• Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Appropriate disposal of dead stock
• Be on the lookout for stable fly
• How is your effluent pond – does it need cleaning?
• The Very Fast Break
• Pain relief mandatory for mulesing
• Soil moisture monitoring update for cropping regions
• Young Farmer Program webinar series
• Fox and wild dog bounty details
• What's on

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

Dr Jeff Cave
District Veterinary Officer

Disposal of an animal’s carcass isn’t at the front of anyone’s mind – until it’s needed.

Dead animals can be a risk to biosecurity and be hazardous to the environment, therefore appropriate disposal is essential to ensure a healthy, safe and productive farm. The disposal methods required will depend on the size of the dead animal.

The disposal of a large animal like a horse or cow can be a logistical challenge.

The use of a knackery, rendering plant, or an appropriately licensed landfill may provide an option.

For a knackery to collect livestock they generally insist the animal is a large animal, such as a cow or horse, and is alive or at the very least freshly deceased and if they are cattle, sheep or goats, must have a NLIS ear tag affixed.

Limited numbers of dead stock can be buried on a farm, providing the burial site does not negatively impact the land, surface or ground waters, or create an odour.

To reduce environmental impacts, an on-farm burial site should be on elevated land, in low-permeable soil, well above the water table and well away from water runoff and neighbouring houses.

The carcass should also be sufficiently covered with at least one metre of soil. Personal safety should always be considered when constructing a pit.

If left in paddocks, dead stock can be a potential disease risk and could contaminate land and water.

Agriculture Victoria provides a guide to disposing of dead stock after bushfires.

The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) has the power to penalise or fine a livestock owner or manager, who does not dispose of dead stock properly.

For further information please contact your local Agriculture Victoria veterinary or animal health officer or the EPA.

Cattle producers and horse owners are being urged to keep a lookout for stable fly which can cause production and welfare issues.

Agriculture Victoria District Veterinary Officer Elle Moyle said there have been recent reports of stable fly in south-west Victoria.

“Stable fly can be a serious pest of livestock around feedlots and pastures. Numbers can increase dramatically in warm, humid conditions.

“Cattle will try to avoid the fly by stamping their feet, tail switching, throwing their heads down toward their front legs, and kicking sand up onto their legs and body.

“High numbers of flies on animals will cause issues including reduced weight gains, milk production and lower feed efficiencies”, she said.

Stable fly numbers can be monitored by counting the flies on all four legs of about 10 animals. When the average number is more than 25 flies per animal, action is needed.

When stable flies are present in large numbers (more than 20-30 per animal), cattle will often bunch together in an effort to get to the centre of the group and avoid the fly, or they may stand in open water to avoid being bitten.

Dr Moyle said stable fly breeds in old manure and rotting organic matter such as old silage or spilled feed and needs to have a blood meal from any large animal to survive.

“Owners should remove fly breeding sites including damp and rotting vegetation (old hay, open silage) from their properties– particularly after rain or warm weather.”

Removal of breeding sites is the number one method of control.

Other management tools include fly traps, promotion of dung beetles and chemical control.

More information is available online at:

https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/vegetables/stable-fly-western-australia

https://livestockvetento.tamu.edu/insectspests/stable-fly/

Richard Smith
Agriculture Victoria Dairy Extension Officer

After recent heavy rains in some areas across Victoria, it is time to assess if your effluent ponds are coping with the extra inflow and are in good condition for the coming winter.

Effluent systems are generally designed to have the storage ponds empty going into the winter. Having the ponds empty increases effluent storage capacity as rainfall exceeds evaporation in this period and paddocks are generally too wet to apply effluent as it increases the risk of nutrient run off and waterlogging.

By reducing second pond volume, farmers can maximise fill capacity, plus applying an autumn application of effluent will provide a free boost to winter pasture growth. This is due to the large amount of nitrogen and potassium which is often held.

When applying effluent:

• leave at least 150mm of effluent in the bottom of the ponds to prevent cracking and future leaking
• if effluent is recycled for yard washing, then enough effluent must be left in the pond for this to continue
• rotate effluent application in paddocks and regularly soil test application areas
• avoid grazing paddocks until at least 21 days after effluent application
• graze prior to effluent application as it allows greater penetration of UV rays into the canopy to kill potential pathogens contained in the effluent
• transition cows should not be grazed on high potassium paddocks – including paddocks where effluent has been applied
• young stock should not have access to areas where effluent is stored or has been applied.

Ideally test the effluent prior to application to assess the nutrient concentrations, so appropriate application rates can be calculated.

If you don’t have a recent test you can assess an appropriate application rate by using Dairy Australia’s Effluent and Sludge calculator.

The first effluent pond should also be de-sludged every couple of years, depending on the size of the pond and herd size, to ensure sludge does not build up and find its way into the second pond.

First pond sludge is an extremely useful resource and acts as a slow release fertiliser, still providing additional growth twelve to eighteen months after application. Sludge application can be a good way to kick start a rundown area of the farm and can be incorporated during a cropping phase. 

All dairy farmers are required to keep dairy effluent on farm and out of waterways. By ensuring your ponds are empty before winter it will assist you to manage your effluent system over the wet months.

More information about managing effluent can be found online. 

Welcome to the Very Fast Break seasonal climate update video clips.

We are partnering with the GRDC to bring you these short summaries for South Australia and Victoria and for the first time this year Southern NSW.

CLICK HERE to watch the short YouTube video for Victoria (4 min 20 sec).

It won’t be long until we see lambs bouncing around the paddocks again as autumn lambing time is underway.

Agriculture Victoria is reminding producers and contractors that if they do conduct mulesing on lambs, it is now a requirement to administer a registered pain-relief product.

These provisions came into effect from 1 July 2020, as part of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (POCTA) Regulations 2019.

The requirement to use a registered pain relief product not only ensures better animal welfare outcomes for Victorian sheep, but it also helps to protect the reputation of Victoria’s sheep industry.

Agriculture Victoria Program Manager Livestock Welfare Compliance, Rachael Holmes said only pain relief products that are registered for use on sheep by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) can be used when mulesing.
 
“As with any agricultural or veterinary chemicals used on farm, producers should keep records of the pain-relieving products used.

“Details should include the product trade name, species/location of animals, identification numbers/description, the date the treatment has been applied and the dose rate used.”

Dr Holmes said that there are a number of pain relief products available to producers for not only mulesing but for marking lambs in general.

“Producers need to be aware of advantages and disadvantages of the available pain relief products and the type of pain they are targeting and consider the best fit for their operation to achieve the desired results. Producers are best to discuss this with their Veterinarian.

“The use of pain relief products during the mulesing/marking procedure ensure Victoria’s sheep industry operating best-practice welfare and supports the sustainability of our industry,” Dr Holmes added.”

Victoria’s Code of Accepted Farming Practice for the Welfare of Sheep (Revision Number 2) is also available to provide a technical guide for those using mulesing as part of a flystrike management program.

“If undertaken, mulesing should only be done as part of an integrated approach to flystrike management including crutching and shearing, good worm control, strategic use of chemicals, genetic selection of sheep and paddock grazing management,” she said.

More information is available online.

The soil moisture monitoring project, with the use of underground probes, provides real time soil water content data to Victoria’s farmers.

Monitoring sites have been set up in cropping regions throughout the state by Agriculture Victoria.

The sites record soil water content at one source point from 30 centimetres down to one metre as a reference point for a paddock.

You can read the full edition here.

Farm business risks are inevitable, but your ability to deal with them isn’t. In our new ‘Farm Finance – Getting Prepared’ program for young farmers we’ll show you how to analyse a range or risks and develop ways to manage them.

From developing your own risk assessment to using the latest risk management software, you’ll come away from the online ‘Farm business risks’ workshop feeling better prepared. Sign up today.

Victorian fox and wild dog bounty collections resumed on Monday 1 March 2021, in line with current COVIDSafe requirements.

Agriculture Victoria has a COVIDSafe Plan for each bounty collection centre.

If you are attending a collection centre, you must comply with COVIDSafe requirements including physical distancing, good hygiene practices and wearing a face mask indoors and where you can’t distance outdoors.

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the preferred method of payment so please bring your EFT details to the collection centre.

Stay safe by following the COVIDSafe requirements and, if you feel unwell, get tested and stay home.

Acceptable entire fox scalps and entire wild dog body parts will be collected from eligible members of the public at specific dates and times, and from sites scheduled as collection centres.

Please note that no entire-fox scalps or entire wild dog body parts will be accepted at any public counter or state government office.

Collections will only be accepted at the designated times.

The 2021 bounty collections will run until the end of October.

Find the South West collection schedule details.

Visit www.agriculture.vic.gov.au/bounty to find out more or call the Customer Service Centre on 136 186.

The ‘Ask the Researcher’ forums are an interactive monthly event where farmers and service providers come together with the scientists that are leading the transformational research at DairyBio and DairyFeedbase to ask questions and hear about on-farm applications and the future direction of the programs

Join GippsDairy REO Donna Gibson and Agriculture Victoria senior research scientist Dr Liz Morse-McNabb to hear more and ask questions about the future of pasture utilisation ‘PastureSmarts’.

DATE: Monday 21 April

TIME: 12.30 pm

REGISTER HERE

Agriculture Victoria is delivering interactive online training sessions for livestock producers using the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database. There are four events for you to choose from, between March and June.

Participants will learn about the Victorian traceability system, tour the NLIS database features and how to complete a Property to Property (P2P) transfer.

For more information, or if you have trouble registering online, please call (03) 5761 1647.

Numbers are limited to allow for an interactive session, so be quick to secure a spot!

WHEN: 30 April

TIME:10-11 am

REGISTER HERE

Navigating climate change projections just got a whole lot easier: A look inside the refreshed Climate Change in Australia website.

Date: Thursday 6 May

Time: 12 - 1 pm

Cost: FREE

Register here.

Originally launched in 2015/16, the Climate Change in Australia website, Australia’s national climate change projections website, has recently been refreshed to improve accessibility and searchability of the climate projections information within the website.

Based on user feedback, the website now has new content, including pages on interpreting the future climate by the level of global warming. It also has a new look, better navigation menus, and an improved search function; making content much easier to find. The refresh aims to ensure the climate change projections information, data and tools are more easily accessible to help decision-makers better understand their current and future climate risks.

In this webinar, presenters John Clarke and Michael Grose from the Earth Systems and Climate Change Hub (CSIRO) will walk through the refreshed website, highlighting improvements and new content as well as touching on popular tools and content within the website.

Presenters

John Clarke, Research Team Leader, CSIRO

Michael Grose, Research Scientist, CSIRO

You can join our webinars via your web browser, the WebEx app on your phone, tablet or iPad or by dialling in.

For more information about these webinars, including assistance joining the webinar, email climate.webinars@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Whatever start to the season you have had; this short webinar will discuss some options for improving the quality and quantity of pasture heading into winter.

Thursday 22 April, 8 – 8.30 pm

REGISTER HERE.

If your internet connectivity is poor, you can phone in to the webinar to listen.

We chat to Neil James, Agriculture Victoria, on options for improving the quality and quantity of pastures going into winter. Weed control, including winter cleaning and broadleaf control options - when and why to consider

We finish with a Myth Buster - Gaye Krebs, Associate Professor and lecturer in ruminant nutrition at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, will answer 'is feeding too much protein to livestock wasteful?'

Inquiries: Jane Court 0436 606 742 or jane.court@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Check out the Feeding Livestock website for other livestock nutrition and feed resources.

Monday 19 April, 10 am - 1 pm

Register here

Agriculture Victoria is hosting three The Occasional Counsellor™ webinars run by David Cherry, a clinical and forensic psychologist who has been working for 40 years.

This workshop is for those in the horticulture industry who interact with growers and/or a seasonal workforce, who are not employed in a counselling role but are called upon to give others emotional support.

The focus of the workshop is on teaching participants strategies for assisting individuals who are sad, upset, bewildered, confused, angry or depressed while clearly remaining in their role.

The workshop will cover:

• skills of the helper, including the importance of empathy and when not to empathise
• understanding professional boundaries, including understanding your role and the limits of your role
• the difference between emotional support and counselling
• simple, practical strategies for supporting individuals who may be acutely emotionally distressed, including making appropriate referrals, while keeping yourself safe and remaining in your role
• self-care for the worker.

RSVP essential as places are limited. For help registering, contact Jo Chong Wah 0436 809 878 or email jo.chongwah@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Call 136 186 for assistance managing seasonal workforce issues.

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