Well, we know how unreliable weather predictions can feel in 2026. It is a bit bloody ironic considering it is such a crucial tool for Australian agriculture.
I would think government agencies would make it a priority to improve, considering how important it is to feed the world. But anyway, I am thinking and speaking common sense here, I better pull up!
We feel you are guessing and racing windows, and at times what was supposed to be a window was not a window in the end.
I suppose as I say that, my mind races to a situation like needing to get urea out as there is a big prediction, and it turns out not to have been a window because the bloody rain did not hit.
So then we get shy, and the next round we tread with caution and miss an opportunity.
This leads to big losses, and we deal with all of this right from the start of planting, feeding the crops, harvest, through to tillage.
Mate, we see it all the time and we understand it.
The pressure of harvest, all that hard work sitting out there in the open, knowing all it will take to lose everything is one big front to roll over the top.
On that subject, we see all these accelerator programmes and governments trying to fund drought resilience programs, and data mining seems to be productive and in our favour, but would we not be better off just working towards improving the main key components and getting bloody good at weather predictions?
That alone would have such a positive impact on our sector.
For growers wanting to check wider seasonal conditions, resources like the Bureau of Meteorology agriculture sector information and the ABARES Weekly Australian Climate, Water and Agricultural Update can be helpful alongside local knowledge and on-farm decision making.
Anyway, looking at it from a positive point of view, people who have a passion for agriculture can use that passion to build bloody unreal things to help with the unknown, and that is what we have done at Broadacre Contracting.
Everything I am yarning about above creates a need to dry hire extra gear or get contractors in to help.
As with everything in life, that brings a struggle in itself, and we are fixing that little problem to make the opportunity of dry hiring gear or getting contractors in a lot more desirable.
When the pressure is on, being able to find extra gear or the right contractor can make a serious difference.
You can browse equipment listings to see gear available through Broadacre Contracting, or post a tender if you need help for a specific job.
In ag, we either dry hire gear or get a contractor in.
We dry hire gear like tractors, chaser bins, rippers and similar gear, but when it comes to specialised jobs like spraying, harvesting, headers and laser buckets, we get contractors in.
Why do we not call it wet hire like every other sector?
Here is the way I think and look at it.
We have so many moving parts in cropping, and a split second can do some serious damage.
Spraying is a cracker of an example. A spray contractor knows what an inversion layer is and they know how to plan and prepare their day around it.
A header contractor understands that pushing a machine too hard means throwing grain out the back.
For growers and contractors wanting to understand the seriousness of spraying conditions, the GRDC spray drift resource explains why hazardous surface temperature inversions matter in agricultural spraying.
In ag, most gear comes over with the person who owns it or with a staff member who specialises in operating that certain bit of gear.
It is not just someone who can swing a digger or jump in a water cart.
Do not get me wrong, every sector needs experience to complete tasks, and wet hire in mining and civil comes with skill, but what you will find more often than not is that mistakes in other sectors can be undone.
In ag, once you spray in an inversion, nothing can be done.
I mean, you can try and forget about it, but the problem is not gone, and you will have some pissed off neighbours more than likely.
If headers are pushed past their capabilities and grain is pumped out the back, you cannot get that grain off the paddock.
These things lead to all types of outcomes, from losing a lot of profit to feeding up and encouraging a breeding campaign for mice.
They will breed up, go hammer and tongs smashing the wheat on the ground until they decide they need a flavour change, and that flavour change is the wiring in your gear that is parked in the shed.
Mate, we all know where that ends up.
It is these things that define the difference in ag compared to other sectors, because contractors have serious responsibilities.
In ag, we are heavily dependent on systems that are not in our control.
We feel ag is probably one of the toughest games.
I am not sure if this is a good idea, but I reckon we should run a comparison as it helps us have those “oh yeah” moments.
Let us look at an ag contractor vs a mobile rock crushing contractor.
If you run a contracting business specialised in mobile crushing and you are awarded a job in a quarry, contracts and job regulations are put in place.
In those contracts, they will have agreed details like the amount of tonnes to be crushed, the length of the contract, the operating times, such as 12-hour days or 24-hour shifts, the material type, the size of material, the amount of feed supplied, and other requirements along the lines of “no clay in the feed material.”
These are just some examples of the key components that are agreed on.
As a mobile crushing contractor, you have set yourself up with some dependence to ensure that if your gear is maintained and the agreed details are followed, you will crush your 1500 to 2500 tonne a day.
The point I am trying to make is that it has clarity and a decent amount of certainty.
At times, a spray contractor does not do any spraying unless it has rained or the conditions are perfect.
There is no such thing as a guaranteed 24-hour shift or guaranteed feed over a period of time.
Everything hinges off systems we cannot control.
We all know the pressure when you need to dry hire gear or a contractor to help strip the crop off before a storm rolls in.
You jump on the phone, ring a mate who has a contractor in, but you have to wait until he is finished that job before he gets to you.
If the timing does not work, you jump on a Facebook page, put up a post and get 10 comments and a few calls from contractors where half of them are 500km away and cannot be there for a week, and the others are just tyre kickers who do not have the exact gear you need.
Now it is time for us to sell ourselves to you, and hopefully I will not lose you so quick.
Broadacre Contracting was built to cut all of that out.
That is all I am going to say. As quick as it was for you to read that, that is as quick as you will post to find what you need and get it.
Now rates are a sensitive subject, and looking at our overall positioning, I do not feel rates should be the main point.
It should be quality, availability and expectation.
It is getting harder for all of us. Grower margins are getting tighter, input costs are increasing, machinery prices are increasing and grain prices are going down.
You know it is funny, I do not know if I agree on the fact growers get told the price of their grain as it fluctuates to a market of supply and demand.
Imagine if you were to go into a machinery dealer and state the price to them of what you are going to pay for the tractor that is on the sale room floor. They would laugh.
It is the reasons I mentioned above that force us to focus on the cost over other components, and those components are just as important, if not more important.
After all, if we do not look after each other, will we be here?
So what does it cost you to not have contractors or to dry hire that extra chaser bin?
I am going to push for you to have that thought process.
I am not going to sit here and say for this machine it should be this cost. I am not interested.
What I am interested in is us looking after each other.
If you need to dry hire farm machinery or get a contractor in, Broadacre Contracting gives you a clearer place to start.
Browse available equipment or post what you need so the right people can come to you.
Dry hire usually means hiring the gear without an operator. Getting a contractor in usually means the machinery comes with the person, skill, timing, experience and responsibility needed to complete the job.
Wet hire is a common term in other industries where machinery is supplied with an operator. In agriculture, people more commonly say they are getting a contractor in, especially for specialised jobs like spraying, harvesting, laser buckets and other skilled work.
Weather windows, harvest pressure, seasonal workloads, tight margins and machinery costs can all create demand for extra gear or contractors. When timing is tight, having access to the right help matters.
You can browse equipment listings through Broadacre Contracting to see available farm machinery, including gear that may suit dry hire or seasonal use.
You can post a tender through Broadacre Contracting so verified members can see the job and make contact directly, rather than relying only on ringing around or posting in Facebook groups.
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