Jane Tincknell provides information to support graziers

Representing the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Ms Tincknell discussed the concept of strong grazing businesses in a variable climate at an AgForce Grazing and Biosecurity Forum in McKinlay.

Discussing grazing methods and planning, Ms Tincknell provided confidence to producers to make actions while they were in control, instead of it being forced upon them.

“My partner and I were bought out of a family partnership. We went into another one and it didn’t work for a number of reasons.

“We got spat out, lost our dream and that is the reason I tend to talk about planning because I know what it is like to swallow a bitter pill.

“The game has changed and the skills that once held a lot of value don’t hold as much anymore.”

Ms Tincknell described a strong business like a three legged stool; finance, natural resources and livestock.

“When those three legs are balanced then people in the business are well supported,” she said.

“If one of the legs are not well developed, generally finance, causes the stool to fall over and then people fall out. Particularly when people hit tough times there is not enough resilience in the business to handle it.

“Producers attended this forum because they have the resilience to keep fighting on and look at their business in a slightly different way to keep things balanced in the long term.

“Just because they live in a variable climate does not mean that it is a negative thing, it could be a great opportunity to look at other things within their business.”