Hanrahan

I may have been to University twice,,  but I am still a country hick and proud of it.  We know things even if we can't always convince you we are quite smart as far as real ecosystem management and understanding goes .Our kids have 20years head start on your when it comes to a real education in the environment . We can, for example , tell when the wannabes are desperate ; when their gurus have to have "Emeritus and Professor " in front of them.The left might hate deferring to "the USA"  but when they want to "outside experts " are better than any we have .Our intellectuals are limiting themselves . ABC were again at this week with Guru Suzuki supporting Guru Flannery . While Suzuki spoke as though he was thinking outside the square ,there was little evidence in his answers and his careless support of all Flannery's careless unrecanted outbursts. Suzuki even dared to give Flannerys fear about water to be "given time to prove " even thou...

Hi - thanks for listening mate ! Many of us have known for a long time that we can't  just keep complainin  - besides you have your complaints  too... eh!   . We do it, but we kick oursleves ( picture) for doing it -besides we try too hard sometimes . We know it , you know it .  It hurts though ! OUCH We won't get any relief from some of our suffering by just complaining - or by getting others to complain for us .You don't know how  many of the above falls are self imposed - us pushing the animal or the pnats too hard . One of the main reasons we can't rely on the voices of others is this : Those who would speak for us , people who really know our deep dilemmas,who are close to us , are getting less and less . ( Over 90% of Aussies live in cities and eat very cheap food . see how Vic govt are demolishing advisory services of merit right now. The loss of regional services of merit is something governments in their ignorance have engineered .  Soc...

As one who always leaves plenty of natural habitat  for wildlife on my place, I was keen to see what the big worry was this week on Four  Corners. Was good to get a bit of background on the problems in Victoria but , overall,  I found  myself  totally confused about what the problem is supposed to be  and where it is . If there was a cause the ABC didn't state it clearly . It was like going out to shoot a fox when the visitor couldn't  remember which paddock they saw it in.  Was the limited gene pool issue an ongoing problem , or just developers on the Gold Coast ? Some dumb Council ?  Or is the really big danger that of climate change? I would have thought that Gunnedah could be on the outside range of the animals normal habitat. Lots of animals died in the profoundly long drought ending in 2009 everywhere .  I would have thought that developers, like me, when I change things and work with nature , or remove some old habitat woul...

Straight talking is no problem here . Call me what you like as long as you don't call me late for dinner. Meathead ! Good isn't it .

I don't about You but sometimes  a really wet paddock looks more beautiful than anything else in the world . Others may see only the bogging , the seed and fuel costs ---but we see the harvest:The potential harvest .It may not come ,  It could all be ruined though you know , by a frost , not enough spring rain or hail or mice ......or  nematodes WE don't need leactures on leadership . If we didn't get out there and take risks everyday ,noone would be fed ! YET We see the problem of WEAK LEADERSHIP in Europe today and everyday . Breakthrough means we have a"new " look but its the "old look"( talking tough like good household leadership ) Good news for the moment is all the press concern themselves with . Faith in progress per se is now outdated simply because change for changes sake  doesn't work ( its suits retailers and the ad indsutry but what thinking person believes them ?) . What works is hope based on knowledge ( not on fear like the citi...

We don't watch the ABC --- they scare us too much .....and then run a shocking night of shocking humor Wednesdays .Doesn't work mate .  Rather watch Bruce Parry on SBS. His great Series on The Arctic He hangs around long enough to really get a feel for what's really happening and is not afraid to let the people speak. Beats so many who are out to point fingers and poke them into windmills Should get Bruce Parry down into the Riverina?- He might tell us something we don't already think we know

The best bit about not being taken seriously by the media is that you don't waste time chasing quickfix and hype; We are not trapped in a false comfort zone created  by living in a cave ; a self righteous self centred comfort zone where you can cocoon yourself constantly and deal directly with the one direction criticism that manages to force its way down the entrance. ( Symbolized by Woolworth's chairman recently celebrating "the 16% " -the cut.  I don't begrudge these often effective people the comfort ( We rest too ) , but I do begrudge them their ignorance and arrogance about big picture politics .I accept their efficiency but  reject their right to rule on behalf of the world ! Worse , wannabes who think they should Some of the drip feeders think they do it tough,  but they don't know what tough is. We in the bush,  and always on the sharp edge of a profit margin ( below it or above it ) , know how to invest well ( its true...

Nothing creates better mental health than a trip outside.  If you're a miner or a speculator , be  a steer  for a day .  You WILL see things differently away from the moving coloured  screens that fake the real world and trick those who spend too much time in front of them . If we have a spare dollar out here , we put it where it pays reliable dividends . We don't have enough spare dollars to gamble with them either .We are all blessed here, not because we are better by nature,  but just by being here and taking in the bounty Steers go a bit mad at this time of year;  running around the boundaries and looking for amusement . They are prepared to gamble . To run at a fence or run at a whim. They lose what spare energy they have in games Driving across the huge expanse of western plains yesterday ( takes a whole day to go across it) we noted how the sheep and cattle were largely looking after...

I guess with hindsight its correct to say that "we" have sometimes pushed some country too far .But I am not convinced we haven't done some good ; and with our better understanding our kids will do better. In a dry and precarious land we all shower and live together pretty well. Its not as though we are exactly "in charge "either. Kangaroos love jumping our fences and camels ignoring them , There are millions more of the jumpers than ever before because of the food and water we provide on cleared land next to their official homes (for example, if you go to the Grampians you won't find any kangaroos at the official old sighting spot at Zumsteins. The kangaroos around the Grampians live on our land - not the National Park . YHIFOB How generous should we farmers be? We hardly make a living anywhere in the world providing cheap food for so many. Which is why its nice to go spot lighting occassionally. Now some overseas observers have finally noticed our ca...

Now you may say "takes one to know one " You'd be right,  and that's the point . We all live with uncertainty and that can scare us . Here though , you see a few cycles more than most and you worry less and predict more. Be wise to be open to learn . Ya see , with people who worry about our territory  is they they don't experience it ....so they just don't know . And lookin at how they talk themselves into a panic over it , the woories  and wooriers have grown to the point that even I can see their perspective is completely outta wack. Ya see,  first of all they don't live here and therfore they don't know the situation well enough to know about the reliability and context of that thing they say we have --resilience What I really don't like and why I am saying so today is to see the unecessary negative effect of all this misapplied worry on children- e it reduces our children's faith in science and technology and our abilit...

The community I grew up in had a few great sayings . One of  the best was 'takes one to know one ". Which means if you think you know the motivation of another , be careful you didn't source it from your own mind . Something about logs in your own eye there ?

Polys wonder why we don't trust them . What I don't get is this idea they have at the moment that "We Must We Should , We Have to - trust them " . "Climate change" - whatever that means . How come,  all of a sudden, we should not only change speed ,  but change tack with  these dictator( they know what's best - not us ) .  Somehow now you have become so well intentioned AND so capable - even though you can only talk about tax and not what you would do with it . I wouldn't let any door salesman get away with such wishful thinking ! What do they think we are ? fools ? I mean they said we were going to run outa water but look what happened after they built these white elephant ( desal plants ) that our kids must pay for.    Now they say we are going to run outa fuel . But ones recyclable and ones not . Seems like they got the order and the importance mixed up a  bit . Any fool farmer can tell them they wouldn't know what water conse...

You bet . Most of us on the farm wait too long to find one. So , it's not easy to find a woman for this unique and tough  job .The farmers wife has to be someone very, very special. I was 42 before I introduced wonderwoman  from the big smoke to a world even she could not always cope with. You see,  for starters there was always something EXTRA to add to the days work ;  It's as true today,  as it was over 15 years ago .  We are not like the city folks who get all worried when something a bit different from yesterday  happens - a mere flood or a drought comes along - The greens think they are telling us all about nature , but we have to work with it every day or we are just "outa here"  . Didn't those kids listen when Banjo was being read at school .We love the country -do the Greens love it better from a distance ?  After 15years  she's still a wonder and still a wondering - more work than any family has ever put up with ever - ...

Not as though it doesn't happen in the city,  but its gotta happen out here sometimes to save us from going mad .  I nearly went mad the other month trying to milk 250cows for someone who needed a break for the day .   The story is here .

  They are so innocent . Like kids, pity they don't stay that way . Notice there is a bit of duck shoving going on and the lineup is getting a big ragged at the back .Some one' striying to pass , scamble up the ladder , jump the queue , so what's new  eh ?. The good thing is that following mother duck is good .Following some duck who doesn't know where they going is not using the brains your mother and father gave you . Don't be just a dumb duck -More on duckshoving here " We're listening mum " they are saying . Yeah sure, yeah sure you are . They may look like they are listening and following your lead but that untidy que at the back . Reminds me of that truly great saying about the truth of love and hate "I love my kids, it's what they do I can't stand. Its what they DO I hate " . Go on get a bit angry if you have been playing dumbducks as a mature person.  Then you might decide to leave the adult dumb ducks brigade that keep...

After seeing Hacker befuddled by the bureaubrats ,I never thought I'd see the day when a leader,particularly one who has none to deal with, defend them. I've lived to see Bob Brown do it on Jon Feine's program, a few days ago. Some city folks tell me I lead a sheltered life out ere , No politickan and such: but we see a lot . We have to study all our lives to survive . And we can see a dud talking his way into trouble! Which got me wondering why these blokes from the big smoke keep sucking the same sauce bottle on trees , if ya get what I mean. Tony Abbott this week offered us the same old same old story; just trees . I mean its like a broken record now on slow forward from 20 billion to 20 million - (I'm with Barnaby on this; who cares billions or trillions- It's still a heck of a lotta waste) Don't they know that we JUST want someone to talk sense about our place !!!!!).Got it ! Not that we don't love native trees (20% of my property )> What...

Or so he says- half way up a tree and without food for more than 20 days. Maybe he was mad before he sought to blame the government He wouldn't be the first man in rural Australia to be driven mad by the childish , ever changing and hypocritical logic of the green lobbyists. Tree huggers, let alone anyone else, are not supposed to resist the idea of carbon trading on our behalf - the greater good is done by those with the best intention. They take the poor blokes rights off him and give the bloke driving his RV truck around town a tank and a subsidy for doing what rural people do for nothing - The dummies TALK (not offer) some new dopey dreaming nonsense about soil sequestration compensation when it won't work , AND when the harvesting and utilization of the existing timber could!! Rudds group are so out of touch they give money to those who should be fined and stop things they should encourage. Enough to drive you mad . As for all this talk of moral imperative . How about ev...

Was in bed thinking as I often do about why the citicentrics are worried about the world warming. It had been a typical climate warming scare day at 40 degrees but now i up to my ears under the blankets . They like things simple they do. Maybe the worriers think its as simple as burning equals warming which would be true if the heat didn't escape .But it does - every night when there is no cloud More here him

no sheep ere It used to be that, once every few years, we would tell em "Yeh mate, this is how it is !" They would like to hear what we've got say and we'd tell em We'd tell them what to ” think”. we'd try anyway , Elp em out Now they tell us what WE should “think”. \ Hang on a minute mate ! We are no sheep....We don't follow you. Infact, while we are on the subject of sheep , I am inclined to think those sheep are more intelligent than the person who made the ads . Every day for weeks on end .........those ads ..... I have stopped thinking . It used to be that we would tell them what WE were worried about. Now they tell us what THEY are worried about. They worry too much ! That worried look , of all things, makes me really nervous. I used to think they knew what they were doing, and were getting on with it. It used to be that our leaders would tell us what they were doing – now they just tell US what to do. “Think" they say. What is it al...

I mean, like I said some months ago, the city is more worried than I am . It seems to me that noone really knows quite what we are worried about. Is it rising sea levels , more storms or hotter weather , too much co2 or too much methane ? Lucky for me cows; they don't know we are about to stick something truly breathtaking up them ! When the greens come out here and show us how to keep the atmosphere from imploding, then we will all, indeed, have something to worry about! All this hot air from the city does not worry me. When they worries about things i know more about than they do , it makes it easy for me - I 'm the calming agent . They might not believe us country hicks but i know enough to know what i know --they are just fishing but without their line in the water like mine is - day after day . Sure This Hot air and methane stuff is complex -I don't know much at all about that. i wish i did know . if greens really know, tell us how to run carbon trading ag...