Jamie McKay of The Country catches up with Andrew Gibson with PGG Livestock in Taranaki, commenting that it’s been a “bit of an Indian Summer”. Andrew confirms that the rainfall has helped the country stay green having rained throughout the whole summer, “keeping the markets nice and strong” with no complaints from Farmers about the wet weather.  

Jamie quizzes Andrew on the market staying strong due to the returns in some areas not being as good, stating that he was likely looking more at the sheep than the beef side of things. Andrew confirms that beef has been good and kept everyone ticking along with strong numbers and cattle have held some impressive weight ranging from 250-300kg plus. Andrew continues that there’s been good returns due to the well-bred, run wieners around the country with the breeding cows dropping away in numbers “it’s good to see those guys get a significant return”. Andrew then goes onto say that sheep is always up and down but reiterates that the grass has been phenomenal up and down the country so not many complaints.  

Jamie jokes “A farmer with a bit of grass in his paddock and money in his wallet can be a dangerous beast at a stock sale” Andrew laughs and confirms that is what they like to see and it creates a good environment when the sales are going well, going on to say there would be nothing worse for an auctioneer than to look out to the crowd and see no bidders but the buoyant markets can make an auctioneer look good.  

Jamie then pivots back to the dairy cows with the milking season coming to an end “When do they change hands?” Andrew said the dairy auctions have started with the market being a little softer than last year, people are a bit more cautious about buying and spending too much for the returns they’re getting but there are a few cows going to auction in the next month or so. “Good cattle like anything will always sell well”