We did a podcast with Lachie just under 12 months ago, and since then Lachie, his family and his team have bought an extra 3000 acre Farm in Southern Vic, added another 50,000 tonnes in turnover for his Fodder business, McKenzie Ag, bought a $140k Angus Bull (to add to Undercut, who cost $275k) and ran 3rd in the Melbourne Cup. 

He should get us along for a chat more often. 

This interview was done at the Goroke Farmers event in mid August and I can tell you the crowd were all ears. 

This time round we went a bit deeper and got stuck into what makes he and his business tick. He dropped a clue about how he thinks by revealing his motivation for buying Uppercut for $275k. Now you have to realise that Lachie doesn’t have an Angus Stud; he doesn't sell any Bulls to the public. The purpose of buying Uppercut was to breed some Bulls for his own use to improve his line of females.

 But the genius of Uppercut's purchase was that he recouped nearly 4 times the cost of the Bull through semen sales. This is how he thinks. The whole exercise was like a highly profitable trade. This year's $140k purchase was bought as an outcross, but also for the same reason, and semen sales are showing great promise as we went to air. 

I’m sure he has started his homework and will be researching who the best black Bull is in Australia is in 2027. 

Lachie applies this pro-business thinking to his other operations, and they continue to evolve. 

This is riveting stuff, and I thoroughly recommend you take a listen. 

End of message.

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid Agletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.

In a time when Australian manufacturing is faltering on the back of high energy prices, it’s commendable that Scotty and his business partner Paul Johns are investing in such an ambitious project. 

Their greenfield Hay Export project, QA Hay, has been 8 years in the making, and in early August they processed their first bales. The Hay press alone will be the biggest and fastest in the world. The scale of the project is enormous. 

Scotty aims to shake up the industry with 5-day end-of-week payments, while the industry standard is 30 days end-of-week or even 30 days end-of-month; this will be super attractive to Farmers. It brings them more in line with Grain payments. 

It was being on the other end, as producers, that Scott and Paul realised where the opportunities were in the Hay Export industry and what could be improved. The new payment terms and a couple of other initiatives they are bringing in have pricked the ears of fellow exporters, and not all have accepted the newbie on the block with open arms. 

We don’t see projects of this scale in Ag very often these days, especially from a couple of private operators, a couple of Farmers. They will go well, and the Farming community should get behind them and barrack like buggery. Better still, support them with product. 

This is an inspiring interview we did at the Goroke Farmers event recently. The crowd was silent and listening intently. It’s a great chat. 

We hope you enjoy. End of message.

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid Agletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.

Bec is one of those lucky people who has a mathematical brain. But she is also a very good writer, and as some of you would know, Bec is one of our guest columnists. It’s a unique combination that you don’t see often. 

Bec has been instrumental in the Cotton industry and has seen some of the big changes that have allowed it to become the progressive industry it is. I asked Bec why it’s so progressive. She said it’s because it’s an industry where Farmers aren’t competing with each other; everyone wants to see those who commit to it do well, and they will pull out all stops to make sure the very best knowledge is shared. 

It’s a refreshing approach, as many of the more traditional industries compete more than share. It’s one of those industries that attracts a lot of young people, which keeps it vibrant and fresh. 

Bec's big Cotton project was developing a traceability model called Australian Super Cotton. She described it as a dirt-to-shirt, full supply chain, single-origin story. Bec learnt lots from this, which she outlines, but one of the biggest things was that just having a story wasn’t enough, which I found interesting. 

Those who have tried to control all or most of the stages of the supply chain know how hard it is, and Bec went through all that. She learnt so much, and is using some of those learnings in the current projects she is working on. 

The program came to a close not because it wasn’t successful, but because they stopped producing seed for the long staple cotton (which was of higher quality) they were using. 

We spoke about so much more, including her shift from Cotton to Sheep, her AI brain project, her writing and consulting and how she has just taken on a CEO role for Aussie Helpers. 

It's been quite a journey so far for Bec, and she has achieved so much. A great listen from someone who is challenging Ag's status quo.

 I hope you enjoy. End of message 

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid Agletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.

It’s not very often we have ready access to a family who pioneered an Ag industry that has proved to be one of the Cattle industry's greatest discoveries. Usually, they have descendants 6 or 7 generations back, but our interviewee today, Jack Sher, is only 2nd generation.

Jack's father, Nick, can lay claim to bringing the first batch of Wagyu genetics to Australia. Interestingly, they came from the US and not Japan. Nick and a few other breeders imported an embryo batch, so there were others involved, but the Shers can lay claim to having the first Wagyu calf drop in Australia. That was on February 11th 1992. 

Another first was sending boxed beef from Australia to the home of Wagyu, Japan. The Shers’ story is a fascinating and unique one, and the foresight Nick showed way back then was truly a forefather moment. 

The Shers control the breeding, grazing, Feedlotting, cold storage, distribution, and marketing, so basically they own and control the supply chain except for the processing. It’s a complex business built on great systems, and each part requires processes that enable it to interact with all parts of the supply chain. 

Jack shares with us the history of how it came about, the journey and what the business looks like today. After I interviewed Jack on Friday, I had dinner at the Woodhouse in Bendigo. I promised him I would only eat Sher Wagyu products. My dinner guest and I had the Sher Wagyu Beef Tartare and the 200-gram Sher Wagyu Eye Fillet. And we aren’t patronising here, but my guest (who is in the Wagyu industry) and I both agreed it was the best steak we have ever eaten. 

This is one of the best podcasts we have done. I hope you enjoy. End of message.

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid newsletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.

To make it big in Ag Tech, you have to be someone pretty special. Someone who understands their audience. 

We sat down with Jock Lawrence, who is the founder of Farm Management Software business Mobble. Take a listen here. Jock, a Farmer's son, got the idea from his old man when marking Lambs one day. He was counting tails and jotting them down in his trusty notebook, and Jock thought there had to be a better way. There was, and he built it. 

Disclaimer: I use Mobble, but only for the rain gauge, and what I have noticed with this business is they are A1 for customer service. Something we write about regularly, and classifying a business as A1 is pretty rare. 

In the lead-up to a yearly subscription payment, you always get a call to let you know that it’s about to debit your card. Not many, if any, do that. It’s impressive. 

They also get about 20 to 30 pieces of feedback through their Slack community each day. This helps them refine their products. 

To date, Mobble have about 10 per cent of the Sheep flock and 5 per cent of the Cattle Herd on their platform. That’s a big number. 

Before they released the app way back at the start, they had over 200 people signed up ready to go. To me, that’s when you know you have got something others want. 

This is a fantastic interview with someone who saw a gap in the market, took it and built something that has been in constant growth for the 8 years since release. Well done, Jock and team. 

I hope you enjoy. End of message.

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid newsletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.

This podcast is with Lachlan Monsborough; he’s the Ag and environmental lead for Rabobank here in Australia. We pretty much exclusively spoke about the Chinese Machinery market and their ambitions to start exporting Machinery to the leading Ag countries worldwide.

Lachlan said it’s just a matter of when, as they are quickly developing the appetite and are showing signs that it’s all starting to happen.

Lachlan used BYD's move into Australia as an example of how they gained traction really quickly, and he outlined how quickly they have grown in just 10 years.

He is giving the Machinery guys a timeline of around 10 years before they become mainstream here, and he said that once they fully focus on the export market, look out.

He said the Chinese are fully aware of the cost that Westerners are paying for more traditional European and North American Machines, and they see an opportunity to offer equivalents at a much lower price. He said the John Deeres and CNH's of the world will come under great pressure.

He sees the advent of competition from different continents as a positive and urges early adopters to give these Machines a go and be a little patient to pave the way for others. He said current Machinery prices are stifling innovation and hurting the Farmer in the hip pocket. It’s a fascinating look to the future.

I hope you enjoy - End of message.

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid newsletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.

Scott McDouall had a unique start in life, where his father was an educator and facilitator with RCS and his mother was a psychologist. And, funnily enough, all these years later, he has started a business that has tapped into and combined the skills his mother and father both had. 

Scott runs Swiften, which is essentially a business that provides coaching to a wide range of Rural businesses. Scott started out drinking the corporate juices, mainly with Elders and later with Mort and Co, and was seen as an ambitious knowledge seeker who climbed the ladder. And like some who get heavily involved in corporate, there comes a time where they get that itch to combine all their knowledge and go out and do it on their own. 

Scott did that, and his business is rapidly gaining a reputation for helping businesses reach places they only ever dreamed of. In this podcast, Scott gives us a rundown on how Swiften goes about helping these businesses become wildly profitable and cash flow positive. 

And what I find very refreshing is that they celebrate and talk about monetary success opening. There are some very profound learnings in this podcast, many of which we will write about in the next week or two.

There’s no intro to this one, just a little bit of our favourite music and into it. Take a listen here. I hope you enjoy. End of message.

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid newsletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.

In part 1, we spoke about the following:

• Weather and trading conditions at Kerin Ag.
• The cost of doing nothing. Refer to this article here.
• How Nigel tried low-input Farming back in the 90s.
• And how they were literally forced into low-input Farming in the 90s.
• How you have to replenish what you take out when it comes to production.
• How is it that when we want something to work, we will pull out all stops to justify it to ourselves and others?
• Nigel gave us some of his learning from a recent trip to New Zealand.
• He expanded on what he learnt at the recent Wagyu conference.
• We spoke about how conferences need to get better and how they can.
• We spoke about Farm inflation.
• And about some of the surprises that came from working out his Farm inflation rate.

In part 2, we spoke about the following:

• About where the herd and flock size are at
• And the opportunities around that
• How climate is determining how many Cattle or Sheep we breed.
• How they are utilising finance to create a new enterprise.
• We spoke about the importance of measuring.
• And what the metrics behind a Grass budget mean to his business.
• Nigel explained the process they follow when making big decisions about what they do.
• One of our subscribers asked for 3 bits of advice to young people.
• He also asked about the difference between good and great in business and in life.
• Another subscriber asked him why he started a Ram stud, and it was a great answer. 
• He was also asked if it's either business consolidation or growth. It's an infinite game for them; it has no end.
• We spoke about what is frustrating farmers right now.

It was a great chat, and I thoroughly recommend you take a listen to both parts 1 and 2. You can download the MP3 version here.

In part 1, we spoke about the following:

• Weather and trading conditions at Kerin Ag.
• The cost of doing nothing. Refer to this article here.
• How Nigel tried low-input Farming back in the 90s.
• And how they were literally forced into low-input Farming in the 90s.
• How you have to replenish what you take out when it comes to production.
• How is it that when we want something to work, we will pull out all stops to justify it to ourselves and others?
• Nigel gave us some of his learning from a recent trip to New Zealand.
• He expanded on what he learnt at the recent Wagyu conference.
• We spoke about how conferences need to get better and how they can.
• We spoke about Farm inflation.
• And about some of the surprises that came from working out his Farm inflation rate.

In part 2, we spoke about the following:

• About where the herd and flock size are at
• And the opportunities around that
• How climate is determining how many Cattle or Sheep we breed.
• How they are utilising finance to create a new enterprise.
• We spoke about the importance of measuring.
• And what the metrics behind a Grass budget mean to his business.
• Nigel explained the process they follow when making big decisions about what they do.
• One of our subscribers asked for 3 bits of advice to young people.
• He also asked about the difference between good and great in business and in life.
• Another subscriber asked him why he started a Ram stud, and it was a great answer. 
• He was also asked if it's either business consolidation or growth. It's an infinite game for them; it has no end.
• We spoke about what is frustrating farmers right now.

It was a great chat, and I thoroughly recommend you take a listen to both parts 1 and 2. You can download the MP3 version here.

Ah shit, where do you start? This interview with Jeff went for a long time, and we covered a lot of ground. And usually we do a reasonably long 2 to 3-minute intro. I don’t think this podcast needs that. So I am just going to jot down some dot points on the subjects that you will pick up on. Here goes:

> We humans dominate this earth because we have a front brain.

> There’s a science behind how we act.

> Jeff follows Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Click here.

> Farmers have a lot of fear because everything is on the line.

> We act black or white but need to be more grey.

> Jeff explains what a true leader looks like.

> We have fixed mindsets around what has served us well.

> When you have a need, you will try to control the outcome.

> None of us listen enough.

> We need to make things not about us.

> Find independence.

I hope you enjoy. End of message.

The Farmers Club podcast is now only available to our paid newsletter subscribers. 

Our partner in this podcast is our sister business, Farm Tender. We are an online buying and selling marketplace for Farmers and anyone else associated with Agriculture. Go to www.farmtender.com.au and sign up from there.