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Bush Agribusiness Newsletter
Ian McLean
Dear <<First Name>>
I have just returned from a tour of the New England region with a group of sheep and cattle producers from the Longreach region. We visited a couple of very impressive operations running sheep and cattle in an environment quite different to Central Western Queensland.
The key learning for the group was the demonstration of what can be achieved, in any environment, with quality objective measurement (of both the livestock and of the business), and an unrelenting focus on the key profit drivers.
This was encouraging to see, as this is what Bush AgriBusiness is about; working with profit driven businesses to measure, understand and improve business performance.
I hope you enjoy this newsletter, if you’ve any questions, comments or would like to discuss anything further, please give me a call.
Sincerely,
Ian McLean
0401 118 191
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Getting Serious about Business Analysis
At this time of year many new and existing business analysis clients are beginning the process to have their most recent years* performance analysed by Bush AgriBusiness using The Business Analyser. The process provides a detailed picture of long term performance and changes over time.
The Business Analyser was used to perform the analysis underpinning The Northern Beef Report, it goes beyond traditional benchmarking to provide a comprehensive analysis of your whole business and enterprise performance. This is why we call it ‘Serious Business Analysis’ and back it up with a full money back guarantee.
Businesses that have had their businesses analysed are able to make direct comparisons against all of the measures referred to in the Northern Beef Report, and in the producer summary listed below.
If you’d like to know more about how having a detailed understanding of your business performance can help improve your future performance, contact Ian on 0401 118 191.
*Financial year is commonly the basis for analysis, although for many the calendar year is a logical period as it is more aligned with the production year, we can do analysis on either.
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Northern Beef Report: Producer Summary
Meat & Livestock Australia recently released the publication ‘Improving the performance of northern beef enterprises’. This publication was prepared by Ian McLean and Phil Holmes and contains the key findings for producers from the Northern Beef Report. The publication can be downloaded here http://www.babusiness.com.au/pdf/improving-the-performance-of-northern-beef-enterprises.pdf or you can send an e-mail to Joanne (admin@babusiness.com.au) if you would like a hard copy mailed to you.
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Strategies to increase the profitability of extensive beef businesses
A few weeks ago Ian teamed up with Beef Central, Futurebeef and MLA to do a BeefConnect Webinar titled ‘Strategies to improve the profitability of extensive beef businesses’. A recording of the webinar is available here https://youtu.be/a-FFLkhJ8ow
The seven strategies identified are,
- Run as many Adult Equivalents as you can, but no more than you should.
- Focus on maximising the kilograms of beef you produce in the long term (Kg Beef/AE).
- Ruthlessly scrutinise, and optimise, herd expenditure.
- Achieve Labour Efficiency of 1,500 or more Adult Equivalents for every Full Time Equivalent of labour.
- Honestly assess your situation with regard to scale.
- Don’t pay too much for land.
- Be a professional business manager
These are all explained in detail in the webinar recording above, and The Business Analyser will highlight how you are currently performing against a lot of the above and which should be a priority for your business.
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Your financial system should be providing you with more information than it is the tax man.
In recent discussions with AGDATA Australia about how business managers can get the most out of their financial systems, Ian discussed the missed opportunities, if all people are getting from their hours of work is a BAS statement and stuff to send to the accountant.
This led to the preparation of a short opinion piece titled ‘Your financial system should be providing you with more information than it is the tax man’, which is available here; http://www.agdata.com.au/_blog/Phoenix_News/post/farm-business-management-financial-system/
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Power of the Team in the Workplace
Barbara Bishop
Teamwork is the key to modern productivity, and businesses worldwide are realising the power of a high performing team. Although it is possible to ‘go it alone’, the extent of human achievement is limited when people do not work together. Teamwork is individuals working together to accomplish more than they could alone and this impacts on productivity, quality, participation satisfaction, and the release and utilisation of the powerful creative forces within the business.
These outcomes would seem to flag the importance of teamwork; however, there are many businesses that overlook its significance for one reason or another. Leaders must recognise that what they are able to accomplish as leaders will be the direct result of their ability to lead teams.
The “Power of the Team” is central to the “Profit through People” leadership course and focuses on:
Barbara Bishop & Associates are holding ‘Profit through People’ leadership courses at the following locations over the next few months, contact Barbara directly for more information, barbarabishop@bigpond.com or 0408 999 009.
- Toowoomba – 10th- 12th August
- Katherine – 7th - 9th September
- Mt Isa – 23rd – 25th September
- Rockhampton – 19th- 21st October
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Upcoming Events
July 28-29, BeefUp Forums, Esk & Kilkivan.
Simone Parker will be presenting on ‘Cost of Production as a gauge of business performance’. http://www.mla.com.au/News-and-events/Events-and-workshops/BeefUp-Forum-Esk
July 31, Rural Drought Resilience Networking Seminar, Blackall.
This seminar is an initiative of AGDATA Australia which Bush AgriBusiness is pleased to support. Ian will be discussing how to analyse potential capital investments and the impact they will have on the profitability and cashflows of a business, similar to his recent article in the Queensland Country Life. Ian will have time available in the afternoon if anyone would like to catch up for a chat regarding their business. More info available at http://www.agdata.com.au/_blog/Phoenix_News/post/rural-drought-resilience-networking-seminar---blackall/
August 6, Predator Control Day, Charleville.
Leading Sheep, with the support of the Murweh Shire Council, AgForce, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and Making More from Sheep, are holding a predator control field day on Thursday 6th August in Charleville. Ian has been asked to present there on ‘Is fencing worth it for your business’. Ian will have time available the afternoon before and morning after the event if anyone would like to catch up. More information available here http://www.leadingsheep.com.au/event-list
September 14-17, 13th Queensland Weed Symposium, Longreach
Ian has been invited to speak at the Symposium on the economics of weed control. This will detail work Bush AgriBusiness has been doing with Desert Channels Queensland on Prickly Acacia control.
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