• Coronavirus – (COVID-19)
• Are your livestock fit to load?
• Sheep Notes – autumn edition
• Hive of activity at Victorian ports to protect our bees
• Helping pets find a loving home
• Young farmer finance workshops
• Fox and wild dog bounty collections
• Recovery after fire: practical steps for farmers
• 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

Any person in charge of an animal, which could include producers, farm workers, transporters and livestock agents, must not allow any animal to be loaded onto transport that is not fit for the journey ahead.

Unfortunately, we occasionally see animal welfare issues associated with transporting livestock.

In each case this has been partly due to the owner not having a good understanding of what was fit to load and what was not.

An animal is not fit to load if it is:

• not able to walk normally or bear weight on all its legs - this may be due to a recent or old fracture, an injury, a deformity, or an infection
• not strong enough to make the journey
• suffering from severe distress or injury
• in a condition that could cause it increased pain or distress during transport
• blind in both eyes
• in late pregnancy.

If you discover an animal is unfit to load you can either:

• treat the animal and transport it when it has recovered and is fit to load - naturally this is not an option in cases the animal is not readily treatable
• humanely destroy the animal - a knackery service is available in many areas to help with this option
• consult a veterinarian and only transport under veterinary advice.

If in doubt about an animal’s suitability for transport you should contact your private veterinarian or Agriculture Victoria.

You can read more information online or read the guidelines titled 'Is the animal fit to load?' produced by Meat and Livestock Australia.

Remember, the person in charge of the animal is responsible for its welfare.

Community values and expectations don’t accept anything less.

Sheep Notes informs sheep producers about general sheep health and welfare, production, market protection and biosecurity issues.

It also provides details about specific department and industry programs to guide improvement in the productivity, profitability and sustainability of sheep enterprises.

In this issue:

• Staggers
• LiveFeed - seasonal webinar
• Underperforming animals in a paddock full of feed
• Assess feed and animal requirements
• Online learning - stock containment; irrigation, soil
• Digital Tips
• Resistance to insecticides in blowflies
• Farmer tips on autumn saving
• High performance maidens, grazing weeds
• Livestock Farm Monitor Project results
• Free benchmarking and profit assessment
• NEXUS
• Did you know?
• Do you mules your lambs?

Subscribe to the Sheep Notes newsletter on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Artificially intelligent beehives are being installed at Victoria’s ports to bolster protection from exotic pests and diseases, in an initiative backed by the State Government.

The new Agriculture Victoria agreements with Bega Cheese and HiveKeepers was launched this week, which will trial technology for rapid detection of pests at Victoria’s ports.

Bega Cheese’s Purple Hive project is being installed alongside sentinel hives managed and monitored by Agriculture Victoria.

Purple Hive is a solar-powered device that detects bee pest Varroa destructor, providing alerts in real-time using artificial intelligence and 360-degree camera technology. Purple Hive has been tested in New Zealand where the mite is established, to prepare for installation at the Port of Melbourne.

HiveKeepers will install a smart hive at the Port of Hastings, which operates by identifying pests and recognising diseases through bee health and behaviour, and sending alerts to a remote computer or mobile device.

The National Bee Pest Surveillance Program has hives located at the ports of Melbourne, Geelong, Hastings and Portland that are monitored for exotic pests and diseases like Varroa mite every six weeks.

These ports are identified as a high-risk pathway for bee pests to enter Victoria, with bees from Varroa-infested countries hitchhiking on ships that enter Victoria, which could threaten the state’s honey bee population.

In 2018, Varroa destructor was detected on a ship that had entered the Port of Melbourne.

The government worked with industry and community to act swiftly to ensure the detected Varroa destructor didn’t spread through Victoria’s bee population and become an outbreak.

If Varroa mite was to become established in Australia, an estimated 20,000 cropping and horticulture industry businesses would be affected, as well as home gardeners and the wider community.

There are more than 12,800 beekeepers with almost 135,000 registered hives in Australia, which contribute to the state’s $17.5 million apiary industry.

These new partnerships align with Victoria’s agriculture strategy to protect our bee population by ensuring we are well placed to respond to new pests, and modernising Victorian agriculture through new technology.

The Victorian Government is ensuring more pets get the loving homes they deserve with a new taskforce dedicated to rehoming animals.

At an event this week at Lort Smith Animal Hospital, the Taskforce on Rehoming Pets was announced, comprising of Member for Western Victoria Andy Meddick (Chair), Member for Bendigo West Maree Edwards and Member for Narre Warren South Gary Maas.

The taskforce will provide recommendations to the government on how to improve and better support the rehoming of pets in Victoria, including research animals.

It will recommend regulatory options to improve the welfare and survival rates of dogs and cats that need rehoming, and establish ways to make the movement of animals between shelters, pounds and rescue groups more transparent.

Working with industry and community stakeholders, the taskforce will ensure a range of perspectives are considered and will provide its final report and recommendations to the government by the end of this year.

The taskforce is just one way the government is working to ensure that Victorian pets are well cared for on the journey to their forever homes.

Congratulations to the Lort Smith Animal Hospital on being awarded a $50,000 Animal Welfare Fund grant to grow its services.

Lort Smith is one of 15 recipients of funding under the ninth round of the fund, with money to go towards the development of an animal adoption centre in a soon-to-be completed clinic in Campbellfield.

Round nine of the Animal Welfare Fund program supports not-for-profit animal shelters and foster care organisations to rehome animals, as well as community vet clinics to establish or expand their services in areas of need throughout Victoria.

For more information, visit animalwelfare.vic.gov.au.

How’s your farm cashflow budget looking?

Are you accounting for everything coming in and going out?

Is it helping you understand your potential sales income and to plan ahead with your spending?

If you think you could be getting more from your cashflow budgeting, then why not sign up to our next ‘Farm Finance – Getting Prepared’ workshop ‘Creating the Cashflow Budget’ 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.

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

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.

Benalla collections - Fox only
Depot, 89 Sydney Rd, Benalla
10 am – noon
Dates for April – June:

• Wednesday, 28 April
• Wednesday, 26 May
• Wednesday, 23 June

Broadford collections - Fox only
5 Mollinson St, Broadford
10.30 am – 12.30 pm
Dates for April – June:

• Thursday, 29 April
• Thursday, 27 May
• Thursday, 24 June

Ovens collections – Fox and wild dog
5338 Great Alpine Rd, Ovens
1.30 – 3.30 pm
Dates for April – June:

• Tuesday, 27 April
• Tuesday, 25 May
• Tuesday, 22 June

Mansfield collections – Fox and wild dog
Depot, 128 Highett St, Mansfield
2 – 4 pm
Dates for April – June:

• Wednesday, 28 April 
• Wednesday, 26 May 
• Wednesday, 23 June 

Tatura collections – Fox only
Depot, 255 Ferguson Rd, Tatura
11.30 am – 1.30 pm
Dates April – June:

• Monday, 26 April 
• Monday, 24 May 
• Monday, 21 June 

Wodonga collections - Fox and wild dog
14 Moorefield Park Drive, Wodonga
9 – 11 am
Dates April– June:

• Tuesday, 27 April 
• Tuesday, 25 May 
• Tuesday, 22 June 

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

Victorian Government is working to bolster the state’s agri-food supply chains to create new job opportunities in food manufacturing, grow exports and build the resilience of the sector.

Read the full media release here

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.

Dairy farmers know that pasture is an excellent source of high quality, low-cost feed.

How the available pasture is used can make a big difference to the bottom line.

Agriculture Victoria’s Senior research scientist Dr Liz Morse-McNabb has been leading the Pasture Smarts program in partnership with Dairy Australia.

Tune in to Dairy Australia’s Ask the Researcher virtual forum on 21 April to hear Dr Morse-McNabb and GippsDairy research extension officer Donna Gibson share the key findings from their research including the PastureSmarts app which has been developed to help farmers track and measure their pasture utilisation.

You can also read about the PastureSmarts project in the latest edition the Dairy Innovation News.

Do you have questions around the recovery of your pastures or are you thinking about sowing?

Then you should register for our free on-farm pasture walks on Wednesday 7 April.

You will hear from Jim Shovelton from Meridian Agriculture and Agriculture Victoria Land Management Extension Officer Ian Gamble.

Participants will receive the Meat & Livestock Australia Pasture Paramedic tool and booklet to make rapid assessments of their own pastures at home to inform their future paddock management. 

WHERE: Walwa

WHEN: Wednesday 7 April

TIME: 9.30 am

Registration is required. You can do so HERE

WHERE: Cudgewa

WHEN: Wednesday 7 April

TIME: 1.30 pm

Registration is required. You can do so HERE

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

It's easy – simply click this link.