Are you either one or the other?

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Extracted from the Farm Tender weekly Newsletter - Sign up and get the email every Wednesday morning before 5 am. www.farmtender.com.au

By Dwain Duxson

So what we mean by that headline is you will either love/like Farming or hate/dislike it. There would be plenty that operate in both camps at some point in time (like now, perhaps), but we would classify where you sit by which area you spend the most time in.

In life, we all do work we don't like. Some people are lucky enough to go through life where their work is enjoyable. They work out early what they don't like doing and don't do it. Others are the opposite. They go through life hating their work and predominantly live a miserable life.

Work is a choice for most. I mean, we all should do some form of work to earn our way, but if you dislike the job you're in, you have the choice to find another you like. Like being in business, we have the choice to be in it or not.

That's where family Farms can be furken hard. Family Farms are just that, intergeneration operations where one or multiple siblings carry on the family legacy in some way, shape or form. This is a big load to carry for each generation, as a lot of the time, it's just expected. We will talk about this more a bit further on.

Times could be considered reasonably tough right now, with multiple headwinds like Floods, interest rate rises, rising costs and supply chain issues. They are all negatives pulling against your business and making it very difficult to be profitable. As a young person in Farming, it might be the first time you have experienced something like this where many things are going against you. It will be a character test, and you will either cope or not.

If you're not coping, talk to others about it or seek help from the respected organisations that are out there. Most of you will get through, and you will have learnt a great lesson that you will carry with you for the next time headwinds appear.

If you're a young Farmer and do cope, it will probably be because you are part of a well-structured Farm with plenty of support and experience in these situations.

Whichever way, it will test whether Farming is for you or not.

I grew up on a Farm and pretty much liked it all the way through to the time I left at around 35 years of age. I left because we wanted to pursue something else. I would like to think I liked it until the end, but maybe I didn't.

Of those 17 years where it was my job, I found conditions to be pretty tough going. It was pretty hard to get ahead. At least for us, it was. I remember some good times when confidence grew, but it was predominantly tougher times looking back now.

I was a teenager when we went through the 22 percent interest rate period, which meant by the time I came onto the Farm as an 18-year-old, things were pretty rundown. I distinctly remember shifting batteries from Tractors to Trucks and Utes because we probably couldn't afford to buy batteries for each unit at the time. That's pretty wild when you look at how Farms operate today.

I would like to think I am pretty resilient today, and it might be because of those times, or it might be something that is just built into someone from birth.

But if you are in the dislike/hate category on a Family Farm, then it's very hard to move on. You might have thought you loved it, but it turns out you don't. I look at the young ones today, and you can pick the ones that love it. They are born Farmers and have no penchant for being anything but.

Some might dislike/hate only aspects of Farming (eg bookwork, Sheep, starting early), but you can work your way through that as you go and put those things aside or pass them on for someone else to do. Do the things you want to do.

But when it's a burden and you are in the Family Farm situation, and everyone has expectations, then that's when it can get tricky. But, you must be true to yourself, speak to your partner or the other family members and do something about it. It's not easy, but you can always find a way.

Life's too short not to like what you do.

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