The Farmers Club Newsletter

The “Club Notes” for Saturday the 3rd of February 2024.

By Dwain Duxson

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

The perfect Lamb storm

I was talking to a Farmer yesterday morning who was busy buying Lambs back when the price was pretty depressed. He had a hunch and took a punt that the job would improve, and guess what? It's paid off. He says he has been very lucky that it's all worked out. Some of those Lambs he bought for $20-30 put them through the feedlot, and they have been coming out the other end at $200. He has also used some of the Hay he would normally sell to add value to the Lambs. That same Hay would be hard to sell. It's the perfect Lamb storm when you buy low, use something you probably wouldnt have been able to sell (Hay), all the time whilst watching the market rise and getting a good price at the end. He is a humble Farmer but was just so excited the planets all lined up at once. Do you have a story of when everything went right? Reply to [email protected]Reply to 

Love thy job

I put a Tweet up yesterday from a Farmer who said he absolutely loves Farming. I was talking to another Farmer yesterday who said he loves the game, but especially 3 times of the year. October, "when everything is flowering, the smell of Spring is in the air, and it's just a great time", he said. Also, "Harvest, when you can see the reward for all the effort that has gone into growing a Crop". And the other time is when they are weighing the Lambs, "I just love weighing Lambs" he said. I think weighing Lambs is just like Harvest when you get the reward for the effort you have put in. I did ask this Farmer has he looked at his birth certificate, as he is 70 years old. But to hear someone speak with such conviction is inspiring. It's just so important to love what you do. Are there times of the year or jobs that you love? Reply to [email protected]

A blessing in disguise

Sometimes, things were meant to happen. We had an Earthmoving guy here this week doing some driveway work. I alerted him of where the underground powerline went from the house to the Woolshed, and away he went. This line was done on the cheap by the previous owner of the property and wouldn't have been a compliment; in fact, one of the Sparkies who was doing some lighting work on the Woolshed said he was reluctant to do it because of the line. Anyway, old mate hit the line (we had it turned off), which was absolutely no fault of his because it was so shallow. So, in the shed, we have a big party there on the long weekend in March, and I was worried about the power for the Coolroom, Fridges, lights and the band. We would need a generator as it cuts out pretty easily. So once the line was cut, I rang the electrician who is coming Monday to do the new line, and he said we could up the amps, and I wouldn't have to worry about a generator. And while the Earthmoving guy was here, we got him to do a trench that is compliant (600mm), and we will then have a much better set-up than we did. So, the moral of the story is that cutting the line was a blessing in disguise. Sometimes, something like that needs to happen. Have you had a blessing in disguise moment? 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:

• “Regarding your little note on federal express incentives in one of the newsletters. It's obviously still working I just got a package from Poland to tassie in 6 days. That's seriously impressive. I hope just maybe someone from Auspost and the other freight carriers here in Australia might be signed up to your newsletter”. 😉 - Relating to an article we put up about incentives.

• “Chinese technology company Betavolt has introduced a modular nuclear battery that uses a combination of a nickel-63 radioactive isotope and a fourth-generation diamond semiconductor. The battery’s developers claim it can power devices for up to 50 years and that they are currently the only ones in the world capable of producing this technology”. - Someone sent me this and if it’s true it might solve some problems.

• “Hi Dwain. 100% agree. Conversation instead of discussion. Moving forward instead of in the future. Reach out instead of contact. Holistic Grazing instead of strip Grazing.I could go on, but just hearing these words and phrases annoys me. It must be getting old 😀 - On our Note about some of the words that are creeping into our Ag vocabulary.

• “Yes, I would”. - Someone wrote on our Note about employing New Zealanders.

• “Yeah Dwain, I think we are all a bit unproductive at times. Some days, you can have a heap of jobs to do, and you have one of those days where nothing seems to go right. A job that should have taken an hour takes 3 hours, and then for the rest of the day, you get the feeling that you should have stayed in bed. When you look back, you've worked your bum off and got nothing done, but there's always tomorrow. I think we all have those days”. - Yes, we do. On our Note about productivity.

• “My son is in year 11 this year, and schooling and delivery have changed since I graduated in 96, but one thing I think they do better is getting kids who don’t want to go to uni up skilled and ready for the workforce or apprenticeships by doing VET or VCAL or Vocational Majors now”. - Good to hear.

• “I really don’t care what it’s called, so long as we spiral upwards in all of the above and not downwards. - When talking about the word “Regenerative”.

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

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