Realising Your Dream With KLR

Realising Your Dream with KLR

We hear young people are leaving the land, we hear there is no future in farming as capital entry costs are prohibitive, and we hear negative media “white-noise” denouncing the industry; but using the principles of KLR Marketing young people of today have another option for entry and success in the world of agriculture.

Charlotte Bronson mustering at Cloncurry

In a previous life Charlotte Bronson was a waitress in England but in 2010 she found herself working for Tom and Tamara Scholes at “Barnsdale Station” near Cloncurry, firstly as a governess and then a station hand. Here, exposure to KLR used for cattle breeding inspired her to make a career in the industry.

“I’m not from an agricultural background but now I see it as my future,” Charlotte says enthusiastically. “Tom gave me a cattle job and helped me do the KLR School in 2013, and I love it. The Mastermind group, in particular, gives me such a fantastic network and I’ll tell anyone how good I think the system is.”

Charlotte and her partner, Dougie Brownlie, are in the process of moving to NSW to take up a position on Bill and Joy Wearn’s breeding operation near Holbrook utilising the methods of KLR, Grazing for Profit and holistic management and are excited about what they will be able to achieve there. “We are eventually aiming for management level on a property and we’d also like to start getting our own herd together, close to markets where we can start off small with a pen or two at a time. KLR gives us the confidence to do this.”

Starting small: Sam Livingstone’s cattle on agistment

Sam Livingstone from Canberra, a passionate advocate for farming and co-founder of AgChatOz, has embarked upon his own agricultural dream using the sell-buy methodology of KLR to put together his first mob of cattle. “I heard about KLR through Twitter and then I attended a school in Orange in 2012. I had no land, no cattle and part way through the course I was thinking I had done my money. I started advertising for agistment within a 100km radius of home and my first purchase was 11 head of cattle, which, again through the Mastermind network, I was able to place on Matthew Doyle’s property near Yass. I’ve done three trades so far, making a small profit each time, and have increased my numbers to 24.” Sam has a five year plan to increase his herd to 100 and so far is ahead of schedule.

Sam Munsie with trade cattle on the family property near Warialda

At “Willunga” near Warialda in northern NSW the Munsie Family made the transition from breeding cattle to trading cattle using KLR. “Dad, Mum and I did the school,” Sam Munsie says “and it has helped change the family farm. We have used the business analyser to work out our Cost of Carry, which is our own agistment rate, and that gives us a base to work from. The last 18 months have been hard in the district with the drought but we kept trading, and trading at a profit, by looking for those margins between the sell and the buy.”

The KLR Marketing methodology works for breeders and traders alike, helping businesses to make money whether the market is up or down. The first step is to work out their costs of producing a livestock unit, whether bred or bought, sheep or cattle. As Sam says the KLR business analyser helps them work out their Cost of Carry, a time based formula that is far more accurate than a simple gross margin. Knowing this figure and using the KLR market reports, producers then can make informed decisions on what to sell and when, in order to make money.

KLR Marketing will be running two and a half day schools in Bathurst in July 2014 and in Brisbane in October 2014. The Mastermind network is exclusively for graduates of the school.

Charlotte Bronson, Sam Munsie and Sam Livingstone were recently featured on a teleconference with Grahame Rees from KLR.
Listen to this 40 minute chat Grahame had with them :

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