The Farmers Club Newsletter

The “Club Notes” for Tuesday the 23rd of January 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

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

Chasing Flies

Chasing flies isn't like it used to be. Back 20 or so years when wrinkly Merinos dominated the Sheep population, any humid type weather would initiate a flywave. But now there are a couple of preventatives. Namely Click, the chemical you use to pretty much guarantee you won't get any fly issues for up to 3 months. Another preventative has been the ability for Merino Breeders to breed the wrinkle off Sheep; this has helped immensely. So now you can go into spring confident you won't spend the day chasing flyblown Sheep. It's a management thing now. You should only ever get the odd one struck now. But I remember the old days of tackling Sheep to the ground in the paddock and Shearing the flyblow area with hand Shears and then applying the liquid (the name escapes me; it was a white liquid in a tin). It wasn't much fun as it stunk a bit, but it was less fun for the Sheep. Do you remember the fly waves? Reply to [email protected]

Is the ultimate this?

As a Farmer, is it the ultimate when you reach a point where you are making the decisions? Because most Farms are small businesses with sometimes only one or two people working in the business, most Farmers, at some point in time, will get to be the boss. As a young Farmer, you are striving to one day run the show. You might get a little snippet of responsibility in the lead-up to the ultimate prize, and this usually gives you more fuel to strive to run the show. Then we do that for a period, get a little older and many of us gladly give up what we strived for so hard back earlier. It just goes to show, over the lifetime of a Farmer, how situations change, and this moves our thinking in another direction. It's like when we start out in Farming, we're a generalist, and as we get older, we become a specialist, choosing the things we want to do and also the things we don't want to do. Is it the ultimate as a Farmer to be allowed to make the decisions? And if so, can you remember when you were granted that wish? Reply to [email protected]

Working on Australia Day

Many Farmers will be working on Australia Day. Hey, it could be a good Spraying day. Most are working because it's another day, not in protest or anything like that. But I know of businesses and workers who are working on Australia Day in protest. And many companies are giving their staff the option. Large organisations like our friends at MLA and Cricket Australia, just to name a few, aren't recognising Australia Day, so they have no reference to it. It's a bit of a fence-sitting, bob-each-way, Claytons type, too scared to do anything tactic. But back to these protesting businesses and employees that are working on Australia Day, most of them are taking a day off during the week the following week so they don't miss out. To me, this is hypocritical; if you are protesting, you give up the public holiday rather than just take it elsewhere. Don't take the benefit if you are serious about it. Do you think I am being too harsh here? 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:

• "Deere stated that "connectivity is as important as sunlight to Farming". - A statement I saw over the weekend.

• "John Deere Greenstar Technology can be fitted into about every other brand of Tractor with solutions from SolSteer and Agra-GPS. The Boys at Agra-GPS even have a GPS Receiver that will clip in and directly replace a JD receiver! 2ND to that... CNH, with their new displays, can import an entire JD dataset and "re-align" the Guidance and Boundaries across to their system! - An expert in this area saying that it's not that hard to switch over your data. In reply to our "Locked In" Note yesterday.

• "Why don't they admit to being wrong?" - A frustrated Farmer in reply to our story about BOM bashing.

• "I think there's a shortage of graduates coming through, and many of those want to avoid the anxiety of "sales" and looking for something other than being a weeds/pest killer". - In reply to a question I asked an Agronomist. Is there a shortage of Agros?

• "While we all make mistakes, the BOM has turned it into an art form. Also, they have this smug presentation style typical of most public servants of, don't question me; I've got a fancy degree". - A Farmer with an opinion on the BOM's form.

• "Who is providing them with the material and the curriculum that they are supposed to teach? In my opinion, that's where the problem lies. - A good question: who lays out the curriculums for all these schools?

• "Every Farmer I know has YR, yet they don't complain when the 50mm predicted every week and doesn't eventuate despite BOM saying they can only reliably predict rain 3 days out! Does my head in. And changing the date changes the hate". - Here's a bit of support for the BOM.

• "A piggery in WA smuggled semen into Australia for quite a few years in shampoo bottles but resulted in 2 business partners spending 2 years in jail" - A reader replying to a story on Pig Production. I never knew it was illegal to import Pig semen. 

• "Until only recently, we were travelling as a family of 4, so a good family room (preferably 2 bedrooms) was key for a good Motel. A great one is the Countryman Inn in Orbost. Friendly service, quiet location, and the Marlo pub is a short drive away". - Their favourite Country Motel.

• "Buy Australian-made GPS Gear (Precision Technology) as they look after you and only have to pay unlocks once, as unlocks belong to the customer for life, not each GPS unit only". - A bit of advice from a Farmer in regards to our "Locked In" Note.

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

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