The Farmers Club Newsletter

The “Club Notes” for Wednesday, the 29th of November 2023

By Dwain Duxson

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

MLA direction

One lady said she and her husband went to the MLA updates and AGM at Bendigo last week, and she said this "HUGE emphasis on 'Sustainability' and 'Carbon Neutral' and when a few questions were fired off from 'your ordinary Farmer', they were shut down very quickly. We found the whole event very 'top heavy' and only leading in one direction". This is what worries me about setting targets and putting timelines on those targets. MLA has a target for the red meat industry to be carbon neutral by 2030. So, to achieve that, they have to be talking about it and pushing it at every opportunity. And by doing so they will get some levy payers off side because that is their main agenda. Most levy payers have more pressing issues. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. Do you think that MLA should be focussed on this carbon neutral thing, or are there more pressing issues? Reply to [email protected]

The Emu era

Yesterday, we wrote about Farming fads that died off. I got a few replies on this subject, and one that came up was Emu's. And I'm guessing you can add Ostriches to that as well. But the Emu's is a better case study for us because there were many Farmers that got into them in the Marnoo area where I grew up. We had a local guy who was a bit of an entrepreneur (some would describe him differently), and he was selling the Emu breeding stock to the Farmers and finding markets for the progeny. There were a good number of Farmers that went into them with promises of good returns. I remember we got approached but didn't have enough money to invest in the breeding stock and the infrastructure needed. It probably lasted 5 or 6 years, and then it went as fast as it came. Can you remember any other Farming fads that died off? Reply to [email protected]

Something is brewing

It's great to see the Cattle and Sheep markets on the rise. The Cattle market is benefiting from some much-needed rain in the North of the country. And the Sheep market stayed rock bottom up until about 3 weeks ago when we saw some green shoots. A telltale sign that confidence is lifting in the Sheep game is when the restockers return. Whether that be Sheep or Lambs, they are seeing a small to meduim margin in the wings. I think there is something brewing in the Lamb market, and we could start to see some shortages of Lambs come autumn. This would help spur Mutton as well. It seems as though there are some opportunities there now. Do you think it's a good time to buy now, or maybe you need to sell some first? Reply to [email protected]

The longer Christmas

I don't know about you, but I think that this period leading up to Christmas is starting earlier than normal. I have a mate who takes a more cynical view by saying that the getting-nothing-done-Christmas-period now runs from Melbourne Cup right through to Australia Day. I'm sure he has his tongue firmly planted in his cheek when he says it, but.... As for Farming, it's a different beast in the fact that Harvest can run into and beyond Christmas, and it's the food industry's biggest period of the year. So many Farmers and Farmer service providers can only ever have a day or two off over Christmas. Are you feeling this Christmas period is getting longer than in the past? Reply to [email protected]

Drought Ready and Resilient Fund loans for NSW

This came across our desk today. Take a read here.

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

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