bit careful. But you know, hopefully there'll be new
season's Lambs come on shortly, so.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
We'll just see how that goes. Are they talking money
on for Sorry.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
No, that's all good. But I was about to say,
is this probably universal across the other states?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
I think so? Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
And a lot of those states are restocking as well,
so with floods and droughts and different things that happen
in Australia.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
So it's just a chain effect. It just rolls on.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
As far as fuel levels, last time we spoke, it
was a key buzz word for a lot of people,
fuel retainment as such. What's happening now we've seen an
easing of the price here in New Zealand we're not
hearing as much about it in the media. What's your situation.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, we're on par with you.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
So we've we've gone for a stressful time where you know,
diesel was well up round that.
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Three dollars fifty three dollars seventy.
Speaker 3 (05:03):
There and it came back to two fifty Well, yes,
that was a dollar seventy two.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
So it's come right back and it's.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
Now we're back to normal now, I think, you know,
if you're down a dollar seventy for a leader, it's
not an issue anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
We've come, we've ridden that storm.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
So it was just a bit of hysteria at the time.
But everything seems to have gone back to normality.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Then, yeah, it is.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
It's a bit like when COVID came or we ran
out of toilet paper. So now there's plenty on the shelf.
So I think we're good to go.
Speaker 1 (05:30):
You know, I'll float this year as well. For see
regarding five FO the industry over there in Wa, just
state how big it is for the economy.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Oh wow, it's just out of control. It it's a juggernaut.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I think I said to you one other time twenty
years ago there was six sixty to seventy thousand people
a week in and out of the Perth airport, and
I think it's one hundred and seventy thousand.
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Out of the Perth airport.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
And they could come from Wellington, Auckland and Dunedin or
Sydney or Fiji or wherever that that that business is
just heaven, you know, and.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
It just drives the whole state.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Like I've been here twenty five years and I've never
seen a depression or at downtime.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
It just doesn't happen.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
The rest of Australia can be in direstrates and Western
Australia doesn't miss a beat.
Speaker 2 (06:19):
That just keeps going.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
You know, you can roll in here into Western Australia
and want to get a job on the mines and
it's a tricky one, but if you know someone, you
can have a job in a week. It's easy and
that money is pretty healthy. It's pretty tidy, even a
dump truck driver.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
The first job you get on a mind site, you.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Know, three fifty four hundred dollars a day and that's
the base level that they all start.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So yeah, you can save a lot of money and
it doesn't take long.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
If you've got half a brain and you've got some
good skills behind you, you can go up the food
chain pretty quick.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
So the money goes up pretty quick, so it's healthy.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Does rugby union, like the Wallabies have much of a
push through over there, given that AFLs the buzzword freemantles
on top of the table. West Coast Eagles they're down
the bottom but very popular. Where does union stand during
the Test season.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
Well, when the Wallabies come out to play, Australia certainly
gets their Canary gold jackets on and all they're funny
and they turn the telly up.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah, it's pretty strong.
Speaker 3 (07:14):
The game has grown here in the state massively over
the last twenty years and the standard's gone up. And
if you look at that Western Forest side, now obviously
they're not homebred players, but you've got quite a few
Wallabies and good Eastern States players in that side.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
So it's pretty strong at times.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
You know, when they're when they're under pressure and they're
not playing that well, they struggle with the stadium with
how many people they are getting in the grounds.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
But yeah, it's pretty popular. It's pretty popular.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Club rugby in Perith. Would you say it's in a
boom moment for the time being or as a generally
pretty stable.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
It's generally pretty stable, I would. I would say this
year it's a bit flat of anything. I don't know
why that is, but the standard of rugby is perfectly
fine appeared to what it was twenty years ago.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
It's certainly improved.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
You know that top tier two or three Tames would
be able to foot the bill and christ Church or Dunedin.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
I'm not saying they wouldn't. They'd hold their own and
they'd play a reasonable game.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
The younger crowd coming through the kids' grades are massive.
My middle boy when he was five, I think our
club side had nine teams and now we have twenty three.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And that's a general consensus. So rugby's really growing.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
Hey, good on, you're bussy. Who're better leave it there?
You wrap up warm in the Western Australia will catch
up again.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Yeah, great to talk to you and you have a
lovely day and all of this all the kiwis well,
have a great day back a little.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Bit Dave busy. This Western Australian corresponded here on the
Master coming back local Next Nicola Blair from darien Z,
we have a catchup.
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