The Farmers Club

No 293 - Saturday's Club Notes

Dwain Duxson
August 24, 2024

The “Club Notes” for Saturday the 24th of August, 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

Peak satisfaction

I had a subscriber reach out by text yesterday morning with photos of 3 B Double loads of Cattle leaving his family's property. He said this: "The feelings you get once Cattle are loaded and rolling out the gate… it's the best time to reflect and think deeply. It's even better when every B Double has $200k worth of Cattle on them". I got the feeling he was a very satisfied Farmer when those Trucks left. It got me thinking about some of the most satisfying moments in Farming. I remember when I was on the Farm and we had an annual Ram Sale and the satisfaction after the sale was always a great feeling. Yes, there is a little bit of relief, but if you put in the preparation and knew how many Rams each of your clients were going to buy, you were always pretty confident it would go well. We have another subscriber who runs a pretty big operation, and his most satisfying job on the Farm is weighing his Lambs. He said he just loves it and every time he goes home after a day of weighing Lambs is a very happy and contented one. When do you get peak satisfaction on your Farm? Reply to [email protected]

I have decided to give all subscribers the paid version today. Remember it’s a 30 day free trial:

Story 2 - I saw a left-field idea that might help communities attract more volunteers.

Story 3 - Keeping up with the information flow can be hard for Farmers but missing out has a cost.

Number of articles and images - 61 in total including 11 funnies.

Number of Farmer replies - 10 in total.

The Farmers Club - 6 Times Weekly

Left field idea

I saw on X (Twitter) an idea that was very left-field on how we can bolster our communities. Back years ago, Rural communities had more volunteers who willingly filled roles, and local clubs and organisations thrived. But things have changed a lot, and now it's the opposite, where organisations struggle to attract people. I am hearing of once-great Cricket associations that are on the brink of folding. Anyway, back to the subject, the idea is from Corbin Schuster, a SA Farmer. Here's what he said: "There should be a system in place whereby residents within a town or community can receive a credit on their/local government/council rates for volunteering on committees/in community organisations which are in charge of town assets, such as running the local sporting complex or recreation park, local institute, Christmas Street party etc. Let's make it a $50/hr credit". It's an interesting analogy and one that would be worth testing. Any good council/shire worth their Oats would be encouraging organisations under their watch to keep going or, at the very least, survive. Volunteerism is essential. Local Shows only fall by the wayside because the volunteers lose interest and stop attending meetings. It would be ballsy of a council/shire to test run something like this, but we live in an age where we need to keep experimenting to keep our communities alive. Check out the post in the Agribusiness section below. Thoughts on this one? Reply to [email protected]

Information flow

There is always plenty to do on the Farm, the jobs list is an endless one. That means being busy doing stuff. Many Farmers I talk to feel they haven't got time to constantly keep up with things and do things like read books, newspapers or long articles. They can be out of touch quickly if they don't have a routine of keeping in touch. In between all the busyness, I believe it's essential for Farmers to be able to put time aside to learn stuff, whether that is going to a conference or two a year, spending time reading the Ag news each day, maybe even reading a book or two and even a few podcasts. Easier said than done if your list is endless. I know plenty of Farmers who do put time aside to learn, think, and scenario play, and it's definitely beneficial. But even the very best Farmers are time-poor, and it's why this little newsletter came to fruition because we felt there was a need for someone to aggregate all the information and have it sent to them in a form they can consume quickly. Do you give yourself time to keep up with things and learn? Reply to [email protected]

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

Added Extras for subscribers only:

Event - FarmTender2025 - The Business of Farming event is on in SA in 2025. Take a sneak peek here.

Offer - Any New Commander Ag Self-Propelled Augers - Get $1000 off RRP any new Commander Ag Quip Self-Propelled Augers through Farm Tender. Available to paid-up Farmers Club members only. Email [email protected] if interested.

Offer - Any 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 XXXX 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 XXX 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 login 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:

I listened to our very own Anton Phillips, who works for our sister business, DelayPay. He was interviewed on the Fintechfun podcast. Anton spoke really well. It’s a quick listen this one. Rating 8.5/10. 15 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 story on youth crime in rural towns and cities. Read the story here. Here's a bit of old-school punishment that cannot be dismissed - "Catch them and put them through 3 to 6 months in the army for basic training. At the end of this, give them a chance to join up or do some other job. If they re-offend, incarcerate them with hard labour. A suitable task would be breaking rocks with a sledgehammer".
More on the youth crime thing. This is how they would do it in the US rightly or wrongly. - "You'd only have to shoot a couple of them, and it would stop straight away".
More on the youth crime story. Yes, I would say that boredom comes into it - "They don't have to work for a living, so they are fairly disinterested in going to school and will never have to get a job. How can they empathise with people who have worked long, hard hours to pay for their Landcruiser? Working is not in their culture. They must be very bored nowadays".
This Farmer has travelled a bit and has been to some of the towns and cities that are facing this very issue - "I believe all Australians need to be treated identically. Same parenting obligation, same school attendance obligation, same work and welfare rules and entitlements. Give people a purpose in life that we have – survive and support our family. I also believe this is the way forward to close the gap. I admire all people who go to work of all races. I do not respect those who choose to live on welfare by choice. Two blokes I respect are Ivan, the shire mechanic at Halls Creek, and Norman, the roller driver at Birdsville. They are great blokes and happy to drink with Norman, play pool and sing Slim Dusty songs together. It was an even better lesson for my kids, who had unfortunately only seen the other side. I could talk on this subject forever because we all have so much to learn from each other".
I strongly believe we have to look at all the different alternatives to stamp this out. Otherwise, we are going to have an Alice Springs-type situation in many of our great Agricultural towns and cities - "Gaday Dwain, does anyone know the answer? The bleeding hearts we can't keep locking them up, so if we just let them keep running around doing what they are doing, that won't work. And the bleeding hearts don't have a viable answer either. Ninety per cent of the problems started at home, so that is a good place to start; however, that won't help the ones who are causing the problem now. Jail is the only way to stop them from doing what they are doing, but locking them up with other criminals won't help either. In the meantime we need better laws to be able to protect our property. If someone breaks into your home and you belt them with a baseball bat or threaten them with a weapon, you end up in court. What a bloody joke. You should be like America and be able to take any steps necessary to protect your property, including lethal ones. The bad arses might think twice if they know it might hurt if they break in".
One Farmer travelling around added this to the bottom of his reply - "On a brighter note I have been traveling around central Australia and the country around Tibooburra, Innamincka and Birdsville is unbelievable north west of there not so good but the cattle look good. Have a great day".
More on the youth crime issue - "I know the folks who used to own the biggest fuel distribution business in Moree. Once it started to get scary, they sold it at a loss just to get away"
Another idea on how to solve this youth crime issue - "We have developed young people who, for some reason, lack respect and do not have good role models to identify with. Some children get it from sport or are engaged in other ways that are meaningful. Parents have a huge part to play, and I feel these kids may be missing good family backgrounds that give them good morals as a guide. These kids need proper support that takes them away from this lifestyle and gets some real meaning back in their lives".
This relates to one of the stories above and I put this question to the guy who sold the B Double load of Cattle. I said where do you get your staisfaction from on the Farm? Great reply this - "Gr8 question.. satisfaction evolves. It used to be helping Dad make his life easier. Then, talking with people, building and holding relationships. Learning the art of Farming and realising it's all about mindset. Working hard is something that comes easy for me, and I can see it will to my children. The most satisfying part now is watching my children grow up on the land. It's a life of circle's 💫"
I would argue that it's never been this bad in Goondiwindi - "In all my years of travelling through this town, I understood the risk of crime in the area. We always ensured the cars were locked with no belongings of value visible as an avenue to deter crime. It's a shame to realise that very little has changed in 30 year".