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For cattle operations of any size, the “documentaries” churned out by undercover animal rights activists can be intimidating – marked often as they are by deceptive editing, scary music, jarring visual effects and anguished voiceovers rife with half-truths and outright lies.
A young farmer sits nervously on the couch with his partner and tells me that he can’t take working with his dad any more.
He describes the “Boss” walking quickly across the yard, arms waving, with his voice increasing in volume and swearing the “F-bomb” at the young son.
As a mediator, I’ve seen some pretty dumb agreements about the home yard. When you are deciding to move away or build a second home on the property, make sure you think things through with your lawyer and have some clear conversations with your successor.
Many dairy families have more than one home on the main yard, yet privacy is still an issue that you can design into your plans.
Founders typically want to know where their income streams will be after they let go of power and control of management and/or ownership. They also have marital conflict about home residence issues and how to be fair to non-business heirs.
For Canada’s agricultural producers, a profitable year of farming depends on successfully managing multiple, and often simultaneous, sources of risk such as weather, market prices and disease. Of all the risks faced by producers, the major one is price risk.
“Having a business strategy that includes managing price risk is essential,” says Gwen Paddock, RBC Royal Bank’s national manager, agriculture and agribusiness.
A farmer commented about how each year he is amazed how the seed plunked in the ground comes up in a beautiful carpet of green.
He recalled the day that his then-3-year-old son was digging in the dirt with his dad, and he “got it” that the seeds were sprouting to turn into a grain crop.
We dairy farmers are excellent at producing milk. We take pride in what we do. We have the drive to get up every morning, pull on the coveralls and milk cows.
We know who is next on the list to calve and that, by Bessie’s sideways glance, she needs to be bred. Although many us excel in the production side of the farm, many of us need help on the business side.
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