• Foot-and-mouth disease information
• Undertaking a risk assessment and action plan
• Don't feed swill to pigs
• Tips for healthy hives
• The Fast Break - August edition out now !
• AgVic Talk - Bhupinder Kaur
• Soil moisture monitoring - cropping
• Agriculture chemical use mapping survey
• Upcoming fox and wild dog bounty collections for South East Victoria
• ICYMI
• What's on

By Richard Smith, Dairy Industry Development Officer

Biosecurity is about managing risks. Each property is different and faces different challenges, so it is critical to assess the biosecurity risks that are most likely to impact your property.

Biosecurity risks can be broken down into the following broad categories: livestock, vehicles, equipment, people, and supplies.

The risk impact will change for livestock when they move onto, around, or off your property.

As part of developing a biosecurity management plan, an important step is to conduct a risk assessment and develop an action plan.

A risk assessment is simply the process of identifying a hazard, the consequences of this hazard, and the probability this hazard will happen.

When undertaking the risk assessment, try to determine:

• How severe the risk is
• Whether any existing control measures are effective
• What action you can take to control the risk
• How urgently action needs to be taken.

This allows you to target and apply your resources to areas that are likely to achieve the best result.

The next step is an action plan.

This converts the risks identified in the risk assessment and outlines the actions you intend to implement on farm to prevent or reduce impacts to your property.

The actions you enact on your property need to be specific and set out how you are going to manage the risk.

They need to be practical and achievable with your resources and budget.

They also need to be relevant to what you produce and how you manage your property.

For example, during your risk assessment, you might determine that visitors could introduce a new disease, pest or weed via their footwear.

To manage this risk the action plan may include setting up a boot washing station and purchasing plastic tubs, scrubbing brushes, and some recommended disinfectant.

Alternatively, your action might be to purchase boots or gumboots in common sizes for visitors to use around the farm.

Both are effective measures to reduce the risk of pests or disease being transferred via mud or dung on footwear from property to property.

Stay tuned for the next article discussing biosecurity management planning as part of our series on biosecurity practices to come out over the following weeks.

More information about Victoria’s biosecurity can be found on Agriculture Victoria website: agriculture.vic.gov.au/biosecurity.

Information on risk assessments and property biosecurity management planning can be found on the farm biosecurity website.

Visit farmbiosecurity.com.au to download a risk assessment factsheet.

For information about upcoming farm biosecurity planning workshops as well as resources about foot-and-mouth disease, visit: agriculture.vic.gov.au/fmd

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. 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.

Keep your bees happy, healthy and productive as the weather warms up - bee aware of the biosecurity basics:

• 🐝Be aware of biosecurity threats, such as Varroa mite
• 🐝Practice good hygiene and sanitation
• 🐝Check your apiary and monitor hives and the health of the honeybee brood frequently
• 🐝Respect and be aware of laws and regulations established to protect the honeybee industry, Australian agriculture and the local region
• 🐝Report anything unusual to the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline on 1800 084 881.

For the latest info visit agriculture.vic.gov.au/varroa 

For beeaware biosecurity basics go to beeaware.org.au/biosecurity/biosecurity-basics/

Welcome to the August 'Fast Break' climate newsletter for 2022.

Click to see its soil moisture, climate driver summary and climate predictions from August run models.

VICTORIA

SOUTHERN NEW SOUTH WALES

We love your feedback.

If you have comments, questions or feedback address them to Dale Grey at the.break@agriculture.vic.gov.au

If you love working outdoors, you'll love a career in agriculture.

In this Careers in Horticulture episode, we chat with Bhupinder Kaur, who grew up on a farm in Northern India.

Bhupinder came to Australia to study management, but her love for farming and the great outdoors drew her back to agriculture.

Bhupinder now works as an agronomist for GV Independent Packers in Shepparton.

🎧Listen🎧 online via the AgVic website

In this edition:

• Introduction
• Recent Soil Moisture Monitoring observations (from 22 August)
• Speedo assessments - change in overall soil moisture at a particular site.
• Speedo soil moisture graphs.

Read in full HERE

The National Centre for Farmer Health and Deakin University are mapping the use of agrichemicals across Victoria in their Agricultural Chemical Use Mapping project.

Understanding which chemicals are more commonly used, and where they are used, allows us to provide you with more accurate and relevant information about how to keep yourself, and your family, safe on the farm.

This research will help to tailor education and initiatives that support farmers to continue to use agrichemicals on-farm safely.
Farmers and farm-workers are invited to participate in this project via an anonymous 10-15 min online survey.

Participation in this research project is voluntary and it will cover general agrichemical use and hygiene, PPE (personal protection equipment) practices and descriptions of any illness experienced during the use of agrichemicals.

To participate in this survey CLICK HERE

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.

Improving accessibility with AgVic eBooks

The Agriculture Victoria Crop Disease Guides are being piloted as an AgVic eBook to help improve their accessibility to growers and agronomists.

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL HERE

Be alert for elevated disease risk coming into spring

Farmers are being encouraged to look out for signs of disease in field crops coming into spring and take action to minimise the impacts on their crops.

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL HERE

Kickstarting biosecurity practices

Following recent detections of foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease overseas, biosecurity has hit the headlines, with national and state biosecurity measures front and centre.

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL HERE

Supporting COVID recovery and free entry for children to Victorian agricultural shows

Applications are now open for Victorian Agricultural and Pastoral Societies to access funding to support free entry for children to shows and field days and boost their COVID recovery.

READ THE MEDIA RELEASE IN FULL 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.

The countdown is on, less than a week until the 2022 South Gippsland Dairy Expo opens!  

Come say hi to our AgVic Dairy Services and Animal Health officers at site 85, Korumburra Showground, from 10 am – 3 pm on both days. 

Our team will be ready to answer your Emergency Animal Diseases (EAD) preparedness questions and to discuss practical biosecurity steps and on-farm biosecurity management plans.

Find out more at www.dairyexpo.org.au

These webinars with seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey, will focus on the current seasonal climate outlook, climate driver activity and soil moisture.

The online presentations allow participants to ask questions.

They will be recorded, so if you miss the live presentation, you can watch it later at a time that suits you.

Victorian outlook

Date and time: Thursday 8 September at 12 pm AEST

Event number: 813 6885 3603

Event password: Vicoutlook

REGISTER HERE

Over the next three years about $30 million will be invested in regional communities through the Helping Regional Communities Prepare for Drought Initiative.

The aims of the program are to strengthen and improve the ability of agriculture-dependent communities to adapt, reorganise or transform in response to changing temperature, increasing variability and scarcity of rainfall and changing seasons, for improved economic, environmental and social wellbeing.

It will do this by investing in projects that seek to strengthen social and community networking, support, engagement and wellbeing.

There are five parts to the program, including grants, activities to strengthen leadership, access to expertise to support community-led activities, mentoring support and networking opportunities.

It will be delivered by FRRR and the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation (ARLF), who will each take the lead on different components of the program.

Find out more HERE

On-farm biosecurity planning workshops for livestock producers – Tuesday 20 September

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

• 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.

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 AND REGISTRATION

More information about the event and online booking is available at Eventbrite; select the On-farm biosecurity planning workshop at Ellinbank.

Traceability and the NLIS database producer workshops – 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.

MORE INFORMATION FOR BOTH WORKSHOPS

For more event information, please contact 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.

Learn, network, and connect face-to-face with the industry’s best.

Farming a Brighter Future explores the health, wellbeing and safety challenges and opportunities faced by Australia’s agricultural workforce, including how research is being translated into action to create better outcomes for the sector as a whole.

Through a combination of workshops, panel discussions and presentations, the event will provide a forum to foster learning, promote discussion and extend collaborative networks to make a difference to farmers’ lives, both now and into the future.

For more information visit farmerhealth.org.au

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