Although Marketplace’s alphabetical listings are designed to help you find what you’re looking for quickly it is worthwhile — for those with internet access at least — making use of the search facility for the on-line service.

Search engines are powerful tools with more bhp (brain helping powers) than your average plough puller. But remember to keep searches simple. The more ornate the description entered in to a search engine the narrower the field of “matches” becomes. Start small, then enlarge descriptions to weed out the non-essentials that appear, is sound advice.

Surfing Marketplace on-line is one route to follow but don’t forget local knowledge can often deliver results — quite literally — faster than waiting for overnight shipment. Dealers are adept at scouting out replacment parts either off the shelf or via contacts within the trade. And with autumn drilling continuing apace and changeable weather ahead that can be no bad thing.

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Reports from part suppliers at the start of harvest suggested many farms were operating what business leaders often refer to as “Just in Time” ordering. This was said to be down to economic factors such as cashflow in addition to further constraints on time management with fewer units having dedicated or full-time workshop technicians to ensure kit can cope when workloads are at there seasonal peak.

With autumn sowing under way across many regions, the pressure is not as apparent. This, say suppliers, is partly due to the change in crop management with many units now switching rotations routinely to incorporate spring and autumnsown crops as market factors dictate. Essentially, there’s little downtime between planting operations.

For those who do find themselves facing a breakdown and the only “available” spare some distance away, the proliferation of overnight and courier services has helped remove some of the anxiety.

Getting replacement parts in-stock — whether from UK- or EU-based suppliers — can usually be accommodated within 24 hours. Breakdown times have been shortened considerably as a result.

But prevention is still better than reaction. Wear parts for key machinery should be held on-farm or availability checked periodically with local suppliers, say traders.

Whatever the situation, producers have more options of sourcing replacement parts at their fingertips now than ever before. And should the traditional routes of enquiry close outside normal operating hours its worth remembering that on-line searches operate 24/7 — just like farming itself.

Farmers Weekly, 9/22/2006

For most people, mention dairy farming and the first thing that comes to mind is cows. But for one Staffordshire farmer, dairying has taken on a whole new meaning.

Nick Brandon has swapped his herd of 160 pedigree Holsteins for more than 800 goats and, almost 10 years after diversifying, he is reaping the benefits of daring to be different.

Falling milk prices in traditional dairying first encouraged Mr Brandon to consider alternatives to traditional dairying. After speaking to a friend who was considering diversifying into goats, he decided to try the enterprise himself.

“Goats’ milk was double the price of cows’, so it seemed like a good idea,” Mr Brandon says. “We decided to talk to a milk buyer to see if there was a market for the product.”

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Mr Brandon secured a contract with local dairy Delamere and bought 150 goats to farm alongside his Holstein herd on his 162ha (400-acre) farm. He quickly realised, however, that milking both cows and goats was too much work.

“They are both enterprises that need running well,” Mr Brandon says. “You’ve got to be on the ball with both and that was proving difficult.”

Accepting the business was too complicated, he decided to sell his cows to concentrate on goats. “I never thought I’d give up on cows, but I’m happy now,” he says. “Trying not to spend money investing in cows was not the way to carry on. It’s not an enjoyable way to farm.”

Mr Brandon expects to have 1000 goats by spring and hopes to double that number by the end of next year. The farm’s cow sheds have been converted, while accommodation for another 100 goats is being built. An 88-point rotary is under construction and expected to be completed by December.

While the price of goats’ milk is higher than cows, it has remained the same since Mr Brandon first started the venture, at about 36p/litre. “Although in real terms the price has gone down, it’s still a viable business,” he says. “The market is sound and demand is there.”

Despite having healthy demand and reasonable profits, Mr Brandon warns diversifying is not easy and is not for everyone. “If you think you want to get out of cows because you are losing money, and you can’t afford to invest, don’t think it will be any different with goats.”

Mr Brandon says equipment has proved expensive. “We have also had to go to the bank for an awful lot of money to be able to afford the new parlour.” He also pays a premium of ВЈ120-150 for a milking goat because “there aren’t many spare ones about”.

Goat dairying has revealed other difficulties. “There aren’t the specialist places to go for vet advice and there are very few licensed vet products. One of the biggest things was being overwhelmed by the sheer number of animals. We weren’t ready for the complexity of feeding and veterinary problems.”

Mr Brandon says the key to goat farming is being aware of what’s happening in the industry and securing a milk contract before buying animals.”We started producing for Delamere because they needed more milk. Our expansion has always been led by demand.”

Diversifying into goats is certainly not for the faint-hearted, he says. “We have made every mistake there is to make, but we’ve learnt from them. My only regret is that I didn’t make the change sooner.”

DAIRY EVENT 2006
* The Dairy Event takes place at Stoneleigh Park, Stoneleigh, Warwickshire, on 20 and 21 September. More details from RABDF 0845 458 2711 or www.dairyevent.co.uk.

BRANDON’S TOP GOAT TIPS
* Find a market and secure a contract before starting

* Create a detailed veterinary and feeding plan and stick to it

* Learn as much as you can about the industry

THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE DIVERSIFYING
* Considering alternative dairying opportunities could stop some farmers from going out of business, says RABDF chief executive Nick Everington.

However, dairy farmers need to identify a market and secure a contract before they move away from traditional dairying.

“It doesn’t suit everyone to diversify, but the important thing is to find a market and get a contract sorted first,” he says.

Mr Everington says the British Goat Society will be at the Dairy Event for the first time to give farmers advice on the potential of diversifying. “There’s quite a demand for goats’ milk and other products and we are trying to show the opportunities available,” he says.

As well as goats, Mr Everington says farmers should consider other types of dairying, such as buffaloes and ewes.

“We need to bring in alternatives and address the needs of the livestock industry,” he adds.

By: Stocks, Caroline, Farmers Weekly, 9/15/2006

Waitress Tammy Benlolo has seen it all: diners who throw gnawed rib bones directly onto the table, a man who wanted his glass of white wine microwaved for exactly 40 seconds, a $20 tip turned into origami. The 25-year-old Torontonian, who now works at a large chain of restaurants that begins with a K, is the author of a new book, From My Side of the Table, a collection of short essays about working as a server for seven years. She is also a student, working on her master’s degree in English. She says the point of the book is mostly to let diners know “We’re not your personal slaves.”

The worst customers, she says, aren’t the ones you might expect. Benlolo admits to having dropped “a lot of things” on people over the years, including a tray of water glasses, but all those diners have been “amazing.” Once she spilled blue cheese dressing all over a man. “He completely didn’t mind smelling like sour cheese for the rest of the night.” On the other hand, seemingly well-off mothers who come in with their children have shortchanged her by large amounts. Once, after she mistakenly put black olives on the table instead of green, the diner’s response was: “What? Are you stupid or something?”

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At the downtown Toronto bistro where we meet, I point out particular tables to Benlolo, who has become expert at reading customers. “I can tell that table of two women are going to be here a long time — they are catching up. They don’t want to be bothered every 10 minutes.” At another table, she’s sure the couple has been together a long time. “I can tell they get along.” Benlolo has seen “way too many” men screaming at women over dinner, and women storming out on men during dates. Think your server isn’t paying attention to your conversation? Think again. “I’ve overheard so many women saying, ‘We’re getting a divorce,’ to girlfriends, I can’t tell you,” Benlolo says. “That’s really sad — they are crying their eyes out. I run away from those tables.” But servers “kind of like the fights between couples,” she admits. “We stand back and watch.”

She can tell from the first moment how a diner will tip. Well, most of the time. There was that male customer who wrote on the bottom of the bill “You’re hot!” and then left her two dollars. “Really! If you think I’m that hot, why are you only leaving me two dollars?” she asks. Most people won’t even leave the standard 15 per cent, she says. “I love getting older couples. They usually tip more than 20 per cent.” Unlike most servers, Benlolo doesn’t mind being asked for separate bills. “That way, if most people leave five or six dollars, it adds up to be more than what they’d leave as a group.”

Women, she says, are the worst customers. “I’ll start by saying, ‘I’m Tammy. I’ll be your server tonight,’ and they’ll look at me like I’m toxic waste. I’m like, ‘Sorry for asking to take your order!’ ” Or they’ll leave their purses and cellphones on the table and there’s no room to put plates down. “They’ll just look at me with the tray in my hand and expect me to somehow move everything. It’s like, ‘Work with me people!’ ” Men, she says, are the best. “They’ll come in, order alcohol, eat fast, so the turnover is quicker, and if you flirt with them, they tip better.” (Except the time a group of suited-up businessmen came in, ordered drinks, appetizers and large steaks, and went out for a smoke on the patio, never to return.) “We have to pay for it out of our own pockets. I get upset because I don’t have a lot of money. I’m a server!”

Before you feel too guilty about how you’ve treated servers in the past, though, Benlolo admits servers aren’t always angels. She’s never seen a server deliberately ruin a meal because of a customer’s rudeness (spitting on the meal, or worse) but reveals the “five second” rule really does apply at almost every restaurant. Meaning, if your meal falls to the floor, most likely it will be put back on the plate. “And sometimes I’ve seen servers dip their fingers into a coffee cup to see if it’s still warm.” As for that decaf coffee order, let’s just say you were lucky if you managed to fall asleep that night.

When I mention to Benlolo that I always feel guilty ordering a Diet Coke instead of an alcoholic beverage, she says I shouldn’t. “I’d rather people order a Diet Coke than water. What gets me is people who say they’re trying to eat healthy and that’s why they’re ordering a Diet Doke, and then they order a bacon double cheeseburger with fries. It makes no sense.”

By: Eckler, Rebecca, Maclean’s, 9/4/2006

1 Make sure your hands are clean and dry.
2 Stand with good posture. Both men and women should stand to shake hands.
3 Approach. Step toward the person and stand facing him or her squarely. Make eye contact and smile.
4 Wait for the higher-ranking person to extend his or her hand. If he or she doesn’t, it’s OK to wait a moment and then extend your right hand.
5 Use a firm (not vicelike) grip. If your grip is too loose, your hand will feel like a dead fish. The right grip is palm to palm, web to web.
6 Use the other person’s name in greeting or acknowledging him or her.
7 Shake. You’ll feel a natural rhythm. Pump hands about three or four times-there’s no hard-and-fast rule.
8 Release. Don’t pull away. When you feel a natural pause, you can release your hand.

Source: Career World, Sep2006

You need to know everything about both your opponent and your candidate because the opponent’s campaign has also done research they will use against you. The only way to prepare for that inevitable attack is to be fully versed in every aspect of your candidate’s record, both public and private. Depending on the circumstances of the candidates involved, research could include a review of voting records, bill sponsorship, past and present campaign contributions, junkets paid for by special interests and trips taken at taxpayers’ expense.

Thanks to recent improvements to several online databases, there is more information available than ever before to your campaign. But don’t let the power and convenience of the Internet fool you into thinking that research is a simple task. Organizing, disseminating and analyzing the results demands a keen sense of what to look for.

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For example, a search of your opponent’s campaign contributions may show a large contribution from an unfamiliar source. Who is this contributor? Who else does he/she contribute to? Why might that person be giving money to your opponent? What kind of business is it? Has that business ever been sued or cited for regulatory violations? Did it recently receive taxpayer-funded contracts with the influence of your opponent? This information can be pieced together with public documents that are often available online.

The expense of having a professional opposition research consulting firm sorting and analyzing such a large volume of raw data may become too much for most campaigns on local and even some statewide levels. An alternative is to recruit and use bright, energetic and conscientious volunteers to help you glean the valuable information your campaign needs without busting your budget. Volunteers can be part of the research process when taught how to gather information from the Internet or in courthouses where records are kept. They then should turn over whatever they find to experts at a research firm, who know how to analyze the data.

Several years ago we discovered that an opponent had owned a movie theater that locals said showed X-rated movies. Obviously, we needed to confirm this, so the campaign’s best volunteer was sent with very specific instructions to review movie listings in the local newspapers from 30 years before.

He found the listings in a local library. After a search, he told us that based on the titles, he didn’t think we would have a hit. When he submitted the movie titles, he mentioned “a cartoon named ‘Fritz The Cat,’ ‘The Devil in Miss Jones’ and ‘Behind the Green Door’ but nothing more.”

Despite the innocuous-sounding titles, these were infamous X-rated films. It took a consultant with a broad knowledge of pop culture to add meaning to the facts. While this volunteer’s efforts were invaluable to our research, we would have lost the hit if we’d relied on him to analyze the information.

When recruiting volunteers, first weed out those who may be so zealous in their personal beliefs that they might not be objective. Research, especially at the gathering stage, is not about trying to prove anything; that job is for the pollster, communications director, campaign manager and the candidate. Look for volunteers who are intelligent, patient, persistent and show the ability to follow direction.

After you’ve assembled the team of volunteers, hire professional researchers to conduct training sessions. The value of their work requires some training and guidelines. Use these sessions to teach volunteers where to look for and how to collect data, and how to make sure it’s accurate. Stress precision and accuracy.

Some information may be easy for the volunteers to catalogue. For example, assuming the opponent is a state legislator, any budget-related legislation, regardless of how the opponent voted, must be collected. The same can be said for any tax- or revenue-related bill. For other subjects, instruct the volunteers to disregard ceremonial resolutions. It’s better to collect pieces of legislation that may later prove to have no value than it is to leave out something that upon closer review might have been useful.

When organizing this research project, establish a chain of command among the volunteers whereby one volunteer helps to oversee and advise the others. This volunteer should answer to the professional research consultant as well as the members of the campaign’s research staff. Under these ideal circumstances, the benefits of having qualified research staff under the guidance of a professional consultant with volunteers aiding in the gathering process should be apparent.

With careful selection and use of local volunteers, even campaigns with modest budgets can achieve a high level of efficiency. They can prepare and carry out pointed and professional deconstructions of opponents’ positions that make sense to voters and win elections.

Quick Tips for Opposition Research

1 Avoid silver bullets: frequently campaigns search for the silver bullet that will end the career of a lifetime politician. Ranging from an extra-marital affair to cavorting with known mobsters, silver bullets are usually character-based and ultimately irrelevant or lame one-day hits. Stick to the real stuff and remember that campaigns are usually a death of a thousand cuts and not a quick, painless ending.

2 Test your data: While opposing funding for cyber-warfare defense might get you excited, the reality is that few people will base or change their vote on the issue. All information should be tested by your pollster to see if it is moving the right message with the right people. If it doesn’t work don’t waste any more time on it.

3 Do your follow up: Usually a campaign puts together an early research report and discusses the issues uncovered. This is important but few campaigns commit themselves to an active, on-going program to keep track of statements, contributions and information that is more current. Don’t make that mistake. Hire a researcher who will be around to answer questions on a regular basis and do additional follow up on new issues as they are raised.

4 Be professional in your assessment: Researchers have an obligation to their clients to be professional and committed. Researchers should not leak or release information without approval from the campaign regardless of how “damaging” the information is. They should present an emotionless and easy-to-follow primer to their client and let the campaign determine how it is best used.

By: Collins, Kevin, Campaigns & Elections, Sep2006