The Muster- Matt Ward: Staying Above Ground For June

Matt Ward looks at a solid start to the winter grazing season which has seen mild temperatures dominate the forecast.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So when weird and.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Morning, this is the muster around hockey.

Speaker 3 (00:11):
Now he met wood farms at Morton Mains and joins
us this afternoon, on this mild once again afternoon here
in the deep, Sir, we keep saying it, Matt, but
this is certainly the start to jones that a lot
of people would like for their stock.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, get Andy has a guard. Yeah, it's it's good,
isn't it? Jesus good? It's I got on it. I
transitioned my years on to crop there a couple of
weeks ago, just trying to make the most out of
the fine weather. And it's still it's still sunny. Jesus,
it's good. Yeah, definitely not haveing to be complaining about
at the moment.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I just won't know what matters.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
No, no, no, That grass wintered actually, so that I was,
I was sort of well, I don't get too worried
about it, because they don't need a hell of a
lot to keep going through winter. But the amount of
grass that's threshening up in front of them, so I
need to start thinking about putting some fences up in
front of them. And yeah, tidying peedics up a bit better,
I think.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
So do you put any winter cropping it all made
or everything's just on a grass system.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
No, I've got swedes in for my yus, all my
user on crop for about sixty seventy days, so that
we're all transitioned on hoggets of grass wintered and then
my kettle were in the wintering shed. So that's all. Yeah,
all pretty safe. Really. I almost one regret I've almost
got with putting my maintenance fert on there six weeks ago.

(01:31):
I would have loved to now, in hindsight, would have
been good to put a wee bit of en on
with it as well and just push a bit of
feed through into spring. I think we would have worked
a treat, especially the way its all temps are holding
up and we're still ground seven in kilos is it
a couple of weeks ago, So it's still still grind
at a good rate for us. And yeah, no, it's
good ground pnodition. You can't complain. My swedes were a

(01:51):
precision drink drilled this year too, And jeez, there's no mud.
The bulbs are out of the ground and utilizations through
the roof and it's yeah, and everything's looking really good.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
So how heavy would you cor up be your swedes?

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I was bought in in a half ton, which I
back a ton. This is the first year precision drek
drilling them, so I'm back a ton on normal. But
I've still got like a twenty day surplus in them,
Like I don't need big swede crops. I sort of
put in enough ground to kick me. Like my goal
was to put in enough ground to have like ten
percent renewing each year. So as long as I sort

(02:27):
of hit that, then yeah, the swedes are just a
bit of a bonus to.

Speaker 2 (02:31):
Be fair tended to get some lambs for that spring contract.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Yeah I am to be. I normally carry through about
one hundred hundred and fifty lambs through the winter and
still a one hundred and twenty one at the moment,
and that due to garden next week, just to cash
in on them. But oh yeah, I'm sort of The
money's good and all, but I sometimes get worried about

(02:56):
that feed come early spring, Like I sometimes wonder if
I carry lambs through again, Like I was saying on
my hogits the grass wintered, So I try to have
a bit of feed there and at the start of
springing upon tight it just jupandizes those years milking at
the start, and that can impact next season. So it's
I think I'm gonna cut my losses on my lambs
next week. I still have any dry hogits will go

(03:18):
straight to the works and they jes I'll kill like
twenty four twenty five kilos normally, So that's what I
sort of treat them, any dry hoggits as my winter lambs. Anyway, Andy, well.

Speaker 3 (03:28):
Let's face it, I mean over two hundred dollars ahead
is what you'll be getting.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
I mean you can't lose on those figures.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
No, no, no, not at all. Like I'm everaging to
twenty two hundred and twenty dollars over everything for the season.
So you put those winter lambs on top of it, well,
those dry hogits on top of it, like it's yeah, no,
it's good money.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
So what did you badge it on for the season?

Speaker 1 (03:52):
I was working on a ten dollar lamb, so what
would that be? Would that be about two hundred bucks?
I was sort of veraging on. So I'm over. I'm
over in the because I've had this red clover and
two my lambs have been yielding a lot better. I'm
about about a kilo up carcass weight over everything than
what I normally am. Is well, just because everything's been
killing out so well off that clover. So it's yeah,

(04:15):
it's paid its way massive, Like a kilo over everything
on a ten dollars eight dollars seventy ten dollars eighty
might even be more than yeah, yeah, like it's a
lot of money. Yeah, so it's yeah, so paid its
way pretty quick.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
Now, Beef and Lamb's Southern Farmer Council. You're you're a
member of this.

Speaker 2 (04:37):
We spoke to Jordi Yid earlier in the hour. How
are you finding it?

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah, no, I'm really enjoying it. Yeah, no, I'm really
enjoying it. I am. We had an RDP build there
yesterday and I've got quite a lot just the more
learning from me. How they go. They plan out the
year and went up to the Farmer Council conference a
couple of weeks ago and out the gate and oh yeah, no,
it's good, it's good. I'm not, to be completely honest,
I'm not sure what I'm offering, but I'm getting a

(05:04):
hell of a lot out of it. Just the people
you meet and I've been always been a big fan, Like,
put yourself in a room of all those smart people
and you get you're getting quite a lot out of it.
So that's been it's been really enjoyable.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Has governance something you consider?

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Yeah, it is. It is down the track. Yeah, it
is down the track. Once I get everything at home
sorted first, I do. I do want to, especially after
doing my Kelod Like we got to through the whole
kel Ord process last year. We got to have a
good insight into governance and what it's about, and it
does sort of spin my wheels a wee bit. I'm

(05:38):
not sure whatever you I'd go down just yet, but
Yaada is definitely something I want to look into in
the future.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Eden Dale, Rugby.

Speaker 3 (05:47):
You're the manager on the sideline there and your my
mo must say, a spectacular hat when you're at Pioneer.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
What was that hat you've got on? Something from nineteen
eighty two?

Speaker 1 (05:55):
My head, it's a good way. I couldn't tell you
what I was wearing.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
The hat just stuck out of that tall frame of yours.

Speaker 1 (06:01):
Yeah, yeah, well he does stuck out above the clouds.
But yeah, going, we're going good. We're we're taking Albion
to Materire. Actually tomorrow, we've got a home your home
game tomorrow, but we're going to take it to Mataire
to support a few of the Materia boys we having
a team and support the Materire club too. We've always

(06:23):
had a good, good rivalry with him, in a good
connection between the clubs, so it'll be quite cool to
take a home game home game there. And we've got
Big Dyt's fiftieth game tomorrow too, and he's a he's
a Blazer player for the Taire as well, so be
quite cool to see him run out on his well
what used to be is home home field, playing his
fiftieth game for us as well, so I'll be yeah
special moment for him. And I think we might have

(06:45):
five or six boys in a team that have played
for the Taia in the past, so it'll be quite
a cool moment for all those fellows.

Speaker 3 (06:51):
You congratulations that Aiden Doll, just helping out the Seal
clubs and all the best of materiror tomorrow. May always
going to always appreciate your time as well, enjoy the weekend.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
No good man, any thank you very much for that. Well,
thank you.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
Matte Ward there based on Morton Mainz. You're listening to
the Master before you wrap up. Morgan Mitchell retiring south
from Stagg and Studio.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
We have a chin wag