CASE STUDY: The Call That Changed Everything
Richard and Jasmine Blundell knew what farming looked like before they took on a run-down inherited remote block in the Snowy Monaro. What they didn't expect was owing more than $1 million to family members, running stock on a high-cost livestock loan with no commercial bank relationship to fall back on, and watching a wet season deliver barber's pole worm to their flock while the sheep yards fell down around them.
They had a vision for the place. They just couldn't see a way to pay for it.
While this mightn’t be your situation, chances are you’d relate to some of it. Every week, rural financial counsellors across southern and central NSW work with families facing some version of the Blundell’s predicament - debt that crept up faster than expected, uncertainty about government assistance, or a family farm handed over with no clear map forward.
For Richard and Jasmine, the numbers told a hard story. Their 1700-hectare property carried 1400 merino ewes and wethers with the wool clip the sole income. With the property running at a loss, they worked off farm to help make ends meet, but vendor finance and stock loan repayments swallowed what little was left.
Frustrated, and after hearing the Rural Financial Counselling Service NSW was free and confidential, Jasmine picked up the phone to local counsellor Clare Boardman.
That first call is just a conversation. From there, a counsellor works through the business with you: income, debts, assets, and what's actually going on. Together you build a realistic plan, then get ongoing support to put it into action - a finance proposal, a grant application, or simply a clearer-headed decision.
For Richard and Jasmine, that meant weighing up breeding versus buying in stock to reach their target of 3000 head, and flagging three NSW RAA flood grants they were eligible for to repair damaged roads and fences. Then came the pitch for a commercial loan, to do infrastructure repairs, pasture improvements, repay the stock loan and purchase more livestock - something they doubted was possible for a farm running at a loss. Clare helped them build a business plan, cash flow budgets and a $700,000 finance proposal. It went to five banks; NAB came back with a $600,000 term loan and a $100,000 overdraft.
From there, the Blundells sank a new bore, made capital and pasture improvements, diversified into crossbred lambs and grew their flock from 1400 to 3000 head - lifting both income and profit.
“I truly feel these very positive changes for our family would not have been possible without the hard work Clare put in with us a few years ago,” Jasmine says. “At that time, we had no relationship with a bank and no hope that we would ever be successful in getting a bank loan. I had no idea how to go about doing cash flows, profit and loss statements or a farming business case and generally felt very helpless.”
Jasmine and Richard have since sold that property and bought a smaller, more productive one with good infrastructure - a change Jasmine credits back to the groundwork Clare helped them lay.
“The confidence and skills Clare taught me allowed me to successfully navigate a difficult property sale, the purchase of a new property, obtain a significant loan from a major bank all whilst having the confidence in the cash flow projections I was doing that we will be successful in this new venture into the long term.”
Like the Blundells, real change could start with one call. Reach out to your local rural financial counsellor 1800 319 458 or visit www.rfcsnsw.org.au.