Independence is a beautiful thing

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By Dwain Duxson

Independence is a beautiful thing - I was talking to a Livestock Agent the other day, and he was a bit pissed off that one of his loyal Farmer clients had taken his business elsewhere. I said to him in a nice way that we never own our customers. They have the right to do what they want, and if you adopt that attitude, you will be seen in a better light at the end of the day.  

The ones who get cranky, kick the cat, bag the person out and hold a grudge will only do harm to their and their business's reputation. We speak about it a bit at Farm Tender amongst our staff, and we have people that use us come and go all the time. Sometimes they come, go and come again. And it works the other way too. We get rid of people if we feel they aren't doing the right thing. Some get cranky, and some move on. 

Farming in Australia is a very independent pursuit. By that, I mean the Family Farm structure allows people to Farm the way they want, and it's a beautiful thing. 

The owning the client issue is big in the Stud Sheep and Cattle game. Why? Because it's a zero-sum game. One Studs loss is another Studs gain. These guys work hard to attract and keep commercial producers buying their stock. I have seen some nasty blues in the Sheep Stud game over the years and have even seen some once-strong friendships fall by the wayside. If you have a business that has customers that buy things from you, what's your attitude on this?

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