00:00:02
Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui. Andy Muir here. The show is brought to you by Petersonetics. Welcome along. With the calm after the carnage, looking outside over Main Street, currently we're on 10 degrees. There's blue sky and it's certainly a different take from what we had yesterday as it's just so darn wet across the southern province. You're hearing of snow in a lot of places in northern Southland. Ida Valley, for example, had six inches of snow yesterday. So September is proving to be a basket case once again. On that, going to be interesting to hear a couple of chats talking lambing days. We'll get on to that shortly, but before we go any further, Toto, name of the dog in a famous movie, but also a band that's pretty darn sharp as well. This afternoon, showers later on, of course there is. A breezy north westerlies and 11. Friday, light rain with westerlies 8 and 11. Saturday, showers, a breezy north westerlies 4 and 15. Sunday, light morning rain with breezy south westerlies 4 and 9. And on Monday, rain developing later on with breezy north westerlies 2 and 16. Your soil temperatures, Clinton 6.3, Ditto, Heriot. Northern South in 7.1, Riverton 9.8, Te Anau 7.4, Titaroa 8.2, Winton 7.5. And Woodlands at 8.3, starting off this afternoon by heading down to Morton Mains. Catching up with Matt Ward, flat out on the lambing beat. Then after Matt, we're going down to Tokanui. Henry Buckingham in the beef and lamb slot. Henry's gone against the grain this year. He thought, bugger it, after the last couple of years, I'm changing my lambing date. So he tells us why he is putting his lambing back until October, which is something that a lot of people possibly could be considering.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: This could become a thing in Southland.
00:02:03
Speaker 1: Robin Greer of Tutorel, we have a catch up as well to see how things are going down there. Peter Gardine, based in Napdale as well, into lambing. He's got the studs under control, he's doing the tagging there, Pete says, but catches up for a yard to see how things are going. And resident sporting guru Nathan Byrd and the Stags are going.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: For two in a row.
00:02:23
Speaker 1: They're way up to New Plymouth to play the Naki after doing a demo job of Bay of Plenty last Sunday. Dave Morrison of PDG writes and gives a rundown on prices. Then we crack into the hour with Matt Ward.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: This is the must have brought to you by Peter's Genetics, six after one. Meet you all.
00:02:44
Speaker 3: The way.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: We're away to Morton Mains this afternoon on the muster to catch up with Matt Ward, sheep and cattle farmer.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: In the middle of lambing, Matt, good afternoon. How are you coping in the wet?
00:02:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, g'day Andy. Yeah, we're chipping away. It's certainly not easy, but we're getting there. Good day, good sunny day. Well, it's sunny, it's not very warm, but it changes perspective on things pretty quickly, doesn't it?
00:03:11
Speaker 2: Tuesday, 19 degrees. Yesterday is what it was.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: If that makes any sense, then today it's just cool with a bit of blue sky.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: I mean, September is anything but settled.
00:03:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%. It's changeable, isn't it? And I think after the last couple of years, we've grew to expect it to be one extreme to the other. Like I was out planting trees on Tuesday afternoon, like it was a beautiful afternoon. Good wind drying everything out and then I think we tipped out 25 mil of rain from yesterday. It's just reverted straight back to mud and there's an enormous amount of water lying around in some paddocks. Yeah, it's not too flashy out there at the moment.
00:03:47
Speaker 2: Is it as wet as you've seen it there?
00:03:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I keep thinking like, I feel like I've got a pretty short memory because I know last year and the year before that was pretty average. Like, pretty, pretty average. And then this year, like, I feel like we're probably just as bad. I felt like we got bad earlier this year. We copped all that August, like, that rain at the end of August there. Was it the Monday or whatever it was, just before I started lambing.
00:04:14
Speaker 2: 31st of August, yeah, arguably the coldest day of winter.
00:04:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I reckon that's just put us on the back foot from the start, to be fair. And we had quite a bit of easterly stuff blowing, and it's got all that shelter all wet, and From there, you start on the back foot like she's a long way out of the hole and it's just got worse and worse and worse. Whereas last year I felt like we started off pretty well and it just continuously got wet. But that is what it is. Can't do too much about it. It's one thing we can't control is the weather. So yeah, just got to soldier on.
00:04:47
Speaker 2: So how far through are you?
00:04:49
Speaker 3: I reckon the years would be probably three quarters of the way through. And then hoggets start on Wednesday. So I'm sort of just in that low point at the moment of, yeah, probably 300 or 400 ewes lemon at the moment. And then once the hoggets get underway, it gets busier again. But I was saying to you last time or the time before, I used ram harnesses for the first time. So in 10-day intervals. So the first 10 days I had 73, 74% of my ewes lemon, which has just been a game changer. Having them, like they're all finished and now they're all mobbed up, starting on a rotation. And it's just, I've gone from being like 22, 23 paddocks to go around down to six, just like that. It's just, yeah, giving myself.
00:05:31
Speaker 4: A lot more time.
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Speaker 3: And I'm a big fan of getting ewes mobbed up as soon as, get them rotating around and try and get a bit of grass growing in front of them and try to get them, like that peak milk's around that three weeks post-lamin, so if everything's mobbed up by then and rotating around and, well, hopefully getting some grass growing in front of them sets them up pretty well.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: I remember you talking about going to a ram harness, and it's interesting, a lot of people have gone the opposite way.
00:05:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I sort of thought, I've never used one before, and I sort of thought it's easy to, it's quite easy not to use it. And I was like, oh God, just try it for this year, and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't work, you know. So it's definitely a lot more work during mating, bringing mobs in and drafting rams out and changing crayons and a bit of mucking around. But far out, it saved me a lot of time at this end of the year. I'm just here by myself chipping about. So if I can save a few hours a day going around sheep that don't need looked at, yeah, it's all for the better. And to be fair, I've still had, like, I've had these ewes that are lambing 20 days after the ram went out. Like, they've still been on crop up until the start of this week. So it's just been, not that there's been a big majority of them, but it's just saved a bit more feed and stretched my swedes out a bit further. And, yeah, that's definitely been a bit of a game changer for me.
00:06:47
Speaker 1: So how intensive on the lambing beat are you, bearing in mind you're doing everything by yourself, so there's only so many hours in the day to contemplate?
00:06:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I try not to be too intensive, like I certainly know I could be doing more, but time is the thing, like try and get around in the morning, I've still got about nearly 180 catawombs that are behind the wire at the moment, so I'm still shifting them on grass each day, and we're doing a few lambs on a feeder at the moment, so there's a bit of time in that. Yeah, but one thing that's definitely got better is I've sort of culled out all my ewes that get mothered on. Like the first couple of years I might have mothered on 30 or 40 ewes, whereas this year I might have had seven or eight through the pen than a good young ewes that deserve a chance to have a lamb. Whereas, yeah, back at the start, like far out, you're mothering on sheep all the time and that's where the time is. So now that they're all gone out of the system, trying to just make them, well, I sort of believe they've got to do it themselves, don't they? You can't pamper them too much. And when a ewe's worth what it is at the moment, sending a wet-dry ewe to the works is worth a fair bit of coin. So get them out of it, off the gate and, yeah, no more problems for next year, hopefully.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: But if it's a wet-dry because of the weather, what philosophy then?
00:08:07
Speaker 3: Ah that's a good question I think it's yeah it's sort of hard like it's I definitely think if we have a real bad storm come through and there's a majority of lambs in the paddock that have been born overnight are down and down and out then I think they have a case to to uh to survive another year that you but like even like yeah even this morning like a few lambs that were down and cold like the there's a majority of the paddock that were born last night up and feeding well, and you've sort of got to ask the question, like, why hasn't that ewe got up and got her lambs going again? So I sort of do it case by case, but I'm a sort of believer that I've sort of got to get up and do it unless it's real average.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: It's interesting the way that thinking has gone the way it has regarding husbandry. I mean, case in point for dry hog, it's a lot of people culling them. Now, yes, the money's good, but they're still young animals. And regarding what you're talking about right there, Matt, if an animal, if a sheep isn't prepared to get up and look after a young, even if it is a hideous night, then that's kind of on her.
00:09:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. And some people would say it's pretty harsh, and especially like you put a lot of time into getting a hog into lamb or a, ewe into lamb just to go color but you got to remember like there's 95 percent of the rest of the flock have got up and got that lamb going and given it a feed and or lamb that lamb in shelter and then old uh the old ewe that's gone and lambed in the middle of the storm in the middle of the paddock you got to ask yourself you know like i'm trying to trying to breed survivability into my flock and to be fair after the last two years like it hasn't been real hard to do. Kenny Lamb that survived the last couple of years, and this year as well, has got pretty hearty. And it's sort of what I want to be breeding for. Like, I'm not into pampering my stock through too much. And like I was saying earlier, like, it's here by myself, so you've got to prioritise your time. If you're there trying to keep everything alive and keep every ewe to rear a lamb, like, I'd be pulling my hair out. And then it's sort of like you go and get a lambing shepherd at $ 400 or $ 500 a day. Like, it's a lot of... There's a lot of money to... I know we're getting good money for our lambs, but it's a lot of money to be paying someone to just be helping as well.
00:10:25
Speaker 1: So you've boxed up your ewes already, got them going around on the feed. What are your covers like, given the situation?
00:10:31
Speaker 3: Average. Average. Very average, to be fair. And I know that's definitely the tricky part of getting them onto a rotation is trying to... I could have put a bit of N in the system back in mid-August, so you can definitely tell those paddocks that have got the N in them compared to the paddocks that haven't. So they've got a bit of good cover in them where the mobs sort of start. And there's definitely a lot of shuffling around to begin with. Got a few paddocks of Italian and a few hybrid paddocks in that have kept pumping a bit of feed. So they're sort of targeted first and then sort of just, yeah, it's a bit of a shambles for the first few weeks. But once the feed comes, then they're on a good rotation. Once they're in that rotation, they're away then, aren't they? It makes life a bit easier later on.
00:11:16
Speaker 1: Therefore, it's organised chaos, but it's like the plan coming together eventually.
00:11:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, 100% it is. Yeah, it is. And I'd rather have them tight in a mob and know I'm going feed in front of them than having them spread out and being tight and having nowhere to go. Like, it's sort of... Yeah, it gets a wee bit tricky, but it's sort of... Once the sun comes out and you've got everything mobbed up and moving around, like, even though it's all temps up and we're still... Feed's still freshening up in front of us, so... get these hoggets spread out and then they'll create a bit of space as well and yeah, slowly it all gets a bit easier.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: Righto mate, we'll leave it there, thanks for your time good luck out there and one good thing about today is you can wear your sunnies.
00:12:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, cheers for that Andy they're not on just yet but we'll get there eventually.
00:12:07
Speaker 2: Matt Ward, based at Morton Mains.
00:12:09
Speaker 1: Interesting philosophy as well regarding stock and wet dries. Everybody's got their theories, but fascinating, the mindset these days, like I've talked about before, how it's all changed. Nonetheless, that's the evolution of farming, if you will. Henry Buckingham's up next in the beef and lamb slot. Now, Henry has gone against the grain this year, and he's changed his lambing date.
00:12:29
Speaker 2: I'm fascinated to know his rationale behind this. He's up next. The Muster Events Diary, brought to you by Beef and Lamb New Zealand. Click beeflamnz.com.
00:12:48
Speaker 1: Henry Buckingham farms at Tokanui, and he's gone against the grain. He's lambing in October this year. He's joining us this afternoon to tell us why his mindset has changed around an October lambing all of a sudden.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: Henry, good afternoon. Good to chat once again.
00:13:03
Speaker 5: Good afternoon, Andy.
00:13:05
Speaker 2: First and foremost, off the top of my head, why October?
00:13:10
Speaker 5: Well, two main reasons for slamming in October have been to increase feed covers and increase survivability. Yeah, they were the two main goals.
00:13:22
Speaker 1: Just because of the weather conditions, like you said yesterday, you kind of felt vindicated for the change, I suppose, well, for the short term anyway?
00:13:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I guess the last few years we've got... smashed in September and it sort of just rains all of September so I got sick of doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Yeah.
00:13:44
Speaker 1: Did it take much convincing to get it over the line regarding your farming operation to think yep I'm putting everything back a month?
00:13:52
Speaker 5: Yeah I guess there's a few changes in the system that I've had to do to make it work but I'm just seeing positives with those changes at the moment. Yeah I always wondered why the high country farmers land quite late. And the way I see it is they just get smashed by the weather. So I thought, why can't we do the same? We're quite an exposed property down here on the top of Fort Rose Hill, basically. And we don't have a lot of shelter, so we do get a lot of land losses and bad weather.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: As far as your farming operation, what's changed, especially regarding winter grazing, given you've gone out four weeks?
00:14:42
Speaker 5: In terms of winter grazing, not much. We still have this switch we wintered on, actually, at the same time, because we were a wee bit short of feed going into winter. But, yeah, in terms of everything else, we're just on breaks a wee bit longer now, and given the grass a bit more time to grow after winter before set stocking. So yeah, it's been good so far. We're sitting on a good level of feed at the moment, which is nice considering how wet it's been.
00:15:19
Speaker 2: Are the ewes still on breaks at the moment?
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Speaker 5: Yeah, the main ewes are the ones that are lambing in October. We've still got an early mob that is starting in a couple of days' time. So they've just been set stocked at the start of this week. But yeah, our ewes are still on breaks, and it's a bit testing with the, but yeah, we're just sort of keeping them moving and with a lot of feed, that helps too.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: It must feel a bit bizarre not having to do much as far as shepherding in September, I suppose, though.
00:15:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does.
00:16:00
Speaker 5: So I've gone from doing two or three years now of starting late August with some earlys right through to hoggets and to the start of November. So it does feel very weird not getting into lambing till now, but also hoping it'll be over with a bit quicker. Yeah, which would be nice.
00:16:24
Speaker 1: What's going to change in your farming operation heading into summer then, given that you're lambing when you are?
00:16:30
Speaker 5: Um, I guess our mean kill date's been pushed back a little bit. Um, and it already sort of has the last year or two anyway with, um, sort of market volatility not being as bad. Um, we've sort of hung on a bit. So this might exaggerate that a little bit more, pushing things back. But, um, we're also getting really nice autumns which are allowing us to push lambs into there and, um, So yeah, it's sort of flowing onto the whole system. Everything's been pushed back slightly, but we're, yeah, filling heavier lambs for it.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: So when do you hope to wean?
00:17:10
Speaker 5: We'll wean just after New Year, I think. We'll probably wean some early stuff pre-Christmas still, just to get on to some of the summer finishing crops. But yeah, we'll do the main lot after New Year, and we probably won't look at getting a lot away at weaning. with sort of chasing the heavier weights. I've been leaving, yeah, not taking as many off at leanings, and it hasn't really affected us. If we think that there's going to be a massive crash in the market, then it might change, but, yeah, at this stage, that's the thinking.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: What about sharing dates, Henry? Does that come into the equation at all?
00:17:54
Speaker 5: Yes and no. Some of our old girls... Yeah, they'll probably be shown still similar time, but we are sort of moving towards a Wiltshire cross, so there's a bit to think about there with sharing dates. They're probably not, so you probably don't need to rush in and share them so much. The younger years are sort of shooting a bit, so yeah.
00:18:18
Speaker 1: People you've talked to with the later lambing date, what's their initial reaction been? Because I was speaking to a guy yesterday and he's seeking the same thing.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: He's had a gut full of September.
00:18:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, everyone seems a bit shocked when I say how late I pushed it.
00:18:36
Speaker 2: What actually is your lambing date?
00:18:38
Speaker 3: The 5th of.
00:18:39
Speaker 5: October for the May news and the Hoggets all at once. So it's going to be a bit of a workload then, but Yeah.
00:18:50
Speaker 1: Well, you'll arguably be a case study for a lot of people too. They'll be monitoring what you're doing very carefully.
00:18:55
Speaker 2: They might not.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: Say it, but trust me, they will because there may be mythic behind your logic here.
00:19:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, yeah, like I say, I don't really know myself yet how it's going to play out, but I've got a bit of a plan and hopefully we can stick to it as close as possible.
00:19:13
Speaker 1: Like if the weather was actually a bit drier, were you contemplating doing tractor work in September, then looking at October, just leaving it free for the lambing as such?
00:19:21
Speaker 2: Do things change in that department?
00:19:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, 100%. Yep. I always thought in the back of my mind there'll be an opportunity to get on the tractor in September if we do have a good one. But yeah, it hasn't looked even close yet. So yeah, that'll... That'll still be pushed into the end of October as well, so, yep, we'll be busy, busy, I'd say.
00:19:46
Speaker 1: It's going to be really interesting, Henry, going forward, how it works for you, putting your lambing date back to early October. Look, thanks for your time this afternoon. And, yeah, go out there. What are you doing this afternoon, for example? What's on the agenda?
00:19:59
Speaker 5: Well, I've actually got a bit of hemlock to pull out, Andy. I found a bit there the other day, and a couple of ewes got poisoned.
00:20:09
Speaker 3: Oh, hell.
00:20:10
Speaker 5: I'm off to sort that problem. And then I'm heading in to pick up a Scottish girl that's going to come and help us with lambing. So bring in the reinforcements, I guess, for the higher workload.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Hey, good on you, Henry. All the best for lambing in October. Thanks for your time again.
00:20:30
Speaker 3: Righty.
00:20:30
Speaker 5: Thank you.
00:20:33
Speaker 2: Henry Buckingham, lambing in early October. Graham Butcher, there you go. It's happening. Up next, we're going to Napdale.
00:20:42
Speaker 1: Pete Gardine. Welcome back to the muster. Pete Gardine farms in Napdale. A mixed operation there.
00:20:58
Speaker 2: Enjoyed this? Pete, good afternoon. How's things?
00:21:02
Speaker 6: Oh, the sun's shining out here, so it's a better day than yesterday, Andy, but we are a wee bit damp underfoot.
00:21:09
Speaker 1: I was about to say, it wasn't shining yesterday, yet 48 hours ago it was like the mid-teens.
00:21:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it's definitely another rollercoaster spring from what I can see. A bit of snow on the ground this afternoon at home on the higher end of the farm, and yeah, pretty wet underfoot, but We're sort of getting that wet and then we're getting these nice days in between. So we're having relatively good lamb, or pretty good lamb survival actually. So it's not terrible. But not great for growing grass and not great for driving tractors.
00:21:38
Speaker 1: Must be so frustrating with those iron horses sitting in the sheds just getting bird nests.
00:21:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, the tractor boys are getting pretty itchy to be fair. And it's sort of finding them some jobs to do. And then once they're going, they'll be into it.
00:21:54
Speaker 1: So you reckon lamb survival rates have been pretty good, all things considered?
00:21:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're having pretty good survival. There was that really nasty weekend, was it the end of August or right at the start of September? That wasn't very fun. But apart from that, we've sort of been ticking away pretty good.
00:22:10
Speaker 2: Lambing as such, though, your main mob's only really cranking in.
00:22:13
Speaker 6: Yeah, the studs were going at that early stage, and now our main started on about the 10th, and, yeah, they've been ticking away not too bad. Yeah. But I do think it's a good time of year to go for a wee hoon in the middle of the day. We've got a wee block up at Pyramid that we lamb sheep up there fully unsheverted. And if you had a few tough days, you go for a drive and check the sheep up the road and you just, you know, you hoon up there and you drive around the road and see what's happening and you take the long way home. And it's just good to get out and see what other people are up to and see what other people's situations are. And it helps put your own one into perspective, I think.
00:22:53
Speaker 1: So you reckon it's a good chance to realise everybody's in the same boat in this situation?
00:22:58
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think when you get a spare moment in the middle of the day, go to your local township if you've got one and grab a pie and just take the long way home or something along those lines and that'll be my hot tip at the moment.
00:23:11
Speaker 1: Do you encourage your staff to do that at this time of year when it is full on? Just saying, look, go away for lunch, take an hour, go and do what you need to do just to get a bit of a reset.
00:23:19
Speaker 2: Is that the case?
00:23:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%.
00:23:21
Speaker 6: We've actually got a bike that needs to go to town at the moment, and that's what the staff are doing today. Give them a bit of cash, tell them to go to McDonald's or wherever the heck they want to go, and, yeah, tell them to have a wee ticky tour.
00:23:34
Speaker 2: That's a big thing in September, isn't it? It's a marathon, not a sprint.
00:23:37
Speaker 1: And there is a now, you can see the finish line, but it's all about just working it out in case.
00:23:42
Speaker 6: 100%, and especially in the weekends and that, not packing more into the middle of the day than what needs to happen. Just try and keep it as realistic as possible. But, you know, we are busy as much as everyone else is. So, yeah, we're not perfect. Don't get that illusion of me.
00:24:00
Speaker 2: How intensive is a lambing beat at your farm?
00:24:03
Speaker 6: Well, on the hill, it's very unintensive. We set stock and then we go back at tailing time. On the flats, we check them twice a day. We do a little bit of mothering up, but we're just very strict that we cull anything that we touch. so you were sort of on the medium intensity I guess you'd say on the good country where you're going around you can actually save a bit of money by doing it but just the key thing is that we don't keep anything that we touch.
00:24:30
Speaker 1: So in general though you think this is, how would it compare to the last couple of seasons, a lot of people saying this is the worst.
00:24:38
Speaker 6: For us I think the last few have all been sort of similar-ish it's definitely pretty weird I don't know, I think it's another, you know, less than ideal lambing, but I don't think it's, it's not terrible compared to what 2010 was for us personally, but I know every little district's got its own microclimate, so everyone will be in a different boat on that front.
00:25:01
Speaker 2: 2010, a lot of snow fell.
00:25:02
Speaker 6: 2010, a lot of snow fell, our drainage wasn't very good at that stage, we didn't have much shelter at home. And it was 10 days with no sort of stop and no break. When I think these last few years, there's been sunny days in between, and I think that makes a huge difference.
00:25:20
Speaker 1: Now, a few people look at lambing dates at the moment. I just spoke to Henry Buckingham before. He's putting it back until the start of October. Do you see merit in that?
00:25:30
Speaker 6: That would be a wee bit too late for us, and I think we'd mismatch our grass growth curve, but then it depends what the enterprise looks like in regards to other crops or baleage for cattle or whatever. We have been ticking our lambing dates slowly back with these springs because we do seem to be getting a slower, later spring, so I'm definitely not a big fan of lambing before we've got grass.
00:25:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting, eh?
00:25:59
Speaker 1: The people's mindset with the weather being the way it is. Previously, it's like September. It is what it is. You've just got to deal with it. But, I mean, this year's just kind of been the tipping point to a degree, I suppose.
00:26:12
Speaker 6: I think we need to invite back global warming. I think we've done too much to stop global warming, and I think we need that global warming to come back again, eh?
00:26:21
Speaker 2: Well, anything's better than snow in the middle of September, yes.
00:26:25
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah. So no, I think everyone has to get those V8s cranked up this weekend and warm up the atmosphere a bit.
00:26:32
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. Pete's spoken. What about you? Like I said today, the middle of September, what does it entail? How full on is it?
00:26:38
Speaker 6: So I'm tagging stud lambs. So it's running around in every lamb that's born we chuck a tag in. We do have a few that are on the DNA system. There's different pros and cons to both ones. And then, yeah, so I start work at about 7 and then probably knocking off at about 6.30. And, yeah, probably lamb for two or three hours in the morning and then, yeah, two or three hours at night. And then, yeah, just middle of the day, whatever other jobs need to happen. I am driving to Pokhara, so that adds a bit of time into my day. But that's life. And then next week I'll be placed out of home, which will be a bit less travelling for me. I actually really love... tagging the lambs at birth. You get to see your sheep up close. You get to see what's good. You get to see what's bad and, you know, what size that you want to keep you and which ones you don't. Yeah, and I actually really enjoy lambing, but that probably makes me a bit messed up.
00:27:31
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:27:31
Speaker 2: Well, I wouldn't say it makes you messed up. It means you care about your craft, Pete.
00:27:36
Speaker 6: I do care about my craft, and I do... I don't know. I just think this job that we work in is actually pretty cool. There's a lot of other jobs out there that are... I don't know. They just don't get to do what we do. Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Pete. We'll let you carry on.
00:27:51
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time, and we'll catch up in a few weeks, and appreciate your time.
00:27:55
Speaker 7: Awesome.
00:27:56
Speaker 6: Good to talk.
00:27:59
Speaker 2: Pete Gardine, based at Napdale.
00:28:01
Speaker 1: This is the must-a-way to toot around next, and we're catching up with Robin Greer. And before the end of the hour, our resident sporting guru, Nathan Braddon. This is the muster on Hokanui. Toto is the music today. That song there called 99. Wouldn't it be nice to have 99 minutes of sun every day in September? Anyway, Robin Greer catches up next. He is farming out at Tutorau. Robin, good afternoon.
00:28:33
Speaker 2: How are you coping with things out there?
00:28:35
Speaker 7: Good afternoon, Andy and listeners. Well, I guess my heart goes out to the sheep farmers. Lambing, like, you know, as dairy farmers, this is flinging hard going, but, you know... Lambs being born in this weather is a bit more challenging than what we're dealing with. We'll get through this and it'll dry out, but sheep farmers with the lamb losses, that's what I really feel for at the moment.
00:29:01
Speaker 2: How wet is it exactly at your place?
00:29:04
Speaker 7: It can't be any wetter. It's as wet as it can be. When you're leaving trenches in a pasture paddock with a four-wheeler, that's wet.
00:29:14
Speaker 1: As far as your feeds, how's it lasting there? Are you getting well through your first round yet?
00:29:19
Speaker 7: Yeah, like, well, we've still got a bit to go yet. We'll get pretty close to the end of the month, which is pretty normal for us. But we did have, we've had very good growth. Like, yeah, we've still got extremely good covers. So feed isn't a problem. It's just that damage that we want to avoid.
00:29:36
Speaker 1: It's just being able to get on the paddocks and utilise the tucker, Robin, same old story.
00:29:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. One thing Phillip has been doing, some paddocks, is starting the cows at the back of it, so they walk down over the grass and break feed them back up, which that has certainly helped, so it's saved gateways and all that sort of thing. And Holter has just enabled that to be a bit easier to do that, yeah.
00:30:02
Speaker 2: So how far through carving are you?
00:30:05
Speaker 7: We've probably got, I don't know, about 90 left to go out of 480 or 490, yeah.
00:30:12
Speaker 2: That's not bad going.
00:30:14
Speaker 7: It has been a bit slow this year for us. Slowest carving we've had for a lot of years. But probably with the wet, that hasn't been a bad thing.
00:30:22
Speaker 1: Why has it been a bit slower then? You've still got 90 to go in the scheme of things. You're still getting well through.
00:30:27
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, yeah, last spring, like, obviously, that storm hit just at a bad time. And, yeah, we've been wondering ourselves why it's quite so bad. We didn't think the spring was quite as bad as what our mating is saying it was. So, yeah, we're evaluating everything, looking at everything, seeing what we can do this year to make sure we don't end up with another calving like this.
00:30:52
Speaker 2: So what are you thinking you need to change?
00:30:56
Speaker 7: We're working on everything and working with the vets because there's nothing obvious that was wrong last year, which is really surprising just how slow calving has been.
00:31:11
Speaker 2: The girls have just been really relaxed, I suppose.
00:31:14
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah. They knew the weather was going to be like it was and decided that'd be a bit later.
00:31:18
Speaker 2: Decided they'd cross their legs for an extra couple of days.
00:31:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
00:31:22
Speaker 7: But, hey, you know, certainly we're lining up for a reasonable sort of season, that's for sure, you know, because feed-wise we're still well enough off. And, you know, them cows will calve soon because there's only so many more days that they've got that they've got to calve.
00:31:37
Speaker 6: So, yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker 1: In your neck of the woods there, Robin, you've got a bit of a get-together going on tomorrow and you're encouraging people.
00:31:44
Speaker 2: To come along.
00:31:45
Speaker 7: Yeah, so tomorrow the Tutorau community at the hall, there's a continuous lunch from 11 o'clock until about 2 o'clock, I think it is. And everybody's welcome to come along and just take a bit of time out from the farm. It's just an opportunity for you to go along, have a chat to someone. have a feed. You don't have to just turn up in your bling and farm clothes, kick your gumboots off at the door and come in and have a hot feed and have a chat to someone and hopefully go home feeling a bit better.
00:32:15
Speaker 2: That's the big thing at the moment, isn't it?
00:32:17
Speaker 1: It's about keeping in touch with a couple of people, not a couple of people, just whoever your networks are and just chewing the fat because everybody's in the same position ultimately.
00:32:29
Speaker 7: Exactly. It's just so good to take a little bit of time out for yourself and go and have a chat to someone and have something to eat and go back to the farm feeling a bit refreshed anyway and feeling that, you know, hey, you're not on your own and everybody else is in the same boat.
00:32:46
Speaker 1: From your perspective, Robin, because you've had a bit of a skid in the game for a while, do you notice that when you get older you still need to take a bit of time off and just reset the top three inches? Because the argument is that when you get older you get a bit pragmatic or dogmatic for that matter and just want to keep working.
00:33:04
Speaker 5: Um.
00:33:04
Speaker 7: It's probably a bit of both for me. Yeah, I see the need for other people, you know, for younger ones that are in the thick of it. Like, obviously, I'm not in the thick of it. I have life a little bit easier now than what I used to 20 years ago. But for those that are in the thick of it, like, it's tough going and you need to just take a bit of time out and go back feeling a bit more refreshed and knowing that you're not the only one in that situation. It certainly does help.
00:33:33
Speaker 2: So tomorrow at 11 o'clock at the Tooterail Hall, is that right?
00:33:37
Speaker 7: That's right, yep, at the Tooterail Hall from 11 o'clock. Turn up whatever time suits your programme for the day, 11 till 2, and, you know, there'll be a hot meal there for anybody that turns up that wants to turn up and have a hot meal.
00:33:51
Speaker 2: Fantastic.
00:33:51
Speaker 7: And like I say, you know, just kick your gumboots off at the door and come in. You don't have to go and have a shower or bling and get cleaned up before you come. We're all farmers. We're all in the same boat.
00:34:01
Speaker 2: So this event's just being put on by the local community?
00:34:04
Speaker 7: Yep, the local community hall committee have organised it.
00:34:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
00:34:09
Speaker 2: Now, how good. Hey, good on you, mate.
00:34:10
Speaker 1: Hopefully the sun comes out and stays out, not just for today, and all the best for tomorrow.
00:34:16
Speaker 2: A great initiative.
00:34:17
Speaker 7: Hey, thanks very much, Andy, and all the best to all the farmers out there that are trying to get through each day.
00:34:26
Speaker 2: Robin Greer of Tutorau. The Paddock to Plate event tomorrow.
00:34:29
Speaker 1: The free drop-in lunch for farmers happening at 11am at the Tutorau Community Hall.
00:34:35
Speaker 2: Also, the South and Rural Support Trust.
00:34:37
Speaker 1: And their Brunch on Us events are continuing too. Look at their social channels. I just had a look at Dogmatic. Pragmatic and Dogmatic. Dogmatic is someone who is completely certain their opinions and beliefs are right and expects everyone else to accept them without question.
00:34:49
Speaker 2: So I think I'll just go with Pragmatic.
00:34:52
Speaker 1: Up next, we are away down to Invercargill to catch up with our resident sporting guru, Nathan Burton, on the Thursday. This is the muster. This is the muster on Hakanui. Our resident sporting guru is Nathan Burden. Nathan, good afternoon.
00:35:20
Speaker 2: Hold the line by Toto.
00:35:22
Speaker 1: Just brings back memories of somebody going into Rices and Gore, buying a Pioneer tape recorder, complete with graphic equaliser, and doing domes on the main street here with a bit of Toto cranking.
00:35:36
Speaker 4: It is. It's a blast from a couple of angles there, mate. The old Rices and the Rices Expo was... It was one of those things you put in the calendar and looked forward to back in the day too, wasn't it?
00:35:48
Speaker 2: And then the Repo sailed about three weeks later.
00:35:50
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:35:54
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, look, the Stags, they're back on track after an impressive win over a disappointing Bay of Plenty at the weekend. Taranaki awaits them on Sunday. It'll be interesting to see how.
00:36:05
Speaker 2: They back up.
00:36:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, and, gee, a week is a long time in sport, isn't it? We were probably a bit down in the mouth after that county's performance, and then but seven days later you get to have another crack. It's one of the great things about rugby and sport in general, and the Stags took every single opportunity that they were presented with, that second-half effort into the wind at Rugby Park and seeing some of those young guys have a real crack, the Muli Aina try, The Rutledge try, you know, some great names there, isn't there? And seeing the Stags get away with a big win at home, probably it's reignited their season in many ways, isn't it?
00:36:50
Speaker 2: Well, it had to.
00:36:51
Speaker 1: If they lost, they pretty much also ran yet again. But all of a sudden, they go up to New Plymouth with renewed optimism against a side which, let's be honest, hasn't been itself compared to what it was, say, two, three years ago.
00:37:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, when you're a Stags fan, faith, Faith never dies.
00:37:10
Speaker 2: We are so fickle. We are so, so fickle. But you're allowed to be in September.
00:37:17
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:37:17
Speaker 4: Look, I've been up to the bullring many times to watch Southland rugby teams not do so well. So I would love nothing more than for them to go up there and take one over the knacky. So it would be great to go up there and grab a win.
00:37:35
Speaker 1: And as well, Northland, they've got one Ramfrey Shield defence left for the year.
00:37:39
Speaker 2: They're playing counties. If they hold it, they've got it for the season.
00:37:42
Speaker 1: If counties wins it, Hawke's Bay, who's top of the table, they lost last weekend to Harbour, they get the last challenge.
00:37:49
Speaker 2: Come on, Northland.
00:37:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
00:37:52
Speaker 4: I think Hawke's Bay have been a great story all year in terms of the MPC competition, but Northland have been the story, haven't they, ever since they famously took that shield off Canterbury and in much the same way that Southland did when we've held it in recent times really sort of treasured it and it's been part of the community so they bar up for these games and I wouldn't be surprised if the Taniwha do hold it right through to the end of the season No.
00:38:25
Speaker 1: That would be fantastic. Now, the Warriors, they're going to Eden Park. They sold it out pretty quickly. They're up against the Newcastle Knights side with a lot of optimism and reason as well. There was favourites going into this game, but this is a pretty darn good Newcastle side as well.
00:38:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is going to be an absolute barn burner, I think. When I think back to the last time that they met, it was an absolute cracker of a game, but that was a 12-man game. Newcastle team so you've just got to wonder what this game's going to be like whether the Warriors can lift for playoff that extra intensity that playoffs footy brings they weren't able to do it against the Dolphins they probably had players there that will whether that was because it was their first taste at that level or whether they just hadn't prepared right to get themselves up for that they just weren't quite there beauty is they get another crack but now it is do or die so it'll be interesting I think if they if they were truly at home, you would have to put them down as the favourites. Going to Eden Park where they don't have a record or don't have a great record probably adds an extra wrinkle. So, gee, I don't know which way this one's going to go.
00:39:44
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, the talk's coming out of the press, especially in the Australian press.
00:39:49
Speaker 2: About the Warriors.
00:39:50
Speaker 1: They've now outgrown Mount Smart, given their supporter base, which I think is bullpucky.
00:39:56
Speaker 2: They need to stay at their spiritual home.
00:39:58
Speaker 1: A big game like this, this is being driven purely by the NRL coffers.
00:40:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
00:40:04
Speaker 4: And, I mean, it's probably one of the things that I don't enjoy about sport is that we just don't understand the scarcity factor. and it's all about growth and making as much money as you can. I get that, but I think the fact that it is hard to get a Warriors ticket, unless you know Jason Parris, there's just.
00:40:28
Speaker 3: Something about that.
00:40:28
Speaker 4: You want to repay the faithful. The fact that they can sell that ground out and get such a great atmosphere, that's worth more than money to that club. You know, it's just the culture of being a Warriors fan. And those guys that have followed that team through thick and thin, they deserve to get the chocolates now. And, you know, hopefully that'll last for another week.
00:40:54
Speaker 1: And if they win this game, they go and play a preliminary final against Penrith, and that'll be a different kettle of fish over in Australia.
00:41:02
Speaker 2: But no, All Roads lead Eden Park. Jason Parris, that's a pretty impressive name to name drop.
00:41:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, a good blues man, yeah.
00:41:10
Speaker 2: He's got a double pass for you if you want to go to Eden Park? Is that what you're saying?
00:41:15
Speaker 4: No, well, he's actually moved on, but it's probably, yeah, but in recent times he's looked after a few Southenders and managed to get some people tickets when they needed them, so.
00:41:28
Speaker 2: You reckon Eden Park's got the best catering?
00:41:31
Speaker 1: It's got a lot of downsides around it.
00:41:35
Speaker 2: You reckon the catering there for the media is pretty top-notch?
00:41:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe it's sacrilegious to say anything negative about our national stadium, but I've never been a massive fan of my previous experiences of Eden Park. Maybe it's because most of the time I've been watching Southland get absolutely thumped by an Auckland team and and had Auckland media staring down their nose at me. But I must say, if there's one positive of Eden Park in my experience, that the catering in the media box was probably as good as I've seen it at any stadium around the country.
00:42:08
Speaker 1: Well, you're lucky you're not having to fork out a second mortgage to buy a round of drinks.
00:42:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it was free drinks too, to be fair, which always keeps the media pretty happy.
00:42:18
Speaker 2: Hey, good on you, Nathan. We'll leave it there. Antlers up.
00:42:22
Speaker 4: Antlers up, mate.
00:42:26
Speaker 3: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the land can be a laughing matter.
00:42:31
Speaker 2: Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. Why can't you use beef stew as a password? It's not strong enough.
00:42:45
Speaker 1: That's awful. That's Dad Joke Central for you. Okay, that's us. We'll leave it there for the afternoon. I'm Andy Muir. The muster, of course, is brought to you by Peter's Genetics. Podcast going up shortly, thanks to iHeartRadio. See you tomorrow, 1 o'clock.
00:42:58
Speaker 2: Hey, well, all right, sir. Here we go there, and what are they going to give for?
00:43:03
Speaker 1: PGG writes in, present stock selling action, which occurred at the Charlton sale yards this morning. Dave Morrison's on the line once again to give us an idea of prices.
00:43:11
Speaker 2: Teagle, how do we fare?
00:43:14
Speaker 8: G'day, Andy. Good sunny morning this morning from Charlton. Once again, a small to medium yarding. Just up the lambs, we had a couple of pears which did touch over $ 400 again, but, you know, very large lambs. Medium lambs, sort of $ 250 to $ 280, with the lighter of the prime lambs, again, sort of just that sort of early $ 200s to $ 220s. Into the ewes, small yarding of ewes there today, Andy, but we did tip over the $ 300 there again for the heavy ewes. Medium ewes, sort of $ 220 to $ 240 with the lighter ewes. Just scrambling again, around $ 140 to $ 150, but very, very light use it is. Use of lambs today, Andy. I believe that, I just didn't quite see it there, but I believe that they made 152 to 154 all counted, use of lambs. A couple of wee lines there. Store lambs, yeah, battling away a wee bit now. Obviously, some of them are just getting a wee bit too small to finish and kill with time before they cut their teeth, et cetera. And that wraps it up, Andy.
00:44:17
Speaker 2: That is Pap Fitzgerald.
Speaker 1: Good afternoon and welcome to the muster on Hokonui. Andy Muir here. The show is brought to you by Petersonetics. Welcome along. With the calm after the carnage, looking outside over Main Street, currently we're on 10 degrees. There's blue sky and it's certainly a different take from what we had yesterday as it's just so darn wet across the southern province. You're hearing of snow in a lot of places in northern Southland. Ida Valley, for example, had six inches of snow yesterday. So September is proving to be a basket case once again. On that, going to be interesting to hear a couple of chats talking lambing days. We'll get on to that shortly, but before we go any further, Toto, name of the dog in a famous movie, but also a band that's pretty darn sharp as well. This afternoon, showers later on, of course there is. A breezy north westerlies and 11. Friday, light rain with westerlies 8 and 11. Saturday, showers, a breezy north westerlies 4 and 15. Sunday, light morning rain with breezy south westerlies 4 and 9. And on Monday, rain developing later on with breezy north westerlies 2 and 16. Your soil temperatures, Clinton 6.3, Ditto, Heriot. Northern South in 7.1, Riverton 9.8, Te Anau 7.4, Titaroa 8.2, Winton 7.5. And Woodlands at 8.3, starting off this afternoon by heading down to Morton Mains. Catching up with Matt Ward, flat out on the lambing beat. Then after Matt, we're going down to Tokanui. Henry Buckingham in the beef and lamb slot. Henry's gone against the grain this year. He thought, bugger it, after the last couple of years, I'm changing my lambing date. So he tells us why he is putting his lambing back until October, which is something that a lot of people possibly could be considering.
00:02:00
Speaker 2: This could become a thing in Southland.
00:02:03
Speaker 1: Robin Greer of Tutorel, we have a catch up as well to see how things are going down there. Peter Gardine, based in Napdale as well, into lambing. He's got the studs under control, he's doing the tagging there, Pete says, but catches up for a yard to see how things are going. And resident sporting guru Nathan Byrd and the Stags are going.
00:02:22
Speaker 2: For two in a row.
00:02:23
Speaker 1: They're way up to New Plymouth to play the Naki after doing a demo job of Bay of Plenty last Sunday. Dave Morrison of PDG writes and gives a rundown on prices. Then we crack into the hour with Matt Ward.
00:02:35
Speaker 2: This is the must have brought to you by Peter's Genetics, six after one. Meet you all.
00:02:44
Speaker 3: The way.
00:02:47
Speaker 1: We're away to Morton Mains this afternoon on the muster to catch up with Matt Ward, sheep and cattle farmer.
00:02:53
Speaker 2: In the middle of lambing, Matt, good afternoon. How are you coping in the wet?
00:02:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, g'day Andy. Yeah, we're chipping away. It's certainly not easy, but we're getting there. Good day, good sunny day. Well, it's sunny, it's not very warm, but it changes perspective on things pretty quickly, doesn't it?
00:03:11
Speaker 2: Tuesday, 19 degrees. Yesterday is what it was.
00:03:14
Speaker 1: If that makes any sense, then today it's just cool with a bit of blue sky.
00:03:19
Speaker 2: I mean, September is anything but settled.
00:03:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%. It's changeable, isn't it? And I think after the last couple of years, we've grew to expect it to be one extreme to the other. Like I was out planting trees on Tuesday afternoon, like it was a beautiful afternoon. Good wind drying everything out and then I think we tipped out 25 mil of rain from yesterday. It's just reverted straight back to mud and there's an enormous amount of water lying around in some paddocks. Yeah, it's not too flashy out there at the moment.
00:03:47
Speaker 2: Is it as wet as you've seen it there?
00:03:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I keep thinking like, I feel like I've got a pretty short memory because I know last year and the year before that was pretty average. Like, pretty, pretty average. And then this year, like, I feel like we're probably just as bad. I felt like we got bad earlier this year. We copped all that August, like, that rain at the end of August there. Was it the Monday or whatever it was, just before I started lambing.
00:04:14
Speaker 2: 31st of August, yeah, arguably the coldest day of winter.
00:04:17
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I reckon that's just put us on the back foot from the start, to be fair. And we had quite a bit of easterly stuff blowing, and it's got all that shelter all wet, and From there, you start on the back foot like she's a long way out of the hole and it's just got worse and worse and worse. Whereas last year I felt like we started off pretty well and it just continuously got wet. But that is what it is. Can't do too much about it. It's one thing we can't control is the weather. So yeah, just got to soldier on.
00:04:47
Speaker 2: So how far through are you?
00:04:49
Speaker 3: I reckon the years would be probably three quarters of the way through. And then hoggets start on Wednesday. So I'm sort of just in that low point at the moment of, yeah, probably 300 or 400 ewes lemon at the moment. And then once the hoggets get underway, it gets busier again. But I was saying to you last time or the time before, I used ram harnesses for the first time. So in 10-day intervals. So the first 10 days I had 73, 74% of my ewes lemon, which has just been a game changer. Having them, like they're all finished and now they're all mobbed up, starting on a rotation. And it's just, I've gone from being like 22, 23 paddocks to go around down to six, just like that. It's just, yeah, giving myself.
00:05:31
Speaker 4: A lot more time.
00:05:32
Speaker 3: And I'm a big fan of getting ewes mobbed up as soon as, get them rotating around and try and get a bit of grass growing in front of them and try to get them, like that peak milk's around that three weeks post-lamin, so if everything's mobbed up by then and rotating around and, well, hopefully getting some grass growing in front of them sets them up pretty well.
00:05:51
Speaker 1: I remember you talking about going to a ram harness, and it's interesting, a lot of people have gone the opposite way.
00:05:57
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I sort of thought, I've never used one before, and I sort of thought it's easy to, it's quite easy not to use it. And I was like, oh God, just try it for this year, and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, it doesn't work, you know. So it's definitely a lot more work during mating, bringing mobs in and drafting rams out and changing crayons and a bit of mucking around. But far out, it saved me a lot of time at this end of the year. I'm just here by myself chipping about. So if I can save a few hours a day going around sheep that don't need looked at, yeah, it's all for the better. And to be fair, I've still had, like, I've had these ewes that are lambing 20 days after the ram went out. Like, they've still been on crop up until the start of this week. So it's just been, not that there's been a big majority of them, but it's just saved a bit more feed and stretched my swedes out a bit further. And, yeah, that's definitely been a bit of a game changer for me.
00:06:47
Speaker 1: So how intensive on the lambing beat are you, bearing in mind you're doing everything by yourself, so there's only so many hours in the day to contemplate?
00:06:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, I try not to be too intensive, like I certainly know I could be doing more, but time is the thing, like try and get around in the morning, I've still got about nearly 180 catawombs that are behind the wire at the moment, so I'm still shifting them on grass each day, and we're doing a few lambs on a feeder at the moment, so there's a bit of time in that. Yeah, but one thing that's definitely got better is I've sort of culled out all my ewes that get mothered on. Like the first couple of years I might have mothered on 30 or 40 ewes, whereas this year I might have had seven or eight through the pen than a good young ewes that deserve a chance to have a lamb. Whereas, yeah, back at the start, like far out, you're mothering on sheep all the time and that's where the time is. So now that they're all gone out of the system, trying to just make them, well, I sort of believe they've got to do it themselves, don't they? You can't pamper them too much. And when a ewe's worth what it is at the moment, sending a wet-dry ewe to the works is worth a fair bit of coin. So get them out of it, off the gate and, yeah, no more problems for next year, hopefully.
00:08:03
Speaker 2: But if it's a wet-dry because of the weather, what philosophy then?
00:08:07
Speaker 3: Ah that's a good question I think it's yeah it's sort of hard like it's I definitely think if we have a real bad storm come through and there's a majority of lambs in the paddock that have been born overnight are down and down and out then I think they have a case to to uh to survive another year that you but like even like yeah even this morning like a few lambs that were down and cold like the there's a majority of the paddock that were born last night up and feeding well, and you've sort of got to ask the question, like, why hasn't that ewe got up and got her lambs going again? So I sort of do it case by case, but I'm a sort of believer that I've sort of got to get up and do it unless it's real average.
00:08:50
Speaker 1: It's interesting the way that thinking has gone the way it has regarding husbandry. I mean, case in point for dry hog, it's a lot of people culling them. Now, yes, the money's good, but they're still young animals. And regarding what you're talking about right there, Matt, if an animal, if a sheep isn't prepared to get up and look after a young, even if it is a hideous night, then that's kind of on her.
00:09:11
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. And some people would say it's pretty harsh, and especially like you put a lot of time into getting a hog into lamb or a, ewe into lamb just to go color but you got to remember like there's 95 percent of the rest of the flock have got up and got that lamb going and given it a feed and or lamb that lamb in shelter and then old uh the old ewe that's gone and lambed in the middle of the storm in the middle of the paddock you got to ask yourself you know like i'm trying to trying to breed survivability into my flock and to be fair after the last two years like it hasn't been real hard to do. Kenny Lamb that survived the last couple of years, and this year as well, has got pretty hearty. And it's sort of what I want to be breeding for. Like, I'm not into pampering my stock through too much. And like I was saying earlier, like, it's here by myself, so you've got to prioritise your time. If you're there trying to keep everything alive and keep every ewe to rear a lamb, like, I'd be pulling my hair out. And then it's sort of like you go and get a lambing shepherd at $ 400 or $ 500 a day. Like, it's a lot of... There's a lot of money to... I know we're getting good money for our lambs, but it's a lot of money to be paying someone to just be helping as well.
00:10:25
Speaker 1: So you've boxed up your ewes already, got them going around on the feed. What are your covers like, given the situation?
00:10:31
Speaker 3: Average. Average. Very average, to be fair. And I know that's definitely the tricky part of getting them onto a rotation is trying to... I could have put a bit of N in the system back in mid-August, so you can definitely tell those paddocks that have got the N in them compared to the paddocks that haven't. So they've got a bit of good cover in them where the mobs sort of start. And there's definitely a lot of shuffling around to begin with. Got a few paddocks of Italian and a few hybrid paddocks in that have kept pumping a bit of feed. So they're sort of targeted first and then sort of just, yeah, it's a bit of a shambles for the first few weeks. But once the feed comes, then they're on a good rotation. Once they're in that rotation, they're away then, aren't they? It makes life a bit easier later on.
00:11:16
Speaker 1: Therefore, it's organised chaos, but it's like the plan coming together eventually.
00:11:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, 100% it is. Yeah, it is. And I'd rather have them tight in a mob and know I'm going feed in front of them than having them spread out and being tight and having nowhere to go. Like, it's sort of... Yeah, it gets a wee bit tricky, but it's sort of... Once the sun comes out and you've got everything mobbed up and moving around, like, even though it's all temps up and we're still... Feed's still freshening up in front of us, so... get these hoggets spread out and then they'll create a bit of space as well and yeah, slowly it all gets a bit easier.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: Righto mate, we'll leave it there, thanks for your time good luck out there and one good thing about today is you can wear your sunnies.
00:12:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, cheers for that Andy they're not on just yet but we'll get there eventually.
00:12:07
Speaker 2: Matt Ward, based at Morton Mains.
00:12:09
Speaker 1: Interesting philosophy as well regarding stock and wet dries. Everybody's got their theories, but fascinating, the mindset these days, like I've talked about before, how it's all changed. Nonetheless, that's the evolution of farming, if you will. Henry Buckingham's up next in the beef and lamb slot. Now, Henry has gone against the grain this year, and he's changed his lambing date.
00:12:29
Speaker 2: I'm fascinated to know his rationale behind this. He's up next. The Muster Events Diary, brought to you by Beef and Lamb New Zealand. Click beeflamnz.com.
00:12:48
Speaker 1: Henry Buckingham farms at Tokanui, and he's gone against the grain. He's lambing in October this year. He's joining us this afternoon to tell us why his mindset has changed around an October lambing all of a sudden.
00:13:01
Speaker 2: Henry, good afternoon. Good to chat once again.
00:13:03
Speaker 5: Good afternoon, Andy.
00:13:05
Speaker 2: First and foremost, off the top of my head, why October?
00:13:10
Speaker 5: Well, two main reasons for slamming in October have been to increase feed covers and increase survivability. Yeah, they were the two main goals.
00:13:22
Speaker 1: Just because of the weather conditions, like you said yesterday, you kind of felt vindicated for the change, I suppose, well, for the short term anyway?
00:13:31
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I guess the last few years we've got... smashed in September and it sort of just rains all of September so I got sick of doing the same thing and expecting a different result. Yeah.
00:13:44
Speaker 1: Did it take much convincing to get it over the line regarding your farming operation to think yep I'm putting everything back a month?
00:13:52
Speaker 5: Yeah I guess there's a few changes in the system that I've had to do to make it work but I'm just seeing positives with those changes at the moment. Yeah I always wondered why the high country farmers land quite late. And the way I see it is they just get smashed by the weather. So I thought, why can't we do the same? We're quite an exposed property down here on the top of Fort Rose Hill, basically. And we don't have a lot of shelter, so we do get a lot of land losses and bad weather.
00:14:33
Speaker 1: As far as your farming operation, what's changed, especially regarding winter grazing, given you've gone out four weeks?
00:14:42
Speaker 5: In terms of winter grazing, not much. We still have this switch we wintered on, actually, at the same time, because we were a wee bit short of feed going into winter. But, yeah, in terms of everything else, we're just on breaks a wee bit longer now, and given the grass a bit more time to grow after winter before set stocking. So yeah, it's been good so far. We're sitting on a good level of feed at the moment, which is nice considering how wet it's been.
00:15:19
Speaker 2: Are the ewes still on breaks at the moment?
00:15:22
Speaker 5: Yeah, the main ewes are the ones that are lambing in October. We've still got an early mob that is starting in a couple of days' time. So they've just been set stocked at the start of this week. But yeah, our ewes are still on breaks, and it's a bit testing with the, but yeah, we're just sort of keeping them moving and with a lot of feed, that helps too.
00:15:52
Speaker 1: It must feel a bit bizarre not having to do much as far as shepherding in September, I suppose, though.
00:15:58
Speaker 3: Yeah, it does.
00:16:00
Speaker 5: So I've gone from doing two or three years now of starting late August with some earlys right through to hoggets and to the start of November. So it does feel very weird not getting into lambing till now, but also hoping it'll be over with a bit quicker. Yeah, which would be nice.
00:16:24
Speaker 1: What's going to change in your farming operation heading into summer then, given that you're lambing when you are?
00:16:30
Speaker 5: Um, I guess our mean kill date's been pushed back a little bit. Um, and it already sort of has the last year or two anyway with, um, sort of market volatility not being as bad. Um, we've sort of hung on a bit. So this might exaggerate that a little bit more, pushing things back. But, um, we're also getting really nice autumns which are allowing us to push lambs into there and, um, So yeah, it's sort of flowing onto the whole system. Everything's been pushed back slightly, but we're, yeah, filling heavier lambs for it.
00:17:07
Speaker 2: So when do you hope to wean?
00:17:10
Speaker 5: We'll wean just after New Year, I think. We'll probably wean some early stuff pre-Christmas still, just to get on to some of the summer finishing crops. But yeah, we'll do the main lot after New Year, and we probably won't look at getting a lot away at weaning. with sort of chasing the heavier weights. I've been leaving, yeah, not taking as many off at leanings, and it hasn't really affected us. If we think that there's going to be a massive crash in the market, then it might change, but, yeah, at this stage, that's the thinking.
00:17:51
Speaker 2: What about sharing dates, Henry? Does that come into the equation at all?
00:17:54
Speaker 5: Yes and no. Some of our old girls... Yeah, they'll probably be shown still similar time, but we are sort of moving towards a Wiltshire cross, so there's a bit to think about there with sharing dates. They're probably not, so you probably don't need to rush in and share them so much. The younger years are sort of shooting a bit, so yeah.
00:18:18
Speaker 1: People you've talked to with the later lambing date, what's their initial reaction been? Because I was speaking to a guy yesterday and he's seeking the same thing.
00:18:27
Speaker 2: He's had a gut full of September.
00:18:28
Speaker 5: Yeah, everyone seems a bit shocked when I say how late I pushed it.
00:18:36
Speaker 2: What actually is your lambing date?
00:18:38
Speaker 3: The 5th of.
00:18:39
Speaker 5: October for the May news and the Hoggets all at once. So it's going to be a bit of a workload then, but Yeah.
00:18:50
Speaker 1: Well, you'll arguably be a case study for a lot of people too. They'll be monitoring what you're doing very carefully.
00:18:55
Speaker 2: They might not.
00:18:56
Speaker 1: Say it, but trust me, they will because there may be mythic behind your logic here.
00:19:02
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, yeah, like I say, I don't really know myself yet how it's going to play out, but I've got a bit of a plan and hopefully we can stick to it as close as possible.
00:19:13
Speaker 1: Like if the weather was actually a bit drier, were you contemplating doing tractor work in September, then looking at October, just leaving it free for the lambing as such?
00:19:21
Speaker 2: Do things change in that department?
00:19:24
Speaker 5: Yeah, 100%. Yep. I always thought in the back of my mind there'll be an opportunity to get on the tractor in September if we do have a good one. But yeah, it hasn't looked even close yet. So yeah, that'll... That'll still be pushed into the end of October as well, so, yep, we'll be busy, busy, I'd say.
00:19:46
Speaker 1: It's going to be really interesting, Henry, going forward, how it works for you, putting your lambing date back to early October. Look, thanks for your time this afternoon. And, yeah, go out there. What are you doing this afternoon, for example? What's on the agenda?
00:19:59
Speaker 5: Well, I've actually got a bit of hemlock to pull out, Andy. I found a bit there the other day, and a couple of ewes got poisoned.
00:20:09
Speaker 3: Oh, hell.
00:20:10
Speaker 5: I'm off to sort that problem. And then I'm heading in to pick up a Scottish girl that's going to come and help us with lambing. So bring in the reinforcements, I guess, for the higher workload.
00:20:25
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Hey, good on you, Henry. All the best for lambing in October. Thanks for your time again.
00:20:30
Speaker 3: Righty.
00:20:30
Speaker 5: Thank you.
00:20:33
Speaker 2: Henry Buckingham, lambing in early October. Graham Butcher, there you go. It's happening. Up next, we're going to Napdale.
00:20:42
Speaker 1: Pete Gardine. Welcome back to the muster. Pete Gardine farms in Napdale. A mixed operation there.
00:20:58
Speaker 2: Enjoyed this? Pete, good afternoon. How's things?
00:21:02
Speaker 6: Oh, the sun's shining out here, so it's a better day than yesterday, Andy, but we are a wee bit damp underfoot.
00:21:09
Speaker 1: I was about to say, it wasn't shining yesterday, yet 48 hours ago it was like the mid-teens.
00:21:15
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, it's definitely another rollercoaster spring from what I can see. A bit of snow on the ground this afternoon at home on the higher end of the farm, and yeah, pretty wet underfoot, but We're sort of getting that wet and then we're getting these nice days in between. So we're having relatively good lamb, or pretty good lamb survival actually. So it's not terrible. But not great for growing grass and not great for driving tractors.
00:21:38
Speaker 1: Must be so frustrating with those iron horses sitting in the sheds just getting bird nests.
00:21:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, the tractor boys are getting pretty itchy to be fair. And it's sort of finding them some jobs to do. And then once they're going, they'll be into it.
00:21:54
Speaker 1: So you reckon lamb survival rates have been pretty good, all things considered?
00:21:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, we're having pretty good survival. There was that really nasty weekend, was it the end of August or right at the start of September? That wasn't very fun. But apart from that, we've sort of been ticking away pretty good.
00:22:10
Speaker 2: Lambing as such, though, your main mob's only really cranking in.
00:22:13
Speaker 6: Yeah, the studs were going at that early stage, and now our main started on about the 10th, and, yeah, they've been ticking away not too bad. Yeah. But I do think it's a good time of year to go for a wee hoon in the middle of the day. We've got a wee block up at Pyramid that we lamb sheep up there fully unsheverted. And if you had a few tough days, you go for a drive and check the sheep up the road and you just, you know, you hoon up there and you drive around the road and see what's happening and you take the long way home. And it's just good to get out and see what other people are up to and see what other people's situations are. And it helps put your own one into perspective, I think.
00:22:53
Speaker 1: So you reckon it's a good chance to realise everybody's in the same boat in this situation?
00:22:58
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think when you get a spare moment in the middle of the day, go to your local township if you've got one and grab a pie and just take the long way home or something along those lines and that'll be my hot tip at the moment.
00:23:11
Speaker 1: Do you encourage your staff to do that at this time of year when it is full on? Just saying, look, go away for lunch, take an hour, go and do what you need to do just to get a bit of a reset.
00:23:19
Speaker 2: Is that the case?
00:23:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, 100%.
00:23:21
Speaker 6: We've actually got a bike that needs to go to town at the moment, and that's what the staff are doing today. Give them a bit of cash, tell them to go to McDonald's or wherever the heck they want to go, and, yeah, tell them to have a wee ticky tour.
00:23:34
Speaker 2: That's a big thing in September, isn't it? It's a marathon, not a sprint.
00:23:37
Speaker 1: And there is a now, you can see the finish line, but it's all about just working it out in case.
00:23:42
Speaker 6: 100%, and especially in the weekends and that, not packing more into the middle of the day than what needs to happen. Just try and keep it as realistic as possible. But, you know, we are busy as much as everyone else is. So, yeah, we're not perfect. Don't get that illusion of me.
00:24:00
Speaker 2: How intensive is a lambing beat at your farm?
00:24:03
Speaker 6: Well, on the hill, it's very unintensive. We set stock and then we go back at tailing time. On the flats, we check them twice a day. We do a little bit of mothering up, but we're just very strict that we cull anything that we touch. so you were sort of on the medium intensity I guess you'd say on the good country where you're going around you can actually save a bit of money by doing it but just the key thing is that we don't keep anything that we touch.
00:24:30
Speaker 1: So in general though you think this is, how would it compare to the last couple of seasons, a lot of people saying this is the worst.
00:24:38
Speaker 6: For us I think the last few have all been sort of similar-ish it's definitely pretty weird I don't know, I think it's another, you know, less than ideal lambing, but I don't think it's, it's not terrible compared to what 2010 was for us personally, but I know every little district's got its own microclimate, so everyone will be in a different boat on that front.
00:25:01
Speaker 2: 2010, a lot of snow fell.
00:25:02
Speaker 6: 2010, a lot of snow fell, our drainage wasn't very good at that stage, we didn't have much shelter at home. And it was 10 days with no sort of stop and no break. When I think these last few years, there's been sunny days in between, and I think that makes a huge difference.
00:25:20
Speaker 1: Now, a few people look at lambing dates at the moment. I just spoke to Henry Buckingham before. He's putting it back until the start of October. Do you see merit in that?
00:25:30
Speaker 6: That would be a wee bit too late for us, and I think we'd mismatch our grass growth curve, but then it depends what the enterprise looks like in regards to other crops or baleage for cattle or whatever. We have been ticking our lambing dates slowly back with these springs because we do seem to be getting a slower, later spring, so I'm definitely not a big fan of lambing before we've got grass.
00:25:57
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting, eh?
00:25:59
Speaker 1: The people's mindset with the weather being the way it is. Previously, it's like September. It is what it is. You've just got to deal with it. But, I mean, this year's just kind of been the tipping point to a degree, I suppose.
00:26:12
Speaker 6: I think we need to invite back global warming. I think we've done too much to stop global warming, and I think we need that global warming to come back again, eh?
00:26:21
Speaker 2: Well, anything's better than snow in the middle of September, yes.
00:26:25
Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah. So no, I think everyone has to get those V8s cranked up this weekend and warm up the atmosphere a bit.
00:26:32
Speaker 2: Well, there you go. Pete's spoken. What about you? Like I said today, the middle of September, what does it entail? How full on is it?
00:26:38
Speaker 6: So I'm tagging stud lambs. So it's running around in every lamb that's born we chuck a tag in. We do have a few that are on the DNA system. There's different pros and cons to both ones. And then, yeah, so I start work at about 7 and then probably knocking off at about 6.30. And, yeah, probably lamb for two or three hours in the morning and then, yeah, two or three hours at night. And then, yeah, just middle of the day, whatever other jobs need to happen. I am driving to Pokhara, so that adds a bit of time into my day. But that's life. And then next week I'll be placed out of home, which will be a bit less travelling for me. I actually really love... tagging the lambs at birth. You get to see your sheep up close. You get to see what's good. You get to see what's bad and, you know, what size that you want to keep you and which ones you don't. Yeah, and I actually really enjoy lambing, but that probably makes me a bit messed up.
00:27:31
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:27:31
Speaker 2: Well, I wouldn't say it makes you messed up. It means you care about your craft, Pete.
00:27:36
Speaker 6: I do care about my craft, and I do... I don't know. I just think this job that we work in is actually pretty cool. There's a lot of other jobs out there that are... I don't know. They just don't get to do what we do. Yeah.
00:27:49
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Pete. We'll let you carry on.
00:27:51
Speaker 1: Thanks for your time, and we'll catch up in a few weeks, and appreciate your time.
00:27:55
Speaker 7: Awesome.
00:27:56
Speaker 6: Good to talk.
00:27:59
Speaker 2: Pete Gardine, based at Napdale.
00:28:01
Speaker 1: This is the must-a-way to toot around next, and we're catching up with Robin Greer. And before the end of the hour, our resident sporting guru, Nathan Braddon. This is the muster on Hokanui. Toto is the music today. That song there called 99. Wouldn't it be nice to have 99 minutes of sun every day in September? Anyway, Robin Greer catches up next. He is farming out at Tutorau. Robin, good afternoon.
00:28:33
Speaker 2: How are you coping with things out there?
00:28:35
Speaker 7: Good afternoon, Andy and listeners. Well, I guess my heart goes out to the sheep farmers. Lambing, like, you know, as dairy farmers, this is flinging hard going, but, you know... Lambs being born in this weather is a bit more challenging than what we're dealing with. We'll get through this and it'll dry out, but sheep farmers with the lamb losses, that's what I really feel for at the moment.
00:29:01
Speaker 2: How wet is it exactly at your place?
00:29:04
Speaker 7: It can't be any wetter. It's as wet as it can be. When you're leaving trenches in a pasture paddock with a four-wheeler, that's wet.
00:29:14
Speaker 1: As far as your feeds, how's it lasting there? Are you getting well through your first round yet?
00:29:19
Speaker 7: Yeah, like, well, we've still got a bit to go yet. We'll get pretty close to the end of the month, which is pretty normal for us. But we did have, we've had very good growth. Like, yeah, we've still got extremely good covers. So feed isn't a problem. It's just that damage that we want to avoid.
00:29:36
Speaker 1: It's just being able to get on the paddocks and utilise the tucker, Robin, same old story.
00:29:41
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. One thing Phillip has been doing, some paddocks, is starting the cows at the back of it, so they walk down over the grass and break feed them back up, which that has certainly helped, so it's saved gateways and all that sort of thing. And Holter has just enabled that to be a bit easier to do that, yeah.
00:30:02
Speaker 2: So how far through carving are you?
00:30:05
Speaker 7: We've probably got, I don't know, about 90 left to go out of 480 or 490, yeah.
00:30:12
Speaker 2: That's not bad going.
00:30:14
Speaker 7: It has been a bit slow this year for us. Slowest carving we've had for a lot of years. But probably with the wet, that hasn't been a bad thing.
00:30:22
Speaker 1: Why has it been a bit slower then? You've still got 90 to go in the scheme of things. You're still getting well through.
00:30:27
Speaker 7: Yeah, well, yeah, last spring, like, obviously, that storm hit just at a bad time. And, yeah, we've been wondering ourselves why it's quite so bad. We didn't think the spring was quite as bad as what our mating is saying it was. So, yeah, we're evaluating everything, looking at everything, seeing what we can do this year to make sure we don't end up with another calving like this.
00:30:52
Speaker 2: So what are you thinking you need to change?
00:30:56
Speaker 7: We're working on everything and working with the vets because there's nothing obvious that was wrong last year, which is really surprising just how slow calving has been.
00:31:11
Speaker 2: The girls have just been really relaxed, I suppose.
00:31:14
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah. They knew the weather was going to be like it was and decided that'd be a bit later.
00:31:18
Speaker 2: Decided they'd cross their legs for an extra couple of days.
00:31:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah.
00:31:22
Speaker 7: But, hey, you know, certainly we're lining up for a reasonable sort of season, that's for sure, you know, because feed-wise we're still well enough off. And, you know, them cows will calve soon because there's only so many more days that they've got that they've got to calve.
00:31:37
Speaker 6: So, yeah.
00:31:39
Speaker 1: In your neck of the woods there, Robin, you've got a bit of a get-together going on tomorrow and you're encouraging people.
00:31:44
Speaker 2: To come along.
00:31:45
Speaker 7: Yeah, so tomorrow the Tutorau community at the hall, there's a continuous lunch from 11 o'clock until about 2 o'clock, I think it is. And everybody's welcome to come along and just take a bit of time out from the farm. It's just an opportunity for you to go along, have a chat to someone. have a feed. You don't have to just turn up in your bling and farm clothes, kick your gumboots off at the door and come in and have a hot feed and have a chat to someone and hopefully go home feeling a bit better.
00:32:15
Speaker 2: That's the big thing at the moment, isn't it?
00:32:17
Speaker 1: It's about keeping in touch with a couple of people, not a couple of people, just whoever your networks are and just chewing the fat because everybody's in the same position ultimately.
00:32:29
Speaker 7: Exactly. It's just so good to take a little bit of time out for yourself and go and have a chat to someone and have something to eat and go back to the farm feeling a bit refreshed anyway and feeling that, you know, hey, you're not on your own and everybody else is in the same boat.
00:32:46
Speaker 1: From your perspective, Robin, because you've had a bit of a skid in the game for a while, do you notice that when you get older you still need to take a bit of time off and just reset the top three inches? Because the argument is that when you get older you get a bit pragmatic or dogmatic for that matter and just want to keep working.
00:33:04
Speaker 5: Um.
00:33:04
Speaker 7: It's probably a bit of both for me. Yeah, I see the need for other people, you know, for younger ones that are in the thick of it. Like, obviously, I'm not in the thick of it. I have life a little bit easier now than what I used to 20 years ago. But for those that are in the thick of it, like, it's tough going and you need to just take a bit of time out and go back feeling a bit more refreshed and knowing that you're not the only one in that situation. It certainly does help.
00:33:33
Speaker 2: So tomorrow at 11 o'clock at the Tooterail Hall, is that right?
00:33:37
Speaker 7: That's right, yep, at the Tooterail Hall from 11 o'clock. Turn up whatever time suits your programme for the day, 11 till 2, and, you know, there'll be a hot meal there for anybody that turns up that wants to turn up and have a hot meal.
00:33:51
Speaker 2: Fantastic.
00:33:51
Speaker 7: And like I say, you know, just kick your gumboots off at the door and come in. You don't have to go and have a shower or bling and get cleaned up before you come. We're all farmers. We're all in the same boat.
00:34:01
Speaker 2: So this event's just being put on by the local community?
00:34:04
Speaker 7: Yep, the local community hall committee have organised it.
00:34:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah.
00:34:09
Speaker 2: Now, how good. Hey, good on you, mate.
00:34:10
Speaker 1: Hopefully the sun comes out and stays out, not just for today, and all the best for tomorrow.
00:34:16
Speaker 2: A great initiative.
00:34:17
Speaker 7: Hey, thanks very much, Andy, and all the best to all the farmers out there that are trying to get through each day.
00:34:26
Speaker 2: Robin Greer of Tutorau. The Paddock to Plate event tomorrow.
00:34:29
Speaker 1: The free drop-in lunch for farmers happening at 11am at the Tutorau Community Hall.
00:34:35
Speaker 2: Also, the South and Rural Support Trust.
00:34:37
Speaker 1: And their Brunch on Us events are continuing too. Look at their social channels. I just had a look at Dogmatic. Pragmatic and Dogmatic. Dogmatic is someone who is completely certain their opinions and beliefs are right and expects everyone else to accept them without question.
00:34:49
Speaker 2: So I think I'll just go with Pragmatic.
00:34:52
Speaker 1: Up next, we are away down to Invercargill to catch up with our resident sporting guru, Nathan Burton, on the Thursday. This is the muster. This is the muster on Hakanui. Our resident sporting guru is Nathan Burden. Nathan, good afternoon.
00:35:20
Speaker 2: Hold the line by Toto.
00:35:22
Speaker 1: Just brings back memories of somebody going into Rices and Gore, buying a Pioneer tape recorder, complete with graphic equaliser, and doing domes on the main street here with a bit of Toto cranking.
00:35:36
Speaker 4: It is. It's a blast from a couple of angles there, mate. The old Rices and the Rices Expo was... It was one of those things you put in the calendar and looked forward to back in the day too, wasn't it?
00:35:48
Speaker 2: And then the Repo sailed about three weeks later.
00:35:50
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:35:54
Speaker 1: But nonetheless, look, the Stags, they're back on track after an impressive win over a disappointing Bay of Plenty at the weekend. Taranaki awaits them on Sunday. It'll be interesting to see how.
00:36:05
Speaker 2: They back up.
00:36:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, and, gee, a week is a long time in sport, isn't it? We were probably a bit down in the mouth after that county's performance, and then but seven days later you get to have another crack. It's one of the great things about rugby and sport in general, and the Stags took every single opportunity that they were presented with, that second-half effort into the wind at Rugby Park and seeing some of those young guys have a real crack, the Muli Aina try, The Rutledge try, you know, some great names there, isn't there? And seeing the Stags get away with a big win at home, probably it's reignited their season in many ways, isn't it?
00:36:50
Speaker 2: Well, it had to.
00:36:51
Speaker 1: If they lost, they pretty much also ran yet again. But all of a sudden, they go up to New Plymouth with renewed optimism against a side which, let's be honest, hasn't been itself compared to what it was, say, two, three years ago.
00:37:04
Speaker 4: Yeah, when you're a Stags fan, faith, Faith never dies.
00:37:10
Speaker 2: We are so fickle. We are so, so fickle. But you're allowed to be in September.
00:37:17
Speaker 3: That's right.
00:37:17
Speaker 4: Look, I've been up to the bullring many times to watch Southland rugby teams not do so well. So I would love nothing more than for them to go up there and take one over the knacky. So it would be great to go up there and grab a win.
00:37:35
Speaker 1: And as well, Northland, they've got one Ramfrey Shield defence left for the year.
00:37:39
Speaker 2: They're playing counties. If they hold it, they've got it for the season.
00:37:42
Speaker 1: If counties wins it, Hawke's Bay, who's top of the table, they lost last weekend to Harbour, they get the last challenge.
00:37:49
Speaker 2: Come on, Northland.
00:37:51
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
00:37:52
Speaker 4: I think Hawke's Bay have been a great story all year in terms of the MPC competition, but Northland have been the story, haven't they, ever since they famously took that shield off Canterbury and in much the same way that Southland did when we've held it in recent times really sort of treasured it and it's been part of the community so they bar up for these games and I wouldn't be surprised if the Taniwha do hold it right through to the end of the season No.
00:38:25
Speaker 1: That would be fantastic. Now, the Warriors, they're going to Eden Park. They sold it out pretty quickly. They're up against the Newcastle Knights side with a lot of optimism and reason as well. There was favourites going into this game, but this is a pretty darn good Newcastle side as well.
00:38:44
Speaker 4: Yeah, this is going to be an absolute barn burner, I think. When I think back to the last time that they met, it was an absolute cracker of a game, but that was a 12-man game. Newcastle team so you've just got to wonder what this game's going to be like whether the Warriors can lift for playoff that extra intensity that playoffs footy brings they weren't able to do it against the Dolphins they probably had players there that will whether that was because it was their first taste at that level or whether they just hadn't prepared right to get themselves up for that they just weren't quite there beauty is they get another crack but now it is do or die so it'll be interesting I think if they if they were truly at home, you would have to put them down as the favourites. Going to Eden Park where they don't have a record or don't have a great record probably adds an extra wrinkle. So, gee, I don't know which way this one's going to go.
00:39:44
Speaker 1: And all of a sudden, the talk's coming out of the press, especially in the Australian press.
00:39:49
Speaker 2: About the Warriors.
00:39:50
Speaker 1: They've now outgrown Mount Smart, given their supporter base, which I think is bullpucky.
00:39:56
Speaker 2: They need to stay at their spiritual home.
00:39:58
Speaker 1: A big game like this, this is being driven purely by the NRL coffers.
00:40:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
00:40:04
Speaker 4: And, I mean, it's probably one of the things that I don't enjoy about sport is that we just don't understand the scarcity factor. and it's all about growth and making as much money as you can. I get that, but I think the fact that it is hard to get a Warriors ticket, unless you know Jason Parris, there's just.
00:40:28
Speaker 3: Something about that.
00:40:28
Speaker 4: You want to repay the faithful. The fact that they can sell that ground out and get such a great atmosphere, that's worth more than money to that club. You know, it's just the culture of being a Warriors fan. And those guys that have followed that team through thick and thin, they deserve to get the chocolates now. And, you know, hopefully that'll last for another week.
00:40:54
Speaker 1: And if they win this game, they go and play a preliminary final against Penrith, and that'll be a different kettle of fish over in Australia.
00:41:02
Speaker 2: But no, All Roads lead Eden Park. Jason Parris, that's a pretty impressive name to name drop.
00:41:07
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, a good blues man, yeah.
00:41:10
Speaker 2: He's got a double pass for you if you want to go to Eden Park? Is that what you're saying?
00:41:15
Speaker 4: No, well, he's actually moved on, but it's probably, yeah, but in recent times he's looked after a few Southenders and managed to get some people tickets when they needed them, so.
00:41:28
Speaker 2: You reckon Eden Park's got the best catering?
00:41:31
Speaker 1: It's got a lot of downsides around it.
00:41:35
Speaker 2: You reckon the catering there for the media is pretty top-notch?
00:41:39
Speaker 4: Yeah, maybe it's sacrilegious to say anything negative about our national stadium, but I've never been a massive fan of my previous experiences of Eden Park. Maybe it's because most of the time I've been watching Southland get absolutely thumped by an Auckland team and and had Auckland media staring down their nose at me. But I must say, if there's one positive of Eden Park in my experience, that the catering in the media box was probably as good as I've seen it at any stadium around the country.
00:42:08
Speaker 1: Well, you're lucky you're not having to fork out a second mortgage to buy a round of drinks.
00:42:12
Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it was free drinks too, to be fair, which always keeps the media pretty happy.
00:42:18
Speaker 2: Hey, good on you, Nathan. We'll leave it there. Antlers up.
00:42:22
Speaker 4: Antlers up, mate.
00:42:26
Speaker 3: Laugh out loud with Ag Proud, because life on the land can be a laughing matter.
00:42:31
Speaker 2: Brought to us by Shearwell Data, working to help the livestock farmer. Why can't you use beef stew as a password? It's not strong enough.
00:42:45
Speaker 1: That's awful. That's Dad Joke Central for you. Okay, that's us. We'll leave it there for the afternoon. I'm Andy Muir. The muster, of course, is brought to you by Peter's Genetics. Podcast going up shortly, thanks to iHeartRadio. See you tomorrow, 1 o'clock.
00:42:58
Speaker 2: Hey, well, all right, sir. Here we go there, and what are they going to give for?
00:43:03
Speaker 1: PGG writes in, present stock selling action, which occurred at the Charlton sale yards this morning. Dave Morrison's on the line once again to give us an idea of prices.
00:43:11
Speaker 2: Teagle, how do we fare?
00:43:14
Speaker 8: G'day, Andy. Good sunny morning this morning from Charlton. Once again, a small to medium yarding. Just up the lambs, we had a couple of pears which did touch over $ 400 again, but, you know, very large lambs. Medium lambs, sort of $ 250 to $ 280, with the lighter of the prime lambs, again, sort of just that sort of early $ 200s to $ 220s. Into the ewes, small yarding of ewes there today, Andy, but we did tip over the $ 300 there again for the heavy ewes. Medium ewes, sort of $ 220 to $ 240 with the lighter ewes. Just scrambling again, around $ 140 to $ 150, but very, very light use it is. Use of lambs today, Andy. I believe that, I just didn't quite see it there, but I believe that they made 152 to 154 all counted, use of lambs. A couple of wee lines there. Store lambs, yeah, battling away a wee bit now. Obviously, some of them are just getting a wee bit too small to finish and kill with time before they cut their teeth, et cetera. And that wraps it up, Andy.
00:44:17
Speaker 2: That is Pap Fitzgerald.
