January 26, 2026 • 9 mins
Matt Ward says the rain that fell recently is going to set him up for a terrific season....when the sun arrives.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome back to the Muster matt Wood Farms at Morton, Mainz.
He was a Beef and Lamb Young Farmer Development Scholarship
winning back in twenty twenty four. He enjoyed a staycation
back in December and tells us all about it this afternoon. Matt,
(00:24):
welcome to the muster this year. Good to catch up.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, get andy, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
You're going pretty good mate. Look you're just talking off
heir about and you talked about it pre crystals about
your staycation. You plan it all out. You're going to
have the ashes on your boxing day through the New
Year's Eve was sorted, but it didn't play out that way.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
No, No, If the England cricket team could hold their
own away bit better, I would have had quite an
enjoyable week part that watching the cricket.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
But yeah, it was a bit disappointing, but it's it
is what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It was.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Actually, it was still quite nice to have the week
at home partner and daughter of they are away visiting family,
so it was just in the south here doing a
few odd jobs around.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
The farm and hanging out and but yea, it.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Would have been quite nice to watch a week's worth
of cricket, but so bit.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Cuss the Australian cricketers or the cricket borders such millions
of dollars in lost revenue. But anyway, digressing look there
on the farm though, when it's a situation like that
where you're just potting around and just managed to unwind
as such.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, it was actually I think it was as good
as any holiday I've probably.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Had to be for you.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Like I was saying, you go away on holiday and
you spend the first first two or three days still
thinking about what's happening on farm, and then enjoy it
for a couple of days, and then you end up
coming home, and especially between Christmas a New Year, like
if you get a bit of fly around or lose
a ballcock of a trough and lose a tank of
water like, so, I don't really see the point of
going away just to add that stress on someone else
(01:49):
having to be here. So it was quite nice to
be here, make sure everything was all right, tied it
up a few few week jobs and years go. A
phone didn't ring, which is quite pleasing know an email
me to harass me either, So.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It was that was quite an enjoyable week actually, so
how are things looking there over at more to Mainze.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
We're looking exceptionally good, to be fear, and we had
had nearly seventy meals of rain over the last three days.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It was just steady, good rain to and we're looking
for it. Lambs are doing, everything's doing well.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I sort of don't I don't want to sky to
about it because you don't need to look too far
up the road to see people bettling in the North
Island with the weather. But for us it was it
was perfect. It set us up for another two or
three weeks. As long as that pisky cold wind stays away,
we're pretty well set up for a while now, I'd
say so.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Even with the cold of temperatures, you you still got
good clover coming through.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, it's been crazy, crazy clover coming through. Even in
all my old pastures. There's been a lot more clover
around this year than there.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Has been before.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I'm not sure why, but yeah, yeah, they just seems
to be clover everywhere, and everything's loving it like stock
and doing really. Kettle were rounding up nicely and been
killing a few lambs and everything's been going pretty good.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Have you ever had issues in your farming experience with
the clover root weavil. I've talked about this a weave
and over the past month or so, well, last past
couple of weeks anyway, because gee Willim was about ten
years or so and the wasp came out, which was
a game change of it. Everybody had no clover through
the crucial time of the year for growing.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, no, I not in my memory, probably wasn't really
on my radar as a shepherd either. We're just paid
to shift sheep and make sure everything was getting feed,
so it wasn't really really an issue for me personally.
But now but this year, Jez where well it's quite interesting.
Actually I've put fifteen hect years of red clover, straight
(03:43):
redclover and to try finish lambs on and it's probably
been the two poorest performing peddocks I've got, whereas the
clover and grasswards have been.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, it's been exceptional.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So you're getting the weight it's on the lambs then.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, I have been Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I killed two hundred and fifty large Monday at twenty
point two kilos, which I was happy enough about and
just weighing a few lambs up today to get them
lined up for drenching it while start drink testing at
the end of the week and say if they need
to drinch or not, so I'll probably have another cut
out another few hundred to go, maybe two or three
weeks time. But yeah, I'm just waiting for this red
(04:19):
clover to kick in the gear a bit and then
start finishing them morning on that a bit and you
try to kick the weights, keep the weights right up.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, Well that's the irony. Other season, you're a clover
paddocks as the least best performing one.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, and that's the whole I haven't put any in
before because I saw I believe I can finish lambs
good enough here on grass. I normally average a twenty
kilo lamb through the season anyway, So why put an
expensive plant like red clover in. But I want to
try and slow down the risk of drink resistance and
change my thinking of finishing, try to finish more lambs
(04:53):
on mon than just finishing a wing lamb as well.
But yeah, far out, it's been a better to get
it estabulars. Hopefully get a graze off it in about
ten days or so, and then we'll be.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
We'll be a waiver.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, lambs on grass, I've been dubbling, pumping along pretty nicely.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So it's fair to say your budget this year, you've
blown it out of the water.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, it's actually quite pleasing to be fair a lot
better than two years ago. Quite so, I was singing
this morning like, this will be my fourth fourth summer
being back at home in those first two summers, far
out of spending money, will he nearly trying to get
everything up and go, and then getting bettert like broad
a whole new ram team and improving all my part.
I've been single cropping everything, so improving my pastures and
(05:40):
just trying to get myself into a position where I
am now.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And I thought last year was going to be the good.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Year, but then I had a few drinch issues. Midway
through about February, I run into a few drinch issues,
so then got that tidied up, and then this year
where everything's stuck in a row. So we're actually singing
along pretty nicely for a change.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So drench resistant. What's the status there on your place?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Yeah? Last year I was weighing lambs about mid February
and they just weren't they weren't doing. They didn't really
do that well off months, but on month and then
they carried on and didn't really do overly well. And
you must have been about February. Weighed them and they
hadn't put too much weight on, so there must be
a wee bit of an issue here. And I drenched them,
(06:23):
tested them ten days later, and turns out I probably
would have been better off just given them a drench
of water than drink, because I just wasn't really working
as effectively as what it should have been. So jumped
into triples and giving them a triple And now.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We're one hundred percent clean again.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
And I've been trying to just change up my rotations
with my lambs and incorporating my use into their rotation
a bit more to clean up and always following my
lambs with kettle to tidy up paddocks as well, and
just trying to chat. I didn't didn't give my user
long acting this year for the first time either. Just
to try and change myness is more than anything, get
(07:02):
out of a few bad habits and just try to
slow the whole process down a bit more so.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
As far as sharing lambs. What do you do or
do you Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, I'm a share everything as soon as I sort
of can. Sure. I weighed off all those two hundred
and fifty odds that I killed, they got weighed off
a couple of weeks ago, and then everything under forty
five kilos get shorn. I just sort of try and
get it done as soon as after weaning, because then
less time on the hand piece staying in them up
before sharing. And I've always sort of found like all
(07:33):
those when I was up in Wonker, all the store
lambs we were selling like they would go on the
truck and get off, get unloaded at those big traders
and they would be shorn straight away. If they're sharing everything,
then why why wouldn't I share everything? And you get
a good week a heat like we did last week
and changing you can see them rounding up in the
in the peddic. I don't think they enjoyed the rain
too much over the weekend, but they are.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah. Now I'm a big fan of a day.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Just finally, you're a footy club. You kept him their
pre season? Is it underway tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Indy, tomorrow night? Yeah, Yeah, it kicks off tomorrow night. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I got the text the other day and I was like,
oh god, it'd be quite exciting to get back into it.
But I've been asked to yeah, because I'm not going
to play anymore. So been asked to manage the board well,
help manage the fellas this year, which will be she'll
be interesting. I don't see myself as much of a manager,
but I still want to. After teen twelve seasons of
senior footy, I sort of feel like I should be
(08:32):
given back, giving back to it. So go and go
and help out sort of where I can.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So what you're saying is the boots will be in
the bag just in case. Oh I don't know, Yes you.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Are, Yeah, I probably to be to be fear, I
think the boots world of Hunter been in the bag.
If if Dean Remage and those wind and boys wanted
to play us for their jubilee, seeing there a bit shy,
I would have done anything to go on there and
blowing their birthday cake kendle with.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It would have been good. But now the boats are.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well and truly don't fuss.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
That's good is it will be nice.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It will be nice to go back down quite and
I'm quite looking forward to waking up on a Sunday morning.
Not sore and everything as we are, so that will
be good.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Hey, good on you, Matt. I always appreciate your time and
enjoying the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You know. Thank you Andy, it was nice to talk
to you again.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Matt Ward of Morton, Mainz and eden Dale rugby club
manager for the seniors. This is the Master up. Next
we're going to catch up with Graham Butcher Phane Consultants,
Welcome back to the Muster matt Wood Farms at Morton, Mainz.
He was a Beef and Lamb Young Farmer Development Scholarship
winning back in twenty twenty four. He enjoyed a staycation
back in December and tells us all about it this afternoon. Matt,
(00:24):
welcome to the muster this year. Good to catch up.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Yeah, get andy, how are you?
Speaker 1 (00:29):
You're going pretty good mate. Look you're just talking off
heir about and you talked about it pre crystals about
your staycation. You plan it all out. You're going to
have the ashes on your boxing day through the New
Year's Eve was sorted, but it didn't play out that way.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
No, No, If the England cricket team could hold their
own away bit better, I would have had quite an
enjoyable week part that watching the cricket.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
But yeah, it was a bit disappointing, but it's it
is what it is.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
It was.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Actually, it was still quite nice to have the week
at home partner and daughter of they are away visiting family,
so it was just in the south here doing a
few odd jobs around.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
The farm and hanging out and but yea, it.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Would have been quite nice to watch a week's worth
of cricket, but so bit.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
Cuss the Australian cricketers or the cricket borders such millions
of dollars in lost revenue. But anyway, digressing look there
on the farm though, when it's a situation like that
where you're just potting around and just managed to unwind
as such.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
Yeah, it was actually I think it was as good
as any holiday I've probably.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Had to be for you.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Like I was saying, you go away on holiday and
you spend the first first two or three days still
thinking about what's happening on farm, and then enjoy it
for a couple of days, and then you end up
coming home, and especially between Christmas a New Year, like
if you get a bit of fly around or lose
a ballcock of a trough and lose a tank of
water like, so, I don't really see the point of
going away just to add that stress on someone else
(01:49):
having to be here. So it was quite nice to
be here, make sure everything was all right, tied it
up a few few week jobs and years go. A
phone didn't ring, which is quite pleasing know an email
me to harass me either, So.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
It was that was quite an enjoyable week actually, so
how are things looking there over at more to Mainze.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
We're looking exceptionally good, to be fear, and we had
had nearly seventy meals of rain over the last three days.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
It was just steady, good rain to and we're looking
for it. Lambs are doing, everything's doing well.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
I sort of don't I don't want to sky to
about it because you don't need to look too far
up the road to see people bettling in the North
Island with the weather. But for us it was it
was perfect. It set us up for another two or
three weeks. As long as that pisky cold wind stays away,
we're pretty well set up for a while now, I'd
say so.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Even with the cold of temperatures, you you still got
good clover coming through.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, it's been crazy, crazy clover coming through. Even in
all my old pastures. There's been a lot more clover
around this year than there.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Has been before.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
I'm not sure why, but yeah, yeah, they just seems
to be clover everywhere, and everything's loving it like stock
and doing really. Kettle were rounding up nicely and been
killing a few lambs and everything's been going pretty good.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Have you ever had issues in your farming experience with
the clover root weavil. I've talked about this a weave
and over the past month or so, well, last past
couple of weeks anyway, because gee Willim was about ten
years or so and the wasp came out, which was
a game change of it. Everybody had no clover through
the crucial time of the year for growing.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
Yeah, no, I not in my memory, probably wasn't really
on my radar as a shepherd either. We're just paid
to shift sheep and make sure everything was getting feed,
so it wasn't really really an issue for me personally.
But now but this year, Jez where well it's quite interesting.
Actually I've put fifteen hect years of red clover, straight
(03:43):
redclover and to try finish lambs on and it's probably
been the two poorest performing peddocks I've got, whereas the
clover and grasswards have been.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, it's been exceptional.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
So you're getting the weight it's on the lambs then.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Yeah, I have been Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I killed two hundred and fifty large Monday at twenty
point two kilos, which I was happy enough about and
just weighing a few lambs up today to get them
lined up for drenching it while start drink testing at
the end of the week and say if they need
to drinch or not, so I'll probably have another cut
out another few hundred to go, maybe two or three
weeks time. But yeah, I'm just waiting for this red
(04:19):
clover to kick in the gear a bit and then
start finishing them morning on that a bit and you
try to kick the weights, keep the weights right up.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Yeah, Well that's the irony. Other season, you're a clover
paddocks as the least best performing one.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Yeah, and that's the whole I haven't put any in
before because I saw I believe I can finish lambs
good enough here on grass. I normally average a twenty
kilo lamb through the season anyway, So why put an
expensive plant like red clover in. But I want to
try and slow down the risk of drink resistance and
change my thinking of finishing, try to finish more lambs
(04:53):
on mon than just finishing a wing lamb as well.
But yeah, far out, it's been a better to get
it estabulars. Hopefully get a graze off it in about
ten days or so, and then we'll be.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
We'll be a waiver.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
Yeah, lambs on grass, I've been dubbling, pumping along pretty nicely.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So it's fair to say your budget this year, you've
blown it out of the water.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, it's actually quite pleasing to be fair a lot
better than two years ago. Quite so, I was singing
this morning like, this will be my fourth fourth summer
being back at home in those first two summers, far
out of spending money, will he nearly trying to get
everything up and go, and then getting bettert like broad
a whole new ram team and improving all my part.
I've been single cropping everything, so improving my pastures and
(05:40):
just trying to get myself into a position where I
am now.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
And I thought last year was going to be the good.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Year, but then I had a few drinch issues. Midway
through about February, I run into a few drinch issues,
so then got that tidied up, and then this year
where everything's stuck in a row. So we're actually singing
along pretty nicely for a change.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
So drench resistant. What's the status there on your place?
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
Yeah? Last year I was weighing lambs about mid February
and they just weren't they weren't doing. They didn't really
do that well off months, but on month and then
they carried on and didn't really do overly well. And
you must have been about February. Weighed them and they
hadn't put too much weight on, so there must be
a wee bit of an issue here. And I drenched them,
(06:23):
tested them ten days later, and turns out I probably
would have been better off just given them a drench
of water than drink, because I just wasn't really working
as effectively as what it should have been. So jumped
into triples and giving them a triple And now.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We're one hundred percent clean again.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
And I've been trying to just change up my rotations
with my lambs and incorporating my use into their rotation
a bit more to clean up and always following my
lambs with kettle to tidy up paddocks as well, and
just trying to chat. I didn't didn't give my user
long acting this year for the first time either. Just
to try and change myness is more than anything, get
(07:02):
out of a few bad habits and just try to
slow the whole process down a bit more so.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
As far as sharing lambs. What do you do or
do you Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:10):
Yeah, I'm a share everything as soon as I sort
of can. Sure. I weighed off all those two hundred
and fifty odds that I killed, they got weighed off
a couple of weeks ago, and then everything under forty
five kilos get shorn. I just sort of try and
get it done as soon as after weaning, because then
less time on the hand piece staying in them up
before sharing. And I've always sort of found like all
(07:33):
those when I was up in Wonker, all the store
lambs we were selling like they would go on the
truck and get off, get unloaded at those big traders
and they would be shorn straight away. If they're sharing everything,
then why why wouldn't I share everything? And you get
a good week a heat like we did last week
and changing you can see them rounding up in the
in the peddic. I don't think they enjoyed the rain
too much over the weekend, but they are.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah. Now I'm a big fan of a day.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Just finally, you're a footy club. You kept him their
pre season? Is it underway tomorrow night.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Indy, tomorrow night? Yeah, Yeah, it kicks off tomorrow night. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
I got the text the other day and I was like,
oh god, it'd be quite exciting to get back into it.
But I've been asked to yeah, because I'm not going
to play anymore. So been asked to manage the board well,
help manage the fellas this year, which will be she'll
be interesting. I don't see myself as much of a manager,
but I still want to. After teen twelve seasons of
senior footy, I sort of feel like I should be
(08:32):
given back, giving back to it. So go and go
and help out sort of where I can.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
So what you're saying is the boots will be in
the bag just in case. Oh I don't know, Yes you.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Are, Yeah, I probably to be to be fear, I
think the boots world of Hunter been in the bag.
If if Dean Remage and those wind and boys wanted
to play us for their jubilee, seeing there a bit shy,
I would have done anything to go on there and
blowing their birthday cake kendle with.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
It would have been good. But now the boats are.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well and truly don't fuss.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
That's good is it will be nice.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
It will be nice to go back down quite and
I'm quite looking forward to waking up on a Sunday morning.
Not sore and everything as we are, so that will
be good.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Hey, good on you, Matt. I always appreciate your time and
enjoying the afternoon.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
You know. Thank you Andy, it was nice to talk
to you again.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Matt Ward of Morton, Mainz and eden Dale rugby club
manager for the seniors. This is the Master up. Next
we're going to catch up with Graham Butcher Phane Consultants,
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