September 8, 2026 • 45 mins
Andy Muir talks to Steve Henderson, David Frame, Jared Stockman, Steve Ellison, Murray Heath and Mark Calder.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Andy Muley here. Until 2 o'clock, of course, the show
is brought to you. by Clayton and the team at
Peters Genetics. Welcome along to our hunt day, in which
we've seen 36 hours plus now of pleasant weather in
the south. Some rain in the forecast for this afternoon.
This morning, very pleasant. Yesterday was even better. Blue sky
(00:29):
and lawnmowers going here, there and everywhere. Before we go
any further though, interesting, like the reference made in the
hour when the country... talking about the emperor's new clothes.
And I'll be honest, I've heard this saying, but I
had to Google it. So the emperor's new clothes, here's
a saying for the afternoon. It is a situation where
people pretend to believe something is good, real or valuable
(00:52):
because everyone else does, even though it is clearly false
or worthless. Does this describe the Paris Agreement perhaps? Nonetheless,
it's a conversation that is just ongoing anyway, whether New
Zealand stays in or stays out.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Nonetheless, Eric clapped in the tunes. This song here, Lay
Down Sally.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I remember this song from the 2004 Athens Olympics. Purely
because an Australian rower named Sally Robbins, she gave up
mid-race in the rowing and the look of.
Just horror on her teammates' faces as she stopped halfway
through the race and she was referred to after that.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Moment as lay down Sally Robbins.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So this afternoon we see showers with breezy westerlies and
a high of 14. Thursday, showers of westerlies once again,
4 and 9. Friday, showers of brisk westerlies forming, 4
and 10. Saturday, light rain with breezy westerlies, 6 and 9.
And Sunday, light rain again with westerlies forming, 6 and 11.
Into next week though, there is some good days on
(02:05):
the way up. Garth Shanks, just got your message, well said. Clinton, 7.3. Harriet, 6.3.
Get us underway for the soil temperatures. Northern Southland, 7.2. Riverton, 9.3.
Te Anau, 6.9. Titaroa, 8. Winton, 6.5. And Woodlands, 6.4.
As we start the hour with Steve Henderson, dairy farmer
(02:28):
based at Awarua. As he powers his way through Carver,
we'll see how things are going. How's the grass lasting
down there between Bluff and Invercargill? David Framer, Craig's Investment Partners,
has a chat. Jared Stockman out of Dairy NZ. Talking
the situation at the moment, we catch up with Dairy
NZ on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And then we've got, who have we got?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Of course, we've got Steve Ellison from Bioactive Soils has
a yarn. And then Murray Heath talking 1970s Southman Rugby reunion,
which is happening this weekend upcoming.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So we've ordered this yarn, actually.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Mark Calder of PDG Wrightson talks about the Barcluthers sale.
And Garth Shanks, yes, he's speaking to the top party
as Emperor's New Clothes. So, Garth, I know you know
all your colours to the wall. We'll carry on with
the hour anyway next with Steve Henderson, 7 After 1.
(03:40):
Steve Henderson farms at Awarua between Bluff and Invercargill. We
caught up with him a couple of weeks ago, just
getting into the middle of calving, or starting calving, I suppose. Steve,
good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
How's progress?
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Afternoon, Andy and listeners. Progress is, yep, it's happened, and
we've got a bit over 100 cows left to calve.
So it's been a short and sharp calving this year.
We're probably four or five days ahead of our midpoint. which,
you know, it's made a busy time, but yeah, there's
less cars to worry about that have still got calves
(04:14):
inside them, so that's always.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
A good thing.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
A lot of people have talked about calving going quickly
this season.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Yeah, and often each year you do think it goes
quick because you're in the moment and you're busy each day,
but on paper it was actually pretty busy, so I
think gestation lengths in general are probably getting shorter as
the dairy breeds come in year on year, so Yeah,
it's one thing we probably need to look at is
do we push our plant starter maybe back a couple
(04:41):
of days? Because, you know, we still have winter in
South London. You can only go into winter with so
much cover. So it's put a wee bit of pressure
on pasture covers this year. But the only sort of
good thing was that we had higher covers going in. So, yeah,
but that's farming. That's the beauty of it. You're always
making decisions and any decisions better than no decisions.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I suppose the pressure that goes on due to the
quick calving is like a bum's rush.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's all over and done with for sure, but at
the time it's hectic.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Yeah, it is. It's only really hectic the drafting the
different mobs to fill up the calving mob you've just
taken calved cows out of because if you're putting one
cow up the herringbone or in the roachery, you might
as well put 50 on. You've still got that time.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
So, yeah, I don't mind a.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Fast calving, you know, cleaning a cow each day, but, yeah,
it's just... This time of year when you're trying to
hold your first round and, you know, you're allocating square metres,
but you've got a lot more cows and milk, so
obviously your hectares per day go up and you need
to import a bit of feed. Or you bite the
bullet and you speed up your round, but that's a
bit dangerous at this time of year. So, yeah, we're
(05:49):
just managing supplement and trying to get through to about
the 21 or 22 of September, which is still early enough. But, yeah,
I think we've got enough feed on here to feed
into that second round.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
If we have to.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Your grass covers, though, they're just a little bit damp
at the moment.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, so every pasture cover's actually pretty bloody good, but
like you say, it's damp, and it's utilization and the
regrowth out the back of it. We can certainly see
the damp bits. They're struggling to get their head up
after they've been bitten off, but the dry bits, yeah,
we could be growing up, you know, 25, 30 a
day just with the dry ground, which is few and
(06:26):
far between down here, so.
We've seen it all before, and I think it's just
probably been six weeks or eight weeks earlier this year
with those westerlies and that sherry shit coming through, which
we've had in October for the last two years. So, yeah,
fingers crossed it's all happened and we're going to come
into a glorious October.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
How have the staff coped with the calving going so
quickly and, I suppose, put on that with the conditions
they had to face?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Pretty good, pretty good. Yeah, it's not their first rodeo
and they know it's calving and we try and manage
it then. um you know we're out of the shed
ideally by five o'clock and um you can still get
home and get what you need done and a bit
of rest um.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So you're still you're still able to do the 5
p.m cut.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Off uh yep yep you know all things going well
you know you might have a carving or something to
do yeah yeah yeah the aim of the game is
to have the shed turned off by five o'clock and
then the you know there'll be a couple of years
to run around and do but yeah if you if
you work backwards from there yesterday's busy but you're not
dragging out until 7 or 8 o'clock at night using
headlamps and wondering how you're going to get home so
(07:33):
it's been good and all you do is you just
prioritise which herd needs really looked after and the old
girls in October carvers they can handle getting fed after
lunch so you get pretty good at prioritising I think
in those substandard weather days when you're busy carving.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
What time are you outside in the mornings?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's where it cuts on.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
At 5 so quarter past 4 quarter past 4 your
way down to do a vat wash in bits and pieces. So,
you know, you do clock up a few hours in
the day, but it makes you appreciate those January, February,
March months when you can get away and do what
you want to do.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
What do you do for morale during carving? Like chuck
some pizzas on at night or whatever if it's hard going?
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Hard yakking?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Yeah, we did actually. So, yeah, last week we always
had a mid-carving catch-up with the neighbours and, yeah, that
was bloody good and it's never good to do a
weekend thing on a weekday because the weekdays afterwards in
that flash, but it's good to catch up and you
realise everybody's on the same boat and you just turn
up in your overalls or your leggings, have a few
beers and tea and carry on. It is good to
(08:39):
do that, otherwise you can just be stuck in the
moment and it's a long eight weeks if you don't
get out to be out and talk to other people.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I had Tim Baker on the show yesterday from Clinton
Young Farmers. He's farming cattle. on the Old Coach Road,
and he just said the same thing, Steve-o. The chance
to get off farm, like they had the Clinton Young
Farmers meeting on Monday night. They had like 58 members
turn up, or potential members, which was unprecedented. So you're
dead right. People just want to get off farm for
a wee bit and have a bit of.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
A look around, eh?
Speaker 6 (09:07):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
It's quite a unique situation, isn't it, where you think
it's the busiest time of year, but that's when you
get the most turnout to a lot of events, and
Young Farmers is a classic, and we get the Gorge Road...
lunch last week and we went along and there could
have been 50 or 60 other people there too which
you know I've made time during the day to get
out there have a lunch and a coffee and catch
up with other cockies and you know you've got to
(09:30):
be in the mindset to do that otherwise you think
you know you've got to work all day which yes
sometimes you do but other days no you can always
get away.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well that's the nature of the game oh dude right.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Yep yep and as long as you appreciate that and
then you make the most.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Of it when you can so as you get through
Carvey what is how does your focus.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Change It's just mainly around what we need to do
with the cows. So calving will be done. We'll obviously
start weaning a few calves and then we're straight into mating.
So doing pre-mating checks, pre-mating heats and metric checking. And
once you get into that second round, you sort of
want to have your eye on the ball reasonably good
(10:07):
with pasture covers, not going into too high of covers,
but being mindful that you are getting the growth behind
the cows. So, yeah, that second round is pretty critical
to hit meat, peak milk and obviously have enough energy
for those cows to scythe and get back in calf.
It's a vicious circle but it happens every year and
you get to Christmas and cows are all in calf
(10:27):
and then you can take your hand off the throttle.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Like you say, it's a vicious circle but you guys
sound pretty geared up to cope with what's ahead.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
You don't take each day as it comes but you
don't overthink things and you just know what the season
could throw at you so you've got to be a
little bit prepared but.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
And for those younger guys out there, you know, first-year
contract milkers or first-year 2ICs and managers, there's always someone
to ring or there's always a bit of document around
that you can see what you need to be doing
and what round legs. And Dairy NZ's got some terrific
stuff on their website just to get you in check
so you do know what you're doing. And if you
are really, really hesitant, do pick up the phone and
(11:11):
give anyone a call. And most people will be more
than willing to you know, not necessarily point you in
the right direction, but give you a few tips on
what has went well and what hasn't gone well in
people's past seasons. So that is the beauty of the
farming industry. We're all very open.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Good on you, Steve. Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
No worries.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Thanks, Andy.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Steve Henderson based at Awaroa. David Frame's up next from
Craig's Investment Partners. You're listening to The Muster.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
A muster financial segment with Craig's Investment Partners in Gore.
This information is general in nature and is not financial advice.
Craig's Investment Partners Limited Financial Advice Provider disclosure statement can
be found at craigsip.com.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
David Frame of Craig's Investment Partners joins us once again
on this hump day. G'day, David.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
G'day, Andy. How's it going? Pretty good.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Good.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
A dry day or two makes a bit of a
change to the mood after what we've endured.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Yes, I'd love to see a few more sunny days
out there and for the paddocks to dry off. Ours
are shocking at the moment.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
How much land you got?
Speaker 7 (12:22):
We've got nine acres.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
It's enough for a townie. What are you running on?
Come on, what's stock units?
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Oh, the neighbour's sheep, but he's taken them back for lambing,
so we'll just wait and hopefully the grass grows for
some baleage.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It'll happen.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It'll happen at Southland.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Interest rates, big talk at the moment, a lot of
talk around them with the OCR rising last week and
the flow-on effect. Plenty to talk about in that respect.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Yes, the OCR raised last week to 2.5%, up actually 2.75,
but it lifted in July, so interest rates are on
the move. Inflation's a lot higher than was forecast, and
that's mainly because fuel prices have stayed high because of
the whole debacle in the Middle East. It looks as
(13:07):
though interest rates might rise another quarter or half a
percent by mid-next year, so.
It looks like interest rates that you're paying for your
mortgage or you're receiving for your term deposits or cash
in the bank will go up. Not always good news
for people. The good news is that inflation should be
(13:28):
back under control mid to late next year. And we'll
probably see interest rates maybe ease a little bit then.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It sounds as though if fuel wasn't doing what it's
been doing for the past six months, inflation would have
been OK.
Speaker 7 (13:41):
Yeah, I believe so. Fuel has driven a lot of inflation.
So if you think about your block of cheese at
the supermarket, the cost to get that to the supermarket
has probably gone up with fuel. Everyone else, the packaging,
the plastics comes from fuel. So there have been a
whole lot of small incremental steps to other products outside
(14:02):
of the actual fuel cost.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Quite a bit there to entail, I suppose. So just
the nature of the game at the moment. Interest rates, though,
do we need to be positive about where this is
going to be over the next 18, 24 months?
Speaker 7 (14:14):
I don't think there's any reason to be unhappy. So
interest rates are roughly where they were from 2010 to 2020.
They might be going up a little bit, and I
mean sort of quarter of a percent or half a
percent over the next year. That shouldn't be dire for
most people. And if anything, they might start easing back
again then. So it's not like we saw three or
(14:37):
four years ago when interest rates really shot up and
made things uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So it's actually found a bit more of a happy
medium since then?
Speaker 7 (14:45):
I believe so, and I think our economy's got a
reasonably good track at the moment. It's more positive. We've
come out of a really tough time. The government's done
its best. Businesses, particularly down here, are doing quite well.
So I think there's room for improvement, and people should
(15:05):
be positive in general.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
You won't find a more prosperous province in Southland at
the moment, No. As far as money, as far as growth. Oh,
I think it's fantastic down here.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (15:14):
Worlds apart from Auckland or Wellington, we've got a positive vibe.
Spring's coming, the sun's shining, lambs are jumping around.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It's a good place to be. And gumdrop buttons will
be falling from the sky when we get seven days
of blue skies, David. Here's one to ponder as well.
The election coming up, possible change in government. What changes
there as far as the money side of things?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Because... New government, new thinking, if that occurs.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, the polls have been all over the show. We
spoke about that earlier.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
It could be on a knife edge or it could
fall blue, could fall red. Coalitions still have to be
formed after the election, which could be the juicy part.
If it falls to the red side, there will be
a change in enthusiasm from the investment markets, primarily because
of the taxes and the change of direction for the economy. Now,
(16:09):
the new taxes aren't necessarily bad in themselves, but how
they roll out and how people deal with them could
be quite different from how they're planned. So there's a
lot of uncertainty if the books flip to red. And
then we could see people a bit more nervous to
invest in not just the financial markets here, but also
into their businesses, into their households.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
They might sit on.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Their hands for a while before they do anything. So
the that could be a bit of a hindrance to
our economy in general.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Investor sentiment at the moment, how would you rate it?
Speaker 7 (16:44):
It's surprisingly good. So the markets out there have had
a really good run. Investors are getting really good returns.
You wouldn't always think it turning on the news because
we love to sort of dwell on the negatives.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Okay, diversification regarding portfolios at the moment. We've talked about
this with you guys quite a bit in the past.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
What's the thinking?
Speaker 7 (17:08):
Well, it's been tough for New Zealand investors over the
last five years. New Zealand companies haven't really flourished. We've
seen some do really well, but you've had to be
lucky if you had all your money in those. If
there's a change in government, I do worry about our economy.
because there will be so much uncertainty about how things
(17:28):
will play out. So we're fortunate that with our clients,
we've been able to diversify overseas, where we have a
large degree of expertise and access. And it's really the
overseas markets that has helped our investors get good returns.
So diversifying is a great thing.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Okay, what's an example of somebody diversifying overseas with their portfolios? Well,
if you walked in.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
The door with a reasonably sized check, you might find
that half of it ends up overseas. Now, to the
typical Kiwi, they think, oh, that's a bit scary. We
don't know what's overseas. But if you think about some
of the big names, the Apples, the Googles, Microsofts, they've
done really well. They've had a good run. And it's
(18:12):
really been those sort of names that have lifted investor
returns and and made people happy with their investment returns
over the last year or two.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
The technology sector is the saying that I'm after. It's
been pretty buoyant.
Speaker 7 (18:26):
It has been, which is great. And we can also
temper people's investment into that sector. So another worry is
what happens if the tech sector bowls over and share
prices fall? Well, we take care of that with diversifying.
We mitigate some of that risk, manage it for people.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Craig's Investment Partners, where do they get in touch?
Speaker 7 (18:47):
Just walk in the front door at 1 Erk Street
opposite Gore New World.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Get the groceries, then go and sort your portfolios.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, yeah, or vice versa.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Good on you, David. Great. David Framer, Craig's Investment Partners,
based here in Gore.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Just on that fuel price. Remember, it is Saving at
the Pump Day, generally on a Thursday here in Gore.
So I can be up to 18 cents, even 20
cents off. So do your due diligence, Gatsby. There's a
tip for the day.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Jarrod Stockman's up next out of Dairy NZ. After midnight
Welcome back to the muster.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Jared Stockman of Dairy NZ joins us on this Wednesday
afternoon that sees some blue sky around the province.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Good afternoon, Jared.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Certainly 48 hours of decent weather makes a change to
the mood compared to what we're seeing.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Oh, 100% afternoon, Andy, and all the listeners. And, yeah,
quite a net song you've got there. It's great. There
was quite a bit of sunshine out there at the moment.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Carving's starting to get well through from a sheep farmer's perspective.
Lambing's kicking into gear now. But how are you guys?
What are you seeing out there in the trenches?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Yeah, I mean, look, you know, stating the obvious, it's
wet underfoot. So the last three days, you know, today included,
will be a welcome respite for the farmers. Most of
them probably 60% to 70% of the way through. And
calving's gone pretty well, actually. Most people are reporting, you know,
good levels of replacements. Not hearing too many issues around,
(20:32):
you know, bugs in the shed. I think farmers are...
are pretty good at managing some of the challenges with calves.
But yeah, all in all, I think the last couple
of days has been good for a bit of mental
health for some people.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
It's good for morale.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Oh, 100%. Good for the staff. Probably if we'd had
a little bit of wind, I think it would have
dried up some of those puddles a bit quicker. But yeah,
just getting out in the morning, a bit of sunshine
earlier on, longer days heading towards summer. So, yeah, I
think things are looking up.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Well, I suppose of Dairy NZ, you guys always have
events coming up, especially at the moment, considering what's been
going on. It's busy for a lot of people, but
things to contemplate as well.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Yeah, exactly. Dairy Training Limited, obviously, is one of our
companies that Dairy NZ owns, and we've got some good
events happening early October with Contract Milking, Feed for Profit
and Emerging Leadership. So they're in and around, you know,
Invercargill and Winton and then we've got some of their
(21:46):
kind of flagship events later on in October. Feed basically
partially to profit and some really good hosts. Henny Amatink's
place on the 21st of October, that'll be one that
you won't want to miss. Just seeing some really top operators,
how they maximise their pasture. Obviously, they're still feeding supplements,
(22:10):
but how do they maximise pasture? How do they maximise profit?
That'll be a couple of events, eastern south and northern south,
that you won't want to miss.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Are people coping all right with feed levels at the moment?
There's no concerns around it due to the slow start
to spring?
Speaker 3 (22:26):
No.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Look, I think My observation is it's quite tight out there.
And then obviously if you get, you know, you get
a bit of stormy weather and stuff and people are moving,
you know, herds of cows a little bit more frequently,
things are a bit tight. So, you know, dare I
say it, if you haven't already done it, the spring
pasture planter is really a good tool to use to
(22:50):
just make sure you've got sufficient covers. And yeah, I
wouldn't say that I'm confident about the round length at
the moment, just because we've had some crappy weather. And
it does raise the question, you know, do we need
to extend our calving dates a bit further out just to,
you know, just to kind of manage their seasonality that
(23:11):
we seem to get in the Southland. But, yeah, things
are a bit tight. I think there's plenty of supplement
on hand, but, yeah, I think pasture covers have probably
taken a bit of a hammering in the last couple
of weeks.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Do you know of any farmers that have changed calving
dates due to the past couple of springs, for example?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Look, I don't offhand, and so I'd be really keen
to talk to some farmers who have kind of pushed
out their calving date to sort of late August and
then try and understand what they're doing. Are they milking
longer into June or in just kind of, you know,
what's that actually doing as far as, you know, being
(23:49):
able to manage pastures and does that mean they can,
you know, feed, technically feed, you know, a bit less
in the shed and stuff. But, yeah, I haven't got
anything that's sprung to mind, but I just, I do
wonder whether we've pushed, you know, we've brought calving dates
forward too much and whether we need to look at
(24:11):
kind of pushing out the other end.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
What else is happening? What else is coming up with
you guys, Gerard? There's always a bit on the horizon.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Yeah, we've got actually the next couple of days, Campbell Parker,
our CEO, is down in region with Cam Henderson, who's
our deputy chair. They're catching up with the team at
Southern Dairy Hub, and Campbell and Cam are keen to
catch up with a couple of farmers, a few farmers
while we're down here, which is really good. What else
(24:40):
are we doing? We probably, we haven't been doing a
huge amount with farmers at the moment. Obviously they don't
want to see us on the carving. So we'll probably
be more visible out in the region, you know, in
that space between carving and mating. We've got, obviously we've
got some, you know, some thoughts around what the priorities
(25:04):
are for, you know, the next government meeting. We're looking at,
later on this year, we're looking at running some policy
kind of events where rural professionals and farmers can get
along and get a bit of a steer on where
we think things are at with regulations and things like that.
(25:26):
But yeah, I guess it's a bit of a quieter
time in the next couple of weeks and then we'll
be into events and discussion groups and stuff as normal.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
It'll come round quicker than that.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And just remind Campbell Parker that Waikato has now lost
to the Stags two years in a row.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
I will.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
I'll definitely do that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Hey, Jarrod, thanks for your time as always.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Awesome.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
No worries. Thanks, Andy.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Jarrod Stockman of Dairy NZ as we catch up with
the team every Wednesday here on the muster. Steve Ellison
is up next of Bioactive Soils. And before the end.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Of the hour, Murray Heath talking rugby reunions. Welcome back
to the muster.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Steve Ellison of Bioactive Soils joins us in studio once again.
Of course, he is sponsor of the Country Crossover here
on Fridays. And Steve, good to catch up once again
in studio.
Speaker 9 (26:27):
Hi, Andy.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
It is.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
It's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
How's things been?
Speaker 9 (26:30):
Oh, look, we love this time of year.
Speaker 10 (26:33):
The lambs are foot, calving, the vats underway, and we're
getting all the farmer's stories from winter. No, it's a vibrancy,
even though it's been a bit of wet, but that'll pass,
and we'll be complaining there's a bit of dry. And
our business has doubled already this year. Last year we tripled.
(26:58):
And I'd like to take this moment, Andy, to thank
our farmers for their support, and I'd like to thank
the Farm Bush Telegraph. There's a lot of talk amongst
neighbours on that.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
The bush telegraph is impressive, isn't it?
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (27:12):
Hey, I'll tell you one. Sorry, this is funny.
Speaker 10 (27:14):
But one female farmer phoned me and said, look, we're
going to have to use you. And I says, why so?
Speaker 9 (27:21):
She's a dairy farmer.
Speaker 10 (27:22):
She said, oh, look, I've been watching our neighbour and
he's the worst farmer in the district, yet he's got
the best looking farm.
Speaker 9 (27:29):
So there's something in what you do.
Speaker 10 (27:32):
But anyway, we've ended up with a whole family of
dairy farms with this particular one. So Yeah, that bush telegraph,
I'm going to have to thank that farmer so much
for being no good at what he does.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Honesty is the best policy, I suppose.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 10 (27:47):
Actually, I don't think I'll have the heart to tell
him that, but he probably already knows it, but he
does love what we do for him, so that's important.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
So bioactive soils for the uninitiated, what are you about?
Speaker 10 (27:58):
We look at why, and we look at why things
aren't kind of happening as they should, like insects and
you name.
Speaker 9 (28:03):
It, there's lots of challenges.
Speaker 10 (28:06):
In a nutshell, all I'd like to say is soil
is living, and that's 100% of what grows things. Synthetic fertilisers,
now we do add NPKs to our products, so.
Speaker 9 (28:24):
We do our due diligence and do it properly.
Speaker 10 (28:27):
But the other ones, synthetic, I guess, you ask them
how much biology is it, in that and there's none.
So the driving engine room of your soils, your protection
against dry, which is coming, believe it or not, or
even protection against too much wet is the living side.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Okay, soil biology. Why don't people understand it?
Speaker 9 (28:53):
Well, to be honest, we struggle to understand it too.
Speaker 10 (28:56):
We take it as a gift and we tended to
think that we could control it, but in the end
we had to learn that we had to work around
it We've been doing this biotech development for the last
two decades, and we've learnt so many ways how to
get it wrong. And we have about a 2% wriggle
room in getting it right. And it's all fish-based and
(29:19):
solid fertiliser and liquid.
Speaker 9 (29:22):
Sorry, it's not liquid. So it's all solid, fish and
seaweed and crustaceans, take your pick.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Biological technology.
Speaker 9 (29:29):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 10 (29:30):
And by the way, Andy, we've had absolutely no government
funding for that at all. The farmers we work with,
we respect greatly because they're practical.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Smart.
Speaker 10 (29:41):
And back in the earlier days, they were very helpful
in telling us what didn't work, which meant we then
had to figure out to get it right. But they've
been with us all the way and are well respected.
Speaker 9 (29:53):
And very, very bright.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
So biological performance leads to livestock performance.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
What have you seen change around that?
Speaker 10 (30:03):
We find that with what we do, we grow the
same amount of grass. The difference there is the quality
of that grass. Because the life translate that up into
the pasture. In the earlier days, farmers would open four gates,
leave them open And I'd do trials back then. We
(30:26):
don't do trials now, we do farms. And anyway, they
would complain because there was no grass in the area
we'd done. But when we go down there, the animals
had voted with their mouth and they'd lived in those
paddocks and they were choosing a little bit of grass
over lots of grass next door. So the reality there
is the wholesomeness of that grass and that translates into
(30:47):
animal health. I was at a farmer three or four
weeks ago dairy farmer, hadn't seen him for ages, and
he was relaxed.
Speaker 9 (30:58):
He didn't have enough to do. He said, look, this
is the biggest breeze I've had.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
I'm 75% through calving. I've got no animal health issues.
I had one retained placenta and a bit of a
lameness on another, and he says it's just a dream,
which it hadn't been before we come along That's what
it's about.
Speaker 9 (31:21):
The animals are what they eat.
Speaker 10 (31:22):
And more importantly with him, at his runoff, which was
inundated with grass grub, which he'd not long purchased, absolutely
no grass grub. He couldn't believe it. And he was
laughing because his neighbours are full of it. And he says, oh,
you're going to get a few phone calls. And I said, oh,
we'll see it when we believe it. But it's okay.
It's important that you're doing well.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That was my next question, actually. Natural resilience against common
pasture pests. And you talked about grass scrub then. Perine
has been an issue as well. So if we can
get on top of that, that's half the battle.
Speaker 9 (31:54):
You look at why, because we always get questioned that.
Speaker 10 (31:58):
And the reality is when you use to try and
solve the problem that caused the problem, it's not a
very good business plan. And what I'm talking about here
is when the sterile seedbed's being produced or chemical use,
or you're spraying with diosin, take your pick, for insects,
(32:19):
you're actually nuking out everything, which then means the natural
protection is no longer there, and that's where we come along,
because why are they there in the first place? And
they're there because your soil life isn't quite up to speed.
It's all about making a difference and making it healthier
for everybody, cows, humans, and definitely the farmer.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Okay, Steve, somebody's listening to this, Bioactive Soils. How do
they get in touch?
Speaker 10 (32:49):
You'll get us online if you Google us, 021779919.
Speaker 9 (32:57):
That's me.
Speaker 10 (32:58):
And I'll pick up straight away.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Good on you, Steve.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Good to catch up again.
Speaker 9 (33:03):
Thanks, Andy.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Steve Ellison of Bioactive Soils.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
If you want to catch up with the team like
Steve said, go and catch up on our social media
channels as well. Murray Heath's up next to wrap up
a Wednesday. Welcome back to the muster. It's all happening
down in Invercargill this weekend. A reunion is going on
(33:29):
for Southland Rugby. Well, the players featured in the 1970s
decade are having a get-together ahead of Bay of Plenty
and Invercargill on Sunday afternoon. Murray Heath is one of
the organisers of the event. He's played 48 games for
the Stags himself. He's a life member of Riverton Rugby Club,
and he's just got back from the Gold Coast back
(33:49):
into chilly Southland.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Murray, welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Oh, absolutely, Andy. It's a privilege to be here speaking
on behalf of the boys.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Firstly, 1970s rugby. They were like the Halcyon days, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Oh, yes, certainly. When the country was strong in Southland,
the Southland team was strong.
Speaker 8 (34:10):
So, yes, I'm just.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Reflecting through here. The names that are coming to the reunion,
over half of them are for country boys.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
That was just rugby back in the day, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I mean, all the farmers were playing, all your rural teams,
I mean, Country Pirates was very strong, all your northern teams, Eastern,
the likes, a few teams have amalgamated since, but back
in the day, I mean, it was always rugby on
a Saturday and Trust Cup on a Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
You didn't have a day off, really, in Southland training
on the Sunday, so sub-union training Monday, club, Tuesday, sub-union,
rugby on Wednesday. And as it went on, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
So training for Southland back in the 1970s, how many
practices a week was there?
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Sometimes three. Three. You would train on a Sunday, most
likely Wednesday, captain's run, and then we'd play. So, yeah,
so it was a fair commitment. Everyone, you know... We
weren't paid. We all travelled together. Or if you're like me,
I travelled from Riverland by myself. But we had the
(35:20):
Tokanui bus, though. There was a fair few from Tokanui
that all hopped in the car and come in. And,
you know, the Wyndham boys and northern guys. We all
made our way there, gave up the day's, afternoon's work. Yeah,
I can recall in 1980, I got transferred to Gore
Post Office. I met my boss, and then I had
(35:42):
to tell him that I need to go to training
in the afternoon at 3 o'clock, and this is my
first day on the job in Gore. He let me off,
paid me, so that was great.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Town and country, all the players got along back in
the day?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Oh, yeah, we did, after we'd played our town and
country game. Yeah, that was always a bit of a
grudge match on the day, but, you know, we're all
great mates off the paddock. It didn't matter if you
played one game for Southam or or one for the country,
you're all part of the team. And, you know, when
we get together, it's just like the good old days,
(36:18):
you know. So I did catch up with a couple
of old buddies on the Gold Coast, Ken McRae and
Jeff Gardner, having a bit of a holiday in the
sun and caught up with them and told a few stories.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
You think of the 1970s and straight off the bat,
you got the Holden HQs or the Falcons, whatever you
were driving to get to practice.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
And yeah, you could ruck.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Rucking was an integral part of the game, I'd imagine.
I mean, if you didn't come off the game with stripes,
there was something not right.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Oh, absolutely. You certainly tell them to move them back
or rake them back. Absolutely. You know, like go to
the shower and you'll see their Marks down the back,
you know, I was just thinking of Asher McGregor being
the Marks down the back of him many a time,
many a time. You know, tough boys, played hard, enjoyed life. And, yes,
(37:19):
it was good, rugged days, you know. I can remember
I dived past once and Dave Shanks, the late Dave Shanks,
just ran all over top of me. Anyway, we had
a beer together and are still great mates. His daughter
is actually joining us on the Sunday of the reunion,
(37:41):
which is lovely.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Now, former All Blacks, for example, Bob Barber, Lester Rutledge,
Ken Stewart, Steve Pakiri, Ash McGregor, Brian McKechnie, names synonymous
with Southland rugby, they're going to be along as well.
But I use those names because back in the day,
playing international rugby or playing these international visiting teams, likes
of France in 78, I think you had the 77,
(38:06):
you had the Lions, for example. I think England possibly
in 73 as well. I mean, it must have been
a real buzz to go and play these guys. And,
you know, you almost had a bounty on these teams
when they came to Invercargill.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Oh, yes. Yes, you know, I can recall the Irish
game in 76. It was a bit of a riot.
We had Boss McGowan from the Tower play prop that day,
and up she went. And I had to go out
the second five that day because of a late withdrawal.
and they're fighting at my feet, you know, like, uh,
(38:40):
but they're great guys off the paddock, but yeah, we've
certainly had, you know, Ken Stewart, he played against the
71 Lions and stood out, you know, and then in
77 Lions, we had, uh, Bakiri that was a standout,
you know, there was all those games and, you know,
we had Romania as well. Uh, people come along to
(39:03):
the games because, you know, they knew everyone out there, um,
it was just a big focus and just great to
have all these guys coming home. And, you know, and
to say coming home, I don't know if you could
say that if I had a reunion, another 50 years
time of all these guys that are playing for Southland now.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
So like, so that the occasion for this weekend is
celebrating the, celebrating the Conrad shirt while you can, the camaraderie.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Well, um, well, Lester Rutledge has said to me, why
don't we organise it and let's get together before it's
too late because in one photo, there's 13 that passed. Um,
so this is their swan song, really, our goodbyes to
one another. Um, Yeah, it's going to be a enjoyable time,
(39:52):
but a sad time as well. And we'll also be
honouring all those guys that we played with and that
have passed. We'll light a candle in remembrance to those
guys and thank them for their services to Southland. Yeah,
it's a great occasion, but a sad occasion too.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Now, the weekend's kicking off, I think, Friday night at
the Escort. There's a retired Riversdale farmer who's EMC for
the event.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Yeah, well, that's quite hilarious. Well, it's outstanding, really. I
started the Facebook page. It's actually 12 months today. And
a few days after, I got a phone call from
Jamie and said, Murray Heath, I want to be EMC
for that function.
Speaker 8 (40:43):
That's my era.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
I know everybody. I just want to be there. And
we've kept in contact, and he's honouring that commitment. And
we were talking yesterday, so he's on his way down,
which is great. And he'll share some stories, and he
knows a lot of those guys. You know, like, he.
(41:08):
I think he played for Southland B. Did he tell
you that?
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah, apparently he made the giddy heights of Southland B in,
I think it might have been 86 of the likes.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
No doubt he'll message me and let me know if
I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, did he have a white mate met?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
I'm not too sure. Haven't heard that story yet.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Catch the ball.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
So, okay, you've got that on the Friday.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Saturday night you're having a bit of a gala dinner
of the likes and then Sunday the Bay of Plenty game.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, so Sunday we'll have a lunch together. A lot
of them won't have seen Richardson Transport Museum, so we'll
have lunch there. The Supporters Club want us to come
along to the Supporters Club at 3 o'clock. We'll get
together at the Supporters Club, and of course it's kick-off
time at 5.05, so Rugby Southland are supporting us all
(42:00):
the way, of course. They're getting us in, they're organising.
We're going to be a guard of honour. as the
players come out, um, we're just organising someone to talk
and give the jerseys to the players for, for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Uh, it's 50 years ago, um, NPC started.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
And Bay of Plenty won that first NPC tournament.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
They did.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
And there's eight of us at the reunion who played
against Bay of Plenty that 50, 50 years ago, Wakatane.
Speaker 5 (42:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
And, um, we were all billeted out. You wouldn't get
that nowadays.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Back at the start of the MPC, was it all
about the billeting system as such, or if you were
lucky when you went to the big smoke every now
and then they put you up in a hotel?
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Yeah, when you went to the big smoke, yeah, billeted out.
But yeah, we were billeted out at Wakatane, hard and
fast ground. Quite a number of those guys in the
Bay of Plenty team went with the New Zealand 15
to Argentina because the All Blacks were in South Africa
(43:10):
in 76. So Eddie Stokes, yeah, a name that comes
to mind with a few stories. So, yeah, so, you know,
it's 50 years ago since the two unions played in
the NPC. So it's sort of, we didn't plan it
that way, but it's really iconic that it's happened like that.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yeah, a real poignant moment ahead of what's going to
be an awesome weekend, Murray. Hey, thanks for your time
this afternoon. Going to be a hell of a reunion
for everybody from the 1970s Southland team.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
Enjoy the weekend. Thanks for your time once again.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
Oh, thanks, Andy. It's been great. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. What do
you call a dinosaur who just totaled his car? Tyrannosaurus Rex.
That's us for the afternoon. The podcast is going up
(44:08):
very shortly. I'm Andy Muir.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
The show, of course, is brought to you by Peters Genetics.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Enjoy the afternoon, and we'll see you tomorrow at 1 o'clock.
Stock selling action occurred this morning at the Balclutha sale yards.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Of course, it's thanks to PDG Rights and Mark Calder's
on the line. G'day, Mark. How do we go?
Speaker 5 (44:29):
G'day everyone.
Speaker 8 (44:29):
Yeah, we had a good day down here at Barclay
with the sun on the backs and it just really
lifted everyone's spirits again today, which is much needed. It
was quite a large yarding today in the prime department
and the ewes and the prime lambs and a small
yarding in the store department. It was quite a big
yarding of cull rams today, which come through today, so
it was good to see. But getting into the prime
lamb prices, good heavy big prime lambs, $ 280 to $ 330 today.
(44:53):
Your mediums are $ 2. 20 to $ 2. 70, and your lighter end
primes are anywhere from $ 1. 70 to $ 210. Store lambs, as
I said, there wasn't too many of them today, but
it was anywhere from $ 1.
Speaker 5 (45:05):
40 to $ 1.
Speaker 8 (45:06):
75 for your mediums, so you've got more Ford store lambs,
and then your ones you take a bit of a
punt on were anywhere from $ 80 to $ 110. As I said,
there wasn't too many stores in. Getting into the ewes,
there's a large yard in the prime ewes today. The
big heavy ewes were $ 270 to $ 305. Your good mediums
still staying strong at $ 240 to $ 265. And your lighter
(45:28):
end ewes coming out of the winter a bit rough
were $ 130 to $ 180. There's a few turd ewes in today.
They varied a bit. They were $ 120 to $ 150 sort
of dollars. And in the ram department, it was anywhere
from $ 90 to $ 150 for the rams. Yeah, that was
us here at Balclutha, and store cattle sale next Thursday
(45:50):
here at Balclutha, so get in touch with your local
agent and, yeah, if there are any queries, that would
be great.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
Cheers.
Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Andy Muley here. Until 2 o'clock, of course, the show
is brought to you. by Clayton and the team at
Peters Genetics. Welcome along to our hunt day, in which
we've seen 36 hours plus now of pleasant weather in
the south. Some rain in the forecast for this afternoon.
This morning, very pleasant. Yesterday was even better. Blue sky
(00:29):
and lawnmowers going here, there and everywhere. Before we go
any further though, interesting, like the reference made in the
hour when the country... talking about the emperor's new clothes.
And I'll be honest, I've heard this saying, but I
had to Google it. So the emperor's new clothes, here's
a saying for the afternoon. It is a situation where
people pretend to believe something is good, real or valuable
(00:52):
because everyone else does, even though it is clearly false
or worthless. Does this describe the Paris Agreement perhaps? Nonetheless,
it's a conversation that is just ongoing anyway, whether New
Zealand stays in or stays out.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Nonetheless, Eric clapped in the tunes. This song here, Lay
Down Sally.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
I remember this song from the 2004 Athens Olympics. Purely
because an Australian rower named Sally Robbins, she gave up
mid-race in the rowing and the look of.
Just horror on her teammates' faces as she stopped halfway
through the race and she was referred to after that.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Moment as lay down Sally Robbins.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
So this afternoon we see showers with breezy westerlies and
a high of 14. Thursday, showers of westerlies once again,
4 and 9. Friday, showers of brisk westerlies forming, 4
and 10. Saturday, light rain with breezy westerlies, 6 and 9.
And Sunday, light rain again with westerlies forming, 6 and 11.
Into next week though, there is some good days on
(02:05):
the way up. Garth Shanks, just got your message, well said. Clinton, 7.3. Harriet, 6.3.
Get us underway for the soil temperatures. Northern Southland, 7.2. Riverton, 9.3.
Te Anau, 6.9. Titaroa, 8. Winton, 6.5. And Woodlands, 6.4.
As we start the hour with Steve Henderson, dairy farmer
(02:28):
based at Awarua. As he powers his way through Carver,
we'll see how things are going. How's the grass lasting
down there between Bluff and Invercargill? David Framer, Craig's Investment Partners,
has a chat. Jared Stockman out of Dairy NZ. Talking
the situation at the moment, we catch up with Dairy
NZ on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
And then we've got, who have we got?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Of course, we've got Steve Ellison from Bioactive Soils has
a yarn. And then Murray Heath talking 1970s Southman Rugby reunion,
which is happening this weekend upcoming.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
So we've ordered this yarn, actually.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Mark Calder of PDG Wrightson talks about the Barcluthers sale.
And Garth Shanks, yes, he's speaking to the top party
as Emperor's New Clothes. So, Garth, I know you know
all your colours to the wall. We'll carry on with
the hour anyway next with Steve Henderson, 7 After 1.
(03:40):
Steve Henderson farms at Awarua between Bluff and Invercargill. We
caught up with him a couple of weeks ago, just
getting into the middle of calving, or starting calving, I suppose. Steve,
good afternoon.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
How's progress?
Speaker 4 (03:53):
Afternoon, Andy and listeners. Progress is, yep, it's happened, and
we've got a bit over 100 cows left to calve.
So it's been a short and sharp calving this year.
We're probably four or five days ahead of our midpoint. which,
you know, it's made a busy time, but yeah, there's
less cars to worry about that have still got calves
(04:14):
inside them, so that's always.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
A good thing.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
A lot of people have talked about calving going quickly
this season.
Speaker 4 (04:20):
Yeah, and often each year you do think it goes
quick because you're in the moment and you're busy each day,
but on paper it was actually pretty busy, so I
think gestation lengths in general are probably getting shorter as
the dairy breeds come in year on year, so Yeah,
it's one thing we probably need to look at is
do we push our plant starter maybe back a couple
(04:41):
of days? Because, you know, we still have winter in
South London. You can only go into winter with so
much cover. So it's put a wee bit of pressure
on pasture covers this year. But the only sort of
good thing was that we had higher covers going in. So, yeah,
but that's farming. That's the beauty of it. You're always
making decisions and any decisions better than no decisions.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I suppose the pressure that goes on due to the
quick calving is like a bum's rush.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's all over and done with for sure, but at
the time it's hectic.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
Yeah, it is. It's only really hectic the drafting the
different mobs to fill up the calving mob you've just
taken calved cows out of because if you're putting one
cow up the herringbone or in the roachery, you might
as well put 50 on. You've still got that time.
Speaker 5 (05:26):
So, yeah, I don't mind a.
Speaker 4 (05:27):
Fast calving, you know, cleaning a cow each day, but, yeah,
it's just... This time of year when you're trying to
hold your first round and, you know, you're allocating square metres,
but you've got a lot more cows and milk, so
obviously your hectares per day go up and you need
to import a bit of feed. Or you bite the
bullet and you speed up your round, but that's a
bit dangerous at this time of year. So, yeah, we're
(05:49):
just managing supplement and trying to get through to about
the 21 or 22 of September, which is still early enough. But, yeah,
I think we've got enough feed on here to feed
into that second round.
Speaker 5 (05:58):
If we have to.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Your grass covers, though, they're just a little bit damp
at the moment.
Speaker 4 (06:04):
Yeah, so every pasture cover's actually pretty bloody good, but
like you say, it's damp, and it's utilization and the
regrowth out the back of it. We can certainly see
the damp bits. They're struggling to get their head up
after they've been bitten off, but the dry bits, yeah,
we could be growing up, you know, 25, 30 a
day just with the dry ground, which is few and
(06:26):
far between down here, so.
We've seen it all before, and I think it's just
probably been six weeks or eight weeks earlier this year
with those westerlies and that sherry shit coming through, which
we've had in October for the last two years. So, yeah,
fingers crossed it's all happened and we're going to come
into a glorious October.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
How have the staff coped with the calving going so
quickly and, I suppose, put on that with the conditions
they had to face?
Speaker 4 (06:53):
Pretty good, pretty good. Yeah, it's not their first rodeo
and they know it's calving and we try and manage
it then. um you know we're out of the shed
ideally by five o'clock and um you can still get
home and get what you need done and a bit
of rest um.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
So you're still you're still able to do the 5
p.m cut.
Speaker 4 (07:11):
Off uh yep yep you know all things going well
you know you might have a carving or something to
do yeah yeah yeah the aim of the game is
to have the shed turned off by five o'clock and
then the you know there'll be a couple of years
to run around and do but yeah if you if
you work backwards from there yesterday's busy but you're not
dragging out until 7 or 8 o'clock at night using
headlamps and wondering how you're going to get home so
(07:33):
it's been good and all you do is you just
prioritise which herd needs really looked after and the old
girls in October carvers they can handle getting fed after
lunch so you get pretty good at prioritising I think
in those substandard weather days when you're busy carving.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
What time are you outside in the mornings?
Speaker 3 (07:52):
It's where it cuts on.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
At 5 so quarter past 4 quarter past 4 your
way down to do a vat wash in bits and pieces. So,
you know, you do clock up a few hours in
the day, but it makes you appreciate those January, February,
March months when you can get away and do what
you want to do.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
What do you do for morale during carving? Like chuck
some pizzas on at night or whatever if it's hard going?
Speaker 1 (08:14):
Hard yakking?
Speaker 4 (08:15):
Yeah, we did actually. So, yeah, last week we always
had a mid-carving catch-up with the neighbours and, yeah, that
was bloody good and it's never good to do a
weekend thing on a weekday because the weekdays afterwards in
that flash, but it's good to catch up and you
realise everybody's on the same boat and you just turn
up in your overalls or your leggings, have a few
beers and tea and carry on. It is good to
(08:39):
do that, otherwise you can just be stuck in the
moment and it's a long eight weeks if you don't
get out to be out and talk to other people.
Speaker 2 (08:45):
I had Tim Baker on the show yesterday from Clinton
Young Farmers. He's farming cattle. on the Old Coach Road,
and he just said the same thing, Steve-o. The chance
to get off farm, like they had the Clinton Young
Farmers meeting on Monday night. They had like 58 members
turn up, or potential members, which was unprecedented. So you're
dead right. People just want to get off farm for
a wee bit and have a bit of.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
A look around, eh?
Speaker 6 (09:07):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
It's quite a unique situation, isn't it, where you think
it's the busiest time of year, but that's when you
get the most turnout to a lot of events, and
Young Farmers is a classic, and we get the Gorge Road...
lunch last week and we went along and there could
have been 50 or 60 other people there too which
you know I've made time during the day to get
out there have a lunch and a coffee and catch
up with other cockies and you know you've got to
(09:30):
be in the mindset to do that otherwise you think
you know you've got to work all day which yes
sometimes you do but other days no you can always
get away.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
Well that's the nature of the game oh dude right.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
Yep yep and as long as you appreciate that and
then you make the most.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Of it when you can so as you get through
Carvey what is how does your focus.
Speaker 4 (09:47):
Change It's just mainly around what we need to do
with the cows. So calving will be done. We'll obviously
start weaning a few calves and then we're straight into mating.
So doing pre-mating checks, pre-mating heats and metric checking. And
once you get into that second round, you sort of
want to have your eye on the ball reasonably good
(10:07):
with pasture covers, not going into too high of covers,
but being mindful that you are getting the growth behind
the cows. So, yeah, that second round is pretty critical
to hit meat, peak milk and obviously have enough energy
for those cows to scythe and get back in calf.
It's a vicious circle but it happens every year and
you get to Christmas and cows are all in calf
(10:27):
and then you can take your hand off the throttle.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Like you say, it's a vicious circle but you guys
sound pretty geared up to cope with what's ahead.
Speaker 5 (10:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
You don't take each day as it comes but you
don't overthink things and you just know what the season
could throw at you so you've got to be a
little bit prepared but.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
And for those younger guys out there, you know, first-year
contract milkers or first-year 2ICs and managers, there's always someone
to ring or there's always a bit of document around
that you can see what you need to be doing
and what round legs. And Dairy NZ's got some terrific
stuff on their website just to get you in check
so you do know what you're doing. And if you
are really, really hesitant, do pick up the phone and
(11:11):
give anyone a call. And most people will be more
than willing to you know, not necessarily point you in
the right direction, but give you a few tips on
what has went well and what hasn't gone well in
people's past seasons. So that is the beauty of the
farming industry. We're all very open.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
Good on you, Steve. Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
No worries.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Thanks, Andy.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Steve Henderson based at Awaroa. David Frame's up next from
Craig's Investment Partners. You're listening to The Muster.
Speaker 6 (11:43):
A muster financial segment with Craig's Investment Partners in Gore.
This information is general in nature and is not financial advice.
Craig's Investment Partners Limited Financial Advice Provider disclosure statement can
be found at craigsip.com.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
David Frame of Craig's Investment Partners joins us once again
on this hump day. G'day, David.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
G'day, Andy. How's it going? Pretty good.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Good.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
Excellent.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
A dry day or two makes a bit of a
change to the mood after what we've endured.
Speaker 7 (12:14):
Yes, I'd love to see a few more sunny days
out there and for the paddocks to dry off. Ours
are shocking at the moment.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
How much land you got?
Speaker 7 (12:22):
We've got nine acres.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
It's enough for a townie. What are you running on?
Come on, what's stock units?
Speaker 7 (12:27):
Oh, the neighbour's sheep, but he's taken them back for lambing,
so we'll just wait and hopefully the grass grows for
some baleage.
Speaker 2 (12:34):
It'll happen.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
It'll happen at Southland.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Interest rates, big talk at the moment, a lot of
talk around them with the OCR rising last week and
the flow-on effect. Plenty to talk about in that respect.
Speaker 7 (12:46):
Yes, the OCR raised last week to 2.5%, up actually 2.75,
but it lifted in July, so interest rates are on
the move. Inflation's a lot higher than was forecast, and
that's mainly because fuel prices have stayed high because of
the whole debacle in the Middle East. It looks as
(13:07):
though interest rates might rise another quarter or half a
percent by mid-next year, so.
It looks like interest rates that you're paying for your
mortgage or you're receiving for your term deposits or cash
in the bank will go up. Not always good news
for people. The good news is that inflation should be
(13:28):
back under control mid to late next year. And we'll
probably see interest rates maybe ease a little bit then.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
It sounds as though if fuel wasn't doing what it's
been doing for the past six months, inflation would have
been OK.
Speaker 7 (13:41):
Yeah, I believe so. Fuel has driven a lot of inflation.
So if you think about your block of cheese at
the supermarket, the cost to get that to the supermarket
has probably gone up with fuel. Everyone else, the packaging,
the plastics comes from fuel. So there have been a
whole lot of small incremental steps to other products outside
(14:02):
of the actual fuel cost.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Quite a bit there to entail, I suppose. So just
the nature of the game at the moment. Interest rates, though,
do we need to be positive about where this is
going to be over the next 18, 24 months?
Speaker 7 (14:14):
I don't think there's any reason to be unhappy. So
interest rates are roughly where they were from 2010 to 2020.
They might be going up a little bit, and I
mean sort of quarter of a percent or half a
percent over the next year. That shouldn't be dire for
most people. And if anything, they might start easing back
again then. So it's not like we saw three or
(14:37):
four years ago when interest rates really shot up and
made things uncomfortable.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
So it's actually found a bit more of a happy
medium since then?
Speaker 7 (14:45):
I believe so, and I think our economy's got a
reasonably good track at the moment. It's more positive. We've
come out of a really tough time. The government's done
its best. Businesses, particularly down here, are doing quite well.
So I think there's room for improvement, and people should
(15:05):
be positive in general.
Speaker 2 (15:06):
You won't find a more prosperous province in Southland at
the moment, No. As far as money, as far as growth. Oh,
I think it's fantastic down here.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (15:14):
Worlds apart from Auckland or Wellington, we've got a positive vibe.
Spring's coming, the sun's shining, lambs are jumping around.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
It's a good place to be. And gumdrop buttons will
be falling from the sky when we get seven days
of blue skies, David. Here's one to ponder as well.
The election coming up, possible change in government. What changes
there as far as the money side of things?
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Because... New government, new thinking, if that occurs.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Well, the polls have been all over the show. We
spoke about that earlier.
Speaker 7 (15:47):
It could be on a knife edge or it could
fall blue, could fall red. Coalitions still have to be
formed after the election, which could be the juicy part.
If it falls to the red side, there will be
a change in enthusiasm from the investment markets, primarily because
of the taxes and the change of direction for the economy. Now,
(16:09):
the new taxes aren't necessarily bad in themselves, but how
they roll out and how people deal with them could
be quite different from how they're planned. So there's a
lot of uncertainty if the books flip to red. And
then we could see people a bit more nervous to
invest in not just the financial markets here, but also
into their businesses, into their households.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
They might sit on.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
Their hands for a while before they do anything. So
the that could be a bit of a hindrance to
our economy in general.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Investor sentiment at the moment, how would you rate it?
Speaker 7 (16:44):
It's surprisingly good. So the markets out there have had
a really good run. Investors are getting really good returns.
You wouldn't always think it turning on the news because
we love to sort of dwell on the negatives.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Okay, diversification regarding portfolios at the moment. We've talked about
this with you guys quite a bit in the past.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
What's the thinking?
Speaker 7 (17:08):
Well, it's been tough for New Zealand investors over the
last five years. New Zealand companies haven't really flourished. We've
seen some do really well, but you've had to be
lucky if you had all your money in those. If
there's a change in government, I do worry about our economy.
because there will be so much uncertainty about how things
(17:28):
will play out. So we're fortunate that with our clients,
we've been able to diversify overseas, where we have a
large degree of expertise and access. And it's really the
overseas markets that has helped our investors get good returns.
So diversifying is a great thing.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Okay, what's an example of somebody diversifying overseas with their portfolios? Well,
if you walked in.
Speaker 7 (17:51):
The door with a reasonably sized check, you might find
that half of it ends up overseas. Now, to the
typical Kiwi, they think, oh, that's a bit scary. We
don't know what's overseas. But if you think about some
of the big names, the Apples, the Googles, Microsofts, they've
done really well. They've had a good run. And it's
(18:12):
really been those sort of names that have lifted investor
returns and and made people happy with their investment returns
over the last year or two.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
The technology sector is the saying that I'm after. It's
been pretty buoyant.
Speaker 7 (18:26):
It has been, which is great. And we can also
temper people's investment into that sector. So another worry is
what happens if the tech sector bowls over and share
prices fall? Well, we take care of that with diversifying.
We mitigate some of that risk, manage it for people.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Craig's Investment Partners, where do they get in touch?
Speaker 7 (18:47):
Just walk in the front door at 1 Erk Street
opposite Gore New World.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Get the groceries, then go and sort your portfolios.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, yeah, or vice versa.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Good on you, David. Great. David Framer, Craig's Investment Partners,
based here in Gore.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
Just on that fuel price. Remember, it is Saving at
the Pump Day, generally on a Thursday here in Gore.
So I can be up to 18 cents, even 20
cents off. So do your due diligence, Gatsby. There's a
tip for the day.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Jarrod Stockman's up next out of Dairy NZ. After midnight
Welcome back to the muster.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Jared Stockman of Dairy NZ joins us on this Wednesday
afternoon that sees some blue sky around the province.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Good afternoon, Jared.
Speaker 2 (19:42):
Certainly 48 hours of decent weather makes a change to
the mood compared to what we're seeing.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
Oh, 100% afternoon, Andy, and all the listeners. And, yeah,
quite a net song you've got there. It's great. There
was quite a bit of sunshine out there at the moment.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Carving's starting to get well through from a sheep farmer's perspective.
Lambing's kicking into gear now. But how are you guys?
What are you seeing out there in the trenches?
Speaker 5 (20:07):
Yeah, I mean, look, you know, stating the obvious, it's
wet underfoot. So the last three days, you know, today included,
will be a welcome respite for the farmers. Most of
them probably 60% to 70% of the way through. And
calving's gone pretty well, actually. Most people are reporting, you know,
good levels of replacements. Not hearing too many issues around,
(20:32):
you know, bugs in the shed. I think farmers are...
are pretty good at managing some of the challenges with calves.
But yeah, all in all, I think the last couple
of days has been good for a bit of mental
health for some people.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
It's good for morale.
Speaker 5 (20:49):
Oh, 100%. Good for the staff. Probably if we'd had
a little bit of wind, I think it would have
dried up some of those puddles a bit quicker. But yeah,
just getting out in the morning, a bit of sunshine
earlier on, longer days heading towards summer. So, yeah, I
think things are looking up.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
Well, I suppose of Dairy NZ, you guys always have
events coming up, especially at the moment, considering what's been
going on. It's busy for a lot of people, but
things to contemplate as well.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
Yeah, exactly. Dairy Training Limited, obviously, is one of our
companies that Dairy NZ owns, and we've got some good
events happening early October with Contract Milking, Feed for Profit
and Emerging Leadership. So they're in and around, you know,
Invercargill and Winton and then we've got some of their
(21:46):
kind of flagship events later on in October. Feed basically
partially to profit and some really good hosts. Henny Amatink's
place on the 21st of October, that'll be one that
you won't want to miss. Just seeing some really top operators,
how they maximise their pasture. Obviously, they're still feeding supplements,
(22:10):
but how do they maximise pasture? How do they maximise profit?
That'll be a couple of events, eastern south and northern south,
that you won't want to miss.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Are people coping all right with feed levels at the moment?
There's no concerns around it due to the slow start
to spring?
Speaker 3 (22:26):
No.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Look, I think My observation is it's quite tight out there.
And then obviously if you get, you know, you get
a bit of stormy weather and stuff and people are moving,
you know, herds of cows a little bit more frequently,
things are a bit tight. So, you know, dare I
say it, if you haven't already done it, the spring
pasture planter is really a good tool to use to
(22:50):
just make sure you've got sufficient covers. And yeah, I
wouldn't say that I'm confident about the round length at
the moment, just because we've had some crappy weather. And
it does raise the question, you know, do we need
to extend our calving dates a bit further out just to,
you know, just to kind of manage their seasonality that
(23:11):
we seem to get in the Southland. But, yeah, things
are a bit tight. I think there's plenty of supplement
on hand, but, yeah, I think pasture covers have probably
taken a bit of a hammering in the last couple
of weeks.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Do you know of any farmers that have changed calving
dates due to the past couple of springs, for example?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Look, I don't offhand, and so I'd be really keen
to talk to some farmers who have kind of pushed
out their calving date to sort of late August and
then try and understand what they're doing. Are they milking
longer into June or in just kind of, you know,
what's that actually doing as far as, you know, being
(23:49):
able to manage pastures and does that mean they can,
you know, feed, technically feed, you know, a bit less
in the shed and stuff. But, yeah, I haven't got
anything that's sprung to mind, but I just, I do
wonder whether we've pushed, you know, we've brought calving dates
forward too much and whether we need to look at
(24:11):
kind of pushing out the other end.
Speaker 2 (24:13):
What else is happening? What else is coming up with
you guys, Gerard? There's always a bit on the horizon.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
Yeah, we've got actually the next couple of days, Campbell Parker,
our CEO, is down in region with Cam Henderson, who's
our deputy chair. They're catching up with the team at
Southern Dairy Hub, and Campbell and Cam are keen to
catch up with a couple of farmers, a few farmers
while we're down here, which is really good. What else
(24:40):
are we doing? We probably, we haven't been doing a
huge amount with farmers at the moment. Obviously they don't
want to see us on the carving. So we'll probably
be more visible out in the region, you know, in
that space between carving and mating. We've got, obviously we've
got some, you know, some thoughts around what the priorities
(25:04):
are for, you know, the next government meeting. We're looking at,
later on this year, we're looking at running some policy
kind of events where rural professionals and farmers can get
along and get a bit of a steer on where
we think things are at with regulations and things like that.
(25:26):
But yeah, I guess it's a bit of a quieter
time in the next couple of weeks and then we'll
be into events and discussion groups and stuff as normal.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
It'll come round quicker than that.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And just remind Campbell Parker that Waikato has now lost
to the Stags two years in a row.
Speaker 8 (25:44):
I will.
Speaker 5 (25:45):
I'll definitely do that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Hey, Jarrod, thanks for your time as always.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Awesome.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
No worries. Thanks, Andy.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Jarrod Stockman of Dairy NZ as we catch up with
the team every Wednesday here on the muster. Steve Ellison
is up next of Bioactive Soils. And before the end.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Of the hour, Murray Heath talking rugby reunions. Welcome back
to the muster.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Steve Ellison of Bioactive Soils joins us in studio once again.
Of course, he is sponsor of the Country Crossover here
on Fridays. And Steve, good to catch up once again
in studio.
Speaker 9 (26:27):
Hi, Andy.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
It is.
Speaker 9 (26:28):
It's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
How's things been?
Speaker 9 (26:30):
Oh, look, we love this time of year.
Speaker 10 (26:33):
The lambs are foot, calving, the vats underway, and we're
getting all the farmer's stories from winter. No, it's a vibrancy,
even though it's been a bit of wet, but that'll pass,
and we'll be complaining there's a bit of dry. And
our business has doubled already this year. Last year we tripled.
(26:58):
And I'd like to take this moment, Andy, to thank
our farmers for their support, and I'd like to thank
the Farm Bush Telegraph. There's a lot of talk amongst
neighbours on that.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
The bush telegraph is impressive, isn't it?
Speaker 6 (27:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (27:12):
Hey, I'll tell you one. Sorry, this is funny.
Speaker 10 (27:14):
But one female farmer phoned me and said, look, we're
going to have to use you. And I says, why so?
Speaker 9 (27:21):
She's a dairy farmer.
Speaker 10 (27:22):
She said, oh, look, I've been watching our neighbour and
he's the worst farmer in the district, yet he's got
the best looking farm.
Speaker 9 (27:29):
So there's something in what you do.
Speaker 10 (27:32):
But anyway, we've ended up with a whole family of
dairy farms with this particular one. So Yeah, that bush telegraph,
I'm going to have to thank that farmer so much
for being no good at what he does.
Speaker 2 (27:44):
Honesty is the best policy, I suppose.
Speaker 9 (27:46):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 10 (27:47):
Actually, I don't think I'll have the heart to tell
him that, but he probably already knows it, but he
does love what we do for him, so that's important.
Speaker 2 (27:54):
So bioactive soils for the uninitiated, what are you about?
Speaker 10 (27:58):
We look at why, and we look at why things
aren't kind of happening as they should, like insects and
you name.
Speaker 9 (28:03):
It, there's lots of challenges.
Speaker 10 (28:06):
In a nutshell, all I'd like to say is soil
is living, and that's 100% of what grows things. Synthetic fertilisers,
now we do add NPKs to our products, so.
Speaker 9 (28:24):
We do our due diligence and do it properly.
Speaker 10 (28:27):
But the other ones, synthetic, I guess, you ask them
how much biology is it, in that and there's none.
So the driving engine room of your soils, your protection
against dry, which is coming, believe it or not, or
even protection against too much wet is the living side.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Okay, soil biology. Why don't people understand it?
Speaker 9 (28:53):
Well, to be honest, we struggle to understand it too.
Speaker 10 (28:56):
We take it as a gift and we tended to
think that we could control it, but in the end
we had to learn that we had to work around
it We've been doing this biotech development for the last
two decades, and we've learnt so many ways how to
get it wrong. And we have about a 2% wriggle
room in getting it right. And it's all fish-based and
(29:19):
solid fertiliser and liquid.
Speaker 9 (29:22):
Sorry, it's not liquid. So it's all solid, fish and
seaweed and crustaceans, take your pick.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Biological technology.
Speaker 9 (29:29):
Yeah, it is.
Speaker 10 (29:30):
And by the way, Andy, we've had absolutely no government
funding for that at all. The farmers we work with,
we respect greatly because they're practical.
Speaker 8 (29:40):
Smart.
Speaker 10 (29:41):
And back in the earlier days, they were very helpful
in telling us what didn't work, which meant we then
had to figure out to get it right. But they've
been with us all the way and are well respected.
Speaker 9 (29:53):
And very, very bright.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
So biological performance leads to livestock performance.
Speaker 1 (29:59):
What have you seen change around that?
Speaker 10 (30:03):
We find that with what we do, we grow the
same amount of grass. The difference there is the quality
of that grass. Because the life translate that up into
the pasture. In the earlier days, farmers would open four gates,
leave them open And I'd do trials back then. We
(30:26):
don't do trials now, we do farms. And anyway, they
would complain because there was no grass in the area
we'd done. But when we go down there, the animals
had voted with their mouth and they'd lived in those
paddocks and they were choosing a little bit of grass
over lots of grass next door. So the reality there
is the wholesomeness of that grass and that translates into
(30:47):
animal health. I was at a farmer three or four
weeks ago dairy farmer, hadn't seen him for ages, and
he was relaxed.
Speaker 9 (30:58):
He didn't have enough to do. He said, look, this
is the biggest breeze I've had.
Speaker 10 (31:02):
I'm 75% through calving. I've got no animal health issues.
I had one retained placenta and a bit of a
lameness on another, and he says it's just a dream,
which it hadn't been before we come along That's what
it's about.
Speaker 9 (31:21):
The animals are what they eat.
Speaker 10 (31:22):
And more importantly with him, at his runoff, which was
inundated with grass grub, which he'd not long purchased, absolutely
no grass grub. He couldn't believe it. And he was
laughing because his neighbours are full of it. And he says, oh,
you're going to get a few phone calls. And I said, oh,
we'll see it when we believe it. But it's okay.
It's important that you're doing well.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
That was my next question, actually. Natural resilience against common
pasture pests. And you talked about grass scrub then. Perine
has been an issue as well. So if we can
get on top of that, that's half the battle.
Speaker 9 (31:54):
You look at why, because we always get questioned that.
Speaker 10 (31:58):
And the reality is when you use to try and
solve the problem that caused the problem, it's not a
very good business plan. And what I'm talking about here
is when the sterile seedbed's being produced or chemical use,
or you're spraying with diosin, take your pick, for insects,
(32:19):
you're actually nuking out everything, which then means the natural
protection is no longer there, and that's where we come along,
because why are they there in the first place? And
they're there because your soil life isn't quite up to speed.
It's all about making a difference and making it healthier
for everybody, cows, humans, and definitely the farmer.
Speaker 2 (32:44):
Okay, Steve, somebody's listening to this, Bioactive Soils. How do
they get in touch?
Speaker 10 (32:49):
You'll get us online if you Google us, 021779919.
Speaker 9 (32:57):
That's me.
Speaker 10 (32:58):
And I'll pick up straight away.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
Good on you, Steve.
Speaker 2 (33:02):
Good to catch up again.
Speaker 9 (33:03):
Thanks, Andy.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
Steve Ellison of Bioactive Soils.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
If you want to catch up with the team like
Steve said, go and catch up on our social media
channels as well. Murray Heath's up next to wrap up
a Wednesday. Welcome back to the muster. It's all happening
down in Invercargill this weekend. A reunion is going on
(33:29):
for Southland Rugby. Well, the players featured in the 1970s
decade are having a get-together ahead of Bay of Plenty
and Invercargill on Sunday afternoon. Murray Heath is one of
the organisers of the event. He's played 48 games for
the Stags himself. He's a life member of Riverton Rugby Club,
and he's just got back from the Gold Coast back
(33:49):
into chilly Southland.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Murray, welcome to the muster. Good to chat.
Speaker 3 (33:54):
Oh, absolutely, Andy. It's a privilege to be here speaking
on behalf of the boys.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Firstly, 1970s rugby. They were like the Halcyon days, I'd imagine.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Oh, yes, certainly. When the country was strong in Southland,
the Southland team was strong.
Speaker 8 (34:10):
So, yes, I'm just.
Speaker 3 (34:12):
Reflecting through here. The names that are coming to the reunion,
over half of them are for country boys.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
That was just rugby back in the day, I suppose.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
I mean, all the farmers were playing, all your rural teams,
I mean, Country Pirates was very strong, all your northern teams, Eastern,
the likes, a few teams have amalgamated since, but back
in the day, I mean, it was always rugby on
a Saturday and Trust Cup on a Wednesday.
Speaker 5 (34:35):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (34:37):
You didn't have a day off, really, in Southland training
on the Sunday, so sub-union training Monday, club, Tuesday, sub-union,
rugby on Wednesday. And as it went on, yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
So training for Southland back in the 1970s, how many
practices a week was there?
Speaker 3 (34:56):
Sometimes three. Three. You would train on a Sunday, most
likely Wednesday, captain's run, and then we'd play. So, yeah,
so it was a fair commitment. Everyone, you know... We
weren't paid. We all travelled together. Or if you're like me,
I travelled from Riverland by myself. But we had the
(35:20):
Tokanui bus, though. There was a fair few from Tokanui
that all hopped in the car and come in. And,
you know, the Wyndham boys and northern guys. We all
made our way there, gave up the day's, afternoon's work. Yeah,
I can recall in 1980, I got transferred to Gore
Post Office. I met my boss, and then I had
(35:42):
to tell him that I need to go to training
in the afternoon at 3 o'clock, and this is my
first day on the job in Gore. He let me off,
paid me, so that was great.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Town and country, all the players got along back in
the day?
Speaker 3 (35:56):
Oh, yeah, we did, after we'd played our town and
country game. Yeah, that was always a bit of a
grudge match on the day, but, you know, we're all
great mates off the paddock. It didn't matter if you
played one game for Southam or or one for the country,
you're all part of the team. And, you know, when
we get together, it's just like the good old days,
(36:18):
you know. So I did catch up with a couple
of old buddies on the Gold Coast, Ken McRae and
Jeff Gardner, having a bit of a holiday in the
sun and caught up with them and told a few stories.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
You think of the 1970s and straight off the bat,
you got the Holden HQs or the Falcons, whatever you
were driving to get to practice.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
And yeah, you could ruck.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Rucking was an integral part of the game, I'd imagine.
I mean, if you didn't come off the game with stripes,
there was something not right.
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Oh, absolutely. You certainly tell them to move them back
or rake them back. Absolutely. You know, like go to
the shower and you'll see their Marks down the back,
you know, I was just thinking of Asher McGregor being
the Marks down the back of him many a time,
many a time. You know, tough boys, played hard, enjoyed life. And, yes,
(37:19):
it was good, rugged days, you know. I can remember
I dived past once and Dave Shanks, the late Dave Shanks,
just ran all over top of me. Anyway, we had
a beer together and are still great mates. His daughter
is actually joining us on the Sunday of the reunion,
(37:41):
which is lovely.
Speaker 2 (37:43):
Now, former All Blacks, for example, Bob Barber, Lester Rutledge,
Ken Stewart, Steve Pakiri, Ash McGregor, Brian McKechnie, names synonymous
with Southland rugby, they're going to be along as well.
But I use those names because back in the day,
playing international rugby or playing these international visiting teams, likes
of France in 78, I think you had the 77,
(38:06):
you had the Lions, for example. I think England possibly
in 73 as well. I mean, it must have been
a real buzz to go and play these guys. And,
you know, you almost had a bounty on these teams
when they came to Invercargill.
Speaker 3 (38:18):
Oh, yes. Yes, you know, I can recall the Irish
game in 76. It was a bit of a riot.
We had Boss McGowan from the Tower play prop that day,
and up she went. And I had to go out
the second five that day because of a late withdrawal.
and they're fighting at my feet, you know, like, uh,
(38:40):
but they're great guys off the paddock, but yeah, we've
certainly had, you know, Ken Stewart, he played against the
71 Lions and stood out, you know, and then in
77 Lions, we had, uh, Bakiri that was a standout,
you know, there was all those games and, you know,
we had Romania as well. Uh, people come along to
(39:03):
the games because, you know, they knew everyone out there, um,
it was just a big focus and just great to
have all these guys coming home. And, you know, and
to say coming home, I don't know if you could
say that if I had a reunion, another 50 years
time of all these guys that are playing for Southland now.
Speaker 2 (39:22):
So like, so that the occasion for this weekend is
celebrating the, celebrating the Conrad shirt while you can, the camaraderie.
Speaker 3 (39:29):
Well, um, well, Lester Rutledge has said to me, why
don't we organise it and let's get together before it's
too late because in one photo, there's 13 that passed. Um,
so this is their swan song, really, our goodbyes to
one another. Um, Yeah, it's going to be a enjoyable time,
(39:52):
but a sad time as well. And we'll also be
honouring all those guys that we played with and that
have passed. We'll light a candle in remembrance to those
guys and thank them for their services to Southland. Yeah,
it's a great occasion, but a sad occasion too.
Speaker 2 (40:14):
Now, the weekend's kicking off, I think, Friday night at
the Escort. There's a retired Riversdale farmer who's EMC for
the event.
Speaker 3 (40:22):
Yeah, well, that's quite hilarious. Well, it's outstanding, really. I
started the Facebook page. It's actually 12 months today. And
a few days after, I got a phone call from
Jamie and said, Murray Heath, I want to be EMC
for that function.
Speaker 8 (40:43):
That's my era.
Speaker 3 (40:45):
I know everybody. I just want to be there. And
we've kept in contact, and he's honouring that commitment. And
we were talking yesterday, so he's on his way down,
which is great. And he'll share some stories, and he
knows a lot of those guys. You know, like, he.
(41:08):
I think he played for Southland B. Did he tell
you that?
Speaker 2 (41:11):
Yeah, apparently he made the giddy heights of Southland B in,
I think it might have been 86 of the likes.
Speaker 1 (41:16):
No doubt he'll message me and let me know if
I'm wrong.
Speaker 3 (41:20):
Yeah, did he have a white mate met?
Speaker 1 (41:23):
I'm not too sure. Haven't heard that story yet.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Catch the ball.
Speaker 1 (41:31):
So, okay, you've got that on the Friday.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Saturday night you're having a bit of a gala dinner
of the likes and then Sunday the Bay of Plenty game.
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, so Sunday we'll have a lunch together. A lot
of them won't have seen Richardson Transport Museum, so we'll
have lunch there. The Supporters Club want us to come
along to the Supporters Club at 3 o'clock. We'll get
together at the Supporters Club, and of course it's kick-off
time at 5.05, so Rugby Southland are supporting us all
(42:00):
the way, of course. They're getting us in, they're organising.
We're going to be a guard of honour. as the
players come out, um, we're just organising someone to talk
and give the jerseys to the players for, for the weekend.
Speaker 1 (42:17):
Awesome.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
Uh, it's 50 years ago, um, NPC started.
Speaker 2 (42:23):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (42:23):
And Bay of Plenty won that first NPC tournament.
Speaker 1 (42:27):
They did.
Speaker 3 (42:29):
And there's eight of us at the reunion who played
against Bay of Plenty that 50, 50 years ago, Wakatane.
Speaker 5 (42:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:37):
And, um, we were all billeted out. You wouldn't get
that nowadays.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Back at the start of the MPC, was it all
about the billeting system as such, or if you were
lucky when you went to the big smoke every now
and then they put you up in a hotel?
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Yeah, when you went to the big smoke, yeah, billeted out.
But yeah, we were billeted out at Wakatane, hard and
fast ground. Quite a number of those guys in the
Bay of Plenty team went with the New Zealand 15
to Argentina because the All Blacks were in South Africa
(43:10):
in 76. So Eddie Stokes, yeah, a name that comes
to mind with a few stories. So, yeah, so, you know,
it's 50 years ago since the two unions played in
the NPC. So it's sort of, we didn't plan it
that way, but it's really iconic that it's happened like that.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yeah, a real poignant moment ahead of what's going to
be an awesome weekend, Murray. Hey, thanks for your time
this afternoon. Going to be a hell of a reunion
for everybody from the 1970s Southland team.
Speaker 1 (43:40):
Enjoy the weekend. Thanks for your time once again.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
Oh, thanks, Andy. It's been great. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (43:47):
Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the
land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by
Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. What do
you call a dinosaur who just totaled his car? Tyrannosaurus Rex.
That's us for the afternoon. The podcast is going up
(44:08):
very shortly. I'm Andy Muir.
Speaker 1 (44:09):
The show, of course, is brought to you by Peters Genetics.
Speaker 2 (44:12):
Enjoy the afternoon, and we'll see you tomorrow at 1 o'clock.
Stock selling action occurred this morning at the Balclutha sale yards.
Speaker 1 (44:23):
Of course, it's thanks to PDG Rights and Mark Calder's
on the line. G'day, Mark. How do we go?
Speaker 5 (44:29):
G'day everyone.
Speaker 8 (44:29):
Yeah, we had a good day down here at Barclay
with the sun on the backs and it just really
lifted everyone's spirits again today, which is much needed. It
was quite a large yarding today in the prime department
and the ewes and the prime lambs and a small
yarding in the store department. It was quite a big
yarding of cull rams today, which come through today, so
it was good to see. But getting into the prime
lamb prices, good heavy big prime lambs, $ 280 to $ 330 today.
(44:53):
Your mediums are $ 2. 20 to $ 2. 70, and your lighter end
primes are anywhere from $ 1. 70 to $ 210. Store lambs, as
I said, there wasn't too many of them today, but
it was anywhere from $ 1.
Speaker 5 (45:05):
40 to $ 1.
Speaker 8 (45:06):
75 for your mediums, so you've got more Ford store lambs,
and then your ones you take a bit of a
punt on were anywhere from $ 80 to $ 110. As I said,
there wasn't too many stores in. Getting into the ewes,
there's a large yard in the prime ewes today. The
big heavy ewes were $ 270 to $ 305. Your good mediums
still staying strong at $ 240 to $ 265. And your lighter
(45:28):
end ewes coming out of the winter a bit rough
were $ 130 to $ 180. There's a few turd ewes in today.
They varied a bit. They were $ 120 to $ 150 sort
of dollars. And in the ram department, it was anywhere
from $ 90 to $ 150 for the rams. Yeah, that was
us here at Balclutha, and store cattle sale next Thursday
(45:50):
here at Balclutha, so get in touch with your local
agent and, yeah, if there are any queries, that would
be great.
Speaker 5 (45:56):
Cheers.
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