@Deanne ...most pet lambs are weaned just after school Pet Day's ..but depending on when they are born most pet lambs will be weaned in October/November (this may be different for Hogget lambs which are generally born later). In regard to shots they may need, most things are covered by the vaccinations given to their mother prelambing. There is an option to vaccinate for clostridial disease around the 5 week mark, I'm not sure how many people do this. Drenching at docking is also a good idea to remove any internal parasites.

The festive period is upon us - we will be spending lots of time relaxing with family and friends - while it is probably not the best of times for a succession meeting it might be a good idea to think about what you want in the coming year(s) and to put a plan/goals in place. Remember it will not happen over night and often you may take two steps forward and one step back...but with clear communication and organised meetings you will get a resolution in the long run - Good Luck

Has anyone made a New Year resolution to start/continue or complete their farm succession plan in 2017?

@Wekanui I am assuming that you are planning on paying/claiming the GST when you have made payment...if that is the case then i would delete the payment now and code the payment as it is paid ..ie when it physically comes out of your bank account. This will make your RD 1 account balance as unless the money has been removed from your bank account ... The balance at RD 1 will not be affected.
I hope this help ...also refer to the Cashmanger Rural help centre 'Understanding financed or deferred payments'

@hardgraft Great stuff - also don't forget to utilise your team of professionals - Bank Manager, Accountant, Lawyer - they will have experience and may offer a suggestion that you or your family have not thought of. Our Bank Manager was a huge asset when we discussed succession - and the best thing was we did not have to pay for his assistance - but when the time came for us to borrow money from the bank - we had a great relationship with the Manager and there was no question of us using another bank - so a WIN WIN situation!

With the average age of sheep and beef farmers in NZ now over 55, there must be a lot of conversations happening in regard to succession. I know that there are a lot of people thinking/worrying about it. Please share, ideas, links and stories of Succession - if you have been through succession, or succeeded a farming operation - we want to hear your story!

@Clare-Johnston yes - you will need to open your 2018 financial year - to do this go to Tools - create new year. You are able to have two financial years open at a time - so keep your 2017 year open while you tidy up the rest of the year

@ilovefarming that sounds fine - we have something similar but they are named ...Trust and ..Ltd(the name of the company) - making it easy for the accountant to identify what is for what.

@ilovefarming Do you have a code set up for the trust - i code anything pertaining to our trust with the trust code and then the accountant can see what is being paid from the company account to the Trust

You can manually import your credit card statement into Cashmanager - to do this you need to export/save your credit card statement in a QIF or CSV format from your bank - then from the transaction screen you need to select import - and then the name of your bank - this will bring up a box where you are able to browse for the data file path (the file that you have saved) - select the correct file and click on import and you will have the transactions from your credit card - ready to be coded.

East Coast Farming Expo

For many people 'Farm Ownership' is a long term goal - but how do you go about it?
What steps do you need to take to eventually realise this goal?

Last weekends rain event was great for farmers in dry and drought stricken areas of the East Coast of the North Island - how much rain did you have? Is it enough to set us up for autumn? Was it too much rain? Did you get any damage?

This is very interesting and shows the decline that has occurred this year

The paragraph below is an exert from "The AG Letter"

"Sheep farmers are stunned by the rapid and significant fall in wool prices over the last 6 months. Second shear fleece wool
is now 135c/kg (greasy) cheaper than it was in August 2016 - a fall of -33%. For the “average” farm business with around
6000 sheep su, this has wiped around $46,000 off the wool income for this financial year compared to last"

What has happened to the wool industry of late? There was a call from a senior analyst talking on the "Country" radio station the other week - for farmers to hold onto wool if they are financially able to do so - is this a solution ? What else can be done?