Beautiful but deadly Paterson’s Curse has exploded around the Ski Dam in Forbes.

Residents and regular Ski Dam walkers in Forbes will have no doubt noticed the beautiful sprawling weed around the Ski Dam and around paddocks in the Shire, the beautiful purple hue reminiscent of the picturesque lavender fields of Provence, France. However, this local version must not be mistaken for such.

Echium Plantagineum, more commonly known as Paterson’s Curse, Riverina Bluebell and Purple Viper’s-Bugloss is an invasive weed which is extremely harmful to livestock. Rumoured to have been named after the Paterson family of Cumberoona, NSW who planted it in their garden in the 1880’s, only to watch in horror as it spread across pastoral and agricultural land. Paterson’s Curse’s poisoning symptoms range from loss of appetite, abdominal swelling, weight loss, diarrhea, constipation, and sleepiness, to more severe symptoms that can result in death due to liver damage.

While livestock tend to ignore Paterson’s Curse, contaminated hay bales or feed is more often to blame for the consumption of this toxic weed. In 1988 and 1994, the CSIRO released moth, root weevils, flea beetles and two more types of beetles in South Australia which is said to have significantly contributed to the decline in the abundance of the weed as both the moth and beetle species can kill the plant before it flowers. In human’s the plant can cause skin irritation so please give this smiling assassin a wide-berth if and when you might come across it.

Felix Rams focuses on producing efficient and profitable prime lambs by breeding high performance, structurally sound rams for efficient prime lamb enterprises. Their commitment to collecting good accurate performance data is in the DNA and is embedded as the fundamental approach to the way they breed sheep.

In the world of big data, 27,000 lambs weighed within 12 hours of birth, 22,000 weaning weights, almost 18,500 scans with weights for postweaning fat and muscle and 4,400 individual worm egg counts is a lot of data. This is the performance data that influences the ram selection and the accuracy of the Sheep Genetics Lambplan asbvs on the rams you buy.

Felix Rams are selected for quick early growth and maturity, not maximum adult ram size. Most of the selection is done at 6.5 to 7 months, reflecting the age most lambs are sold. At Felix it is all about the lambs. Felix Rams selects for early maturity to efficiently produce a 22-28 kg lamb. Early maturity also means your suckers have the best chance of hitting the target year in year out, while attention to the “right” amount of fat means that you will almost always have finish on your lambs at market weights.

Despite the tough start, the 2019 drop rams have transformed with the improved season. Felix Rams selection are for rams that perform on pasture and under commercial conditions. This year’s sale rams are paddock grown and finished and are not pumped up or grown out on a grain feeder.

Felix Rams will offer around 140 Poll Dorset and 50 White Suffolk rams at their 22nd annual on-property sale at Greenethorpe on 1 September at 1pm. Catalogues are available at www.felixrams.com.au. Email felixrams@gmail.com or call Rodney 0417 499 204, Isaac 0437 493 407 or the selling agents, Allan Gray and Co Cowra 02 6342 2377.

Image credit: https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/

Australia’s new blueprint for humane, best practice wild dog management officially took effect from 1 July.

Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management Minister David Littleproud praised the way government and industry stakeholders collaborated on the new National Wild Dog Action Plan.

“Wild dogs are terribly destructive pests, costing farmers conservatively upwards of $89 million a year in lost production and control costs,” David said. “They can decimate livestock, tearing down sheep and goats at will, and in doing so, can hurt rural and regional economies because of the destruction they wreak and anxiety they cause.”

Having a clear, coordinated and borderless national plan to guide farmers and other stakeholders on the best strategies and safest tools for livestock and biodiversity protection is critical for rural and regional communities as they recover from COVID-19, bushfires and drought.

David applauded the way producers, peak farming bodies, governments and research and development corporations came together to ensure control measures are evidence-based and best practice. “Wild dog management is an Australian Government priority, with over $54 million invested in wild dog management since 2014-15, including recent wild dog fencing commitments in South Australia and Western Australia,” he said.

“The National Wild Dog Action Plan has already proved an exemplar in the way we should be approaching Australian predator management.”

The National Biosecurity Committee endorsed the National Wild Dog Action Plan 2020-2030 as the national plan for the co-ordinated management of wild dogs on 11 March 2020.

Grain growers are reminded they should avoid spraying annual ryegrass with clethodim herbicide when frost is forecast.

Weed control experts are advising growers not to spray clethodim two to three days before or after a frost event due to the impact on efficiency. The poor performance of clethodim on annual ryegrass, a weed becoming increasingly resistant to clethodim, can be associated with cold and frosty conditions.

University of Adelaide Associate Professor in weed and crop ecology, Dr Gurjeet Gill, says frosty conditions make it even harder to control annual ryegrass when clethodim resistance is present in the population.

“Growers are advised to carefully review weather forecasts for their district and spray clethodim when cloud cover is present and the risk of frost occurrence is low,” Gurjeet says.

Clethodim resistance has been slowly increasing in the northern region with current testing indicating resistance through New South Wales is less than 10 per cent.

This message is particularly pertinent to Forbes, which is prone to frost at this time of year, when many canola and pulse crops are likely to be sprayed for ryegrass control.

The Central West Livestock Exchange (CWLE) is moving into Stage 2 of the recovery from COVID-19, with the allowance of agents, vendors, restockers and contractors on site while business is being conducted from 15 June.

“The Saleyards are not open to the general public, if you are not conducting direct business here please do not come,” says Forbes Shire Council’s General Manager, Steve Loane, who also advised that “we require all to follow some simple guidelines when attending the facility. Please fill out the attendance form before turning up at the yards. Failing to do so only results in long queues at the gate, which nobody appreciates. This form can be found on our website and the agents also have access to it.

“We know how important it is for our farming community to have a chance to catch up with fellow stock men and women and talk about their trials and tribulations. This place is a common meeting ground and everyone’s mental health needs considering,” Steve said.

For further information please contact Central West Livestock Exchange manager Cassi Walmsley on 6850 2300.