Sheep

Members of the state’s peak agricultural body have voted to support the development of a national electronic tagging system ... NSW Farmers Biosecurity Chair Ian McColl said while electronic tagging could be helpful, it would not be a silver bullet for the threat posed by FMD.

The Australian livestock industry will work with Indonesian feedlots to help protect their facilities from disease incursions and subsequent trade disruption via a biosecurity support project jointly funded by the Australian Government and Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) ... MLA responded to a question from ARR.News about border closures.

The Australian Sheep and Wool show was held at Bendigo on the weekend after a two year hiatus due to Covid-19. The three-day event did attempt to run in 2021, but a snap lockdown saw producers caught out with stock already on site for the show. Wakool stud ram producer, Guy Treweek of Induro White Suffolks, said it was great to be back.

At their Ordinary Council Meeting last Wednesday, Southern Downs Regional Council approved a contentious development application by Arolla Pastoral Company Pty Ltd to build a sheep and cattle feedlot at Mount Marshall ... The feedlot is of much interest to the community, with the application receiving 74 submissions, 11 in favour and 63 against.

The NSW Government is backing growing industry calls for the urgent development of a national mandatory sheep and goat electronic identification system in light of the serious threat of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) entering Australia ... “Individual traceability for sheep and goats will be crucial during an emergency disease outbreak and deliver benefits across the supply chain" : Dugald Saunders, NSW Agriculture Minister.

A new project is underway to assist Western Australian sheep enterprises to adapt to a changing climate and build more resilient and sustainable businesses ... The three year project will assess the impact of projected climate scenarios for 2030 and 2050 on the productivity of key WA sheep producing regions, including Bruce Rock, Kojonup and Wagin.

Movement sensors used for human sleep assessments have been applied successfully to sheep to predict lambing dates and potentially enhance the precision of flock and farm management strategies. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) tested the sensors on 416 Merino ewes and nine rams during mating at its Katanning Research Station, as part of a collaborative trial with Murdoch University and Australian Wool Innovation.

Nicoli Barnes, UTas. It has been suggested that biochar improves animal health and liveweight gain. It has also been suggested that biochar reduces enteric methane and, by increasing carbon content in the manure, may improve soil carbon over time. Together these effects would theoretically reduce whole farm emissions. In an MLA-funded research programme, we are testing this theory using in a farm experiment near Deloraine, Tasmania.

Gabrielle Duykers. A young Naracoorte wool classer has claimed top honours at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney. Twenty-year-old Sarah Haynes won the 2022 Australian Wool Exchange/TAFE National Graduate Woolclasser competition on April 12, making her the first South Australian to receive the prestigious award.

The author has set himself an enormous task to survey in depth the history of the Surrey Hills district of north-west Tasmania. Fires, Farms and Forests represents the culmination of much detailed and careful research, combined with the author’s extensive personal experience as a forester, and, in particular, his role managing the native grasslands and buttongrass moorlands on Surrey Hills. All this enables the author to weave a story which encompasses both general history as well as specialist insights into the management of land and forests.

Demand and prices for fine and mid-micron wool are forecast to pick up as workers return to offices around the world, according to a report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank ... Rabobank agricultural analyst Dennis Voznesenski said while consumer confidence is waning in the world’s two largest markets for wool, the US and China, there are positive factors that will push prices higher.

Delicious lamb straight from the source is what Big Paddock Farm is all about. Fifth generation farmer, Tom McConnell, and partner, Leona Chan, are bridging the gap between the dinner table and the paddock.

A female shearer is encouraging young people to consider taking up the profession as the country continues to face a shortage spurred on by the pandemic ... While Ms Doll had never expected to spend her working life in a shearing shed, the 29-year-old now couldn’t imagine her life being any different.

With a large percentage of Queensland experiencing summer rains and continuing La Niña conditions, Queensland sheep and wool producers are being urged to remain vigilant for conditions favouring flystrike.

Following on from the disappointment of cancelling last year’s show, Act-Belong-Commit Darkan Sheepfest is all set to navigate double vaccination entry requirements for events in regional Western Australia and is aiming for show success.

The beginning of the 2022 saleyard selling year for sheep and lambs  has  exceeded  all expectations when compared  to long-term historical prices, demonstrating the excellent market conditions producers are currently experiencing.

School leavers looking for a lucrative career in the bush have the chance to join an iconic industry and help Australia recover from COVID. NSW Farmers Wool Committee Chair Helen Carrigan said a shortage of shearers meant there was good money to be made by young people who were willing to learn. Find out the details of courses between January and June 2022.

The possibility of bare barbecues on Australia Day should be an alarm bell to all sides of politics, NSW Farmers says, with the major retailer supply chains continuing to struggle. NSW Farmers President James Jackson said ongoing failures to prevent anti-competitive behaviour had led us to a handful of companies controlling most of our meat supply, and called on the Federal Government to address the issue.

A first of its kind to be hosted by Leading Sheep, the 10-part ‘H Series’ webinar program spanned across 2021 covering topics from health and husbandry to herding foundations and how to buy and sell sheep. Commencing in April 2021, the now completed H Series recordings are all available online.

“I just do it to pay the dogs back for what they have given me in a lifetime,” said Ian O’Connell, legendary dog trainer as he sat atop the sheep yard fence at John Lolicato’s Tullakool property Whymoul ... this seven State Championships trialling champion and judge, farmer and former shearer demonstrates how to work with his four-legged companions with nothing but love and admiration.

Meat & Livestock Australia’s (MLA) highly anticipated Australian Lamb Summer Campaign is back in a new TV commercial that celebrates Australia reuniting with the rest of the world after years of isolation.

The Strongs were early adopters in sustainable farming after the droughts of the early 80’s and 90’s, it was after this when the family started to notice a change in farming profitability ... By 1997 the Strongs had implemented the method of direct seeding ... In 2006 they started marketing ‘Arcadia Saltbush Lamb’ and built up a self-replacing Soft Rolling Skin (SRS) dual purpose merino flock with high fertility to match that of cross breeds.