The Muster- Jon Pemberton: Looking Back At An Interesting Year

Jon Pemberton looks back at 2024 as well as looking ahead to what 2025 might present.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Monday afternoon here on the muster, catching up with John
Pemberden farming at Menzie's Ferry and he's a block as well,
run off block Brighton and the Sagean Dan Farmers round
up for a Monday afternoon thanks of course to Sagean
Dan Stock Foods. Right here and Goore. Good afternoon, Johnny.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah here doing mate, here do mate? I just did
just clarification. It's it feels like a runoff because it's
run off, but it's dairy farmer Brighten.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Actually, mate, clarifications everything I stand corrected three years in.
I'm sure I'll get it sooner or later. How's it
looking anyway? Uh, yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
Look certainly this year has been a year. I've noticed
when I go through Edendale it's about when the rain
stops last. The last week was a classic. North of
Edendale corl wynbrocks all day and south of Endala rained
all day quite squarely. So yeah, the two properties have
been quite different this year, bright and certainly matching demand,

(01:10):
if not. We're actually building a bank of grass in
front of us. But we've got some challenges around young
grass that had been putting a catch crop of oats,
which yeah, I'm not convinced that that's a solution because
you're seeen to be trying to cultivate when ground conditions
don't suit, which then lead on to issues we have
now around young grass, that's just too free job to

(01:32):
get on. So yeah, out of the twenty heat beers
of the grass, and we did were quite a big
gree grassing program last year for that size of the farm,
we're probably going to ride off five heat beers looking
at it, which is a little bit frustrating, but probably
in the scheming thing's not too bad for the whole
platform and Menzies, you know, anything that the river can
touch in a flood has been a bit of a

(01:53):
challenge this year, Becau. We've had a couple of freshes
neighbors below us, so I've been under seven times, so
you times this year. Yeah, down the catchment and these
guys that have just lived with water all season, so
relatively challenging. We actually had a droning on the weekend
we toured with that. It was a cheap option for
the We only had a couple of small paddics to
do with young grass, and yeah, the neighborhad the drone

(02:18):
in so I will give it a crack, and so
we use the drone to put on half a ton
of fot on on the last our second round. And yes,
that was quite cool, cool talk, cool to watch, and
yeah it was yeah economically work it out. It was
slightly cheaper then helicopter that year because the helicopter was
gonna fled out this year. So yeah, technologies gets interested

(02:40):
with technology when you get into these challenging situations.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
I suppose how much for it can a drone hold?

Speaker 2 (02:46):
This one's fifty kilos?

Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah I would I would have thought about twenty four
to twenty five, So yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, yeah, and look he was he was the guys
in the caning. They can go up to sixty. But
you know what technology is like, it will just keep
keep going. So now it's a cool but it and
pretty accurate. And yeah, I think there's certainly some opportunities
going forward to utilize a bit of the stuff on
the fringes. And yeah, it's just trying to get rubber
and paddocks. This here has been a heack of a

(03:12):
challenge on all fronts, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (03:14):
A lot of various haven't dried out since winter though,
that's just the reality, isn't it.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Well, they haven't dried out since March is what I'll
probably say. There you go, Yeah, yeah, we've got sealed
off areas which I've never seen. We've got puddles we
just can't get rid of. Yeah, we've got a we
had a good chunk of our young grass we got
in on a new block, and even that in itself
we've had to leave a little bits and pieces. But

(03:38):
all on all, the contract has done extremely good jobs here.
We just have to go back in a month and
tied it up. Those We're talking maybe half a heat
to add the seventy five, so it's not a biggie
at all. But it's more been you've certainly seen cattle farming,
the pressure kettle farming and weak conditions just ongoing, having

(03:58):
to put out from the paddict to grays, and probably
mid October is about when those guys in the flats
are starting to be a bit any sort, the chaps,
a bit of contour. They've got their own challenges, of course,
but they probably haven't got the whole paddocks. They can't
get a tractor on with a bit of contour. So
it's been a very interesting interesting spring, and I'd like
to think we don't repeat it, being it must be

(04:22):
getting close to us being one of the more challenging,
challenging ones and living memory, I suspect, but ye're happy
to be proven wrong.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
When you look back at twenty twenty four, would you
say it's a year you'd rather forget?

Speaker 2 (04:37):
Yes and no. Look, you know, outside of farming, I've
had a number of opportunities come along, Whi's been great.
So personally it's been a great year for that and
obviously for daring payouts looking well. But just I think
just for when you talk about the core of actually
what you're doing on farm is very, very challenging, and

(05:01):
what's been good is, you know, I think you've seen
a lot of teams on the farm pool together because
we all in it together, which has been interesting. You
taught consultants. I saw a lot more challenges within team
management through COVID because of yep, we're told we're all together,
but you still have the option of having a different
view on things. Whereas when you're all ankle knee deep

(05:22):
in the mud, the guys stand on the sides in
the same boat, so you'll just pull together. We've seeing
fantastic community events pulled together local lads down here. Paul
Wonder Edendale mid September. I think of the late September
for memory, it was a pretty good daily fair. So yeah,
it's just been one of those ones that's dragged you
run together. But yep, there'll be some cambs at the

(05:45):
back of this city, people thinking about what they're doing
and farming or thinking about the south and right to them.
But like I say, yeah, one of the more challenging ones.
And we're still working through getting tractors going contracts. We've
pulled the here out. I could only imagine be some
pretty clean yes in the yards. Yeah, they can only

(06:07):
tact the many times I suppose, But yeah, it's going
to be interesting at the back of this I could
only imagine how much concrete is going to be poured
this this this summer. And yeah, probably a little bit
of a residences around, having some infrastructure is probably going
to be in the forefront of a lot of people
thinking maybe taking advantage of the slightly higher payout to
cash flow. That.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, it's an interesting point and a good one you
bring up there too, Johnny. Regarding communities pulling together businesses,
pulling together because of the way the situation unfolded in spring.
So if nothing else, it showed that it was a
one in allan mentality.

Speaker 2 (06:41):
Yes, yeah, and it just shows how you know, how
great the people in the south are, right, you know,
when it has to happen, they all pulled together. And
you know, I believe the first you have to come
the bit of the communities keep and.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
For you personally as well. We talk about National m
Day that went off at way Moomi really well and
enough Field scholarship and the pipeline for next year so
you'll be able to go and wins about the British
sweether sooner than later.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
Yeah, yeah, Facebook, they've had a fair hiding the last
few days.

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yes, isn't it snowstorm?

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Yeah yeah, so I've had a lot of flooding and
whales for the looks and you know National Lamb Day,
we were getting all that pretty well lined up. I
think we'll be able to come out with something in
the very near future around what we've got planned. We're
just getting our sponsors lockdown, but that's pretty much done
and dusted with a far far more generous budget than

(07:33):
what we had last year. Last year was a whirlwind day.
It came together within like two months. This year it's
been you know, a lot of planning go into it,
but it just seems to be slower because people know
there's not their time frame restraints. So as a committee
we sort of just sort of feels like we're just
in a little bit of a lull. But it's about

(07:54):
to kick off once we get the sponsorship signed up.
So yeah, another big day we're expecting, and being on
a weekend, it's going to be very different angle on
it around the line on social media and everybody to
get together to do their own thing. I suppose as
the end we're looking at this year, but there's been
a heck of a lot of interest through corporates of
doing barbecues and the week leading up to it, so

(08:16):
I think the week's going to be as busy as
a week in which is fantastic.

Speaker 1 (08:19):
Sounds good, John O, Hey, we'll let you carry on.
This is the last time we catch up for twenty
twenty four. Always appreciated you're putting yourself forward like you
have and you try and have a bit of a
breakover the summer.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah you too, Andy, and thanks all the work you
put in for the Southern region mate. You know you're
always out on the beout and connecting up with different
communities outside of what you're on the radio, so much
appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (08:46):
John Pemberton and the Sergeant Dan farm around up for
a Monday Afternoon thanks of Sergeant Dan Stock foods here
in Gore. Jeff Grant, Northern Southland business owner. He is
up next for a political roundup.