• Foot-and-mouth disease information
• Biosecurity help for small landholders
• The nuts and bolts of hardware disease
• Don't feed swill to pigs
• BeeMAX: The easy way to meet record-keeping obligations
• New statement sets a clear direction for biosecurity
• Tips for healthy hives
• Protecting rural roadsides against weeds and pests
• Milking the Weather – spring edition is available now
• New round of grants for Victorian agricultural shows
• Applications open for Leadership Great South Coast program
• AgVic Talk – workforce planning
• Report illegal spotlighting
• Last fox bounty collections for 2022
• In case you missed it
• What's on?

Victorian small landholders are invited to boost their biosecurity skills and knowledge by attending two educational webinars being hosted by Agriculture Victoria and RSPCA Victoria. 

Small-scale, artisanal and peri-urban landholders range from people with livestock species as pets to those who sell or trade commercially.

All landholders – small, new, established, or commercial – have an important role to play in protecting their properties, animals, and our state and country from biosecurity threats.

Agriculture Victoria is strongly encouraging all livestock owners to implement biosecurity practices to, not only protect their own livestock from pests and diseases, but also help to protect their neighbour’s livestock, commercial farms and our agriculture supply chain. 

With many years of experience in animal management, Agriculture Victoria Regional Manager Brett Davidson will be joined by RSPCA Victoria Education Officer Rachael Laukart for two webinars to discuss biosecurity measures and risks tailored to small-scale, artisanal and peri-urban landholders. 

Agriculture Victoria Program Manager for Resilience and Recovery, Melissa Cann, said the webinars will ensure small-scale, artisanal and peri-urban landholders understand their biosecurity responsibilities and are equipped with necessary resources when it comes to keeping their animals safe. 

“Whether you own a small cattle herd, a pig, or even just a pet alpaca or two, implementing the correct biosecurity practices and taking biosecurity responsibilities seriously is vital in protecting your property from pests and diseases,” she said.

“These webinars will help landholders understand what biosecurity is, its importance and why it is necessary to implement biosecurity measures regardless of the size of your property or how many animals you care for.”

The two one-and-a-half-hour webinars will be held from 6.30 pm on 28 September and 5 October.

Topics will include an overview of biosecurity and why it matters, how to manage biosecurity on your property and where to go for information. 

RSPCA Victoria Manager for Education and Community Outreach, Ian Sumpter, said RSPCA was pleased to be partnering with Agriculture Victoria to present the webinars.

“RSPCA Victoria knows that by providing relevant information, including preventative health measures and tips on biosecurity planning, first time and established farmers will be best placed to protect their animals through appropriate husbandry practices,” he said.

For more details, including how to register visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/events.

For further information on foot-and-mouth disease, including advice for hobby farmers, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/fmd.

Dr Jeff Cave, Senior Veterinary Officer

For many years Agriculture Victoria has conducted disease surveillance projects at Victoria’s major knackeries.

A knackery is an accumulation point for diseased livestock, making it a valuable place to look for new and emerging diseases and to monitor disease trends.

From a veterinarian’s point of view, it’s also a place where you might see an interesting disease condition.

During one visit, when looking through the internal contents of a cow, I saw that a piece of wire had pierced the cow’s reticulum (second stomach) and gone through its diaphragm into the sack surrounding the cow’s heart filling it with pus, leading it to die.

My initial thought was ‘how unlucky was that’.

But what I saw was actually not that uncommon, and a recognised condition in cattle known as hardware disease.

Cattle are not talented at selectively grazing and what they eat they tend to swallow.

This may include offcuts of fencing wire, fencing staples, nails, and any other pieces of rubbish left lying in a paddock.

This is especially the case if something like an old tyre goes through a feed mixer.

From there, any heavy objects will settle in the bottom of the reticulum of the cow.

The inner surface of the reticulum has a honeycomb pattern which points any sharp objects toward its wall, increasing the likelihood of the wall being pierced.

The reticulum is full of bacteria. Therefore, if its wall is pierced an infection will follow, either in the cow’s abdomen, its thorax, or as I saw, around its heart.

To prevent hardware disease, it’s vital to not leave small, sharp metal objects lying about in paddocks or stockyards and be extra mindful of what goes into a feed mixer.

One of the treatments for hardware disease is to make the cow swallow a specially designed magnet, which will also sit in the reticulum, capturing any pieces of metal.

Occasionally, a veterinarian will operate to try and find and remove the offending piece of metal.

For further advice, please contact your local veterinarian.

Did you know that food waste – swill – containing meat or other animal by-products must not be fed to pigs as it may contain viruses that cause diseases in animals?

Australia is free of foot-and-mouth disease.

Feeding pigs waste food containing meat and meat products, irrespective of whether they are locally produced or imported, or imported dairy products puts this at risk.

Banning the feeding of prohibited food waste to pigs provides an important defence against the introduction of FMD or African Swine Fever to Australia.

Learn more about what you can and can’t feed to pigs here.

Have you heard the buzz?🐝🐝🐝

It’s all about BeeMAX.

BeeMAX is free, quick, and easy to use – and it’s a simple way of maintaining your record keeping obligations under the Livestock Disease and Control Regulations.

Whether you’re a backyard beekeeper or keep commercial quantities of hives, the BeeMAX electronic diary is a central place to record all your biosecurity activities and observations including:

• pest and disease inspections and testing
• swarm collection data
• movement of bees and equipment
• biosecurity training completed.

Learn more here.
Visit BeeMAX.

The Victorian Government is strengthening its resolve on biosecurity with a plan to protect Victoria from the threat of pests and disease.

Minister for Agriculture Gayle Tierney has launched Victoria’s Biosecurity Statement, which sets out ways industry and Government can work together to protect our environment and economy.

By identifying what biosecurity is, why it exists and how everyone has a role to play, the Statement highlights how actions and choices can have significant impacts on land, waters, communities and culture.

Biosecurity is a collective effort to prevent and manage the harms caused by pests and diseases, and the impact they have on farming communities, natural landscapes and the safety of food and fibre production.

To ensure we can move freely, gather, care for and connect to Country, produce safe and clean food, and enjoy the beauty of the outdoors, Victoria’s farms, environment and animals need to be protected from harmful pests and diseases.

The risks facing Victoria are increasing and becoming more complex and the Statement lays the groundwork for how the government can best manage potential risks and threats posed to our land and waters.

The Statement also identifies opportunities for citizen scientists to get involved in biosecurity, with easily accessible toolkits to help identify pests and disease.

Developed in collaboration with industry leaders, Traditional Owners, national and state peak bodies the Statement provided an opportunity for people to have their say on what biosecurity means to them.

The government’s multi-pronged approach to keeping the state safe includes Victoria’s first Biosecurity Reference Group, as part of the $28 million Strengthening Victoria’s Biosecurity (SVBS) Program - a joint effort by government, industry and community to develop a shared vision for biosecurity.

Learn more about the Biosecurity Statement via agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity-statement

Keep your bees happy, healthy and productive as the weather warms up - bee aware of the biosecurity basics:

🐝Be aware of biosecurity threats, such as Varroa mite
🐝Practice good hygiene and sanitation
🐝Check your apiary and monitor hives and the health of the honeybee brood frequently
🐝Respect and be aware of laws and regulations established to protect the honeybee industry, Australian agriculture and the local region
🐝Report anything unusual to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.

For the latest info visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/varroa

For biosecurity basics visit beeaware.org.au/biosecurity/biosecurity-basics/

The Victorian Government is continuing to support regional and rural councils to prevent the spread of invasive weeds and pests on roadsides.

Minister for Local Government Melissa Horne recently announced the government is investing $2.86 million to be shared across 56 councils through the Roadside Weeds and Pests Control Program.

Each council will receive between $5,000 - $75,000 to manage problematic plants and pests, with rural roadsides often a breeding ground.

Weeds and pests cost the Victorian economy over $900 million each year by disrupting agricultural production, damaging native biodiversity and contributing to the spread of fires.

Local Government Victoria and Agriculture Victoria will work closely with local councils to ensure weeds and pests are tackled appropriately in their local area.

The funding will assist councils with a range of activities along their rural roadsides, including treating and preventing ‘regionally controlled’ and ‘restricted’ weeds, managing rabbit populations and community consultation.

‘Regionally controlled’ weeds are defined as being widespread in a region, requiring landowners to prevent their growth and spread, while ‘restricted’ weeds are considered a serious threat to all states and territories.

Trading ‘restricted’ weeds and their propagules, either as plants, seeds, or contaminants, in other materials, is banned.

Weeds can be categorised differently depending on where they are in the state, for example, Ragwort is ‘Controlled’ in Corangamite, Glenelg, East and West Gippsland, Port Phillip and Western Port, ‘Prohibited’ in Goulburn and Northeast Victoria and ‘Restricted’ in Mallee, North Central Victoria and the Wimmera.

Milking the Weather provides seasonal and climate risk information for the dairy industry four times a year at the beginning of summer, autumn, winter and spring.

Information includes regional round-ups for the previous season, seasonal climate outlook summaries, strategies on managing the season ahead and case studies on farmers managing climate risk successfully on their farms.

The spring edition features:

• Victorian seasonal climate summary for winter and the spring outlook
• farmer case studies with Kevin Fitzsimmons from Merrigum in the Northern Irrigation Region, Chris Nixon from Orbost in East Gippsland, and John Versteden from Longwarry in West Gippsland
• tips on managing through spring, and
• latest seasonal soil moisture condition assessment.

Read the spring edition of Milking the Weather here

Subscribe to future editions here.

Applications are now open for the Agricultural and Pastoral Society Grants 2022-23 round to support shows and field days that promote the best of Victoria's agricultural offerings and benefit the state’s regional and rural communities.

As with previous years, eligible applicants can apply for up to $10,000 for infrastructure development and business activities to celebrate Victoria’s agricultural communities, practices, industry and produce.

Grants may be used to upgrade or build new facilities including judging areas, staging or display areas, or for public amenities for multi-purpose community use.

The money may also be used for business activities that assist in the planning of events.

Agriculture Victoria Executive Director, Agriculture Policy and Programs, Sarah-Jane McCormack, said the new round of funding ensures that agricultural shows across the state can continue to deliver exciting events for local communities.

“The Victorian Government continues to support Agricultural and Pastoral Societies to get back up and running this year.”

“In addition to the one-off support for free entry of children at shows, these grants are also available to make sure that showgrounds, facilities and events are in top shape making events enjoyable and safe for communities,” said Ms McCormack.

The projects will help the societies deliver exciting events that build confidence in the agriculture sector and support regional economies and jobs.

The grants are open to all eligible Victorian Agricultural and Pastoral Societies including the Royal Geelong Show, Whittlesea Show, Mildura Show and many more.

Regional and rural shows are a fixture of Victorian society, building community spirit by celebrating agriculture in a fun, entertaining, educational and inclusive environment.

Applications are now open and close at midnight on 21 October 2022.

For more information on the program and to apply, visit the Agriculture Victoria website.

Leadership Great South Coast (LGSC) provides an annual community leadership program for aspiring and emerging leaders drawn from all sectors of the Great South Coast region.

Each year Gardiner Dairy Foundation supports two places in the LGSC Program for regionally based people working on Victorian dairy farms, in dairy processing or as service providers.

The LGSC Program builds relationships and networks between the business, community and government sectors.

This allows participants to benefit from a variety of perspectives when considering the nature of leadership and the future of our community and its economic prosperity.

As part of the LGSC Program, participants form project teams to complete community projects. All projects have direct benefit to the Great South Coast region and must align to the Great South Coast Strategic Plan priorities.

Please visit here to see past projects.

Selection Criteria:

• Proven leadership record or aspirations with potential for further growth
• Potential to contribute significantly to the Great South Coast community
• Potential to progress to senior positions in industry, business, community organisations, academia or government
• Ability to commit the required time and energy to the program and to engage as an active learner.

Applications are now open and will close 24 October 2022.

Click here for more information and to apply.

Workforce planning and management has never been more important for the horticulture industry experiencing a tight labour market.

In this episode of AgVic Talk, Ben Reeve from Meridian Agriculture discusses how horticulture growers can plan, attract and retain staff. 

🎧 Listen online via the 🎧 AgVic website 🎧

Illegal spotlighting may be happening in your area, putting your community, property, livestock and native wildlife at risk.

Illegal spotlighting is when people illegally use a spotlight or thermal imaging device on public land to shoot deer or other game animals at night.

If you see or hear of illegal spotlighting in your area, please report it to the Game Management Authority.

Visit gma.vic.gov.au or call 136 186, or you can contact your local police.

Keep our community safe and help put a stop to illegal spotlighting in your area.

There are some forms of legal spotlighting, including when landowners or their agents need to control pest animals or problem deer on private property.

For more information about spotlighting laws CLICK HERE 

All reports of alleged illegal spotlighting are assessed and responded to accordingly.

Victorian fox and wild dog collections finish in October for 2022.

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.

Dung beetles delivering healthier waterways

Victorian citizen scientists are helping to keep our waterways clean and healthy with an innovative new program using insects to stop nutrient run-off from farms.

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.

Turn your quality spring pasture into more livestock production with your knowledge gained at this two-day workshop. Hear from industry experts, a nutritionist and leading agricultural companies on sheep and cattle solutions.

Focusing on managing worms, surplus pasture protein, pasture growth and much more.

Guest speakers and topics are:

• Dr Catherine Bunter, Agriculture Victoria Veterinary Officer – preventing parasites, Johnes, coccidiosis, Yersinia, salmonella and pestivirus
• Heidi Sutherland, Zoetis Senior Sales Representative – parasite management solutions and Gudair safety
• Jess Revell, Rumenate Livestock Services Livestock Nutritionist and Animal Production Consultant – balancing high protein forages to enhance rumen function and drive performance
• Gerard Roney, Advantage Feeders Managing Director – practical ways to deal with the excess protein in forages.

When: Tuesday 27 and Wednesday 28 September

Where: Advantage Feeders Farm, Burrumbeet

Cost: $20 per person, with all funds donated to the regional CFAs. Payment on the day via cash or EFTPOS. Breakfast, morning tea and lunch provided.

REGISTER HERE or call Advantage Feeders on 1300 881 575.

With another wet summer forecast – are there opportunities to sow something that provides quality feed for growing lambs over summer?

Guest speakers Rebecca Stutz, CSIRO and Dr Ralph Behrendt, Agriculture Victoria will discuss a range of summer forage options with results on animal performance.

We follow with some experiences from farmers on their experience in establishing and utilising summer forage crops.

We will end the night with our Myth Buster. Climate specialist Dale Grey will answer the myth busting question ‘does a La Nina mean summer rain in Victoria?'

Date: Tuesday 27 September

Time: 7 – 7.45 pm

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

For more information contact Jane Court from Agriculture Victoria on 0436 606 742 or jane.court@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Agriculture Victoria is delivering free workshops for livestock producers to understand the disease, pest and plant biosecurity risks in their area, the impact they may have on their business and develop an on-farm biosecurity plan.

Topics

• Why biosecurity is important?
• Programs and systems that support the livestock industry
• Disease, pest and plant biosecurity risks in your area
• How to use a matrix to rank the likelihood and impact of risks on your business
• Setting up a biosecurity kit and facilities on-farm
• Create your on-farm biosecurity plan and put it into action.

Light refreshments will be provided.

Numbers are limited to allow for an interactive session.

When you register you will be asked to provide your Property Identification Code (PIC).

If this workshop is booked out, please still register and you will be added to a wait-list.

You will then be contacted if a spot becomes available or if another workshop is advertised in future in your area.

For more information about this event contact Morgan Cassell at morgan.cassell@agriculture.vic.gov.au or on 0427 681 714.

When: Wednesday 28 September, 10 am – 3 pm.

Where: Glenthompson Football Club, Brimacombe Street, Glenthompson.

REGISTER HERE.

This project received funding from the Cattle Compensation Fund / Sheep and Goat Compensation Fund as part of the 2021 Livestock Biosecurity Funds Grant Program, which exists to provide grants to bolster the state's biosecurity and assist in preventing and managing pests and diseases.

Exporting your premium #agrifood and #beverage products can lead to increased sales revenue and profits, lower risk and encourages innovation.

But how do you know when the timing is right?

How long does it take to get a product into a new market?

REGISTER now for the upcoming Agri-food Export Essentials four-part series and build your export confidence

Sessions will cover:

• International Business Planning and Market Entry Essentials
• Export Marketing, Freight and Logistics
• Export Documentation, Procedures and Payment
• Export Risk and Available Assistance.

Dates

• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 28 September
• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 12 October
• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 26 October
• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 9 November.

Have you ever thought about volunteering your time to support people and communities impacted by emergencies?

The impact you can have is immeasurable. 

We need your help to support the Australian Red Cross Victorian Emergency Services teams! 

The Red Cross is seeking volunteers interested in developing their skills to support people and communities before, during and after disasters.

Our team of staff and volunteers work with people and communities to help prepare for and build resilience to emergencies and, provide social and emotional support to people and communities.

Now is the time to join this incredible organisation! Full training is provided.

Red Cross Victoria Emergency Services is currently recruiting for:

• Volunteer Divisional leadership and team member roles
• Volunteer Incident Management team roles in the Emergency Operations Centre
• And volunteers for the Learning Development team.

For more information, please see the Volunteer Role Description or contact the Victorian Emergency Services Team at vicesworkforce@redcross.org.au. 

APPLY HERE 

Applications close on Sunday 2 October.

South-west dairy farmers are invited to come along to two upcoming Focus Farm Field Days.

The Jancourt East Focus Farm Field Day, to be held on Thursday 29 September between 11.00 am and 2.00 pm, will visit the Blasche farm in Jancourt East.

It's now two years since Terry and Shannon Blasche moved south from northern NSW to south-west Victoria. During that short time a lot has changed on the farm they now call home.

Now 14 months into the two-year Focus Farm project, the Blasches' have made great strides towards the goals they set at the start of the program.

Significant improvements to the dairy, extensive pasture renovations, benchmarking of financial performance and transitioning of the year-round calving pattern to a single autumn calving are all well underway.

This field day offers attendees a great opportunity to see all the improvements that have been made to date and hear more about Terry and Shannon's plans for the future.

Following this, the final Macarthur Focus Farm Field Day will be held on Thursday 6 October between 11.00 am and 2.00 pm.

Over the two-year course of the Macarthur Focus Farm project there has been significant investment in farm drainage, cow management technology and infrastructure to facilitate off pasture feeding.

This final field day offers farmers the opportunity to see the impact different activities have had on the sustainability of farm production and hear about the cow house (120x 42m) and feedpad (5/6/5 central alley) construction process.

Finally, with the winding up of the successful Macarthur Focus Farm project, WestVic Dairy is seeking Expressions of Interest for a new Focus Farm in western Victoria.

Dairy Australia's Focus Farms program centers around farming families and enterprises. It aims to assist Focus Farmers to achieve their stated goals during a defined period in which they are supported by a support group made up of farmers and local service providers.

The Focus Farm program has been running for almost 20 years with Focus Farms and their open days giving all farmers insight into how on-farm decisions are made and the impact they have on the broader farm business.

Farmers can use Focus Farms as sources of inspiration and reference points to inform their own decision-making.

If you would like to find out more about how the Focus Farms program can benefit your farming business, give WestVic Dairy a call on (03) 5557 1000 or email info@westvicdairy.com.au to find out more.

Registrations are open for the Bendigo Regional Outlook conference on Wednesday 5 October.

Join ABARES and delegates from around the region as we discuss the key issues for agriculture at sessions on agriculture's contribution to Australia’s prosperity, driving value in agriculture and food, and a panel discussion exploring adopting and adapting for sustainable growth.

Hear from ABARES Jared Greenville and Andrew Cameron on the big picture issues affecting farmers as well as the key commodity trends and sector analysis.

John Walsh, also from ABARES, is discussing the water market outlook for the southern Murray-Darling Basin.

They will be joined by speakers from ANZ, Bureau of Meteorology, Agriculture Victoria, RDA Loddon Mallee, Ridley Foods, Think Agri, Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry, and producers from around the region.

Bring your colleagues and clients to the region’s leading agriculture-focused conference - it’s a great networking and staff training opportunity.

The Bendigo Regional Outlook conference is on Wednesday 5 October at the All Seasons Hotel Bendigo, 171/183 McIvor Highway, Bendigo.

Register HERE

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