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DOWLER HEMPHILL FREE NEW AG
LIVESTOCK
Restockers battle
WOOL
Retailers snub
MARKETS
Prices ease after bumper
DAIRY
Positive thoughts lead
CROPS
Proposed grain peak
HORTICULTURE
Swan Hill stonefruit grower
RANGE GROUP
FIASCO
to buy sheep. Australian wool. sales at Warrnambool. to industry award wins. groups compared. to lead VFF group.
왘Page 103 왘Page 101 왘Page 95 왘Page 92 왘Page 87 왘Page 86
PAGE 3 PAGE 7
Fertility focus urged By BRIAN CLANCY ‘‘I have always been passionate
about wool, but I find it more
THE high turn-off of ewes is efficient to reduce wool cuts to
jeopardising the future of the boost fertility’’ he said.
prime lamb industry. Mr Toland said he was achieving
So says farm consultant and this goal by selecting a plainer-
chairman of the Bestwool bodied sheep, particularly a lamb
Bestlamb group Jason Trompf. with a wrinkle score of three or
Mr Trompf said the big risk for less.
the prime lamb sector was a Lambpro principal Tom Bull, of
shortage of lambs to meet demand. Holbrook, in southern NSW, was
He said higher demand would taking wool right out of his pro-
result in higher prices and buying ductivity equation.
resistance. Mr Bull, who is a breeder of Poll
He said a sustainable prime lamb Dorset and Primeline maternal
industry depended upon a lift in rams, said woolly sheep only added
flock fertility and higher lamb to the costs.
marking percentages. Nevertheless, Mr Bull said he
Mr Trompf said the past 20 years preferred to stick with his current
had seen the national sheep flock
plummet from 170 million to 72
million, with the number of ewes
breeding base for the sake of skin
values rather than go with a breed
that shed wool, such as a Dorper.
Share price savaged
falling from 70 million to 40 He said skin values could gener-
On the
million and increased lamb slaugh- ate up to $25 a ewe after allowing
terings. for twinning.
He said there were big opportun- But while Mr Bull was pushing
ities to boost lamb survival and the cause of the specialist prime
marking rates with the national lamb producer the self-replacing
average marking rate in prime lamb Merino flock had several vocal CEO
CE
CEO
flocks rising just 1 per cent in the supporters.
past two decades. Hamilton consultant Peter Malcolm
M a lc
Ma l c ol
olm
Speaking at last week’s Schroder said some of his best Jackman
Jaa ck
c k ma
mann
brink
Bestwool Bestlamb conference in clients running self-replacing Mer-
Bendigo Mr Trompf advocated an
increase in twinning rates, particu-
larly for Merino ewes.
Toland Poll Merino stud princi-
ino flocks with 40 per cent dry
sheep were generating wool and
surplus sheep income to produce a
5-10 per cent return on their assets.
38¢
yyesterday
pal Phil Toland, who runs a flock of It was a point endorsed by Mr
2000 Merino ewes at Violet Town, Trompf.
said he was prepared to sacrifice a He said benchmarking had By ANDREW MOLE
yesterday, yet the body blows keep Only a weekend of intense nego-
10 per cent cut in fleece weights for shown that a crossbred flock need-
coming. tiation avoided the withdrawal of its
a 10 per cent lift in fertility. ed to achieve a lambing marking ELDERS — the most iconic delcredere underwriting, which had
A B C
Mr Toland said that, in his farm percentage of 140-150 per cent to IOOF, one of its two major share-
Winners are grinners: you can’t wipe the smile off the faces of Werner, Josy and Markus Lang. The dairy farmers, from business, wool gave him a net equal the returns of a Merino flock
name in Australian agri- holders, announced it was selling reached the point where Queensland
Tatura in northern Victoria, triumphed in last week’s Dairy Business of the Year awards, which recognise top operators return of $30 a head while surplus with 90 per cent lamb marking. business — is again fighting down, leaving QBE, with just over 8 Delcredere Agents Association mem-
in Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and southern NSW. Report, Page 92.Picture: YURI KOUZMIN sheep sales were generating $90 per for its survival. per cent, as Elders’ last institutional bers had been warned they may have
head. 쐌 Put customers first, Page 102 heavyweight investor. to stop selling to Elders or North
After last week announcing its
앫
ninth profit downgrade in two years, Law firm Slater & Gordon is in- Australian Cattle Company, a wholly
owned subsidiary of the company.
앫
30286
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+
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4 The Weekly Times, June 30, 2010 weeklytimesnow.com.au
We’ll
employ
more
ambos
By ANDREW MOLE
ambulance staff.
WKT 30-JUN-2010 PAGE
ALL-terrain-vehicle manufac- Mr Robertson pointed to a manufacturers were ‘‘paranoid the Quadbar and various other been a ‘‘long-running’’ battle gional Victoria.
turers have denied claims they trial conducted by the Univer- that if someone shows roll-over ROPS. between QB Industries and the Last month a man who
have their ‘‘heads in the sand’’ sity of Southern Queensland last protection can work, it may ‘‘All the research we have manufacturers. lived less than one block
over roll-over protection. year to back up his claims. come back to bite them . . . be- done at this stage indicates there A series of ATV-related from the Maryborough
The co-inventor of an ATV The trial found the Quadbar cause they haven’t been fitting are no advantages, and in fact deaths in Victoria and Tasmania ambulance station died
safety structure recently accused was ‘‘effective in reducing the them in the past’’. there can be considerable disad- was the focus of a long-running after waiting more than 38
manufacturers of ignoring evi- likelihood of rider injury in ‘‘They have their heads in the vantage, by fitting any device to coronial inquiry between 2002 minutes for an ambulance.
dence that roll-over protection ATV sideways roll-over and sand over the issue and they are a current design ATV,’’ Mr and last year. In the same month a
systems were effective. back flip’’. not willing to be open to new Griffiths said. The inquiry ended with the five-year-old Gippsland
QB Industries managing di- ‘‘(It) should be considered an concepts,’’ he said. ‘‘Anyone who thinks manu- Coroner telling manufacturers boy died after waiting more
rector David Robertson said his essential safety feature of ATVs However, Federal Chamber facturers haven’t already done to never again market or de- than an hour for a specialist
Quadbar invention was helping in the workplace and rec- of Automotive Industries motor- an enormous amount of work scribe them as all-terrain ve- MICA response unit.
to prevent ATV-related injuries reational environment,’’ the cycle manager Rhys Griffiths into this are kidding them- hicles.
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24 The Weekly Times, June 30, 2010 weeklytimesnow.com.au
䊳 䊳 ELDERS CRISIS
Slow decline of THE writing may have been on Elders has been taken to
the wall as early as 2008 for
Elders staff, when then chief
the financial brink,
operating officer Mike Guerin caught in a maelstrom
removed individual rubbish bins of falling prices,
throughout the company’s Adel- increased competition
aide head office.
Projected annual saving: and a massive
$20,000. restructure that missed
But the full extent of the the mark, ANDREW
FIRST
$14 million.
The company’s immediate
reaction to cutting its costs was
to cut Mr Guerin. Along with
network chief John Molenaar.
That put $1 million back in
the bank, but by its own
admission the company still had
to find another $44 million in
savings — and fast.
Which must mean cutting
people. While chief executive
officer Malcolm Jackman has
promised no internal slash and Les Wozniczka
burn, he has flagged ‘‘manag-
ing’’ the company’s under- is very poor,’’ he said. ‘‘Share-
performers to achieve a 10 per holders are understandably
cent cut. angry and have approached us
C M Y K
Richard Beggs Last week, over two days, Elders out of its investment in
Nareeb Nareeb stud Merino and IOOF, which only became a the forestry managed invest-
Dohnes substantial Elders shareholder in ment scheme, which also was
Glenthompson February and recently held as losing millions of dollars.
much as Rural Bank
RICHARD Beggs sees Elders rural 6.43 per cent chairman Bev
services division as having a key role of its registry, Walters said
to play in the future of agricultural d u m p e d the bank, of
Australia, but has doubts it will be 28.65 million which Elders is
able to go the distance. shares worth a 40 per cent
‘‘I would be pretty sure the rural $12.07 mil- shareholder
business is good and profitable, it is lion. That a n d
just the other legs under the table leaves QBE Insurance as the co-founder, did not refuse the
letting them down,’’ he said. company’s only major share- money.
‘‘From where I am sitting, it looks holder, with 8.27 per cent of the ‘‘MIS projects are under legal
like they are going bust, even though registry. and investment pressures but we
the rural business could be restruc- To cap it all off, Slater & were still going to do the deal. In
tured to maintain its role in the mar- Gordon has announced it is the end, however, Elders chose
ket. preparing to launch a class not to meet our conditions,’’ Mr
‘‘We still do a bit with them but action related to Elders’ disclos- Walters said.
there is enough competition now to ure practices. ‘‘We had to be tighter. Even
get by without them, although if they Slater & Gordon principal Bendigo Bank, which owns 60
did go it would leave only one major lawyer James Higgins had been per cent of our business, has its
player in Landmark.’’ approached by Elders share- own concerns with its port-
Mr Beggs said the industry also holders following the latest folio.’’
owed Elders for some of its pioneer- downgrade, which sent Elders So just where did the wheels
ing work, such as taking on AWEX shares into free-fall, decimating really fall off for the name
for the benefit of all woolgrowers. the agribusiness company’s which has been, in its many
‘‘But, as a client, I still feel like a value. shapes and forms, synonymous
number; their staff move around so Mr Higgins said shareholders with rural Australia for the past
much it is getting harder to have a were tired of Elders’ poor 171 years?
good relationship with an Elders governance. Bill Beischer, the man who
bloke,’’ he said. Shake-up: Richard Beggs thinks Elders’ rural business could be still restructured. ‘‘Elders’ history of disclosure was chairman of Elders during
F B 1 2 3
through your branch managers.
Historically, these people
know their customers well, and
tailor their products and services
to suit the needs of their clients.
What Mr Jackman is suggest-
ing with his hands-on approach
is that he is going to cut through
anything between him and his
own troops at the coalface, treat
C M Y K
them as customers and deliver
what they want and need.
New breed: Elders boss Malcolm Jackman (left), at the Victorian Farmers Federation’s annual general meeting last week, looks to the future. There would be millions to
save overnight if the current
the Alan Newman-led Futuris Mr Hunt out the door in mid- ‘‘Mr Jackman has my Minnett, has publicly ques- ninth in just two years and 20-region structure was pulled
years in the 1990s, is in no 2007, the company had just sympathies. He has been left tioned Malcolm Jackman over ‘‘with poor company fundamen- back to 10, and pulling it back
doubt. recorded a $100 million-plus with a big job, not of his mak- the plan to cut staff, suggesting tals we believe Elders will find further would compound the
‘‘Elders is a people business,’’ profit. Within weeks, Elders not ing, to do.’’ When Mr Hunt was it may be a threat to the cus- it difficult to trade out of its savings. That model has already
he said. ‘‘Alan Newman under- only had no managing director, pushed, Mr Wozniczka tomer experience. He was also problems’’. been proved — and not that long
25
business. It was not companies coming in to match that know- response was Steve Waugh depended now on the 2011 sea- market into Indonesia, a move strong Australian agribusiness
they were dealing with, it was ledge. We had built a rural ser- scored 100 runs in his last Test. son. from the recognised branded that’s not just about flogging
people,’’ Mr Beischer said. vices company with a good But the question now upper- BBY’s John Welsh has been products to lower-cost generics. fertiliser and chemicals but
‘‘But their biggest mistake product range and committed most in the minds of staff, busi- harsher, listing Elders with an ‘‘But I am going to kick this about showing leadership and FIRST
was getting rid of Elders manag- staff and had a business valued ness partners and clients, is what ‘‘underperform’’ recommen- thing to make it work and I will doing a better job for Australia’s
ing director Greg Hunt.’’ at more than $1 billion — a far happens next? dation. He said last week’s make more friends than I will farmers,’’ he said. ‘‘What better
When Mr Wozniczka pushed cry from where it stands now. Michael Hughes, from Ord downgrade was the company’s lose on the way through.’’ name than Elders?’’
F B 1 2 3
listening to them and making 37.8 cents. good news. finding a partner through pen- business with a real place.’’ dence so far to confirm that
sure they know what I am doing He said a series of meetings Its auto division will be sion funds or possibly Asian But Mr Jackman agreed he the outbreak has affected
with their company,’’ Mr held last week with the principal spared the 10 per cent cut the paper houses. was still working out the future beef consumption, or beef
Jackman said. players in the syndicate of banks rest of the business is about to Mr Jackman said, when the of that ‘‘real’’ business. supplies in Japan.
‘‘But it is not my role to run behind the business showed suffer. proverbial manure hit the fan — The days of staff whose blood Australian exports of
the business, my expertise is to there was nothing wrong with Rather, it will be putting peo- as the company’s share price ran Elders red are over. beef into Japan have not
run the company. That’s what I Elders. ple on because the auto market plummeted last month — the Elders might be bleeding been affected. According
was brought here to do and No liquidity issues, no sig- is picking up steam. big ‘‘soul-searching question’’ right now, but it is bleeding red to Meat and Livestock
nothing has changed. I am just a nificant change in the business But that is where the good he asked himself and colleagues ink on the books, which Mr Australia, last year the
lot closer to the front line. profile. news ends. was ‘‘is there a real business Jackman said could also be Miyazaki region was the
C M Y K
‘‘I don’t care what people are ‘‘After working through our Elders’ forestry division is in there?’’ fixed. ‘‘People say I am just third-largest supplier of
saying, they do not know what cash projections and detailing an ever-deepening mess. It start- ‘‘In the first eight months of spinning it, but they do not beef cattle within Japan,
is happening inside the com- our business plan, the banks re- ed off forecasting a $45 million the year, we handled 300,000 know how good our team is,’’ accounting for about 15
pany and I can tell you I am very affirmed their support on Thurs- profit and in the end, it struggled bales of wool, 10 per cent of the he said. ‘‘That’s why my num- per cent of all Wagyu
confident.’’ day,’’ Mr Jackman said. to $1.6 million. national grain harvest, marketed ber is available to everyone, calves to the nation’s lot
So confident that he has And in all last week’s drama, But not even that can faze the $1.4 billion worth of livestock staff, shareholders, bankers and feeders.
opened his own wallet and pur- he said the market and the captain. — and all through a network of media. If you have got a ques- – MATILDA ABEY
chased 91,500 shares in the doomsayers missed, or chose to He is ‘‘exploring’’ different more than 400 branches,’’ he tion, or a problem, just ask me.’’