September 7, 2026 • 7 mins
Grant McMaster is enjoying a few days without rain as the spring weather cycle continues to be a moving feast.
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Speaker 1 (00:07):
Grant, Disaster McMaster Farms on the edge of Lake Wakatipu
and joins us thanks to Batman and the team at
Arby Rural. Of course, Closeburn Station is where he's residing.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good afternoon, Grant.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody. On the edge of
Lake Wakatipu, well, the lake, with all the rain we've had,
sort of getting closer to the road, so getting closer
to the edge of the road, getting closer to the edge, so...
But it's a lovely day today, Andy. It's sitting at
9 degrees, so no rain today. We had no rain yesterday,
but in the previous five days from when we spoke
on Tuesday, we had another 68 mils of rain. So, yeah,
(00:42):
getting a bit sick of it.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Your rainfall will be well above average?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, well, it will be. Well, it'll be... It's travelling
similar to this time last year, so if it carries on, yeah,
we'll be above average, all right. But over at Hogan
Gutty Road there, the flats we have, and those... They're
the paddocks that over the years have put the, you know,
the turnips and kale into the young grass and they
(01:06):
grow pretty well. But two paddocks, and they're about, these
paddocks on the spring are about three hectares each and
they're on the corner of Hogan Gully Road and Lake
Hayes Road. And they're, as I said, about three hectares
each and out of each of those paddocks there's probably
a hectare underwater in a big pond. So, and that
happened last year and they put it down the county,
(01:30):
you know, wasn't draining away anywhere and they sort of
thought it was to do with air burn across the
road with the road being built up and drainage sort
of not going where it's meant to and it cleared
but it's back this year and there's more geese and
seagulls and ducks and you can see on an estuary
(01:50):
why a hole are going past I reckon It.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Must be a pain in the butt though with these
drains getting changed all the time with all this remedials
R & M work going on with the roads etc Yeah, well,
that is part of.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It, and it's, you know, there's a bit of a
hill around the hills. The water comes down onto the flats,
and over the years, you know, it's drained away somewhere.
But last year and this year, it hasn't, and it
goes to sort of a flatness, and then sort of
Mill Creek would be, you know, probably a K away,
(02:22):
and I don't know over the years if everything drained
sort of down that way, but something's happened, and it's
not draining anywhere, and it's... Yeah, it's not good, really,
because we're just sort of tight enough with grass as
it is, and those paddocks are ones that really grow
quite well. But from last year, a lot of that died,
and I was going to stitch in a bit of
grass seed, but I didn't, I thought, because, you know,
(02:44):
this may happen again, and unfortunately it has. So that
puts a bit of pressure on things, and, you know,
the heifers that carved early, they're just being fed baleage
at the moment, a couple of bales of baleage every year,
second day, and they're looking good. They're on a block over,
a bit of scope, but, you know, it would have
(03:04):
been quite nice to get them down on those slats. Now,
there's just not quite enough grass here at the moment,
but holding them on that bale, it seems to be
working fine. The calves, you know, they're good, and the
cows are, so I'm pleased I've got that hill block
to sort of feed them on. The hoggets have still
got for probably three weeks on the kale, and so
that's going to work out pretty good. But in the meantime,
(03:28):
we just need those flats to drain away. And you
hear me say, you've heard me say before that, you know,
up here when it rains, it actually drains away pretty quickly.
And out at Moat Lake, the mixed-age ewes, twin mob,
are still on the hills. And we haven't brought them
down yet. But hopefully with the weather forecast staying the
(03:51):
way it is, the next couple of days I'll get
them down and feed them barley and baitage. So... They
won't get as much, but it'll be better than nothing.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So all these tourists will be enjoying these lovely vistas. Farmers,
not so much.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
No, not so much. But as you say, as I
said before, you know, a couple of days without the rain,
you feel a lot better. And the stocks certainly enjoy
no rain as well. So roads are in a bit
of a mess. The truck, the lorry came in yesterday
to pick up our wool. And the grade had gone round,
the slip had come down and The grade had gone
around past Lake Kirkpatrick, which is probably a K around it,
(04:30):
but the road is slipping away into the lake, which
makes it pretty dangerous. So we turned to the county
for quite a few years. Why don't you just try
and take some off the hillside? And with the grade
dropping a wheel in and the engineer came past, I said,
gave him a bit of therapy, and he agreed with me.
So they've had the trucks out there yesterday and today
(04:51):
widening that road into the bank. You know, a lot
of rock, so you're getting away from the road edge,
which makes a bit of common sense as being used
for a change, which is quite good.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
So a farmer got common sense through to a council?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
A farmer with not much sense did, but it just
showed you how less sense the council had.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You had some cattle coming south as well, Grant?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Well, I went actually morning, so just this morning I
went over to, on my way over to Home Gully Road,
my contractor, he's got parcels of land over there, and
he had heifers on graze and yearling heifers, so a
truck came up from Scott's Gap this morning, and we
loaded 100 of those away, which is, and to be
(05:36):
fair up here, you don't normally have much mud in
cattle yards, especially over Ayrtown Way, but had the gumboots
on this morning, and The driver reckoned it was probably
wetter in the yards at Arrowtown than it was down
at Scott's Gap, and they can get a bit of
rain down there. But he was telling me, you know,
they've had that rain last week. It's dried up well
through their calving, and, you know, they've got a bit
(05:58):
of grass ahead of them. So good old self and,
you know, just doing what it normally does, just looking
after you when you need it.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
If anybody can encapsulate the mood of the rural sector,
whether it be the weather or ground conditions, it's got.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
To be the truckie.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Oh, yeah, the truckies know the ins and outs of
a duck's bum, don't they? Yeah. And, you know, this guy,
he's one of the owners of the farm. But, you know,
the wool guy told me when we loaded the wool yesterday,
you know, what's happening in Te Ana, what's happening in Mossburn.
You know, they're guys that are about, and you always
know somebody that they know, and, you know, what's so-and-so doing. But,
(06:34):
you know, they're about the place, especially those stock drivers.
They know what's going on and where the grass is
and where it isn't and what's doing well and what isn't. So, yeah,
a vital part of our industry, aren't they, the truckies?
And we've spoken about them before, so big shout-out to
all those guys and girls that are doing a pretty
good job moving their stock for us and in some
(06:57):
unpleasant conditions at times, too. But one thing about them,
you notice that you could probably eat your dinner off
of those truck cabs now. They spend more time... getting
their crocs off and their bloody dirty boots on and
then off before they get in the truck. And one
of the drivers said to me, he said, well, we
spent a lot of time there. I said, I wouldn't
walk into your lounge on the boots. And I said,
(07:19):
fair point. But I said, I bet your car's a mess.
And he said, yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Hey, we'll leave it there, Grant. Relevant points as always.
All the best for some dry weather over the next week.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, well, it's good at the moment, Andy, so let's
hope it keeps going and look forward to catching up
next week.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Grant McMaster, thanks to Arby Rural every Tuesday here on
the muster. A massive shout out to all the truckies
on the roads going about their business. It's greatly appreciated.
Laurie Margrain is up next from Open Country.
Grant, Disaster McMaster Farms on the edge of Lake Wakatipu
and joins us thanks to Batman and the team at
Arby Rural. Of course, Closeburn Station is where he's residing.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Good afternoon, Grant.
Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good afternoon, Andy. Good afternoon, everybody. On the edge of
Lake Wakatipu, well, the lake, with all the rain we've had,
sort of getting closer to the road, so getting closer
to the edge of the road, getting closer to the edge, so...
But it's a lovely day today, Andy. It's sitting at
9 degrees, so no rain today. We had no rain yesterday,
but in the previous five days from when we spoke
on Tuesday, we had another 68 mils of rain. So, yeah,
(00:42):
getting a bit sick of it.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Your rainfall will be well above average?
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Yeah, well, it will be. Well, it'll be... It's travelling
similar to this time last year, so if it carries on, yeah,
we'll be above average, all right. But over at Hogan
Gutty Road there, the flats we have, and those... They're
the paddocks that over the years have put the, you know,
the turnips and kale into the young grass and they
(01:06):
grow pretty well. But two paddocks, and they're about, these
paddocks on the spring are about three hectares each and
they're on the corner of Hogan Gully Road and Lake
Hayes Road. And they're, as I said, about three hectares
each and out of each of those paddocks there's probably
a hectare underwater in a big pond. So, and that
happened last year and they put it down the county,
(01:30):
you know, wasn't draining away anywhere and they sort of
thought it was to do with air burn across the
road with the road being built up and drainage sort
of not going where it's meant to and it cleared
but it's back this year and there's more geese and
seagulls and ducks and you can see on an estuary
(01:50):
why a hole are going past I reckon It.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
Must be a pain in the butt though with these
drains getting changed all the time with all this remedials
R & M work going on with the roads etc Yeah, well,
that is part of.
Speaker 3 (02:02):
It, and it's, you know, there's a bit of a
hill around the hills. The water comes down onto the flats,
and over the years, you know, it's drained away somewhere.
But last year and this year, it hasn't, and it
goes to sort of a flatness, and then sort of
Mill Creek would be, you know, probably a K away,
(02:22):
and I don't know over the years if everything drained
sort of down that way, but something's happened, and it's
not draining anywhere, and it's... Yeah, it's not good, really,
because we're just sort of tight enough with grass as
it is, and those paddocks are ones that really grow
quite well. But from last year, a lot of that died,
and I was going to stitch in a bit of
grass seed, but I didn't, I thought, because, you know,
(02:44):
this may happen again, and unfortunately it has. So that
puts a bit of pressure on things, and, you know,
the heifers that carved early, they're just being fed baleage
at the moment, a couple of bales of baleage every year,
second day, and they're looking good. They're on a block over,
a bit of scope, but, you know, it would have
(03:04):
been quite nice to get them down on those slats. Now,
there's just not quite enough grass here at the moment,
but holding them on that bale, it seems to be
working fine. The calves, you know, they're good, and the
cows are, so I'm pleased I've got that hill block
to sort of feed them on. The hoggets have still
got for probably three weeks on the kale, and so
that's going to work out pretty good. But in the meantime,
(03:28):
we just need those flats to drain away. And you
hear me say, you've heard me say before that, you know,
up here when it rains, it actually drains away pretty quickly.
And out at Moat Lake, the mixed-age ewes, twin mob,
are still on the hills. And we haven't brought them
down yet. But hopefully with the weather forecast staying the
(03:51):
way it is, the next couple of days I'll get
them down and feed them barley and baitage. So... They
won't get as much, but it'll be better than nothing.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
So all these tourists will be enjoying these lovely vistas. Farmers,
not so much.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
No, not so much. But as you say, as I
said before, you know, a couple of days without the rain,
you feel a lot better. And the stocks certainly enjoy
no rain as well. So roads are in a bit
of a mess. The truck, the lorry came in yesterday
to pick up our wool. And the grade had gone round,
the slip had come down and The grade had gone
around past Lake Kirkpatrick, which is probably a K around it,
(04:30):
but the road is slipping away into the lake, which
makes it pretty dangerous. So we turned to the county
for quite a few years. Why don't you just try
and take some off the hillside? And with the grade
dropping a wheel in and the engineer came past, I said,
gave him a bit of therapy, and he agreed with me.
So they've had the trucks out there yesterday and today
(04:51):
widening that road into the bank. You know, a lot
of rock, so you're getting away from the road edge,
which makes a bit of common sense as being used
for a change, which is quite good.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
So a farmer got common sense through to a council?
Speaker 3 (05:04):
A farmer with not much sense did, but it just
showed you how less sense the council had.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You had some cattle coming south as well, Grant?
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Well, I went actually morning, so just this morning I
went over to, on my way over to Home Gully Road,
my contractor, he's got parcels of land over there, and
he had heifers on graze and yearling heifers, so a
truck came up from Scott's Gap this morning, and we
loaded 100 of those away, which is, and to be
(05:36):
fair up here, you don't normally have much mud in
cattle yards, especially over Ayrtown Way, but had the gumboots
on this morning, and The driver reckoned it was probably
wetter in the yards at Arrowtown than it was down
at Scott's Gap, and they can get a bit of
rain down there. But he was telling me, you know,
they've had that rain last week. It's dried up well
through their calving, and, you know, they've got a bit
(05:58):
of grass ahead of them. So good old self and,
you know, just doing what it normally does, just looking
after you when you need it.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
If anybody can encapsulate the mood of the rural sector,
whether it be the weather or ground conditions, it's got.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
To be the truckie.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Oh, yeah, the truckies know the ins and outs of
a duck's bum, don't they? Yeah. And, you know, this guy,
he's one of the owners of the farm. But, you know,
the wool guy told me when we loaded the wool yesterday,
you know, what's happening in Te Ana, what's happening in Mossburn.
You know, they're guys that are about, and you always
know somebody that they know, and, you know, what's so-and-so doing. But,
(06:34):
you know, they're about the place, especially those stock drivers.
They know what's going on and where the grass is
and where it isn't and what's doing well and what isn't. So, yeah,
a vital part of our industry, aren't they, the truckies?
And we've spoken about them before, so big shout-out to
all those guys and girls that are doing a pretty
good job moving their stock for us and in some
(06:57):
unpleasant conditions at times, too. But one thing about them,
you notice that you could probably eat your dinner off
of those truck cabs now. They spend more time... getting
their crocs off and their bloody dirty boots on and
then off before they get in the truck. And one
of the drivers said to me, he said, well, we
spent a lot of time there. I said, I wouldn't
walk into your lounge on the boots. And I said,
(07:19):
fair point. But I said, I bet your car's a mess.
And he said, yeah, it is.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Hey, we'll leave it there, Grant. Relevant points as always.
All the best for some dry weather over the next week.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Yeah, well, it's good at the moment, Andy, so let's
hope it keeps going and look forward to catching up
next week.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Grant McMaster, thanks to Arby Rural every Tuesday here on
the muster. A massive shout out to all the truckies
on the roads going about their business. It's greatly appreciated.
Laurie Margrain is up next from Open Country.
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