The event is beneficial to anyone who has an interest in livestock research, development, tools, extension, technology and support and making industry connections.
PRESENTER DETAILS
Dr Forbes Brien
Associate Professor, School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, University of Adelaide.
E:forbes.brien@adelaide.edu.au
Forbes has worked in industry development, research and management roles for state government agencies before joining The University of Adelaide in 2014 as a research fellow. Forbes has had industry-funded projects in livestock genetics, reproduction and wool harvesting and has annually reviewed AWI’s breech strike R, D and E program since 2011. He will be speaking on 2 of his current projects including ‘Preg Scanning’ and ‘Flock Rebuilding’.
Stephen Bignell
Market Information Manager - MLA
E: sbignell@mla.com.au
Steve has previously spent 6.5 years working as chartered accountant for regional firms and global Big 4 companies like EY.
Steve will discuss MLA’s sheep and cattle projections which cover key herd, slaughter and production forecasts for the next 3 years.
He will also discuss recent pricing trends and the Agri Benchmark report on global farm performance, comparing the performance of Australian farms to our global competitors.
Keely Kovacevic
E: kkovacevic@mla.com.au
Keely Kovacevic has been with MLA for three years in various roles. She is now working as the National Adoption Manger – Genetics looking after the uptake of genetic gain across the red meat industry as well as overseeing the Livestock Advisor capability building portfolio. Keely will sit on the MLA and AWI panel to answer questions around MLA’s extension and adoption programs.
Mike Avery
E: mike.avery@samarkets.com.au
Mike Avery - Partner, Southern Aurora Markets Pty Ltd. Risk Management has been identified as a key pillar in the strategic plans of most Agricultural peak bodies. Once a leader in the development and delivery of forward markets and derivatives, with particular reference to the wool industry we will discuss recent history, products and extension pathways necessary to achieve change.
David Peck
Senior Research Officer, South Australian Research and Development Institute - SARDI, Department of Primary Industries and Regions.
E: david.peck@sa.gov.au
David will be speaking on Dryland legume pasture systems - new pasture and sowing options’. David is the annual legume pasture breeder for SARDI. The dryland legume pasture systems project has been running for four years and consists of the following five components: 1) pasture species and cultivars; 2) farming systems; 3) grazing systems; 4) modelling; 5) demonstration. David will provide an update on the project with a focus on new pasture species and sowing options.
Emily King
AWI - Program Manager, research and extension.
E - emily.king@wool.com
Emily will be on the Q & A discussion panel for AWI at the end of the day. Emily grew up in central NSW and has always worked in agriculture, beginning her career with Australian Livestock & Property Agents Association before moving to AWI in 2012. Emily has worked in a number of teams at AWI, but has always focussed on working with people and sharing information across the supply chain, whether that be discussing marking rates with growers or promoting the benefits of Australian wool to an Italian designer.
Matthew Warnken
E: matthew.warnken@agriprove.io
Director of AgriProve, has been at the forefront of emissions trading and carbon credit origination in Australia over the past decade. AgriProve is a special purpose vehicle set up to provide soil carbon participation solutions – and is the first company to have soil carbon credits issued under the ERF. Matthew’s presentation will focus on ‘Australian Farm Examples of Building Soil Carbon’ including: opportunities and risks for landholders running soil carbon projects under the Emissions Reduction Fund, new measurement approaches in the upcoming 2021 revision to the soil carbon method, case studies on soil carbon increases and the first issuance of Australian Carbon Credit Units.
Dr Stephen Wiedemann
Integrity Ag & Environment
Principle Scientists, B.Rural Sci, Ph.D
E: stephen.wiedemann@integrityag.net.au
“Carbon is a hot-button topic that is only gaining more attention by the day. This session will discuss carbon accounting, carbon footprinting and carbon neutrality on livestock farms, unpacking the key drivers of GHG emissions from livestock production, baselining and benchmarks, how to reduce and offset emissions and what the emerging markets may be looking for in the near future.”
Dr Dean Thomas
E: dean.thomas@csiro.au
Dean Thomas is a Senior Research Scientist with CSIRO Agriculture and Food, and works across field research, farming systems modelling and wearable livestock sensors. Originally from a farm at Ravensthorpe on the south coast of WA, Dean is interested in the sustainable integration of cropping and livestock enterprises in the mixed farming region. He has investigated topics including implications of high salt diets in sheep, selective grazing behaviour of sheep, feedbase systems including stubbles, dual-purpose crops, pasture cropping, and new pasture legumes and has also worked on the application of precision livestock management. .
Dr Eleonora Dal Grande
Epidemiologist - School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences (Hons) MPH Phd.
E: eleonora.dalgrande@adelaide.edu.au
Health conditions in sheep contribute to substantial economic losses throughout the meat supply chain in Australia. Some of these conditions may not be identifiable on-farm but would be detected at post-mortem during processing. We will present findings from our study investigating the factors associated with selected conditions from the Enhanced Abattoir Surveillance program in South Australia (SA), and preliminary findings in the production and processors losses (trimming and weight losses) and costs associated with these conditions.
Dr Tom Clune
Murdoch University
E: T.Clune@murdoch.edu.au.
Dr Clune will present on ‘abortion and losses between preg scanning and lamb marking in maiden ewes across southern Australia. In this presentation, he will share findings from a recent project investigating maiden ewe reproduction across Australia. He will show when and where the major sources of lamb losses are occurring, diseases causing abortions during pregnancy, how you can assess the impacts of abortions in ewes for your own enterprise, and measures with the most potential to improve maiden reproduction performance and farm profit.
Andrew Dennis
E: ad@rosewoodwool.com.au
Andrew Dennis is a wool industry consultant working for a range of clients both within Australia and Internationally. Growing up on a mixed wheat-sheep farm in SA’s mid north and becoming a wool classer before moving into the international trading scene has given Andrew a wide scope of expertise in the wool industry. Currently working with AWI as a field officer to assist with the roll out and implementation of the WoolQ platform. Andrew will describe this platform and how it can help wool producers.
Jane Littlejohn
E: jane.littlejohn@wool.com
AWI - General Manager - Research. Jane will be on the Q & A discussion panel for AWI at the end of the day. Jane Littlejohn is General Manger of Research at Australian Wool Innovation and has been with AWI for 8 years managing research investments. She has worked as a private and government veterinarian, in agriculture policy analysis and advocacy and as a director of a large retail co-operative. She currently runs a beef farming enterprise in coastal NSW.
Dr Joseph McMeniman
Feedlot Program Manager – Meat & Livestock Australia
E: jmcmenimann@mla.com.au
Dr. Joseph McMeniman will discuss MLA’s latest research investments in heat load nutrition and forecasting. Since 2015 Joe has worked closely with the lot feeding industry to identify opportunities to improve feedlot animal productivity, health, welfare and sustainability. Prior to joining MLA, Joe obtained a M.S. and Ph.D. in Animal science from Texas Tech University, and worked in the feedlot industry as a consulting nutritionist
Sandy McEachern
Aggregate Ag
E: sandy@aggregateag.com.au
The financial environment in which we farm has changed dramatically in the last 5 years. Commodity prices, interest rates and assets values have all shifted considerably. A review of what to expect going forward and how to prioritise the opportunities to improve farm profit is unwarranted.
Hamish Chandler
Meat and Livestock Australia. Program Manager - Genetics
E: hchandler@mla.com.au
Doubling the rate of genetic gain in the commercial red meat industry and the contribution of projects like the Southern Multi-breed project.
Student Snapshots
Leesa Flanagan
Topic: Long term effects of maternal amino acid supplementation on Merino twin lamb productivity
E: leesa-joy.flanagan@adelaide.edu.au
Bobbie Lewis Baida
Topic: Investigating the physiological and behavioural responses of heat stress in free-ranging sheep
E: bobbie.lewisbaida@adelaide.edu.au
Bianca Agenbag
Topic: Colostrum quality in Merino ewes
E: bianca.agenbag@adelaide.edu.au
Technology Displays
Internet Innovations
E: joe@internetinnovations.com.au M 0412 679 718
Internet Innovations provides comprehensive communications solutions in metro and regional Australia, to ensure your business and farm can operate at maximum capacity with no downtime. Internet Innovations methodology and solutions ensure their customers in the agricultural sector are Always On’ On.Our Connectivity solutions and services include:Reliable Internet – Managed Service including data plans, using Multiple Carriers (e.g. Telstra/Optus/Vodafone/Private LTE) for connected vehicles and connected farms/buildings Improved Mobile Phone Coverage (for your existing carrier e.g. Telstra, Optus and Vodafone) Consulting: Advisory, Design and Execution of connectivity solutions, NBN, Fibre, Enterprise Satellite, LoRaWAN
Farmo
E: nick@farmo.com.au
Farmo is an Australian agtech company improving the efficiency and well-being of people and animals on farms via remote monitoring technology. Since Farmo launched in 2019 it has filed two patents including the Water Rat floating water monitor and a ferro-magnetic Farm Gate Sensor which will be on display, as well as an electric fence sensor and water tank monitors.
Cibolabs
E: ptickle@cibolabs.com.au
Cibo Labs Pty Ltd is an agricultural data analytics company providing clients across Australia with satellite assisted forage budgeting and land condition monitoring services. The company was established in early 2018 with the mission to bring a completely new approach to monitoring Australia's grazing lands using world leading remote sensing technologies. The display will provide hands on demonstrations of satellite data and machine learning systems currently estimating paddock level pasture biomass and ground cover on a weekly basis for over 50 million hectares of pastoral lands.
Numnuts
E- robin@numnuts.store.
Numnuts® and NumOcaine® Local Aesthetic cartridge is for tail docking and castration of sheep (and young cattle). The Numnuts® Device is a single applicator that applies a tail docking and castration ring with a simultaneous injection of a controlled dose of NumOcaine® local anaesthetic. Operator Safety, Speed, ease of application and productivity all at a (reasonably) low cost have been the key factors when developing the product.
Climate & Agricultural Support Pty Ltd
The SA Livestock Consultants thank Climate & Agricultural Support Pty Ltd for their kind support management and auspicing this event. Climate & Agricultural Support Pty Ltd, create and manage projects and provide one on one consultancy and extension related to agriculture, climate risk management, soil health and soil carbon, landscape soil and pasture management. More information can be found at http://climateagriculturalsupport.com/
Livestock SA
Livestock SA is the peak industry body representing a membership of over 3500 red meat and wool producers in South Australia. Livestock SA supports industry development through the delivery or services and facilitation of investment in the SA livestock industry. Key initiatives Livestock SA is involved in includes management of the Sheep and Cattle Industry Funds, support for the continued implementation and development of the Sheep and Beef Industry Blueprints, as well as the delivery of Biosecurity Extension (made possible by the state governments Red Meat and Wool Growth Program) and the Revitalising Private Conservation Program.
Datamars
E: james.ellis@datamars.com
Datamars will be displaying their Tru-Test range of weighing and EID reading equipment. They will also have information on their Remote Walk Over Weighing (WOW) in paddock weighing solutions as well as their Datamars Livestock Cloud base management program. They will also have their range of Zeetag eartags and Pasture plate meters.
Ceres Tag
E: lewis.frost@cerestag.com
Ceres Tag is the world’s first animal monitoring information platform with direct to satellite capability through a proprietary smart ear tag. Ceres Tag uses data collection and on-tag analytics to provide animal-specific geospatial location data in addition to movement and animal health monitoring. Integrating with existing (and in development) software partner platforms, the Ceres Tag platform offers opportunities to improve productivity across the livestock industry and provide a richer range of information to guide effective decision making.
This innovative technology is at the helm of scalable monitoring of biosecurity, health, welfare, performance and traceability provenance of the supply chain network, including theft detection.
Ceres Tag is the only solution to provide no additional infrastructure, no maintenance, no subscription, and no battery replacements. The automated, plug and play innovation is available for direct to market purchasing through a dedicated ecommerce platform cerestag.com.au
Meat and Livestock Australia
E: kkovacevic@mla.com.au
MLA will be on hand to answer any questions at all in regard to their research, tools and extension programs.
Neogen
Neogen is Australia's largest and leading animal genomics testing facility. Based in Queensland, Neogen has team members distributed across the country to support producers get the best from their animals using DNA technology. Neogen is committed to providing simple, comprehensive solutions for the Australian agricultural industry, offering a full range of genomic testing for beef cattle, dairy, sheep and pigs.
Remscan
E: sonya.carr@ziltek.com
RemScan is a hand-held instrument for rapid measurement of agricultural parameters in soil. It simultaneously measures organic carbon, pH and many others in less than 20 seconds. Results are displayed on screen and spatial maps can be generated from the simultaneously measured GPS coordinates. Some of the applications for RemScan are monitoring carbon sequestration or modifying pH, etc.
RemScan is a spin-out from the oil industry where it is used to measure oil in soil for many of the major oil producers world-wide from the artic to the deserts and tropics
Mobble
E: jock@mobble.io
Mobble simplifies farm management, by making farmers lives easier and more successful with its livestock farm management software. Built by farmers, for farmers. Mobble helps the farming team make better decisions faster, have more time with less bookwork, and simplify farm management with seamless communication.
Safe Ag Systems
E: kirby@safeagsystems.com
Safe Ag Systems is an agricultural/horticultural specific Work, Health and Safety platform. Safety is something that all farmers need a degree of assistance with. Safe Ag Systems has developed a cloud based management system that can be implemented into any sized farm or enterprise. Once implemented it enables WHS compliance and allows ongoing evidence/reporting information to be created not only through the desktop but also the app while keeping farmers out doing what they do best, farming.
Australian Wool Innovation Ltd
Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) invests in research, development, extension and marketing on behalf of the Australian wool industry. Drop by and chat with AWI staff, Jane Littlejohn and Emily King, and WoolQ Field Officer, Andrew Dennis, on all things sheep and wool. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.