Paddock Chat

Feral pigs cost the agricultural industry over $100 million each year, largely via predation of lambs, competition with livestock and damage to property and crops. In this episode, I caught up with Peter Adams, DPIRD development officer and returning guest, the Midlands Biosecurity Group’s coordinator Chris O’Callaghan to get a better understanding of their impact on the Midlands region and what we can do to reduce their populations and damage to farm businesses. You can follow Pete on Twitter via @FeralTwit and Chris via @OCallaghanChris.

Useful Resources
Feral Pigs
Code of Practice
Define your feral pig problem and assess the impacts 

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Earlier this year, many farms across the West Midlands region suffered a severe weather event and wind erosion. This episode features a conversation from back in late October this year that the West Midlands Group's executive officer Nathan Craig had with Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s Paul Findlater on the topic of wind erosion.

Tune in to hear Nathan and Paul discuss the history of wind erosion impacts on farming, the reasons why wind events have caused so much damage to paddocks in recent years and preventative methods to reduce the risk of erosion this Summer and Autumn.

Get in Touch
Nathan Craig
Paul Findlater

Useful Resources
Diagnosing wind erosion risk
Harvest actions to reduce 2021 erosion risk
Managing wind erosion in southern WA
After the win - what next? Panel Discussion for practical tips on wind erosion
How much stubble do I need to retain?
Stubble Management Optimiser

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Have your lambing percentages been impacted without any obvious cause?
Did you get new rams this year? 
Have the neighbour's ewes or rams found their way into your flock? 

If you answered yes to any of those questions, your operation may have been exposed to Ovine Brucellosis. Ovine brucellosis is a highly detrimental reproductive disease that can affect all breeds of sheep. West Midlands Group’s mixed farming systems officer, Brianna Hindle and I caught up with DPIRD vet Dr Kristine Rayner to get her expertise on how to manage and reduce the risk of ovine brucellosis. And later in the episode, I caught up with Dandaragan producer, Peter Negus to hear about his experience managing an infected mob.

You can follow Pete Negus on Twitter @Peternegus11.
Get in touch with Dr Kristine Rayner via [email protected]

Useful Resources
Everything you need to know about Ovine Brucellosis
How to check ram's testicles in 3 minutes (Youtube)
Ovine Brucellosis Accreditation Scheme Guidelines
List of Ovine Brucellosis accredited flocks
Brucellosis in animals
Free WMG membership - 3 month trial
Paddock Chat Feedback Form

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In this episode,  the WMG caught up with farm manager Mark Drake from Lawson Grains' Walyoo operation at Regans Ford. We discuss:

• How their crops are performing following the 2020 season
• His tips for finding and retaining staff during harvest
• What Walyoo did to tackle safety and continue production when COVID19 hit WA earlier this year 
• The procedures in place to ensure the Walyoo team gets through harvest safely and successfully

Follow Mark on Twitter @Drakey04.

Useful Resources
Work Health and Safety Bill passes Upper House
Paddock Practices: Managing and retaining staff
Safe Farms WA 30 Minute Checklist - Are you compliant? (FREE)
Farmsafe Safety Induction Tool (FREE)

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If you were lucky enough to attend our Beef Cattle Nutrition in Practice workshop back in August this year, you would have had the opportunity to hear from today’s guest, livestock production specialist and Honorary Research Fellow in the UWA Institute of Agriculture - Dr John Milton. If you didn’t get there, then this episode catches you up on the great information you missed out on! 

In this episode the West Midlands Group’s Beef Development Officer, Charles Callaghan caught up with, Dr John Milton to discuss the following questions from cattle producers:

• What are the fundamentals of animal nutrition?
• Key points when matching the available feed to the animal requirements
• What’s the process for implementing a supplementary feeding program

Now, the information is fairly technical so feel free to get in touch with Charles if you have any questions or if you would like to get in touch with Dr John Milton. Their contact details are below.

Contact Information
Charles Callaghan: [email protected]
Dr John Milton: 0427 346 727

Useful Resources
Free WMG membership - 3 month trial
Paddock Chat Feedback Form

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You're listening to our first ever mini-episode! In lieu of our usual programming, we're recommending some great podcasts working in the ag space that we're sure you'll love. Find links to those podcasts in the show notes below. Make sure you listen to the end of this mini-episode for a sneak peek of our upcoming ep featuring livestock production specialist, Dr John Milton on the topic of animal nutrition and an opportunity to trial a West Midlands Group Membership for FREE!

Useful Links
Agtech – so what?
Raboresearch food and agribusiness
The Yarn Podcast
Farmers and Charmers 

Free WMG Membership Trial - Sign up
Paddock Chat Feedback Survey

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In this episode, we caught up with Head of Succession Planning at Rabobank, Rosemary Bartle. In part two of our chat with Rosemary we cover:

• Decision making around active and inactive family members
• Strategies to continue the process even when you don’t see eye to eye
• Where should succession planning take place? Is there a spot for success?
•  And Rosemary’s top tips for succession planning

Get in touch
Rosemary Bartle | E: [email protected]
Rabobank Succession Planning Team and brochure

Useful Resources
Succession Planning Information Sheet
Succession Planning Fact Sheet
A guide to succession: sustaining families and farms
Succession Planning: the do's and don't's
Succession planning protects family, farm and business

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In this episode, we caught up with Head of Succession Planning at Rabobank, Rosemary Bartle. We tackle the tricky topic of succession planning! In our conversation, Rosemary shares her tips on:

• How to get started and what to expect
• Who needs to be involved in the planning
• Keeping things fair and negotiating compromise

Get in touch
Rosemary Bartle | E: [email protected]
Rabobank Succession Planning Team and brochure

Useful Resources
Succession Planning Information Sheet
Succession Planning Fact Sheet
A guide to succession: sustaining families and farms
Succession Planning: the do's and don't's
Succession planning protects family, farm and business

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In this episode of Paddock Chat, West Midlands Group's executive officer Dr Nathan Craig caught up with Dr Hanabeth Luke to delve into the topic of RegenAg.

Their conversation covers:

• What is Regen Ag really? 
• How does it fit into and does it already exist in traditional farming systems? 
• What the future holds for research in this rapidly developing field and the exciting new Regenerative Agriculture course delving into successful regenerative practices.

Get in touch
Dr Hanabeth Luke | E: [email protected]
Dr Nathan Craig | E: [email protected]

Useful Resources
Study a Bachelor of Science with a regenerative agriculture major
About the Soil Health Survey
Youtube: Soil CRC Project: Surveying farm practices - Dr Hanabeth Luke

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In today's episode, we're talking weaning for best results. We caught up with Dr Danny Roberts (DPIRD veterinarian and researcher) to talk about:

• The benefits of weaning at 12 to 14 weeks after the start of lambing
• Things to consider before weaning
• Paddock and nutrition tips to get the best results for both ewe and lamb after weaning

You can get in touch with Dr Danny via email on [email protected] or call his office on 9892 8535.

Useful Resources
Flock value grows from weaning well 
Sheep weaning best practice

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