Shipshape

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

I stuck the picture of the rain gauge up because it's such an iconic rural image.

If you live on the Farm, the rain gauge's location is usually on a fence post with a well-worn track leading to it. If you were bought up on a Farm or Rural Property, you would remember where the rain gauge was located and the rules around it.

Rules, I mean, there would be different rules for every gauge. For example, some would have it so that only one person manages data collection, and another rule might be that it's tipped out at 9 am after every rain event. The worst one is where nobody has no idea who tipped it out and what the total was....

This leads me to today's topic, I talked to a Farmer late last week and discussed a wide range of things, you know, the price of Land, the weather, Farm equity, the list goes on.

The most distinct thing the Farmer said that pricked my curiosity was, "you don't see many messy Farms around anymore". I thought about this for days after and even had to make a 3 hour and back day trip where my chief observation topic whilst travelling was to check out every Farm I drove past and give it a messy rating.

Well, not a messy rating, but to just observe as a whole how things are tracking, either for or against the Farmers quote.

Now, the old chestnut saying of don't judge a book by its cover is alive here. We have all been caught out many a time on a wide range of topics, and the messy Farm scenario is no different. Just because the Farm is neat and tidy doesn't mean the Farm is run well, or just because it's messy doesn't mean it's bad. A good/bad Farm is such a subjective thing anyway.

But when you arrive on a neat Farm, you get an instant good feeling about the place. I liken it to a motel room. Your feelings about turning up to a neat and clean motel room are going to be good, as opposed to it being untidy and dirty. You're probably not going to feel good about it.

So if the Farmer's observation is correct, then that can only be a good thing that Farmers take great pride in their Farms and yearn for them to be shipshape.

Have a good day