Malcolm Cock has seen the good, the bad and the ugly through the many decades of his farming.
But he couldn't think of any other career that gave him such joy.
"Looking back on my farming career, there definitely has been some ugly times. Would I do it all over again? A big yes, but with some changes," he said.
Speaking at the Seymour Alternative Farming Expo as part of the Victorian Farmers Federation's (VFF) Stock Sense project, the experienced farmer, and now consultant for Farm Dynamics, said he had learned to accept was looking at the big picture.
"These things include life planning, succession, improve your livestock mix," he said.
"It's better to look at these things as opposed to the micro-technical stuff, like what fertiliser to use, or delving really hugely into genetics."
He said he aims nowadays are now to pay back and help others get success in their journey.
Along with reflecting about his own life lessons, Mr Cock was speaking at the expo about fundamentals of owning and buying a farm for the first time.
He said that many new farmers see getting their own patch as living their dream, but it was important that people not turn into "a nightmare".
"Most people I speak to go into farming because they simply like farming, and they don't really go into it necessarily to make money," he said.
"You can definitely make money but you can do it, if you do things as right as you can."
He said farmers needed to deeply think about three foundations - what they want, what they have to work with, and assessing what their resources are.
For himself, Mr Cock began thinking about these things growing up on a farm in what is now Doncaster and when he moved to a larger operation in Buchan, the learning curve became steeper.
He described Buchan as "a place where you would do some very hard farming" but also praised it a beautiful area to live and learn.
After 33 years there, he headed back to a smaller patch of land in South Gippsland for some hobby farming in what he called "farming paradise".
It was here where he decided to head into a consulting career, which has found him travelling and working with farmers in Russia and Scotland.
The experience overseas made him realise that he was very lucky to farm in Australia over the decades, even through the harshest of climates.
"We honestly have it so much better here as farmers than overseas, even though we have droughts, floods or whatever else we may be," he said.
"I have an attitude of gratitude for having many people to help me along my journey like my family, but also Agriculture Victoria extension programs and other industry programs from MLA, Landcare and the like, which are really great opportunities for people."
Along with his three foundations, Mr Cock also has key principles one of them to simply enjoy the farming lifestyle with good planning.
"It took me 20 hard years of having my head down and bum up, just trying to survive," he said.
"I was lucky enough to get good advice, and I learned to put my bum on the office chair and better use my head to plan well, which resulted in profits every year, and improving my farming environment."
Other principles included keeping it safe but also simple, keeping the learning curve steep and getting help when you need it.
"The learning curve became steeper when I became a consultant, and I was able to ask for, and receive assistance to get over the hard times and make the most of positive changes," he said.
