Trust and muffins lead the way

In any business, communicating in silos is the main cause of issues among managers. With only three of us managing things, myself on sheep, Gert on vehicles and Mbali on payments, breaking through our silos is easy. Twice a week we hold short morning meetings to report progress and problems towards our goal of turning grass into sheep for profit.

- By Alwyn Viljoen

Because these meetings are early, there is a lot of contagious yawning. Since having learned that all vertebrates yawn, I encourage this. A good yawn, it turns out, boosts oxygen and blood flow to cool the brain, release stress and send positive social signals to the rest of the group. The result is a group that is a little more alert, relaxed, and friendly.

Not that I experienced any of these traits when I proposed that we look at expanding to raise sheep for the Middle East market. I said with both New Zealand and the United Kingdom having banned livestock exports and Australia planning to stop live sheep exports by 2028, the demand is greater than the supply. And since we already rear animals for udhiyah, this would be a natural extension of our farm business.

On the ship or not?