In this edition:

• Backing farmers during drought conditions
• Important results from crop rotation study
• North American study tour as part of winning GRDC award
• Grants to boost fruit grower resilience and profits
• Top tips for calving season
• Your beef calves are the future of your herd
• Recruitment open for Chair of Dairy Food Safety Victoria
• WorkSafe Victoria - It's never you, until it is
• Dry Seasons webinar recordings
• Free financial counselling
• Apply for new Future Drought Fund grants to support Aussie farmers
• Do farmers dream of sheep?
• Take part in horse survey
• In case you missed it
• What's on

The Victorian Government is backing farmers impacted by drought conditions in Victoria’s South West with a package of support to deliver on-farm infrastructure grants and increase the region’s resilience into the future.

Premier Jacinta Allan and Minister for Agriculture Ros Spence recently announced the $13.53 million package to help farmers in 11 south west Local Government Areas of Glenelg, Southern Grampians, Warrnambool, Moyne, Corangamite, Colac Otway, Surf Coast, West Wimmera, Ararat, Pyrenees and Golden Plains.

Right now, farmers in Victoria's south west are facing the lowest rainfall on record, which is impacting stock and harvest and putting pressure on feed and water.

That’s why the government will invest $12.1 million to help farmers prepare their properties for increasing dry conditions.

Eligible farmers will receive up to $5,000 as a co-contribution grant to support water infrastructure upgrades to pipes, tanks, troughs, dams, stock containment areas, and grain and fodder storage.

The package also includes a $1.43 million investment in counselling and advice for farmers experiencing financial and emotional distress to help them make informed financial decisions and safeguard their wellbeing.

A dedicated Drought Regional Coordinator will be also appointed to make sure support is reaching people effectively.

The support package builds on the existing support available for farmers to prepare for and respond to drought, including through providers such as the National Centre for Farmer Health, farmer workshops and field days, and a database of practical information on the Agriculture Victoria website.

The Victorian Budget 2024/25 invested $59.8 million to help farmers become drought resilient and develop sustainable irrigation practices – in addition to supporting them to prepare for future droughts in partnership with the Commonwealth Government through the $20.4 million in the Future Drought Fund.

For more information on the Drought Support Package visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/dryseasons

Agriculture Victoria’s long-term cropping research in the Victorian Mallee is unearthing important results which could impact agricultural land management in the region.

Agriculture Victoria Senior Research Scientist Professor Roger Armstrong said the research trial ‘MC14’, established at Walpeup in 1985, looks at the impact of different types of crop management on soil Carbon (C) and Nitrogen (N) stocks.

Professor Armstrong said the research has been testing 3 different crop rotation treatments – legume/wheat, legume/fallow/wheat and fallow/wheat, using either mechanical cultivation or direct drilling stubble management practices.

‘The standout treatment was the legume/fallow/wheat in terms of the significant productivity benefits of additional moisture and nitrogen added to the subsequent crop.

‘However, this needs to be balanced with the finding of nitrate leaching, as well as a reduction in the accumulation of soil carbon compared to the other continuous rotations,’ he said.

Professor Armstrong said in the early years of the trial, the legume in the rotation was medic, a low-growing clover-like annual, but it’s now vetch, in keeping with modern farming practices.

‘Cropping farmers know that adding a legume into the rotation increases N in the soil.

‘When an annual legume phase is included in the rotation, we have recorded not only good grain yield responses but also large amounts of soil nitrate, a valuable commodity in low rainfall Mallee cropping zone,’ he said.

‘Most notably the amount of soil nitrate is greater in the crop rotations that exclude a fallow period.’

Professor Armstrong said the legume/wheat treatment has increased N in the soil by 21% compared to the legume/fallow/wheat treatment, which recorded 15% more N in the soil.

‘Another critical observation from the long-term trial is that fallowing (as opposed to maintaining continuous plant cover) resulted in a decline in soil carbon.’

He said the results suggest that whereas fallowing can produce short term benefits to productivity in terms of soil water and mineral N accumulation, it comes at the expense of a critical soil resource – organic carbon.

The study also highlights the value of trials such as MC14 in assessing the impact of different management practices on long-term productivity and agricultural sustainability.

Professor Armstrong said adopting a direct drilling approach can help minimise the reduction in soil carbon, but it will not completely stop its decline.

Caption: Dr Joshua Fanning, left, receives his award from Andrew Russell GRDC Southern Panel Chair (Photo credit GRDC)

For Agriculture Victoria Plant Pathologist Dr Joshua Fanning, winning the 2023 Grains Research and Development Corporations (GRDC) ‘Emerging Leader Award’ was honour enough, but it was the icing on the cake to travel to America and Canada to tour leading research institutes and cropping regions.

Dr Fanning travelled to Canada and then USA in July this year visiting renowned research centres such as University of Saskatchewan and the Western Applied Research Corporation (WARC), then on to America visiting Montana and Washington State universities.

‘Many of these institutions are leading research organisations on pulse and legume pathology, with several pathologists focusing on similar diseases to Australia.

‘There were many key learnings from my tour, but highlights include having the understanding of key methodologies for disease control utilised in other parts of the world.

‘One key benefit for Australia is the longer growing season as we don’t have to be as reactive with disease control, when compared to North America,’ Dr Fanning said.

‘However, in many respects due to the longer growing season we need to ensure disease control is done well as we can have many more lifecycles of a pathogen in the season compared to North America. 

‘Soil borne diseases including Fusarium and Aphanomyces root rots were the main constraints to their pulse production.  There is some genetic resistance to these diseases, but it’s difficult to find and breed for.’

Dr Fanning said crop rotations were not controlling many of these soil-borne diseases. This was a key learning and highlights Australia’s need to get on top of these diseases early to prevent them becoming a major constraint to crop yield like in North America.

‘Many foliar fungicides were not effective due to fungicide resistance. This is a threat to Australian production that we are observing in cereals, but not yet in pulses.’

More premium Victorian grown fruit and vegetables will make it onto local supermarket shelves thanks to grants awarded to install new netting on Victorian farms – protecting crops and increasing productivity.

The expanded $15.9 million Horticultural Netting Program - funded by the Australian Government and delivered by the Victorian Government - is now fully allocated with 190 grants delivered to 150 Victorian producers over 3 rounds.

The Program provided up to $150,000 to producers of commercial horticulture crops, excluding wine grapes, for the purchase and installation of new netting over established production areas.

The Commonwealth established the Horticulture Netting Program to help Australian growers, and their communities, recover from drought and the pandemic.

Besides protecting produce from environmental damage such as hail and sunburn, horticultural netting helps to keep out some pest animals and can reduce orchard water use by up to 20 per cent.

An increase in fruit quality, coupled with reduced impacts from adverse weather and animal damage means more dollars in horticulture growers’ pockets.

Among the grant recipients is Temhem Pty Ltd, a grower and packer of fresh fruit for the domestic and export markets based at Lemnos, near Shepparton. The grant supported the installation of netting over 4 hectares of Nashi Pears to limit hail damage and protect against birds and bats.

For more information on how Agriculture Victoria is supporting the horticulture industry visit the agriculture.vic.gov.au/crops-and-horticulture

We are well into calving season and the odd tricky calving which requires assistance is therefore unavoidable.

Agriculture Victoria Livestock Development Officer, Dr Hannah Manning said during calving season regular monitoring of cows is important to pick up any that are having trouble calving.

‘Once a farmer has found a problem and brought the cow in to help, I work on a 20-minute intervention rule.

‘A farmer’s strength, a calving jack or a calving pulley are the only acceptable methods to pull a calf, even then you need to be a competent operator.

‘There is no point having the equipment if you haven’t had training on how to use it, and if a calf is stuck or not lined up properly then more force isn’t the answer,’ she said.

‘Don’t forget if you’re helping with a calving, wearing gloves is a great way to reduce your exposure to any diseases that can affect humans, and it keeps things cleaner for the cow.

‘If significant progress in pulling the calf hasn’t been made in 20 minutes, it’s time to stop and come up with an alternative plan.

Dr Manning said calling your local vet early will be the best result for the cow and calf.

‘Good facilities that are safe for you and anyone else helping is vital.
‘It’s amazing how effective a vet can be with drugs in improving the whole situation. If calling your local vet isn’t an option is there someone else you can call or do you need to make some tough decisions?

She said the top consideration at all times is the welfare of the cow.

‘Tough calvings can result in calving paralysis and down cows are a poor result and require a lot of skill and time to care for properly.’

There is more information available on the Agriculture Victoria website www.agriculture.vic.gov.au

Dr Jeff Cave, Agriculture Victoria Senior Veterinary Officer

Keeping your calves in good health is of top importance. A scours outbreak in your herd can be time consuming, expensive to treat and, if not managed correctly, can result in significant losses.

Calf scours is most common in beef calves during the first six weeks of life. 

It is difficult to control the disease once calves start to scour and become sick. It is therefore important to manage calving herds to avoid outbreaks.

Scours is caused by an interaction between the environment, the health of the calf and the presence of disease-causing agents (pathogens), which include bacteria, viruses and protozoa.

These pathogens are shed in low, but increased numbers in the manure of cows around the time of calving, and in much greater numbers in the manure of scouring calves and unaffected calves up to six months of age. During a scours outbreak, a rapid build-up of pathogens can occur in the environment.

While the pathogen’s actions vary their effects are consistent – a loss of fluid and electrolytes associated with diarrhoea leading to dehydration, weakness, and in some cases the death of the calf.

To reduce the risk of calf scours in your herd you should:

• minimise contact between young calves and potential sources of infection by avoiding wet, muddy areas or areas with manure build up
• maximise colostrum intake by avoiding calving difficulty (dystocia) and poor early bonding
• calves from heifers are most at risk. Any calf that has not suckled within six hours of birth should be supplemented with colostrum
• avoid stress, poor nutrition and crowding
• avoid the introduction of new calf scour pathogens into the herd by not replacing dead calves with bobby calves from another property and not introducing recently purchased animals into the calving herd.

Control measures should be applied quickly when scouring calves require treatment, as the disease can spread rapidly if pathogen build-up is not addressed. Move all pregnant cows to a new calving paddock and do not put any new calves with affected cows and calves.

To successfully treat a scouring calf, supportive therapy is needed to counteract the effects of diarrhoea. 

The most important aspect of supportive therapy is to give an adequate quantity of fluids and electrolytes to replace what is lost in the diarrhoea. 

The use of antibiotics may be appropriate but only under veterinary advice. 

A key to the success of treatment is to commence it promptly at the first indication of adverse clinical signs. If these steps were followed, I would hope that you would enjoy a trouble-free calving season.

For further advice please contact your local veterinarian or Agriculture Victoria veterinary or animal health officer.

Applications are now open to join Dairy Food Safety Victoria (DFSV) Board as the Chair.

The Minister for Agriculture will appoint the Chair for a term of up to 3 years. The successful applicant will be responsible for leading a 7-member board to help improve food safety standards across the Victorian dairy industry.

Agriculture Victoria Executive Director of Regulatory Policy and Programs, Dr Trevor Pisciotta, said the chosen candidate will lead the strategic direction of DFSV.

'We’re looking for a Chair with board experience and relevant skills and background in the dairy industry, public sector, public health, food safety, regulation and regulated industries, stakeholder engagement and corporate governance', said Dr Pisciotta.

DFSV’s objective is to ensure that the standards which safeguard public health are maintained in the Victorian dairy industry – including for the provision of safe, wholesome dairy products for consumers.

DFSV has more than 3,100 licensees covering all parts of the dairy supply chain.

The regulator manages business compliance with the Dairy Act 2000 through various audit and compliance activities.

Key responsibilities of the Chair include (but are not limited to):

• establishing the strategic/corporate plan, including strategic direction and performance objectives to meet the Victorian Government’s objectives and management of business risk
• developing a respectful and open relationship with the CEO and organisation
• embedding strong regulatory culture in the organisation and industry
• providing governance of the organisation and productive and effective chairing of the Board
• representing the organisation with professionalism and confidence, maintaining effective relationships with stakeholders and industry, and a collaborative and trusted relationship with government.

Agriculture Victoria is supporting the recruitment process, which is open until midnight 27 October.

An open and competitive process is being conducted in accordance with Victorian Government policy.

The Victorian Government is committed to ensuring that government boards and committees reflect the rich diversity of the Victorian community.

For more information and to apply visit Dairy Food Safety Victoria.

It’s never you, until it is.

Every death on-farm is preventable.

Find safety support for your farm here.

The recording of the recent webinar ‘Growing more feed’ with Agriculture Victoria Livestock Extension Officer Fiona Baker - can be found HERE

Additionally, here are some resources that you might find useful:

• Feeding livestock website
• Agriculture Victoria dry season and drought support page 
• Soil Moisture monitoring sites can be found HERE
• Information on navigating farm developments online tool can be found HERE 
• A MLA guide to managing breeding ewes in containment can be found HERE
• Stock containment areas design webinar can be found 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 visit the website or call 1300 771 741.

The Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund is looking for eligible Australian organisations to apply for 2 new grant programs.

These programs will trial innovative solutions with the potential to build the agriculture sector, landscapes and communities’ long-term resilience to drought and climate risks, through transformational change.

The $40 million Resilient Landscapes Program focuses on demonstrating how implementing and scaling of practices, technologies or approaches to manage natural resources on farm, builds drought and climate resilience.

The $40.3 million Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Program Round 2 looks at investigating new practices and technologies that will improve productivity in variable weather through evidence-based trials, co-designed with farmers.

Both grant rounds are open to agricultural industries in Australia and will be delivered over six years. Applicants must form consortia, that is 2 or more organisations working together to develop and deliver an eligible project.

Applications close on 19 November 2024.

To learn more about the grants and apply, visit:

Resilient Landscapes Grants Program

Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Grants.

You are invited to participate in a study of the sleep health behaviours of farmers and farm workers.

We hope to learn about the risk of undiagnosed sleep apnoea in farmers, how farmers and farm workers prioritise their sleep health, and the barriers and constraints for farmers who wish to seek help for their sleep issues.

To find out more and participate click this link to go to the La Trobe Question Pro survey.

Horse owners know the enormous amount of time, energy and money that is put into our horses. We also know the incredible benefits we get in return from our life spent with horses.

But does anyone know how big the impact of this is across the country? What contribution our horses make to the economy? How many people are employed? Indeed, even how many horses are there in Australia?

The Australian Horse Industry Council (AHIC) needs your help in ensuring that they can accurately build a picture of size and scale of horse ownership in Australia and its worth and importance to Australian life.

AHIC has engaged survey company IER and invites participants and stakeholders in the equine industry to share their experiences with them to win 1 of 5 $500 prepaid gift cards.

Click this link to complete the survey.

Save the date for pulse industry showcase

Increasing pulse crop profitability will be a key focus of the Wimmera Pulse Agronomy Field Day to be held at Rupanyup on Wednesday 30 October.

Read the media release in full here.

Details about Agriculture Victoria events can now be found in one spot on our website.

Visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/events to find out what's on.

The Farm Business Program is supporting farmers to develop the knowledge and skills they need to improve their farm business and be better equipped to manage the impacts of drought and a changing climate.

Course details:

• Monday 14 October, 12 to 2 pm, Plan review 

Location:  Register online today.

Visit the Agriculture Victoria website for all the program details.

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