Monitoring and financial benchmarking

Benchmarking compares your farm’s financial information against other, similar livestock businesses.

Maximise the profitability of your grazing business by identifying the key factors that influence profit and concentrate on improving those areas. Top producers know their costs and returns and use these figures to make management decisions.

Producers who do not benchmark their business, or keep detailed production figures, still make decisions, but they have to rely on experience, ’gut feel’ or trial and error.

Producers who benchmark and compare their businesses against others can pinpoint areas for improvement and do something about it. The value of benchmarking is not in the figures themselves, but the process of better understanding your business to identify areas for improvement.

Benchmarking programs show that the top 20% of producers are achieving returns per ha, per dry sheep equivalent (DSE) and per millimetre of rainfall up to 70% higher than the local average.

Top producers generally have better quality animals and the capacity to sustainably run higher stocking rates. They concentrate on higher pasture production, linked to higher utilisation - probably the single most important factor in determining overall profitability.

How do I start?

The first step is to contact your local advisor, consultant or neighbours to find out what benchmarking programs are operating in your region/industry.