Does the "farmers" govt' give a damn?

11-08-2010 | Contributor

It is bill-paying day (July 20) and the cows and heifers have been calving for six days, which is at least a week early.

I must say the calving is far more pleasant than the bill-paying. We can pay our bills, simply because we have borrowed beyond our overdraft limit to make it possible.

I had a lengthy chat to my transport operator today as we trucked some two-year bulls for autumn calving. He has a unit lying idle in his yard because he has not replaced a driver that left recently; there is no need because the stock numbers are not there.

We pondered about whether the "farmers' government" (a Tui ad, I hear you saying) actually gives a damn that the flow-on from droughts and lack of profitability in the farming sector is huge.

• Chris Biddles, Te Kopuru, Northland

Everywhere I go the people in the towns and smaller cities tell me there is little money around because the farmers are not spending.

I look forward to a session with my local MP, John Carter, in two weeks' time when I will give him my view. At least he is concerned enough to listen - but whether he can get his colleagues to listen is doubtful. Our agriculture minister is not even on the front bench, for goodness sake.

Enough gloom. Much has been happening in our lives since I last wrote and it is all positive. Northland hosted 100 people on the Angus New Zealand conference tour in March and it was a huge success.

The local seafood and hospitality was well-received. I promised to take them to one of Northland's gems which sits on the Hokianga. Omapere was beautiful on an autumn evening and the following morning.

I am still getting comments about it. Copthorne, in the Bay of Islands, is also lovely but we had been spoiled by Omapere first.

The evening cruise in the Bay of Islands, with dinner at Otehi Bay, was good and, yes, we did view some cattle over the three days - but that was just the excuse to get away and have a good time.

Beef expo was held in May. This Meat and Wool-sponsored event altered its format this year and I believe it worked extremely well. The popular Future Beef competition took place the weekend before.

Breakfast on Monday was hosted by Scott Champion, from Meat and Wool, followed by a wonderful presentation from Professor Mike Goddard, an Australian scientist who informed us about progress on DNA in an easy to follow manner. Farah Palmer was the final speaker. As always, her speech was entertaining, making fun of several of those at the breakfast. (I have a fair idea who fed her the info about me and will remember when I do his performance review at the end of the year.)

The final day saw all bulls from all the breeds on show and each breed had their sale slotted into this day. The expo committee set an ambitious programme but in my opinion it was extremely successful. I thought the highlight of the day was the Champion of Champions. The winner was a good Hereford bull bred by Charlie and Margaret Lee from the Leelands Stud.

What was particularly pleasing about this win was that Charlie and Margaret have been great supporters of beef expo and the Hereford breed for many years and last year dispersed their stud. This was their last opportunity to take this trophy and it could not have gone to two finer cattle people at the end of a long and successful career.

The final act of expo was the Steak of Origin awards dinner. Karren and I managed third in the Best of British breed which was won by Forbes and Angus Cameron with whom we have several bulls in partnership. The overall winner was an Angus Limousin crossbred by Kathy and Murray Child. They tell me the Angus cow was bred by one of my bulls and the limousine bull was bred by Danny OShea. Danny has been a regular finalist at Steak of Origin.

A highly successful beef expo, I thought, that was extremely well run by event managers PBBnz. Well done to the beef expo committee and PBB.

Just before expo our drought broke, another positive occurrence. We only had five fine days in the last three weeks of May and recorded 198ml of rain. It has remained reasonable warm and although we are still behind the eight-ball we are better off than last winter, though well down on stock for killing this spring.

We have seven weeks until our bull sale (note the ad in this issue). The early weaned bulls really struggled through the drought but are catching up now. I think they are a good line-up and with luck will sell well. We will be putting up 75 again and believe there is a bull to suit all budgets.

The last word for this month is about the rugby. I am looking forward to some good rugby from Northland, who remain in the top competition. They actually play a pre-season game against Auckland in Dargaville this week, something that has not happened for 40 years.

In one of my articles last year I had a dig at the decision-makers. I must admit they did appear to take note of grassroots feeling and not throw out the four "rural" provinces. Long may it continue.

Stop press: The real last word for the month. I have just read that wool people now want to tap into the Beef and Lamb (formally Meat and Wool) economic service. What a bloody cheek. Talk about have your cake and eat it too. They voted the wool levy down - well they can wear the consequences.

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