Sheep Connect NSW Podcast: Recent Episodes
Megan Rogers
A podcast produced by the sheep industry for Sheep Connect NSW the extension group for NSW sheep and wool producers funded by Australian Wool Innovation. Sheep Connect NSW has a membership of 2200 and our main aims are to help keep your sheep business up to date on the latest information about all things sheep. We hope you enjoy our podcast It's Time For Ewe.
www.sheepconnectnsw.com.au
Fiona Macarthur speaks with Dr Tim Goll, principal consultant with For Flock's Sake in Dubbo discussing the correct way to vaccinate sheep and also some common sheep diseases that are causing producers a bit of angst in 2022.
Today our guest on It's Time For Ewe is AWI's Angus Ireland. program manager for fibre advocacy and eco credentials - his role within AWI si to undertake research that shines as light on the wonderful attributes of wool. We talk about Wool's carbon footprint and some investment opportunities as a result of that as well as an update on some of AWI's work.
In today's episode Fiona Macarthur speaks wool classer registrar at AWEX, Fiona Raleigh to learn more about how our seasonal conditions are effecting our wool clip. This episode has been set up in response to requests from our listeners, so we thank you for the feedback!
Over the break, host of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur has been busy going through your feedback.A popular area of feedback was Campylobacter in sheep and so to find out more about this zoonotic disease, Fiona speaks with Dr Joan Lloyd in this episode. Joan completed her veterinary training at the Veterinary College of Western Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada in 1986.She also has post graduate training in immunology and veterinary pathology at the University of Sydney, Since completing her training she has worked extensively in research roles for the NSW Department of Primary Industries within the pharmaceuticals and livestock industries.
Today we will be joined on It's Time For Ewe by Dr Matt Playford to talk about preparing clean pastures and preparing lambing and weaning paddocks for stock vulnerable to parasites.
Today we are joined by Rob Inglis of Elders to talk all about optimising lambing this season. Rob is the livestock production coordinator for Elders as well as being heavily involved with many research projects with Australian Wool Innovation.
In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Nigel Gillan from the Central Tablelands Local Land Services to talk about footrot. Nigel is a district vet and has a great career a working as a district vet in Bourke, NSW. Following that he joined Local Land Services in 2014 based out of Mudgee and now Orange where he has been based for the last three years.
In this episode of It's Time For Ewe we are joined by Sheep Connect NSW project Manager Megan Rogers. Megan is also the principal of her own business Megan Rogers Consulting Pty Ltd incorporating Sheep Solutions which she established in 2013 after more than 16 years with the Department of Primary Industries. We've invited Megan to speak on the podcast today to talk about joining and lambing this season coming into Autumn.
Optimising nutrition in the pastoral zone has been a podcast suggestion from some of our listeners, so to cover off on this topic in this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Denish Shields, senior land services officer for agriculture with Western Local Land Services in Baranald and Rob Inglis from Elders.
In today's podcast we are speaking about a research project being undertaken by the CSIRO with support from CSIRO and Meat and Livestock Australia. We are going to be talking about autumn lambing and the consequences it may have for animal health. Fiona Macarthur speaks with CSIRO Dr Peter Hunt, co-lead of the agriculture health team with CSIRO and Dr Lucy Watt, CSIRO agriculture and food research scientist.
History tells us that many mixed farmers use stubbles for longer than they are providing adequate energy for the sheep that are utilising them. This often results in a decreased condition score in breeding ewes and an underperformance in young stock. In this podcast Fiona Maccarthur is joined by Rob Inglis to discuss how to calculate how long stubble will last and also discuss successful management of this important resource in mixed farming enterprise.
Following on from our podcast with Associate Professor Simon De Graaf last week, today Fiona Macarthur is joined by Livestock Nutritionist Nicole Logg to look at ways to optimise pre joining ewe nutrition to maximise breeding success this season.
In this episode of It's Time for Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Associate Professor Simon DeGraaf to gain some insight into the oestrous cycles of ewes. Simon is recognised as an expert in the reproduction and artificial breeding of sheep. He has published over 75 journal articles papers and three book chapters on animal reproduction and has trained over 2,500 veterinary medicine, animal science and agricultural university students.
Weaners have long been a problematic cohort of animals for sheep producers to manage. Many years of research has been conducted to improve performance and productivity of weaners. Australian Wool Innovation has reviewed this research and given the sheep industry one of Sheep Connect NSW's flagship workshops, Winning With Weaners which is now available online as a webinar which can be accessed from our website www.sheepconnectnsw.com.au.In this episode we are joined by Sheep Connect NSW manager Megan Rogers to speak about Winning With Weaners.Many of you would recognise Megan in this role. She is the principal of her agricultural consulting business Megan Rogers Pty Ltd incorporating SheepSmart Solutions and provides a range of consulting services to farmers and corporate clients. Megan has been at the helm of her business after establishing it in 2013 after a career spanning some 16 years with the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
Lamness manifests in many different forms and causes many significant economic and welfare issues for the sheep industry. There are many different causes of lameness including footrot, arthritis and abscess'. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Dr Fiona Macarthur has invited Associate professor Om Dhungyel to share his extensive knowledge on the topic. Om is a Principal research fellow at the University of Sydney and has extensive knowledge and research experience in this area.
In this episode of It’s Time for Ewe we’re pleased to welcome Dr Nigel Brown to talk about sheep diseases. Nigel is a 4th generation vet from the UK and has worked in over 30 countries. Nigel is currently working as a Vet for NSW Local Land Services on the northern tablelands.
In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Laura Broughton of Productive Livestock Systems to assess ways to get the most from our pastures and sheep. Laura studied a Bachelor of animal Science at Charles Sturt University before working as a technical officers at the Sheep CRC at the University of New England.
IN this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Sue Hatcher to explore the key stages of a ewe's reproductive cycle that can be managed to improve productivity.
Sheep Connect NSW is pleased to host Australian Wool Innovation Staff to discuss current research, development, extension and marketing across the wool industry. Australian Wool Innovation has been hosting Future Wool events in regional locations throughout Australia, in addition we have hosted an online event for those who are unable to attend the face-to-face. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Emily King, AWI' project manager for research and extension and Henry Ridge AWI's manager for wool growers services and Dr Jane Littlejohn who is AWI's general manager for research.
Condition score is a productive and efficient means of determining the production status of a flock. With many benchmarks now available within industry it is a tool that can be easily implemented into your management system to improve flock productivity and profitability. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Megan Rogers to discuss the benefits of condition score to your flock.
It doesn’t seem to matter what time of the year it is, we still get caught out with worms in our sheep flock. This is because when conditions are right, which they seem to be in some parts of New South Wales at the moment, these unwelcome guest make the most of the opportunity.In this episode of It’s Time For Ewe Dr Fiona Macarthur is joined by Matt Playford, Veterinary consultant with Dawbuts Pty Ltd to talk about the biology of why worms are so advantageous and how we can use this knowledge to help control them.
To optimise lifetime reproductive performance of the Australian sheep flock it is vital to identify the key stages of the reproductive cycle where improvements can be made. This will of course be different for individual flocks. A key management tool available for producers is pregnancy scanning which can be essential is assisting the appropriate management decision required to make reproductive gains. In this episode of It's Time for Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Sue Hatcher of Makin Outcome to explore the importance of pregnancy scanning as a tool to improve reproductive rates.
Barber's Pole Worm in the Summer dominant rainfall areas of Queensland and the northern half of New South Wales. It is a blood sucking, gastrointestinal parasite and can be fatal for all classes of sheep and goats. Barber's Pole Worm is a prolific breeder and shows resistance to all classes ofanthelmintics making it a difficult parasite for producers to control. The release of the new vaccine BarberVax in 2014 has given producers a new option in their fight against this advantageous parasite. With the great start to Spring experienced across New South Wales this year is shaping up to be a difficult year with Barber's Pole Worm. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Brown Besier one of Australia's leading parasitologist's when it comes to Barber's Pole Worm.
Winter lambing is underway across many parts of New South Wales however it comes with its own set of management challenges and having a solid lambing plan incorporating good shelter options is fundamental to its success. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by the principal of JM Livestock, Jim Meckiff to explore some of the top tips for a successful winter lambing this year. JM Livestock is a sheep, wool and livestock advisory business based in Wagga Wagga and servicing clients all over Australia.
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Arthritis in lambs has long been a problem for sheep producers in Australia. It impacts on production directly and results in economic loss to producers while also causing discomfort to animals. A number of listeners have asked us to talk about arthritis, so on this episode Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Joan Lloyd to speak about arthritis in lambs.
Lamb marking is an important event on the calendar for all sheep producers. It is a time to undertake husbandry practices such as tail docking, castration, mulesing and vaccination. These preventative measures support the ongoing improved health and welfare of the youngest members of the Australian sheep flock. In this episode of It’s Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Veterinarian Dr Tim Goll, from For Flocks Sake, to discuss some of the important aspects of lamb marking and the use of anaesthesia and analgesia.
Grazing crops do require a fair amount of investment and add greater complexity to mixed farming enterprises. But extensive research now sees the market offering many varieties which can offer great opportunities as dual purpose crops providing feed for livestock and a crop that can be harvested. However caution needs to be taken to ensure your grazing animals are provided with adequate mineral supplementation. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Geoff Duddy to explore these opportunities further.
Australian Wool Innovation and the Australian Merino SIre Evaluation (AMSE) have teamed up with five sites to deliver the Merino Lifetime Productivity Project known as the MLP. This project is designed to catch lifetime data across diverse environments and merino types to help deliver and understand merino ewe life lifetime performance outcomes for the Australian Merino Industry . In this episode fo It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Matthew Coddington and Catherine Edgerton-Warburton to hear more about the MLP Project at the Trangie, NSW site.
The Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association or AMSE is a non-for-profit that overseas the Sire evaluation across a range of sites located throughout Australia. These sites provide unique opportunities for ram breeders to compare genetic performance of individual rams from those with other ram breeding flocks. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Emma Grabham and Ben Swain from from AMSE to look at sire evaluation further.
As wool growers we strive to improve our wool clip and animal performance. Assessing sheep on their visual attributes is important to this but sometimes overlooked is the contribution genetics can make. If you find genetics complex and hard to understand how it can fit into your production system you're definitely not alone. It this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Luke Stephen to take a look at ASBV's from the beginning to try and unravel the puzzle.
This year sheep producers from across NSW have experienced a rise in pneumonia in their lambs. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona McCarthur has invited Dr Joan Lloyd to speak with her to find our more about the problem and the challenges of facing growers at the moment.
After interviewing Reza Masoomi from Iran last week, Fiona McCarthur decided to continue with the theme and see who else around the globe listens to Sheep Connect NSW webinar's and podcasts. Her search led her to Lesley Prior. Lesley is a Merino farmer from the United Kingdom and he is actively involved in the wool industry, With close ties to Australia, Leslie is a member of the Australian Superfine Woolgrowers Association and also the first oversea associate member of the Australian Stud Merino Breeders Association. Lesley is grateful to received tremendous support from all her friends and colleagues is Australia and in return Lesley aims to be a valuable campaigner for the wool industry working as a Council member of the Campaign for Wool and an individual member of the International Wool Textile Organisation.
If you joined our Autumn Webinar Series you may have noticed Fiona's surprise during question time when we had the privilege of being joined by Reza Masoomi live from Iran - here she was thinking that Sheep Connect's reach was just in Australia and it just so happened that we were joined by two Irani Professors on that day. Hearing from Reza on the webinar left Fiona keen to know aboyt sheep production in Iran so in this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur speaks with Reza about his life in Iran. Reza is the Associate Professor of animal physiology and reproduction at the faculty of Agriculture at the University of Zanjan.
At Sheep Connect NSW we take our direction from our Producer Advisory Panel, we call them our 'PAP' and we meet every few months to find out what is happening on the ground across New South Wales. Our PAP advise us on issues relevant to their specific corner of the state. This feedback helps us plan the direction we take going forward. Over the last 12 months these meetings have taken place online but due to easing restrictions we have met at Dubbo this March. During the meeting each PAP member updates us on their region and we were lucky to have been joined by a number of AWI representatives to find out what AWI has in the pipeline. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Maccarthur invites members of the PAP and an AWI representatives to shed more light on the discussions of the latest meeting.
Grazing crops require a fair amount of investment and add greater complexity to mixed farming enterprises but extensive research now sees the market offering many varieties which can offer great opportunities as dual purpose crops providing feed for livestock and crop that can then be harvested. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Jim Meckiff from JM Livestock to explore these opportunities further.
Autumn is here and lambing at this time of the year can be a challenge. Regardless of when you lamb, the science behind making it successful is the same. In this episode of It's Time for Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by consultant Nathan Scott to explore ways to maximise your lambing this Autumn.
Autumn is here and many producers join their lambs at this time of the year, there is much that will have already been done and more management decisions yet to make. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by consultant, Nathan Scott to explore the pro's and con's of joining this autumn.
Improving pastures is one way of improving animal performance. The tough decision for most growers is wether to undergo a full costly renovation or is it possible to manipulate what they already have? In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Belinda Hackney to explore these ideas in more detail. Belinda is a research officers with the soils unit at the New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and has over 20 years experience in farming systems research in mixed farming and pasture farming regions.
Weaners have long been a problematic cohort of animals for sheep producers to manage. Many years of research have been conducted to improve performance and productivity of the youngest animals in the Australian sheep flock. Consequently optimising their weaner management is high on the priority list for woolgrower.In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Megan Rogers, the manager for Sheep Connect NSW and the principal of consulting business Megan Rogers Consulting Pty Ltd incorporating Sheep Smart Solutions to discuss summer weaning management.
The combination of warm temperatures and more consistent rainfall has brought back an unwelcome foe. Sheep farmers across New South Wales are once again being faced with the challenges of worms. In this episode Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Matt Playford, one of Sheep Connect NSW's valued presenters to talk about what's happening on the ground across the state and how farmers can control worms this season and start to get prepared for the next. Helpful resources SheepTraxWormBoss
In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Geoff Bilney who has recently built a new shearing shed on his property in Western Australian based on finding from the Australian Wool Innovation Shed Consultation and Design Project. Geoff and his wife Linda live on Broom Farm at Kojonup, 272 kilometres south east of Perth. Geoff is a third generation farmer and Linda is the daughter of a retired livestock buyer. Together they own and lease 3,000 hectares of land operating a mixed farming enterprise of grain, sheep and a lamb finishing feedlot. They've had many improvements on farm to provide a safer and more efficient working environment for everyone.You can access the Sheep Connect NSW Webinar on Shed Design with Australian Wool Innovation's Henry Ridge here.
As Fiona and Megan and the Sheep Connect NSW team take a break over Summer, we are replaying some of our most loved interviews of 2020.
As Fiona and Megan and the Sheep Connect NSW team take a break over Summer. We are replaying some of our most loved interviews of 2020.
As Fiona and Megan and the Sheep Connect NSW team take a break over Summer. We are replaying some of our most loved interviews of 2020.
As Fiona and Megan and the Sheep Connect NSW team take a break over Summer, we are replaying some of our most loved interviews of 2020.
As Fiona and Megan and the Sheep Connect NSW team take a break over Summer. We are replaying some of our most loved interviews of 2020.
This year, 2020, has been a big year for everyone including farmers and sheep producers all over Australia. To wrap up the It's Time For Ewe podcast for the year, Sheep Connect NSW manager Megan Rogers and SCNSW coordinator Fiona Macarthur share a little bit about themselves and the work they do for the network with the Sheep Connect NSW podcast producer Skye Manson.
Nuffield Australia awards scholarships to farmers each year in Australia. The organisations objective is to increase practical farming knowledge techniques and practical skills for industry. Here at Sheep Connect NSW we have a similar focus we are privileged to rely on a diverse range of farmers to advise on key issues in their areas from across NSW to help us improve the flow of information to farmers that is relevant timely and credible. This group of passionate farmers are our Producer Advisory Panel or our 'PAP' as we like to call them, they are a talented group of farmers, three of which are Nuffield scholars. In this episode of Its Time For You, Fiona Macarthur is joined by a group of Nuffield scholars to talk about the Nuffield program and the benefits it delivers to our industry. Jodie Redcliffe, 2013 Nuffield Scholar, CEO Nuffield Australia Farming Scholars and the CEO of Nuffield International Farming Scholars.Sam Arnfield, Australian Wool Innovation, supporting Nuffield AustraliaAndrew Rolfe, AWI 2021 Nuffield ScholarTom Hooke, 2020, AWI Nuffield ScholarRob Kelly, 2006 AWI Nuffield Scholar, Production Vs Marketing and where should Wool focus
We had a great start to the season across most of New South Wales resulting in crops that farmers hadn't seen for many years. Grazing stubble allows farmers to utilise the whole crop and good crops this year have been wonderful but for grazing stock caution needs to be applied. Some crops have been hail damaged or lodged across some parts preventing full harvest and thus leaving excess grain in the stubble. It's Time For Ewe welcomes Dr Jillian Kelly, district vet with Centra West NSW Local Land Services to Summer grazing and related animal health concerns we should be mindful of this year.
Australian Wool Innovation and the Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association or AMSEA have teams up with five sites to deliver the Merino Lifetime Productivity project know as the MLP> The project os designed to capture lifetime data across diverse environments and merino types to help better understand and deliver Merino lifetime performance outcomes for the Australian Merino Industry. Earlier this year due to COVID-19 the New England site took their filed day and presentation of the ewe results online. Now it's time for the Temora site to do the same. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Lexi Cesnik and Ben Swain from the MLP to discuss the MLP Project and the Temora site. Lexie is the site manager at Temora and Ben is the extension officer at AMSEA.
Footrot is a contagious bacterial infection causing disease in sheep. It is a notifiable disease in New South Wales and has obvious effects for animal health and welfare but also trade implications as it poses a serious biosecurity risk. This season conditions are favourable for footrot, thus Sheep Connect NSW welcomes Dr Petrea Wait from Local Land Services to It's Time For Ewe to explore all you need to know about footrot this season.
Many farmers are no doubt grateful for the rain continuing to fall throughout parts of New South Wales. Although we love the precipitation coupled with the warm weather we need to be on the lookout for the potential animal health and nutritional concerns that may develop. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Robert Inglis to talk about this topic. Rob was raised on his family farm in southern New South Wales and completed a Bachelor of Science and an associate diploma in farm management. Rob worked as an agronomist, farm manger and ruminant nutrition technical officer before resuming his current role as the Livestock Production manager for Elders. In addition to his work at Elders Rob works extensively with industry. To date he has facilitated about 30 Lifetime Ewe Management Groups and collaborated with AWI and MLA to deliver Bred Well Fed Well workshops and more recently he has delivered our popular Winning With Weaners workshop.
With many producers across New South Wales trying to restock after a better start to the 2020 season, buying in sheep is an option being explored by many. Sheep numbers are low and prices are holding well, leaving some of us looking further afield when purchasing buying sheep from other grazing regions comes with an added biosecurity risk from OJD, Ovine Johnes Disease. OJD is a chronic incurable disease of sheep and when it comes to purchasing it can be a case of buyer beware. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by senior manager of biosecurity at Animal Health Australia Robert Barwell, Director of Dawbuts Limited Dr Matt Playford and Livestock veterinary operations associate director of Zoetis Australia, Dr Kelly Graham.
With Summer fast approaching the focus in some sheep producing areas shifts towards the effects on summer temperatures and extreme events on the reproductive efficiency fo ewes and rams. in this episode of Its Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Gordon Refshauge to talk about the effect of heat stress on reproductive efficiencies and ways this can be mitigated. Dr Refshauge is a research scientist with the NSW Department of Primary Industries based at the Cowra Agricultural Research and Advisory Station and he's worked in this role since 2008.
Barber's Pole Worm in the Summer dominant rainfall areas of Queensland and the norther half of New South Wales. It is a blood sucking, gastrointestinal parasite and can be fatal for all classes of sheep and goats. Barber's Pole Worm is a prolific breeder and shows resistance to all classes ofanthelmintics making it a difficult parasite for producers to control. The release of the new vaccine BarberVax in 2014 has given producers a new option in their fight against this advantageous parasite. With the great start to Spring experienced across New South Wales this year is shaping up to be a difficult year with Barber's Pole Worm. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Brown Besier one of Australia's leading parasitologist when it comes to Barber's Pole Worm.
This week on It's Time For Ewe, Sheep Connect NSW manager, Megan Rogers speaks with two of the organisations Producer Advisory Panel members.The PAP is a panel of sheep farmers from all around NSW, they cover all of the different geographical and sheep production zones, from a range of different enterprises and different type of sheep operations. The PAP inform Sheep Connect NSW as to what they would really like the project to be doing and how they would like extension services in NSW to be delivered and Megan says from a project management perspective Sheep Connect NSW is pretty lucky to have such an engaged and diverse group of producers. This podcast speaks with Andrew Rolfe from the Monaro Plains and Georgia White from Coolah.
In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Sheep Connect's Megan Rogers seeks a breeders perspective on looking after your rams and the Ramping Up Repro workshop from Matthew Coddington, who with his wife Cherie own and run Roseville Park in Dubbo in central west New South Wales.
For many people tuning in, you may not have heard of today's guest but for many you will be well aware of the work of Dr Bruce Watt, district veterinarian with NSW Local Land Services particularly for those in central New South Wales. As many of you will know central NSW is a densely populated sheep area and Bruce Watt has been working in this area for 40-odd years. He's certainly seen a lit of sheep during his long career and he's a go-to source of wisdom to farmers, advisors and peers. Today he and Megan Rogers discuss his observations of transitioning from drought to the current season of abundance that are being experienced in central parts and Bruce will also discuss some of the patterns he's observed over the years.
Preparation for next year's crop of lambs starts this year. On the back of a drought many are looking to rebuild numbers and management of breeding ewes now is an important facet to this preparation. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Nathan Scott to look at why you need to be preparing your joining ewes now for next years joining. Nathan provides advice to individual clients and also works with large groups of producers, he is a keynote speaker and is involved in various industry projects.
Sheep blowfly strike is a major disease and welfare concern for the Australian sheep industry. Each year flystrike treatment and loss of production costs the Australian sheep industry $173 million. Extensive research has focused on selective breeding of sheep to reduce susceptibility to flystrike as a long term strategy for reducing the incidence of blowfly strike. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by AWI's Geoff Lindon to look at the latest developments in selective breeding for improved fly control. Geoff is AWI's general manager of genetics and animal welfare advocacy, he attended Roseworthy Agricultural College for 3 years and completed a post-graduate diploma in financial management with the University of New England in 1980. For 5 years Geoff was the Manager of the Trangie Agricultural Research Center and ran the fleece management laboratory for 2 years, Geoff held the position of livestock operations manager for Tynham Agriculture Group for 11 years before joining AWI back in 2007.
Sheep blowfly strike is a major disease and welfare risk for the Australian Sheep Industry. Each year blowfly treatment and loss of production costs the Australian sheep industry $173 million. in this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Deb Maxwell to look at the latest recommendations for sheep blowfly control.Deb has been in the sheep extension services for the last 28 years with the Department of Primary Industries in Queensland and the Sheep CRC. She has been the technical manager and now the executive officer of ParaBoss since, Worm, Fly and Lice Boss was moved under the banner of the ParaBoss in 2014. Deb also runs her own superfine merino near Guyra where she employs the Paraboss recommendations against the high regional challenges of both worms and flies.
In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Henry Ridge to learn more about his role with Australian Wool Innovation and his involvement in the AWI Shed Construction and Design project and its other associated projects. wool.com/sheddesign
Minimising discomfort to lambs during lamb marking procedures is a focus for the Australian sheep industry. 2019 saw the launch of Numnuts an innovative product designed to provide targeted relief for both tail docking and castration of sheep with rubber rings. Numnuts uniquely combines the traditional with the innovative. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe, Fiona Macarthur is joined by Robin Smith to hear more about Numnuts and the benefit this technology is bringing to industry. Robin Smith is founder of the award winning product development consultancy company 4C design. Robyn has recently settled in Australia from Scotland to promote Numnuts. Also in this episode hear from Robert Kelly a fine wool producer from Guyran in New South Wales. Robert used Numnuts last year for the first time and joins teh podcast to give a producer perspective.
Lamb marking is an important event on the management calendar for all producers. It is a time to undertake husbandry practices including tail docking, castration and mulesing and vaccination. These preventative measures support the ongoing improved health and wellbeing of the youngest members of the Australian sheep flock. However lamb marking is not just all about lambs, but an opportunity to access production within a flock to maximise productivity and long term performance. In farming terms, it is a sheep producers chance for yield mapping. A time to evaluate the previous 12 months, access the opportunities that may lay ahead and importantly start planning for next year. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by Dr Tim Gole to discuss some of his tips and tricks for this year's lamb marking.Tim is a veterinarian with 14 years experience with sheep in New South Wales, QLD and the United Kingdom. Tim now resides in Dubbo and is a principal of a production and consulting firm focusing on sheep aptly named For Flocks Sake. Recommended reading:Winning with Weaners webinar and workshop
Australian Wool Innovation and the Australian Merino Sire Evaluation Association (AMSEA) have teamed up with 5 sites to deliver the Merino Lifetime Productivity Project known as the MLP. The project is designed to capture realtime data across a diverse environments and Merino types to help better understand and deliver Merino ewe lifetime performance outcomes for the Australian Merino industry. Due to COVID the New England site has taken its field day and presentation of results online in 202. In this episode Fiona Macarthur is joined by Ben Swain, executive officer of AMSEA and Dr Jen Smith, New England MLP site manager to discuss the MLP project and the New England site.
When it comes to this year's wool clip if only we had a crystal ball on the back of the drought we are in an unprecedented situation with a high volume of high yielding wool, add in COVID-19 and a falling market with a high pass in rate and the result is a great deal of uncertainty for industry. However by focusing on what we do know there are ways to optimising this year's clip when preparing it for sale. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur speaks with Fiona Raleigh, wool classer registrar for AWEX to highlight some of the details wool producers and classer's can focus on to optimise this year's clip.
Winter lambing is underway across many parts of New South Wales however it comes with its own set of management challenges and having a solid lambing plan incorporating good shelter options is fundamental to its success. In this episode of It's Time For Ewe Fiona Macarthur is joined by the principal of JM Livestock, Jim Meckiff to explore some of the top tips for a successful winter lambing this year. JM Livestock is a sheep, wool and livestock advisory business based in Wagga Wagga and servicing clients all over Australia.
Purchasing Rams is an important time in the calendar of sheep breeders. Getting the purchase right will allow good genetic advancement and help drive production to meet market specifications. It is not a straight forward process and with so much to consider it can be a daunting process. In this Episode of, It's Time for Ewe, we speak with Luke Stephen to explore some practical tips for buying the right ram this season. Luke Stephen has over 12 years experience in the application of ASBV's and is currently the technical specialist of sheep breeding for the NSW DPI residing in Armidale.
It's Time For Ewe hit the road this week, travelling to Armatree to Jenny Bradley's property 'New Armatree' owned by Jenny and Craig Bradley to find out a little bit about how the season is treating them and speak with Jenny's role as Chair of Sheep Connect NSW Produce Advisory Panel. Megan is also joined by Australian Wool Innovation's Emily King who was pivotal in setting up grower extension network's producer advisory panels for Australian Wool Innovation.
With so much out of our control this season, it's now time to take some back. With lambing underway across the state many producers are in unchartered territory, fat or thin ewes whatever you have the management challenges are real but if you know what the risks are they can be minimised and the opportunities can be advantageous in the long run. In this episode we speak with Nathan Scott from Achieve AG. Nathan has a background in prime lamb, merino wool and beef production and passion for improving productivity and profitability of livestock enterprises. He work with
Drench resistance is present and in many cases severe for all drench groups used in the Australian sheep flock. Drench resistance testing should therefore be a vital component of all worm control programs in Australia. Assessing your farm drench status has many benefits including proving the longevity of drenches on your property and therefore giving you a wider range of drenches to use this will positively impact animal health and overall of gastrointestinal parasites on-farm. In this episode we are joined by Matt Playford, one of Sheep Connect NSW's valued presenters from Dawbuts Pty Ltd to speak about drench resistance.
This episodeSheep Connect NSW manager Megan Rogers is joined by agricultural consultant Nathan Scott from Achieve AG Solutions in Victoria to speak about the interesting topic joining ewe lambs as a strategy to rebuild or improve business productivity.Click here to register for upcoming Sheep Connect NSW webinars which are updated regularly18th June - Using pregnancy scanning information to optimise reproduction rate - managing scanned ewes25th June - Drench Resistance: It's time to act!The Sheep Connect NSW grower network is AWI's key investment in extension for the NSW sheep and wool industries. The Sheep Connect NSW mission is, "to provide NSW sheep producers with a dedicated network through which they can source relevant, reliable and timely information and expertise to enable better business decisions". The network provides a source of relevant, timely and technically sound information to the industry via a range of methods of delivery.
In this episode Sheep Connect NSW manager Megan Rogers speaks with farmer and consultant Hamish Dickson on-farm west of Orange near Cudal about containment feeding and joining breeding ewes in containment for optimum success and breeding rate containment feeding.
Weaners have long been a problematic cohort of animals for sheep producers to manage. Many years of research has been conducted to improve performance and productivity of weaners. Australian Wool Innovation has reviewed this research and given the sheep industry one of Sheep Connect NSW's flagship workshops, Winning With Weaners. Due to the current global pandemic Sheep Connect NSW has just released this workshop in an online format as a webinar which can be accessed from our website www.sheepconnectnsw.com.au. In this episode we are joined by Sheep Connect NSW manager Megan Rogers to speak about Winning With Weaners. Many of you would recognise Megan in this role. She is the principal of her agricultural consulting business Megan Rogers Pty Ltd incorporating SheepSmart Solutions and provides a range of consulting services to farmers and corporate clients. Megan has been at the helm of her business after establishing it in 2013 after a career spanning some 16 years with the NSW Department of Primary Industries.
In this episode Sheep Connect NSW manager Megan Rogers visits the farm of Glen and Sharon Woods to the west of Parkes in central west NSW. About 10 years ago Glen and his Landcare group received a grant from Woolworths to conduct broadacre trials of tropical grasses. The original stack from the trial is on his property and he was motivated to share his positive observations and learnings from the experience. You can see images of the tropical grasses on the Sheep Connect NSW Facebook page and you can hear more about the success of tropical grasses on our recent Sheep Connect podcast episode with leading researcher Dr Susanne Boshammer here.
Tropical perennial grasses are attracting much attention in the press at the minute on the back on much needed rainfall throughout NSW. They are know for their ability to be extremely productive and resilient providing incredible levels of feed through Summer growing periods. In this episode Sheep Connect's Fiona Macarthur speaks with Dr Susanne Boshammer a leading researcher in the area of tropical perennial grasses. Susanne is senior research scientist with the NSW DPI based in Tamworth. She has over 20 years experience in pasture, grass and legume based field research and over the last 10 years or so her research has focused on tropical grass and legume species and their adaptation to northern NSW.
Water is an essential nutrient for all animals and therefore can be a key issue for livestock producers. Adequate supply of good quality water is important for animal welfare, productivity and thus profitability. The suitability of water for stock use is determined by many factors and in this episode Sheep Connect NSW's Fiona Macarthur speaks with Micheal Glazier manager of environmental and analytics at Charles Sturt University in Wagga Wagga which provide water, soil and effluent testing services to industry and Emily Stearman is the acting team leader for animal biosecurity and welfare with Riverina Local Land Services.
In this episode Fiona Macarthur speaks with Michelle Cousins a director of Cousins Merino Services which she runs with her husband Paul and son Josh. Cousins Merino Services is based in Burra, SA and operates across South Australia, north west NSW and Victoria. It provides a range of services to the Merino industry including on-farm flock testing, pregnancy scanning, fat and eye muscles scanning, merino sheep classing and data management. Michelle is a service provider for data entry into Sheep Genetics and an accredited provider of RamSelect and her family runs a successful Merino and Poll Merino stud in South Australia and they are also co-owners of Mount Eba Station, a 3380 sq km merino property near Glendambo in South Australia.
Today's guest is Will Wilson, Chair of Australian Wool Innovation's WoolQ Pty Ltd. Over the past 30 years Will has had a successful and extensive career in the financial services sector in Australia and overseas. In 2014 he was member of Australian Wool Innovations review panel into Australia's wool selling system. This panel was tasked to look at current issues relating to the selling of Australian wool and became the precursor to the Wool Q platform. For the past 3 years Will has overseen the development and management of the Wool Q platform. Will explains to Fiona why Wool Q was created, the platform's functionality and new tools available for woolgrowers, how it works alongside the traditional wool auction system , how wool brokers work with Wool Q and how Wool Q can assist with woolgrowers wanting to improve traceability for their customer.
In this episode Sheep Connect NSW's Fiona Macarthur speaks with Dr Belinda Hackney soil specialist with the NSW Department of Primary Industries about the benefits of hard seeded legumes in times of drought.
Wild dogs cost Australian economy $66.3 million every year. Australian Wool Innovation funds and co-funds Wild Dog co-ordinators in each mainland state. Their role is to help producers and farmers collaborate to reduce the impact of predation of Wild Dogs and therefore improve on-farm productivity, rural community wellbeing and biodiversity. In this podcast Dr Fiona Macarthur speaks with Dave Worsley who's the Wild Dog facilitator in the New England for Australian Wool Innovation about exactly what a Wild Dog is, how they impact sheep production and main principals of a Wild Dog control program from sheep and cattle producers.
Sheep Connect NSW's Dr Fiona Macarthur speaks with veterinary consultant Matthew Playford for an online version of one of Sheep Connect NSW's flagship workshop's, RAMping Up Repro.RAMping Up Repro (RUR) is focussed on improving ram performance and working longevity in commercial sheep enterprises.This is usually a face-to-face workshop but due to the global pandemic this course is now being offered online via webinar and this podcast.The online course runs through the highlights of the workshop but is designed to increase the skill of producers across the key components of ram performance and impacts on overall breeding enterprise performance, including: Anatomy, Physiology, Spermatogenesis, Metabolic demands, Health, disease & biosecurity, Financial impact of the ram team.Relevant links:How to Condition ScoreParaBoss, LiceBoss, FlyBossAWI Sheep Selection Tools document
Doug Alcock speaks with Sheep Connect's Dr Fiona Macarthur about how climate change might impact sheep producers in the central tablelands of NSW.Doug has worked as a livestock officer with the NSW Department of Primary Industries for 23 years, one of his particular areas of expertise is grazing systems management. This interested Doug to work on the development and release of the grazing systems modelling tool, GrassGro. Following this, as a part of a CSIRO led-project Doug played a leading role in climate change impacts and potential adaptations for NSW grazing farms. Since then Doug has applied these principals using the most recently available climate projections to explore the likely impact of climate change on grazing operations in the central tablelands of NSW.In this episode Doug explores the use of outputs from a range of global climate models to quantify the impacts on a typical central tablelands grazing farm.Relevant articles:https://www.mla.com.au/research-and-development/search-rd-reports/final-report-details/Environment-On-Farm/Climate-Change-Adaptation-in-the-Southern-Australian-Livestock-Industries/948https://www.climatechangeinaustralia.gov.au/en/https://www.data.qld.gov.au/dataset/consistent-climate-scenarios
Dr Jason Trompf discusses strategies for rebuilding your flock during recovery from drought/fires. Jason talks strategies for whole of flock productivity - and in particular reproduction rates across your flock. Jason shares his valuable insights into how to get the extra productivity from your flock, thereby helping during a rebuilding phase.This podcast is a recording of the recent Sheep Connect NSW webinar.Learn more about upcoming webinars and register at sheepconnectnsw.com/events
In this podcast Sheep Connect NSW manager Megan Rogers discusses how the network is pivoting and adapting its education and information in the onset of COVID-19. It explains how you can access Sheep Connects specialised information while face-to-face workshops are paused.
AWI's Sam Arnfield gives you an insight into the annual get-together of the Sheep Connect New South Wales Producer Advisory Panel (PAP) in Sydney earlier this year. Chairman Rob Kelly and SCNSW manager Megan Roger discuss their strategic direction and priorities for the coming year as well as explaining some of their flagship workshops. Click here to find out more - or register for upcoming workshops.
New England sheep producer Rob Kelly implemented containment feeding in his operation for the first time in 2019. This podcast is an account of his experience, which included lambing in the feedlot and importantly his perspective on the transition out of the lot. He is speaking with Dr. Fiona Macarthur via a Sheep Connect NSW Webinar recorded in early 2020.For more information www.sheepconnectnsw.com.au