Members gained a real insight into the current state of district farming when member, Shane Dellavedova shared his thoughts at last Thursday's meeting. He pointed out that in the current financial climate exacerbated by the war in Iran, agriculture has reached a situation that has never been experienced before to his knowledge. A fat sheep is currently worth more money than a ton of grain, for example, thirty kilo lambs were recently selling at Wagga for around $450 each. Needless to say, Shane has focussed his own farming practices on the raising of sheep instead of grain. Click “Read more…” for more info and pix from the meeting.
Shane's recent ancestors came to Australia from Italy and his grandfather and father set up the local fertilizer business that Shane now manages along with his farm. Originally his 690-hectare farm majored in grain production, but currently he is using two thirds of his pastures to graze sheep for meat. As Shane said, grain farming uses much more fertilizer than sheep farming and fertilizer prices are increasing significantly due to the Iran war. And because there is still plenty of grain being produced in the world, the sale prices for grain haven't increased anywhere near the rate that costs have increased. Pictured are Shane drawing a card from a new “Swindle Competition” pack after his ticket was drawn from the “hat” (he didn't win the new jackpot), and PP Meryl who reminded members of St Patrick's Day by telling a couple of great “Irish” jokes.