No 432 - Monday's Club Notes

The “Club Notes” for Monday, the 10th of February, 2025.

By Dwain Duxson - An Ag Enthusiast

Ag never sleeps

We have opened this edition up to all the free subscribers. The reason being, is there was so much Ag news over the weekend that you need to be reading. Ag never sleeps. We have condensed it into this edition, which is a bumper one. I also want to make you aware of the latest competition we have running for a getaway valued at $5000. How we have structured this is that anyone who is already a paid subscriber gets 2 tickets in the draw, and anyone who is not a paid subscriber gets 2 tickets if they sign up by 3 pm (EDST) on the 21st of Feb 2025. If you sign up after that until the time of the draw, which is 3 pm Friday the 28th of Feb 2025, you will receive 1 ticket in the draw. Now I just want to point out this: because it’s free for the first 30 days, you can subscribe, get 2 tickets and be eligible for the draw and then unsubscribe if you choose to. I would prefer you didn’t, but I am just outlining this loophole that you can take advantage of. See below for more details. Scroll to the bottom of the page to become a paid subscriber.

Next members draw

• We are giving away a $2500 Luxury Escape voucher plus $2500 in spending money to use how you like.

• To be drawn on the Friday the 28th of February at 3 pm EDST.

• Here’s the deal. Sign up before the 21st of Feb at 3 pm, and you will get 2 tickets in the draw. From then on until draw time, it will be 1 ticket.

• Note: All existing subscribers get 2 tickets in the draw.

• Remember: It’s 30 days free, so you can be in and out and still be in the draw

New Ag media trend emerging

This publication is part of a new trend of free and paid newsletters that are slowly replacing old forms of media. It’s a new media category, which I am sure you will see grow over the coming years. One I subscribe to in the US is The Van Trump Report, which is a little similar to our newsletter, and they reportedly have over 25,000 subscribers at USD$60 per month ($100 Aussie). I am not aiming for those sorts of numbers, but I just want to point out where the Ag media is headed. I subscribe to at least half a dozen others, most of which come out of the US. We recently did a survey to our paid-up members asking if they would like the newsletter to be in shorter form than normal. 88 per cent voted to keep it the same. Do not touch, they said. I was pleased with that. For me, this is a passion project that I get so much pleasure from. I enjoy writing but equally searching for relevant material, I think subscribers might need to know about. I am also educating myself along the way, which I believe we all need to be doing. In Ag, there is so much to keep up with. Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

Can't force profitability

When we’ve come off a bad year, we go into a mode of trying to force profits to make up for the loss. This is one of the things that was outlined at our Farm visit it Nigel Kerins a weekend ago. Farmers in parts of Victoria and especially South Australia would be thinking this as they enter into a new season behind the eight ball after a stinker last year. I will write another story about forcing profitability tomorrow, which has a little bit of a different angle to it, but the same principles apply. So some examples might be if you go and sow all your Crop to say Canola because that's what you think will give you the best return, or you buy extra Sheep to boost your numbers, but you haven't done your grass budgets. Or you do something like slashing your input costs by half. Once you start trying to force profitability, it will more than likely go against you. We had a good discussion around this topic. Have you tried to force things, and they unravelled? Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

Dividing communities but……

Ross Johns, a Farmer in the Wimmera area, was the subject of a fantastic article in the Australian on Saturday. See some snippets in the "Rural Energy and Climate" section below. He talks about how the renewable energy debate is dividing communities. It has been for about 5 years, maybe longer, as the renewable debate has come from being somewhat accepted, to now, where most Farmers don’t want to have anything to do with renewables. I say most, but there is a number of Farmers who support renewables, which is where the divide starts: one Farmer saying no, and the next door one saying yes. It's heavy stuff. Yes, there is a divide, as Ross has outlined, which has seen friendships terminated. But, a positive has also emerged. So what we have seen is groups formed to fight against the transmission lines, solar panels and wind towers and these groups bring people together like never before. I have seen this through the community where our family Farm is where people have united as one to fight. And what I have noticed is it has brought these people closer together. Locals who necessarily didn't have much to do with each other except for a wave when passing have come together and are now great friends. United for a cause. How good is that? So there is a positive side to all this, but in reality I bet they all wished it went away and everyone could get on with the main gig, Farming..... Is it dividing your community and, at the same time, bringing people closer together?  Reply to [email protected] or 0427 011 900

End of message.

Dwain Duxson
0427 011 900

Upcoming paid Member draws:

The next draw 

• We are giving away a $2500 Luxury Escape voucher plus $2500 in spending money to use how you like. See above for more details.

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

• 4 ticket draw valued at $300 each in a 1000 ticket raffle for a New Landcruiser Sahara. Drawn: TBA.

Your replies:

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

• We put up a picture of a 100-yard surveyor chain the other day. This person explains a bit more about them and what uses they had - "Hi Dwain, The snippet on the surveyor's chain was obviously written by someone much younger than I. Illustrates how easily we lose knowledge and skills. And understand what we are looking at. If only it could talk! The history behind this relic is something few understand. I used one on the Farm to set out fence lines, sheds and property boundaries, and determine quantities of material, e.g. posts and rolls of wire. An essential tool used by surveyors to establish State boundaries, design cities and towns, the Snowy scheme and the channel systems. Let's not forget the cricket pitch is one chain long. The term, "dragging the chain" refers to this item, where one of the survey team had to drag it for miles through scrub. If it got very tangled in vegetation, he would be slow and hold up others on the job. Henceforth, "dragging the chain".

• In reply to our story about the unauthorised Dingo breeding program in the Little Desert. Here is an interesting rundown on how the "Parks" people go about their job these days - "Hi Dwain, Observation on dingos. Symptomatic of two wider, interconnected issues.  It should be obvious by now how woke Parks Vic has become after a quiet invasion of the Green-Klimate-Kultcha Blob disease. The Blob infects susceptible brains with encephalitis-like symptoms, identifiable by swelled all-knowing heads and a dangerous tendency to spread its minority agenda. Often with a not-so-subtle smell of ignorance and arrogance. A terminal outlook for common sense and sanity if not treated.  The Parks Vic pseudo-management model no longer reflects the original biodiversity and landscape conservation principles, with recreational and, where appropriate, commercial use of natural resources, e.g. water and apiary use, clearly enshrined in the original legislation. What was established for everyone's benefit, access and use in perpetuity, is becoming the exclusive playground for minority sectional interests, with the majority gradually excluded. Question: Should Dingos be considered in the context of biosecurity? The history of invasive i.e. introduced either deliberately or accidentally, species in all categories can be measured from thousands of years, e.g. Dingo, to mere months, e.g. Varoa mite. Most can and do have a negative direct impact on both native and introduced flora and fauna we depend on, and as a society for pure enjoyment, survival and commercial use. Objectively, what level of relevance do we assign to how long an introduced species has been here? Many are now "naturalised", meaning unable to eliminate, so here to stay, the on-going cost of which can be significant. Is the length of time a species has been introduced of any substantive relevance? Dingos have had a devastating impact on native fauna, no different to other introduced canines and felines. We have spent hundreds of millions over the past decades on excluding and controlling the impact of dingos on sheep. For some, whether it's carp, dingos, camels or cane toads, there's a spectrum of feelings ranging from emotional attachment to hatred. Spurious and reasoned argument often collide without resolution. At issue here is whether or not the woke bureaucracy and its fellow travellers have been subverting the principles of acting in good faith, transparency and personal accountability. There's also the issue of Park management when it comes to fire (where proactive should outweigh reactive). Time for a transparent inquiry and Parks Vic CEO's and other heads to roll?"

• In reply to our story asking what you least favourite weed is - "Bathurst Burr and wild Radish."

• In reply to our story on how one is the number we need to be aiming for Farming. Often referred to as the one-percenters. These little wins add up to a lot over a season, and then we might look back, say, 5 years to see the amount we have achieved. This Farmer relays the story of Jeff Bezos's philosophy around the number one - "Hi Dwain, Your note on the power of one reminded me of Jeff Bezos and Amazon. You may know this is a core philosophy of Amazon. In fact, Jeff Bezos named one of the first buildings at Amazon "Day 1" to remind everyone they should always be on day 1 of the company, where core goals, values and aspirations, acting decisively, taking risks, and learning from mistakes guide everything. To move to Day 2 is to forget where you came from and get focused on the process rather than the results. It seems to have worked for Jeff 🙂. See here".

• This Farmer has a problem with a problem weed - "G'day Dwain. We have a real problem with Gorse. I have been working on it for 45 years; I'm getting there burning, Dozing, and Spraying. I stupidly said there would be none left by the time I hang the boots up, think I'll be here a bit longer than I thought".

Random and associated Ag articles and images.

Cropping & Grain

Sheep, Wool & Lambs

Cattle & Beef

Agribusiness

Ag Events

Machinery, Vehicles and Equipment

Ag People

Weather, Irrigation & Water

Rural Property

Rural Energy & Climate

Other Ag stuff

Just saying…

Funnies

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