The combined BetterBeef and Bestwool/BestLamb conference, to be held at the Bendigo Showgrounds on June 18-19, is Victoria’s biggest annual gathering of beef and sheep producers.
The program includes a beef cattle focused conference on the Tuesday, a sheep focused conference on the Wednesday, and a combined industry dinner on the Tuesday night.
Participants can choose which days of the program they would like to attend.
This year’s program will cover a range of topics designed to motivate producers to adopt best management practices and improve productivity.
Holbrook Veterinary Centre’s Dr Shane Thomson’s presentation at the beef conference ‘What does a fertile herd look like?’ will provide strategies for pursuing higher fertility rates as a key driver of enterprise profitability.
Learning from the New Zealand experience to increase reproductive performance from 100 per cent lamb marking to 130 per cent will be the keynote address from New Zealand sheep scientist and Massey University’s Dr Paul Kenyon.
Dr Kenyon will also address the most effective management of triplet-bearing ewes and joining ewe lambs during one of the popular concurrent sessions of the conference.
Inspirational speaker Peter Davidson, the paramedic who was lowered into the seas of the tragic 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race to rescue eight survivors, will be the keynote speaker at the conference dinner on Tuesday night. He will explore what ordinary, well-trained and motivated people can achieve.
Other program highlights include:
- ‘Running a profitable and sustainable beef business’ by Frank Archer from Landfall Angus, Tasmania
- ‘Harnessing value in the lamb supply chain’ by Michael Crowley from Meat & Livestock Australia
- ‘Building the business, resilience in tough times’ by Greg and Jo Bear from Canary Island
- ‘What makes a quality beef product’ by Mark Inglis from JBS.
Early bird tickets can be secured online up until 10 June and the full conference program can also be viewed.
Conference chair Jason Trompf said as in previous years the conference strives to highlight industry research and development that can be applied on farm.