South East Local Land Services and Far South Coast Farmers Network are teaming up for an information session on managing livestock after a dry winter.
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The seminar will be held on Thursday, November 23 at the Bega Civic Centre, and will have a number of guest speakers.
The focus of the seminar will cover both beef and sheep, not necessarily just dairy.
The South Coast has struggled through a dry winter, with record lows in rainfall.
This has been helped by a fairly wet end of spring, but there will still be effects on farmers over the summer.
Spokesman for South East Local Land Services Andrew Taylor listed some of these effects.
“The first thing they (farmers) start seeing is declining condition of stock,” he said. “That can either be during calving or joining periods.”
“As it dries off, there’s a bit of a flood on the market, so cattle prices will tend to drop.”
This will effect farmers, as they will be stuck between a choice of selling off their cattle for below-market prices, or spending the money on extra feed.
“It’s a rather big impost on a producer having to buy in feed,” Mr Taylor said.
As part of the information session, Peter Muirhead from the Rural Financial Counselling Service will be speaking about management of funds after a dry spell.
“It’s not a coincidence that we’ve got the financial counselling talk happening,” Mr Taylor said.
“While people are talking about mental health more than they used to, it can still tend to come out when things get tough.
“Particularly if they’re breeding enterprises. Some people trade cattle, others have breeding animals that they keep for 10 plus years.”
Other speakers at the session include Doug Alcock from Grazprophet Consulting, livestock agent Stuart Smith, who will give insight into how the markets have fared during dry time, and NSW DPI Rural Resilience Officer Ted O’Kane.
“We’ve got a pretty broad array of speakers there,” Mr Taylor said.
Despite the recent wet weather, Mr Taylor still sees value in the information session.
“We had a conversation that it’s never long until the next dry,” he said.
“This session is about adapting and preparing as much as it is about reacting.
“This is about livestock producers being prepared, and learning how to judge whether they have enough pasture to get through a season, and if not, what steps they can take.”
The session will run from 9.30am to 12.30pm, and there is a lunch provided.
To RSVP for the event, contact Andrew Taylor at 02 6491 7806 or email andrew.taylor@lls.nsw.gov.au.
