Discussion Group

On Wednesday my discussion group meet a again ... this time in the heart of the King Country, south of Te Kuiti.  The groups theme for the day was talking about what top performing farmers do on their farm, some of the possible benchmarking that the group could do.

Smaller group today as jobs such as docking and sowing maize took them away, but discussion was still pretty full and frank.  As we worked through what top farmers were doing it created a lot of questions such as how was that benchmarked, what were the key drivers, factors that might impact on a result etc.

One of the issues the group has been grappling with is what to benchmark and how.  Resolution to our meeting was that we are going to measure different topics on-farm and compare the group along with best practice information.  An example of this is ewe hogget mating.  The group has come up with their own monitoring topics and questions, now the commitment to deliver this information.

Part of the on-farm session is to see aspects of the farm we visit.  Wednesday we were rewarded with a beautiful day and good views for the top of the farm.  This particular farm is looking at development, and the group looked at what could be done, the planning process required and some timeframes and resources around to make it happen.

The group nearly at the top of hill ... stopped for a chat.