November 17, 2025 • 9 mins
Sheffield pig farmer Sean Molloy gives an update around the Kiwi pork industry which is looking pretty positive.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Sean, my lawyer, is a pig farmer based up at
Sheffield and Canterbury and joins us this afternoon on the Muster.
He is our pig farming correspondent. Sean. Good afternoon and
welcome to the Muster once again.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good Eddie, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, firstly, congratulations as well. You've just been elected to
the New Zealand port Board.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yep, put my name forward for that and hopefully add
some barely to the industry.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, what was the driver for doing that? What made
you decide this is my time?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I've been involved with the politics of the industry for
quite a long time now and I just got right
to step up with who was that fella that was
stepping away? And yea, it felt like I was finally
ready to take that step up. I do try to
enjoy trying to take on the government and get good
(01:02):
rules for farmers so that we can or farm under
a reasonable set of rules and send what we do
and show everybody how well we do.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Now we've spoken to you over the past couple of years,
short and the struggles of Naywak and the likes being
involved with the industry now up in the top tier
as such, Are you having for a bit more leeway
in that respect?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I don't know whether that just being up there
will we'll open up so many more doors than what
we've already got. Yeah, it will certainly mean that you're
involved in those conversations, which will be nice. But yeah,
it depends on the government of the time and how
much excess and how much time they want to give you.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So the government at the moment, We've talked about this previously,
and ironically last time we spoke, I think the next
day the recommendations around seal creates came out.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, you think that means I've got a bit of
that for us. Andy.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
It makes you wonder that what just be go to dearly?
What do you do in the background You're changing the
bearing or something?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Oh yeah, madam, just doing a little bit of matenance,
just standing a shed round throw. I didn't realize it
was picking up on the microphone.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Oh it's brilliant. It's cool multitasking. A lot of people
reckon males can't do that.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I struggle.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So the situation up there in Sheffield, how's it been
for the season?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Windy? It would be one way to describe it. So far. Yeah,
really really windy, so it had a few crops being
burnt off a little bit due to the high winds.
We didn't get hammered like Southland or North Canterbury, thankfully,
so we escaped pretty easy. A little bit of ten
off and stuff like that. In the end, it was
a bit of hail came through just over the weekend,
(02:44):
so we escaped it up here touch wood this time.
So hopefully we don't get that. But I'm not having
talked to many yet to see what that means to them.
But I imagine a few crops are taken, a bit
of a hammering, just a bit of a bugger.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Now, we had these catastrophic winds down here almost months ago.
Have you you experience anything like that or it's just
northwest as doing the thing over the season.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
We are here at the farm. It's a real windy
spot anywhere in the throw to the Waymacarri River, so
just where the farmers we caught quite high wind. So
it's I guess it's what you call a typical year.
Except normally a typical year maybe two three weeks next
of quite strong winds in the change of season. It's
just gone on and on. So yeah, it's been a
(03:31):
bit of an extra windy season really, and of course.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Your farm there sure, and you've got four hundred breeding cells.
You also grow your own barley as feed for the pigs,
and the affluent coming from the farm using it as
fertilizer on the irrigated land as well, so you're feeling
you're filling quite a few of the boxes of texts there.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah. Mate, it's great to have our own land to
make use of that, because when you're as a pig farmer,
if you're not putting on your own land, you don't
get any value for it's really nice to do that.
And with the influence you just get all those out
of nutrients that you don't get with synthetic fertilizer. So yeah,
there's nothing nothing makes a crop look better than some
(04:11):
peggy influent on there, that's for sure. So really nice
to have that circle go round.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And I dare say there'll be plenty of that flowing
as well.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
There's a fear, but it's bit of a constant supply,
which is nice.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, that's for sure. Now as far as the season,
they're like, what would your rainfall tell you beer per year?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
There would you say, ah, somewhere between seven eight hundred
mills a year.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
That's not too bad for Canary your things taken into
account of what.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
A thought, Yeah, I know, we're pretty good a so
we're up close to the mountain, so we get a
bit and always spiller over often so that it's a
wee bit of a a wee bit of a boost
and it's up a little green button that we get
to plot too when it does get a bit too dry.
So we're pretty lucky than we are now.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
We'll speaking just before you as saying, think there's only
sixty five serious peak farms as such at New Zealand.
Now everybody has a couple of pigs on the side.
I remember back in the day when I left school,
we had a pig there we were fattening up. Had
to go and give us swedes every day, plus the
scraps from their house. But generally it just shows how
it's not a big farming system here in New Zealand.
(05:20):
I suppose.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
No, But the guys that are here we do. We
do work out quite a few pigs, so I guess
numbers wise, Yeah, if you look at the amount of
meat that we put out, we are quite quite large,
but saying that also, we don't have a huge year
in the market, down to about thirty of the market,
(05:43):
So yeah, I guess the industry just reflects that and
it's sort of ten to be. It's just larger, more
serious players are remaining in the industry.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And we've talked about this before as well. The threat
that imports pose with animal welfare codes well blow our own.
But to pick farmers in New Zealand, do they have
issues getting rid of their stock?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
The last couple of years it's been pretty good. The
genuinely tends to be seasonal, so normally end of January
it's going to get pretty tight and pretty tough. It's
normally there for about sort of four or five months.
It's normally when our price will drop.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I was reading, sorry, Sean, I was reading something the
other day talking about the Resource Management Act and its
effect on the pork industry, saying that it's just like anything,
it's making anything and everything harder when you just want
to get out there and do the farming. Are you
striking any issues of the aremay.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, it's just a real pain in the backside. And
being a smaller industry and not many of us. It's
not well understood what we do, and the councils tend
to have this revolving door of people, so you're constantly
re educating them on what you do. So it's quite frustrating.
And of course for indoor producers particularly, you know, or
(07:05):
even outdoor guys, you've still got to put funds and
structures up, so you've got to deal with you know,
your environmental guys, and then you know your local council
as well, so you're dealing with two lots there, and yeah,
it's just just a complicated nightmare and just costs so
much money when you want to do something there.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
So you've pretty much got e Ken on speed dial.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I wish. Yeah, you need to keep close to them.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
But in general, though, how would you rank the pork
industry in New Zealand out of ten for RASA, just
for performance in general, just the vibe of the industry
as such.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Look, we're rocking along pretty good. I guess there're probably
I would say an I can't speak for everybody, but yeah,
things are things are going along. Prices are good. Yeah,
just some of that regulary stuff was was better and
easier and less expensive. Things would be.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Really good getting young people into the industry. Is that
an issue definitely.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, yep. Because we're small. People don't know what it's about.
I never bring a person and a person never visits
the farm and then comes away and says, you know,
they're always like, wow, that was not what I thought.
That was just amazing, and they're just blown away by
the technology you're using. I mean a lot of people's
perception of pigs, like you said, one or two in
(08:27):
a backyard and a bit of a mackey pen, and
we travel to scraps over the not all the the
ventilation systems and automotive feedting systems and plastic floorings and
pumps and you know, there's just so much to it.
It's really complex. That's not what people think. So it
(08:48):
is really nice when you show people around and then
they just come away with, well, you know, there's a
lot more going on here. Well it looks at you
guys actually know what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Certainly one of those things. But luck anyway, Sean Bell,
believe it there it sounds as I didn't. Zealand Pork
Industries and good hands and once again gratulations on going
on to the new Zealand pork board and he is
hoping your boy Raiser gets things right against Wales on
Sunday morning.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Hey yeah, maybe he needs to bloody skip it up,
doesn't he.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And that's coming from a died in the wall, Canterbury
and we'll leave it there. Seant. Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Good on, Eddie, Thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Sean malloy peak peak farmer based at Sheffield up in Kennery.
You're listening to the Muster next from Close Brands Station.
Grant Disaster McMaster
Sean, my lawyer, is a pig farmer based up at
Sheffield and Canterbury and joins us this afternoon on the Muster.
He is our pig farming correspondent. Sean. Good afternoon and
welcome to the Muster once again.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good Eddie, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Yeah, firstly, congratulations as well. You've just been elected to
the New Zealand port Board.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Yep, put my name forward for that and hopefully add
some barely to the industry.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yeah, what was the driver for doing that? What made
you decide this is my time?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
I've been involved with the politics of the industry for
quite a long time now and I just got right
to step up with who was that fella that was
stepping away? And yea, it felt like I was finally
ready to take that step up. I do try to
enjoy trying to take on the government and get good
(01:02):
rules for farmers so that we can or farm under
a reasonable set of rules and send what we do
and show everybody how well we do.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Now we've spoken to you over the past couple of years,
short and the struggles of Naywak and the likes being
involved with the industry now up in the top tier
as such, Are you having for a bit more leeway
in that respect?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, I don't know whether that just being up there
will we'll open up so many more doors than what
we've already got. Yeah, it will certainly mean that you're
involved in those conversations, which will be nice. But yeah,
it depends on the government of the time and how
much excess and how much time they want to give you.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
So the government at the moment, We've talked about this previously,
and ironically last time we spoke, I think the next
day the recommendations around seal creates came out.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, you think that means I've got a bit of
that for us. Andy.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
It makes you wonder that what just be go to dearly?
What do you do in the background You're changing the
bearing or something?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
Oh yeah, madam, just doing a little bit of matenance,
just standing a shed round throw. I didn't realize it
was picking up on the microphone.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
Oh it's brilliant. It's cool multitasking. A lot of people
reckon males can't do that.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
I struggle.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
So the situation up there in Sheffield, how's it been
for the season?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
Windy? It would be one way to describe it. So far. Yeah,
really really windy, so it had a few crops being
burnt off a little bit due to the high winds.
We didn't get hammered like Southland or North Canterbury, thankfully,
so we escaped pretty easy. A little bit of ten
off and stuff like that. In the end, it was
a bit of hail came through just over the weekend,
(02:44):
so we escaped it up here touch wood this time.
So hopefully we don't get that. But I'm not having
talked to many yet to see what that means to them.
But I imagine a few crops are taken, a bit
of a hammering, just a bit of a bugger.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Now, we had these catastrophic winds down here almost months ago.
Have you you experience anything like that or it's just
northwest as doing the thing over the season.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
We are here at the farm. It's a real windy
spot anywhere in the throw to the Waymacarri River, so
just where the farmers we caught quite high wind. So
it's I guess it's what you call a typical year.
Except normally a typical year maybe two three weeks next
of quite strong winds in the change of season. It's
just gone on and on. So yeah, it's been a
(03:31):
bit of an extra windy season really, and of course.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
Your farm there sure, and you've got four hundred breeding cells.
You also grow your own barley as feed for the pigs,
and the affluent coming from the farm using it as
fertilizer on the irrigated land as well, so you're feeling
you're filling quite a few of the boxes of texts there.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah. Mate, it's great to have our own land to
make use of that, because when you're as a pig farmer,
if you're not putting on your own land, you don't
get any value for it's really nice to do that.
And with the influence you just get all those out
of nutrients that you don't get with synthetic fertilizer. So yeah,
there's nothing nothing makes a crop look better than some
(04:11):
peggy influent on there, that's for sure. So really nice
to have that circle go round.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And I dare say there'll be plenty of that flowing
as well.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
There's a fear, but it's bit of a constant supply,
which is nice.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, that's for sure. Now as far as the season,
they're like, what would your rainfall tell you beer per year?
Speaker 2 (04:28):
There would you say, ah, somewhere between seven eight hundred
mills a year.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
That's not too bad for Canary your things taken into
account of what.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
A thought, Yeah, I know, we're pretty good a so
we're up close to the mountain, so we get a
bit and always spiller over often so that it's a
wee bit of a a wee bit of a boost
and it's up a little green button that we get
to plot too when it does get a bit too dry.
So we're pretty lucky than we are now.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
We'll speaking just before you as saying, think there's only
sixty five serious peak farms as such at New Zealand.
Now everybody has a couple of pigs on the side.
I remember back in the day when I left school,
we had a pig there we were fattening up. Had
to go and give us swedes every day, plus the
scraps from their house. But generally it just shows how
it's not a big farming system here in New Zealand.
(05:20):
I suppose.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
No, But the guys that are here we do. We
do work out quite a few pigs, so I guess
numbers wise, Yeah, if you look at the amount of
meat that we put out, we are quite quite large,
but saying that also, we don't have a huge year
in the market, down to about thirty of the market,
(05:43):
So yeah, I guess the industry just reflects that and
it's sort of ten to be. It's just larger, more
serious players are remaining in the industry.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
And we've talked about this before as well. The threat
that imports pose with animal welfare codes well blow our own.
But to pick farmers in New Zealand, do they have
issues getting rid of their stock?
Speaker 2 (06:05):
The last couple of years it's been pretty good. The
genuinely tends to be seasonal, so normally end of January
it's going to get pretty tight and pretty tough. It's
normally there for about sort of four or five months.
It's normally when our price will drop.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
I was reading, sorry, Sean, I was reading something the
other day talking about the Resource Management Act and its
effect on the pork industry, saying that it's just like anything,
it's making anything and everything harder when you just want
to get out there and do the farming. Are you
striking any issues of the aremay.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Yeah, it's just a real pain in the backside. And
being a smaller industry and not many of us. It's
not well understood what we do, and the councils tend
to have this revolving door of people, so you're constantly
re educating them on what you do. So it's quite frustrating.
And of course for indoor producers particularly, you know, or
(07:05):
even outdoor guys, you've still got to put funds and
structures up, so you've got to deal with you know,
your environmental guys, and then you know your local council
as well, so you're dealing with two lots there, and yeah,
it's just just a complicated nightmare and just costs so
much money when you want to do something there.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
So you've pretty much got e Ken on speed dial.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
I wish. Yeah, you need to keep close to them.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
But in general, though, how would you rank the pork
industry in New Zealand out of ten for RASA, just
for performance in general, just the vibe of the industry
as such.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
Look, we're rocking along pretty good. I guess there're probably
I would say an I can't speak for everybody, but yeah,
things are things are going along. Prices are good. Yeah,
just some of that regulary stuff was was better and
easier and less expensive. Things would be.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Really good getting young people into the industry. Is that
an issue definitely.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Yeah, yep. Because we're small. People don't know what it's about.
I never bring a person and a person never visits
the farm and then comes away and says, you know,
they're always like, wow, that was not what I thought.
That was just amazing, and they're just blown away by
the technology you're using. I mean a lot of people's
perception of pigs, like you said, one or two in
(08:27):
a backyard and a bit of a mackey pen, and
we travel to scraps over the not all the the
ventilation systems and automotive feedting systems and plastic floorings and
pumps and you know, there's just so much to it.
It's really complex. That's not what people think. So it
(08:48):
is really nice when you show people around and then
they just come away with, well, you know, there's a
lot more going on here. Well it looks at you
guys actually know what you're doing.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Certainly one of those things. But luck anyway, Sean Bell,
believe it there it sounds as I didn't. Zealand Pork
Industries and good hands and once again gratulations on going
on to the new Zealand pork board and he is
hoping your boy Raiser gets things right against Wales on
Sunday morning.
Speaker 2 (09:11):
Hey yeah, maybe he needs to bloody skip it up,
doesn't he.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And that's coming from a died in the wall, Canterbury
and we'll leave it there. Seant. Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Good on, Eddie, Thanks mate.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
Sean malloy peak peak farmer based at Sheffield up in Kennery.
You're listening to the Muster next from Close Brands Station.
Grant Disaster McMaster
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