You're gonna need a bigger park....

Sunday, the 18^th of November, 2012 started as any other Sunday in Fremantle. Hipsters gathered at Cafes, each claiming they’d put their woollen cardigans on that morning, before they were cool. They were joined by old Italian gentlemen trying to outdo each other with gesticulations as they sipped coffee you could stand spoons in.  Parents herded their children into cars headed for the nearest sportsground, revellers from the night before did the barefooted walk of shame from strangers houses, and the latest bunch of nutters to board a sheep ship rattled tins at the Markets to raise bail money.

But something was different. Something was in the air, something electric, like the moment before the lightning hits and the thunder rolls, when your hair stands up on end and your arm raises goose bumps with corrugations a trainee Shire grader driver would be proud of. You could smell it, rain on the horizon, or far off smoke from a distant fire. Or the dust of a thousand country cars as they weaved their way through the unfamiliar bituminised roads of Perth. If you build it, they will come, and come they did, in a display of pride that made more than one old cockie’s eyes moisten and voice falter before the day was out.

Ask an Aussie Farmer

Ever since I started this blog, and indeed, one the driving factors for doing so,  I have been saying how many outside of the farming community have no idea how or why we do what we do. Doesn't matter if it's lamb and beef producers, grain growers, horticulturists, beekeepers, wool growers, cotton growers, the list is endless, there are many misconceptions, untruths and general fairy tales around about our lives, both good and bad.

We can't rely on industry bodies to push our cases for us. We need to do it ourselves. Why? Because if we don't we let others speak for us or about us. And we've all seen how that can turn out.

So without further ado, I am proud to announce our little initiative. Ask An Aussie Farmer. A social media experiment where everyday Aussies can ask their farmers anything they like. It's been months in the making, and we have all the producers mentioned above willing and able to take questions and answer according to them. We are not sponsored nor limited by any bodies, organisations or agencies. Just a bunch of committed farmers and their supporters keen to tell people what they do.

We have 8 administrators to keep things in line, spanning from WA to Qld and even into the UK. As the page takes shape we hope to add in new bits and pieces, weekly polls, themes and who knows what else.
Five days in and we've hit 600 likers, with questions from honey, to cotton, shearing, garlic, fish, you name it, we hope to be able to answer it. So get on board and help out, either as an asker or an answerer or both.

Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/askanaussiefarmer

Twitter: @AAAFarmer

You Know You're a Farmer When.....

These were posted on the WA Country Hour Facebook page. The original author is unknown, but whoever they are, they're a genius.

• Your dog rides in the farm ute more than your wife.

• You convince your wife that an overnight trip for machinery parts is a vacation.

 • You wear specific hats for farm sales, livestock auctions and holidays.

 • Your best dog rides in the front of the ute with you.

• If you see a bit of string in a paddock you pick it up and put it in your pocket.

 • You’ve had to wash off with a garden hose before your wife would let you in the house.

 • Your ideal holiday is to visit other peoples farms and stop at every machinery dealer on the way.

 • Your hands look like they are made from the same material as your boots.

When Push Comes to Shove.

Blogging. Tweeting. Facebook. Rallies. Protests. Letter writing. Things I used to associate with people who had too much time and not enough to do. Not something I would ever get involved in. Or so I thought.

Farmers Rally in Geraldton WA

It's amazing how your perspective on things change when something you believe in is threatened. When people, maybe even well-meaning people, decide that the best course of action is to take away the very thing you have worked hard to achieve. And in doing so have automatically condemned the last however many years of your working life as a failure. Some have even gone so far to label myself, my family and my colleagues as money hungry, cruel, inhumane and uncaring.

That hurts a little, especially coming from people who have never seen what I do. Or how I do it. The unknown is, if they did come and see what I do, would their opinions change? Somehow I doubt it.

We've all seen the footage. Cattle being shockingly mistreated in the Indonesian abattoirs. Sheep being dragged away and stuffed into car boots in the Middle East. I haven't heard a single person say any of that is acceptable. Yet we are all condemned for supporting the live trade.