• Foot-and-mouth disease information
• Developing a biosecurity plan for your farm
• Don't feed swill to pigs
• Aquariums selling State prohibited water weeds online
• New round of grants for Victorian agricultural shows
• Report illegal spotlighting
• Producers implementing collaborative predator management to lift lamb survival
• BeeMAX registration and surveillance database
• Gippsland Community Leadership Program
• AgVic Talk – pastoral care for seasonal workers
• Upcoming fox and wild dog bounty collections for South East Victoria
• ICYMI
• What's on

Richard Smith, Dairy Industry Development Officer

Farm biosecurity planning is not a one-size-fits-all process.

Every farm is different with each facing a unique set of challenges and risks and business owners having different levels of tolerance of those risks.

After conducting a risk assessment and action plan, the next step is to create a farm biosecurity plan.

A farm biosecurity plan is a practical way of showing how you are preventing the introduction of pests, disease, weeds and contaminants to your property, spreading around your property, or spreading from your property.

A farm biosecurity plan should:

• define your responsibilities
• outline the disease protocols used on your property
• ensure property information and biosecurity measures are quickly accessible
• enable you to easily communicate your biosecurity procedures to others. 

To assist you in developing a farm biosecurity plan, several organisations have developed templates, ranging from industry-specific to more general.

Whichever template or tool you use, remember to tailor and adapt it to your individual situation and to your specific biosecurity risks.

Industry peak bodies are often a good resource for accessing biosecurity planning information. The following websites provide biosecurity templates and tools: 

• Agriculture Victoria – agriculture.vic.gov.au/fmd
• Animal Health Australia: Better on-farm biosecurity – animalhealthaustralia.com.au
• Dairy Australia – dairyaustralia.com.au
• Farm Biosecurity action planner – farmbiosecurity.com.au
• MLA Integrity Systems – integritysystems.com.au

There are no right or wrong answers when developing a farm biosecurity plan – the only bad biosecurity plan is the one you don’t have.

A farm biosecurity plan is a tool to help you identify the risks on your farm and document how you will manage them.

Information on how to develop a farm biosecurity plan can be found on the Agriculture Victoria website, or by phoning 136 186.

Workshops and webinars on developing a farm biosecurity plan are also currently being delivered.

Visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/events for details.

The next article in our ‘biosecurity practices’ series will cover training and updating your farm biosecurity plan.

For information on Victoria’s biosecurity please visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity.

Did you know that food waste – swill – containing meat or other animal by-products must not be fed to pigs as it may contain viruses that cause diseases in animals?

Australia is free of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

Feeding pigs waste food containing meat and meat products, irrespective of whether they are locally produced or imported, or imported dairy products puts this at risk.

Banning the feeding of prohibited food waste to pigs provides an important defence against the introduction of FMD or African Swine Fever to Australia.

Learn more about what you can and can’t feed to pigs here.

Agriculture Victoria is concerned about an increase in the sale of State prohibited water weeds such as salvinia (Salvinia molesta) and water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) through the aquarium industry trade in Victoria.

Agriculture Victoria Incursion Controller Victoria Byrne said reports of salvinia for sale at aquarium shops and via online platforms such as Gumtree and Facebook marketplace have increased in recent months.

“Aquarium retailers could face serious legal consequences, such as large fines, if they are found to be selling State prohibited weeds.

“Salvinia and water hyacinth are both floating aquatic plants that can quickly form dense mats and completely cover the water surface.

“They can block waterways, impede irrigation, and prevent recreational activities and impact water quality, resulting in the loss of native flora and fauna.

“It’s very important an effective eradication program be implemented as soon as an infestation is discovered to prevent linked open water systems from becoming infested,” she said.

Ms Byrne said people are often unaware of the serious problem posed by these weeds.

“It’s an offence under the Catchment and Land Protection Act 1994 to buy, grow, sell, propagate or give away State prohibited weeds, such as salvinia and water hyacinth.”

“We want to work with people, both householders and aquarium retailers to ensure State prohibited weeds such as water hyacinth and salvinia don’t establish in Victoria,” Ms Byrne said.

If you spot salvinia or water hyacinth, please email photographs and details of the plant to: weed.spotters@agriculture.vic.gov.au and an officer will contact you to offer assistance.

For more information on State prohibited weeds visit the State prohibited weeds in Victoria page on the Agriculture Victoria website.

Applications are now open for the Agricultural and Pastoral Society Grants 2022–23 round to support shows and field days that promote the best of Victoria's agricultural offerings and benefit the state’s regional and rural communities.

As with previous years, eligible applicants can apply for up to $10,000 for infrastructure development and business activities to celebrate Victoria’s agricultural communities, practices, industry and produce.

Grants may be used to upgrade or build new facilities including judging areas, staging or display areas, or for public amenities for multi-purpose community use.

The money may also be used for business activities that assist in the planning of events.

Agriculture Victoria Executive Director, Agriculture Policy and Programs, Sarah-Jane McCormack, said the new round of funding ensures that agricultural shows across the state can continue to deliver exciting events for local communities.

“The Victorian Government continues to support Agricultural and Pastoral Societies to get back up and running this year.

“In addition to the one-off support for free entry of children at shows, these grants are also available to make sure that showgrounds, facilities and events are in top shape making events enjoyable and safe for communities,” Ms McCormack said.

The projects will help the societies deliver exciting events that build confidence in the agriculture sector and support regional economies and jobs.

The grants are open to all eligible Victorian Agricultural and Pastoral Societies including the Royal Geelong Show, Whittlesea Show, Mildura Show and many more.

Regional and rural shows are a fixture of Victorian society, building community spirit by celebrating agriculture in a fun, entertaining, educational and inclusive environment.

Applications are now open and close at midnight on 21 October 2022.

For more information on the program and to apply, visit the Agriculture Victoria website.

Illegal spotlighting may be happening in your area, putting your community, property, livestock and native wildlife at risk.

Illegal spotlighting is when people illegally use a spotlight or thermal imaging device on public land to shoot deer or other game animals at night.

If you see or hear of illegal spotlighting in your area, please report it to the Game Management Authority.

Visit gma.vic.gov.au or call 136 186, or you can contact your local police.

Keep our community safe and help put a stop to illegal spotlighting in your area.

There are some forms of legal spotlighting, including when landowners or their agents need to control pest animals or problem deer on private property.

For more information about spotlighting laws CLICK HERE

All reports of alleged illegal spotlighting are assessed and responded to accordingly.

Caption: From left Dr Matt Mahoney, Agridome Consulting, and Goughs Bay landholder Paul Diamond

Mansfield's Less Predators More Lambs Group presented their findings of the first year of the project at a field day at Mansfield to members of the Goulburn Murray Best Wool/Best Lamb Group.

The Mansfield group takes in eight winter and spring lambing Merino and first-cross enterprises in the Mansfield, Goughs Bay, Merrijig, Barwite, Bonnie Doon and Merton areas.

Funded by Meat and Livestock Australia, the producer demonstration site is supported in partnership with Greg Mifsud, National Wild Dog Management Coordinator, and Lucy-Anne Cobby, Australian Wool Innovation Community Wild Dog Control Coordinator.

Project coordinator Dr Matthew Mahoney, Agridome Consultancy, said the area included areas of high wild dog activity.

He said the aim of the project was to improve lamb survival within participating flocks and demonstrate best practice in sheep management practices and predator control.

“We wanted to tick all the boxes for other reasons we would be losing lambs, including blood testing flocks to determine if campylobacter (an infectious disease) was a problem, uniform management using Lifetime Ewe Management principles and implementing a sound baiting program,” Dr Mahoney said.

“Producers began baiting six weeks prior to their lambing dates to create a predator free buffer zone around the lambing paddocks.

"This was required because the eight properties weren’t neighbouring one another, therefore reinfestation of predators from non-participating properties had to be addressed.

“Each property has a predator management program to record the number of baits and tools used, of which an integral part was use of the FeralScan app which GPS mapped the bait sites and logged sightings and control measures for our private group.”

In the first year, 6110 ewes and 9484 foetuses were monitored under the project.

Dr Anna Manning, Delatite Veterinarian, carried out 44 lamb post-mortems with the dead lambs randomly collected during monitoring rounds by the producers.

Of these 18 per cent were found to have been killed by primary predation with a 50 per cent split between single and twin born lambs – although a small subset, it appeared there was no differentiation by predators on birth rank.

A total of 43 per cent of lamb post-mortems were found to have died of from starvation or mismothering with 74 per cent of those from twin lambing ewes.

Fourteen per cent were found to have died from an undiagnosed infection, goitre or intestinal torsion while 25 per cent were found to have died from dystocia.

Dr Matt Mahoney said lamb survival had increased on all properties using predator management programs compared to the previous year from two per cent up to five per cent.

“This equated to potentially an extra $42,000 income (280 lambs at $150/head) over the participating farms,” he said.

“We found if single lambs are going to be lost, it is more likely to be from a predator than other causes while multiples were at the main risk of mismothering leading to exposure/starvation.”

For more information on a working plan to manage wild dogs click here.

Have you heard the buzz?

It’s all about BeeMAX.

BeeMAX is free, quick, and easy to use – and it’s a simple way of maintaining your record keeping obligations under the Livestock Disease and Control Regulations.

Whether you’re a backyard beekeeper or keep commercial quantities of hives, the BeeMAX electronic diary is a central place to record all your biosecurity activities and observations including:

• pest and disease inspections and testing
• swarm collection data
• the movement of bees and equipment
• biosecurity training completed.

Learn more here or visit BeeMAX here.

Applications are now open for two places sponsored by the Gardiner Dairy Foundation in the Gippsland Community Leadership Program (GCLP).

The places are open to people living and working in Victorian dairy regions – on dairy farms, in dairy processing, as service providers or in community organisations.

GCLP is auspiced by the Committee for Gippsland. The program is structured to provide a deep understanding of the Gippsland region and focus on individual leadership skills. Topics covered include:

• power and impact of leadership
• workings of government and political environments and the role of advocacy
• value of community connections
• diversity of Gippsland and its challenges and opportunities
• your qualities as a leader now and the leader you can become.

More information on Gardiner Dairy Foundation sponsored places and applications is available here.

Crucial to the success of the Sunraysia food bowl are the estimated 15,000 seasonal workers who pick crops and maintain orchards. 
 
In this episode of AgVic Talk, we talk with Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council (SMECC) Pastoral Care Program coordinator Corey Iredale and pastoral care worker Viliami Vea.

Viliami began as a seasonal worker at 21 and now generously gives back to his community as a SMECC pastoral care worker. 
 
Corey and Viliami talk about keeping seasonal workers healthy and happy and supporting them to stay in the region. 

🎧Listen🎧 online via the AgVic website

Victorian fox and wild dog collections continue.

Electronic funds transfer (EFT) is the preferred method of payment, so please bring your EFT details to the collection centre.

Acceptable entire fox scalps and entire wild dog body parts will be collected from eligible members of the public at specific dates and times, and from sites scheduled as collection centres.

Please note that no entire fox scalps or entire wild dog body parts will be accepted at any public counter or state government office.

Collections will only be accepted at the designated times.

Have your say on Victoria’s biosecurity laws

Victorians now have the opportunity to shape the future of biosecurity as the Victorian Government works to safeguard the agriculture sector.

The government has released a discussion paper setting out key topics to guide reforms to Victoria's biosecurity legislation.

Public feedback on Victoria’s current biosecurity system is vital to ensure it remains effective, including the legislation that underpins it.

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL HERE

COMPLETE THE SURVEY OR MAKE A SUBMISSION by Sunday 9 October HERE

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

Ellinbank – Tuesday 20 September

Bairnsdale – Rescheduled to Tuesday 4 October 

Agriculture Victoria is delivering a free workshop for livestock producers to understand the disease, pest and plant biosecurity risks in their region, the impact they may have on their business and develop an on-farm biosecurity plan.

WHEN AND WHERE

Ellinbank

• Tuesday 20 September, 10 am to 3 pm (please arrive from 9.30 am to allow time to setup)
• Agriculture Victoria, 1301 Hazeldean Road, Ellinbank.
• Register here

Bairnsdale

• Tuesday 4 October, 10 am to 3 pm
• DELWP office, 574 Main Street, Bairnsdale
• Register here

TOPICS

• why is biosecurity important and what programs and systems support the livestock industries
• what are the disease, pest and plant biosecurity risks in your local area
• how to use a matrix to rank the likelihood and impact of risks on your business
• setting up a biosecurity kit and facilities on-farm
• create your on-farm biosecurity plan and put it into action.

MORE INFORMATION 

Contact Morgan Cassell, Agriculture Victoria on 0427 681 714 or morgan.cassell@agriculture.vic.gov.au

This project received funding from the Cattle Compensation Fund / Sheep and Goat Compensation Fund as part of the 2021 Livestock Biosecurity Funds Grant Program, which exists to provide grants to bolster the state's biosecurity and assist in preventing and managing pests and diseases.

Ellinbank – Wednesday 21 September

Agriculture Victoria is delivering a free hands-on workshop for producers to understand their livestock traceability requirements and how to use the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database to complete property-to-property transfers.

WHEN AND WHERE

• Wednesday 21 September, 10 am to 3 pm (please arrive from 9.30 am to allow time to setup)
• Agriculture Victoria, 1301 Hazeldean Road, Ellinbank.

TOPICS

• Victorian livestock traceability requirements
• updating your Property Identification Code (PIC)
• completing National Vendor Declarations (NVDs)
• setting up, navigating and using the NLIS database
• completing property-to-property (P2P) transfers on the NLIS database.

REGISTRATION

More information about the event and online booking is available at Eventbrite; select the Traceability and the NLIS database producer workshop at Ellinbank or by contacting Morgan Cassell, Livestock Industry Development Officer on 0427 681 714 or at morgan.cassell@agriculture.vic.gov.au.

These events are delivered by the Risk and Records project funded by the 2021 Livestock Biosecurity Fund Grant Program.

With another wet summer forecast – are there opportunities to sow something that provides quality feed for growing lambs over summer?

Guest speakers Rebecca Stutz, CSIRO and Dr Ralph Behrendt, Agriculture Victoria, will discuss a range of summer forage options with results on animal performance.

We follow with some experiences from farmers on their experience in establishing and utilising summer forage crops.

We will end the night with our Myth Buster. Climate specialist Dale Grey will answer the myth busting question ‘does a La Nina mean summer rain in Victoria?'

Date: Tuesday 27 September

Time: 7 – 7.45 pm

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

For more information contact Jane Court from Agriculture Victoria on 0436 606 742 or jane.court@agriculture.vic.gov.au 

See a VRI pivot in action as it switches on and off over farm assets and get a look at the dashboard technology, soil map integration and application customisability.

A little about the project

The project will be conducted from June 2022 through March 2024 in the Macalister Irrigation District (MID), to determine the efficacy of variable rate irrigation (VRI) applied to a pivot, with irrigation prescription based on soil type and topography, for the purpose of ameliorating waterlogged areas and increasing soil moisture uniformity in the paddock.

The paddock selected for this demonstration is significantly undulating and has consistent problem wet areas that do not have drainage.

Currently when the pivot irrigates it compounds the problem and the areas remain consistently waterlogged.

Cows wallow in these areas causing soil pugging, further exacerbating the problem.

Additionally, there are a number of animal health issues that are compounded by the animals wallowing in wet and muddy areas, including increased lameness and mastitis rates.

For any enquiries contact: Caelan McIntosh, Irrigation Extension Officer on 0476 885 716 or caelan.mcintosh@agriculture.vic.gov.au

Exporting your premium #agrifood and #beverage products can lead to increased sales revenue and profits, lower risk and encourages innovation.

But how do you know when the timing is right?

How long does it take to get a product into a new market?

REGISTER NOW for the upcoming Agri-food Export Essentials four-part series and build your export confidence:

Sessions will cover:

• International Business Planning and Market Entry Essentials
• Export Marketing, Freight and Logistics
• Export Documentation, Procedures and Payment
• Export Risk and Available Assistance.

Dates:

• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 28 September
• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 12 October
• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 26 October
• 2-3.30 pm AEST, Wednesday 9 November.

Rural Financial Counselling Service (RFCS) Gippsland have partnered with the National Centre Farmer Health, Hearing Australia and our local bush nursing services to celebrate rural wellness during Mental Health Week in October.

Community BBQs will be held across in three locations in East Gippsland where local farmers can get together, relax, check-in with each other, and take advantage of a free health check-up. 

Bush nurses and Hearing Australia will be performing health screens and assessments, along with RFCS Gippsland available to connect with your financial and wellbeing support.

Drop in between 10 am – 2 pm to enjoy some good food, great company, and a chance to win a lucky door prize.

WHEN AND WHERE:

• Tuesday 11 October, Buchan Recreation Reserve, 5609 Buchan-Orbost Rd, Buchan
• Wednesday 12 October, Bairnsdale Neighbourhood House, 27 Dalmahoy St, Bairnsdale
• Thursday 13 October, Benambra Neighbourhood House, 34 Gibbo St, Benambra.

Enjoying the Gippsland Ag News? Then why not forward to a friend or subscribe yourself.

It's easy – simply click this link.

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

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment contact the National Relay Service on 133 677 or www.relayservice.gov.au.

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.