What's On

• Upcoming events

What's New

• Help strengthen Victoria's biosecurity system - Biosecurity Reference Group nominations
• Feeding Livestock – Spring Pasture Predictions
• Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy – Public consultation

BestWool/BestLamb

• Lower your risk of introducing Ovine Brucellosis
• SheepNotes Spring 2021 now available
• Successful Ewe Replacement - Livefeed: Seasonal Feed webinar
• Myth Buster - short webinars

BetterBeef

• Technote: Can I ensile rain affected hay?
• Do you farm beef cattle?

Beef and Sheep News

• Information for industry and workers required to be vaccinated against COVID-19
• Meet the dung beetles on South West Prime Lamb Group (SWPLG) farms
• Campfire - Connecting farmers to prevent workplace mental health risks
• AgVic Talk - On a podcast channel near you
• eLearn

Ag Recovery

• Recovery After Fire: Practical Steps for Farmers
• Supporting landholders impacted by fires and floods across Victoria
• Financial and business support
• Regional weather and climate guides
• Recovery After Storms and Floods: Support for Primary Producers

Quick Links

• Links to Feeding Livestock website, AWI, MLA, The Fast Break, Rural Financial Counselling Service and more

PLEASE NOTE: The events listed below may be subject to last minute cancellation in the event of an emergency or advice from Victoria’s Chief Health Officer.

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Nominate to become a Biosecurity Reference Group member. The Victorian Biosecurity Reference Group is being established to strengthen Victoria’s biosecurity system and better protect Victoria’s economy, environment and people from biosecurity threats such as exotic pests and diseases. Reference group members will play an important role, providing feedback to Agriculture Victoria on proposed investments and activities to help ensure they are practical and relevant to industry and community.

To get involved submit an expression of interest online by 5 pm, Friday 3 December. For further information visit the Agriculture Victoria website.

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As part of a Producer Demonstration Site, predictions for pasture growth this spring have been updated to reflect conditions on 8 November at sites in central and south west Victoria, on the website. The predictions are modelled using soil moisture probe information from 8 November and the seasonal forecast for sites in south west Victoria (Harrow, Coojar and Dartmoor) and central Victoria (Baynton).

These will be updated in early December. This project is co-funded by Meat and Livestock Australia.

For more information visit the Feeding Livestock website.

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The Victorian Government has started public consultation on the discussion draft of the Central and Gippsland Region Sustainable Water Strategy. 

It will be a long-term plan for a climate-resilient future so that even in a drying climate, there will be enough water for cities and towns, farms, industry, rivers, recreation and tourism, and water can be returned to Traditional Owners.

A sustainable water strategy is a comprehensive plan for the sustainable use of water resources which is a statutory process for regional water resource planning in Victoria with a 50-year outlook.

The Central and Gippsland regions need reliable volumes and quality of water for its many uses – water for households, towns, rivers, wetlands, Traditional Owners, industries, agriculture and recreation.

The discussion draft includes a number of proposals for:

• increasing water efficiency
• greater use of recycled water and stormwater where it is fit for purpose
• growing our water supplies across the region
• enabling water resources to be better shared by considering all uses and values for water, including those of Traditional Owners.

The strategy aims to achieve the following outcomes relevant for agricultural water users:

• securing the benefits of modernised on-farm and off-farm systems for agriculture and other users
• continuing to reduce third-party impacts of irrigation
• taking up opportunities to maintain and develop agricultural production with all available sources of water
• building the resilience of agriculture by equipping farmers with the tools they need to be able to manage their water risks
• balancing the needs of different water users in the region without taking water from existing entitlement holders.

The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) is developing the strategy in partnership with water corporations, catchment management authorities, Agriculture Victoria and registered Aboriginal parties.

The Victorian Government has developed a discussion draft strategy for the Central and Gippsland Region and is looking for public feedback and comment to inform the final strategy.

You can give feedback online by completing a survey, writing a submission or attending an online community information session.

To find out more visit Engage Victoria and the Our Water Challenge online community information space.

The final strategy will be released in 2022.

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Dr Jeff Cave, Senior Veterinary Officer

For many sheep flocks, the purchase of rams is a time when diseases may be introduced, one of which is ovine brucellosis (OB).

OB is a bacterial disease characterised by infertility in rams. Unlike brucellosis in cattle, of which Australia is now officially free, OB is not considered a human health concern.

In some cases, the presence of OB in a flock may go unrecognised due to other causes of a poor lamb marking percentage. However, once a significant portion of rams in a flock are infected, OB can lead to a substantial loss in production.

OB causes inflammation of the epididymis, which is the tube in which sperm are transported from the testis. This inflammation leads to a complete or partial blockage of the epididymis leaving the ram sterile or with low fertility.

One way of diagnosing OB is to palpate or feel the testis of a ram for swellings. OB can also be diagnosed by a blood test.

OB is typically introduced into a flock by an infected ram. The disease subsequently spreads ram to ram or via ewes during joining.

Once introduced the only solution is to eradicate the disease. This is achieved with veterinary assistance by palpating and blood testing rams and culling infected rams, because once a ram is infected with OB it will not recover.

As always prevention is better than cure - to assist in identifying low risk flocks a voluntary accreditation scheme is in place.

Your property can become OB accredited in consultation with your private veterinary practitioner by successively testing all rams over six months of age with clear results and demonstrating secure boundary fencing.

When purchasing replacement rams, OB accredited flocks provide the safest choice. All boundary fencing should be secure to prevent straying to or from neighbouring properties.

For further information please contact your local veterinarian, or Agriculture Victoria veterinary or animal health officer on 136 186.

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All sheep producers with a current Property Identification Code (PIC) should have received the latest SheepNotes newsletter in the mail, unless requested otherwise. The Spring 2021 edition includes articles on listeriosis, barbers pole worm, finishing lambs, summer weeds, soil carbon, digital tips and more.

To subscribe to and access the SheepNotes e-newsletter click here.

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Professor Andrew Thompson from Murdoch University talked about the management of maternal ewe lambs to get successful joining at seven to ten months of age, follow up performance and future reproduction. This guided some of the management requirements of ewe lambs from weaning to their first mating and lifetime performance. Andrew touched on what we know about the effects of weight, mature weight, and other genetic traits from his research in this area conducted in Victoria. If you would like to listen to the webinar recording please contact Jane Court via email.

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Is rumen development completed at weaning? Can weaners recover from a tough start? Hutton Oddy, long standing and well-regarded ruminant nutritionist responds to this challenge in a five-minute webinar. 

View the Myth Buster webinar and the Feeding Livestock website.

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There is no cut and dried answer here. Sometimes you may get away with avoiding mouldy hay by wrapping it but more often than not, you won't!

Read the full article online. For more resources like this visit the Agriculture Victoria website.

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If so, please tell us what matters most to you about managing diseases in your beef cattle.

Many diseases in cattle can be difficult to diagnose and even more difficult to treat. There are lots of resources available to provide guidance with disease prevention, but no one farm is the same. What works for one farm might not work for another. 

Jake Fountain, a PhD student with Charles Sturt University and Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, is undertaking a study that looks at the value of on-farm disease prevention for Australian beef producers. By participating in our survey, your responses will highlight the priorities of your beef farming style so we can improve messaging around disease prevention to match these priorities.

All participants that complete the survey will also have the chance to enter our draw prize, with a chance to win:

• 1 of 10 $50 Visa gift cards
• 1 of 5  $100 Visa gift cards
• 1 of 2  $300 Visa gift cards
• 1 of 1 $700 Visa gift card.

The survey is open until 23 December 2021 and you can access it online.

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Click here to access COVID-19 information and resources for industry and workers.

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Dung beetles have been the focus of on-farm demonstrations underway with the South West Prime Lamb Group (SWPLG). Despite a wealth of cattle-related research into dung beetles, there is limited research on dung beetles in sheep production systems. The group established an Enhanced Producer Demonstration Site (EPDS), co-funded by Agriculture Victoria and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and sought support through the Dung Beetle Ecosystem Engineers (DBEE) project.

One of the group’s aims has been to identify what beetles are active on sheep dung in the south west, when they are abundant and importantly when there are seasonal gaps that could be filled by introducing more beetles. To achieve this, eight producers have taken part in monthly dung beetle trapping using sheep dung baits: four in 2019-2020 and four in 2020-2021.

Eleven species of dung beetles have been found, including eight introduced and three native species.

Information sheets have been developed for each beetle using identification photos by Russ Barrow (DBEE). To view these, click on the links below.

• Aphodius fimetarius – Introduced
• Bubas bison – Introduced
• Euoniticellus fulvus – Introduced
• Euoniticellus pallipes – Introduced
• Geotrupes spiniger – Introduced
• Onitis aygulus – Introduced
• Onthophagus australis – Native
• Onthophagus binodis – Introduced
• Onthophagus mniszechi – Native
• Onthophagus posticus – Native
• Onthophagus taurus – Introduced.

Onthophagus taurus has been the most commonly trapped dung beetle, followed by Euonticellus fulvus, both are mostly active during the warmer months. Many of the other species have been found in low numbers and a noticeable gap in abundance has been observed in winter and early spring.

SWPLG have also conducted trials that measured increases in soil fertility to depth from the dung burial activity of Bubas bison. The group plan to run a dung beetle field day in autumn 2022 to discuss demonstration results.

More information on these demonstrations can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Or contact:

Kate Joseph 0428 541 158 or email

Bindi Hunter 0428 589 016 or email

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The National Centre for Farmer Health are excited the innovative and exciting new chat-based platform ‘Campfire’ has now been up and running for six months. We have over 150 registered participants across a wide range of agricultural industries in Victoria, and reaching many more primary producers through our blogs, podcasts and social media messaging.

Campfire brings farmers together in a relaxed environment where people with shared interests can get together, listen to experts and peers, ask questions and pose solutions. It helps farmers to improve their systems of work in order to better manage the demands and challenges of primary production, and to develop mentally healthy workplaces for farm owners, managers, workers and their families.

Bonfire discussions have attracted the most participation so far. These are held fortnightly on the Campfire platform on Wednesday evenings (from 7.30 pm) where farmers can hear from topic experts and participate in live Q&A. The audience can submit questions ahead of time, to be answered by our experts on the night.

On alternate Wednesday evenings, farmers can join smaller Campfire Q&A discussions on work-related challenges relevant to them, including the topic of the previous week’s Bonfire.

The Farmer Health Campfire webpage is home to resources developed around the topics tackled so far, including podcasts, blogs and the link to access the Campfire platform. You can view past Bonfire conversations at any time, with current content covering:

• Working effectively in a family business
• Making your business more resilient to environmental extremes
• Strengthening your support team: farming safety consultants
• Strengthening your support team - AgriSafe
• New to farming: Learning from experience
• Communication: it's more than words
• Planning for success(ion)
• Strengthening your support team – Rural Financial Counselling Service
• Supporting the next generation of farmers
• Preventing stress in your farming workplace
• Seasonal/contract labour – it works both ways
• Mentally preparing for fire season
• Strengthening your support team – Working dogs
• Child safety on your farm.

Register online today to join the conversation, receive information about upcoming events and access topic blogs and podcasts.

Upcoming Bonfire Topics:

1 December: Impacts of alcohol and drugs in the farm workplace

15 December: Managing fatigue and staying socially connected

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Do you enjoy listening to podcasts? Season two of AgVic Talk is now available with new stories from people working in agriculture across the state.

Recently released episodes focus on the productivity benefits gained from upgrading livestock handling infrastructure, succession planning, share farming, mentoring and on-farm health and safety.

Sunraysia’s Grewal family have built their business from scratch over the past 20 years. Aman Grewal explains the evolution of the business by his father and uncles, which now includes almonds, citrus, wheat, berries, and their own flour milling facility.

This season we also hear from Mallee grain farmer Ian Hastings. Ian is passionate about ensuring that everyone who is working in the paddock during harvest knows how to operate the firefighting equipment.

Organic beef producer Emma Bolding considers on-farm safety to be a non-negotiable part of the family business. Emma explains how the Farm Safety Rebate enabled the family to upgrade their old livestock handling facilities ensuring those working on the farm are safe.

To hear more, follow and listen to AgVic Talk wherever you get your podcasts:

• Subscribe to Spotify
• Subscribe to Apple Podcasts

Your feedback is important to us so make sure to rate and review our episodes and share with your friends and family.

AgVic Talk season two is funded by the Victorian Government’s $20 million Smarter, Safer Farms program to improve skills and safety outcomes for Victorian farmers.

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A selection of online courses that can be undertaken at your own pace, at any time and from anywhere with an internet connection.

The Victorian Government understands that life can get busy and it isn’t always possible to attend courses in person.

eLearning provides an accessible and flexible option for learning and expanding your knowledge.

It enables you to enhance your skills without having to attend an event or workshop in person which could be a significant distance from home, or difficult to complete due to time constraints.

To access courses, you will need to create an account. This will allow you full access to the courses and it will track your progress as you move through them.

Browse the range of courses that can be undertaken at your own pace, at any time and from anywhere with an internet connection. 

This week’s eLearn is: Irrigations Decisions Support Tool

This irrigation decision support tool has been developed to provide Victorian farmers with key information about how to use an existing irrigation management tool (IrriSAT) to help them improve irrigation efficiencies and better prepare and respond to dry seasonal conditions.

Topics include:

• What is IrriSAT?
• Satellite technology
• Spectral signature
• Measuring plant health
• Crop variation
• Linking NDVI and evapotranspiration
• Crop coefficient plant health
• Calculating crop water use
• Using IrriSAT.

This course takes approximately 30 minutes to complete.

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An updated recovery guide is now available to help farmers rebuild and provide a one-stop reference to the support available. The guide includes steps to take immediately after the fire and for short-term recovery and longer-term rebuilding. It covers re-fencing, dealing with erosion and flooding, pasture recovery, pest and weed control and preparing for the next season.

The printed booklet is available from Agriculture Victoria, by contacting our agriculture recovery managers (details noted below) or the Customer Services Centre on 136 186 or digital version online.

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The Victorian and Commonwealth governments are supporting landholders impacted by fires and floods across Victoria.

For more information on bushfire recovery programs or recovery from floods/storm events, visit the Agriculture Victoria website or phone 136 186.

Regional Agriculture Victoria recovery managers;

• North East – Kylie Macreadie 0428 975 728 or email
• Gippsland – Darren Hickey 0457 609 140 or email

Visit the Bushfire Recovery Victoria website or 1800 560 760.

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Rural Financial Counselling Service

The Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS) have an experienced team ready to assist primary producers and small rural business in recovery planning. Financial counsellors can help develop financial forecasts and business plans required for lenders or investors, plus connect with support agencies and services. RFCS provides free financial counselling to farmers and small related businesses who are in, or at risk of, financial hardship. They can also assist with filling in forms and grant applications. For more information or to book an appointment call RFCS Gippsland on 1300 045 747 or RFCS North East on 1300 834 775.

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The Regional Weather and Climate Guides project is part of the Commonwealth Government Drought Assistance Package. The project aims to improve the resilience of farming businesses by providing localised facts about the likelihood, severity, and duration of key weather variables in regions across the country.

The weather and climate information will be delivered through a set of guides corresponding to Australia's Natural Resource Management regions. The project is a collaboration between the Bureau of Meteorology, the CSIRO, and FarmLink Research. The guides have been developed in collaboration with representatives from each NRM region to ensure the information is tailored to the needs of local farmers and agribusinesses.

For more information visit the Bureau of Meteorology.

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Agriculture Victoria’s Ag Recovery Team can provide support to producers following the June storms and floods across Victoria.

There is Agriculture Recovery support available in each of the regions affected including Central and southwest Gippsland, Central Highlands, Macedon Ranges and Yarra Valley and surrounds, to provide support with issues in livestock, dairy, cropping, irrigation and horticulture.

Agriculture Victoria can offer technical advice on:

• Pasture recovery and grazing management
• Soil erosion management
• Animal health, nutrition and feed budgeting
• Whole farm planning
• Water quality, budgeting
• Farm water reticulation and dam management
• Farm business planning.

Producers and growers are encouraged to contact the Agriculture Victoria Ag Recovery Team on 0427 694 185 or email. 

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Visit Agriculture Victoria’s website for the latest information and resources relating to livestock and animals.

Agriculture Victoria is delivering workshops, farm walks and information sessions online. Virtual events might include webinars, teleconferences or livestreams. Visit Agriculture Victoria events for a comprehensive list of upcoming activities.

The RFCS provides free financial counselling to farmers and small related businesses who are in, or at risk of, financial hardship. Counsellors can also assist applicants to apply for the Farm Household Allowance (FHA).

For more information visit the RFCS or call the national toll free number on 1300 045 747 (select option four for Victoria).

The National Centre for Farmer Health (NCFH) provides health and safety education and advice to farmers and their families via the Online Ag Health program. 

For more information visit the National Centre for Farmer Health or contact Cecilia Fitzgerald on (03) 5551 8533

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