In the heat of summer, Chris Biddles agrees with calls for school holidays to shift to February, but not with apportioning blame.
I am somewhat grumpy. What is new? Thirty years ago when I was captain of our rugby club for the first time (I had two more stints over the years) some players called me Captain Grumps.
My self-chosen name as a grandfather is Grumps, so yes I am often grumpy especially around fools!
Back to why I am particularly grumpy.
For the last couple of days I have spent a few hours in the tractor and have had the radio going. School has restarted (end of January) and the radio is full of suggestions about changing the summer holidays to February. This is something I actually agree with. Before our kids went to school (a long, long time ago) we always had a week’s holiday in February as it was the hottest month.
What makes me grumpy(ier) is that various commentators blame global warming on the fact that it is real time summer in late January and February. And what do they blame global warming on? Most readers will know. It riles me, they make out that it is new that the hottest part of the summer is in late January and February, it has always been that way. Just another chance to bash farmers.
Grumpy? Bloody hell I am, and for those who think I need anger management, I don’t. I just need fools to stop pissing me off!
So yes, have the stats off at Christmas/New Year, go back to work and school and then have a month off at the end of January and during February. I am sure there will be a lot fewer saturated campers on the Coromandel that so often get hit in December.
Pouto like so much of New Zealand has had an interesting season. I wrote last time about being dry in July. Mid November I was thinking this is going to be a whopper summer. The hills had dried off, hay and balage was looking ok where it was shut up early but not the mid-October closed paddocks.
Stock were healthy and in good order but very little cover in the pasture to sustain what was looking like an early dry. Then wham, rain every day for the last six days of November and the first seven days of December.
We still managed to get two lots of hay done in December which had double its 35-year average rainfall. We ended the year with amazing covers, which is great as the tap has turned off in 2019. We had very little rain in January but have a huge amount of standing hay over 50% of the farm.
By mid-January we had all our 750 stud animals through the yards five times as we pregnancy tested, weighed for 200, 400-day and mature cow weights, freeze branded and carcase scanned. We then decided to bring them all back to two sets of yards and drench and wean. The calves are now getting the best of that standing hay and the cows are starting their clean up.
By the time you read this I will be lying in a slumber totally drugged up but hopefully on the mend with a brand new knee. My right knee is totally buggered bone-on-bone and the left not much better. I am determined to behave and give it the eight weeks rehab it requires. Hopefully the farm will be reasonable set up by the operation as I will be not venturing on it.
The last word for the month is around my farewell from Sport Northland. I agreed to a very low-key celebration after the November AGM which was my last to chair. There were some very humbling tributes recognising my 28-year commitment which included 18 on the board.
My whanau were there and as Megan said she would not have believed me if I told her what was said if she had not been there. One smart arse from Sport Waikato (the CE and Sky rugby commentator, Matt Cooper) sent me a box of Waikato. I accepted and gave it to the only person I know who drinks the river beer. I was most grateful with the tributes and move on knowing that the best sports trust in the country is in great hands.
Nga mihi.
