• Coronavirus update
• Act now to prevent a serrated tussock seed storm
• Farmer convicted of multiple animal cruelty charges
• Business support to drive agriculture industry recovery
• Getting our lost pets home sooner
• Seasonal climate update webinars
• Breaking the illegal wildlife trafficking chain
• Preventing fatigue during harvest
• Farm Business Resilience Program - registrations close 12 October
• Livestock biosecurity grants - applications extended
• Join the virtual AgriFutures Rural Women's Award national announcement
• AgVic Talk podcast 
• Campfire - connecting farmers to prevent mental health risks
• What's on?

Restrictions are currently in place across metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria.

Keep up to date with all the latest restrictions, permits and requirements at coronavirus.vic.gov.au.

Victorian Travel Permits

Victoria has a permit system for all domestic travel into Victoria.

The travel permit system is a traffic light system that designates areas across Australia and New Zealand as green, orange, red zones or extreme risk zones according to their public health risk.

Specified worker permits are available to eligible workers who need to enter Victoria from other states.

For information about Victoria’s travel permit system, transiting through other zones to get to Victoria and restrictions on entering from other states, including exceptions and exemptions, visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au.

For up-to-date information on travel restrictions for your state, see Travel updates.

For advice specific to Victorian, NSW and SA cross-border communities in a border bubble with Victoria, see Cross-border communities updates.

Do you have a plan for how your animals will be looked after if you are required to self-isolate? Will you have enough feed, animal health products and other supplies?

Animal owners have an obligation to ensure their pets or livestock are properly cared for at all times.

If you are required to self-isolate you should arrange for someone else to care for livestock and make sure the person you will be trusting to look after your animals is willing to take on this responsibility.

Protect your animals and farm business by ensuring you are up to date with COVID-19 restrictions and your farm has an up-to-date COVIDSafe plan.

Visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au for information on:

• Creating a COVIDSafe Plan
• Creating workforce bubbles
• Specified Worker Permits
• Victorian Travel Permits
• NSW/Victoria Border Bubble
• COVID-19 Business Support

Landholders are encouraged to carry out serrated tussock control now to prevent a seed storm impacting agricultural and residential properties in the region.

Serrated tussock is regarded as one of the worst weeds in Australia because of its invasiveness, potential for spread, and economic and environmental impacts. It can spread rapidly across urban areas causing significant disruption to neighbouring residential areas when large amounts of seed
blow across the landscape.

Leading Biosecurity Officer Drew Bateman said the window for land managers to undertake serrated tussock control and prevent a seed storm event is now.

"Under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994, all land managers have a responsibility to prevent the growth and spread of serrated tussock," Mr Bateman said.

Serrated tussock is a prolific seeder and flowering stems containing seed may be blown up to several kilometres. The stems emerge from August and take eight to 10 weeks for seed to mature.

Flowering stems can build up against housing, sheds, roadsides and fence-lines causing significant disruption and clean up requirements.

Control measures include the application of a registered herbicide, soil cultivation or the removal of the entire weed from the soil. Depending on the chemical used it can take several weeks after application for it to take effect.

Implementing control measures now can minimise seed set, reducing the likelihood of the weed spreading.

Mr Bateman said land managers could obtain control advice on the Agriculture Victoria website or by speaking to a Biosecurity Officer by contacting the Customer Contact Centre on 136 186.

Molka farmer, Anthony Gleeson, was sentenced for multiple animal cruelty and aggravated cruelty charges, in the Shepparton Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 29 September.

Following a four-day contested hearing, Anthony Gleeson was convicted and fined $50,000 plus costs to the department of $26,384.41.

The Magistrate also imposed a 15-month Community Corrections Order to perform 150 hours of unpaid community work and issued a conditional order for five years requiring Mr Gleeson to ensure the wellbeing of his livestock, to be monitored periodically by Agriculture Victoria.

Mr Gleeson was found guilty of 26 charges of aggravated cruelty relating to 26 seriously disabled sheep on his property in 2019. In some instances sheep were stuck in mud around dams while trying to get to water and predated whilst alive by crows.

Mr Gleeson was also found guilty of two additional charges of cruelty related to a flock of approximately 750 sheep that did not have safe access to drinking water and suffered unreasonable pain and suffering as a result of Mr Gleeson failing to provide proper supervision.

Agriculture Victoria Compliance Manager Daniel Bode said the sheep were not being provided with safe access to water, along with inadequate supervision, leaving our officers no alternative but to euthanise numerous animals.

The Magistrate noted animal welfare must be the cornerstone of a commercial business and drought cannot be relied upon as an excuse, as there is no excuse for what those animals endured.

The Magistrate further remarked this offending led to the serious disablement of animals that had to be euthanised. Knowing that sheep are herd animals, it was distressing to see the sheep in those situations, unable to extract themselves from the mud.

His Honour also added the sheep were left to predatory behaviour while alive, and vulnerable to the elements. Mr Gleeson has at the same time shown no remorse or acceptance of his responsibility.

Mr Bode said apart from the obvious pain and suffering of the animals, animal welfare breaches can jeopardise Victoria’s reputation as a humane and responsible producer of food, which can affect all producers.

“This is a reminder to all livestock producers that animal cruelty will not be tolerated by the Victorian Government or the community.”

Anyone wishing to make a specific complaint in regard to livestock welfare can contact Agriculture Victoria on 136 186 or aw.complaint@agriculture.vic.gov.au

The Victorian Government is fast-tracking the road to recovery for agriculture and food supply chain businesses in rural and regional Victoria.

Minister for Agriculture Mary-Anne Thomas this week announced a new $5.2 million Agriculture Resilience and Recovery Program while visiting Mt William Advanced Tree Nursery in Lancefield.

The nursery received $35,000 last year as part of the government’s Agriculture Workforce Plan - Business Adaptation program.

The grant enabled the nursery to build a portable lunchroom and expand the existing lunchroom to provide suitable space for workers. Prior to this, staff were forced to split shifts, restrict work days, rotate lunch breaks and work across multiple sites.

The new program provides grants of between $10,000 and $300,000 to support on-farm infrastructure, business upgrades and new facilities to enable businesses to adapt their operations to COVIDSafe settings.

The program provides three types of business support:

• Business Resilience and Recovery – to support businesses to adapt their operations to maintain production and manage risks.
• Place-based Worker Support – to support the development of COVIDSafe worker accommodation.
• Training and Education – to provide support for farm and food processing workers to access information and services and ensure businesses are providing COVIDSafe work practices.

The grants will provide support for businesses as they prepare for upcoming peak seasons including spring shearing, grains harvest and meat processing, and horticulture’s peak picking and packing season.

The Agriculture Resilience and Recovery Program is part of the government’s comprehensive $84 million support package to assist industry to address workforce challenges brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

More than $30 million has been provided through the Agriculture Workforce Plan, which has awarded more than 380 grants to assist businesses to create COVIDSafe workplaces, provide worker induction and training, and create additional accommodation and transport facilities.

Businesses have been supported to build COVIDSafe lunchrooms, kitchens, washrooms and other worker amenities, make modifications to processing, packaging and manufacturing lines, create automated entry points, build partitions for workspaces and install temperature checking facilities.

For more information visit agriculture.vic.gov.au.

The Victorian Government is delivering on its election commitment to make sure lost pets get returned home sooner, with legislation to be introduced in Parliament on Wednesday.

The change means Victorians will soon be able to take a lost dog or cat to a participating vet clinic or registered animal shelter to be reunited with its owner, rather than relying on councils.

At present, lost cats and dogs must be handed in to an authorised officer in the council area where the animal is found, or to vets and shelters that have an agreement under the Domestic Animals Act 1994.

Surveys show just 23 per cent of vets have a contract with council to accept lost pets and as a result many animals are spending longer in pound and shelter facilities. The proposed reforms will:

• Allow shelters and participating vets to accept and reunite lost pets directly with their owners, with simple record keeping and reporting requirements
• Improve animal welfare by ensuring lost pets get home as quickly as possible
• Reduce burden on local councils, by allowing vets and shelters to assist with direct reunification services
• Improve operations for regulatory authorities, including the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) Victoria and Greyhound Racing Victoria.

The Domestic Animals Amendment (Reuniting Pets and Other Matters) Bill 2021 includes a robust verification process to ensure pets are returned to the correct owner.

It also identifies circumstances where pets should go to the council to protect public safety and animal welfare. This includes situations where an animal is declared dangerous or ownership cannot be verified.

These reforms are important as Victoria has high pet ownership rates, with an average of 665,000 dogs and 215,000 cats registered with councils each year.

Extensive consultation with community and stakeholders including veterinarians, councils, shelters, animal registry (microchip) services, rescue groups and community foster care networks was an important part of the process that led to the final form of the legislation.

The new arrangements will be in effect by 1 October 2022. For more information visit agriculture.vic.gov.au.

Tune in at 12 noon on Wednesday 20 October to get the latest seasonal update for Victoria.

Seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey, will focus on the current seasonal climate outlook, drawing on model projections for rainfall using current oceanic, atmospheric and soil moisture conditions.

These webinars are online presentations during which you can ask questions.

They will be recorded, so if you miss the live presentation you can watch it later at a time that suits you.

Register online. The event number is 811 3124 5098. Use the password 425769.

Victorians are being urged to report illegal wildlife trafficking to Crime Stoppers Victoria in a new campaign to stop native and exotic animals being trafficked in and out of Australia.

Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change Lily D’Ambrosio announced the Break the Chain campaign today – produced in partnership with the Conservation Regulator, Agriculture Victoria and Crime Stoppers Victoria.

There has been a 59 per cent increase in wildlife-crime related tips to Crime Stoppers Victoria in the past year. 

It’s vital the public continues to come forward with information on wildlife crime and remains on high alert for illegal animal trafficking online, or among people they know. 

Native species like the shingleback skink lizard are in demand overseas with an asking price of up to $10,000 on the black market, while birds like the red-tailed black cockatoo can fetch up to $100,000.

The Conservation Regulator has investigated cases where people have attempted to illegally export reptiles through the post by concealing them in socks and tape.

Illegally imported animals and their products can also pose a great biosecurity risk. Exotic animals can bring in new animal and human diseases such as foot and mouth disease or rabies. These diseases can devastate primary production and the environment. 

Exotic pest animals such as the red-eared slider turtle and pygmy hedgehog aren’t pets. Preventing their entry into Victoria is the most effective way to protect our biosecurity. 

Every Victorian can play a role in stopping the cruel business of illegal wildlife trafficking by reporting what they know to Crime Stoppers Victoria on 1800 333 000 or online at crimestoppersvic.com.au.

With the busy harvest approaching, WorkSafe Victoria is sharing tips to help farmers prepare for a safe and successful harvest season.

For Simon Craig, Farm Manager at Lemac Farm, long hours during sowing and harvest are the most dangerous times when workers can get fatigued.

To reduce the risk of fatigue, Simon has implemented a range of strategies such as using machinery fitted with auto-steer, managing hours spent on the machinery and accommodation options if workers are too tired to drive home.

For more tips download a 'Fatigue on the farm' factsheet from the WorkSafe website.

Agriculture Victoria is offering an exciting new online program for Victorian livestock, grain and mixed farmers.

The Farm Business Resilience Program, which is part of the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, will provide farmers with the opportunity to develop or refresh their Farm Business Plan.

Topics covered in the program include:

• Identifying and managing emerging risks
• Business planning and financial management
• Succession planning and people management
• AgTech and Internet of Things (IoT)
• Seasonal outlooks, managing soils and farm water for the future.

Participants will also be able to access a Farm Business Resilience Resource Library during and after the program, including program worksheets, presentation materials, videos, podcasts, eLearns and useful websites.

To register your interest in participating in the online program, please complete this short survey.

For more information, contact Kit Duncan-Jones on 0427 749 466 or kit.duncan-jones@agriculture.vic.gov.au.

The Farm Business Resilience program is jointly funded by the Australian Government and Victorian Government through the Future Drought Fund.

Further information about the program and the Future Drought Fund can also be found on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Eligible Victorian organisations in the cattle, sheep, goat, swine and honey bee industries now have until Friday 26 November to apply for funding through the Livestock Biosecurity Funds – Grant Program.

Grants are available to fund projects that prevent, monitor, and control diseases, thereby enhancing animal health, biosecurity and market access for the benefit of Victoria’s livestock industries.

Applications are invited from private sector businesses, universities and research institutions, co-operatives, government agencies and local government, and incorporated associations.

Any organisation looking to apply should consider the guidelines and eligibility criteria, review the relevant Statement of Strategic Intent, and complete the online application form.

NEW CLOSING DATE: Applications will close 11.59 pm on Friday 26 November 2021.

For more information, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/livestockbiosecurityfunds or call our Customer Contact Centre on 136 186.

The AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National Winner and Runner Up will now be announced via a live virtual National Announcement event on Wednesday, 20 October from 12.30 until 2 pm.

The online festivities will be hosted by the 2019 AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award National Winner, Jo Palmer.

The National Winner and Runner Up announcement has moved to a day-time event to encourage Australia-wide online viewing and to cater for different time zones.

Register for FREE to join the virtual National Announcement, alongside viewers from right across Australia.

You will be sent a link to the live stream.

Share the profits, some of the risk, but none of the capital outlay. Sounds like a great deal? It's a farming arrangement called share farming and may be an alternative pathway into the industry for future farmers?

Gippsland dairy farmer Hans van Wees has been share farming near Maffra for 15 years and recently joined the AgVic Talk studio to discuss how having a realistic budget along with realistic ambitions provides for a very reliable income if you approach it in a pragmatic and professional way.

Hear about Hans' experiences by searching for AgVic Talk wherever you get your podcasts or listen 🎧 online via the AgVic website agriculture.vic.gov.au/AgVicTalk

The National Centre for Farmer Health is excited that the innovative and exciting new chat-based platform ‘Campfire’ has now been up and running for three months.

During this time the program engaged with over 100 registered participants across a wide range of agricultural industries in Victoria, and reaching many more primary producers through our blogs, podcasts and social media messaging.

Campfire brings farmers together in a relaxed environment where people with shared interests can get together, listen to experts and peers, ask questions and pose solutions. It helps farmers to improve their systems of work in order to better manage the demands and challenges of primary production, and to develop mentally healthy workplaces for farm owners, managers, workers and their families.

Bonfire events have attracted the most participation so far. These are held fortnightly on the Campfire platform on Wednesday evenings (from 7.30pm) where farmers can hear from topic experts and participate in live Q&A.

The audience will soon be able to submit questions ahead of time, to be answered by our experts on the night. Keep your eye on the NCFH Facebook and Instagram pages about how to lodge your questions in advance or visit the campfire page on the National Centre for Farmer Health website to leave your questions.

On alternate Wednesday evenings, farmers can join smaller Campfire Q&A discussions on work-related challenges relevant to them, including the topic of the previous week’s Bonfire.

The Farmer Health Campfire webpage is home to resources developed around the topics tackled so far, including podcasts, blogs and the link to access the Campfire platform.

You can view past Bonfire conversations at any time, with current content covering:

• Working effectively in a family business
• Making your business more resilient to environmental extremes
• Strengthening your support team: farming safety consultants
• Strengthening Your Support Team - AgriSafe
• New to Farming: Learning from Experience
• Communication: it's more than words
• Planning for Success(ion)
• Strengthening Your Support Team – Rural Financial Counselling Service.

Register today to join the conversation, receive information about upcoming events and access topic blogs and podcasts. 

Upcoming Bonfire topic:

• 20 October - Strengthening your support team – Working dog training school. 

Details about Agriculture Victoria events can now be found in one spot on our website. Log on to agriculture.vic.gov.au/events to find out what's on.

With increasing interest in carbon abatement in agriculture, the CSIRO has developed a landscape options and opportunities for carbon abatement calculator.

In this webinar, LOOC-C team member Dr Stephen Roxburgh will provide an introduction to this tool and explain some of the background to it.

LOOC-C estimates carbon abatement via an emission factor database, giving producers information to assess potential changes to carbon by undertaking various tree or soil carbon activities on their land.

With this online tool you can use the map interface to select a potential project area and help start the conversation of carbon abatement options for your farm business.

Webinar presenter Dr Stephen Roxburgh is the LOOC-C program leader for the CSIRO.

Stephen is a recognised leader in terrestrial plant ecology and greenhouse gas accounting, with over 20 years' experience in the field measurement and computer modelling of forest growth and carbon cycling. He currently leads the Natural Capital group within CSIRO.

Webinar: Tuesday 12 October, 12 pm (1 hour)

Register online with Zoom.

BOOKINGS: https://www.trybooking.com/BUDMO

For more information, contact: Michael Moodie on 0448 612 892.

A selection of online courses that can be undertaken at your own pace, at any time and from anywhere with an internet connection is available from Agriculture Victoria.

The Victorian Government understands that life can get busy and it isn’t always possible to attend courses in person. eLearning provides an accessible and flexible option for learning and expanding your knowledge. It enables you to enhance your skills without having to attend an event or workshop in person which could be a significant distance from home, or difficult to complete due to time constraints.

To access courses, you will need to create an account. This will allow you full access to the courses and it will track your progress as you move through them.

Browse the range of courses that can be undertaken at your own pace, at any time and from anywhere with an internet connection.

Land classing application

The land classing application course provides a step-by-step approach to identifying the land class of a particular area of a farm.

Land classing is a fundamental step in developing a Whole Farm Plan. By identifying areas with similar land and soil types you are better able to make informed decisions on what land use is best suited to a certain area.

This tool is based on the Land Classing Kit For Farmers, a booklet written by Nathalie Baxter and John Williamson in 2000.

The course will assist you to identify the capability or land class of your land in a systematic and logical way using your knowledge of the farm and a few simple assessment techniques.

Fencing and managing your land according to its land class will reduce the risk of degradation and in most cases will increase your farm's production.

Victorian Fox and Wild Dog Bounty collections have resumed in the majority of regional Victoria.

Check the website for the South West collection schedule.

If you are attending a collection centre, you must comply with COVIDSafe principles including using the QR code to check-in, physical distancing, good hygiene practices and wearing a face mask indoors and outdoors (unless you have a lawful reason not to). Details at: agriculture.vic.gov.au/bounty.

The Partners in Wellbeing Helpline offers free and confidential one-on-one access to wellbeing coaches, financial counsellors and business advisors.

Small business owners can call the Partners in Wellbeing Helpline on 1300 375 330 seven days a week.

Alternately, a live chat function is available on https://www.partnersinwellbeing.org.au/small-business-support

Wellbeing coaches are available from 9am to 10pm on weekdays and from 9 am to 5 pm on weekends.

Enjoying the Barwon South West Ag News? Then why not forward to a friend or subscribe yourself.

It's easy – simply click this link.