The Farmers Club

No 196 - Friday's Club Notes

Dwain Duxson
May 03, 2024

The “Club Notes” for Friday, the 3rd of May, 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

Have Online Auctions changed?

Online Auctions exploded through COVID-19. I am not telling you something you don’t know here. During that period, virtually everything had to be Auctioned; the beneficiaries were the Auction houses. Our good friends at AuctionPlus had to pull all stops out to cope with the demand. But things have changed, and I am told that Auctionsplus is down considerably from those heady days. We run Monthly Auctions now. They were fortnightly not so long ago and weekly before that, and since we have come out of COVID-19, we have seen a change in how people view them. I am probably talking more about Machinery and Equipment Auctions here; Livestock is different. So what happens is you list all your items, and the buyers bid on something they like, but because the competition has dried up, there is no urgency or fear of missing out (FOMO). Buyers know that, so they are happy to have 1 bid. Then, most of the stuff gets passed in under reserve, and as soon as the Auction finishes, the phone starts ringing, and the negotiations start. So, most of the items get sold after the Auction at either reserve or below reserve. The buyers are exercising the power they have and good on them. The aim of an Auction is to sell at above the reserve. That rarely happens anymore. Have you noticed a change in Auctions over time? Do you like selling in Auctions? Reply to [email protected]

With or without you (Part 1)

Could your Farm or Farm related business operate without you? If not, you should start thinking along the lines of what it looks like without you. Easier said than done, I know, but you need to be thinking like this. It's not easy because, in many cases, it might only be the husband and wife working on the Farm. But even then, it's worth sitting down and discussing. Farming is one of those careers were you can be stuck in it for life. Some love that, but others would like to try something else at some point in time. There will come a point in time when individuals will want a pressure release. By that, I mean, at some point, they would like to hand responsibility to someone else, even if it's part-time or for a period of time only. If you have Livestock running around in the paddock or Crop Growing, someone needs to be attending to that. That is a responsibility for someone. There is a form of pressure on that person with that responsibility. Sometimes, people want relief from that pressure, knowing it's someone else's pressure. I will write more about how you can possibly do it in part 2 tomorrow. Could your business run without you now? Reply to [email protected]

Headlines and deadlines

We all have daily challenges; with this little daily newsletter, mine are headlines and deadlines. By headlines I mean finding stuff to write about is always a challenge. We are lucky that in Ag, we have so much going on; it's such a wide-ranging beast with so many industries contained within. Also, Ag has such great history, as well. So much to write about there. As for deadlines, I have alwasy liked working to a specific time or date. Deadlines are challenging because I do this role as an outside-hours thing, so I have to find time then. That's a challenge because what we do with our time is not linear. Some people, like me, like working to short-term or daily deadlines. It keeps us sharp and means we have to get shit done. It's related to the note above about pressure; for me, the pressure to execute is there daily, and I feel the release on the weekend when I can sorta casually get work done on Monday morning edition. Do you like deadlines in your life, or would you rather things be open-ended? Reply to [email protected]

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

Added Extras for subscribers only:

Offer - New Munro Post Driver - Get $1000 off RRP for any new Munro Post Driver through Farm Tender. Available to paid-up Farmers Club members only. Email [email protected] if interested.

Offer - FarmTender2024 - See the free link here to FarmTender2024 - Entrepreneurs in Farming event. 6 hours of content, so many takeaways (valued at the ticket price of $350). It’s like 11 separate Farming podcasts all in one.

Offer - FarmTender2023 - See the free link here to FarmTender2023 - The Business of Farming event. 6 hours of content, many takeaways, and many things have changed (valued at the ticket price of $350).

Information for paid subscribers:

To go to the web version of this newsletter click on this link here. To log in to your account. 1) Click on the login button. 2) Type in your email address. 3) Go to your email and click on the get access link. 4) Click on the head on the top right of the page. 5) Click on edit details and add your first and last name, please. 6) Click on Manage Subscriptions if you want to update a card, etc; you can manage it from here.

Good Ag Podcasts:

Yesterday morning, I listened to the Ducks on the Pond podcast featuring Chloe Brown and Claire Booth. Claire spoke at our FarmTender2024, and her story is very interesting. Equally so is Chloe Brown’s story about her entry into Dairy Farming. Rating 7.5/10. 58 minutes. Take a listen here.

Your replies:

Below are snippets from some of the replies you sent in. All quotes will remain nameless. See a few current ones below:

In reply to our note on what jobs you dislike on the Farm - “Cleaning out weevil infested silos at Gurley Station in the 1970's. Holiday job. Shooting sheep that were too far gone with footrot - near Hay in the mid 70's After a couple of wet seasons in a row. Thanks for your efforts”.
This is in reply to the worst job on the Farm note we wrote about recently - “Cleaning out weevil-infested silos at Gurley Station in the 1970s. Holiday job. Shooting Sheep that were too far gone with footrot near Hay in the mid-70s after a couple of wet seasons in a row”.
A subscriber sent me this short poem. It’s a ripper - “When you bury me, Bury me deep, But leave one hand out to count the Sheep”.
In reply to our note yesterday about Oat dust and how itchy it was/is and how it used to follow you no matter what - “Oats scratch up memories. As a child I loved playing, working and growing up in the Shearing Shed, watching my father laughing and everyone having a good time. Now, grown up, I don’t like Shearing or being indoors, choosing to leave my wife to it as she has a love for Sheep and Wool that I did not inherit. So the Shearing Sheds will be kept well and maintained for the next generation of my three young children who “love Sheep”…. Have a great day”.
In reply to our Farm Tender Daily story on how the Ag in the NT is coming of age. Read the story here. - ‘Great article this morning on the Northern Territory. It could pretty much apply to the whole top end across Australia”
Yesterday, we spoke about how we tend to follow a Farming system. This Farmer didn’t agree with something I wrote, which is fine - “G’DAY DD You should do a bit more research into Regen farming – I’m afraid you have shown your ignorance in the repeated comment- “ made or make money elsewhere” I’m full-time Farming with no time for an “off-Farm” income or job, not that I wouldn’t mind an extra income stream”.
This Farmer is advocating his Regen Ag system - “It’s all about reducing synthetic inputs, increasing carbon sequestration and making decisions and Farming practices that grow sustainable Crops and raise healthy animals (protein). Most people don’t understand it, including bankers - because your yields are average to better than “normal” with lower inputs. What’s better, spend $99 to make $100, or spend $50 to make $70. Change the thinking from yield to net profit. The “pub piss’n contest/bragging rights, is NOT about sustainability”.
I made a mistake with the spelling yesterday (my bad) and had the police out. It was tongue in cheek by the replyer. I quite like the work, and yes, he is right. Jeremy would be proud - “Spell check didn’t work for you last night- “farmering”- Jeremy Clarkson would be proud 😊’.
One of our subscribers who was listening to the recording of FarmTender2024 and made a great suggestion that we could break it up into a Podcast for each speaker. Great idea, I will look into it and make sure it happens for next year. There are so many takeaways. I better listen ot it again - “Hi Dwain. Was travelling the Mallee yesterday listening to the 2024 conference replay. Obviously, there are fairly regular dropouts - any way you could break up the event into 7-8 separate replays/per speaker so it’s easier to get back to where it left off”.
We might have to get Nigel back for next year in SA - “In the last 3-4 days I have been watching the 2023 conference. All the speakers were great. I must admit that Nigel Kerin makes so much sense. I follow him on socials. He seems to have the job sorted”.
Other Farmer with another view on Farming systems. Yes, it can turn into an us and them thing - “Good morning, Dwain. Back in the '90s, following some drought funding, RCS & HRM exploded up here. Mainly because Farmers were paid to go to them. Most dropped out, but a few farmers who had inherited the Farm with no debt, fully stocked and modern plants became zealots to the cause. Regenerative farming seems to have a similar cohort. My great fear is that “Farmers for Climate Action” is a totally opaque body in terms of Farmers not having an ear of the Government. They flog regenerative to the point if you are not doing it, you are a vandal.