"If you do those ... you will be a wealthy farmer"

kowtow

The reported words of Matt Ryan (according to www.agriland.ie) at the IGA conference.

What kind of idiocy is this?

It may be that something was lost in the reporting but the idea that financial success can be ensured by following a widely prescribed regime (along with everyone else) with some simple rules is the province of con-men and snake oil sales men, not serious people.

His two key performance indicators that he promised will make dairy farmers a lot of money are:

A six-week calving rate; and,

Grass utilised per ha.

“If you do those to the Teagasc set you will be a wealthy farmer.”

Timmaay

I remember an article afew years ago about the growing population and lack of agricultural land etc, the basic headline was something like "farmers of the future will be rich and all driving Lamborghinis"! I'm still waiting....

mf240

Timmaay wrote: »

I remember an article afew years ago about the growing population and lack of agricultural land etc, the basic headline was something like "farmers of the future will be rich and all driving Lamborghinis"! I'm still waiting....

Are ya sure it didnt say landinis!!!.

Deepsouthwest

kowtow wrote: »

The reported words of Matt Ryan (according to www.agriland.ie) at the IGA conference.

What kind of idiocy is this?

It may be that something was lost in the reporting but the idea that financial success can be ensured by following a widely prescribed regime (along with everyone else) with some simple rules is the province of con-men and snake oil sales men, not serious people.

Bit of "lost in translation" going on here, I was there, and I'm sure what he meant was get those two things right to start rather than stressing on all the small things and u'll be on the right road.

kowtow

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Bit of "lost in translation" going on here, I was there, and I'm sure what he meant was get those two things right to start rather than stressing on all the small things and u'll be on the right road.

If that was his thrust, he is absolutely right. I did wonder if the reporting was a bit simplistic as I said in the original post.

Whether or not one accepts the "grass based" mantra (and it would be difficult to make a case that maximising grass production was anything other than a good thing) it worries me when anyone suggests that there is a single or even probable path to success in the market we are entering.

The hard truth is that all free, cyclical, markets are to a large extent zero sum games. The profits of the successful participants are funded by the losses of those who get it wrong - getting the basics right has to be the place to start, and efficiency is crucial, but timing & pricing of investment play a big role as well. The bankruptcy courts have seen plenty of efficient, educated, hard working pig farmers over the years!

Efficiency is good because it helps to reduce risk, but the key message surely has to be that while we may not be in control of our market, we are all responsible for our own outcomes and each of us will have to develop our own techniques and tools to maximise our chances.

Genghis Cant

Deepsouthwest wrote: »

Bit of "lost in translation" going on here, I was there, and I'm sure what he meant was get those two things right to start rather than stressing on all the small things and u'll be on the right road.

It's often the case that context is everything. It's easy for things to get lost in translation sometimes alright.
It's often easy to feign outrage, or fall in behind some philosophy online, but as usual here in F&F common sense generally prevails.

milkprofit

kowtow wrote: »

The reported words of Matt Ryan (according to www.agriland.ie) at the IGA conference.

What kind of idiocy is this?

It may be that something was lost in the reporting but the idea that financial success can be ensured by following a widely prescribed regime (along with everyone else) with some simple rules is the province of con-men and snake oil sales men, not serious people.

Get yourself invited on one of mat Ryan's d group walks --with an open mind
Then u can apologise for jumping in---

kowtow

milkprofit wrote: »

Get yourself invited on one of mat Ryan's d group walks --with an open mind
Then u can apologise for jumping in---

I'm extremely open minded, and I'm not disagreeing with Matt Ryan, as I made very clear above.

just do it

kowtow wrote: »

If that was his thrust, he is absolutely right. I did wonder if the reporting was a bit simplistic as I said in the original post.

Whether or not one accepts the "grass based" mantra (and it would be difficult to make a case that maximising grass production was anything other than a good thing) it worries me when anyone suggests that there is a single or even probable path to success in the market we are entering.

The hard truth is that all free, cyclical, markets are to a large extent zero sum games. The profits of the successful participants are funded by the losses of those who get it wrong - getting the basics right has to be the place to start, and efficiency is crucial, but timing & pricing of investment play a big role as well. The bankruptcy courts have seen plenty of efficient, educated, hard working pig farmers over the years!

Efficiency is good because it helps to reduce risk, but the key message surely has to be that while we may not be in control of our market, we are all responsible for our own outcomes and each of us will have to develop our own techniques and tools to maximise our chances.

I've always found that if I collect more than my costs I make some money

kowtow

just do it wrote: »

I've always found that if I collect more than my costs I make some money

When I was a much younger trader and clients used to ring to ask why blocks of shares they had bought were losing money we used to tell them:-

"I think it's because there are more sellers than buyers, sir"