Parkes Phoenix Editor

Regional Development Australia in Central West New South Wales has welcomed a new voice with the appointment of Sam Harma as its new CEO. Mr Harma has been working at a senior level of executive government in both Canberra and Sydney for the last decade, working for Cabinet Ministers in both State and Federal Government. Mr Harma brings strong policy experience in regional development, job creation and economic development.

RDA Central West Chair, Ms Christine Weston welcomed the recent appointment and said this was an exciting change for the local RDA team. “RDA Central West is advocating for the nearly 200,000 people who call the 11 local government areas of the Central West home, and Sam will be a fierce advocate on their behalf,” said Ms Weston.

“The Central West is a showcase of successful regional development, but there is always more to do. I can’t wait to build partnerships,
fight for projects and drive job opportunities across the region,” said Mr Harma.

“The Central West is a diverse region with farming, mining, tourism and the health sector all major employers. From Orange to Oberon and Cowra to Condobolin the future is bright, and our role at RDA is to drive greater opportunities,” said Mr Harma.

Regional Development Australia Central West is a regional certifying body for the Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS) visa (subclass 187) and working in partnership with the NSW Department of Industry to deliver the NSW Skilled Regional nominated visa (subclass 489) in the Central West region.

The RDA Central West has also been a driving force behind the STEM Industry School Partnerships Program (SISP) which has been made available to 20 schools across the region. RDA Central West has also launched a ‘Farm to Organisation’ project a first of its kind in Australia.

Although it was nice to see a bit of rain around this week, wet conditions coupled with cold conditions can cause issues for stock.

In cold and wet conditions, stock will use energy to keep warm. In drought conditions, where stock may have experienced under nutrition, they do not have the fat reserves to handle the increased energy requirements.

Pregnant stock are particularly at risk. Pregnancy Toxaemia is caused by low levels of glucose in the blood which adversely affects brain and nervous system function. It most commonly occurs in ewes and cows during the last month of pregnancy, when there is a high demand for glucose (energy) from the rapidly growing foetuses.

In cold conditions it is advisable to increase feed by 20%. For example, a twin bearing ewe should be receiving 1.6kg of cereal grain per day (in combination with a roughage source) to meet its nutritional requirements in late pregnancy. It is difficult to get them to physically eat more grain while heavily pregnant, especially without inducing grain poisoning. The simplest and most effective way to increase their energy intake is to put more good quality hay out into the paddocks during the wet and cold weather.

Hay is also good to feed to cattle in cold weather as the rumination of fibrous, bulky feed produces heat as a by-product that helps to keep the animal warm. However, it is worth remembering that some hay is very poor quality, meaning it is high in fibre but low in energy and protein which are the most important factors when supplementary feeding stock.

By Dr Jillian Kelly, District Veterinarian, Central West Local Land Services

The market started the new season with a much-welcomed turn-around. With only 30,994 bales offered, it was the smallest start to the selling season in AWEX history (since ’95).

Although the NRI recorded a small 2 cent loss on the first day of selling, the overall tone of the market was positive, with the market showing strong signs of improvement as the day progressed. The rises experienced late on day one, were quickly realised on day two with the NRI gaining 9 cents, to close at 1738. The individual MPG’s across the three regions, generally rose by 10-40 cents for the week.

Although the increase in the NRI was small, the importance of the rise was large, as the long run of losses was finally brought to a halt. Next week is the last sale before the three-week mid-year recess. Currently, there are 34,831 bales rostered for sale next week.

Source: AWEX