- Nominations now called for 2018 WoolPoll Panel
- New sheep and wool course at Longreach Pastoral College
- How are our blowfly and lice treatments performing
- Ollie’s Island – an educational resource
- Upcoming events
- eBulletins
1. Nominations now called for 2018 WoolPoll Panel!
Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) has recently appointed Sydney Lawrie to chair the 2018 WoolPoll Panel. Mr Lawrie’s first job will be to focus on establishing an independent panel of wool producers from across Australia. WoolPoll allows Australian woolgrowers the opportunity to determine the amount of wool levy they pay for the next three-years. With that levy going towards funding wool research, development and marketing activities by AWI.
AWI is now calling on woolgrower representative groups and state farm organisations to nominate three growers for the WoolPoll 2018 Panel, including a grower under the age of 40 and a female representative. This recommendation has previously encouraged new ideas and saw Panel members linked to various grower networks. The Panel will also include a representative from the Australia Government and AWI. Once formed the Panel will work closely with their respective networks to ensure woolgrower interests from across the nation are represented in the future.
Click here for more information on the 2018 WoolPoll Panel.
2. New sheep and wool course at Longreach Pastoral College
A new Sheep and Wool Production course is being introduced at the Longreach Pastoral College for commencement in 2018. The course is based on a Certificate III in Rural Operations with the re-introduction of a specialist course designed to support the reviving sheep and wool industries in the pastoral regions. With growing response for skilled workers from the industry, the sheep and wool production enterprise at Longreach Pastoral College is taking shape with advisement from industry leaders, including the Leading Sheep network.
The training that will be undertaken by students will equip them with a multi-disciplinary skill set to prepare them to take on various entry-level roles within the sheep industry. The foundations developed from the course will allow students to build upon their careers with experience, on-the-job training or further education such as a Diploma of Agriculture or Central Queensland Universities Bachelor of Agriculture.
Additional information on the course and how to enrol is available at: https://www.qatc.edu.au/courses/course-finder/sheep-and-wool-production/
3. How are our blowfly and lice treatments performing?
This is a question that is not easily answered. Do you know what chemical groups are effective against blowflies or lice in your flock? Make the dollars you spend on treatments really count. Australian Wool Innovations (AWI) and NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSW DPI) have jointly funded a project to determine insecticide resistance profiles of the Australian Sheep Blowfly and the Sheep Body Louse across the major wool producing regions of Australia.
To do this they need maggots from fly struck sheep or fleeces from lousy sheep. If you have any sheep struck contact Narelle Sales at the Elizabeth Macarthur Agricultural Institute for a collection kit. The kit has reply postage paid. If you have lousy sheep contact Narelle to arrange for your lice to be tested.
You will then receive the results for your flock. Your confidentiality will be maintained as your property will be identified by a code and the results only attributed to a region or state. At the end of the project you will also receive the results showing how products are performing in your region or state.
If you are interested in taking part in this project please contact Narelle Sales via email narelle.sales@dpi.nsw.gov.au or phone: (02) 4640 6446.
4. Ollie’s Island – an educational resource
Teachers or parents looking for a good way to keep the kids entertained while learning about sustainable production – have a look at Ollie’s island! It can be done at their own pace and is designed with interactive activities to develop critical thinking at a variety of levels over 1-2 lessons or a number of weeks.
More information on Ollie’s Island is available from http://www.olliesworld.com/island/aus/index.htm
5. Upcoming events
5-6 December QATC Farm Business Management Skill Set, Goondiwindi. For more information and to enrol please click here.
5 December Digital Mapping Workshop, Roma. For more information and to register please click here.
6 December Digital Mapping Workshop, Taroom. For more information and to register please click here.
7 December Digital Mapping Workshop, Miles. For more information and to register please click here.
7 December Free “How to develop an effective business plan” Webinar. For more information and to register please click here.