In this edition

• Get emergency information in your hands
• Rural Financial Counselling Service
• Choosing the best feed this winter
• The risk of exposure to historical chemical residues
• Healthy Landscapes program
• AgVic Talk podcast – Episode 6
• Fox and wild dog bounty
• Research investment digs into the future of soil health
• Do you have a plan?
• Renewable energy development
• The Pinches – National Centre for Farmer Health
• In case you missed it
• What's on

Download the VicEmergency app and set up a watch zone to receive up to date information about the avian influenza situation straight to your phone.

VicEmergency is Victoria’s combined source of information and warnings, with everything from fires and floods to shark sightings and earthquakes. It’s handy no matter where you are in the state.

There are currently two Community Information messages about avian influenza – stay informed by downloading the app or visiting www.emergency.vic.gov.au 

Stay up to date on the avian influenza situation HERE

The Rural Financial Counselling Service provides a free and confidential financial counselling service to eligible farmers and small related enterprises who are experiencing, or at risk of, financial hardship.

They can help you to access available support, analyse your business situation, negotiate with lenders and develop strategies to improve your financial position.

To find your closest service click here or call 1300 771 741.

When choosing the best feed to purchase for sheep or cattle, there are a few things to take into account – especially when feeding over winter.

Agriculture Victoria Livestock Industry Development Officer Nick Linden said costing feeds on the basis of energy is still the number one consideration, as energy content of the supplement will determine how much you need.

Feeding to requirements can have immediate and long-term implications. Maternal and offspring survival can be compromised if nutrition is insufficient during late pregnancy and lactation. There are also long-term implications for their future growth, maturity and fertility.

Other considerations that might help determine which supplements and the quantity you provide include:

Minimum protein

Lactating and young growing stock (especially those early weaned) will have the highest protein demands of any livestock on the farm. Lactating or young growing sheep require over 12% protein (and as high as 18%), whereas lactating or growing cattle require over 10%. Therefore, feeds like maize, oats and hays may not be sufficient for some stock if fed on their own.

Wastage

If feeding on the ground, wastage can become an even bigger factor once the ground gets wet. Larger grains, such as maize and beans, may be better than small grains like barley. Pellets break down and become less palatable quickly when wet. Therefore, when costing feeds, you may need to build in a wastage factor.

Cold conditions and muddy ground may also increase requirements by at least 20%.

Roughage (fibre)

As paddock feed declines over winter, it’s important to consider fibre intake, especially for growing livestock or those making milk. However, this must be balanced, as if fibre is too high, they may not be able to eat enough to meet their energy needs.

Processed grain

Some grains require processing when feeding to cattle to achieve the full energy value (like wheat, triticale and barley). If fed unprocessed, you may need to assume a lower energy value. Processing grains for sheep is not required and will just increase the chance of acidosis.

Infrastructure

The ability to store and handle feedstuffs needs to be considered. Adding a source of calcium (e.g. limestone) when feeding cereal grains will help meet the higher demand of lactating and growing stock.

Weeds and contamination

As the demand for hay and feeds is high, you may be sourcing from suppliers other than your usual provider. Be aware of introducing new weeds and think about inspecting the product before purchase.

Where to find resources for value and costing of feeds

Common values of feeds and animal requirements for energy and protein (sheep): HERE

Common values of feeds and animal requirements for energy and protein (cattle): HERE

Chapter 5 (pages 5–7) in the Drought Feeding Book: HERE (Word version available on the FeedingLivestock website)

Drought feeding app: HERE

Video: Costing out your feeds (youtube.com)

Dr Jeff Cave, Agriculture Victoria Senior Veterinary Officer

At this time of year with this current season, paddocks may be looking pretty bare.

There may be temptation to open up the area around the sheds to your cattle, which hasn’t been grazed for years. Perhaps you are thinking of letting them in to the old house paddock, an old dip site or garbage dump.

By doing this, you may unknowingly expose your cattle to chemical resides. Stock can readily pick up residues if they have access to localised areas of high-level contamination.

Organochlorine (OC) pesticides such as DDT, dieldrin, and heptachlor are the main concerns, as these chemicals can stay in the soil for decades.

Meat processors carry out extensive residue monitoring on slaughtered stock. Any carcase with a residue above the Australian maximum residue limit (MRL) is condemned for human consumption.

Plus, as the vendor you may be liable to legal action. So how can you avoid this happening?

Firstly, a monitoring history of known contaminated sites is available from Agriculture Victoria.

It’s what you don’t know that may cause you a problem. How can you identify any likely risk areas on your property?

Commonly identified OC risk areas include:

• buildings, yards, fences, stumps, and power poles treated with OC chemicals for termite control
• sheep dip sites used before 1963
• old containers or chemicals in farm rubbish dumps
• chemical storage, mixing and disposal sites
• lawn clippings from OC contaminated areas
• land used for growing potatoes and tobacco before 1986
• land used for orchards before 1988 and vegetable production before 1986.

As part of your risk assessment gather all available information on past OC use, including information from previous owners. 

Soil sampling may be required to determine if contamination is present and the level of any such contamination.

However, in general it may be simpler to avoid potential risks by fencing risk areas to exclude cattle.

For further information contact your local veterinarian or Agriculture Victoria veterinary or animal health officer, or in NSW your Local Land Services.

Commencing on 2 August 2024, Healthy Landscapes will again be running its successful Holistic Grazing Management course.

The course is designed with six meeting days over nine months to assist land managers in improving their skills and knowledge about grazing livestock, to increase soil health and perennial pasture species, including native species.

The Healthy Landscapes program is delivered as a partnership between Macedon Ranges Shire Council, Hepburn Shire Council, Mount Alexander Shire Council, the City of Greater Bendigo, A Healthy Coliban Catchment project (North Central Catchment Management Authority and Coliban Water), Melbourne Water and the Upper Campaspe Landcare Network. Places are available to rate payers from City of Greater Bendigo, Hepburn, Macedon Ranges and Mount Alexander.

For more information and to register, visit Healthy Landscapes

When introducing new livestock to your property, take simple steps to avoid biosecurity risks.

Geoff Kroker spent his career working in livestock research and development and he joins Rachel Laukart from RSPCA Victoria and Brett Davidson from Agriculture Victoria to discuss some simple ways to avoid exposing your livestock to new diseases.

Listen via the AgVic website

Victoria’s bounty collections resumed on 4 March 2024.

Please continue to check our website for the latest information, collection centres and dates. CLICK HERE

For any assistance, please speak to our bounty collection staff on collection days or call our Customer Service Centre on 136 186.

Two Victorian research projects are soon to be underway to protect the health of one of Australia’s most important living assets – soil.

The Victorian Government, supported by additional funding from the Commonwealth Government, will deliver the $6.47 million projects as part of the National Soil Action Plan 2023 to 2028.

Delivered over the next two years, both projects will expand on existing research and aim to build soil health and productivity across Australia’s diverse landscapes.

Scientists from Agriculture Victoria and the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research will work together on the first project, focused on soil biology Across the Landscape.

Their research will focus on understanding microbial communities in agricultural land and in landscapes with native vegetation, including areas where rehabilitation programs such as revegetation are planned.

The second project will increase drought resilience in Victoria by targeting agriculture management practice changes that improve soil structure and function.

This will support greater water storage for plants, reduce nutrient loss to the environment, and increase the potential to build soil carbon.

Project delivery will commence in the second half of this year, with both projects to be completed by June 2028.

The National Soil Action Plan 2023-2028 is the first action plan under the National Soil Strategy.

For more information about the National Soil Action Plan, visit agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land.

Have you updated your plan for the current seasonal conditions? Having a solid drought plan can help you with decision making in adverse conditions.

Check out the Dry seasons and drought support on the Agriculture Victoria website today.

Join this webinar to learn more about leasing your land for renewable energy development, including:

• The land agreement process for renewable projects
• Your rights and protecting your interests
• How to maximise benefits for yourself, your farm and community
• Where to get help
• Farmer experiences.

Wednesday 26 June, 12-1:30pm via Zoom.

Register HERE or email

We're often able to carry one or two challenges at a time and carrying a heavy load for short periods may be okay.

But the compounding effect of constant and multiple stresses at once can wear us down and impact not only our livelihoods but also our mental wellbeing.

No matter what our situation, we all feel the impact of external stressors.

While these may be out of our control and frustrating, it’s important to acknowledge them, regain a sense of control through managing what we can and prepare for what lies ahead.

Alongside our social media series, a great resource to look at is our free and very popular Managing Stress on The Farm Booklet (MSOF).

MSOF talks through the common causes of stressors on farms and offers practical ways to deal with them.

We develop interventions to improve the health, wellbeing and safety of Australian farmers, farm workers, farming families and agriculture-dependent communities focusing on prevention and early identification of risk factors associated with farming populations.

Key focus areas include chronic disease prevention and management, mental health, and occupational health and safety.

It includes the Steering Straight plan - an action plan to help you work through challenges and plan activities that help you feel better with practical, useful steps.

You can find this and other support resources here

Boosting winter growth

Most of the state experienced an extremely dry autumn. When rain does fall, soil temperature may become the main factor limiting pasture growth.

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.

Register now for our free irrigation Centre Pivot and Lateral Move systems workshops being held in Kerang on 25 and 26 June and in Numurkah on 27 and 28 June.  

Workshops are for farmers and service providers involved with designing and installing Centre Pivot or Lateral Move systems or aiming to optimise the performance and management of an existing system.

For more information or to register, go to our events webpage

New to calving? Wanting to learn more? Maybe you just need a quick refresher?

This free webinar is perfect for you.

Get ready for the calving season with a checklist covering everything you need to know.

From when to call a vet to prepping your calving box, we've got you covered.

Join Stock Sense and seasoned expert Rob Bananno, who brings over 30 years of farming and veterinary experience to the table.

Don't miss out on this invaluable session!

DATE: Wednesday 26 June

TIME: 6:30 - 7 pm

REGISTER HERE

Register now – you are invited to join other horticulture growers and apiarists for a free short business course in July in Wangaratta. 

This free Farm Business Resilience course is designed to help you develop the knowledge and skills you need to improve your business and be better equipped to manage the impacts of drought and changing climate.

These sessions will not focus on individual business information e.g. finances, but build and strengthen your business productivity.

Course facilitator: Gavin Beever, Cumbre Consulting with specialists presenting on:

Planning for success, 9 July

• Set plans and direction for your business
• Establish a vision and set goals
• Understand how to better identify and manage risk.

Business success, 10 July

• Profitable decision making
• Key business and finance tools.

Successful people, 11 July  

• Effective people management
• Safety
• Succession planning.

Climate and biosecurity risk, 16 and 17 July

• Climate risk and its impact on your business
• Natural disaster preparedness
• Apiary biosecurity.

Plan review, late July – August

• Refine your vison and goals with group feedback
• Further training opportunities and resources.

To register click here or for more information contact Andy Clark on 0436 804 656.  

Join us for a complimentary dinner in Tarrawingee, hosted by the Rural City of Wangaratta and the Wangaratta Livestock Exchange, supported by the Victorian Government.

When: Thursday 18 July, 5:30 - 8 pm.

Where: The Plough Inn Tarrawingee, 2322 Wangaratta Beechworth Road, Tarrawingee.

Recent climate events have significantly impacted our agricultural community, requiring ongoing support and intervention.

Agriculture Victoria has been instrumental in providing essential resources and recovery services, and their support for this event will help us continue supporting our farming community together.

Free dinner and talk.

Don’t miss our guest speaker, Warren Davies, the Unbreakable Farmer!

Registrations are essential.

All enquiries email: r.golia@wangaratta.vic.gov.au.

The GSSA conference at Bendigo on 17-18 July will offer something for everyone.

The central theme will focus on ‘Evidence Based Decision Making’ and the topics have been built around what farmers need to know.
Delegates will be able to choose from two bus tours.

One to a property north of Bendigo integrating lucerne into a profitable livestock system and one to a higher rainfall perennial pasture property south of Bendigo.

Topics will include:

• Carbon - An informed farmers perspective
• Carbon neutral livestock production - is it possible?
• Soil carbon and fertility
• Measuring and knowing your soil carbon levels
• Old clover identification and sub optimal clover nodulation
• Paddock livestock weighing
• What bugs you?
• Use of drones in agriculture
• Facial livestock recognition
• Remote pasture measurement
• Running lambs on improved varieties of perennial ryegrass vs more persistent Victorian ryegrass - animal responses above yield responses
• N efficiency and endophytes in ryegrass pastures
• Introduction to fertiliser calculator tool.

Click here for more information - 2024 GSSA Annual Conference

The upcoming Irrigation Insights Conference, scheduled for Wednesday, 24 July, and Thursday, 25 July, at the Rich River Golf Club in Moama.

The conference is a collaboration between dairy, grains and cotton with the aim of providing information for profitable and sustainable farm business. Our program features sessions covering the latest research, technological advancements, and sustainable practices.

Conference highlights:

• Exploring marketing and consumer trends - Ron Storey, Storey Marketing
• New technology in weed control - Michael Walsh, Gulbali Institute for Agriculture, Water and Environment, Charles Sturt University
• Latest advances in nitrogen fertiliser - Helen Suter School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Melbourne.
• Over the gate - practices and innovation driving on farm productivity Panel - hear what other farmers are implementing to ensure productive sustainable businesses into the future.
• Grain, forage and fodder - mitigating risk of summer crop options (cotton, maize, sorghum) - Kieran O’Keefe Regional Extension Officer, CottonInfo and Yvette Williams, Research and Innovation Coordinator Murray Dairy
• Seeds of hope: The Aussie Hay Runners' Journey - Peter Wuthrich Aussie Hay Runners

The Gala Dinner on the evening of Wednesday 24 July, will commemorate our 25 years of the Irrigation Farmers Network achievements in RD&E. Featuring Renee Anderson, farmer and ag industry advocate as our special guest speaker.

For more information, please click here

Book tickets now 

The Southern Australia Livestock Research Council (SALRC) is excited to announce their third biennial Livestock Conference with the overarching theme of Environmental challenges and opportunities for Australian livestock industries.

Sessions will include keynote speakers and group workshop activities and cover the following:

• improving land, air and water
• solutions for human capacity
• economic considerations and market impacts.

Click here for more information about the upcoming conference.

If you would like to register for conference updates you can join the mailing list here.

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