Take the next step

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I want to take the next step and improve my knowledge and skills in…

  • Pasture & grazing management
  • Business management
  • Livestock management

Scroll down to find out about the tools, resources and training opportunities under each of these topics.

MLA’s Profitable Grazing Systems program

Have you previously been involved in More Beef from Pastures or Making More from Sheep events or training?  MLA has a new extension program called Profitable Grazing Systems, which is focused on building skills to enable red meat producers to implement changes to their business to improve performance and sustainability.

Through Profitable Grazing Systems, you will be able develop and practice skills with small groups of like minded producers to improve business performance.

Whether you want to learn about genetics and reproduction, the value chain, feedbase or managing people and the business, specialist coaches work alongside groups to share their knowledge, skills and experience.

For more information about the Profitable Grazing Systems program, click here.

Pasture & grazing management

Training activities

Grazing management decisions are the key driver for how productive and profitable livestock businesses are. On average, producers who have upskilled in grazing management lift their return on assets managed by three to six times.  Click here to listen to the story of two producers who have recently undertaken a pasture management training course; Bruce Abblitt from Fairview Dairies at Redpa and Piers Dumaresq from Mount Ireh Estate at Longford.

Pasture Principles

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Pasture Principles is currently recruiting for participants.

The Pasture Principles course has been approved by MLA as a recognised Profitable Grazing Systems training program and this means the course cost will be discounted by $600 per business for red meat producers (full course cost of $2,500 per business, minus the MLA discount of $600 = $1900). ** Please note that the discount has a finite source of funds, and this will be allocated on a first come first serve basis. **

Depending upon interest, the courses will be located tentatively in:
  • Western northern midlands (Cressy, Longford to Meander Valley districts)
  • Eastern north midlands/Tamar (Tamar Valley, Nile and Evandale districts )
  • Central midlands (Campbell Town, Tunbridge and Ross districts)
  • South east (lower east coast and wider south east district)
  • Alternatively, if you have a group of 8+ producers located elsewhere and are keen for a course, get in touch.
The course involves two theory days to learn and understand about feedbase and livestock production and six practical sessions held approximately every 8 weeks over a 12 month period. The key areas covered in the program include:
  1. An understanding of the relationship between plant requirements, leaf emergence rates and pasture growth
  2. Plant morphology and the relationship with pasture quality, pasture quantity and plant persistence
  3. Measuring and predicting pasture growth
  4. Allocation of pasture on a dry matter basis
  5. Variations in pasture quality throughout the season
  6. The relationship between stocking rate and pasture utilisation
  7. Animal requirements for maintenance, growth, pregnancy and lactation
  8. Feed budgeting
  9. Feed planning
  10. Marginal cost and marginal revenue decisions associated with feeding livestock

For more information about Pasture Principles, contact Georgia McCarthy on 0400 763 904 or gmccarthy@macfrank.com.au or to view the information flyer, click here.

To register online for Pasture Principles 2021, click here.

Tools & resources

Business management

Training activities

Tools & resources

Livestock management

Training activities

Lifting Lamb Survival

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If the 2019 lambing season highlighted some opportunities for you to improve your ewe and lamb survival, you’re not alone. Industry-wide, reproductive efficiency has been identified as a top priority for lifting productivity, profitability and improved animal welfare standards.

Lifting Lamb Survival is a practical on-farm training program focusing on learning and applying management practices to improve lamb and ewe survival. The program runs from pre-lambing to until after marking with four separate sessions, including three workshops held at a demonstration farm, and one visit to each participant’s property.

Lifting Lamb Survival is delivered in Tasmania by Georgia McCarthy from Macquarie Franklin, and a program will be delivered during the 2020 lambing season.

What you will learn:

  • Strategies to improve lamb survival and reduce ewe wastage
  • Best practice management for lambing
  • How to prepare the ewes and their lambing paddocks to enable better lambing
  • How to increase the kilograms of wool and/or lamb produced per hectare

Cost:
This course is recognised under MLA’s Profitable Grazing Systems Program and the cost to participate is $1,120 (exc. GST) per business (two people per business).

For more information about Lifting Lamb Survival:

A minimum of six business are required for a Lifting Lamb Survival group to go ahead in 2020. Groups can be delivered anywhere in Tasmania given there is enough interest.

Register for Lifting lamb Survival 2020 

Fertile Profitable Beef

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Would you like to boost the bottom line of your beef business by lifting herd fertility? You’re not alone – improving reproductive performance is an industry-wide priority for lifting productivity, profitability and animal welfare standards in beef enterprises across Australia.

Fertile Profitable Beef is a hands-on coaching program which aims to enhance participant’s understanding, skills and confidence to run a highly fertile and profitable beef enterprise. The program will be delivered over a course of 9-12 months and will provide participants with a set of decision-making principles to help them manage confidently, optimise weaning rates and achieve reproductive success.

Fertile Profitable Beef  is delivered by Dr Christina Johnson, a cattle health expert with Smithton Veterinary Service and will include 6 on-farm coaching sessions and one-one-one support provided as needed.

What you will learn:

  • Setting breeding objectives and goals
  • Nutrition to optimise reproductive performance
  • Joining management
  • Bull preparation
  • The role and value of pregnancy testing
  • Managing the growth and condition of pregnant cows
  • Weaning options and management
  • Effective implementation of an electronic recording system for data collection
  • Which numbers matter and how to make decisions based on that data

Cost:
This course is recognised under Meat & livestock Australia’s Profitable Grazing Systems program and the cost to participate is set at $1800 (ex GST) per business (two people per business)

Registrations are currently open, with the first group expected to commence in early September in northern/north west regions of Tasmania. If you are interested in participating you can register online here https://bit.ly/FPBeef2 

For more information contact Christina Johnson on 0419 726 417 or christina.johnson@smithtonvet.com.au

View the flyer here

Tools & resources

ASKBILL

This year at Red Meat Updates we featured a presentation on a newly released tool for sheep management called ASKBILL.

ASKBILL is a web based software program which provides timely and accurate predictions of sheep well being and productivity to sheep producers across Australia, by using weather, stock and pasture information.

By using individual farm records and big data, ASKBILL has the capability to spot risks and alert producers to opportunities to improve sheep production and well being, up to six months ahead of key husbandry events like joining, lambing, weaning and sale time.

ASKBILL was developed by the Sheep CRC, in conjunction with the University of New England and has an annual cost of $110 per business

ASKBILL explained in under three minutes:

To learn more about ASKBILL and start a free 7 day trial head to https://www.askbill.com.au/#/home

More online tools for livestock management 

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