Webinars offer guidance on livestock amid COVID-19

A series of free webinars for Australian livestock producers kicked off last month, offering tips to help rebuild on the back of the recent bushfires, drought, floods and storms.

Hosted by Meat and Livestock Australia, Australian Wool Innovation and AWI Sheep Connect NSW, the Back to Business sessions form part of a broader response package to support livestock producers during these challenging times.

The hour-long webinars will be held at 11am each Tuesday, WA time, for the next 11 weeks and offer resources and support for livestock producers.

Originally scheduled as face-to-face workshops throughout bushfire and drought-affected regions, a revised webinar format was decided as the best alternative for livestock producers to access the situation with COVID-19.

With information from experts to help build resilient livestock businesses, this webinar series will provide tools and advice on decision making, rebuilding, and setting business priorities.

Information on health and wellbeing and accessing financial and government assistance will also be shared throughout the series and will provide participants with a plan for a resilient, productive and profitable future.

Queensland-based RaynerAg principal Alastair Rayner led the first seminar on Tuesday, sharing information about cashflow and livestock feedbase options.

“As an adviser, I’m always excited about sharing ideas and opportunities that can become a new focus for producers looking to move on from fires and droughts,” he said.

“These webinars are really designed to give that opportunity to pause and think about what people really want, what excites them about their business, and then offer some tips on how to make the start towards that.”

Other topics in the series will inform producers on livestock nutrition, water access and quality, mental health support services, and accessing financial and government assistance as well as farm infrastructure, pasture recovery, and the redevelopment and rebuilding of your herd or flock.

Workshop details:

April 7 Planning for a resilient future: what’s possible? Personal and business direction.

April 14 Farm infrastructure: sheds, water, fences and shelter.

April 21 Livestock health, welfare and biosecurity during rebuild.

April 28 Livestock nutrition and feeding options during rebuild.

May 5 Grow more feed: pasture recovery, redevelopment, forage crops and purchasing fodder.

May 12 Opportunities to drive livestock operations: enterprise options and genetics.

May 19 Making use of short-term business resilience opportunities — cashflow, feed/sell/agist, market scenarios and season forecast.

May 26 Building long-term business resilience: budgets, business structure, farm management and succession planning.

June 2 Rebuilding your herd or flock: using management and genetics to achieve the best reproduction results.

June 9 Maintaining the integrity of Australia's red meat and wool industries.

To find out more, or register, visit mla.com.au/news-and-events/events-and-workshops/ or sheepconnectnsw.com.au/events.