Valuable lessons have been learnt through the current drought. While one drought will never be the same as the last, Leading Sheep felt we should collate these great learnings whilst they are still fresh in your minds.
Noel O’Dempsey, the South Regional Coordinator, will ‘kick the ball off’ by listing what he thinks are his three most valuable learnings:
- Be flexible. Plans must change with changing circumstances, markets and opportunities. I saw an interview with a NSW farmer a few months ago and he said ‘Make a plan and stick to it’. I think that is exactly the wrong thing to do.
- Know you will never get it all right, all the time. Things change and what was a good, well thought out plan, can be found wanting as circumstances change. Be easy on yourself and know you will never get it all right, all the time. This I personally find very difficult to do.
- Drought feeding chews up a lot of time and money. Also, the amount required to be fed always increases, never decreases.
To get the discussion going, I also welcome any comments you have on what I have said. On reflection I noticed that two of the three of my learnings were about me and how I respond.
Noel O’ Dempsey, Leading Sheep Coordinator South Region
Send in your learnings
We invite you to send in your learnings and ideas to your local Leading Sheep Regional Coordinator:
- North and Central West – Ingrid Miller: jimiller@outlook.com.au
- South West – Hannah McKillop: mckillopavondale@outlook.com
- South – Noel O’Dempsey: odempseyn@gmail.com
Please keep your responses short – no more than five lines per idea. These will be collated and circulated, over the coming months, to all the sheep producers in Queensland on our e-mail list, anonymously if you so choose.
Looking forward to hearing from you,
The Leading Sheep Team.