• Preparing East Gippsland for a showdown with fall armyworm
• Early weaning beef calves – pitfalls and opportunities
• Connecting Victorian producers to global markets
• New study to benchmark crop residue emissions
• Applications for the Rural Women’s Network Leadership and Mentoring program closing soon
• Recording: Victoria's spring seasonal outlook
• Telehandler licence training
• Dry seasons support
• Bird owners urged to remain vigilant
• Fox and wild dog bounty
• Free financial counselling with RFCS
• In case you missed it
• What's on

Farmers in Victoria are encouraged to keep an eye out for Fall Armyworm (FAW), a newly established pest in the state and attend an information session to learn more.

Agriculture Victoria Gippsland Horticulture Program Coordinator Scott Botten said FAW is now considered established in Australia after being found in Western Australia, Northern Territory, New South Wales and a single location in East Gippsland in December 2020.

Fall Armyworm is a highly invasive and destructive caterpillar native to tropical and subtropical regions, however, has recently been sighted in the colder areas of Victoria. It is not yet known if FAW will be able to persist over winter.

‘Fall Armyworm is known to feed on more than 350 plant species, including maize, cotton, rice, sorghum, sugarcane, wheat and many other vegetable and fruit crops.

‘Young caterpillars feed on leaves, creating pinholes and giving a tattered appearance. Meanwhile, mature caterpillars can cause extensive damage by grazing on leaf stems and trunks and tunnelling into fruit.

Mr Botten said numbers of the pest can increase quickly due to their fast reproductive cycle. Adult moths are capable of flying long distances and can also be spread via storm events.

Agriculture Victoria is holding an information session for farmers in East Gippsland, in partnership with Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and VegNET Gippsland, on Tuesday 3 September, from 10:30 am to 2:30 pm at the Lindenow Farmers Home Hotel.

‘We are fortunate to have national experts presenting so farmers can hear the latest information and ask questions to get a better understanding of the pest and what it means for their business,’ added Mr Botten.

Growers and agronomists in east and central Gippsland can bring samples of suspected FAW to the Agriculture Victoria office in Maffra to arrange for free LAMP testing. This test can confirm suspected FAW and assist in the management of the pest.

Register for the event here

Further information on fall armyworm can be found on our website.

Nick Linden, Agriculture Victoria Livestock Development Officer

Driven by low feed availability, producers with autumn calving cows may be considering weaning calves earlier than normal. 

Early weaning is an immediate way to reduce feed requirements on farm. By separating the cow and calf there is a potential reduction in daily feed intake of up to 24 %.

As an example, a six month pregnant cow with a 250kg calf at foot will consume in the order of 15kg of feed per day (150 MJ of energy) – if we split the cow and calf into two individual units, the dry cow could maintain herself on about 6 kg DM per day (64 MJ of energy), and the calf would be gaining 0.5kg per day consuming 5 kg DM (50 MJ of energy) per day. 

The exact amount of feed required/saved will depend on the quality of the feed on offer – but the principle remains the same. As soon as the calf is removed from the cow, she will partition energy back to her own requirements, enabling the higher quality feed to be prioritised to the calf.

Weaned calves can then become the priority mob for feeding. If you have a limited supply of high-quality feed, it doesn’t have to be processed through the cow into milk for the calf to perform. It may be more efficient to offer it directly to the calves, without having to maintain the mature cow. 

Poorer quality pasture can then be offered to the dry cows – which can result in significant savings. 

While cow condition is often a key determinant of whether to early wean, calf condition is also important to consider - calves with dry, coarse coats are most likely not receiving enough milk from their mothers and may be better off having direct access to higher quality feed. 

In most situations when early weaning you would aim to have calves at least 12 weeks of age or around 100kg live weight.  However, if cow condition and survival is a significant risk, calves can be weaned as light as 80kg.  If needing to wean calves at these lighter weights, it is recommended that you seek specific advice from your veterinarian.

If you will be supplementing calves after weaning, it’s good practice to expose the calves to the supplement prior to weaning, while still on their mums.  This not only helps educate the weaners to what they will be eating, but also gives the rumen bacteria time to adjust to a change in diet. 

It's worth remembering that weaners have specific requirements. The younger or lighter they are, the greater their protein requirement will be – as an indication, weaners are likely to need feed that is 16% crude protein. 

Depending on the size of the weaners, the physical capacity of the rumen may also be an issue – so all feed needs to have a high concentration of energy.  Feed for weaners will need to be at least 11 megajoules of energy per kg DM.

If you don’t know how much protein or energy is in your feed – doing a feed test is the best way to be sure your animals are getting fed the nutrition that they need.

Aim for a calf growth rate of at least 0.6kg/day until they are heavier than 250kg. This will ensure that later growth rates are not compromised.

Weaners are highly susceptible to internal parasites. This, combined with the increased risks of parasites when cattle have been grazing short pastures – makes this year a potentially risky one for parasites. 

While cattle growth rates give a good indication, a worm egg count taken 14 days after drenching is a useful way to assess the effectiveness of your drenching program. 

Vaccination for clostridial diseases is also important for your weaners.

While early weaning is an option to reduce overall feed requirements and look after cow condition, it’s not for everyone. It does require more intensive management and works best for producers that have a shorter more condensed calving period. 

If considering weaning calves earlier than normal, it’s well worth doing a feed budget /plan to ensure there are adequate feed and resources on hand.

If you haven’t early weaned before, consider doing it with one mob initially. Cow mobs under the most pressure may include the first calf heifers or the oldest cows – so either of these groups could be suitable candidates.

Whether early weaning or weaning at the usual time, there are lots of things to consider. What are the feed and animal health requirements? How will I wean - cold turkey separation at either ends of the farm, in the yards or along a fence line?

Whatever way you do it, it’s an important part of an animal's life and is reminiscent of the old football adage – while you don’t often win a premiership in the first quarter, you can lose one. 

Weaning is a critical point to get right and set your animals up for future productivity.

Read more here.

The Victorian Government is backing regional farmers and food and beverage businesses to increase their exports and explore new markets by partnering with the Australian Government.

Minister for Economic Growth Tim Pallas recently announced the establishment of trade managers in Barwon South West, Grampians, Loddon Mallee, Hume and Gippsland to turbocharge exports for regional Victorian businesses.

The locally-based trade managers will support new and established food and fibre businesses to enter or expand in priority export markets, while promoting the state’s food and beverage credentials internationally.

Victoria is the nation’s premier state for food and fibre, with exports increasing 7% in value in 2022-23 and reaching a record $19.6 billion – bringing the state close to achieving the Victorian Government’s target of $20 billion by 2030.

Partnering with Austrade to deliver TradeStart in Victoria will provide further support for Victorian businesses in addition to the 23 Victorian Government Trade and Investment offices. TradeStart advisors provide business advice, build export capability and provide connections to international markets.

The Victorian Government has provided $10 million to assist food and fibre businesses reach global markets as part of a record $45 billion investment over the past decade in projects and programs that support regional and rural Victoria.

The Victorian Government Trade and Investment international network is the largest and most effective international network of any Australian state or territory, with every dollar invested in the network returning $40 to the Victorian economy.

A new $8 million national study is set to quantify greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from crop residues, to help the Australian grains industry accurately report its carbon (C) footprint, with potential benefits for future market access and price.

An initiative of GRDC, the national project will be led by Professor David Rowlings from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and will involve two years of field work to quantify emissions from crop residue decomposition across a range of crop types, climates and soils at five sites in Australia.

The trial sites will be located at Gatton (Queensland), Tamworth and Wagga Wagga (New South Wales), Horsham (Victoria) and Wongan Hills (Western Australia). These trial sites will be co-ordinated and monitored by the project’s research partners:

• Agriculture Victoria
• Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD)
• NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (NSW DPIRD)
• University of Queensland (UQ).

The landmark study is expected to have significant benefits for grain growers and marketers, as the GHG emissions attached to grains can impact the price and marketability of exports, as well as the sustainability credentials of farm businesses.

Professor Rowlings said crop residues emit GHG as they decompose in the paddock, with nitrous oxide (N2O) making up most of these emissions.

'While the global default emission decomposition factor is 1% of total residues, international research has shown that 0.5% may be more accurate for dry climates.

'As this research has been accepted by the IPCC, the CSIRO – with GRDC support – is currently updating Australia’s GHG baseline methodology to use the lower emissions factor from 2024.

'However, with approximately 23 million hectares of land under cropping, Australian growers could still benefit by being able to use accurate, locally derived emissions data for IPCC reporting.'

At each trial site, N2O will be measured for the 12 months following harvest to obtain accurate data on the emissions from the decaying crop residues. Crops being studied include wheat, faba beans and canola in NSW and Victoria; maize, sorghum, wheat and faba beans in Queensland; and wheat and canola in WA.

'We have achieved a good spread of representative climate conditions, soil types and crops. Over the two years and five locations, we will gather 32 site-years’ worth of data,' Professor Rowlings said.

GRDC Sustainable Cropping Systems manager, north, Cristina Martinez said the *new national study was critical in that it aimed to generate representative emissions factors for Australian crop residues alongside region-based data that individual farms could adopt for emissions accounting and reporting.

This research builds on earlier work done by GRDC in partnership with CSIRO for the Australian Grains Baseline and Mitigation Assessment. This 2022 report showed crop residue accounted for 20.4% of all Scope 1 (on-farm) GHG emissions in Australian cropping, compared to fertiliser (15%), lime application or farm operations (11% each).

This initial study also concluded that the use of internationally derived emissions factors may be overestimating reportable GHG emissions from the Australian grains sector.

The new national study has a total investment of $8 million, including $4.6 million from GRDC.

This investment is part of the broader GRDC Sustainability Initiative, which recognises that the grains industry cannot have ongoing profitability without healthy soil, water and air; strong rural communities and the trust of grain markets, the finance sector and governments. GRDC is proactively positioning its investment in RD&E to further support growers in achieving sustainability outcomes.

All rural and regional based women working across the agriculture supply chain are encouraged to apply for the Rural Women's Network Leadership program.

This program is being delivered by LeadershipVic over 2 residential retreats and aims to develop and empower women as leaders and change makers in their careers and in their communities.

All study and accommodation costs to participate in the program are covered, with additional capped allowances for childcare and travel provided to those who require this support.

Applications close 2 September 2024.

Click here for more information.

In this webinar recording, Seasonal Risk Agronomist Dale Grey discussed the recent seasonal conditions including rainfall, temperature and deep soil moisture levels across the state.

We looked at what the latest global models are forecasting for spring and shared information on the dry seasons support available to farmers.

Climate Specialist Graeme Anderson, and Dale, took a deeper look into the current seasonal risks and helped bust some common myths around making sense of forecasts.

VIEW THE RECORDING HERE

Duration: 67 minutes (including questions)
Password: Climate

This webinar was originally presented on Wednesday 14 August at 12 pm.

All climate webinar recordings can be found on our website.

Now available: Licence training for non-slewing telehandlers with rated capacity more than 3 tonne.

Learn more and sign up at worksafe.vic.gov.au/telehandler

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.

As we continue to respond to the avian flu outbreak, we’re urging bird owners to remain vigilant. 

Look out for symptoms and report any unexplained bird deaths to the VicEmergency hotline on 1800 226 226. 

For more information, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/avianflu

Victoria’s bounty collections continue.

Please 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.

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.

Avian influenza movement restrictions eased

A poultry housing requirement that has been in effect to control the spread of high pathogenicity avian influenza near Terang and Meredith will be lifted for some birds from Thursday 15 August 2024.

Read the full media release here.

Varroa mite detected in Victoria

Agriculture Victoria has confirmed varroa mite has been detected for the first time in Victoria at a property in Nangiloc near Mildura.

Read the full media release here.

To clean or not to clean? Managing dam sediment

Farmers in Victoria may be considering cleaning out sediment from their dams after a dry autumn season.

Read the full media release here.

Apiarist faces court for ignoring destruction orders

Beekeepers are being reminded to report and treat notifiable diseases after a large scale commercial western Victoria apiarist was found guilty of failure to manage American foulbrood (AFB) in hives.

Read the full media release here.

Details about Agriculture Victoria events can be found in one spot on our website. Visit the Events page to keep in touch with upcoming events.

Agriculture Victoria is partnering with Integrity Systems Company to host a webinar for Victorian livestock producers covering Livestock Production Assurance, NLIS and sheep and goat eID.

When: Tuesday 27 August, 7 pm.

This webinar will bring producers up to speed on the latest developments in key ISC programs, with all registrants to receive the webinar recording and information pack.

Producers will hear an update on LPA and watch a live demonstration on how to complete a property to property transfer on the NLIS. 

The webinar is ideal for anyone handling livestock, including farm owners, managers, overseers, hobby farmers, small farmers, farm hands and agricultural teachers. 

Register here.

Join us for the future planning Farm Business Success workshops.

Gippsland farmers are invited to attend these free workshop series to strengthen their business and plan for managing risks in a changing climate.

Sessions will cover:

• action planning and farm risk management
• farm finances and profitable decision making
• managing people and farm safety
• adaptation and natural resource improvement.

Your ticket includes:

• a series of speakers covering a range of topics 
• an expo of local legal and financial businesses, and other low or no-fee services
• free document certification and witnessing
• a free or discount follow up with providers at the event.

Orbost: Thursday 29 August, 9 am - 2 pm, Orbost Golf Club, 96 Bonang Road, Orbost.

Register here.

Join us to understand the potential impacts of fall armyworm. 

Farmers, employees and agronomists are invited to attend this free workshop in East Gippsland to learn more about this emerging pest. 

The session will include:

• pheromone blends
• host plant preference
• identification
• resistances surveillance and management
• economic thresholds
• Q&A session
• QLD FAW update.

When: Tuesday 3 September, 10:30 am to 2:30 pm, lunch included. 

Where: Lindenow Farmers Home Hotel, 167-171 Main Road, Lindenow.

Register here.

The Farm Business Resilience 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.

Agriculture Victoria, in partnership with Cumbre Consultants, is inviting you to join other farmers in a free online short course with specialists on the following topics:

• Business planning and risk management
• Farm finances and profitable decision making
• Managing people on farm, farm safety and wellbeing
• Climate adaptation and natural resource improvement including soil, water, crops and pastures.

Course dates:

• Wednesday 28 August, 11 am to 2 pm
• Monday 2 September, 11 am to 2 pm
• Friday 6 September, 11 am to 2 pm
• Monday 9 September, 11 am to 2 pm
• Monday 30 September, 12 to 2 pm.

Location: Online.

Register here.

Come meet Gippsland Hoof Cares, Dean Rowley, and learn about hoof health and care in wet conditions and preparing your cows for the months ahead. Learn how to identify lameness, caring for cows, how to avoid lameness, what causes it and how we can help and care for cows that may suffer lameness. Discussions and questions about practices are welcome. 

South Gippsland: 
Monday 16 September, 11 am - 2 pm
Yarram, on farm. Address will be sent via text before event.
Register here.

MID: 
Tuesday 24 September, 11 am - 2 pm
Riverslea, on farm. Address will be sent via text before event.
Register here.

West Gippsland: 
Friday 4 October, 11 am - 2 pm
Labertouche, on farm. Address will be sent via text before event.
Register here. 

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Call 136 186 from anywhere in Australia for the cost of a local call (except for mobiles and public telephones).

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All contact points can be found at: agriculture.vic.gov.au/about/contact-us

Don't forget to check out Agriculture Victoria's social media sites for up-to-date information and news.