The Farmers Club Newsletter

No 146 - Friday's Club Notes

Dwain Duxson
March 01, 2024

The “Club Notes” for Friday, the 1st of March, 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

Today's the day

I, like most of you are Agricultural enthusiasts. We are students of the game; most of you get to live it every day. And, yes, it has its moments, but hey, what else would we be doing? Today is our FarmTender2024 - Entrepreneurs in Farming event, and I am very excited about what we have to present and what connections everyone attending will make. I think it's very important to have these fully focused Farmer events. I have been to alot of Agricultural events, and they are not Farmer-focussed, but funnily enough, they are always talking about Farmers. Today, it's all about delivering takeaways via our speakers and making connections with attendees who have that entrepreneurial flair. For those that can't or aren't attending, please consider coming along next year. We will also have a video that people can buy. What topics would you like to see next year? Reply to [email protected]

No Saturday morning editions

This is going to be a pretty full-on day, and we have our annual staff catch-up on Saturday. So, with those things in mind, there won't be any Saturday edition this week. We will be back on Monday. Reply to [email protected]

Challenging our biases

We wrote a story titled "Assuming it's better" in our Farm Tender Daily newsletter recently which we got lots of replies to. You can read the article here. It got me thinking: many of the things we do on the Farm are automatic, and we don't have to think too much because we have done them all before. It's part of the uniqueness of being a Farmer. We have all these skills, and we put them to good use. For many of these things we do, we have a set routine, but what we should be doing is giving each task some thought around how we can do it better or differently. We need to challenge our biases. Not every time we do a particular task, but just once is a good way to start; you might work out that how you're doing it is the best way anyway. Just give it a crack. It might just make some of those meaningless tasks a little more meaningful. Reply to [email protected]

What price opportunity cost?

There is always an opportunity cost in any decisions we make around money. Some are big on it, and others don't even factor it in. We will talk a little bit about it at today's event. Everyone in Farming is involved in what we call the money-go-round. It's a constant thing. A part of this is making sure we stay liquid. But getting back to opportunity cost, I know one Farmer who saved up 4 Wool clips in anticipation of the next drought, where he could use those funds to containment feed his Sheep. That's pretty thoughtful. We are all chasing the top of the market because when the last Livestock boom was with us, we all made money, so price is very important in the overall equation. I guess the opportunity cost lost by the Farmer who accrued the 4 Wool Clips is that the market has dropped over the course, and they have to take today's lower price. Now, I am not sure if he has sold or not, as I know they are not in drought yet. But what if they sold that Wool after Harvest and put those funds in the bank for that drought, would they be better off? Yes, because the market has dropped, that is an opportunity lost. It's not wrong; it's just another way of looking at things. Do you factor in opportunity cost? 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:

“I’m thinking Andrew’s charts have used delivered port prices to calculate those graphs (which are very interesting to read). Perhaps they might look more favourable for holding Grain if the July prices were ex-farm. For example, we can get better feed B arley prices from Dairy Farmers wanting to buy directly off the Farm throughout the year. Partly due to more confidence in knowing what they are getting and partly due the $20/t fee to get delivered grain back out of the system we mainly deal with (Graincorp). It would be awesome to see the same comparison from Harvest to the following September-October period when stocks are usually dwindling before the next Harvest and North America has got their tonnages basically in the bin”. - In reply to our Farm Tender Daily story about holding onto Grain. You can read it here.
“We used kelp (liquid seaweed) as a drench for our Dorper Ewes and Rams. We thought it gave them an even more veracious appetite and increased their fertility. It worked better on dry feed than green. We swore by it”. - In reply to our seaweed Note about Feeding it to Cattle as a ration.
“Getting Married! 🤠” - Someone being very cheeky in reply to our Note on how some things we do go nowhere.
“Yep totally agree. There’s still a bit of that bias/emotion in Farming decisions, but I feel like it’s getting less as we know more. From the son's point of view, I don’t know if there’s anything that tests a father-son work relationship, like decisions that are made on bias or emotion and seemingly without reason”. - A Farmer talking about how they are trying to take the bias out of doing things.
“Still have our sheep classer, Rob Russell, can't live without him”. - In reply to our story, ask if the Sheep Classer is dead. No, not in this case.
“Gday Dwain. Just wanted to comment on holding Grain on Farm from our perspective. If it wasn’t for vertical storage and Silo Bags, our Harvest would run all year round, literally. Fewer received sites, further away. Bigger Headers. Worker shortages. We can’t afford not to store it on Farm. - A Farm pointing out how important on-Farm storage is.
“Hi Dwain. Interesting point on the Sheep Classer. Always remember the Classer as a kid (maybe because he always had a couple of Werthers original in his top pocket). Funnily enough, with our stud now, our Classer is still our main man. Now, each Farm is different, though from our point of view, we think some students are getting too data-driven and forgetting about looking at the actual animal in front of them. We use data but only second to physically classing them. There are so many visual and physical attributes to an animal that don’t get represented on a piece of paper. Not saying data isn’t a good thing, we just think that sometimes you can have too much of a good thing as they say”. - In reply to our Sheep Classer Note.
“The other important thing I have always thought is important is that you have to love the job you are doing, not just doing it for the money”. - This Farmer was talking about Farm Safety. You are more conscious if you are not just going through the motions.
“Hi Dwain. Your articles are always interesting, and I am sure tomorrow would be a fantastic day to attend. Unfortunately, I am unable. Can I pose some questions to you and or other attendees to combat the negative “umbrella“ image that Agriculture gets nowadays? In a world of jargon and slogans, we need to “rebrand” the image of Agriculture. It needs to be meaningful, positive and emotionally inclusive. We need to showcase all things great and demonstrate that we are connected to our urban cousins via our need for them as a market and as operators of all other industries that Agriculture needs. Just some thoughts”. - It’s a good question to ask, and it might be one for NFF president David Jochinke today.
“Farmers have a can-do attitude and not a lot of cash to pay someone else to do the job. Most haven’t worked anywhere else other than what their father taught them, so they don’t see the inherent danger. Besides all that, most are fiercely independent and stubborn, not liking to ask for help. That’s me, anyway”. - A Farmer summing up how most of the just on the Farm we have to do ourselves.
“My wife and I started the first private Fleece measurement service in NSW in 1989. We dealt with a lot of derision and suspicion from the Classing fraternity. Interesting to see the massive shift in microns achieved while holding or increasing fleece weight over the subsequent 30 years on the back of measurement. Still, an absolute need for the Classer as long as they are on board with the data thing”. - A Farmer who has observed that a Sheep Classer, in order to be successful needs to work with the data.