Head of Sales and Marketing, Russell MacKay, has a fifth-generation family sheep and beef farm near Queenstown. Here's his farming update for winter.
Notes of mud slow-cooking on the quad bike exhaust.
Mixed with the scent of baleage ingrained in your crevassed, cracked hands.
Wet weather gear squeaking like a fantail with every step.
Cheeks stinging from the fifth frosty morning on the trot.
Winter, at times, feels like an all-out assault on the senses.
This might be a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I actually look forward to winter on-farm, despite the potential for unfavourable weather. For starters, there’s less social pressure with the reduced daylight hours, especially down in Southland. Any event on the weekend is done and dusted by 5pm. In summer, you’re expected to hang around until at least 9 - with or without young children. You can forget about anything social Monday to Thursday. “Sorry mate, I’ve got a thing on Tuesday night,” and by thing, I mean nothing. There’s also less judgement on farmers starting a bit later and finishing a bit earlier. And you know what? Lunch can go a bit longer too. So can smoko(s). It takes a wee while for cheese rolls to cook all the way through, after all. I embrace winter and the permission it gives to somewhat hibernate.
With all that said, my thoughts go out to everyone who’s taken a hefty left-right-goodnight combo from mother nature in the upper South Island. Flooding is a helpless experience. All you can do is get stock to higher ground, cut the fences, and clean up the mess. If any of you need help altering your fence lines in FarmIQ, give 0800 FARMIQ a call and we’ll steer you in the right direction.
Generally speaking, the last few weeks have been absolute dog tucker weather-wise across the country, with many regions recording well above average rainfall for June and July. Down in Southland, we finally got back to an even keel feed-wise in late autumn and early winter after recovering from a shocker of a spring and early summer. Canterbury is wet and sun-starved. Craig Trotter, part of our sales team based outside Winchester, told me his neighbour had to fire up the generator - his solar-powered house isn’t catching enough rays. Where’s that Māui bloke when you need him? The lower North Island was quite dry through early winter, but they’re playing catch-up now and have overcorrected. In fact, to save you the reading, the weather’s been s*@& everywhere else too.
Mystery Creek was no exception. It pissed down at least once every day. That, however, didn’t dampen farmer sentiment. With dairy farmers looking at a payout in the double digits and locking in palm kernel contracts just above $300 a tonne, next season’s looking very promising. Sheep and beef farmers are quietly optimistic too. One meat processor was offering winter lamb contracts at $10.40. With lower interest rates, your bank manager is hopefully calling you less. A lot of debt’s been repaid this year.
On-farm performance has also been strong. Mating went well across the country, with most KPIs up around 5% on last year, including a very impressive 6-week in-calf rate of 69.3% (LIC). Ewe scanning has been a bit more varied. Most of the North Island is up on last year, but Hawke’s Bay and Wairarapa are slightly back. Farmers I’ve spoken to put this down to worm burdens in lighter ewes. Southland and Otago are also slightly back on last year. The girls did well to bounce back as they did, but they never fully caught up in time for conception.
That’ll do from me. Overall, it’s been a good time for farmers, and just humbly, a positive one for FarmIQ and FARMAX too. We’ve done some serious heavy lifting over the past few months. Next time you hear from me, I’ll give you the rundown on how calving and lambing went. Until then, be good to yourselves, your loved ones, neighbours, and staff.
