The Rural Voice, 1998-01, Page 46News
'their annual meeting and elections at
this time.
No matter what type of farming or
farming related topics you are
interested in, Management Day on
Friday, January 9 may be of interest
to you. This day has a full schedule
of speakers speaking on topics
ranging from tax update, law update,
vehicle husbandry, to animal care,
and also a speaker who will pull
together and talk about the important
issues that we often overlook while
we address the pressing issues of our
business.
Saturday's focus will be with the
Horse people. Dentistry in Equine,
new "soft top" coverall shelters,
alternative medicine and other topics
are scheduled for this day. Two
workshops are also offered.
On Monday, January 12, the beef
producers will enjoy a day of lots of
information on such topics as the
Environmental Farm Plan, managing
their herd, ARDA Pasture Update
and a presorted calf sale. The
Dufferin Cattlemen's Association
will hold their annual meeting this
day. Come hear an update on
Woolwich Dairy, a new dairy in
Orangeville specializing in goats
milk, on Monday evening at the
annual Goat Evening. There will be
speakers at this meeting talking on
health management, preventative
medicine, ultra -sound, starting a herd
and raising goat meat.
A new event for the Farmers'
Week will be the Farm Woodlot Day
on Tuesday, January 13. Woodlot
enthusiast will find such topics as
Woodlot Management, Commercial
Timber Values, Tree Cutting by-laws
and windbreaks and shelterbelts of
interest to hem.
These six days and three evenings
take a lot of planning and preparation
on behalf of the organization,
OMAFRA, and others to pull it all
together. Registration is $4 per day
and with lunch $8.50.
There are lots of exhibits to see,
give -a -ways, and prizes to be won
each and every day. The Annual
Dufferin County Farmers' Week is
held at the Town and Country Room,
Centre Dufferin Recreation Complex,
Hwy. 10 north of Shelburne.0
42 THE RURAL VOICE
Advice
Now here comes
the hard part
By Colin Reesor
Commodity Marketing Specialist
Harvest is wrapped up and cash
crop farmers now know how much
crop they have to sell. Many use a
system of forward contracting a
portion for harvest delivery. Some of
the crop is sold at harvest to pay the
bills and then comes the hard part.
What to do with the remainder?
There is an old system that works
by dividing the year into thirds or
quarters and selling a third or quarter
of the crop in each time period. You
can tell it is an old system because it
uses fractions! Seems like young
people can only do math in decimals
these days. The theory of the system
is that by dividing up the sales over
the year, one should be able to get at
least the average price for the year.
That is not as easy as it sounds. Most
farmers sell in the bottom half of the
price range over the year. All that
selling is the reason the price is low!
The March -April period is
historically better than January and
February. There is not very much
"new" news for corn in the winter
and the markets sort of fall asleep.
The American farmers are fairly flush
with cash this year and they are
storing a higher proportion of their
corn than they usually do. This will
eventually be sold, of course. Watch
for the first bunch of it to hit the
market early in the new tax year. The
Asian currency problems are also
delaying expected sales. The best
price action is later in the spring
when the market gets excited about
planting conditions.
For soys, there could be the odd
price spike as the Brazilians report
crop troubles. Their harvest will be
later this year so we shouldn't see
real price competition until April. If
it looks like they will have a bumper
crop, the market will anticipate and
the price of soys will soften earlier.
The April -to -June period is
traditionally the best time to sell old
crop and forward sell new crop. The
market builds in a lot of risk premium
because the focus is on spring and
summer weather and the competition
for acreage between the two major
crops.
If you are a feed buyer, the trick is
to avoid the times when the markets
are strong. It is becoming quite
common for feed buyers to "book"
their spring needs in the dead days of
winter.0
Managing conflict in
the family farm
business
By Rob Gamble
Business Management Advisor,
Fergus
Dr. Ron Hanson, a well known
speaker on the subject of farm family
relationships, recently spoke to a
group of farm families about building
better working relationships between
family members. He identified the
top seven areas of disagreement in a
family farm business. They are:
1. Decision making and control of
the farm business. Who has the final
say in farm business decisions?
2. New ideas for change in the
farming business operation.
3. Money spending policies.
4. Time off policies and vacations for
family members.
5. Family and farm business goals.
6. Farm business employees.
7. Actual role of the wife or wives in
the farm business operation.
Do any of these strike a chord with
you? That doesn't surprise me. If
you are running a family business
chances are you have encountered
some of these problems. The key to
getting through them is good
communication skills. The following
list highlights some listening skills
that you can use when navigating
your way through these delicate
topics.
1. Do not pass judgement until you
have understood what the other
person is saying.
2. Do not add viewpoints or change
what the other person has said.
3. Do not permit your attention to
drift away while the other person is
still talking.
4. Do not interrupt or change the
subject.