Sam Hamilton
Farm: ‘Ravenswood’
Region: Rylstone, central-east New South Wales
Commodity: Sheep and cattle
Farming area: 1000 hectares
Rainfall: 650 mm average per year
Email: hamilton.sam@bigpond.com
Phone: 02 6379 1359
Our shift from a breeding to a trading business is the biggest change we’ve made, and that change was because of the varying climate. We now run an operation where we fit in with the climate, rather than try to fight it. Climate is the biggest dictator of what we do.
See what Sam has to say about:
- Expecting ‘average’ seasons
- Moving to stock trading from stock breeding
- Changing grazing management to fit in with the climate
- Balancing the environmental, economic and social aspects of the business
- De-stocking in below-average rainfall years
- Using seasonal forecasts to manage ground cover
- Using long-range forecasts to make de-stocking decisions
- Using climate-forecasting tools
Expecting ‘average’ seasons
I’m a third-generation farmer living on the family farm with my wife, Clare, and 3 kids.
We graze sheep and cattle, with continually fluctuating numbers based on available feed.
‘Ravenswood’ is 1000 hectares. We also lease other grazing country in the district to increase our turnover.
Livestock grazing is the traditional enterprise in the Rylstone district, which is typical tablelands terrain. Our property ranges from 600 to 900 metres above sea level.
The region usually has about 650 mm of rainfall spread pretty evenly throughout the year.
We have a high incidence of frost – between 30 and 60 frosts a year – which severely retards any winter growth.
Summers are often hot and dry, so spring and autumn are our main times for pasture growth.
Seasonal variation is huge and every year is different – there is no ‘average season’.
This spring [2010] is exceptionally wet and cold, although I can remember similar ones in the past. And if you look at this time 12 months ago, it was really dry.
My philosophy is that while conditions might look good at the moment, you’re never far away from drought.
Moving to stock trading from stock breeding
Sheep and cattle are our main enterprises, but we have changed from being traditional breeders to traders, a decision made to better cope with climatic variation.
Over the past 10 years this decision seems to be working for us.
While it has been a little difficult to move away from breeding, which we enjoyed, the decision to move to trading was made on economic and environmental grounds.
There is no point trying to beat the climate – we just roll with it – so our stock numbers vary as the climate varies.
Environmentally, de-stocking has been a big winner.
We don’t want to run down ground cover and deplete soil reserves by having animals overgrazing plants and walking around in dust bowls, so we get them off early.
When it does rain, we can buy stock back before everyone else does. Because we don’t have any stock pressure, our grass is ready to go. Usually at this stage, animals are still relatively cheap.
Our shift from a breeding to a trading business is one of the biggest changes we’ve made, and it was largely climate-based. We now run an operation where we fit in with the climate, rather than try to fight it.
Climate is a major dictator of what we do.
Changing grazing management to fit in with the climate
Change is probably the big issue that most people try and avoid in life, and I’m the same.
But change is the only constant, isn’t it? I think you have to embrace change.
Next month or next year won’t be like it is now, so my policy is to constantly think about change. I think we will all have to, in order to survive economically, environmentally and socially in this industry.
We completely changed our grazing management over a 5-year period starting in 1994.
We moved from traditional semi-set stock [where stock numbers are determined per hectare] with a slow rotation system to a time-control system, which is much more dynamic.
We run animals in relatively big mobs which we move regularly.
That decision was made not just for climatic reasons but for other factors as well. We were looking for a change, and climate, the environment, economic and social factors were a big part of that.
I think we came out of the 1994 drought looking for a significant change in the way we did things, and there was a whole brave new world to look at.
We wanted a system that balanced environment, economics and social aspects: a system we enjoyed and felt good operating.
Sam discusses how he manages grazing land in a variable climate
Balancing the environmental, economic and social aspects of the business
One of the best analogies I’ve heard of for managing an agricultural system is the ‘3-legged stool’.
One leg is the environment and climate, one leg is the social aspect, and one leg is the economic aspect. All of them are equally important. If you remove one of them, the stool will topple over.
The social aspect includes not just the people working on the farm but also the local and global communities.
What you do socially is really important: you’ve got to be happy doing it, and you have to produce a product that is safe to use and one that the global community’s happy to use.
The economic aspect speaks for itself. If your business is not financially and economically viable, failure is assured.
The environment and climate aspect? If you are continually depleting the environment by stretching the system you’re working with, it’s going to fall over eventually.
To me, agriculture needs to place equal importance on these 3 aspects. And to me, it’s a great way to look at your agricultural system.
De-stocking in below-average rainfall years
In a typical breeding enterprise you might have a mob of ewes or a herd of cows which you assume you can run in an average rainfall year.
The only trouble is when it doesn’t rain you’re stuck with those breeding stock, which are expensive to feed, likely to deplete the resource base during drought and difficult to replace if sold.
The variation that we had here in our climate meant we had to feed every couple of years, which was very poor environmentally and economically.
So we decided to become animal traders after a big drought in 1994.
I remember thinking at the time: ‘If there’s not a better way to do things, we’ve got to think of something else to do’. So we had to come up with an alternative, and that’s when we made the move.
Our theory is really simple now. If we have a lot of grass, we have a lot of animals. If we have a little bit of grass, we have a few animals.
We’re happy to de stock totally if need be in drier times, which continually proves a winner for us. We see a lot of people struggle with high costs and feeding during dry times.
We have totally de-stocked 3 or 4 times since 1994.
Using seasonal forecasts to manage ground cover
Ground cover for us is absolutely paramount. We aim for 100% ground cover 100% of the time.
It protects the top layer of soil and allows the ecosystems within the soils to function. As a consequence, we won’t compromise that, so we remove the stock before the ground cover is depleted in drier times.
If we’re going into a La Niña spring and things are looking fairly good, we have some confidence to put a few more stock on. Usually we can make that decision in winter.
We also make early decisions to get rid of animals if needed during drier times.
Carrying capacity is the amount of grass that you grow. Stocking rate is the number of stock you put there. The ideal for me is to have those things equal at all times. So if there’s no grass, there are no animals. If there’s a lot of grass there are a lot of animals, and anywhere in between.
Using long-range forecasts to make de-stocking decisions
I try to be flexible by keeping an eye on long-range predictions to help make major decisions.
We try to be dynamic and make decisions early rather than late, because late decisions can be economically very difficult.
When deciding on the number of stock to run, we make decisions based on long-range forecasts, typically 3 or 6 months in advance. To buy and sell things effectively, we have to deal in that timeframe.
When an El Niño is predicted for summer, it mostly turns out to be pretty ugly. That’s what happened in 2009. We didn’t have a lot of available paddock feed and our animals were worth a bit of money, so we sold them. The next 6 months it didn’t rain at all.
I think long-range forecasts for this region, particularly for El Niño and La Niña, are reasonably accurate. You can generally say it will be drier than average if an El Niño is predicted or wetter if a La Niña is predicted. So, for us, that’s a really good way to make an early decision.
Using climate-forecasting tools
There’s not a week goes past that I don’t look at some sort of forecasting indicators on different web pages or in the paper.
I refer a lot to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Climate Kelpie and Elders websites.
For long-range forecasts, BoM is the one I give most credence to.
If all the websites start to line up in their 3- or 6-month predictions, then we start to factor that into our management decisions.
Interview date: 18 November 2010
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