16/10/2026
Something to think about over your morning cuppa...
If you had 10% of your property's value to invest, would you buy more country or improve what you've already got?
Pastures To Prosperity- Ross Newman raises some interesting questions about where the best returns might come from and what should guide your decision.
What would you do? 👇
☕ A SATURDAY MORNING COFFEE QUESTION… ARE WE BUYING MORE COUNTRY OR MAKING MORE FROM WHAT WE ALREADY OWN? 🐂🌱
As you sit down with your Saturday morning coffee, here’s something to ponder.
I was having a conversation with a producer this week who asked me an interesting question.
“Where do you reckon the best value for money is in buying more country at the moment?”
Now, that’s a good question. But it got me thinking about another one.
“What sort of return are we getting from the country we already own?”
With today’s land valuations, expanding a grazing business can involve some serious capital.
And unless there’s plenty of cash sitting around, that generally means borrowing money.
More land. More capital employed. More interest to service.
And potentially more pressure on the existing business to generate the cash flow to pay for it.
But here’s where the conversation gets interesting. 🤔
What if the productivity of the country we already own is declining?
Are we potentially borrowing money to purchase more hectares that are experiencing the same productivity challenges?
Meanwhile, how much consideration are we giving to reinvesting in the productive capacity of our existing land assets?
🌱 Improving pasture composition and productivity.
🌱 Increasing carrying capacity sustainably.
🌱 Producing more kilograms of beef per hectare.
🌱 Improving the return on capital already employed in the business.
So here’s my Saturday morning coffee challenge. ☕
Imagine you had access to capital equivalent to 10% of the current market value of your land assets.
Would you:
🐂 A — BUY MORE COUNTRY?
Expand your landholding, potentially increase your borrowing and generate additional production from more hectares.
🌱 B — INVEST IN WHAT YOU ALREADY OWN?
Improve the productivity of your existing country and potentially produce more kilograms of beef without purchasing another hectare.
Now, I’m certainly not suggesting one is always better than the other.
But perhaps we should be asking a different question when considering the future growth of our grazing businesses.
Are we chasing more hectares, or are we chasing a better return on the capital we’ve already got invested?
And here’s one final thought…
Why are we sometimes comfortable borrowing significant amounts to buy more country, yet hesitant to reinvest a fraction of our existing land asset value into improving its productivity?
☕ Something to think about as you enjoy that second cup of coffee!
What would you do with that 10%? And what numbers would drive your decision?
