Farm Business Planning

By Dave Lewis and Mary-Anne Young, Rural Solutions SA

Drought is a recognised, insidious part of our farming environment.

Have you prepared your farm in the best way to manage drought?

If the same consequences of drought are happening to your farm this time round as last time, then maybe you need to consider revising and implementing a few new long-term plans to upgrade the drought-proofing of your farm.

Those whose business' are better prepared for drought fare better. They are less dependent on the need for support to maintain livestock, have less erosion problems, are more likely to have sufficient cash reserves to survive a lean year.

Drought-proofing involves planning the whole farm business. Work on building off farm cash sources to call in when required. Can you improve cropping and livestock enterprises so they fare better when a drought does happen again in the future?

This does not mean farming for drought where inputs are cut just in case. This will cost potential productivity and income in the good years. It is about being flexible enough to cater for the type of year at hand, and having a more robust farm ground design to withstand the elements. What you do between the fences is important.

Retained paddock cover - stubble from last year - has helped this year. Crop seeding systems which maximise crop establishment and growth with minimum soil disturbance have also helped. Farms with feedlots ready to go for their stock with water points and feed supplies can move stock off paddocks before cover is lost and any damage occurs.

Think about the areas that suffered particularly this year. If they are areas that are always at risk, perhaps they should be used differently in the long term.

Is it worth cropping those sandhills that blow every time a wind bobs up? Leaving them out of the cropping programme could save money and worry. Planting perennial plants on these areas such as saltbush, lucerne or local native species, could provide supplementary fodder, shade, shelter and / or reduce recharge to groundwater.

Changes in land use will probably require changes to fencing, particularly if separating cropping from grazing land. Watering points and access also need to be considered and this is best done by looking at the complete property layout.

Stock walking a long way to water waste energy and might not be utilising all the feed available to them if it's too far from water. Distributing water points more widely and ensuring reliable supplies in all paddocks could be a long term strategy to pursue.

For more information and assistance with your farm business planning speak to your bank, accountant, training consultant or the Rural Financial Counselling Service on 1800 836 211.

The financial planning sub section has further information to assist you and your family with farm business planning.