September 2, 2026 • 46 mins
Andy Muir talks to Peter Gardyne, Simon Hopcroft, Isla Pringle, Matt McRae, Nathan Burdon and Greg Clearwater.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui. Andy
Muir here until 2 o'clock. Of course, the show is
brought to you by Peters Genetics. On an afternoon that
is actually pleasant. It's currently 16 degrees in the middle
of G-Town, and believe it or not, I see sunshine
on the horizon. Sunshine just makes you happy. It's just great,
(00:28):
especially after the past couple of days. We'll look at
the weather shortly. Phil Duncan from Weatherwatch on the show
tomorrow to give a rundown on the next seven days.
But look, at least we're getting double-digit temperatures. That's something
to cherish at the moment after what has been an
interesting week. Nonetheless, we carry on with the hour straight
into it. The one and only Spidey, and that's the
tunes for your Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Hōkanui' s five-day forecast with Twin Farm, Tehran and Softex.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
The proof is in the progeny. This afternoon they're talking
showers of breezy north westerlies and a high of 18. Friday,
rain with thunderstorms with brisk westerlies 5 and 10. Saturday,
afternoon showers of breezy north westerlies 5 and 13. Sunday,
rain with light easterlies 4 and 11. And Monday is
(01:17):
cloudy with light south westerlies 3 and 10. So it'll
be interesting to see what the rain radar is doing
over the next wee while, whether that rain actually disappears
a bit. So temperatures for Thursday, Clinton 7.8, Heria at 7.3,
Northern Southland 8.2, Riverton 9.3, Te Anau 8.3, Titiroa 8.2,
(01:37):
Winton 7.5 and Woodlands at 7.8. Peter Gardon of Napdale
gets us underway this afternoon. He's not quite in the
main throes of lambing, but getting close with throes of lambing,
but not too far away from Pete. Isla Pringle. at
Hedgehope Dairy Farming. Started calving probably six weeks ago, I suppose,
(01:59):
by the time you take the heifers into account. So
we catch up to see how life is over at
Hedgehope with Isla. And then Simon Hopcroft, he's the chair
of the Southland Rural Support Trust. Having a catch up,
of course, their Brunch on Us events are occurring at
the moment. It's always good to catch up and chew
the fat with Simon, especially at this time of year.
Matt McRae talking today in his beef and lamb director
(02:21):
role for the beef and lamb slot. And then our
resident sporting guru, Nathan Burden. The Warriors. The bandwagon is
well and truly alive. There's the main line here. There's
a lookout over it here. Right beside State Highway 1
has people jumping on that bandwagon every day at the moment.
And as well, the Stags. Counties on Sunday. Another must-win game,
I suppose. Greg Clearwater of PGG writes in, gives a
(02:44):
rundown on sale prices very shortly and then we'll crank
into the owl with Peter Gardine. This is the muster.
Thanks to Peter's genetics, time is seven after one. Peter
Gardine farms in Napdale and joins us once again this
afternoon on the muster. Pete, good afternoon. You're not swabbing
(03:07):
or anything on top of the ground?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
No, I'm actually just in a jersey. I'll jack it
off and it's great.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Sunshine just makes people happy, especially in September, whenever you
get it.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh, it does. And the last week or so has
been pretty good and tough to be fair. Yeah, no,
on the lambing rounds, we've only got a handful lambing,
so we're on the more fortunate end of things. But yeah, boy, heck,
is it wet. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
When are you due to start lambing proper then?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
The commercials start on the 10th, and I think they
can definitely wait until then. Yeah, I'm glad they're not
earlier this year.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So your feed, have you got much? We're a bit tight.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We've got nitrogen and sulphur on the home place. We're
hopefully doing the hill maybe today, and Pukarell, once we
get some floaty armbands for the tractor, we might try
and get some on down there. Yeah, so no, we're
a bit tight for Tucker. But it is warmish, and
even when it was, yeah, the soil temperature's not too bad, but, yeah,
(04:16):
hopefully it rises.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, that's for sure. You'd like to think so, getting
into the first week of September, though.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, yeah, I probably, we're a wee bit busy at
the end of autumn, and I'm a bit kicking myself.
I would like to put some nitrogen on in April.
and I kind of missed the boat on that, which
is something I stuffed up. And, yeah, so we're just
going to take the nitrogen, a bit of sulphur, a
bit of selenium, cobalt and zinc on. And, yeah, so
most of that's on, but just still a bit to
(04:42):
go once it dries out.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Are you happy with the state of your ewes heading
into September? Like, not many issues, bearings and the likes?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, no, Cam's got the ewes looking pretty good, eh?
And we've had very, very few bearings, but it is...
Had a mate ring up asking me about bearings and
it's something that we've worked on for a very, very
long time genetically. And then we also work on trying
to keep our ewes as an even body condition score
all year within reason. We don't do any flushing or
(05:12):
anything like that and we don't shut them down. You know,
some guys sort of flush them hard and then shut
them down after mating. We sort of just try and
keep them even through the whole year. Because I personally
think if you've got a flush ewe to get a
decent amount of lambs into her from a conception point
of view, there's probably not a lot of chance that
she'll actually take them to the gate at weaning if
(05:33):
you've had to give her extra just to get those
extra lambs in her. So that's why we don't bother flushing.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
You just back your feed throughout the year?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
We back the feed and we also just back the
fact that we've done the genetic work behind the scenes.
You know, like we scanned 181 twin scan and 191
triplet scan. So that's a pretty respectable twin scan. And
to only have 10% triplets on top of that, that's
exactly what we want. And I just find if you're flush,
you get more triplets on news that probably shouldn't be
(06:03):
carrying triplets.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So what do you do separately with your triplets in
regard to lambing time, I suppose? Do you run them
separately or mix them with singles, as has been suggested
by a couple of people?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, no, we've got a good plan on that front.
We've tried a few different things. I once lambed them
on the own, and I will never do that again.
That was pretty good for the first half of the paddock.
Then after that, it just seemed like absolute chaos. I
would never put them with singles because their feeding requirements
are so different that that just seems crazy to me.
So what we do here is we draft them out
(06:36):
at scanning and they go with our old girls and
our old girls stay on grass for all the winter
or green feed oats. So yeah, they get better fed
from scanning to lambing. And then at lambing time, we
just dilute them with the lighter end of the twins
or just any twins. And we just sort of dilute
them to get a dilution factor. And we do give
(06:57):
them our higher quality feed and better sheltered paddocks.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Knowing that you've been working on your genetics for so long,
how often do you go around on the lambing beet then?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Well, on the hill, we haven't done a lambing beet
since 1970. So we spread them out for pre-lamb and
then we don't see them again until tailing time. On
the flats, we do look them once or twice a day. Yeah,
and we save what we can save, but we don't
get too carried away. And the key thing that I
learned to do well is we tag anything we touch
(07:31):
and there's no second chances. They all go to either
the works or a terminal. So, yeah, we save them
from a money point of view and we cull them
from a genetic point of view.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
What about wet dries due to the weather? How do
you look at them?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Wet drives due to the weather, that's a good point.
And that probably comes into the, that's a fun one
for a stud because with a stud you can use
a storm code which kind of gives them a bit
of a credit that it was crappy weather. So in
the stud I only use the storm code if 50%
of the lambs are dead that day in that paddock.
(08:07):
If less than 50% of the lambs are dead in
the paddock, I don't use the storm code. And commercially,
I do the same sort of thing. I give them
a bit of credit if there's a bit of death.
Wet dries, we usually, if the mutton's price is good,
we just kill them. If the mutton price is poor,
we will sometimes hang on to the younger ones and
(08:27):
give them another chance to a terminal sire. So either way,
they're never bred from again.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, it's interesting how people look at it, I suppose,
because due to Mother Nature coming through and it's a
wash-up of when you've had a weather event and you're
seeing all these wet dries in the paddock through no
fault of their own and all of a sudden you're thinking,
what's the point of doing a black tag on an
animal that isn't actually her fault?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, and I think that's where my rule of thumb
is if 50% of the lambs are born dead in
that paddock, in that lambing round, I kind of say, hey,
that's the weather. But if less than 50% of the... Oh, sorry, if.
Less than 50% of them are dead. I go, well,
some of them have got the brains to keep them
alive and some of them don't. So that's when I tag.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And I suppose when you hit September as well, you
look at optimism for the season ahead. Yes, the next
couple of weeks, it is what it is. But just
the overall picture for the meat industry is looking pretty rosy.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Oh, it's looking blimmin' awesome, eh? Yeah, no, it's looking positive.
I mean, it could come off the boil a bit, but, man,
it's starting at an awesome place. I mean, we killed
the dry hoggets the other day, or killed two-thirds of them,
and they hung up at 27.3 kgs and they went $ 12,
so there's definitely no tears shed over that kill sheet.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
OK, I'm just trying to do the quick math. What's that,
around $ 300? Yeah, $ 327 in the hand, which is.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Like, man, there's no complaints.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And we only had 9% dries in our commercial hogger. So, yeah,
pretty happy with that and pretty happy to cash them
up and, bank a bit more feed because I just
cannot get my head around running a dry hoggart. That's
not going to make us any money until Christmas 2027.
I just can't get my head around feeding that for
(10:11):
15 months before it might make a profit when I
can get that much money for it now.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Hoggart-Lamming, we talk about it a lot, but do you
think it's gaining in popularity with those people you know
that have pretty much stayed away from it?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I think there's two classes of thought. There's the guys
that are into it and the guys that aren't. I
actually struggled to, sorry, I'll reword this. Every farmer has
their own goals and their own what they're trying to
achieve in life. And I don't judge people with different goals.
Like I'm, you know, my life's my life and someone
else's life is someone else's life. So I don't stress
(10:46):
about what other people do in that regards because what's
right for me won't be right for the next person
and that's still cool. But saying that, if you're in
a situation where you're trying to make stuff happen, you're
trying to pay down a mortgage or get into a farm,
if you're in that situation, I don't see how you
can't hog it, Liam. And I'll be pretty passionate about
(11:07):
that because to lamb a hoggart, it takes 20% more
feed than to not lamb a hoggart. And I tell you,
there's quite a bit of profitability for that 20% more feed.
And in any situation, I would drop my U numbers
to lamb a hoggart or drop my hoggart numbers to
lamb a hoggart. If you're in a situation where you
need to maximise profitability and pay down a mortgage.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Good on you, Pete. Next time we catch up, it'll
be near the end of September, and we will have
gumdrop buttons falling from the sky, courtesy of the Big
Yellow and Little Lambo gangs running around all over the show.
Appreciate your time as always.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Sounds awesome.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
Good talk.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Peter Gardine, based in Napdale. Hoggart lambing, certainly interesting the
way it's evolved. We talk about this more often than not,
but interesting Pete's mindset around it too. If it's a
dry animal not producing until late next year, why bother
with it? Simon Hotcroft's up next from the Southland Rural
Support Trust. You're listening to The Muster. This is The
(12:13):
Muster on Hokanui, split ends and six months in a
leaky boat. Jeez, it feels like that for a few
people at the moment. Simon Hotcroft is the chair of
Southland Rural Support Trust and joins us. Good afternoon, Simon.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
How are you, Andy?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, I'm going pretty good on what has been a
damp start to September, shall we say, although today is
a little bit warmer.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
No, I appreciated yesterday a wee bit of drying and
a bit warmer today, but hopefully we can just see
a forecast at some stage. It'll give us a wee
bit more encouragement around sunshine, a bit of growth for everyone,
just a bit of sun on the backs of this livestock.
But yeah, no, she's been a wee bit down. We're
sort of trying again month in August, so hopefully September
(12:58):
can see a wee bit of an improvement in the
long range anyway.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
With the Southland Rural Support Trust, how have things been anyway?
Speaker 7 (13:07):
Yeah, pretty good, Andy. We've just got to focus at
the moment. We're doing the Brunch on Us events around Southland. Obviously,
we're not getting into every little district, but we're trying
to cover as wide an area as possible, and that's
been well advertised actually I think we kicked off yesterday
down at Wyndham and they had about 50 odd call
(13:27):
in they're just sort of running them between 11 and
1.30 so if you're swinging by you can just pop
in for 5 minutes or half an hour just to
catch up but today we're actually at sorry yesterday I
was at Gorge Road today's at Wyndham 11 to 1.30
and then Mabel Bush Next week, Wednesday, and then Drummond
(13:55):
on Thursday, the 10th.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yep.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
And then we just keep shifting around the province. We've
got out at Clifton Wednesday the 16th, Mosburn the 17th,
and then over to Willowbank on the 23rd, up to
Waikato on the 24th, and then the last one's in Dipton. But, yeah,
they've been really well received in the past couple of years,
so we thought we'd just carry on with that, get
that connection going. If anyone gets a chance to pop down,
(14:21):
do that. And, yeah, grab your neighbours as well. And, yeah,
just the stakeholders that have helped us out there to
support those events have been brilliant. They appreciate being involved,
and it's a good opportunity for them too to sort
of help out with that side of connecting. And, yeah,
(14:43):
much appreciated for them supporting. So hopefully we'll get a
feel on to those in the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Absolutely, and it's all about just connecting and catching up,
chewing the fat, and we've seen that before in September.
Regardless of what the weather's doing, it's just a busy month.
You just don't want to get overawed.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
No, you don't, and I think that's probably after sort
of Sunday, Monday, everyone was getting a bit despondent, you know,
and we just needed that wee bit of warmth yesterday
to cheer everyone up, and even the livestock were just
happy to see a bit of, warmth on their backs. So, yeah,
I guess it's just also just, you know, if people
(15:25):
are wanting to, you know, have a catch-up with one
of our crew, just don't be too afraid to use
that 0800 number to have a call through, and we
can connect some support there. Make sure you're also utilising
the people in your district. Always good to have... people
(15:49):
connect with um supporting those that are that are finding
especially those younger farmers that haven't been through it before
and um yeah just just help each other out and
uh i'm sure we'll we'll navigate through another another interesting spring.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Regarding this rural support trust i mean it's established all
around the country what do you enjoy about being involved.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
With it.
Speaker 7 (16:12):
Yeah, good question, Andy. I think the key thing is
making sure that we're clear what our role is, and
that's been an interesting one over the last four or
five years as we've had a lot more adverse events.
There's a real need there to be prepared to how
we manage our response or recovery plans in conjunction with
(16:37):
emergency management itself, and in our instance, or civil defence, Yeah,
so there's been quite a big focus on our emergency
operations plan over the last 12 months, really since we
were halfway through reviewing it when the wind hit in
October last year. But that's the catalyst to review it
(16:59):
again and go, right, where do we play here? What's our.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Role?
Speaker 7 (17:04):
The key thing is supporting the people in our rural
communities whether it's business as usual day-to-day or after an
adverse event. And, you know, no one knows what the
next adverse event looks like, but if we have better
preparation and better planning in place, then that'll help, you know,
(17:25):
that'll help the trust actually be clear on what we're
there for. And when you think about the stakeholders, I mean,
basically we just help coordinate those stakeholders well that are
all willing to get out and support their rural communities
after an adverse event, then it's sort of empowering them
(17:45):
to go and do the things that we need them
to do to help support. So, I mean, I enjoy
that side, I guess, to make sure, you know, we're
going into a situation where we're organised. You know, last October,
I must admit, it was a bit of a new
one for us around how much South and Anatoly out
(18:11):
without power and that put a lot of pressure on
our farming and rural communities but it's once again empowering
them to look after each other and then hopefully out
of that everyone's actually been better prepared going into like
this spring's been a classic we've had a few more
(18:33):
power outages, people have had generators they've gone and purchased
over the last 12 months, which they've been able to
crank up and use, especially in the dairy sector and
some of those areas where even for residential housing on farms.
So just being a bit more prepared, people are, which
then takes pressure off Rural Support Trust to actually, you know,
(18:57):
pick out the pieces at the other end. So I
don't know if I've answered your question, Andy, but I
guess there's a period... that you enjoy doing this sort
of thing and helping out, and then you'll move on
when someone else takes up position here.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah, well said, Simon. Thanks for your time as always.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Thanks, Sandy. Much appreciated.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Simon Hotcroft of the Southland Rural Support Trust. That number
if you need to get in touch, 0800... 888-787-254. Same
old story. A problem shared is a problem halved. Isla
Pringle's up next. You are listening to The Muster. This
(19:44):
is The Muster on Hakanui. Isla Pringle is based at Hedgehope.
Dairy farming out that way. also a member of the
Nightcaps Young Farmers Club and joins us once again. Isla,
good afternoon, you're on the carving beat, how's it been?
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Cheers Andy, yeah no, it's been pretty smooth sailing, I
mean most of August was pretty just the end slash
start of September seemed to be a bit different so
now we had our fair share of muck ups and
learnings but yeah so that's all part of it everything's ticking.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Over When did you start calving officially? How long have
you been going?
Speaker 4 (20:29):
We bought a wee few heifers and they calved a
wee bit earlier to AB as well so I think
maybe like 20th of July 25th of July we had
a few but yeah nothing too crazy just I think
yeah main herd was sort of due the 8th of
(20:49):
August and yeah we're about I don't know 370 in
now so.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Well you're six weeks in is it as you expected
it to be weather aside?
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Yeah nah everything's pretty good and Cows are in good nick,
which is always nice to see. And to be fair,
we've still got quite a bit of grass, so.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Really?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Yeah, just we dried off a wee bit earlier just
to make sure we did have those covers because, yeah,
nothing worse.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
But, yeah, we.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Still have a bit of grass, but, yeah, like we said,
sort of disappearing pretty quick through those cows can eat, so.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That landscape through the Headchoke Way, when you go through
to Winton or the back way to Lawnville or whatever,
it certainly grows a lot of tucker through there. You
say that?
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah, no. We like to say we're summer safe because
there's a lot of water. But, yeah, this time of year,
it's more like a lake view from my house. So, yeah,
a lot of standing water in the flats anyway, so.
But, yeah, it does seem to grow pretty well.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
So how wet's it in the paddocks? Are you not
aquaplaning when you're going around?
Speaker 4 (22:07):
In some paddocks. No, we did have a bit of
a flood on the Titipu and Hedgehope on, yeah, Sunday, Monday.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Oh, far out.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Monday, Tuesday, maybe. So, I don't know. It is disappearing, but, yeah,
there's definitely still a bit of water hanging around, so...
I did think that winter was pretty kind to us,
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Winter was fantastic until about mid-June, and that's when we
went away on our holiday, and we left, and it
was nice and dry. There was grass. We came back.
It was like someone left a massive big-ass hose on
over in Vikago, and all the water had just dripped
down all the way down to Gore. Put it into
a nutshell, really. It just got crazy really quick. But
(22:55):
it's good to see you guys are growing a bit
of grass there. At least somebody is, I suppose.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Yeah, well, yeah, I'm not sure if it's growing still,
but there's a bit of grass in front of us
at least.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Do you carry much supplement through at this time of
year or is that pretty low as well?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Oh, it's getting pretty short, to be honest. We're actually
carting a wee bit from the neighbours at the moment
because we're a.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Bit low on silage.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah, that's just how it is, you know, just trying
to tick over and get everything off crock.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Talk a bit of young farmers, because I had Connor
on from Balfour the other day, and they still do
their Thirsty Thursday like tonight. You guys there at nightcaft,
do you do like a dinner or anything over the
busy season to catch up, or is it just too hectic?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Bit of both. We had our meeting last night, so
that was good to catch up with everyone.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Oh, cool.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Pretty bloody good numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
I don't know, maybe closer to.
Six or seven new faces so that was good to
meet a few new people and then yeah like not
next Wednesday but Wednesday after we'll have a pub night.
Thornberry had one last month, mid-month and we're having one
(24:07):
this month, mid-month for both of them, well anyone really
anyone that wants to come have a yarn and a
beer and buy yourself a feed and Yeah, just have
a catch-up, really. Excuse to get off farm.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
How do you find it? Do you find it hard, like,
during the day, just to stay mentally stimulated in the
job at the moment? Or is it a case of
Groundhog Day, you're in a routine, you just rip in?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty routine in those mornings. You just,
you know, got to milk the cows and feed the
calves and get everything fed and happy. But, yeah, I
guess throughout the day, it changes a wee bit. And
when it's cold outside... It's not the funnest job to
go back out there, is it?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah, every day is different, isn't it? But there's still
plenty to do, I guess, and that's the thing. The
clock doesn't stop, really.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
If nothing else, it's the start of a new season,
and getting that milk out the gate is a pretty
cool feeling.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, it's real good, actually.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah, doing pretty good, so.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Can't complain.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
And, yeah, pretty good community out here to be fair.
So a lot of people always checking in and bringing
a beer around or ringing or texting or whatever, really. So, no,
it's a good community feel out these ways.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
That's really good to hear that the community looks out
for each other and just catches up with neighbours or
people in the immediate area. I mean, that's really good,
knowing you can lean on someone if you need to.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, that's right. And everyone's on the same boat. And
that's what it was like last night at Young Farmers too.
It was pretty funny just, you know, everyone sharing their
stories and everyone's pretty similar in the same boat.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, exactly. You're all in the same boat and everyone
is going to get out alive, but it's just a
matter of having to go through the windy, windy narrow
channels that life presents. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
That's 100% it really. And just knowing you're not, you know,
you're not doing it yourself either, really. Like, whatever your experience,
I think I'm sure someone else experienced at some point.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah, not to say it's not hard or whatever, but, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
If it was easy farming, everybody would be doing it, Isla.
We'll leave it there. Hey, thanks for your time. All
the best in the trenches. And, yeah, keep smiling.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Cheers, Andy.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Bloody awesome. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Isla Pringle, based at Hedgehove. Young Farmers Meeting last, another
five or six members turning up. Young Farmers, great organisation
doing some really cool stuff as well. We talk about
it every Tuesday, but yet again, if you want to
get involved with Young Farmers, something a bit different, and
network and meet people, there's an outlet for you. Matt
McRae's up next. This week, talking in his beef and
(27:06):
lamb capacity.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
The Muster Events Diary, brought to you by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Click beeflamnz.com. Matt McRae of Mocherita All The Yams joins
us once again on the Beef and Lamb side. Of course,
he is the director for Beef and Lamb New Zealand,
as well as being a sheep and beef and stuff
farmer out there at Mocherita. G'day, Matt.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Afternoon, Andy. How are you?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, going pretty well, thanks. Look, you're out there, it's,
what are we, the 3rd of September weekend, How's spring
faring for you so far, dare I ask?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, I think spring's just finally turned up in the
last hour and we've seen a bit of sunshine break through,
so it's been pretty good, but she's been a wet
old week, so certainly thoughts with those guys that have
been in the thicker lemming at the moment. It's no
doubt been a bit of a slog, but, yeah, we're
just probably fortunate that, like, studs and terminals have been
(28:05):
gone three days and I've hit the ground running, but...
But yeah, made a lot of use until the end
of the week, so here's hoping for a bit of
fine weather later in the week.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Have you got much tucker ahead of you?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, last time I was doing there we'd spaced on
a bit of nitrogen and I'm yet to see the
benefit of that yet. It certainly doesn't feel like it anyway,
but yeah, no, I'd say it's holding, but we're going
to need some grass. I mean, whenever you drive through
paddocks and leave black marks behind, it's not real encouraging,
is it? But Like I say, the stock have been
(28:39):
in good luck and we've done everything else we can
to get them to where they are. So they're doing
what they do and we'll see how we go in
a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Now, Matt, you're a director in Beef and Lamb New Zealand,
elected to the role in March of this year. How's
it been? What's it like from your perspective?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, I've been really enjoying the challenge. Obviously, something reasonably
passionate about, well, extremely passionate about, and it's been quite
a good learning experience for me as well. and enjoying
meeting new people and new challenges. And it's been good,
a few days off farm, but still firmly with the
boats on the ground and involved in the day-to-day here
(29:20):
as well. So it's been a good mix. And yeah,
looking forward to putting or adding value where I can
and certainly shaping the future of our sector into a positive,
vibrant one.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
A lot of positives in the sector, and we'll touch
on that today as well. The price of red meat
just seems to be a positive that keeps on going
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, it's great, and well-deserved for a lot of red
meat farmers that have probably struggled a bit over the
last couple of years. For me, it's capturing these tailwinds
at the moment and turning that into where do we
want to be in the next five or ten years. and, yeah,
adding a bit of value and things like survival and genetics.
(30:07):
And then, yeah, there's plenty of other stuff that we're
doing at Beef and Lamb to make sure we're getting
good value for our levy money. And, yeah, it's just
helping drive those decisions so we can move onwards and upwards.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Interesting you talk about the outlook for the next five
and ten years. I'd say the key word there would
be consistency.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
Yeah, it would be.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
In the past, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster,
hasn't it? But last year was extremely good, and this
year's shaping up to be another in terms of product prices.
Just how do we capture those and turn it into,
like you say, consistently getting good results, because it certainly
makes it a lot easier to make investment decisions in
(30:50):
both in your business and outside. And it And also
the succession side of things as well makes it a
bit easier when there's a bit more profitability or fat
dropping at the bottom.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Now the Southern Farmer Council AGM's coming up. Tell us
about it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, we've got our Farmer Council AGM in Riversdale this
year on 28th of October. Yeah, it's a good opportunity
to hear about what the council have been up to
and the issues facing the farming sector. We've got a
few positions on the council up for grabs if there's
anyone that's interested in it. So, yeah, reach out to
(31:25):
myself or Courtney or Claire, Dean, or one of the
Beef and Lamb team, and, yeah, learn a wee bit
more about it. But, yeah, it's certainly a good forum
to generate some discussion and for people that are passionate
about advocating for farmers and contributing to the industry. So, yeah,
28th of October, you'll see a bit in the e-dories, and, yeah,
(31:47):
look forward to seeing a few people there. There's a
guest speaker. turning up as well, and, um, it's just
for the afternoon, so it'd be good to get a
few off, um, a few will be ready by then, um,
to come and catch up with a few, so, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
What time on the 28th? Is it an evening thing?
Speaker 2 (32:05):
No, it's 1.30 to 4.30, um, it is in Riversdale,
I'll have to look up the exact venue of it.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Uh, It'll be the pub or the rugby club?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, yeah, quite likely, so, um, yeah, it'll be, it'll
be really good in, in the past, um, Yeah, there's
a really good group on our Farmer Council there, but, yeah,
we are looking for a few extras to join and
add some value. So, yeah, reach out if you're keen.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
To get on board.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
So what's the real positive about being involved with the
Farmer Council? What's something... Someone listening to this thinking, yeah,
I'd like to add some input, what's some things that
you think have been, you know, from your experiences, have added?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, I guess it opens you up to a wide
range of what beef and lamb is doing. I guess
the primary... The primary function is around the extension and
helping the ideas for events that we're running in our region,
and also advocating for bits and pieces that are happening
in your specific area that relate to beef and lamb.
(33:04):
But there's also, you get a bit of insight into
things like your research, your environmental stuff going on.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
A wee bit of advocacy.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, farm survey data, there's just so many layers that
beef and lamb are doing. And some extremely talented and
passionate people that work for the industry. So, yeah, it's
just good to learn that, get that extra perspective on
where your levy's going to and how you can add
value and help shape the future.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
This upcoming referendum, tell us about it.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, so it's every six years it appears... as part
of the levy act. It'll be coming up in February,
March next year. We're working on a strategy at the
moment for beef and lamb to put out in the
coming months and I guess demonstrate how we are adding
value and where the levy's going. There'll be a bit
(34:02):
of correspondence coming, emails and posts about that in the
next few months. But yeah, I guess as being a
reasonably new director, I'm always pretty keen to hear from
individuals around their thoughts and feedback on beef and lamb
and where they see it going so I'd be quite
keen to get around a few discussion groups and field
(34:23):
days and bits and pieces and get your opinion because
I guess that's why I joined the board is to
take that grassroots approach and make sure that our region's
being heard and be a strong voice for the South
so if there's any opinions my phone's always available to
give me a call And.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Just quickly to wrap up, tell us about the e-diary
that goes out every Friday morning too.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, so the e-diary's emailed out. Claire and the team
put it together with a few events and bits and
pieces that are coming up, as well as some of
the other research and historical stuff that have been pulled
out of Beef and Lamb. So it's a really good
way to keep informed of what Beef and Lamb have
been doing in our region. It is region-specific for Otago Southland,
(35:12):
and there's a wee bit of national stuff in there
as well. So a good way to keep connected. And, yeah,
I'd encourage anyone, all levy pairs, both sheep, beef and dairy,
to jump on and see what there is. There's a
wide range of stuff, including dairy beef and calf rearing
and everything, popping up in there. But, yeah, one of
my goals has been to increase engagement from probably what's
(35:35):
historically been Moderate, so a really engaged, positive industry. So
if you're not on the electoral roll, I'd encourage you
to get involved. Jump on the Beef and Ham website.
We'll give one of the team a bell and get
in and have your say because the stronger support we
have for the levy body, the more we can push
(35:56):
for where we're wanting to go. So it'll be really
great to see.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Thanks for your time as always, Matt. You enjoy the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Appreciate it. Cheers, Andy, and hope everyone has a good
next couple of weeks in the lambing and indie carving.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Matt McRae of Beef and Lamb. BeefLambNZ.com slash events to
receive the e-diary into your inbox every Friday morning. Nathan
Burden's up next to talk sport.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
History never repeats. I tell myself before I go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Welcome back to the muster. Before we catch up with
Nathan Burden, if you go to the muster on Hoki
Nui Facebook page and comment on there and like the
page as well, you can win a meat box for
Father's Day. Thanks to the meat box, $ 100 voucher is
up for grabs. So that's on the muster social pages.
Nathan Burden, resident sporting burden. Resident sporting guru, I should say. Well,
(36:54):
you are a burden. Good afternoon.
Speaker 6 (36:57):
Good day, mate. How are you?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Multitasking and it's failing. How's it been? Are you staying
dry down there?
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Yeah, staying dry, staying warm, which is very important at
the moment, staying out of the wind. Yeah, spring is springing.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Isn't it? Absolutely, and we get into the spring cycle
and we find out how many teams can win the
Ranford East Shield with these fantastic flow diagrams. So seven
teams can win the Shield for the remainder of the
year based on the flow diagrams. It's Canterbury, Hawke's Bay, Counties, Manawatu, Northland, obviously,
Waikato and Tasman.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
And, I mean, it's been a great aspect of the
NPC over the last couple of years, and particularly last season,
was to see the log of wood bounce around from
union to union. I think Northland have already shown themselves
to be a more than a worthy host of one
of the great and iconic trophies in New Zealand rugby.
(37:54):
It was a great defence. Their first defence in 50-odd years.
Great defence last weekend. I think they've got two or
three more to go if they can get themselves through
to the summer. They've done a great job. It's great
to see the unions like Northland really add another chapter
(38:15):
to a great sporting history.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Now the Stags, they go again this weekend. They've got counties,
speaking of counties, but this is being played up there.
Remembering this corresponding game last season in Invercargill where that
died in the wall south into Seve Rees on the
wing and counties put 60 points on us. That won't
happen again, will it?
Speaker 5 (38:36):
You'd hope not. Yeah, I mean, that game went completely
against script. I think, you know, the traditional... The traditional
narrative is that counties down here are a winnable prospect.
Counties at home for the Stags are a real challenge.
When you look at that county's team, I think you
think of very direct ball runners and a great offloading game.
(39:00):
Once they get on a roll, very hard to stop. Traditionally,
that's been a tough thing for Southam teams to combat. But,
you know, I guess when we look at this, counties
have had a similar season to us. They are coming
off a confidence-boosting win over Wellington. And we've had a
good 10-day break, which has allowed, I guess, the team
(39:21):
to probably catch their breath a bit. And you've seen
some players come back from injury, and the coaches have
actually had almost a full muster to be able to
select from so that 10 day break will hopefully have
done the Stags good.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Things Realistically for the Stags what would be a good
way to look at the season are they still a
chance of making the quarters?
Speaker 5 (39:43):
Mathematically, they definitely will be. I think they'll have to
look at this. I mean, everything probably rests on this game.
And I know people hate it, but it is like
every game is the must-win game for the Stags. And
I guess lose to counties and mathematically they can probably
still do it, but realistically it's probably a bridge too
(40:05):
far for that team. But yeah, so they'll have to
go up there and they'll have to win and then
I guess they put themselves.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
In a position.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Now, this Nepal scenario or situation with Nepal, New Zealand,
Ali Williams and his wife, Anna Mowbray, have decided to
invest money into a competition for next year, but it
seems like too little too late.
Speaker 5 (40:27):
Yeah, in terms of, I guess, those players heading offshore,
perhaps not as dire as it's been made out. I mean,
last week we already had up to 10 of those
players were already committed. You know, they were playing overseas
last year. Once the genie was out of the bottle
in terms of that the ability or Silver Fern's eligibility,
(40:48):
then this was always going to happen. It is a
massive shift. I don't think we can underestimate just what
it means in terms of a national sporting organisation to
largely hand over the control of its national competition to
private investment. This does not happen a lot around the world.
(41:09):
If you look at examples like the Australian NBL competition
Formula One, there aren't actually that many examples of this
happening and certainly it's a new thing for New Zealand
and I guess you know, for all the positives. And
it is a great move. It's better than not having
a competition at all. But it also means, I think,
that going forward, you know, in terms of where the
(41:31):
focus goes, the focus now goes on putting a good
competition together rather than what is the best thing for
the pathway for New Zealand netball. And I know there's
a lot of positive and all the right things are
being said at the moment, but you don't get rich
by throwing money away. So, It'll be interesting just to
see what the devil of the detail is of what
that competition is going to look like.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
If nothing else, it is a chance for emerging talent
to come through then.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Oh, huge. And I think you've already seen that coaches
have been heading towards along to just coincidentally the various
secondary schools competitions, including the Upper North Island, South Island
secondary schools, the Lower North Island secondary schools, netball competitions
have been happening this week during tournament week. And there
(42:18):
would have been some very interested observers looking at perhaps
some of those Year 13 talents And whether any of
those are in a position where they could step straight
up into elite senior netball is a big ask. But
some players, Grace Nowicki is a great example. Some players
have been able to show that they've been able to
do that in the past. And I guess with up
(42:40):
to 18 or more players taken out of that elite competition,
there will be spots available.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
The Warriors, their last game of the regular season before
they hit the playoffs, arresting a couple of players. Do
you think this is now grasping the imagination of the
Southern public?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
100%, yeah.
Speaker 5 (42:59):
I mean, I was probably as guilty as anyone. I
was getting very invested in this whole minor premiership conversation.
But then I also saw someone who knows a lot
more about league than me during the week saying well
can you name who the minor premiers have been for
the last 10 years and I was like actually no
I can't no one actually cares who the minor premiers
(43:21):
are it doesn't matter if we beat The Sea Eagles,
by more than the Panthers, beat the Tigers in the weekend.
We've secured that top two spot. We've got home advantage
through to semifinals. They've done the hard work, and now
I guess it's about seeing if they can get some
of those stars, particularly Dallin Watini as a Lesniak, back
(43:44):
and into some sort of fitness for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Previously, it's been the Panthers for like the last five
years or something ridiculous. And I think they get $ 100, 000
and a big trophy or a big shield and a cabinet.
Speaker 5 (43:59):
Yeah, which I think, you know, do you want that
or would they trade that for a premiership? You know,
I guess the Panthers haven't had to have that conversation.
They've more often than not been able to kick on
and win both. But yeah, I mean, I think the
Warriors have won the minor premiership once before, I think,
from memory. You know, twice they've managed to go on
(44:19):
and get themselves into a grand final. I mean, if
you had the choice between the two, no question about
which one you'd want.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Hey, good on you, Nathan. Just quickly as well, the
All Blacks, what are you predicting for Sunday morning? It's
going to be a doozy.
Speaker 5 (44:33):
Yeah, it's going to be a doozy for sure. Unfortunately,
I think it's going to be another South African win,
another week under the belt for them, and they seem
to be trending in the right direction, so I think
they'll win a close one.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I hope you're wrong, Nathan, but we always appreciate your
time on the muster. Have a good weekend.
Speaker 5 (44:47):
Thanks, mate.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
See you.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Laugh out loud.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
With Ag Proud, because life on the land can be
a laughing matter.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the
livestock farmer. What kind of shoes do chickens wear? Re-buck-buck. God,
stop me. There we go. Over in Dunworth, I found
a joke. Hey, that's us. Done and dusted for the afternoon.
I'm Andy Muir. The show, of course, is brought to
(45:17):
you by Peter's Genetics. Party's up shortly. Enjoy the afternoon.
See you tomorrow. Hey, well, all right, sir. Here we
go there. And what are they going to do? PGG
writes and presents stock selling action once again that occurred
at the Charlton sale yards this morning. Greg Clearwater's on
the ground and gives a rundown on prices. Good afternoon, sir.
How do we fare?
Speaker 6 (45:35):
Yep, how are you Andy? All good. Right, we'll just
start off with the prime lambs. Everything's pretty much on par.
The best of the prime lambs today, one PM there
made $ 450. The medium prime lambs, $ 260 to $ 300. Lighter primes,
$ 230 to $ 250. In the ewe section, the butcher ewes,
the best of those are up to $ 260. Mediums, $ 170
(45:58):
to $ 210, and lighter ewes, $ 120 to $ 150. Mixed-age rams,
Most of them were in pretty good order around that
$ 100 mark. In the store lamb section, the forward store
lambs were up to $ 220, mediums $ 160 to $ 200, and
the lighter edge to $ 120. Just a small to medium yarding, Andy,
(46:22):
and everything was on par with the previous week.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
So those lambs that went $ 450, how big was the pen?
How many in the pen, Greg?
Speaker 6 (46:30):
How many was in that pen, Andy? There might have
been seven or eight in that pen.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
Nice. Good on you, Greg. Thanks as always.
Speaker 6 (46:36):
Thank you, Andy.
Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui. Andy
Muir here until 2 o'clock. Of course, the show is
brought to you by Peters Genetics. On an afternoon that
is actually pleasant. It's currently 16 degrees in the middle
of G-Town, and believe it or not, I see sunshine
on the horizon. Sunshine just makes you happy. It's just great,
(00:28):
especially after the past couple of days. We'll look at
the weather shortly. Phil Duncan from Weatherwatch on the show
tomorrow to give a rundown on the next seven days.
But look, at least we're getting double-digit temperatures. That's something
to cherish at the moment after what has been an
interesting week. Nonetheless, we carry on with the hour straight
into it. The one and only Spidey, and that's the
tunes for your Thursday.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Hōkanui' s five-day forecast with Twin Farm, Tehran and Softex.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
The proof is in the progeny. This afternoon they're talking
showers of breezy north westerlies and a high of 18. Friday,
rain with thunderstorms with brisk westerlies 5 and 10. Saturday,
afternoon showers of breezy north westerlies 5 and 13. Sunday,
rain with light easterlies 4 and 11. And Monday is
(01:17):
cloudy with light south westerlies 3 and 10. So it'll
be interesting to see what the rain radar is doing
over the next wee while, whether that rain actually disappears
a bit. So temperatures for Thursday, Clinton 7.8, Heria at 7.3,
Northern Southland 8.2, Riverton 9.3, Te Anau 8.3, Titiroa 8.2,
(01:37):
Winton 7.5 and Woodlands at 7.8. Peter Gardon of Napdale
gets us underway this afternoon. He's not quite in the
main throes of lambing, but getting close with throes of lambing,
but not too far away from Pete. Isla Pringle. at
Hedgehope Dairy Farming. Started calving probably six weeks ago, I suppose,
(01:59):
by the time you take the heifers into account. So
we catch up to see how life is over at
Hedgehope with Isla. And then Simon Hopcroft, he's the chair
of the Southland Rural Support Trust. Having a catch up,
of course, their Brunch on Us events are occurring at
the moment. It's always good to catch up and chew
the fat with Simon, especially at this time of year.
Matt McRae talking today in his beef and lamb director
(02:21):
role for the beef and lamb slot. And then our
resident sporting guru, Nathan Burden. The Warriors. The bandwagon is
well and truly alive. There's the main line here. There's
a lookout over it here. Right beside State Highway 1
has people jumping on that bandwagon every day at the moment.
And as well, the Stags. Counties on Sunday. Another must-win game,
I suppose. Greg Clearwater of PGG writes in, gives a
(02:44):
rundown on sale prices very shortly and then we'll crank
into the owl with Peter Gardine. This is the muster.
Thanks to Peter's genetics, time is seven after one. Peter
Gardine farms in Napdale and joins us once again this
afternoon on the muster. Pete, good afternoon. You're not swabbing
(03:07):
or anything on top of the ground?
Speaker 3 (03:10):
No, I'm actually just in a jersey. I'll jack it
off and it's great.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
Sunshine just makes people happy, especially in September, whenever you
get it.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Oh, it does. And the last week or so has
been pretty good and tough to be fair. Yeah, no,
on the lambing rounds, we've only got a handful lambing,
so we're on the more fortunate end of things. But yeah, boy, heck,
is it wet. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
When are you due to start lambing proper then?
Speaker 3 (03:38):
The commercials start on the 10th, and I think they
can definitely wait until then. Yeah, I'm glad they're not
earlier this year.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
So your feed, have you got much? We're a bit tight.
Speaker 3 (03:53):
We've got nitrogen and sulphur on the home place. We're
hopefully doing the hill maybe today, and Pukarell, once we
get some floaty armbands for the tractor, we might try
and get some on down there. Yeah, so no, we're
a bit tight for Tucker. But it is warmish, and
even when it was, yeah, the soil temperature's not too bad, but, yeah,
(04:16):
hopefully it rises.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, that's for sure. You'd like to think so, getting
into the first week of September, though.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Yeah, yeah, I probably, we're a wee bit busy at
the end of autumn, and I'm a bit kicking myself.
I would like to put some nitrogen on in April.
and I kind of missed the boat on that, which
is something I stuffed up. And, yeah, so we're just
going to take the nitrogen, a bit of sulphur, a
bit of selenium, cobalt and zinc on. And, yeah, so
most of that's on, but just still a bit to
(04:42):
go once it dries out.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Are you happy with the state of your ewes heading
into September? Like, not many issues, bearings and the likes?
Speaker 3 (04:51):
Yeah, no, Cam's got the ewes looking pretty good, eh?
And we've had very, very few bearings, but it is...
Had a mate ring up asking me about bearings and
it's something that we've worked on for a very, very
long time genetically. And then we also work on trying
to keep our ewes as an even body condition score
all year within reason. We don't do any flushing or
(05:12):
anything like that and we don't shut them down. You know,
some guys sort of flush them hard and then shut
them down after mating. We sort of just try and
keep them even through the whole year. Because I personally
think if you've got a flush ewe to get a
decent amount of lambs into her from a conception point
of view, there's probably not a lot of chance that
she'll actually take them to the gate at weaning if
(05:33):
you've had to give her extra just to get those
extra lambs in her. So that's why we don't bother flushing.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
You just back your feed throughout the year?
Speaker 3 (05:42):
We back the feed and we also just back the
fact that we've done the genetic work behind the scenes.
You know, like we scanned 181 twin scan and 191
triplet scan. So that's a pretty respectable twin scan. And
to only have 10% triplets on top of that, that's
exactly what we want. And I just find if you're flush,
you get more triplets on news that probably shouldn't be
(06:03):
carrying triplets.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
So what do you do separately with your triplets in
regard to lambing time, I suppose? Do you run them
separately or mix them with singles, as has been suggested
by a couple of people?
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Yeah, no, we've got a good plan on that front.
We've tried a few different things. I once lambed them
on the own, and I will never do that again.
That was pretty good for the first half of the paddock.
Then after that, it just seemed like absolute chaos. I
would never put them with singles because their feeding requirements
are so different that that just seems crazy to me.
So what we do here is we draft them out
(06:36):
at scanning and they go with our old girls and
our old girls stay on grass for all the winter
or green feed oats. So yeah, they get better fed
from scanning to lambing. And then at lambing time, we
just dilute them with the lighter end of the twins
or just any twins. And we just sort of dilute
them to get a dilution factor. And we do give
(06:57):
them our higher quality feed and better sheltered paddocks.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Knowing that you've been working on your genetics for so long,
how often do you go around on the lambing beet then?
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Well, on the hill, we haven't done a lambing beet
since 1970. So we spread them out for pre-lamb and
then we don't see them again until tailing time. On
the flats, we do look them once or twice a day. Yeah,
and we save what we can save, but we don't
get too carried away. And the key thing that I
learned to do well is we tag anything we touch
(07:31):
and there's no second chances. They all go to either
the works or a terminal. So, yeah, we save them
from a money point of view and we cull them
from a genetic point of view.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
What about wet dries due to the weather? How do
you look at them?
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Wet drives due to the weather, that's a good point.
And that probably comes into the, that's a fun one
for a stud because with a stud you can use
a storm code which kind of gives them a bit
of a credit that it was crappy weather. So in
the stud I only use the storm code if 50%
of the lambs are dead that day in that paddock.
(08:07):
If less than 50% of the lambs are dead in
the paddock, I don't use the storm code. And commercially,
I do the same sort of thing. I give them
a bit of credit if there's a bit of death.
Wet dries, we usually, if the mutton's price is good,
we just kill them. If the mutton price is poor,
we will sometimes hang on to the younger ones and
(08:27):
give them another chance to a terminal sire. So either way,
they're never bred from again.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Well, it's interesting how people look at it, I suppose,
because due to Mother Nature coming through and it's a
wash-up of when you've had a weather event and you're
seeing all these wet dries in the paddock through no
fault of their own and all of a sudden you're thinking,
what's the point of doing a black tag on an
animal that isn't actually her fault?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, and I think that's where my rule of thumb
is if 50% of the lambs are born dead in
that paddock, in that lambing round, I kind of say, hey,
that's the weather. But if less than 50% of the... Oh, sorry, if.
Less than 50% of them are dead. I go, well,
some of them have got the brains to keep them
alive and some of them don't. So that's when I tag.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
And I suppose when you hit September as well, you
look at optimism for the season ahead. Yes, the next
couple of weeks, it is what it is. But just
the overall picture for the meat industry is looking pretty rosy.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
Oh, it's looking blimmin' awesome, eh? Yeah, no, it's looking positive.
I mean, it could come off the boil a bit, but, man,
it's starting at an awesome place. I mean, we killed
the dry hoggets the other day, or killed two-thirds of them,
and they hung up at 27.3 kgs and they went $ 12,
so there's definitely no tears shed over that kill sheet.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
OK, I'm just trying to do the quick math. What's that,
around $ 300? Yeah, $ 327 in the hand, which is.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Like, man, there's no complaints.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
And we only had 9% dries in our commercial hogger. So, yeah,
pretty happy with that and pretty happy to cash them
up and, bank a bit more feed because I just
cannot get my head around running a dry hoggart. That's
not going to make us any money until Christmas 2027.
I just can't get my head around feeding that for
(10:11):
15 months before it might make a profit when I
can get that much money for it now.
Speaker 1 (10:15):
Hoggart-Lamming, we talk about it a lot, but do you
think it's gaining in popularity with those people you know
that have pretty much stayed away from it?
Speaker 3 (10:22):
I think there's two classes of thought. There's the guys
that are into it and the guys that aren't. I
actually struggled to, sorry, I'll reword this. Every farmer has
their own goals and their own what they're trying to
achieve in life. And I don't judge people with different goals.
Like I'm, you know, my life's my life and someone
else's life is someone else's life. So I don't stress
(10:46):
about what other people do in that regards because what's
right for me won't be right for the next person
and that's still cool. But saying that, if you're in
a situation where you're trying to make stuff happen, you're
trying to pay down a mortgage or get into a farm,
if you're in that situation, I don't see how you
can't hog it, Liam. And I'll be pretty passionate about
(11:07):
that because to lamb a hoggart, it takes 20% more
feed than to not lamb a hoggart. And I tell you,
there's quite a bit of profitability for that 20% more feed.
And in any situation, I would drop my U numbers
to lamb a hoggart or drop my hoggart numbers to
lamb a hoggart. If you're in a situation where you
need to maximise profitability and pay down a mortgage.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Good on you, Pete. Next time we catch up, it'll
be near the end of September, and we will have
gumdrop buttons falling from the sky, courtesy of the Big
Yellow and Little Lambo gangs running around all over the show.
Appreciate your time as always.
Speaker 3 (11:41):
Sounds awesome.
Speaker 6 (11:42):
Good talk.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Peter Gardine, based in Napdale. Hoggart lambing, certainly interesting the
way it's evolved. We talk about this more often than not,
but interesting Pete's mindset around it too. If it's a
dry animal not producing until late next year, why bother
with it? Simon Hotcroft's up next from the Southland Rural
Support Trust. You're listening to The Muster. This is The
(12:13):
Muster on Hokanui, split ends and six months in a
leaky boat. Jeez, it feels like that for a few
people at the moment. Simon Hotcroft is the chair of
Southland Rural Support Trust and joins us. Good afternoon, Simon.
Speaker 7 (12:27):
How are you, Andy?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, I'm going pretty good on what has been a
damp start to September, shall we say, although today is
a little bit warmer.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 7 (12:35):
No, I appreciated yesterday a wee bit of drying and
a bit warmer today, but hopefully we can just see
a forecast at some stage. It'll give us a wee
bit more encouragement around sunshine, a bit of growth for everyone,
just a bit of sun on the backs of this livestock.
But yeah, no, she's been a wee bit down. We're
sort of trying again month in August, so hopefully September
(12:58):
can see a wee bit of an improvement in the
long range anyway.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
With the Southland Rural Support Trust, how have things been anyway?
Speaker 7 (13:07):
Yeah, pretty good, Andy. We've just got to focus at
the moment. We're doing the Brunch on Us events around Southland. Obviously,
we're not getting into every little district, but we're trying
to cover as wide an area as possible, and that's
been well advertised actually I think we kicked off yesterday
down at Wyndham and they had about 50 odd call
(13:27):
in they're just sort of running them between 11 and
1.30 so if you're swinging by you can just pop
in for 5 minutes or half an hour just to
catch up but today we're actually at sorry yesterday I
was at Gorge Road today's at Wyndham 11 to 1.30
and then Mabel Bush Next week, Wednesday, and then Drummond
(13:55):
on Thursday, the 10th.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yep.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
And then we just keep shifting around the province. We've
got out at Clifton Wednesday the 16th, Mosburn the 17th,
and then over to Willowbank on the 23rd, up to
Waikato on the 24th, and then the last one's in Dipton. But, yeah,
they've been really well received in the past couple of years,
so we thought we'd just carry on with that, get
that connection going. If anyone gets a chance to pop down,
(14:21):
do that. And, yeah, grab your neighbours as well. And, yeah,
just the stakeholders that have helped us out there to
support those events have been brilliant. They appreciate being involved,
and it's a good opportunity for them too to sort
of help out with that side of connecting. And, yeah,
(14:43):
much appreciated for them supporting. So hopefully we'll get a
feel on to those in the next few weeks.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Absolutely, and it's all about just connecting and catching up,
chewing the fat, and we've seen that before in September.
Regardless of what the weather's doing, it's just a busy month.
You just don't want to get overawed.
Speaker 7 (15:02):
No, you don't, and I think that's probably after sort
of Sunday, Monday, everyone was getting a bit despondent, you know,
and we just needed that wee bit of warmth yesterday
to cheer everyone up, and even the livestock were just
happy to see a bit of, warmth on their backs. So, yeah,
I guess it's just also just, you know, if people
(15:25):
are wanting to, you know, have a catch-up with one
of our crew, just don't be too afraid to use
that 0800 number to have a call through, and we
can connect some support there. Make sure you're also utilising
the people in your district. Always good to have... people
(15:49):
connect with um supporting those that are that are finding
especially those younger farmers that haven't been through it before
and um yeah just just help each other out and
uh i'm sure we'll we'll navigate through another another interesting spring.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
Regarding this rural support trust i mean it's established all
around the country what do you enjoy about being involved.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
With it.
Speaker 7 (16:12):
Yeah, good question, Andy. I think the key thing is
making sure that we're clear what our role is, and
that's been an interesting one over the last four or
five years as we've had a lot more adverse events.
There's a real need there to be prepared to how
we manage our response or recovery plans in conjunction with
(16:37):
emergency management itself, and in our instance, or civil defence, Yeah,
so there's been quite a big focus on our emergency
operations plan over the last 12 months, really since we
were halfway through reviewing it when the wind hit in
October last year. But that's the catalyst to review it
(16:59):
again and go, right, where do we play here? What's our.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Role?
Speaker 7 (17:04):
The key thing is supporting the people in our rural
communities whether it's business as usual day-to-day or after an
adverse event. And, you know, no one knows what the
next adverse event looks like, but if we have better
preparation and better planning in place, then that'll help, you know,
(17:25):
that'll help the trust actually be clear on what we're
there for. And when you think about the stakeholders, I mean,
basically we just help coordinate those stakeholders well that are
all willing to get out and support their rural communities
after an adverse event, then it's sort of empowering them
(17:45):
to go and do the things that we need them
to do to help support. So, I mean, I enjoy
that side, I guess, to make sure, you know, we're
going into a situation where we're organised. You know, last October,
I must admit, it was a bit of a new
one for us around how much South and Anatoly out
(18:11):
without power and that put a lot of pressure on
our farming and rural communities but it's once again empowering
them to look after each other and then hopefully out
of that everyone's actually been better prepared going into like
this spring's been a classic we've had a few more
(18:33):
power outages, people have had generators they've gone and purchased
over the last 12 months, which they've been able to
crank up and use, especially in the dairy sector and
some of those areas where even for residential housing on farms.
So just being a bit more prepared, people are, which
then takes pressure off Rural Support Trust to actually, you know,
(18:57):
pick out the pieces at the other end. So I
don't know if I've answered your question, Andy, but I
guess there's a period... that you enjoy doing this sort
of thing and helping out, and then you'll move on
when someone else takes up position here.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah, well said, Simon. Thanks for your time as always.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Thanks, Sandy. Much appreciated.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Simon Hotcroft of the Southland Rural Support Trust. That number
if you need to get in touch, 0800... 888-787-254. Same
old story. A problem shared is a problem halved. Isla
Pringle's up next. You are listening to The Muster. This
(19:44):
is The Muster on Hakanui. Isla Pringle is based at Hedgehope.
Dairy farming out that way. also a member of the
Nightcaps Young Farmers Club and joins us once again. Isla,
good afternoon, you're on the carving beat, how's it been?
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Cheers Andy, yeah no, it's been pretty smooth sailing, I
mean most of August was pretty just the end slash
start of September seemed to be a bit different so
now we had our fair share of muck ups and
learnings but yeah so that's all part of it everything's ticking.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Over When did you start calving officially? How long have
you been going?
Speaker 4 (20:29):
We bought a wee few heifers and they calved a
wee bit earlier to AB as well so I think
maybe like 20th of July 25th of July we had
a few but yeah nothing too crazy just I think
yeah main herd was sort of due the 8th of
(20:49):
August and yeah we're about I don't know 370 in
now so.
Speaker 1 (20:55):
Well you're six weeks in is it as you expected
it to be weather aside?
Speaker 4 (21:01):
Yeah nah everything's pretty good and Cows are in good nick,
which is always nice to see. And to be fair,
we've still got quite a bit of grass, so.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Really?
Speaker 4 (21:11):
Yeah, just we dried off a wee bit earlier just
to make sure we did have those covers because, yeah,
nothing worse.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
But, yeah, we.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Still have a bit of grass, but, yeah, like we said,
sort of disappearing pretty quick through those cows can eat, so.
Speaker 1 (21:30):
That landscape through the Headchoke Way, when you go through
to Winton or the back way to Lawnville or whatever,
it certainly grows a lot of tucker through there. You
say that?
Speaker 4 (21:40):
Yeah, no. We like to say we're summer safe because
there's a lot of water. But, yeah, this time of year,
it's more like a lake view from my house. So, yeah,
a lot of standing water in the flats anyway, so.
But, yeah, it does seem to grow pretty well.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
So how wet's it in the paddocks? Are you not
aquaplaning when you're going around?
Speaker 4 (22:07):
In some paddocks. No, we did have a bit of
a flood on the Titipu and Hedgehope on, yeah, Sunday, Monday.
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Oh, far out.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
Monday, Tuesday, maybe. So, I don't know. It is disappearing, but, yeah,
there's definitely still a bit of water hanging around, so...
I did think that winter was pretty kind to us,
to be honest.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Winter was fantastic until about mid-June, and that's when we
went away on our holiday, and we left, and it
was nice and dry. There was grass. We came back.
It was like someone left a massive big-ass hose on
over in Vikago, and all the water had just dripped
down all the way down to Gore. Put it into
a nutshell, really. It just got crazy really quick. But
(22:55):
it's good to see you guys are growing a bit
of grass there. At least somebody is, I suppose.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
Yeah, well, yeah, I'm not sure if it's growing still,
but there's a bit of grass in front of us
at least.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Do you carry much supplement through at this time of
year or is that pretty low as well?
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Oh, it's getting pretty short, to be honest. We're actually
carting a wee bit from the neighbours at the moment
because we're a.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
Bit low on silage.
Speaker 5 (23:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:20):
Yeah, that's just how it is, you know, just trying
to tick over and get everything off crock.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Talk a bit of young farmers, because I had Connor
on from Balfour the other day, and they still do
their Thirsty Thursday like tonight. You guys there at nightcaft,
do you do like a dinner or anything over the
busy season to catch up, or is it just too hectic?
Speaker 4 (23:39):
Bit of both. We had our meeting last night, so
that was good to catch up with everyone.
Speaker 1 (23:43):
Oh, cool.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Pretty bloody good numbers.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
I don't know, maybe closer to.
Six or seven new faces so that was good to
meet a few new people and then yeah like not
next Wednesday but Wednesday after we'll have a pub night.
Thornberry had one last month, mid-month and we're having one
(24:07):
this month, mid-month for both of them, well anyone really
anyone that wants to come have a yarn and a
beer and buy yourself a feed and Yeah, just have
a catch-up, really. Excuse to get off farm.
Speaker 1 (24:24):
How do you find it? Do you find it hard, like,
during the day, just to stay mentally stimulated in the
job at the moment? Or is it a case of
Groundhog Day, you're in a routine, you just rip in?
Speaker 4 (24:34):
Yeah, I mean, it's pretty routine in those mornings. You just,
you know, got to milk the cows and feed the
calves and get everything fed and happy. But, yeah, I
guess throughout the day, it changes a wee bit. And
when it's cold outside... It's not the funnest job to
go back out there, is it?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Oh, I don't know.
Speaker 4 (24:56):
Yeah, every day is different, isn't it? But there's still
plenty to do, I guess, and that's the thing. The
clock doesn't stop, really.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
If nothing else, it's the start of a new season,
and getting that milk out the gate is a pretty
cool feeling.
Speaker 3 (25:12):
Yeah, it's real good, actually.
Speaker 4 (25:16):
Yeah, doing pretty good, so.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Can't complain.
Speaker 4 (25:19):
And, yeah, pretty good community out here to be fair.
So a lot of people always checking in and bringing
a beer around or ringing or texting or whatever, really. So, no,
it's a good community feel out these ways.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
That's really good to hear that the community looks out
for each other and just catches up with neighbours or
people in the immediate area. I mean, that's really good,
knowing you can lean on someone if you need to.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Yeah, that's right. And everyone's on the same boat. And
that's what it was like last night at Young Farmers too.
It was pretty funny just, you know, everyone sharing their
stories and everyone's pretty similar in the same boat.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Yeah, exactly. You're all in the same boat and everyone
is going to get out alive, but it's just a
matter of having to go through the windy, windy narrow
channels that life presents. Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (26:12):
That's 100% it really. And just knowing you're not, you know,
you're not doing it yourself either, really. Like, whatever your experience,
I think I'm sure someone else experienced at some point.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:24):
Yeah, not to say it's not hard or whatever, but, yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
If it was easy farming, everybody would be doing it, Isla.
We'll leave it there. Hey, thanks for your time. All
the best in the trenches. And, yeah, keep smiling.
Speaker 5 (26:40):
Cheers, Andy.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Bloody awesome. We'll catch you next time.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
Isla Pringle, based at Hedgehove. Young Farmers Meeting last, another
five or six members turning up. Young Farmers, great organisation
doing some really cool stuff as well. We talk about
it every Tuesday, but yet again, if you want to
get involved with Young Farmers, something a bit different, and
network and meet people, there's an outlet for you. Matt
McRae's up next. This week, talking in his beef and
(27:06):
lamb capacity.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
The Muster Events Diary, brought to you by Beef and
Lamb New Zealand.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
Click beeflamnz.com. Matt McRae of Mocherita All The Yams joins
us once again on the Beef and Lamb side. Of course,
he is the director for Beef and Lamb New Zealand,
as well as being a sheep and beef and stuff
farmer out there at Mocherita. G'day, Matt.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
Afternoon, Andy. How are you?
Speaker 1 (27:36):
Yeah, going pretty well, thanks. Look, you're out there, it's,
what are we, the 3rd of September weekend, How's spring
faring for you so far, dare I ask?
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Yeah, I think spring's just finally turned up in the
last hour and we've seen a bit of sunshine break through,
so it's been pretty good, but she's been a wet
old week, so certainly thoughts with those guys that have
been in the thicker lemming at the moment. It's no
doubt been a bit of a slog, but, yeah, we're
just probably fortunate that, like, studs and terminals have been
(28:05):
gone three days and I've hit the ground running, but...
But yeah, made a lot of use until the end
of the week, so here's hoping for a bit of
fine weather later in the week.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
Have you got much tucker ahead of you?
Speaker 2 (28:17):
Yeah, last time I was doing there we'd spaced on
a bit of nitrogen and I'm yet to see the
benefit of that yet. It certainly doesn't feel like it anyway,
but yeah, no, I'd say it's holding, but we're going
to need some grass. I mean, whenever you drive through
paddocks and leave black marks behind, it's not real encouraging,
is it? But Like I say, the stock have been
(28:39):
in good luck and we've done everything else we can
to get them to where they are. So they're doing
what they do and we'll see how we go in
a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Now, Matt, you're a director in Beef and Lamb New Zealand,
elected to the role in March of this year. How's
it been? What's it like from your perspective?
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Yeah, I've been really enjoying the challenge. Obviously, something reasonably
passionate about, well, extremely passionate about, and it's been quite
a good learning experience for me as well. and enjoying
meeting new people and new challenges. And it's been good,
a few days off farm, but still firmly with the
boats on the ground and involved in the day-to-day here
(29:20):
as well. So it's been a good mix. And yeah,
looking forward to putting or adding value where I can
and certainly shaping the future of our sector into a positive,
vibrant one.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
A lot of positives in the sector, and we'll touch
on that today as well. The price of red meat
just seems to be a positive that keeps on going
pretty good.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Yeah, it's great, and well-deserved for a lot of red
meat farmers that have probably struggled a bit over the
last couple of years. For me, it's capturing these tailwinds
at the moment and turning that into where do we
want to be in the next five or ten years. and, yeah,
adding a bit of value and things like survival and genetics.
(30:07):
And then, yeah, there's plenty of other stuff that we're
doing at Beef and Lamb to make sure we're getting
good value for our levy money. And, yeah, it's just
helping drive those decisions so we can move onwards and upwards.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Interesting you talk about the outlook for the next five
and ten years. I'd say the key word there would
be consistency.
Speaker 6 (30:28):
Yeah, it would be.
Speaker 2 (30:29):
In the past, it's been a bit of a rollercoaster,
hasn't it? But last year was extremely good, and this
year's shaping up to be another in terms of product prices.
Just how do we capture those and turn it into,
like you say, consistently getting good results, because it certainly
makes it a lot easier to make investment decisions in
(30:50):
both in your business and outside. And it And also
the succession side of things as well makes it a
bit easier when there's a bit more profitability or fat
dropping at the bottom.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Now the Southern Farmer Council AGM's coming up. Tell us
about it.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Yeah, we've got our Farmer Council AGM in Riversdale this
year on 28th of October. Yeah, it's a good opportunity
to hear about what the council have been up to
and the issues facing the farming sector. We've got a
few positions on the council up for grabs if there's
anyone that's interested in it. So, yeah, reach out to
(31:25):
myself or Courtney or Claire, Dean, or one of the
Beef and Lamb team, and, yeah, learn a wee bit
more about it. But, yeah, it's certainly a good forum
to generate some discussion and for people that are passionate
about advocating for farmers and contributing to the industry. So, yeah,
28th of October, you'll see a bit in the e-dories, and, yeah,
(31:47):
look forward to seeing a few people there. There's a
guest speaker. turning up as well, and, um, it's just
for the afternoon, so it'd be good to get a
few off, um, a few will be ready by then, um,
to come and catch up with a few, so, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:01):
What time on the 28th? Is it an evening thing?
Speaker 2 (32:05):
No, it's 1.30 to 4.30, um, it is in Riversdale,
I'll have to look up the exact venue of it.
Speaker 1 (32:11):
Uh, It'll be the pub or the rugby club?
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, yeah, quite likely, so, um, yeah, it'll be, it'll
be really good in, in the past, um, Yeah, there's
a really good group on our Farmer Council there, but, yeah,
we are looking for a few extras to join and
add some value. So, yeah, reach out if you're keen.
Speaker 5 (32:30):
To get on board.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
So what's the real positive about being involved with the
Farmer Council? What's something... Someone listening to this thinking, yeah,
I'd like to add some input, what's some things that
you think have been, you know, from your experiences, have added?
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, I guess it opens you up to a wide
range of what beef and lamb is doing. I guess
the primary... The primary function is around the extension and
helping the ideas for events that we're running in our region,
and also advocating for bits and pieces that are happening
in your specific area that relate to beef and lamb.
(33:04):
But there's also, you get a bit of insight into
things like your research, your environmental stuff going on.
Speaker 6 (33:12):
A wee bit of advocacy.
Speaker 2 (33:14):
Yeah, farm survey data, there's just so many layers that
beef and lamb are doing. And some extremely talented and
passionate people that work for the industry. So, yeah, it's
just good to learn that, get that extra perspective on
where your levy's going to and how you can add
value and help shape the future.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
This upcoming referendum, tell us about it.
Speaker 2 (33:38):
Yeah, so it's every six years it appears... as part
of the levy act. It'll be coming up in February,
March next year. We're working on a strategy at the
moment for beef and lamb to put out in the
coming months and I guess demonstrate how we are adding
value and where the levy's going. There'll be a bit
(34:02):
of correspondence coming, emails and posts about that in the
next few months. But yeah, I guess as being a
reasonably new director, I'm always pretty keen to hear from
individuals around their thoughts and feedback on beef and lamb
and where they see it going so I'd be quite
keen to get around a few discussion groups and field
(34:23):
days and bits and pieces and get your opinion because
I guess that's why I joined the board is to
take that grassroots approach and make sure that our region's
being heard and be a strong voice for the South
so if there's any opinions my phone's always available to
give me a call And.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
Just quickly to wrap up, tell us about the e-diary
that goes out every Friday morning too.
Speaker 2 (34:47):
Yeah, so the e-diary's emailed out. Claire and the team
put it together with a few events and bits and
pieces that are coming up, as well as some of
the other research and historical stuff that have been pulled
out of Beef and Lamb. So it's a really good
way to keep informed of what Beef and Lamb have
been doing in our region. It is region-specific for Otago Southland,
(35:12):
and there's a wee bit of national stuff in there
as well. So a good way to keep connected. And, yeah,
I'd encourage anyone, all levy pairs, both sheep, beef and dairy,
to jump on and see what there is. There's a
wide range of stuff, including dairy beef and calf rearing
and everything, popping up in there. But, yeah, one of
my goals has been to increase engagement from probably what's
(35:35):
historically been Moderate, so a really engaged, positive industry. So
if you're not on the electoral roll, I'd encourage you
to get involved. Jump on the Beef and Ham website.
We'll give one of the team a bell and get
in and have your say because the stronger support we
have for the levy body, the more we can push
(35:56):
for where we're wanting to go. So it'll be really
great to see.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
Thanks for your time as always, Matt. You enjoy the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
Appreciate it. Cheers, Andy, and hope everyone has a good
next couple of weeks in the lambing and indie carving.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Matt McRae of Beef and Lamb. BeefLambNZ.com slash events to
receive the e-diary into your inbox every Friday morning. Nathan
Burden's up next to talk sport.
Speaker 4 (36:21):
History never repeats. I tell myself before I go to sleep.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
Welcome back to the muster. Before we catch up with
Nathan Burden, if you go to the muster on Hoki
Nui Facebook page and comment on there and like the
page as well, you can win a meat box for
Father's Day. Thanks to the meat box, $ 100 voucher is
up for grabs. So that's on the muster social pages.
Nathan Burden, resident sporting burden. Resident sporting guru, I should say. Well,
(36:54):
you are a burden. Good afternoon.
Speaker 6 (36:57):
Good day, mate. How are you?
Speaker 1 (36:58):
Multitasking and it's failing. How's it been? Are you staying
dry down there?
Speaker 5 (37:05):
Yeah, staying dry, staying warm, which is very important at
the moment, staying out of the wind. Yeah, spring is springing.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
Isn't it? Absolutely, and we get into the spring cycle
and we find out how many teams can win the
Ranford East Shield with these fantastic flow diagrams. So seven
teams can win the Shield for the remainder of the
year based on the flow diagrams. It's Canterbury, Hawke's Bay, Counties, Manawatu, Northland, obviously,
Waikato and Tasman.
Speaker 5 (37:31):
And, I mean, it's been a great aspect of the
NPC over the last couple of years, and particularly last season,
was to see the log of wood bounce around from
union to union. I think Northland have already shown themselves
to be a more than a worthy host of one
of the great and iconic trophies in New Zealand rugby.
(37:54):
It was a great defence. Their first defence in 50-odd years.
Great defence last weekend. I think they've got two or
three more to go if they can get themselves through
to the summer. They've done a great job. It's great
to see the unions like Northland really add another chapter
(38:15):
to a great sporting history.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
Now the Stags, they go again this weekend. They've got counties,
speaking of counties, but this is being played up there.
Remembering this corresponding game last season in Invercargill where that
died in the wall south into Seve Rees on the
wing and counties put 60 points on us. That won't
happen again, will it?
Speaker 5 (38:36):
You'd hope not. Yeah, I mean, that game went completely
against script. I think, you know, the traditional... The traditional
narrative is that counties down here are a winnable prospect.
Counties at home for the Stags are a real challenge.
When you look at that county's team, I think you
think of very direct ball runners and a great offloading game.
(39:00):
Once they get on a roll, very hard to stop. Traditionally,
that's been a tough thing for Southam teams to combat. But,
you know, I guess when we look at this, counties
have had a similar season to us. They are coming
off a confidence-boosting win over Wellington. And we've had a
good 10-day break, which has allowed, I guess, the team
(39:21):
to probably catch their breath a bit. And you've seen
some players come back from injury, and the coaches have
actually had almost a full muster to be able to
select from so that 10 day break will hopefully have
done the Stags good.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Things Realistically for the Stags what would be a good
way to look at the season are they still a
chance of making the quarters?
Speaker 5 (39:43):
Mathematically, they definitely will be. I think they'll have to
look at this. I mean, everything probably rests on this game.
And I know people hate it, but it is like
every game is the must-win game for the Stags. And
I guess lose to counties and mathematically they can probably
still do it, but realistically it's probably a bridge too
(40:05):
far for that team. But yeah, so they'll have to
go up there and they'll have to win and then
I guess they put themselves.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
In a position.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
Now, this Nepal scenario or situation with Nepal, New Zealand,
Ali Williams and his wife, Anna Mowbray, have decided to
invest money into a competition for next year, but it
seems like too little too late.
Speaker 5 (40:27):
Yeah, in terms of, I guess, those players heading offshore,
perhaps not as dire as it's been made out. I mean,
last week we already had up to 10 of those
players were already committed. You know, they were playing overseas
last year. Once the genie was out of the bottle
in terms of that the ability or Silver Fern's eligibility,
(40:48):
then this was always going to happen. It is a
massive shift. I don't think we can underestimate just what
it means in terms of a national sporting organisation to
largely hand over the control of its national competition to
private investment. This does not happen a lot around the world.
(41:09):
If you look at examples like the Australian NBL competition
Formula One, there aren't actually that many examples of this
happening and certainly it's a new thing for New Zealand
and I guess you know, for all the positives. And
it is a great move. It's better than not having
a competition at all. But it also means, I think,
that going forward, you know, in terms of where the
(41:31):
focus goes, the focus now goes on putting a good
competition together rather than what is the best thing for
the pathway for New Zealand netball. And I know there's
a lot of positive and all the right things are
being said at the moment, but you don't get rich
by throwing money away. So, It'll be interesting just to
see what the devil of the detail is of what
that competition is going to look like.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
If nothing else, it is a chance for emerging talent
to come through then.
Speaker 5 (41:57):
Oh, huge. And I think you've already seen that coaches
have been heading towards along to just coincidentally the various
secondary schools competitions, including the Upper North Island, South Island
secondary schools, the Lower North Island secondary schools, netball competitions
have been happening this week during tournament week. And there
(42:18):
would have been some very interested observers looking at perhaps
some of those Year 13 talents And whether any of
those are in a position where they could step straight
up into elite senior netball is a big ask. But
some players, Grace Nowicki is a great example. Some players
have been able to show that they've been able to
do that in the past. And I guess with up
(42:40):
to 18 or more players taken out of that elite competition,
there will be spots available.
Speaker 1 (42:47):
The Warriors, their last game of the regular season before
they hit the playoffs, arresting a couple of players. Do
you think this is now grasping the imagination of the
Southern public?
Speaker 2 (42:56):
100%, yeah.
Speaker 5 (42:59):
I mean, I was probably as guilty as anyone. I
was getting very invested in this whole minor premiership conversation.
But then I also saw someone who knows a lot
more about league than me during the week saying well
can you name who the minor premiers have been for
the last 10 years and I was like actually no
I can't no one actually cares who the minor premiers
(43:21):
are it doesn't matter if we beat The Sea Eagles,
by more than the Panthers, beat the Tigers in the weekend.
We've secured that top two spot. We've got home advantage
through to semifinals. They've done the hard work, and now
I guess it's about seeing if they can get some
of those stars, particularly Dallin Watini as a Lesniak, back
(43:44):
and into some sort of fitness for the playoffs.
Speaker 1 (43:48):
Previously, it's been the Panthers for like the last five
years or something ridiculous. And I think they get $ 100, 000
and a big trophy or a big shield and a cabinet.
Speaker 5 (43:59):
Yeah, which I think, you know, do you want that
or would they trade that for a premiership? You know,
I guess the Panthers haven't had to have that conversation.
They've more often than not been able to kick on
and win both. But yeah, I mean, I think the
Warriors have won the minor premiership once before, I think,
from memory. You know, twice they've managed to go on
(44:19):
and get themselves into a grand final. I mean, if
you had the choice between the two, no question about
which one you'd want.
Speaker 1 (44:27):
Hey, good on you, Nathan. Just quickly as well, the
All Blacks, what are you predicting for Sunday morning? It's
going to be a doozy.
Speaker 5 (44:33):
Yeah, it's going to be a doozy for sure. Unfortunately,
I think it's going to be another South African win,
another week under the belt for them, and they seem
to be trending in the right direction, so I think
they'll win a close one.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I hope you're wrong, Nathan, but we always appreciate your
time on the muster. Have a good weekend.
Speaker 5 (44:47):
Thanks, mate.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
See you.
Speaker 1 (44:51):
Laugh out loud.
Speaker 2 (44:52):
With Ag Proud, because life on the land can be
a laughing matter.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the
livestock farmer. What kind of shoes do chickens wear? Re-buck-buck. God,
stop me. There we go. Over in Dunworth, I found
a joke. Hey, that's us. Done and dusted for the afternoon.
I'm Andy Muir. The show, of course, is brought to
(45:17):
you by Peter's Genetics. Party's up shortly. Enjoy the afternoon.
See you tomorrow. Hey, well, all right, sir. Here we
go there. And what are they going to do? PGG
writes and presents stock selling action once again that occurred
at the Charlton sale yards this morning. Greg Clearwater's on
the ground and gives a rundown on prices. Good afternoon, sir.
How do we fare?
Speaker 6 (45:35):
Yep, how are you Andy? All good. Right, we'll just
start off with the prime lambs. Everything's pretty much on par.
The best of the prime lambs today, one PM there
made $ 450. The medium prime lambs, $ 260 to $ 300. Lighter primes,
$ 230 to $ 250. In the ewe section, the butcher ewes,
the best of those are up to $ 260. Mediums, $ 170
(45:58):
to $ 210, and lighter ewes, $ 120 to $ 150. Mixed-age rams,
Most of them were in pretty good order around that
$ 100 mark. In the store lamb section, the forward store
lambs were up to $ 220, mediums $ 160 to $ 200, and
the lighter edge to $ 120. Just a small to medium yarding, Andy,
(46:22):
and everything was on par with the previous week.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
So those lambs that went $ 450, how big was the pen?
How many in the pen, Greg?
Speaker 6 (46:30):
How many was in that pen, Andy? There might have
been seven or eight in that pen.
Speaker 1 (46:33):
Nice. Good on you, Greg. Thanks as always.
Speaker 6 (46:36):
Thank you, Andy.
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