00:00:10
Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. Josh Bennett joins us next.
00:00:13
Speaker 2: He's farming at Balfour, but he is part of Waitani Young Farmers.
00:00:17
Speaker 1: G'day, Josh. Up there in Balfour, ground conditions today?
00:00:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we're pretty good. We're flat out in the track to work, getting the spring cereal crops in. So, yeah, no, it's going pretty good at the moment, yeah.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: Because I.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Think you guys haven't been as bad as certain parts of the region, but nonetheless it has been pretty darn wet.
00:00:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we haven't been as bad as like Riverton down those ways. We've probably had about 100 less mills for the month of September. So, I mean, it's been a little bit difficult to get on the paddocks, but we're getting there now.
00:00:53
Speaker 1: Well, having's all done and dusted.
00:00:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, lambing's all done and dusted and we got the young farmers out to tail a few mobs on Friday night, Saturday morning. So we've got just under 1,800 of those tidied up as well.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: That's right, you're the regonade in the Balfour region, aren't you? You're the rebellious one.
00:01:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, big wooden spoon, like to stir it up.
00:01:19
Speaker 1: Fair enough, mate.
00:01:20
Speaker 2: It's a great way to earn money, fundraisers and that kind of thing. The group of you doing it, and we talked about this last week with Harry, it's enjoyable to do and there's a heap of you there.
00:01:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, it really is. It's good when you can get a group of people in the tailing pen. It makes it enjoyable when you've got plenty of young fellas there and then all those lambs, that means I don't have to pick them up at the end of the day either.
00:01:45
Speaker 1: Would you still call yourself a young fella?
00:01:48
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, I think so, yeah.
00:01:50
Speaker 1: Hey, it was a big weekend, Josh, up there in the basin.
00:01:53
Speaker 2: They had the bark up for Te Anau Young Farmers. Waitangi, you guys were there tailing in the morning, so it was a case of work hard, play hard.
00:02:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, the guys, Harry, Isla, Jackie, they did a great job in the rest of the Te Anau committee putting on a great bark up. Yeah, no, it was an awesome night, and then obviously Mark Gascoigne, came a little bit early and talked to a group of us, which I got a lot out, like his positive outlooks on life and whatnot. Talking about mental health was really good as well.
00:02:33
Speaker 2: But you guys and Young Farmers, is there something you openly talk about regarding mental health, or do people confide if they're going through a rough patch?
00:02:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's probably a little bit taboo still, but I think as all this mental health stuff from Farm Strong Rural Health and you see people like John Curran and whatnot open up more about it, I think it's something that gets talked about at the pub a bit more often now because it's tough on the rural community when you see some of your close mates... feeling a bit down and farming's no good anymore. So, yeah, we don't want that to happen. It's about having those conversations early and keeping an eye on your mates, really, yeah.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Interesting you say there's still a little bit of a stigma around it. Trust me, from where it was 30 years ago to where it is now, it's a total change in attitude. What's it going to take to change the attitudes totally then?
00:03:37
Speaker 3: I think... I think what's good is people, like what Mark said, is people that everyone's going through their different stuff and everyone's got stuff that's going on at home that's not always rosy. And the more that you have those conversations with those friends, then they'll open up, you'll open up more, and then people can feel like they can combine in the mates as well. to keep the conversation rolling. I think that's a great part. One of Mark's golden rules for FarmStrong was connections. Go out and have those two beers. Don't sit at home and sit on the couch on a Friday night by yourself. Go out to the bar, go out to the pub and just have a chinwag and take your mind off things.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: But it can be far too easy just to sit at home and put it in the too hard basket. When you get older, that happens occasionally. But look, with your age group too, is that a thing? People just don't want to go out because of anxiety?
00:04:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't really see it first hand a lot. But yeah, I believe it will be a thing, people, especially over lambing and calving. Like you're putting in a lot of hours and then... If the weather's not as good, you push it to the limit even more and you think, oh, if I go out, I'm going to affect tomorrow's workload. But you only have to come out for a few hours and have a Coke and raspberry at the pub and just let the hair down every now and again because 30 or 40 days straight, which some of these young guys do, is pretty tough.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I keep spreading that message, Josh, and I just urge everybody out there, If they need to get in touch, you know, go and confide in a mate.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: Ask your mates, are you okay? How are you doing?
00:05:35
Speaker 2: Southland Rural Support Trust doing a fantastic job out there. So let's get this out in the open. It's no longer a taboo subject. Now, Waitare Young Farmers, meeting dates, events coming up.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: What's happening?
00:05:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we just had our meeting last night. So we're the second Tuesday, second Monday of every month around the... the Gore area to look up for more information hit us up on our Facebook page that's where all the information is and we're going to get into a few more tiling fundraisers as the month goes on and probably hit up a few more bar cups as well so it should be good.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Because young farmers they're really good at supporting their own with these events, you're quite happy to travel?
00:06:21
Speaker 3: Yeah absolutely it's the connections and the conversations you have with with all the new faces, is bloody brilliant. So, yeah, it's good to get off the farm and go for a wee ticky tour and see how the other areas are going.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: You guys will do tail twisters at the end of the meeting, I suppose.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: Anybody you'd like to name in shame?
00:06:43
Speaker 3: I think it was actually... We do a wooden spoon at the end of each month, but it was actually me last night. I went for a bit of a slide in the tractor and might have went through a fence, so....
00:06:56
Speaker 1: Oh, geez, I don't know if it's really a tail twist. It's about making sure you're all right.
00:07:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, there was no damage done. It was just, yeah, we do a wooden spoon of the muck up of the month.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: Muck up of the month. I like that terminology. Hey, good on you, Josh.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: Thanks for your time and really great messaging today as well.
00:07:15
Speaker 3: Good as. Cheers, Andy.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. I had a mate that went to a meeting for premature ejaculation today. Unfortunately, it turns out it's tomorrow. Great words there from Josh regarding mental health and the fact that young people are recognising it as well and just talking to it amongst their peers. That's us over in Dunmouth for the afternoon. Andy Muir here. Of course, the show is brought to you by Peter's Genetics. The podcast will be up shortly. And happy birthday to the king of the rural food chain, Jamie Mackay.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: This is the muster on Hokanui. Josh Bennett joins us next.
00:00:13
Speaker 2: He's farming at Balfour, but he is part of Waitani Young Farmers.
00:00:17
Speaker 1: G'day, Josh. Up there in Balfour, ground conditions today?
00:00:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we're pretty good. We're flat out in the track to work, getting the spring cereal crops in. So, yeah, no, it's going pretty good at the moment, yeah.
00:00:31
Speaker 1: Because I.
00:00:33
Speaker 2: Think you guys haven't been as bad as certain parts of the region, but nonetheless it has been pretty darn wet.
00:00:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, we haven't been as bad as like Riverton down those ways. We've probably had about 100 less mills for the month of September. So, I mean, it's been a little bit difficult to get on the paddocks, but we're getting there now.
00:00:53
Speaker 1: Well, having's all done and dusted.
00:00:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, lambing's all done and dusted and we got the young farmers out to tail a few mobs on Friday night, Saturday morning. So we've got just under 1,800 of those tidied up as well.
00:01:09
Speaker 2: That's right, you're the regonade in the Balfour region, aren't you? You're the rebellious one.
00:01:15
Speaker 3: Yeah, big wooden spoon, like to stir it up.
00:01:19
Speaker 1: Fair enough, mate.
00:01:20
Speaker 2: It's a great way to earn money, fundraisers and that kind of thing. The group of you doing it, and we talked about this last week with Harry, it's enjoyable to do and there's a heap of you there.
00:01:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, it really is. It's good when you can get a group of people in the tailing pen. It makes it enjoyable when you've got plenty of young fellas there and then all those lambs, that means I don't have to pick them up at the end of the day either.
00:01:45
Speaker 1: Would you still call yourself a young fella?
00:01:48
Speaker 3: Oh, yeah, I think so, yeah.
00:01:50
Speaker 1: Hey, it was a big weekend, Josh, up there in the basin.
00:01:53
Speaker 2: They had the bark up for Te Anau Young Farmers. Waitangi, you guys were there tailing in the morning, so it was a case of work hard, play hard.
00:02:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, the guys, Harry, Isla, Jackie, they did a great job in the rest of the Te Anau committee putting on a great bark up. Yeah, no, it was an awesome night, and then obviously Mark Gascoigne, came a little bit early and talked to a group of us, which I got a lot out, like his positive outlooks on life and whatnot. Talking about mental health was really good as well.
00:02:33
Speaker 2: But you guys and Young Farmers, is there something you openly talk about regarding mental health, or do people confide if they're going through a rough patch?
00:02:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's probably a little bit taboo still, but I think as all this mental health stuff from Farm Strong Rural Health and you see people like John Curran and whatnot open up more about it, I think it's something that gets talked about at the pub a bit more often now because it's tough on the rural community when you see some of your close mates... feeling a bit down and farming's no good anymore. So, yeah, we don't want that to happen. It's about having those conversations early and keeping an eye on your mates, really, yeah.
00:03:23
Speaker 2: Interesting you say there's still a little bit of a stigma around it. Trust me, from where it was 30 years ago to where it is now, it's a total change in attitude. What's it going to take to change the attitudes totally then?
00:03:37
Speaker 3: I think... I think what's good is people, like what Mark said, is people that everyone's going through their different stuff and everyone's got stuff that's going on at home that's not always rosy. And the more that you have those conversations with those friends, then they'll open up, you'll open up more, and then people can feel like they can combine in the mates as well. to keep the conversation rolling. I think that's a great part. One of Mark's golden rules for FarmStrong was connections. Go out and have those two beers. Don't sit at home and sit on the couch on a Friday night by yourself. Go out to the bar, go out to the pub and just have a chinwag and take your mind off things.
00:04:29
Speaker 2: But it can be far too easy just to sit at home and put it in the too hard basket. When you get older, that happens occasionally. But look, with your age group too, is that a thing? People just don't want to go out because of anxiety?
00:04:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah. I mean, I don't really see it first hand a lot. But yeah, I believe it will be a thing, people, especially over lambing and calving. Like you're putting in a lot of hours and then... If the weather's not as good, you push it to the limit even more and you think, oh, if I go out, I'm going to affect tomorrow's workload. But you only have to come out for a few hours and have a Coke and raspberry at the pub and just let the hair down every now and again because 30 or 40 days straight, which some of these young guys do, is pretty tough.
00:05:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I keep spreading that message, Josh, and I just urge everybody out there, If they need to get in touch, you know, go and confide in a mate.
00:05:32
Speaker 1: Ask your mates, are you okay? How are you doing?
00:05:35
Speaker 2: Southland Rural Support Trust doing a fantastic job out there. So let's get this out in the open. It's no longer a taboo subject. Now, Waitare Young Farmers, meeting dates, events coming up.
00:05:45
Speaker 1: What's happening?
00:05:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we just had our meeting last night. So we're the second Tuesday, second Monday of every month around the... the Gore area to look up for more information hit us up on our Facebook page that's where all the information is and we're going to get into a few more tiling fundraisers as the month goes on and probably hit up a few more bar cups as well so it should be good.
00:06:15
Speaker 2: Because young farmers they're really good at supporting their own with these events, you're quite happy to travel?
00:06:21
Speaker 3: Yeah absolutely it's the connections and the conversations you have with with all the new faces, is bloody brilliant. So, yeah, it's good to get off the farm and go for a wee ticky tour and see how the other areas are going.
00:06:36
Speaker 1: You guys will do tail twisters at the end of the meeting, I suppose.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: Anybody you'd like to name in shame?
00:06:43
Speaker 3: I think it was actually... We do a wooden spoon at the end of each month, but it was actually me last night. I went for a bit of a slide in the tractor and might have went through a fence, so....
00:06:56
Speaker 1: Oh, geez, I don't know if it's really a tail twist. It's about making sure you're all right.
00:07:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, there was no damage done. It was just, yeah, we do a wooden spoon of the muck up of the month.
00:07:08
Speaker 1: Muck up of the month. I like that terminology. Hey, good on you, Josh.
00:07:11
Speaker 2: Thanks for your time and really great messaging today as well.
00:07:15
Speaker 3: Good as. Cheers, Andy.
00:07:20
Speaker 2: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the land can be a laughing matter. Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. I had a mate that went to a meeting for premature ejaculation today. Unfortunately, it turns out it's tomorrow. Great words there from Josh regarding mental health and the fact that young people are recognising it as well and just talking to it amongst their peers. That's us over in Dunmouth for the afternoon. Andy Muir here. Of course, the show is brought to you by Peter's Genetics. The podcast will be up shortly. And happy birthday to the king of the rural food chain, Jamie Mackay.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow.
