How to create new farm business results

Posted by Brendon Walsh on 1 May 2018

In the last couple of months, we’ve attended some major field days, such as the Central Districts Field Days in Feilding and the East Coast Farming Expo in Wairoa. I’ve been asking farmers “how is your farming business going for you?”

Often, they say things like “Really good, this year!” “That’s great,” I say. “Why is that.” They usually say “Well, the pasture growth is higher, and the markets are up.” Now, that is excellent and while those things are happening and they are in your favour, you want to take them and create some advantages out of them.

But, invariably what I find is that with the people who say that, when they are having a year when the pasture growth is back or the markets are down, they say “Oh, we’re having a terrible year” or “It’s not so good this year.”

And quite frankly, that’s reactive. It’s behind the game and it’s after things happen. Those occurrences then tend to dictate your result.

How do we actually get in front of that, get ahead of the game and get proactive instead of reactive? How can we create results regardless of the conditions we are operating under? These are good questions!

Basically, it takes new habits. What are habits? They are things that we think or do automatically, and our habits dictate our results. Now, it’s no good doing the same old thing we’ve always done, or think the same old thing, and expecting different results. We’ve got to create new habits to get new results. The question then becomes; how do we do that?

What it takes is a structured process over time. As we learn what it takes, and we learn to do what it takes, we start doing the things that create those results regardless of the conditions we are operating under. We do them and we do them some more and we keep doing them, so that we get the results, and keep getting them. By doing that over time, staying structured and having a support system to make that happen, we tend to deliver the results. It all tends to become a habit by default!

Currently, when farmers need to change what they are doing, they are often recommended to go and talk with some particular farmer (or look at their operation) and see what they are doing, because that farmer is getting really good results. In other words, go and copy what they are doing.

Now, that’s great but it doesn’t develop new habits for that individual farmer, for what they need to do in their own business. You need that structured process for each individual farmer to learn that and to make that happen.

Growfarm has been put together because it is a structured process and we work with our clients individually over time to do exactly that - put the things in place, get the habits in place and take the actions that actually deliver consistently, regardless of the conditions they are operating under.

Growfarm provides the tools and support that New Zealand sheep and beef farmers need to take control of their businesses and unlock their potential. It is the proven business coaching system for New Zealand sheep and beef farmers, allowing them to actually deliver results. They learn how to create new habits and deliver under different conditions.

If you are curious about that or feel you need some help in your sheep and beef farm business, check out the Growfarm website to learn more - www.growfarm.co.nz. Please get in touch with us from there. I look forward to having a chat about how you may be able to use the Growfarm System to create some new results in your business.