Building buildings in the bush

Extracted from the Farm Tender weekly Newsletter - Sign up and get the email every Wednesday morning before 6 am. www.farmtender.com.au

By Dwain Duxson

There is an infrastructure boom in the bush, and it's not government-initiated or funded.

I won't say like never before, because I'm sure there was one in the 50s and earlier when everything was getting established in the bush.

You see start to finish projects on social media all the time now as Farmer businesses invest in their future knowing they are in for the long haul.

There has been constant investment in Grain Storage facilities, like silos, Bunkers, Grain Sheds etc, over the last 20 years, as Grain Farmers look to capitalise on marketing opportunities in their time. This is ongoing.

There has been ongoing investment in Shearing Sheds and Sheep Yards, which has accelerated over the last couple of years. Covered Yards has been a game-changer in the Sheep industry. They just built a new Shearing Shed at our family Property at Marnoo. My brother Ben said to me the other day that it was probably 30 years too late...

Hay Sheds have been popping up on Grain Farms as they look to diversify when the opportunity arises.

The same applies to Machinery Sheds. You don't see anywhere near as much Machinery left outside as it's now too valuable. One of the great selling taglines is "always Shedded" when listing a bit of used Machinery and Equipment.

Looking after gear adds value when it comes time to sell.

Offices and Accommodation separate from the main Farm Homestead is a trend.

But the biggest trend has been the upgrading of Cattle Yards. Cattle Farmers are taking advantage of the good times. There are some pretty impressive facilities starting to emerge.

There are two emerging trends I see. One is on-farm selling facilities for Rams and Bulls. Last week, the JAD Speckle Park Bull sale, Yeoval, NSW, was held in a new state of the art facility that was greatly appreciated by those who attended.

The other emerging trend is the upgrade of Milking facilities in Dairies. Automated milking has been around for a decade or so but it is starting to come of age as some of the technical issues are solved and so to the cost-effectiveness.

One of the best things about many of these new facilities is that they are multi-purpose.

The Shed builders we deal with, Entegra and Action Steel, are booked up in advance and have massively expanded their businesses in the last couple of years to cope with this trend.

It's exciting times for Agriculture and to see the level of work going on and the investment in the future gives us all confidence to do the same.

It's infectious

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