In this edition:

•  Avian influenza restrictions eased
• Facing tough conditions? Don’t go through it alone
• West Wimmera farmer gets $10,000 with conviction for cruelty to livestock
• Tools available to assess dam water levels
• Avian influenza community information sessions
• Dry seasons support
• Growing more feed webinar recording now available
• Cat desexing grants to press paws on unwanted litters
• Free financial counselling
• The Fast Break - out now!
• Recording: Victoria's spring seasonal outlook
• Itching to scratch lice and ringworm in cattle
• In case you missed it
• What's on

Further changes have been made to control orders surrounding avian influenza cases in Victoria, given that no new cases have been detected since 24 June 2024.

From Thursday, 12 September 2024:

• restricted areas around Meredith and Terang have been removed and replaced with control areas
• newly designated control areas are the same size as the former restricted areas
• The housing requirement in the newly designated control areas has been lifted, meaning birds no longer need to remain inside enclosures.

Permits for moving birds, poultry products, and equipment are still required for premises within control areas.

Permits are not required for vehicles transporting poultry feed in the control areas so long as they meet biosecurity requirements.

Victoria’s Chief Veterinary Officer Graeme Cooke emphasised the continued importance of cooperating to manage the outbreak.

‘Our efforts to monitor disease continue, with staff visiting properties and testing birds in the control areas,’ he said.

‘As we continue to carry out ‘proof of freedom’ testing, we’re confident that this testing will not find any positive cases of high pathogenicity avian influenza, proving to the world that our flocks are safe.’

‘The collective actions of impacted property owners have been critical in enabling this easing of restrictions. We thank the poultry industry and property owners for their ongoing support and cooperation during this outbreak.’

Poultry farmers, backyard flock and bird owners are urged to continue to be vigilant and report any cases of unexplained bird deaths to the VicEmergency Hotline on 1800 226 226.

A list of resources and contact details for industry and individual support, including technical, financial and mental health information, support and services, is available in our resource directory.

More information, including movement permits, maps, and compensation details are available online at agriculture.vic.gov.au/avianinfluenza.

Agriculture Victoria is encouraging farmers to take up ongoing support and assistance to help manage current difficult seasonal conditions.

Agriculture Victoria’s Aimee McCutcheon said Agriculture Victoria continues to monitor conditions across the state.

‘We know there’s been below average rainfall across most of Victoria during autumn and winter and that it’s a critical time for cropping, livestock and dairy production.

‘It’s important that farmers know that support is available to them to help make early and informed decisions.

Ms McCutcheon said the Agriculture Victoria website explains what support is available to farmers, including financial support and assistance, mental health and wellbeing support.

‘One example is the Australian Government’s Farm Household Allowance which is a fortnightly payment for eligible farmers.

‘Our website also provides access to other organisations that can help, such as the free services from the Rural Financial Counselling Services and the National Centre for Farmer Health.’

Ms McCutcheon said Agriculture Victoria offers extensive practical information, resources, tools and calculators to help farmers with forward planning, feed budgeting and livestock management.

‘All these free resources are available online 24 hours a day, or you can speak with staff at your local office.’

Visit the Agriculture Victoria website today – agriculture.vic.gov.au for more information plus details of events coming up in your region or online.

For information on technical support, contact Agriculture Victoria on 136 186 or email recovery@agriculture.vic.gov.au

A West Wimmera farmer recently pleaded guilty in the Horsham Magistrates Court and was fined $10,000 with conviction.

In July 2022, in response to a complaint Agriculture Victoria officers visited a property at Patyah, near Edenhope in the Wimmera, and were faced with over 100 deceased sheep which had died within the last 1-2 weeks.

The farmer, Norbert Wende, was the owner and manager of 440 sheep which were split into 2 mobs on a property in Patyah. 

The pasture was short and there was no supplementary feed. The sheep were in an emaciated condition, suffering from parasitic burdens and bottle jaw.

The Magistrate considered the plea of guilty, the absence of a criminal history, and Mr Wende’s co-operation with Agriculture Victoria officers, plus the taking of remedial action and there having been no further offending since 2022. 

The Magistrate also commented this was a serious case of neglect for which a conviction was warranted. 

Agriculture Victoria Acting Compliance Manager Penny Lucas said the weight of the fine with conviction sends a very clear message to livestock producers that animal cruelty will not be tolerated by the Victorian Government or our community.

‘Apart from the obvious pain and suffering of the animals, animal welfare breaches can jeopardise Victoria’s reputation as a humane and responsible producer of food, which can, in turn, affect all producers. 

Anyone wishing to make a specific complaint regarding livestock welfare can contact Agriculture Victoria on 136 186 or aw.complaint@agriculture.vic.gov.au 

Agriculture Victoria has a range of online tools available to assist farmers in assessing the volume of water in their dams and how long that water may last.

Agriculture Victoria Land Management Extension Officer Clem Sturmfels said assessing how much water there is in a dam can be difficult due to a dam’s odd shape and formulas used to measure its volume.

‘Farm dams generally hold less water than expected and in a dry year, it’s important farmers have a good understanding of how much water is left in their dams and plan accordingly.

‘The volume of a dam is closely related to its length and width. A stable, well-built dam has gently sloping sides which nearly meet in the middle of the dam’s base.

‘For example, a rectangular dam measuring 33m by 22m has a depth of approximately 3m and volume of approximately 1 million litres or 1 megalitre.

A triangular shaped dam with similar measurements has a volume of approximately half this amount.

‘Evaporation will cause a loss of around 60% of this volume leaving the dam with enough water to carry approximately 200 sheep or 20 cattle for one year.

‘Many dams rely on a regular top-up of water during autumn or spring, however this year has seen dry seasonal conditions, making the chance of a top up less likely due to depleted soil moisture and less runoff,’ Mr Sturmfels said.

Agriculture Victoria has several tools to help farmers calculate dam volumes based on shape, length, width and depth, including the Farm Water Calculator and the Summer Water Calculator.

The Summer Water Calculator also helps to calculate how long the remaining water may last.

The depth of a dam can be measured using a depth sounder or fishing line measuring device.

A ‘how to’ video for making and using the fishing line measuring device can be accessed on the Agriculture Victoria website: Measuring the depth of your dam.

Information on preparing your farm for dry seasonal conditions can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Agriculture Victoria continues to reach out to local communities at our pop-up information stalls. 

• Sunday 29 September: Colour Terang Festival – 9:30 am – 3 pm
• Saturday 5 October: Golden Plains Farmers’ Market: 8:30 am – 12:30 pm
• Saturday 5 October: Terang Local Market: 9 am – 1 pm.

To learn more, visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/avianinfluenza

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.

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 Victorian Government is supporting vulnerable cat owners and addressing cat over-population by providing grants to local councils to partner with animal rescue shelters to increase cat desexing rates.

Minister for Agriculture Ros Spence recently visited Second Chance Animal Rescue in Craigieburn to announce 14 councils will share in $300,000 to deliver targeted cat desexing programs within their communities.

Hume City Council will receive a $25,000 grant to partner with 2 vet clinics, including Second Chance Animal Rescue to desex around 80 cats.

This will lead to fewer unwanted litters and reduce the number of cats in animal shelters or requiring euthanasia in the long term.

The Council-run desexing programs will support people who care for semi-owned and unowned cats and help them take full ownership of these cats.

By providing free desexing, microchipping, and in some cases free registration for the first year, these people are encouraged to become registered and committed owners.

The program will also provide free and low-cost desexing services to cats owned by Victorians who may be experiencing financial hardship in the identified target areas.

Cat management is a significant and complex challenge in Victoria with more than 227,000 registered cats and a substantial number of unregistered, unowned, or feral cats in our urban and natural environments.

Although 95% of registered cats are desexed by the age of 2, cats can have multiple litters in this time.

The program specifically targets semi-owned cats and addresses problem cat populations, as well as cats often overlooked by desexing programs.

The government invested $1.3 million from the Victorian Budget 2022/23 for 3 cat management initiatives, the state’s first long-term Cat Management Strategy will be released later in 2024.

For a full list of council grant recipients visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/livestock-and-animals.

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 latest The Fast Break newsletter is now available. 

This newsletter details oceanic and atmospheric climate driver activity over the last month and summarises three-month model predictions for the Pacific and Indian oceans, rainfall and temperature for Victoria.

To subscribe or to view the latest issue click here.

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.

For more information

For more information about these webinars, including assistance joining the webinar, email climate.webinars@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Dr Jeff Cave, Agriculture Victoria Senior Veterinary Officer

Have you ever wondered why some poor and under-condition young cattle coats look so rough at this time of year?

It could be due to lice or ringworm, which both thrive under similar circumstances.

Both lice and ringworm are typically a greater problem in young cattle, typically in either poor nutrition or those with a compromised immune system.

Neither are a significant problem to cattle in good health.

Lice are small sucking or biting insects found most commonly around the head, neck and shoulder area, and along the back to the tail.

The irritation they cause lead to a rough scruffy appearance, and areas of skin rubbed raw particularly around the neck and shoulders.

The main effects of lice are skin damage as well as reduced ability or focus to graze.

Cattle are infested through animal-to-animal contact with other cattle from which the population of lice can build up rapidly.

Cattle lice do not infest other animals.

The cattle’s denser winter coat along with cooler weather favours the lice’s survival.

Without treatment the problem will remain until spring, when increasing temperatures and day lengths along with improved nutrition naturally reduce lice numbers.

Ringworm is a transmissible infectious skin disease caused by a spore forming fungi.

It too is spread by direct contact and can spread rapidly through a group of cattle, particularly in poorly growing young animals with underlying poor health or nutrition.

It causes grey-white areas of slightly raised skin with an ash like surface.

It can become widespread being seen predominantly around the eyes, ears and back of calves, and the chest and legs of adult cattle.

It causes little permanent damage or economic loss, however, can be transmitted to humans.

Ringworm usually clears up within 1 to 2 months without any treatment particularly when conditions improve.

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

More support for communities to fight pests and weeds

The Victorian Government is investing an additional $780,500 in support for community groups to protect their local environment, industries and cultural heritage from biosecurity threats.

Read the media release in full here.

Livestock predation survey preliminary results

Preliminary results from Agriculture Victoria’s recent livestock predation survey were discussed at targeted dingo conservation and management consultation activities being held across the state recently.

Read the media release in full here.

Barwon farmer fined $10,000 with conviction for animal cruelty

A Barwon farmer recently pleaded guilty in the Geelong Magistrates Court and was fined $10,000 with conviction. A disqualification order to own or person in charge of livestock was also imposed for 7 years.

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:

• Thursday 19 September, 11 am to 2 pm - Business success
• Monday 30 September, 11 am to 2 pm - People success 
• Monday 14 October, 12 to 2 pm - Plan review. 

Location:  Register online today.

Visit the Agriculture Victoria website  for all the program details.

Register here or call 1300 882 833.

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