SWS Stud Merino Breeders Annual Field Day

The South West Slopes (SWS) Stud Merino Breeders Field Day will take place on Tuesday, 4th September commencing at 10am at the Harden Showgrounds. The annual field day provides a day full of interest and enjoyment for sheep breeders and visitors alike with a wide range of Merino sheep genetics on show. The stud displays are undercover of marquees in an ideal venue for this time of year. The Field Day program includes Merino studs on display, wool fashions and products on display sheep handling equipment and sheep dog display, farm machinery on display, industry specialists on hand providing up to date information and much more.

Red Hill On Property Sale

Red Hill Australian White Stud are pleased to conduct their fourth on property sale, on the 14th of September in conjunction with Ardess Australian White Stud. Red Hill and Ardess continue to be impressed by this resilient breed and the past eighteen months of extended dry periods have certainly proven this. The principals of Red Hill are passionate about promoting the Australian White Breed. At Red Hill, Robert and Leanne Endacott are committed to breeding Australian White sheep that produce a very marketable lamb with excellent growth rates, stud rams and ewes with strong conformation, hair pattern, black points and good temperament while always maintaining that “quality matters”.

Ridgehaven Annual Ram Sale

Ridgehaven Poll Dorsets is a family run stud operation based at Cudal. We aim to produce rams with genetics that assist lamb producers to be more efficient and profitable. With a balanced approach to the breeding program, they use visual assessment and performance data to deliver consistent high quality rams. The sale is on Thursday 13th September, with a delicious barbeque lunch provided.

On Property Ram Sale For Marocara

Marocara Poll Dorsets breed high performance rams to meet the requirements of commercial and stud producers. The 18th annual ram sale of Marocara Poll Dorsets will take place on property Hillview at Wongarbon, 132R Wellington Road on 4th September at 2pm with 180 rams on offer. Wongarbon is about 18 km east of Dubbo on the Mitchell Highway between Dubbo and Wellington. Enquiries are always welcome. Contact Gus on 0428 878 221 or Alistair 0427 878 221.

Rams on Private Sale At Lachlan Valley

Lachlan Valley Rams is offering White Suffolks and Poll Dorsets for private sale at Forbes. All rams have a good lambplan performance, are Gudair vaccinated and Brucellosis accredited. Contact Alan Sharrock on 0427 511 397 with your enquiries.

Some Of The Best In Central West

Goonigal Poll Dorsets have been operating for 12 years and will hold their 3rd annual sale on Tuesday, 28th August at 11.30am at the Canowindra Showground. Rams will be penned by 10am for inspection prior to sale. All rams are Brucellosis accredited free and vaccinated for OJD and footrot free. All rams will be stock scanned with figures available on the Facebook page.

Goonigal Poll Dorsets welcome all lamb producers in the market for rams to come and have a look on sale day. Whether you are after suckers or export lambs Goonigal Rams will produce. Allan Gray & Co will be conducting the sale and Bill Brien can be contacted on 0428 281 024.

For more than 21 years Felix Rams has had a singular focus on producing efficient and profitable prime lambs by breeding high performance, structurally sound meat sheep rams.

Felix Rams’ commitment to collecting good accurate performance data is second to none. Since first starting weighing lambs at birth in 1996, they have weighed more than 24,000 lambs within 12 hours of birth. Birthweight records go into Sheep Genetics – Lambplan.

Felix Rams will offer around 140 Poll Dorset and 45 White Suffolk rams at their annual on-property sale at Greenethorpe on 4th September. Catalogues are available at www.felixrams.com.au, or call Rodney 0417 499 204 or Allan Gray and Co Cowra on 02 6342 2377.

Marocara Poll Dorsets breed high performance rams to meet the requirements of commercial and stud producers.

The 18th annual ram sale of Marocara Poll Dorsets will take place on property Hillview at Wongarbon, 132R Wellington Road on 4th September at 2pm with 180 rams on offer. Wongarbon is about 18 km east of Dubbo on the Mitchell Highway between Dubbo and Wellington. Enquiries are always welcome. Contact Gus on 0428 878 221 or Alistair 0427 878 221.

Lachlan Valley Rams is offering White Suffolks and Poll Dorsets for private sale at Forbes. All rams have a good lambplan performance, are Gudair vaccinated and Brucellosis accredited. Contact Alan Sharrock on 0427 511 397 with your enquiries.

The NSW Government’s new improved access for heavy vehicles carrying supplies and stock to drought-affected areas was welcomed by Parliamentary Secretary for Western NSW, Rick Colless.

The new NSW Class 3 Drought Assistance Dimension Exemption Notice, which came into effect this week, will allow more hay to be transported per truckload, reducing costs for farmers.

Rick said with 100 percent of NSW in drought there has been a greater demand to transport hay. “We know freight is a huge cost so the more hay we can get on one load the cheaper it is for our farmers.”

“The NSW Liberals and Nationals have committed more than $1 billion in drought assistance to date. This is another step designed to help assist farmers at this difficult time,” said Rick.

Drought applications are being prioritised through the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) portal, by including the word DROUGHT in the reference section of the application.

For any questions transport operators or farmers may have contact the dedicated hotline 1800 952 292 or visit www.rms.nsw. gov.au/drought-freight.

Conditions across the Central West continue to deteriorate with below average rainfall forecast for the next three months.

With many producers now hand feeding their remaining livestock, Central West Local Land Services staff are urging them to ensure they are constantly looking at the current and future cost of inputs to ensure they can make informed decisions around livestock management.

“Things are tight for producers. It’s important that they have a clear understanding of the cost of feeding stock so they can make an informed decision about if or when to sell,” said Central West Local Land Services Condobolin based district vet, Hanna Thomas.

To support landholders in the decision making process, Central West Local Land Services have partnered with RaynerAg and Landcare to roll out a series of workshops.

The workshops will allow producers to look at planning a cash flow budget to readjust strategies based on feeding or selling for the remainder of 2018, resource budget of feed and water based on requirements for stock and resetting key trigger points for livestock.

“Producers are under pressure at the moment and many are time poor due to their feeding schedule. These workshops are a great opportunity for them to stop and evaluate the financial impacts of feeding livestock and help them allocate limited resources effectively,” said Mel Kiel, Project Officer with Little River Landcare.

The free workshops will be held across the region throughout August. The Forbes workshop will take place on Tuesday, 21st August at the Forbes Inn Hotel from 12pm to 4pm. To attend, please contact Mel on 6846 4569 or projects@littleriverlandcare.com.au.

To find out more about these workshops or other Central West Local Land Services events, visit centralwestlls.nsw.gov.au

Forbes Shire Council is taking a bold step in speaking out against what it feels is unfair treatment of local government under the new Chain of Responsibility legislation.

Under the legislation, Council as the loading manager of the Central West Livestock Exchange (CWLE) is responsible for any breaches that may occur at the facility, including overloading, driver safety and fatigue.

General Manager, Steve Loane said that council has just been served an improvement notice addressing some 57 breaches by transport operators leaving the CWLE.

“We have been working hard to educate transport operators to ensure the breaches do not occur by ongoing site inductions covering the requirements of Chain of Responsibility, extensive signage around the site and direct letters to all operators,” said Steve.

“The improvement notice issued would require funding in excess of $2 million worth of additional infrastructure just to comply.”

“We are concerned that Council is being made an example of despite doing our best to address the requirements of the legislation. We are determined to take our case to as many political influencers as we are able, to bring about some fairness to Chain of Responsibility laws.”

Once again the Forbes Central West Livestock Exchange (CWLE) is proving to be a livestock selling centre of national significance with an Australian record set at this week’s sheep sale.

A pen of prime second cross Dorset lambs was sold for $260 by vendors Mathew and Joanne Randall from Trundle.

Agent Randall Grayson from Forbes Livestock (FLA) was the agent orchestrating the sale.

General Manager of Forbes Shire, Steve Loane said that the Central West Livestock Exchange continues to be a major asset for the community of Forbes.

“Even in these drier conditions we are seeing some big yardings and quality livestock,” said Steve. “A big congratulations to the vendors and their agent.”

The Central West Livestock Exchange is looking towards an expansion so that livestock movement through the facility can be made more efficient. This will greatly improve saleyard operations, lifting Forbes into the top five cattle selling centres in the state.

The Central West Livestock Exchange has an annual combined throughput of 1.5 million sheep, cattle and pigs.