[Back to Top]

[Back to Top]

Up to $8 million in grant funding is now available for projects that reduce the risk and impact of natural disasters on Victorian communities and economies as part of the latest Risk and Resilience Grants Program.

Floodplain management authorities, municipal councils, volunteer groups, State government departments, other non-government emergency management organisations, small businesses and research institutions will be able to apply for grants of up to $250,000 as part of the program.

Projects must focus on one of 3 key themes:

• Climate change – supporting adaptation, risk reduction and mitigation initiatives that reduce disaster risk
• Designing for risk and resilience – supporting initiatives that strengthen the resilience of Victorian infrastructure including government and community infrastructure
• Managing local and regional risks and building resilience – supporting initiatives that improve understanding of local or regional disaster risks, strengthen accountability for and governance of regional risks, and support initiatives that are seeking to directly reduce disaster risk at a local or regional level.

Applications close on 10 August.

To find out more visit the Emergency Management Victoria website.

Community and industry feedback is invited on Victoria’s new Biosecurity Strategy to help strengthen the existing system against increased pest and disease risks.

The draft strategy was developed with people who have a role in biosecurity, including farmers, agriculture industry bodies, supply chain and transport businesses, community and emergency management organisations, Traditional Owners and government agencies.

The draft strategy is the next step in a four-year change program working with government, industry and community to strengthen different aspects of the biosecurity system.

Community members can download and review the draft of Victoria's Biosecurity Strategy, complete a survey or make a submission on Victoria’s Biosecurity Strategy website by midnight, Wednesday, 16 August, 2023.

[Back to Top]

A range of support measures are available for flood and storm-affected farmers. Information about these measures can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website. For any urgent animal welfare needs, please contact 136 186.

The National Centre for Farmer Health is committed to supporting primary producers whose properties, livestock or crops were damaged or lost in the floods and storms through the delivery of initiatives to boost farmer mental health and wellbeing, including:

• A supportive online community through the #BuildingFarmSpirit social media campaign
• Free access to online psychology support delivered by farmer health trained psychologists
• Support for community events providing social connection and mental health promotion opportunities for farmers, farming families and farming communities
• Distribution of mental health resources and support information.

More information is available on the National Centre for Farmer Health website.

Applications for Victorian Government Primary Producer Flood Recovery financial support for the 6 October 2022 to 13 January 2023 floods are now closed.

Applicants who successfully applied for a Primary Producer Flood Recovery grant have up to 13 January 2024 to finalise their claims for Tier 2 payments.

Rural Finance administer these programs on behalf of the Victorian and Commonwealth Governments.

More information is available at Rural Finance by calling 1800 260 425 or by checking the website at www.ruralfinance.com.au

If you applied to Rural Finance for financial support for the October to January floods and storms and are awaiting the outcome of your application, contact Rural Finance on 1800 260 425 or at  admin@ruralfinance.com.au

[Back to Top]

BWBL Networks contact: Alison Desmond, Project Leader M: 0409 424 274 E: alison.desmond@agriculture.vic.gov.au 

After a 3-year hiatus, the annual BestWool/BestLamb (BWBL) Conference and dinner returned on 19-20 June in Bendigo.

The BWBL program is a long-standing partnership between Agriculture Victoria and Australian Wool Innovation and this year marked 25 years of BWBL.

The event kicked off with a dinner on the 19th, with 170 people celebrating the 25-year milestone. A feature was the reflections from key people involved in BWBL over the years, on why BWBL is one of the most successful sheep extension programs in Australia.

After-dinner speaker Mark Wales, former SAS, and winner of Australian Survivor discussed the power of resilience, transformation, and execution.

The conference the next day, was highly successful with 340 attendees. The line-up of speakers aimed to inform, challenge, and excite participants with the most up to date sheep industry research and information.

A popular new initiative was the inclusion of some trade displays, and a coffee van and hot breakfast before the conference started. It encouraged attendees to visit the trade displays and network before the conference began.

The 3 morning keynote speakers challenged participants and got them thinking with topics on: Sheep 2050 – reflecting on the last 25 years to inform the next 25 years, The future of lamb production – ensuring your seat at the table and Agents of the future – relationships that create value.

A popular feature of the conference is the concurrent sessions, which allows attendees to choose their own adventure by attending sessions that are relevant and of interest.

There were 2 blocks of concurrent’ s (before and after lunch), with each block containing 4 different sessions. Participants chose 2 sessions from 4 in each block.

The conference concluded with a final keynote speaker, Prof. Phil Hynd who updated the participants on the latest developments with the wool bio-harvesting project and explored if this could be part of the solution?

A big thank you to the hard-working conference committee for a delivering a highly successful conference.

For more information on BestWool/BestLamb please contact: Alison Desmond on 0409 424 274 or at alison.desmond@agriculture.vic.gov.au.

[Back to Top]

BetterBeef Networks contact: Darren Hickey, Project Leader 

M: 0457 609 140 E: darren.hickey@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Did you know you can double the growth rates of pasture through winter through the grazing management of the pastures?

A farm in Gippsland grazed 2 paddocks side by side in winter. One paddock was grazed for 2 days, the other had stock in for 6 days.

Both paddocks were strip grazed but stock were not excluded from re-grazing the areas of the paddocks they had access to the day before.

When pasture growth rates were measured a month later the paddock grazed for 2 days had a growth rate of 18 kgDM/ha/day. The paddock that was grazed for 6 days had half the growth rate at 9 kgDM/ha/day. 

The difference in leaf size of the regrowing pastures was also vastly different between the 2 paddocks. The paddock that had been grazed for 6 days contained plants that were less than half the size of the plants in the two day grazed paddock.

The much smaller leaf size was impacting on the amount of sunlight plants could capture, influencing the amount of energy they could produce and therefore reducing the growth rate.

Are there ways you could minimise the effects of back-grazing in the system? Options include running temporary troughs off your main trough and moving the new strip, fencing it behind.

Or, using electric fencing to create a laneway in the paddock back to the water source, or perhaps run the strip fences wagon wheeled off the water point.

Another alternative to improve winter feed growth rates is using urea. As a nitrogen source to use in winter, urea is less prone to losses (leaching and denitrification) during the cold wet months. 

If pasture is growing slowly, we would expect a response rate to the urea of 5:1 – that is 5 kg dry matter (DM) of feed grown for every kilogram of nitrogen applied.

So, if we applied 40 kg nitrogen/ha, we could expect an additional 200 kgDM/ha to be grown compared to what would have been grown without applying the urea.

If pasture growth conditions are moderate, we could expect a 10:1 response rate. A single application of nitrogen fertiliser is most efficient when applied at rates between 25-50 kgN/ha (54-109 kg urea/ha).

Remember to keep the stock off the paddock for 21 days post urea application, as nitrate toxicity could be a concern if grazed too early.

The feed grown through the use of urea is a cheap source of feed, when assessed in terms of cents/Megajoules (MJ) of Metabolisable (ME).

See table 1 for a comparison of urea cost* and its impact on the cost of feed grown (calculations are based on a feed value of 10 MJME/kgDM grass grown). Note – when doing your own comparisons, ensure you are using a delivered and spread cost for urea.

As an example – if urea cost $700/T (3.04 c/MJME), it is the equivalent of hay that is 9 MJME/kgM costing $219/T.  So, if you can source hay of that quality at that price and/or below, it is better to use the hay.

Otherwise if your hay is costing more than that, even at that urea price and low response rate, the urea grown pasture is a cheaper source of feed.

Don’t forget to do the calculations to see if the urea will grow enough extra feed to meet requirements.  You may still need to source some hay, but much less than if not using the urea.

*The prices quoted for Urea may not be current at the time of publication.

Gibberellic acid (a naturally occurring plant hormone) can be useful through the cold winter months, and generally the colder the day time temperatures the better the response. 

During mild winters, the response to gibberellic acid can at times be negligible. The rapid plant growth that can occur through the use of gibberellic acid is often lighter in colour, but this doesn’t affect the quality of feed on offer.

Phalaris based pastures are highly responsive to gibberellic acid with recommended rates of application of 2.5 to 10 g of gibberellic acid/100L water.

Pastures that are dominant in perennial ryegrass, annual ryegrass or cocksfoot, it is recommended to apply gibberellic acid at 10-20g/100L water.  Growth stimulation is usually seen within 7 days of application and ceases around 3-4 weeks after application.

Once the average daily air temperatures are above 15˚C, gibberellic acid will not increase pasture growth as the plants naturally have sufficient levels for growth in this temperature range.

Note: the responses to the use of urea and gibberellic acid are dependent on adequate moisture levels in the soil system.  If soils are not moist enough to support growth without their use it is recommended holding off on applying either until soil moisture levels improve.

[Back to Top]