Following a couple of discussions I had at a recent bull sale, I decided this weeks Rayner Reckons could be a little different. Before the sale one farmer wanted to tell me I should be still doing my job as a beef cattle officer and there's no way anyone can afford to pay for livestock advice.
It was an interesting conversation! As a Livestock Officer (Beef Products) with NSW DPI, I loved the opportunity to work with producers. The role was not just about giving advice. We did lots of problem solving, teaching new skills, and coming up with new ways to be profitable and sustainable in beef production. When the Livestock Officer positions were completely deleted from NSW DPI, I knew I wanted to keep doing these things with producers. And so I founded RaynerAg.
Shortly after that conversation, I was in a yard looking at some bulls, when another farmer came up. He was someone I've known for a long time. He also wanted to talk about my old job! But he wanted to know; now he didn't have a beef cattle officer, should he pay for a consultant. I replied to him, "So you're asking my advice on paying for advice?" It made us both laugh, and I'm off to visit him in a few days.
So these two conversations have made me think. Should you be using a consultant? Should you be paying for advice? Is it worth it? I reckon anything I say to answer those questions might be seen as biased, so I wanted to share a link to a publication I found from the Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation (https://rirdc.infoservices.com.au/items/07-103). Its basically a guide to finding and working with consultants on your farm business.
I reckon getting an independent source of advice is essential for your business. Farming is constantly changing, and farmers have more than enough demands on their time, without adding on time to research and explore new ways or ideas to use on their business. The independent advice a consultant brings isn't just a fresh set of eyes to your operation, its also a fresh set of ideas and experiences, which can help you get to your goals a lot more quickly.
Is it worth paying for advice? Good advice can result in more money. I often see my advice being used to save a lot of money. A couple of weeks ago Rayner Reckons looked at reducing the amount of hay which gets wasted when feeding cows.
After that article, I received an email from a farmer, which he was happy for me to share. He told me that after reading that article, he worked out he was probably wasting $350 worth of hay a week. He only fed hay for 6 weeks and so he was shocked to realise that he was wasting over $2000. I'm really pleased to help sort that issue out, and after a day with him, we've picked up a few other ideas, which will also save a heap of money each year.
The RIRDC report highlights the reasons farmers use consultants. Some of the reasons included
needing advice to expand and diversify the business
having advice on the timing of decisions
having a fresh set of eyes
because the bank manager or accountant strongly advised them too
because farmers valued independent advice which wasn't linked to commission on sales of product
There are some really good tips and suggestions in this guide. So if you identify with any of those points above, or you would like to push your program along, then maybe using a consultant is the next step.
It would be great if I was the person you'd like to work with. If you think I can help you save some money or make a some more, then please feel free to get in touch!