The Farmers Club Newsletter

The “Club Notes” for Monday the 22nd of January 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

If you can, please get your family, friends and colleagues to sign up. See the website link here.

Harsh or Fair?

There has been a fair bit of BOM bashing in the last few months. The media has got hold of the story and has got plenty of milage from it. Some people want to hold the BOM responsible for the collapse of Livestock markets on the back of the El Nino call. Some are saying no, bugger them; they got it wrong, and they should be held partly responsible. I say partly because I don’t think one thing led to the collapse of the Livestock markets. It was more a combination of things. But all this is a lesson for us as Farmers to not make too many Farming decisions on these long-term forecasts. I think we all need to bat on as per normal and make decisions along the way rather than some early snap call that might leave us exposed. And don’t forget the weather is an inexact science. Despite the technology we have today, the weather has a mind of its own, and I don’t think we’ll ever predict what it’s going to do long term. Do you believe the BOM bashing has been harsh or fair? Reply to [email protected]

The best Country Motel?

We went to Geelong on Friday and stayed overnight. It got me thinking about Country Motels and what an excellent service they provide. Over the years, I have travelled the length and breadth of this country and stayed in a lot of Motels. There are a couple that I seem to frequent. The Seven Pines Motor in Mildura, a simple and basic Motel that is close to the River and CBD, does the trick for me. There are a lot of good Motels along the Newell Highway, and I used to stop at the Station Motel in Parkes; it’s a pretty new Motel, let’s guess at 20 years old, and I like it because it has a pretty good restaurant, at least it was good last time I stopped there. Do you have a favourite Motel you frequent? Reply to [email protected]

Locked in

Our story of how Fendt has arguably become the most premium Tractor in its class brought up quite a few interesting replies. See the article here. One person said this “The new reason for sticking with Green is we have all the Farms GPS mapped, and therefore, to change to a different GPS is a huge and painful job. So reluctantly, this is another reason to pay extra, it seems, to stay with John Deere”. I read that John Deere, sometime in the future, will have at least 10 per cent of the revenue come from subscriptions. So the decision makers sitting around the boardroom table know they have to lock you in so you don’t go elsewhere, like how Apple does. Like the Farmer making the quote above saying how it’s going to be a real pain to change over, you could argue that this guy is locked in for good. These sorts of things can creep up on you a bit, and if you have purchased a new $500k bit of kit and you have to pay an extra $10k or $20k a year to access the features, you are probably going to do it. Do you feel locked in with John Deere? Reply to [email protected]

Your replies

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

• “Brought two units from Farmbot for this summer. The peace of mind alone is worth it”. - In reply to what Ag Tech you have bought lately.

• “The problem was, Muslims liked little to no fat on their meat. The goats sourced wild were great, but the farmed goats had much fat; too much, which was quickly rejected”. - A butcher who used to sell Goat meat.

• “I'm on the verge of cancelling my subscription/s and going back to using Google Drive and a spreadsheet”. - This Farmer is going back to simple.

• “Yeah remember all of that but mostly having to clean it when I was a kid, i was the skinny one that could fit the narrow bottom of the dip and scoop up the sludge with a kerosene tin and dad would haul it up and over the side”. - In reply to our Note about the Plunge Dip.

• “Our first one was an ST310 purchased new in 1983. They had that massive wide dash and huge bonnet. I strapped a 12-volt, 12-inch TV on the centre of the dash with a roof-mounted antenna with a roof handle so when I turned around at the end of a run, I could turn the antenna 180 degrees and still pick up the signal from the Springsure TV tower. They were an incredibly reliable Tractor”. - In reply to our story on Green Steigers.

• “Yes, when my son was in kindergarten, he came home one day and said that we shouldn’t eat beef because it’s killing the environment, and I am a Beef Farmer.” - In reply to our Note about Education and how some teacher portrays their political views onto the kids.

• “As an Agronomist dealing with Cropping Farmers of all ages and history, you get pretty good at flicking between ac and ha. And you're right, most talk yield in T/ha and you can easily insult someone if the say they Harvested 2T and you ask is that per ha or ac”. - In reply to our note about whether you use Hectares or Acres.

• “learned Italian and Japanese at school as my language subjects, absolute waste of time. I have never used either in the real world”. - On our Education system.

• “None of it helps them talk to people, learn to work together, solve problems, or look someone in the eye and keep their word”. - Talking about how social media is changing our kids.

• “Interesting that with Irrigation, we still talk in chains for the length of a run or the length of the hose. Or run the Irrigation at chain per hour etc. Metric doesn't have a very good replacement for chains. (22 yards, the standard cricket pitch)”. - In reply to our Hectares vs Acres Note.

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

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