The costs

[cowman]

Last night I went to a meeting dealing with oil and gas rights, but it could have been any sort of commodity meeting. There were about ten "participants" and about ten experts from various government/industry departments. And of course there was lots of coffee and donuts.
While sitting there listening to mostly a bunch of drivel I got thinking about how much this was all costing and who was paying for it. Well us ten dumbies weren't getting much but the ten experts were probably hauling down some pretty good money. At the end of the meeting all the experts decided we needed to have another meeting real soon! I didn't think so but then I wasn't making a few hundred by being there!

[ianben]

Hi cowman
We have those sorts of meetings too.
I have often wondered how one becomes an expert and wondered if one day I too could be payed to attend.
Looks easy money to me.
An ability to talk drivel and pontificate seem to be the main atributes.

How do you become an expert?

Do they actually know more about it than you or me?
Sometimes
Have they practical experience?
Hardly ever
Do they ever give workable solutions?
Almost never.

Any ideas on what I should become an expert in.

Canadian Agriculture or the CWB perhaps. A couple of trips and a few hours on the internet should be enough to be an expert, dont you think.

[cowman]

Also Ian it would help if you could put a few meaningful letters behind your name. That seems to always look good!
Maybe we could use letters like TRW(the real world) or SHK(School of Hard Knocks) or even CS(common sense).
Another thing necessary is if someone asks a tough question, that you have no idea about, you need the ability to dazzle them with BS! Come on strong when you have no clue what you are talking about! Maybe throw in a few made up facts and statistics? And have a skin as thick as a bull so any insults just roll off...after all you are dealing with "little people" who have no concept of the neccesity of an "expert"!
Why how dare they question your right to make a small fortune doing nothing!

[cowman]

Somehow it seems to me that those American farmers have got it right. Boast to the world how they are so free enterprize and independent while getting into the trough as deep as they can!
We should be lobbying our government for the same sort of deals. Why I'll surely keep my pasture in grass if they can come up with some serious money! Now I don't have any prairie chickens left but I sure have lots of magpies,coyotes, grasshoppers, and gophers that need a healthy environment! And hey, they're part of the eco-system too! In fact I believe I should get about $500/coyote and maybe $50/gopher and about $20/magpie! We might have to negotiate on the grasshoppers as their numbers seem to be on the rise and they are darned hard to count!

[kato]

We could retire on magpie money alone!

[ianben]

Just read the post above and realise I am that coyote expert.

I have seen two.

A mange ridden one in Manitoba which I got quite a good look at and one in the Rockies which I saw for about a second as it ran across the road.

As you can see I am obviously over qualifide for this position but am willing to help steer you in the right direction.

Just pay the airfare hotel and hire car and I will give you all FREE advice on all issues concerning coyote meat production and marketing.

How am I doing so far

[ValueChainFX]

Experts, are a good thing (as we all know) they charge lots (even when you don't have it to pay) and usually they have some friend in the gov that directs you to them.

I suggest the real experts are what cowman was trying to say is the hands on experts. The challenge we have is being able to know when your own advice is beyond your ability, then you need to work with someone else to make it happen! A reeve told me the other day that many producer groups have come together and failed, he has been working close to our "Work In Progress" and said that what he sees with us is the fact that we actually have formed a group that crosses many components of the supply chain and that makes them stronger. The challenge is each one working towards the end goal has to know when his ability is past and hand it off to the next guy. The producer group has to understand they gain much more with shared control of a strategy rather than holding onto something that has no value without everyone else!

[cowman]

Ian: I would definitely say your chances are good! Don't forget to mention that you are an "international expert"!
Don't tell them you will do it for airfare and accomadations...that does not look good! I would suggest you put a high price tag on your services, say $1500/day(and definitely a bar tab). They will then think "Hey, this guy must be good if he costs that much" and you will be a shoe in for the job!

[ALICIA]

I'm from Ontario and what is a Magpie, I may be able to buy some and trasplant them to my farm. It sounds like easy money.

[cowman]

A magpie is a bird about the size of a crow that is black and white. They live here year round and are pretty good little scavengers and survivors. They can become a real problem as they tend to be pretty hard on the songbirds.
Sometimes they are also called a Saskatchewan pheasant!

[ianben]

Hey Cowman. I like the internatonal tag. Want a job as my overseas agent.

[kato]

They also love dog food. We had to build a screen over our cat's eating spot, because they were eating more than the cats were.

They are also smarter than most politicians, and like to make lots of noise really early in the morning. Apparently you can teach them to talk.

MMM...maybe we shoud train a few to be talk, so they can be 'experts'?

[cowman]

When I was a kid we had a pet magpie. She was smart as a whip and gave us hours of fun. She used to ride on the handlebars of my sisters bike all over the country. She couldn't leave the yard or the wild magpies would kill her. She had a little stash of "goodies" up behind the chimney of the house. Anything shiny! Including a 3/8 inch wrench!
In the winter she could whip all the cats out of the feeding dishes. In the end she drank some used oil and it killed her.