00:00:08
Speaker 1: Thanks to the Southland Rural Support Trust, we're catching up with different farmers from different operations around the South as we look back at the previous couple of months and just sharing a few tips around mindset today. Ironically enough, it's all about the wind events that occurred 12 months ago. Where has that time gone, I tell you? Anyway, Ben Dooley's catching up with us, a muster regular here. Sheep, beef and YouTube farmer at Mimihau, just out of Wyndham. G'day, Dules.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: G'day, Andy. How's it going?
00:00:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty good. Look, straight off the bat, 12 months ago, what do you remember from the Wynd event?
00:00:43
Speaker 2: Ironically, I've just ducked away from the tailing pen today. Well, we're making a start on that job. We were tailing our pet lambs last year, the hand-reared ones, whatever you want to call them, in the hay shed. And we weren't having good progress, and we looked around and saw the clouds coming, and I just said, get home now. So everyone dropped tools, I turned the gas bottle off, and we left. On the way down, like, it hit like a wall. There was timber everywhere. We got the kids the hell out of the road, and as I drove down, Sarah looked back, and there's a big oak tree in our driveway, and I sort of had to go under it, because if I went the other side, this big max, that would come at me. And about two seconds after I drove under, a great big branch come down. And yeah, we got to the house, shut the garage doors. And then I just went around. There was a few bits of machinery I was a bit worried about. Made sure everything was okay, all out in the open. And yeah, got the hell home and hunkered down until it was over. Yeah, she was a bit of a, certainly the first time I'd ever experienced anything like that.
00:01:42
Speaker 1: Well, it was short and sharp, 45 minutes or so. But the damage was done around the province or the region.
00:01:47
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that the worst of it was probably only five or ten minutes here. The absolute worst of it, and then it carried on. It did ease off a bit after, as you say, about 45 minutes, but the timber that come down on this place was just phenomenal, and we got lucky compared to a lot of people. We had very minimal fence damage, no power lines or anything around the farm hurt, but just the macrocarpers around the place, just the small branches or the medium-sized branches that come out of them, and some of them flew 100 feet before they landed on the ground sort of thing. So, yeah, she was big. Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: I mean, farming's got its challenges without relying on Mother Nature, and we've had three springs in a row now where it's been wet. It hasn't been a lot of fun. How have you found it yourself? Have you found it challenging?
00:02:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, if somebody would give me her address, I'd go and take one for the team, I think, actually, and end that problem, jokingly. But yeah, no, it has been a challenge. We sort of look back and we go, man, are we just getting soft? Is this the way it's always been? But you talk to previous generations and they say, you know, they might have had 80 year close to being this bad, but certainly not three in a row. So it does get you down. And as a sheep farmer right now, the first one was tough because prices were poor. The last two have been tough knowing, you know, this was our time to shine, so to speak. And it just takes the cream off the crop and we'll still be all right. We're still financially going to get through okay, but sheep farmers, we just get sick of battling. We're just forever battling along and we never seem to be getting very far ahead in the last sort of 10 years. So yeah, it's certainly mentally it can be a bit draining at times.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: You raise the issue around price this year though. That is something to be celebrated. I mean, yes, there's been losses but what you've got, you've got and ultimately it's still going to be worth good coin.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. It is worth noting and just thinking maybe it's not worth thinking about but There's no point ignoring how much lost potential was there, but that is a completely separate thing to the pricing. And the fact that we have these amazing record high prices is absolutely awesome. Absolutely stoked with everything that's happened to get to that point. You know, a lot of it's circumstantial, but there's been a lot of work going to that too. So free trade deals and marketing and everything is coming together as well. So definitely got to celebrate those wins.
00:04:00
Speaker 1: A lot of people say the message about getting off farm when you can. I'm one of those people too. But you're saying it yourself from the cold face. Actually being there and getting off farm isn't easy.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Like, you know, I'm a big advocate. Buy the damn boat. Go and use the bloody thing. Some people would say we do far too much of it. I'd say we don't do enough. But, yeah, just at times like this, you know, we are actually on tomorrow heading up to Ranfurly to a mate's 40th, provided everything goes well today. and that will be the first labour weekend in a long time, since I was a kid probably, that I've actually been off farm. Because it is a time of year where it's bloody hard to get away. You've got to make the most of those opportunities sometimes, depending on your system, but certainly here. If the weather's good and there's groundwork not done, well, that's happening. Or if tailing's not done, like now, that's happening. That's taken absolute priority. And then when you've got the grunt work done, you can get away, but you know, I look at the forecast for next week and I go, man, if there's something that needs done today, we're doing it because next week's not looking very pleasant. And it just does make it a bit challenging sometimes to get away. And sometimes you hear that messaging of, oh, you've just got to get off farm. It's like, sometimes people saying that who do a lot of it, and by all means, I take my hat off to them, but they're not living the same reality that those of us are, that, you know, we don't have staff, we don't have someone to leave the farm with when we go away for a week or something like that. It's... We're here. We're largely on our own here. We've got friends that would do it for us, absolutely, but we can't just drop tools and go because we're feeling a bit off. We've got to get the stuff done, and then when the work is done, we make the most of it.
00:05:37
Speaker 1: Do you think it's a case of having to change that reality, perhaps, or it is what it is?
00:05:42
Speaker 2: In our reality or in their reality?
00:05:45
Speaker 1: Either or.
00:05:46
Speaker 2: It's certainly something we're conscious of, and it's certainly something we're trying to reduce our spring workload. But everything you look at, it's like, well, if we take that out of the picture, this is what we lose. And we're just making that decision that we're happy to carry, not quite to carry on this way, but we're happy to put that effort in the spring and make the most of it in the rest of the year. That's just the decision we've made and we're happy with it. You know, winter's another one. You can find people to come look after your farm in winter if they're available. and that's sometimes not a bad thing to do, and we're doing that. But winter, it can be hard enough to get away from your farm over winter if you're a bit particular about how things are done. We've got a young guy who did some work for us this year, and he was bang on the money, so that was great. But, yeah, it's a whole lot easier when you don't have those obligations, you know, looking after young stock and everything else. Once weaning's happened, once everything else has happened, you get into summer and autumn, and let's be honest, autumn's a nice time to get away too. So, yeah.
00:06:42
Speaker 1: Dills, you've got a big following on social media. How much does communication to mates and the likes play a part in your life?
00:06:50
Speaker 2: You've got Snapchat and stuff like that hugely. I spend far too much time on Snapchat probably. There's probably six or seven guys that I'm messaging most days. Yeah, it's a great way to just keep talking to people and just keep in touch and just realise the challenges everyone else has and that you're not alone and that's a part of it. Most of it's just talking crap and having fun. But, no, it certainly does play a big part in it.
00:07:13
Speaker 1: Like you say, you're hoping to get a little bit of a break over the weekend?
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, head up. We'll see what time we get away on Saturday or tomorrow. It'll be probably about lunchtime. Party starts at 3pm at the Wedderburn pub, so that should be good. And we'll just see how fast we come back on Sunday. It could be one of those ones where we might not be too good Sunday morning, so it might take a while, but... Yeah, we will get back when we're back and 24 hours or so off farm and not thinking about it and that should be bloody good.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: Good on you, Ben. Enjoy the weekend.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy.
00:07:48
Speaker 1: Ben Dooley, talking about mindset and he's dead right too. Being told to get off farm and go and do something isn't that easy sometimes. So it's about looking at that balance, about looking at ways that you can just sit there and think, yeah, I'll actually... I'm going to go and do this instead of do something. Do something that makes you happy. That's what it boils down to. Of course, the Southland Rural Support Trust, 0800 787 254 for a free confidential chat. Michelle, what's up next in the Country Crossover?
Speaker 1: Thanks to the Southland Rural Support Trust, we're catching up with different farmers from different operations around the South as we look back at the previous couple of months and just sharing a few tips around mindset today. Ironically enough, it's all about the wind events that occurred 12 months ago. Where has that time gone, I tell you? Anyway, Ben Dooley's catching up with us, a muster regular here. Sheep, beef and YouTube farmer at Mimihau, just out of Wyndham. G'day, Dules.
00:00:35
Speaker 2: G'day, Andy. How's it going?
00:00:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, pretty good. Look, straight off the bat, 12 months ago, what do you remember from the Wynd event?
00:00:43
Speaker 2: Ironically, I've just ducked away from the tailing pen today. Well, we're making a start on that job. We were tailing our pet lambs last year, the hand-reared ones, whatever you want to call them, in the hay shed. And we weren't having good progress, and we looked around and saw the clouds coming, and I just said, get home now. So everyone dropped tools, I turned the gas bottle off, and we left. On the way down, like, it hit like a wall. There was timber everywhere. We got the kids the hell out of the road, and as I drove down, Sarah looked back, and there's a big oak tree in our driveway, and I sort of had to go under it, because if I went the other side, this big max, that would come at me. And about two seconds after I drove under, a great big branch come down. And yeah, we got to the house, shut the garage doors. And then I just went around. There was a few bits of machinery I was a bit worried about. Made sure everything was okay, all out in the open. And yeah, got the hell home and hunkered down until it was over. Yeah, she was a bit of a, certainly the first time I'd ever experienced anything like that.
00:01:42
Speaker 1: Well, it was short and sharp, 45 minutes or so. But the damage was done around the province or the region.
00:01:47
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I'd say that the worst of it was probably only five or ten minutes here. The absolute worst of it, and then it carried on. It did ease off a bit after, as you say, about 45 minutes, but the timber that come down on this place was just phenomenal, and we got lucky compared to a lot of people. We had very minimal fence damage, no power lines or anything around the farm hurt, but just the macrocarpers around the place, just the small branches or the medium-sized branches that come out of them, and some of them flew 100 feet before they landed on the ground sort of thing. So, yeah, she was big. Yeah. Yeah.
00:02:18
Speaker 1: I mean, farming's got its challenges without relying on Mother Nature, and we've had three springs in a row now where it's been wet. It hasn't been a lot of fun. How have you found it yourself? Have you found it challenging?
00:02:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, look, if somebody would give me her address, I'd go and take one for the team, I think, actually, and end that problem, jokingly. But yeah, no, it has been a challenge. We sort of look back and we go, man, are we just getting soft? Is this the way it's always been? But you talk to previous generations and they say, you know, they might have had 80 year close to being this bad, but certainly not three in a row. So it does get you down. And as a sheep farmer right now, the first one was tough because prices were poor. The last two have been tough knowing, you know, this was our time to shine, so to speak. And it just takes the cream off the crop and we'll still be all right. We're still financially going to get through okay, but sheep farmers, we just get sick of battling. We're just forever battling along and we never seem to be getting very far ahead in the last sort of 10 years. So yeah, it's certainly mentally it can be a bit draining at times.
00:03:21
Speaker 1: You raise the issue around price this year though. That is something to be celebrated. I mean, yes, there's been losses but what you've got, you've got and ultimately it's still going to be worth good coin.
00:03:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. It is worth noting and just thinking maybe it's not worth thinking about but There's no point ignoring how much lost potential was there, but that is a completely separate thing to the pricing. And the fact that we have these amazing record high prices is absolutely awesome. Absolutely stoked with everything that's happened to get to that point. You know, a lot of it's circumstantial, but there's been a lot of work going to that too. So free trade deals and marketing and everything is coming together as well. So definitely got to celebrate those wins.
00:04:00
Speaker 1: A lot of people say the message about getting off farm when you can. I'm one of those people too. But you're saying it yourself from the cold face. Actually being there and getting off farm isn't easy.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Like, you know, I'm a big advocate. Buy the damn boat. Go and use the bloody thing. Some people would say we do far too much of it. I'd say we don't do enough. But, yeah, just at times like this, you know, we are actually on tomorrow heading up to Ranfurly to a mate's 40th, provided everything goes well today. and that will be the first labour weekend in a long time, since I was a kid probably, that I've actually been off farm. Because it is a time of year where it's bloody hard to get away. You've got to make the most of those opportunities sometimes, depending on your system, but certainly here. If the weather's good and there's groundwork not done, well, that's happening. Or if tailing's not done, like now, that's happening. That's taken absolute priority. And then when you've got the grunt work done, you can get away, but you know, I look at the forecast for next week and I go, man, if there's something that needs done today, we're doing it because next week's not looking very pleasant. And it just does make it a bit challenging sometimes to get away. And sometimes you hear that messaging of, oh, you've just got to get off farm. It's like, sometimes people saying that who do a lot of it, and by all means, I take my hat off to them, but they're not living the same reality that those of us are, that, you know, we don't have staff, we don't have someone to leave the farm with when we go away for a week or something like that. It's... We're here. We're largely on our own here. We've got friends that would do it for us, absolutely, but we can't just drop tools and go because we're feeling a bit off. We've got to get the stuff done, and then when the work is done, we make the most of it.
00:05:37
Speaker 1: Do you think it's a case of having to change that reality, perhaps, or it is what it is?
00:05:42
Speaker 2: In our reality or in their reality?
00:05:45
Speaker 1: Either or.
00:05:46
Speaker 2: It's certainly something we're conscious of, and it's certainly something we're trying to reduce our spring workload. But everything you look at, it's like, well, if we take that out of the picture, this is what we lose. And we're just making that decision that we're happy to carry, not quite to carry on this way, but we're happy to put that effort in the spring and make the most of it in the rest of the year. That's just the decision we've made and we're happy with it. You know, winter's another one. You can find people to come look after your farm in winter if they're available. and that's sometimes not a bad thing to do, and we're doing that. But winter, it can be hard enough to get away from your farm over winter if you're a bit particular about how things are done. We've got a young guy who did some work for us this year, and he was bang on the money, so that was great. But, yeah, it's a whole lot easier when you don't have those obligations, you know, looking after young stock and everything else. Once weaning's happened, once everything else has happened, you get into summer and autumn, and let's be honest, autumn's a nice time to get away too. So, yeah.
00:06:42
Speaker 1: Dills, you've got a big following on social media. How much does communication to mates and the likes play a part in your life?
00:06:50
Speaker 2: You've got Snapchat and stuff like that hugely. I spend far too much time on Snapchat probably. There's probably six or seven guys that I'm messaging most days. Yeah, it's a great way to just keep talking to people and just keep in touch and just realise the challenges everyone else has and that you're not alone and that's a part of it. Most of it's just talking crap and having fun. But, no, it certainly does play a big part in it.
00:07:13
Speaker 1: Like you say, you're hoping to get a little bit of a break over the weekend?
00:07:17
Speaker 2: Yep, yep, head up. We'll see what time we get away on Saturday or tomorrow. It'll be probably about lunchtime. Party starts at 3pm at the Wedderburn pub, so that should be good. And we'll just see how fast we come back on Sunday. It could be one of those ones where we might not be too good Sunday morning, so it might take a while, but... Yeah, we will get back when we're back and 24 hours or so off farm and not thinking about it and that should be bloody good.
00:07:43
Speaker 1: Good on you, Ben. Enjoy the weekend.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Cheers, Andy.
00:07:48
Speaker 1: Ben Dooley, talking about mindset and he's dead right too. Being told to get off farm and go and do something isn't that easy sometimes. So it's about looking at that balance, about looking at ways that you can just sit there and think, yeah, I'll actually... I'm going to go and do this instead of do something. Do something that makes you happy. That's what it boils down to. Of course, the Southland Rural Support Trust, 0800 787 254 for a free confidential chat. Michelle, what's up next in the Country Crossover?
