Country Today Podcast

Today on the podcast

Grain producers given the good news that they can return to using glyphosate pre-harvest on feed barley.

You’ll also hear how Brazil is fast becoming one of our major beef competitors

And the weekly wool report, with the Eastern Market Indicator now below 1500 cents.

Plus the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast,

More ruffling of feathers with Australian wool innovation, this time with former board member, Charles Chick Olsson who wants to be re-elected to bring in the razor gang.

Also today, predictions Australian could triple its grain-fed beef exports to China over the next decade.

And turning water into hydrogen as a power source on farm.

Plus the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

CEO of Australian Wool Innovation, Stuart McCullough has had to back-peddle very quickly after he suggested the wool market could be halted, as the stock market is, when there are dramatic falls such as last week when wool fell nearly 10 per cent.

He may have a girl’s name, but Maebull the Holstein bull is certainly delivering the goods and has just come up trumps as Australia’s best Holstein bull.

And the future of energy on the farm could lie in hydrogen. There are already hydrogen-fuelled tractors. We’ll explore the possibilities later on the Country Today podcast.

Plus the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

Today the beef farmer so annoyed with meat-free Mondays, he’s offering beef at half price to an entire Melbourne council area.

And two very different kinds of farming..

Firstly free-range pork using heritage breed pigs who are much more caring mums

And the sheep farmer turned maggot farmer  ... you heard me, farming maggots for pet food.

Plus the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

The drought has led to a drastic reduction in the national cattle herd, with record-high numbers of female beef cows going to market. It’s created an opportunity for dairy farmers who can use sexed semen to get the female replacement dairy heifers, and then ai beef semen to take advantage of the predicted boom in beef cattle prices.

Victoria’s northern cropping regions have defied predictions of lower rainfall for the winter, with the season so far about as good as it gets in the Wimmera and most of the Mallee.

And the latest look at demographics predicts Melbourne will continue to boom, with more and more school leavers heading to big cities for employment

Plus latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

The Federal Nationals leader Michael McCormack in Victoria this week, trying to garner support for his plan to build more dams and pipelines

Also the industry body Australian Dairy Farmers this week appeared at the Senate hearing into animal activism in Canberra.

And a horror week for wool. This time 12 months ago, wool prices were breaking records, but since then the eastern market indicator has fallen nearly thirty per cent

Plus the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

New Zealand is reeling with the news that it’s largest company, dairy processor Fonterra will right down losses of more than $600 million. For the individual kiwi dairy farmer, that’s an average loss of $50k

Also today the CSIRO has developed testing for gluten in all grain culprits, the latest being in rye

And northern Victoria the new food bowl, adding more than $9 billion to the economy every year.

Plus the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

As he's warned on Country Today earlier this year, Riverina dairy farmer Lachlan Marshall is having to start selling his precious dairy herd due to zero water allocation. It’s a heart  breaking decision with the first lot of cows going to market next week.

Feral deer are something of an environmental disaster, particularly the large sambar deer thriving in the high country. This year, a record 122 000 deer have been shot by recreational shooters

Australian-European trade negotiations are entering the final stages, with the EU releasing a list of foods and spirits it wants Geographic Indicators placed on. Will we have another champagne fight on our hands?

Plus the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

the latest quarterly weather outlook with seasonal risk agronomist Dale Grey. Are we in for a dry spring?

The dairy farmer who was inspired to change her herd to A2 milk after being told, “if you are doing the same as everyone else, expect to get paid the same,” and is now reaping the profit rewards

And overcoming the short shelf life of cherries which are now a huge export product

 

 

But first the latest National Rural News.

Today on the podcast

With Australian Wool Innovation’s AGM and election of board members just three months away, today you’ll hear from the wool grower who exposed the infamous “man behind the mirror incident”, where former board Chair Wal Merriman watched a woolgrower focus group behind a one-way mirror. The wool growers thought it was an anonymous chat.

Andrew Bouffler has moved on from the incident, but he still questions why AWI hasn’t managed to find an alternative to mulesing, decades after the practice was exposed by animal activists. Not surprisingly, Mr Bouffler thinks Mr Merriman should not be standing for re-election.

Also today, building works underway for construction of Victoria’s first medicinal cannabis facility.