The Country - Queenstown edition

Today on The Country, Jamie Mackay leaves the show halfway through to go and MC the Dairy Business of the Year awards.

On with the show:

Simon Bridges:

We ask National's besieged leader if he's got the worst job in the country following speculation Christopher Luxon is next in line for a shot at the title. We also talk 50 Shades of Green, partisan forestry foes and a world where Donald, Boris and bad haircuts are running the cutter.

Sir David Fagan:

We catch up with the world's greatest shearer on the eve of his departure for the World Shearing Champs in France plus we talk about enhancing his Te Kuiti dairy farm with native plantings and wetland creation.

Beauden Barrett:

We preview this weekend's Super Rugby quarter-finals with the world's best rugby player.

Chris Russell:

Our Australian correspondent talks $300 lambs, the lowest national flock in a century, supermarkets buying milk directly from dairy farmers and drought meaning grain importation for the first time since 2007.

Listen below: