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Assess the likelihood of major risks and their potential impact on your business
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Identify strategies to best manage risks or threats |
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Key decisions, critical actions and benchmarks
The risk that external factors pose to the business is a combination of:
- The probability of the event
- The size of the loss, should it happen, and
- The longer-term implications for the business.
These things change with time and therefore must be constantly under review. For instance, after a few good years there may be a higher probability of a drought, but if fodder or cash reserves have been built up the implications for the business will be much less than for a drought that follows a few poor years.
A farm business risk assessment template (tool 1.10) is provided to help identify the major risks. It covers the 12 most common areas of risk and asks the questions you should answer when considering these risks.
Planning to manage risk
Because drought is common to all sheep producers, it is used in tool 1.10 as an example of how the principles should be applied. Many of the other risks assessed in tool 1.10 require a more subjective approach, but the same principles (likelihood and potential impact) apply.
Signposts  |
Read
Managing Fodder Price for Droughts – useful reference material for calculating the cost-benefits of storing fodder in preparation for a drought. For your free copy:
Attend
The MLA EDGEnetwork® program is coordinated nationally and has a range of workshops to assist sheep producers. Contact can be made via:
Stockplan® – a workshop to help sheep (and cattle) producers explore management options in the preliminary stages and during drought. Three computer software decision support tools are available to help answer questions such as: ‘How much will it cost to feed stock for a specified time?’ ‘Should I feed, sell or agist?’ To find out more, visit the NSW DPI website http://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agriculture/emergency/drought/planning/general/stockplan
Farmer’s Guide to Managing Climate Risk — this one-day NSW DPI PROfarm workshop helps land managers reduce risk by monitoring and effectively incorporating weather and climate information into farm decision-making. Find out more by:
- Visiting: www.profarm.com.au
- Calling 1800 025 520 in northern NSW or 1800 628 422 in southern NSW.
View
MetAccess® — a program for displaying and analysing daily weather records. Available through Horizon Ag. Order your copy by:
Rainman - a CD-based software package containing historical, long-term daily and monthly rainfall data for 3700 rainfall locations around Australia. It allows users to calculate chances of monthly and seasonal rain, display historical data as tables or graphs, and use the SOI to forecast seasonal rain, dry periods and effective rain at your location. To order a copy, contact the Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries in Toowoomba Queensland:
The MLA Rainfall to Pasture Growth Outlook Tool estimates pasture growth for different locations around Australia. Visit the website: www.mla.com.au/growthoutlooktool/
Grazclock is a spreadsheet-based tool that matches animal feed requirements with pasture growth throughout the year. It allows sheep (and cattle) producers to select key management times to correspond with feed demand. Contact the NSW Department of Primary Industries:
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