Former Dimboola resident Dave Hedt, who now resides in the United States, returned to the region to debut his Walkabout Mother Bins business at the Wimmera Machinery Field Days. Story, page 27. Picture: Bronwyn Hastings
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Display of farming, regional life Sheepdog trials well supported
Moyston Sheep Dog Club hosted Victorian Working Sheep Dog Association trials earlier this month, an annual event that has taken place at the town for almost a century.
Moyston Sheep Dog Club president Max McLean said the event – in its 97th year and the longest-running sheepdog trials in Australia – was well-supported, with about 80 entrants across the competition, some travelling from interstate.
“We had to bring the trials forward a little bit because Saturday’s forecast was hot; the association has a policy that limits the work of the dogs when it’s above 35 degrees,” he said.
“It ended up being about 39 on Saturday afternoon, but we had finished by lunch.”
The standalone competition saw dogs compete to association rules, with a set layout, obstacles, and expectations of entrants, where they follow similar commands to their everyday paddock work.
“The rules are the same each year, with the dog expected to bring three sheep to the worker, but the dog’s not allowed to cross between the sheep and worker, which is different to paddock work,” Mr McLean said.
Mr McLean, whose father had a 50-year history with the trials, said the Burke family had also been keen supporters for many years.
“Bill Burke won the first trial we had in 1928. It started from a bet at Moyston’s Southern Cross Hotel, when two boundary riders from the Lexington and Mount Ararat stations had a bit of a challenge about who had the best dog.
“The blokes – Jimmy Murphy and Billy Mason – went down a couple of weeks later and tried it out down on the flat there where the oval is now. Jimmy won that with his dog, Toby, and then the trials were set for the next year, but neither of them won.
“Bill Burke came in from the side and beat them both.”
Although open to any dog breed, this year’s competition saw the majority being border collies, with some kelpies entered.
Bruce Harper’s working dog Ruby 3rd won the improver and open sections.
Ruby 3rd scored a total of 174 points, ahead of second-placed Mike Deppeler’s Deppeler’s Roy on 143 and third-placed Colin Reid’s El’Shamah Queen on 119.
In the open final, Anthony Ireland’s Oakdowns Byn placed second with 166 points and John Tuddenham’s Tintagel Peta third with 162.
In the novice final, Peter Kerin’s Belmonte Black Jack 3rd won with 116 points and Ed Thompson’s TK Joe was second with 79.
William Chisholm’s Nola was first in the encourage trial with 67 points.
Merino studmasters from across Victoria and South Australia are gearing up for the fifth annual Fabstock Wimmera Autumn Merino Sheep Show, set to take place at Maydale Reserve on Sunday.
The event offers a platform for professional and social interaction among breeders, wool growers, and young Merino enthusiasts.
Hosted by Horsham Agricultural Society, the show is organised by merino stud breeders from Tamaleuca Merino Stud in Ouyen, Melrose Merino Stud in Nurrabiel, and Glendonald Merino Stud in Nhill.
Horsham Agricultural Society executive officer Andrea Cross said there was an increase in entries this year from nearly 20 merino sheep studs, making it an excellent year for the sheep show.
“With the increased number of entries, preparations are already underway to ensure we have enough pens to accommodate the stock,” she said.
The judging panel will feature brothers Harry and Will Miller, both sixth-generation shearers and fifth-generation merino breeders from the Miller family at Glenpaen Merino Stud in Brimpaen.
2024 Longerenong College student Briney Wright volunteered as a show steward and also competed in the junior sheep judging competition, winning second prize.
Harry has previously judged at Sheepvention, while Will has experience judging merinos at the Lodden Valley Field Days.
Mrs Cross said the brothers had also been invited to judge at several sheep shows throughout Australia, as they embarked on a relatively new challenge in their careers.
Young people from the region, aged between 18 and 25, including students from Longerenong
College, will have the opportunity to showcase their skills in the junior sheep judging section, with the winner advancing to state level.
The prize pool will be $300, donated by Nutrien Ag Solutions.
“While the fleece competition has been a highlight in the past, dwindling volunteer numbers have posed challenges,” Mrs Cross said.
“However, the collection of commercial and non-commercial fleeces for the Wimmera Legacy fundraiser will continue, with submissions accepted from now until the Horsham Agricultural Show in September.”
The sheep show allows families to learn about rural life and food and fibre production.
“It provides a visual exhibition for the public and lets breeders compare stock and showcase their produce,” Mrs Cross said.
“The show is an accessible display of Australian farming and regional life, bringing the community together.”
General admission is free, and the event is fully catered from 7am for breakfast, lunch, and afternoon tea.
More details can be found on the Horsham Show Facebook page.
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Crazy idea leads to big business
BY BRONWYN HASTINGS
While the adages about idle hands imply unfavourable outcomes, the opposite is true for Dave Hedt, chief executive and founder of Walkabout Mother Bins.
Formerly of Dimboola and a permanent resident of the US since 2012, Mr Hedt was ‘home to help with harvest’ in 2015 for what, he said, was not a particularly good year.
“Of course, when you don’t harvest much, then you have some beers and then you come up with crazy ideas,” he said.
“I said to dad, ‘why don’t they have mother bins in the US?’, and he said, ‘why don’t you build some and find out?’.”
Mr Hedt contacted school friend and engineer Bruce Bartlett, together de-
signing a mother bin, before Mr Hedt found manufacturers in the US.
“In 2016, we built the first prototype. My goal was always to build the best mother bin I possibly could,” he said.
“I always dreamt of shipping them anywhere in the world, because they’re such a great efficiency tool, and I’ve always wanted to bring one home.
“So ever since day one, we’ve had a bolt together design so I could flat pack them in a shipping container.”
Mr Hedt has now built more than 110 at his South Dakota base, with another 30 to 40 to be built this year, and another 10 to be exported – including to South Africa and Kazakhstan.
Mr Hedt made the mother bin’s debut at this month’s Wimmera Machinery Field Days after shipping one to Australia and assembling it with Horsham Hydraulics staff.
Launching in the Wimmera marked Mr Hedt going full circle; he attended school at Dimboola and lived on the family farm on the town’s outskirts.
His move to the US started with a chance meeting of a man in a pub, and meeting a girl kept him abroad.
“I met a guy in a pub in Melbourne who had a contract harvesting business in South Dakota, so I went over there to work in 2003,” he said.
“I went back and forth after I made really good friends, and eventually I met a girl – so I moved over there and we’re still happily married, it’s great.”
Mr Hedt said his mother bins are meant to be a simple piece of equipment, but have features that revolutionise mother bins, and make them a little bit nicer to use.
“The bins have a self-steering front and hydraulically controlled rear steering that comes standard, with a
hydraulic system with a forward and back end in and out spout,” he said.
“That comes with a remote system to open and close both the rear and front doors and use the spout functions.
“You can use up to 20 remotes on it, but you also have the option to control it manually if you don’t have a remote with you.
“Pricing is very competitive against our local bins, too – our 110 tonne plus, and the reason we call it a plus is because you can roll the tarp with 110 tonne in it so you can get a lot more in it if you don’t roll the tarp, is $229,000 plus GST, and our 165 tonne is $289,000 plus GST.”
Mr Hedt said the bins could be used to unload grain bags and pick up piles.
“We have a couple of options; we have a vibrator if you’re doing really wet grain, which is not really an issue here, but in the US they do 40 per cent
Native nursery a growing enterprise
The native nursery at Wail has had a variety of incarnations across its 80-year history, but has maintained its reputation in the establishment and supply of a variety of indigenous plants for commercial and residential use.
Now under ownership of Barengi Gadjin Land Council, Dalki Garringa Nursery is working towards expanding its retail capacity while maintaining wholesale orders.
Nursery production supervisor Adam Blake said the land council took ownership of the nursery in 2017 and started producing plants about five years ago.
“It is still a wholesale nursery by and large, so the great majority of our stock is under order for the industry,” he said.
“At present, we’re doing some facility upgrades to make it better for retail, which will include shaded areas, cups of coffee, that kind of thing. I think it’s fair to say we’re in the growth stage.”
Mr Blake said people could visit the nursery by appointment.
“People are welcome to come in, but we don’t have as much retail stock as we will have in the future, but we are building that up,” he said.
“We do have hundreds of plants at the nursery, from trees to ground covers, bush tucker plants to ornamental shrubs.
“The bush tucker foods are becoming popular, as well as plants that have got medicinal qualities.
“For example, we have sea celery, an Australian plant that people have seldom heard of – it grows on our coastline here in Victoria, and tastes just like celery.”
About 12 staff, working casually and full-time, plant seeds and cuttings to establish the stock. This has the potential to expand in coming months, with the development of the retail side of the business.
People can visit the nursery’s website www. dalkigarringa.com.au for more information on opening hours and available stock.
– Bronwyn Hastings
moisture corn, for feedlots,” he said.
“We have also revolutionised the steering system in a mother bin – we can almost turn it around on itself, it’s so incredibly manoeuvrable.
“I’ll put it against any other mother bin on the market for manoeuvrability.
“We also developed a downforce hitch, which gives the tractor more control over the bin, rather than the other way around, and we have a fully contained electric tarp, so even if it’s not connected to a tractor, the electric tarp still works.”
People can find out more information about Walkabout Mother Bins at website motherbin.com, and can find out about Mr Hedt’s other invention, Outback Wrap at outbackwrap.com.
Mr Hedt said people could buy the bins direct, or through a local dealer, which is set to be finalised in coming weeks.
Drought help available
Member for Mallee Anne Webster has assured farmers they can access many drought assistance initiatives amid dry conditions across the region.
Farmers can access Farm Household Allowance for up to four years through Services Australia. The allowance is equivalent to the maximum Jobseeker rate, between $712 and $833 each fortnight, with eligibility criteria applying.
Other supports available include:
Access to Rural Financial Counsellors through 1300 735 578; Concessional Loans through the Regional Investment Corporation; Tax concessions and deductions such as the $20,000 instant asset write-off and accelerated depreciation for water and fodder infrastructure and fencing, with more drought assistance information available via 1800 806 218; Farm Management Deposit Scheme to set aside pre-tax income one financial year to draw on in future years; Support from the Australian Taxation Office to average tax liabilities for up to five years; Farm Business Resilience Program, which, to date, has helped 913 farm businesses develop business plans; and social and wellbeing support including the Farmer Assistance Hotline 13 23 16. People can also call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue on 1300 22 46 36.
PROMOTION: Dalki Garringa Nursery staff, from left, Pajocha Morabokkeeree, production supervisor Adam Blake, Brian Steff and horticulturalist Rose Feely, at the Wimmera Machinery Field Days. Picture: BRONWYN HASTINGS
Keeping connected on farms
BY BRONWYN HASTINGS
The closure of the 3G network has prompted people in remote areas to find solutions to their connectivity needs, some of which were presented at the Victorian Farmers’ Federation grains conference at Horsham last week.
Telstra manager of rural and regional partnerships, sustainability, external affairs and legal Nic Stacpoole said a helpline had been set up to assist people after the closure, to explain options such as boosters and other technologies.
“It is critical to know that we did have to shut down the 3G network – it was outdated,” he said.
“It was not able to support the consumption of data people are using today – usage of data has been increasing 25 per cent each year since the network started about 20 years ago.
“Back then, we didn’t have all these streaming services, or video calls and conference calls, so we needed to upgrade it. We upgraded it to 4G, and now we’re in the process of upgrading to 5G.”
Mr Stacpoole said the company was collating data to problem-solve to meet clients’ needs, from having the capacity for water sensors and sending intermittent data, to being able to make phone calls from the paddock.
ENGAGED: Attendees at last week’s Victorian Farmers’ Federation grains conference at Horsham.
“It’s about working out what it is you’re trying to achieve, and then trying to find a solution that fits that,” he said.
Mr Stacpoole said the smaller aerials on new mobile phones had contributed to connectivity issues.
“Old phones had massive antennas, but there are tiny ones on today’s phones,” he said.
“Towers send out a big signal, but to make a phone call you have to send a signal back. That’s where boosters work well, because they provide a bigger antenna, whether that’s on your
car or at home. We’re working with companies to bring in newer technologies, such as Starlink and low-Earth orbit satellites.
“If you have line-of-sight to the sky, you’ll be able to do basic text messaging – we’re hoping for that in the next 12 months, then I’d suggest by 2027 we’ll be looking at voice, then we’ll look at data after that.
“Emergency services texting is available now, for iPhone 14 and the Samsung equivalent – you can text a service centre who then calls triple zero on your behalf.”
Mr Stacpoole said he was collaborating with the VFF, and had partnered with the National Farmers’ Federation and other businesses.
“We’re working together to find out where those black spots are so we can invest in that, plus also invest to upgrade the network to build its capacity under the Regional Connectivity Program,” he said.
Mr Stacpoole encouraged people to contact Telstra’s 3G helpline on 1800 990 853 to discuss any issues they are having and to find options for connectivity solutions.
Bigger is better when it comes to carting grain
The continual drive for efficient and seamless grain cartage from road, to rail and to port, paired with an increase of grain production, has most recently seen bigger trucks on regional roads.
GrainCorp road commercial manager Stewart Osborne said they were working towards allowing access for bigger trucks at their receival sites to assist in the process.
“We need to recognise that bigger trucks are better – we’re quickly transitioning away from B-doubles,” he said.
“They just don’t exist in Queensland anymore, and that change is happening more and more through New
South Wales and into Victoria.”
Mr Osborne said GrainCorp had 40 sites in Victoria for grain, with 13 on the 85-tonne A-double network, and 23 on the 91-tonne A-double network.
“We’re starting to see ABtriples going to Portland, and we’re very close to getting them into Geelong at 113-tonne,” he said.
Mr Osborne said several industry bodies were working towards the more efficient movement of grain, including the Victorian Farmers’ Federation, and the Grain Transport Safety Network, which includes GrainCorp and a number of other bulk handlers.
“The bigger trucks are not just cheaper per tonne, they also, on a per tonne basis, create less road wear, emit less carbon and are safer,” he said.
Although, Mr Osborne said the cheapest freight available was by ocean.
“Once it gets to a port and leaves, you might be talking US$15 to go around the other side of the world or across to the Philippines or wherever,” he said.
“Before that, ideally we’d have got it on a train because trains are the next most efficient form of transport in terms of dollars per tonne.
“But the reality for us is, all the grain comes in on a truck, and it either leaves on a train
or a truck from our upcountry network.”
Mr Osborne said 1.7-million tonnes of grain was put on rail in 2021, which increased to 2.2-million tonnes in 2024.
“We have some good exPacific National people who have a lot of experience in the rail industry, who have enabled a lot more access to the rail network, including longer and improved loops and sidings,” he said.
However, Mr Osborne said there were improvements that could be made to improve efficiency in both cartage by road and rail.
“What we see – and what breaks our hearts – is we
have stackers that can move 400 tonnes an hour, and we see drivers who are on the phone, and we see operators who consistently load at over 120 tonnes an hour, but others who come in and load at 40 tonnes an hour,” he said.
“It’s just human behaviour, but it’s something we have an influence on.
“And one thing that Paddy Prendergast – port operations manager for GrainCorp –from Geelong said to me was, if we could fuel the trains up close to Geelong instead of sending them back into Melbourne to refuel, that’d be huge.
“So there’s another opportunity.”
A heavy vehicle automatic bridge assessment tool that will save operators money and months of time will be implemented from January 1 next year.
Department of Transport and Planning senior policy officer Bryce Spittle said the new tool, which had been welcomed by NatRoad, Victorian Transport Association and Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia, could produce an outcome in about 15 minutes.
“Operators can apply for their access as per normal through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator portal, it will then go into our Heavy Vehicle Structural Assessment Process System, HVSAPS, tool,” he said.
“People will be able to put whatever combination they want into that system, which will then assess the bridges that will be crossed on the Department of Transport and Planning network, and confirm whether or not they can run their combination on our network.
“That would be zero dollars to the operator, and they will be able to figure out the optimal combination to be able to move their product to the ports or to a grain retrieval site.”
Mr Spittle said the current permit process was long – up to six months – and required road and bridge engineers to manually research the proposed routes.
HVSAPS is funded by the Federal Government and developed in Victoria. It uses real-time information that will allow the industry to experiment and innovate with safer and more productive configurations in a shorter timeframe.
“For example, if you are in Queensland, you’ll be able to do a route assessment from Queensland to Victoria, plug it into the fully automated system and know exactly where you’re allowed to run your truck, and be able to get the full mass without having to figure that out yourself,” Mr Spittle said.
“Instead of you submitting a permit and finding out that halfway through that route the structure that you picked is not perfect for what you need to do, this will allow you to find the quickest and easiest and best way to get to where you need to go.
“It’s basically your Google Maps for a heavy vehicle operator in Victoria.”
– Bronwyn Hastings
Hosking up for the fight
BY BRONWYN HASTINGS
Transmission lines, wild dogs, and mineral sands mines are among issues newly elected Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking has pledged to engage with members on.
Addressing the VFF grains conference at Horsham Golf Club last week, Mr Hosking said while there was a lot going on in agriculture at present, he was keen to keep moving forward as a newly elected board.
“It’s exciting, we’ve a new, refreshed board and we’re keen on moving forward and making change,” he said.
“We’re starting to see that happen and I hope that members are starting to see that happen.
“I don’t remember a time
in agriculture when there has been so much going on.
“For me it’s transmission lines, but it’s not just that because every time I talk to somebody, they will say, ‘well I’m dealing with this but at least I’m not dealing with renewables’, or, ‘at least I’m not dealing with mineral sands mines’.
“I was talking to a farmer who was losing sheep every morning to wild dog attacks coming out of the Big Desert, something that in 70 years of farming there he’d never had to face, until the last 18 months after a change in rules around control measures.
“He’s losing sheep every day and at the end of the conversation he said ‘well at least I’m not dealing with transmission lines’.
“But we shouldn’t be saying this, we shouldn’t be say-
ing ‘oh there’s worse problems than mine’. We should be actually moving forward from some of these problems.”
Mr Hosking outlined other issues affecting people in regional areas, including the state of the roads, the disconnect left by the closure of the 3G network, the animal welfare bill, and changes to the Fire Services Property Levy.
“The levy is going to triple, possibly quadruple over the next couple of years as it becomes the Emergency Services Volunteer Fund,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of landholders who sat in fire trucks at the edge of the Grampians or at the edge of the Little Desert waiting for the fire to come out because it wasn’t being contained inside those state parks, the management wasn’t in place to contain it, they stood there waiting for it,
and their bill’s going to go up.
“They’re going to be paying tens-of-thousands of dollars a year more, not just to the CFA and emergency services, but the SES, the call centres, the State Control Centre, Forest Fire Management – the people who possibly did not get that fire out, and I’m not being critical, but they didn’t get the fire out before it was dealt with by volunteers.
“We’re shifting the burden, the cost burden onto farmers, onto rural communities, onto people who are volunteers.
“When we started making the volunteers pay for the things they’re already doing, that they’re already supporting, the things the state should be contributing to, we’ve got a lot of pressure on us.
“So we’re going to get better, we’re going to get more vocal, we’re going to get stronger.
“We do have to really step up. We really need to push back hard. And that’s what I hope you’ll see out of VFF in coming weeks, months, and years.
“The policy team is probably having kittens while I’ve
Eileen’s lifelong legacy recognised
Eileen Jorgensen’s lifelong commitment to agriculture was recognised with a Victorian Farmers’ Federation life membership, awarded to her at last week’s Horsham conference.
An active member of the federation’s Wimmera and Murtoa branches since the early 1990s, Mrs Jorgensen has farmed between Murtoa and Rupanyup with her husband Peter since the mid-1970s.
The couple, along with one of their six children, Tim, produce grains, legumes, fine wool and Clydesdale horses.
Mrs Jorgensen’s VFF experiences range from the installation of the Wimmera-Mallee Pipeline to the current issues of mining, fire services levy changes, land access and biosecurity.
She said the benefits of the 2010-completed pipeline far outweighed the losses.
“We’ve had huge water savings with the pipeline, we don’t lose water through evaporation now,” she said.
“But I do feel sorry for the kids, because mine used to say they were bored and then go yabbying, but kids don’t get a chance to do that anymore.”
Mrs Jorgensen said she had confidence in the VFF, and felt it was already strengthening, however ‘it can be further improved’.
“I feel it needs to be more inclusive compared to what it was; I’d like to see more interaction between farmers on the ground and the head office,” she said.
“I feel at the present it’s improved to what it was in the last four years, and I think it will keep improving – it’s starting to get back on track.”
Mrs Jorgensen has volunteered on several committees, including the Country Women’s Association, Clydesdale Society, Partners in Ag, and Murtoa’s op shop, and has lived on only two properties during her life.
She grew up on a dairy farm and market garden at Lyndhurst,
HONOUR: From left, VFF grains president Ryan Milgate with VFF life members Meg Parkinson, Eileen Jorgensen and Ian Hastings, and VFF president Brett Hosking.
between Dandenong and Cranbourne. She started working at age 13, alongside her father.
“My dad was a third-generation market gardener dairy farmer, and my mother’s great-grandfather was an original settler in that area,” she said.
“I didn’t want to do anything else, I liked working with the cows.
“I think it’s genetic – I was born with agriculture in my blood.”
just said all this, but anyhow, they will deal with it because they’re a good team and they’ll support us, and they’ll make sure that we’ve got the right policies to support you.”
Unlocking drought relief
Plans for a drought network to transport feed and fodder is being developed by the Victorian Farmers’ Federation, Agriculture Victoria and Department of Transport and Planning.
Limitations on some bridges and culverts within the Department of Transport and Planning’s network, paired with considerable costs for permits to run to affected farms, present a barrier to larger vehicles operating within Victoria.
Freight Victoria land and freight systems senior policy officer Bryce Spittle said the spine network would allow larger vehicles direct access to sites.
“We’ve been working with the VFF team to determine distribution points along the network, where large vehicles such as AB-triples, A-triples, B-triples, and even heavy A-doubles, can drop off along the principal freight network,” he said.
Mr Spittle said the first part of the network focused on southwest Victoria. Livestock exchanges and saleyards at Ballarat, Mortlake, Camperdown, Hamilton, Colac and Horsham are potential sites, along with rest areas at Deep Lead, Dartmoor and Glenthompson, and Nhill trailer exchange.
“The idea would be that we could run an A-double at 36.5 metres from New South Wales or South Australia into Victoria to one of these drop-off sites, unhinge or unhook the trailer and turn it into a semi to allow it to run on the general access network to a farm site,” he said.
Mr Spittle said he would meet with representatives from both South Australia and New South Wales to determine what combinations would run into Victoria.
Brett Hosking
There is a better way
The current approach to meeting renewable energy targets is dividing communities, driving a deeper wedge between rural and metro people and creating unnecessary and extreme stress for many farming families.
The rush to meet policy targets has led to instances of poor consultation by government and appointed authorities, developers financially incentivised to take a short term view, i.e just get the project built, and project design that fails to consider long term benefit for all stakeholders.
There is a better way.
The move away from fossil fuels is a seismic shift from the way humans have created energy for heating and cooking for thousands of years and for transport for over a hundred years.
So maybe it’s worth thinking carefully about how we implement this change.
I need to put in a disclaimer here. I don’t know much about energy policy.
But I do believe if we consult widely and plan well, this reshaping of how we generate and transmit energy can bring significant benefits to rural and regional Australia.
Not though, with the current top down approach.
Present design thinking seems to
From left field
with David Matthews
focus on developing very large scale wind or solar installations.
These then require very large scale transmission infrastructure to get the energy to where it’s consumed.
Some landowners and communities are happy to host this infrastructure, but many are not.
This approach seems to be stuck in a past era, where generation had to be located at the energy source, usually a coal mine.
Then, of course, large scale transmission was required to move energy to the consumption centres. We needed an extensive grid.
The step change with wind and solar is we can now generate energy anywhere.
So why aren’t we putting more effort into design of distributed energy generation and localised grids?
Perhaps it’s because it’s a bit more complex.
Maybe it will take a bit longer to reach certain politically created targets. But how about we think of the long term upside?
Embracing distributed energy design would enable farms, businesses
and whole communities to become self-sufficient with their energy needs.
We could actually reduce the need for transmission. We could remove much of the poles and wire network.
And this locally generated energy could be used to power local homes and industry, not just exported out the region as happens with current large scale developments.
There will still be a need for large generation projects. But again, better design could overcome some of the current concerns.
Instead of a development of 250m high wind turbines, landowners might find a footprint of 15ha areas of solar panels more acceptable.
These 15ha areas, which generate about the same power as a large turbine, could be placed on less productive parts of the farm.
Or they could embrace an agrivoltaics philosophy and be used as a lamb containment area or native grass site. Or maybe even cover for free range poultry.
If government and developers don’t genuinely consult with the people most affected by the current push, we’ll never achieve the outcomes that are possible.
And for those of us who live in the regions, as well as being clear about the things we don’t want, let’s start talking about the things we do want.
LEADER: Agriculture
Victoria research scientist
Dr Audrey Delahunty was awarded the 2025 Emerging Leader – South award.
Accolade for Delahunty
Agriculture Victoria research scientist
Dr Audrey Delahunty has received the 2025 Grains Research and Development Corporation Emerging Leader –South award for her commitment and contribution as an emerging leader in the grains industry.
Victorian grain grower and panel chair Andrew Russell presented the awards, selected by the GRDC southern panel.
“Dr Delahunty kicked off her career with the grains industry through a PhD researching genetic solutions for heat tolerance in lentils – such a relevant and valuable topic for growers,” he said.
“Her focus on research of value to growers has continued and she has since extended her research into frost, quality, technology, and other pulses.
“Dr Delahunty is well known to
GRDC, researchers and growers across the industry through her regular speaking slots as a speaker at Grains Research Updates and at crop walks across the Wimmera and Mallee.
“We love seeing enthusiasm, intelligence and hard work in the up-andcoming generation of researchers and are thrilled to present her with this award.”
Dr Delahunty said it was a huge privilege and honour to receive the award, and thanked her team at Agriculture Victoria.
“I work with amazing people across the grains industry,” she said.
“I’m grateful for all the relationships I’ve made – all the people who have provided advice, mentorship and those who I work alongside every day.
“This is such an incredible industry.”
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‘Tariffic’ Trump Country Today
While we sit and wait with bated breath for US President Donald Trump to announce the next round of tariffs on April 2, his on again, off again tariff war is reverberating around the globe, with some unexpected consequences.
The two major Australian agricultural exports to the US that are most vulnerable are beef and lamb. Meat and Livestock Australia’s latest report on red meat exports states: “In 2024, Australia exported 2.24-million tonnes of red meat to 102 markets, representing the largest volume of red meat ever exported. The United States is the number one destination for Australian beef, lamb and goat meat. In 2024, we exported 394,716 tonnes of beef to the US, 104,210 tonnes of sheep meat and 22,559 tonnes of goat meat.”
The US beef herd is still rebuilding after the worst drought in decades, so whacking tariffs on our beef is only likely to increase the price to US consumers.
It’s already unsettling Americans with the latest consumer sentiment survey conducted by the University of Michigan showing a dive in confidence to the lows of 2022 during COVID And it gets worse, with five-year inflation expectations the highest since early 1993.
The US cattle industry is rattling the cage, nonetheless. R-CALF USA, which represents ranchers and cattlemen was the first to sing the praises of the President.
“Our organisation was the only one that publicly came out and said, we support these wholeheartedly whenever our price point in the cattle industry reaches a level that would incentivise our industry to begin expanding our cattle herd,
with Libby Price
we see a flood of imports,” R-CALF chief executive Bill Bullard said in a media statement.
Just last week, the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in the US took aim at the Free Trade Agreement Australia signed with the US in 2005, claiming it was ‘by far the most lop-sided and unfair trade deal’ for US cattle producers.
For 20 years, Australia has used a myriad of sanitary concerns and endless bureaucratic red tape to delay the approval of US beef, even though the United States is internationally recognised as having some of the highest food safety and animal health standards in the world.
That Free Trade Agreement is not worth the paper it’s written on as Trump will do what he likes with no consideration of previous agreements.
At the Global Food Forum held in Melbourne earlier this month, Federal Trade Minister Don Farrell was blunt.
“Donald Trump’s refusal to give Australia exemptions to trade tariffs on steel and aluminium is unjustified and completely unprovoked. He never had any intentions of granting exemptions.”
Minister Farrell said he would not retaliate and would instead be taking a calm and considered approach to diplomacy.
Bolstering the ag industry
The agricultural industry has been boosted by 80 Longerenong College students and apprentices, who have graduated from courses in agronomy, agribusiness management, agriculture and wool classing.
College marketing and business development co-ordinator Brad Barber said Friday’s graduation ceremony at Horsham saw students celebrated by their families, dignitaries and industry leaders from across the country.
“These qualifications represent a diverse and robust skill set that the graduates will carry with them as they enter the workforce, equipped with expertise in areas like agribusiness, agronomy, wool production, and general agricultural practices,” he said.
“The event celebrated not only their academic accomplishments, but also the strong ties the college has with the agricultural industry, ensuring that these graduates are prepared to make a real impact.”
Mr Barber said the college’s graduate employment rate was more than 95 per cent.
“Companies call us regularly, wanting to offer positions to our students, which is great,” he said.
Graduating with an Advanced Diploma in Agribusiness Management and a Diploma of Applied Agronomy, Amity Smith said growing up on her family farm near Ballarat inspired her to study at Longerenong.
“I am currently a machine operator at Altora Ag in central New South Wales, and am on the hunt for an agronomy position,” she said.
“For now I’ll just follow the
work – I’ve got the rest of Australia to explore – but ultimately it would be nice to run my own company or work with agronomy in the precision ag space, and one day move back near home.”
Nick Cushing, also graduating with an Advanced Diploma in Agribusiness Management and a Diploma of Applied Agronomy, is working at Nutrien Ag Solutions Rupanyup.
“I’m working as a trainee in ag and sales, it’s where Longy gets all their seed and chemical, so that’s how I found the job,” he said.
Mr Cushing said he would also like to return to the family farm, south of Beaufort at Lake Goldsmith, where they run a mixed enterprise of broadacre and sheep.
“For now, I’d like to build up a client base and work as an agronomist, until the old man retires from the farm,” he said.
“When that happens, I’ll move home and run the farm with my brother and hopefully take on cli-
ents at home, do a bit of half and half.”
The graduation ceremony awarded students who displayed excellence in specific areas and recognised the Dux of each qualification: Advanced Diploma of Agribusiness Management; Diploma of Applied Agronomy; Certificate IV in Wool Classing; Certificate IV in Agriculture; Certificate III in Agriculture; and Certificate II in Agriculture.
THUNDER A IMI
First boron + salt tolerant IMI lentil
Moderate
Mid
GRADUATES:
Left, Longerenong College Certificate IV in Agriculture graduates
Jett Hird, Tom Dunn, Georgia Anderson, Griffin Fowler and Tom Cox, and below, Advanced Diploma for Agribusiness and Diploma of Applied Agronomy graduate
Amity Smith and Advanced Diploma in business management and agronomy graduate
Nick Cushing. Pictures: BRONWYN HASTINGS
Mr Barber said the event was a proud moment for the graduates and their families, as well as the college.
“Longerenong continues to play a key role in developing skilled professionals for the agricultural industry, and has done since 1889,” he said.
“The ceremony celebrated not just academic success, but the readiness of graduates to contribute to the future of agriculture.”
Just one promise
BY AMY JENKINSON
PRINCIPAL LAWYER, HARWOOD ANDREWS
In a previous article, we discussed disputes involving promises made about family farms.
The High Court recently made an important decision which helps clarify when a person might make a successful claim to a farm based on a promise – even if it was only made once.
The case – Kramer v Stone [2024] HCA 48 – has some key points farming families should bear in mind.
The court held the person making the promise does not need to have later behaved in a way that further encouraged the other person to rely on the promise.
In other words, a single promise can be enough.
Also, the person making the promise does not need to have known the other person was relying on the promise.
In the case, a mother left her family farm to her daughter in her Will. However, for about 40 years, the farm had been managed by a share farmer who was not a family member.
About 23 years before her death, the mother made a verbal promise to the share farmer that he would receive the farm when she died.
The share farmer made life decisions to his detriment based on the promise.
He stayed on the farm, did not seek other job opportunities, accepted a low and irregular low income, shared farm costs and lived in poor conditions on the property.
The mother did not encourage the share farmer to rely on her promise in the years after it was made.
In fact, the evidence suggested the mother had forgotten she had made the promise.
When the farm was not left to him in the mother’s Will, the share farmer made a successful claim against the mother’s estate based on her promise he would receive the farm.
What does this mean for farming families and their advisors?
The recent decision has potentially expanded the scope of potential claims to include the situation where a single promise has been made, there has been no follow-up or ongoing encouragement and the person making the promise did not know the other party relied on the promise to their detriment.
A one-time promise could be enough to support a claim if additional factual and other requirements can be established. This may lead to an increase in future estate and other litigation and should also be considered as part of effective succession planning.
be Hosted at Natimuk Showgrounds, March 27-29
Come along to watch the best of the best working dogs and handlers.
This is a fantastic event for the Wimmera township of Natimuk - bringing participants and spectators to this part of the state to view the best working dogs competing for the grand prize of Champion. Other trial classes over the 3 day event are Maiden, Novice, Open & then Championship. The local pubs onsite units have been booked for accommodation and camping for participants will be provided.
We thank the many local businesses, farmers, and the Natimuk P & A Society for their support of the 2025 VYFUDA STATE Yard Dog Championship
The Victorian Yard Utility & Farm Dog Association work to help improve the quality and standards of livestock workers and stock dogs in the rural sector. We run regular events to provide an opportunity to showcase the skills of our members and their dogs. This cause is important to us, and the strides we have made so far wouldn’t have been possible without supporters in our community like you.
Wimmera township Natimuk have been announced as 2025 Hosts of the Coprice STATE Yard Dog Championships.
Held over 3 days 27-29th March with the Championship on Saturday’s Natimuk show day, will bring the best of the best working dogs in the state and interstate to compete!
Tracking dogs to protect livestock
AState Government tracking trial will give producers and management bodies information about the habits of wild dogs in the state’s north-western national parks, in a bid to curb increasing attacks on livestock in the area.
National Wild Dog Management coordinator Greg Mifsud said the GPS-enabled radio tracking collars were working well in other states, with more than 1000 dogs tracked.
“These devices give us much better detail about how these animals use the landscape from an ecological perspective, which is far better than just having cameras in the landscape,” he said.
Mr Mifsud said there was also capacity to use geo-fencing, which transmits an alert when a dog approaches a defined area.
“We can put a border or some sort of physical attribute or GPS location on those devices so that when the animals come near the edge of the park and in proximity to private property, the GPS device sends an alert to a nominated person that dogs are within X-number of metres or to the boundary or whatever asset that they’re trying to protect,” he said.
“That’s why I put the proposal forward. I saw it as a way of allowing landholders and the government to be able to monitor population of dogs in the park, while also allowing
landholders the capacity to know what the dogs are doing and allowing them to respond and modify their grazing practices to avoid those conflicts.”
Mr Mifsud said footage of distressed dogs caught in traps, to enable the collars to be put on, was inaccurate and detrimental to the research project.
“The dogs shown were alarmed and jumping around, but that is only after the people taking the videos were physically walking towards them,” he said.
“If you look at some of the videos online, most often those dogs are curled up in a ball fast asleep.
“The point that I’d like to make is that these traps hold animals by the foot, and once they get over the original shock, they are generally quite calm. When we’re doing our research, we can almost walk right up to them and process them.”
Mr Mifsud said if the State Government entertained non-lethal control techniques such as donkeys, guardian dogs and fencing, the collars on the guardian animals would show how they interact with wild dogs.
“Maremmas could travel through the park and actively chase the dogs away from the livestock,” he said.
Mr Mifsud said the tracking information would be provided to producers in the project. People can find further information on the National Wild Dog Action Plan website.
Partnership Against Pets field day
The success of a Grampians program that uses a systematic approach to control foxes will be the subject of a field day in the southern Grampians.
The free field day, hosted by Warrnambool Coastal Landcare Network, will be on April 8 from 10am to 2pm at Orford Hall. It will be the last in a series of events as part of the Partnership Against Pests program.
The Grampians Ark project has brought together landowners, government departments and Landcare groups to use a variety of fox control methods.
Guest presenter South Grampians and Environment Landcare Network facilitator Lisa McIntyre will detail how the coordinated partnership approach can keep foxes at bay.
Grampians Ark delivers fox control across 226,000 hectares of the Grampians National Park, Black Range State Park, Grampians State Forest and adjoining private land in partnership with the Mirranatwa and Panyyabyr Landcare groups.
Ms McIntyre said Grampians Ark started in 2010 to slow the movement of foxes from the Serra Range to the Victoria Range by doing control work in the valley.
Control work in the Victoria
Valley includes co-ordinated landscape-scale fox baiting.
The baits are cleared after 10 weeks allowing other forms of control to be used, including spotlighting, fumigating, den destruction or fox cages.
“The program doesn’t preclude people who don’t want to put baits on the ground,” Ms McIntyre said.
“We know one form of control method doesn’t work as well if you don’t have other forms of control. We try to make it as easy and accessible as possible.”
Ms McIntyre described it as a more co-ordinated way to control foxes.
NOTED: Guest presenter South Grampians and Environment Landcare Network facilitator Lisa McIntyre will detail how a co-ordinated partnership approach can keep foxes at bay.
“Because we’ve so many people involved, along with blue gum farms, we can put out one bait per 100 hectares, which reduces the amount of bait, is more efficient and reduces the habit foxes have of caching baits and storing them in dens.”
Also at the Orford field day, Agriculture Victoria’s David Blythe and Fraser Harrison will discuss emerging pest species, like feral pigs, that are making their way into the state, and Friends of Pallister’s Reserve members will discuss their experiences with fox control and demonstrate control methods.
“Previously, it was fairly adhoc. Farmers were putting out baits but weren’t necessarily joining up with each other or doing it at the same time,” she said.
All entries close on Monday, March 24
Venue: Navarre district
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Operating a Business from Your Home Property
What You Need to Know
Running a business from your home property can be convenient and cost-effective, but it’s important to understand how it can affect your insurance coverage.
Many homeowners don’t realise that operating a business from home can impact the claims process and may even void your coverage if you haven’t properly disclosed your business activities to your insurer.
Most standard home insurance policies don’t cover business-related risks or damages that occur because of business activities on the property. For example, if you have customers visiting your home or business equipment stored on-site, your policy may not cover damage or theft of that property.
What many don’t realise is that this can extend beyond business-related incidents. A claim unrelated to your business, such as a water pipe burst that causes damage to your home, could be excluded if you’re running a business from home and haven’t disclosed it to your insurer.
Full disclosure is essential. By informing your insurer about your business activities, you ensure your insurance policy provides the right level of coverage. This might mean adjusting your home insurance policy to include coverage for business-related risks or taking out a separate business insurance policy to protect your equipment, stock, and liability.
An insurance broker can help you navigate this risk. Failing to disclose that you’re operating a business can result in denied claims, leaving you without coverage when you need it most.
“It’s important to review your policy with an insurance broker to ensure your home and business activities are properly covered.
Always make sure your insurer knows how your property is being used to ensure full protection for both your home and your business.”
Abbie Wilson, National Insurance Brokers
NIBA VIC / TAS Broker Of The Year
