No 410 - Tuesday's Club Notes

Dwain Duxson
January 14, 2025

The “Club Notes” for Tuesday, the 14th of January, 2025.

By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

Raw and real

Everyone gets the full version today - I had a distressing text message and email from a subscriber and Farmer who Farms on the edge of the Big Desert in Victoria. On Sunday, he went around his Lambs and found 5 dead and 14 (maybe more) mauled or wounded. He was utterly devastated, and understandably so. See the text message he sent through and photos of some of the damage done in the "Other Ag Stuff" section below. It's very raw and real. This is where a system breaks down when the government puts controls on things that have an effect on people's livelihoods. All to appease the minority. Just imagine what that mob of Lambs had to go through being chased around by a pack of wild dogs. As a Farmer, there would be a distinct feeling of helplessness having come across such an incident. And this Farmer, as you can see by the message, was very angry at the system. I know Farmers close to the Little Desert in Victoria who have the same issues, and they can not do anything to prevent these attacks. Sheep numbers are dwindling nationwide and something like this should not be happening, or at least they should be given the ability to prevent such an action. Have you had problems with wild Dogs? Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

Members draw - 6 months’ worth of meat from Our Cow

Win 6 months’ worth of meat from Our Cow - Our friends at Our Cow have chipped in to offer up 6 months’ worth of meat (or whatever you like in the Our Cow online shop) valued at $1200 and delivered to your door. The draw will take place at 3 pm on Friday, the 24th of January 2025. Anyone who subscribes has the opportunity to win. Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

What’s in the paid section today:

Story 2 - Safe is stale - How are you going to be bold in 2025?……

Story 3 - Learning not to get frustrated when things don't go to plan……

Number of articles and images - 67 tidbits of valuable Farming and Ag info and new. We also have 18 funnies and 3 just sayings.

Number of Farmer replies - 7 in total with a few bakes for the NFF.

Safe is stale

I put this up in the "Just Saying" section yesterday. "The opposite of a great market position is often another great market position. Take hotels, for example: Touch-free check-in: seamless, efficient, no human interaction. High-touch check-in: warm, personal, every detail handled. Both are remarkable. The middle ground? Forgettable. The lesson is clear: safe is stale". My "in business" word for 2025 is "bold". Taking bold action to get a little bit more advanced than I probably would have been if I was not bold. I have an idea of how I can be bold. I just need to work out how it can be done. What's happening politically and economically in the country can put a holt on bigger picture plans for people and keep them in the safe zone. However, as Dan Schultz wrote above, the safe zone is where most of the population is operating, so you don't want to be there. It's interesting: I am doing this podcast on renowned Farmer Harry Bourchier, and he was 13 or 14 years old when the 1930 depression hit. Many people lost their nerve forever when the depression hit, with scars that lasted a lifetime. Harry would have witnessed all that and used those lessons in a positive sense to do bold things. If safe is stale, then we need to stay out of the way of safe. Do you have plans to do something a little bit different in 2025? Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

Putting frustration aside

I had a local welder weld up a big Fook Farm sign for our Woolshed last Friday. It hasn't been painted yet, but see a picture below in the "Places" section. He did a good job, but the bottom wasn't exactly straight, as it warped a little when he was welding the letters onto the bottom bit. So, an hour job turned into a 4-hour job, and it's probably something he should have corrected in his workshop before he bought it out here. I had to hang around to help him lift the signs up to their high point above the Shed door. I could feel myself getting frustrated as I knew I had plenty of work to do that afternoon with a few deadlines to meet. That frustration waned when I thought about how things operate on the Farm. Most days, you set out to achieve this, this and this, but most of the time, you have things that get in the way that need to be attended to that take you off course. So you only get this done and this and this have to wait until tomorrow. When it happens often enough, you work out a way to cope and get through the situation. As it turned out, we got the signs in place, and I met all my deadlines, and we even got to go to the pub that evening. So lesson learned for me is that your plans aren't always going to go the way you want them to. Do you cope well when things don't always go the way you want them to? Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

Upcoming paid Member draws:

Latest - 6-month months’ worth of meat from Our Cow

Win 6 months’ worth of meat from Our Cow - Our friends at Our Cow have chipped in to offer up 6 months’ worth of meat (or whatever you like in the Our Cow shop) valued at $1200 and delivered to your door. The draw will take place at 3 pm on Friday, the 24th of January 2025. Anyone who subscribes has the opportunity to win. Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

4 tickets in a 1000 ticket draw for a Toyota Sahara -

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We have secured 4 tickets.

Your replies:

Below are snippets from some of the replies you sent in. All quotes will remain nameless. See a few current ones below:

In reply to our story on the NFF and how they are majority government-funded. This Farmer was pretty scathing and didn't mince his words - Hi Dwain, Great article; most people in the NFF and State organisations have very little connection with the day-to-day farmers and farming. They deal with policies and other things that do not make a difference to on-the-ground issues. They have just become highly paid lobbyists. When I have talked to them, they talk like politicians, talking an awful lot without saying anything of substance at all. Love photo ops, but if you talk about Lambing, Calving, and Crop Harvesting, their eyes glaze over, and there are not enough young men and young women with hands-on farm experience; cheers from a very hot Tassie day".
Another in reply to our NFF story and equally as scathing as the previous one - "Yeah, Dwain, it's like the government-funded scientists; they play the government wants to hear, climate change tune, and if they don't, they haven't got a job. The scientist at AIMS in Townsville is a case in point: they sacked him because he questioned the results of a survey on the coral reefs they did. So, yeah, I reckon the NFF won't be long away from playing the piper's tune. You can't bite the hand that feeds you".
A Farmer who is with me on the Government funding bit - "I'm am 100% against Government funding for the very reason you articulated".
This Farmer get's frustrated with some of the advocacy groups agendas. She spells it out here - "Hi Dwain. Over 25 years ago, I could see that these advocacy groups, or to be more specific, the individuals in them, ended up siding more with their mates in the political sphere than with the farmers they supposedly represented. I can see that from the government perspective that these organisations are highly useful in that the politicians and public serpents can say that they have "consulted" with "Farmers" and got their agreement, but leaning on a couple of people in these supposed Farmers unions is all they needed to do. Otherwise, why does the government fund these organisations? I saw my only way to protest what I saw as a sell-out of Farmers to government agendas that farmers get to pay for was not to join and pay for such organisations, hopefully eventually showing the lack of credibility of those organisations. I have been sort of forced to a couple of times when I needed help with staffing matters. On a local level, the strategy of not joining or supporting what I think is wrong, has been hard on me. I am isolated, and one way to get in touch with local Farmers and network is to be part of an active local farmers group in this area. Which I have ended up not going to, much to a detriment to myself I believe. The reason why I join, then end up not going, apart from Farm work getting in the way, is that a lot of their program centres around "the new thing" whatever that is, like climate change lectures, applying for soil carbon credits, and a lot of political woke stuff it turns my stomach to sit through lectures on. So, on principle of not supporting what I see as wrong on ethical grounds, I end up not going :(. I remember Les Patterson and the Cheese Board :)".
This was in reply to our story on how the characters have somewhat disappeared from the bush. His Dad recently died, and they had a gathering, and all the old stories started to flow - "Last Friday, we had a gathering to farewell the Dad, who would have been 87. (he passed on the 27th Dec). Well - the stories were on for young and old, but mostly remembering certain events which seemed to always involve the same group of blokes. Thinking about these men who would all be 110 at least if they were still alive. They all (mostly) fought in WW2, worked with teams of men doing hard work, valued their mates, and no matter how good or bad they were, they all played sport".
This was in reply to a couple of articles we put out yesterday. One was about the NDIS and how many are manipulating the system and taking the piss. It's about how modern-day governments think and act - "Hi Dwain, The central thread to the second and third articles is Leftie-determined central planning by socialists, for socialists. After all, it's only other people's money, not theirs. How many guberment designed programs have you seen that actually work the way they spruik it? Crickets anyone? The less dirt under the nails the worse it gets. And by that, we know it means real-life experience, not theories that have no way of working. The core problem is there's no personal accountability or a direct feedback loop with personal consequences for getting it partially or horribly wrong. If you ran the farm that way, the real estate guys will be coming down the road with a for-sale sign to fix on the front gate on the way out. Instead, shift the the incompetents sideways, often to do more damage in someone else's portfolio. Or a promotion if they are "mates", nod, wink. While we might blame the Pollies first up, and often it's well-deserved, it's the faceless but equally incompetent bureaucrats and "consultants" where the blame really needs to be sheeted home. And who is going to do that if there is no guts and glory in the responsible departmental minister? Short-on anyone? Having worked in the inside, it's a mix of both very professional people and highly un-professional dregs. Where nepotism and unaccountability rein supreme, that's where you get the likes of the NDIS. Answer? Repeal the legislation in total and start again with full transparency upfront and all the way through. And embed personal accountability with very hefty penalties where it needs to be, applied at all levels, not least the delivery of services".
In reply to our story of where have all the characters gone. This one explains it a bit when we say we all have the inner character, but todays conformist society doesn't allow that to come out - "G'day Dwain, I agree totally with your comment about the younger generation feeling the need to conform. I tried to encourage my kids to be true to themselves. I know I am very different to the image of a chartered accountant. Shore a few Lambs a week or two back, kill my own meat, trained in welding and fitting and machining, and fix all sorts of Machinery for myself and others. Do my own Harvest too. My son is a great worker, but the need to conform is overwhelming for him. He will never speak out in a group, or walk away. The only thing he will fire up about is when someone offers him drugs. That's the only time he wants to come out swinging. Any of his mates who liked a puff are all ex mates. Not really upset about that. At school, he wouldn't work harder as he didn't want to stand out from his mates, even though he is quite smart. Average was the goal. Our daughter is a bit more strong-willed, although happy in her own skin, has always craved social acceptance. Having spent 6 months in the outback as a governess, she is a bit more resilient and individual, always happy to give her Dad a hug in public. Even so, she wants to be one of the girls and do girl things. Maybe she used to get used to being different when I used to drop her at kinder in the old truck (then again, did it with son too). I think we might have spent a bit more time on our own as kids, no/little tv etc. to influence the "normality". We amused ourselves, and just rode our bikes everywhere. No play groups or after-school sports or activities. The only extracurricular activity was cubs for a year, and few went as I grew up in an ethnic area of Melbourne. Maybe that is a big difference too, because every kid was very different, so we all stood out".