Unofficial Farming mentors

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By Dwain Duxson

Unofficial Farming mentors - I was in a text conversation with a Sheep Farming mate from the West Wimmera area in Victoria. 

He relayed what some of the old Farmer's would have done when times were against them. Arguably, it's a tough time in the Livestock game now, and my Sheep Farming mate was reciting some of the quotes from an old local Farming legend he admired. They included, "when they run, we walk, and when they walk, we run", and referring to Sheep Trading, he said, "if you can't cut them out in the first year, don't buy them". Another one was, "you have to leave something in it for the next person". 

I guess there are rules that people follow before they go into a deal, and if it doesn't fit within the rules, then it doesn't happen. That's good discipline. Some of us get caught up in the emotion of it all, and then we find ourselves running when everyone else is. But, if you make rules for yourself and stick to them religiously, then you would want to make sure the rules are right.

One emotion is FOMO (fear of missing out), and we saw that play out with purchasing Land recently, where people would just bid because they were worried they would miss it. And if they did, they would regret it. The trouble is, the bidder next to them was thinking the same thing, and the bidder next to them, same thing. No wonder Land prices went up. It will be interesting to see if my Sheep Farming mate starts running.....

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