The Farmers Club Newsletter

The “Club Notes” for Monday, the 19th of February, 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

11 days to go

Our FarmTender2024 - Entrepreneurs in Farming event is not far away. Click here for more info. See the media release here. Read some of the questions we are going to ask Danny Thomas, Rob Dawes, Claire Booth and Andrew Weidemann.

Comparisonitis

It's something we Farmers can suffer from. That's why I don't like benchmarking, where you compare yourself against others, which is a waste of time and gets you focusing on the wrong things. Benchmarking for use internally is a different story; it can be mighty helpful, and you need to know how you are going year after year. I know at Farm Tender, we do internal benchmarking on a daily basis where we measure about 30 different metrics. It gives all of us a measure as to where we are at as a business but also individually. Invaluable. Apart from sometimes suffering from comparisonitis, there are two other words that we can suffer from that suck the oxygen out of us. They are envy and jealousy. If you don't suffer from these two things, then you are living a good life. Do you feel yourself suffering from comparisonitis from time to time? Reply to [email protected]

World of Woolpresses

We wrote a note on Saturday morning about how some things appreciate in value, and I got talking about the Mini Matic Woolpress made by Stevlyon. I asked to be corrected on the Stevlyon story if I didn't get it right, and a reader came forward with the information. He said, "I can help you with the Stevlyon bit. Stevlyon originated from Boyd Stevens and Malcolm Lyons, hence Stevlyon. When Boyd Stevens stepped down, it became Lyco, meaning Lyons Company, and that stayed until they folded sadly. I think it was the South Australian Shearing Company that bought the patent on the presses, and that didn't go extremely well. Then, two brothers who used to work for Lyco started up making them after some redesign work to get around the patent issue. Carl and Darren McGill own the business called MACBRO ( McGill Brothers) and have turned it into a very successful little business at Alfredon in Ballarat". Thanks for the story, Bruce. It is much appreciated. Reply to [email protected] 

You know what…..

As a reader, it's hard not to take a peek at a Taylor Swift article or two. I am thinking about it from a human nature point of view. Why are so many people going to her concerts? Out of the 500,000 or so that are attending her Melbourne and Sydney concerts, at least 4 million applied for tickets. Amazing. And I know some of us are not interested, and that's fine too. But you know what, for those that went/go it putting a smile on their faces, bringing happines and creating memories. And isn't that part of the reason we exist? We spoke to a young lady last night who went on Saturday night, and she said it was awesome and was still buzzing. How good. Is there something that has given you a similar buzz over the years? 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:

• “Further to this, I believe those opposing windmills and solar should not even be advocating nuclear immediately since coal and gas are just as free as the wind and the sun and way less intrusive and destructive anyway. Technology will also progress in coal and gas just as it will use nuclear. Let it develop as it will”. - A Farmer backing that technology will advance in Coal and Gas.

• “My father had always drummed into me to “pick what you do and do it well”, so in short, that’s our farming system”. It can’t get any simpler than that.

• “The more rules we have, the less responsibility we take for our own actions (read - look for someone else to blame), the less scope we have for imaginative thought and the lazier we become”. - In reply to our story on Resilience in the Farm Tender Daily. You can read it here.  

• “We just finished a week in the Shearing Shed, and had a cut out. It was good, but the cut out knocked me around more than the week in the shed, haha”. That’s what cut outs can do.

• “It’s easy to get consumed on the Land with the busy lifestyle and a million things running through your head. We need to remind ourselves to pull up and enjoy our loved ones every now and then”. - It’s all-consuming this Farming, and sometimes we just need to stop. Great advice.

• “G'day Dwain, we have 50% of our Hay out of a shed with 50% of that with Hay Caps on it. I like to leave it out for 8 weeks in case we have a bad slice in a Bale. Hate to lose a shed with spontaneous combination. You do lose Hay quality, though, especially after 6 months. - In reply to our Note on putting Hay in Sheds.

• “G'day Dwain. I still got the first car, which was the hand-me-down/farm ute. It went away to my brother-in-law for a while, and then one of my sons got it back. It's had a few bobs spent on it, but I always get an enthusiastic wave or an encouraging "give it to her" when I take it for a spin”. - This is in reply to our Note on assets that increase in value on the Farm. See an image of the Ute below.

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

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