Queensland Making More from Sheep State Coordination

Abstract

Making More from Sheep is a key extension and communication program for the sheep industry delivered by the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries in Queensland as a joint initiative of Australian Wool Innovation and Meat & Livestock Australia. Queensland is uniquely positioned for growth within Australia’s sheep industry and requires on-going development through extension and advisory services from the public and private sectors to maximise this potential.
Queensland’s sheep industry has a low farmer density across a large geographic area; there are approximately 15% the number of sheep producers compared with Victoria across seven times the area. This leads to challenges of distance and low frequency of direct client contact within an extension program. Webinars addressed the issue of distance to travel but are not suited to all topics. The majority of Making More from Sheep events were delivered to groups in regional and district centres, with local sheep producers included as presenters to increase attendance, relevance, transfer of skills and to maximise the impact of each event. This was successful and should continue.
Twenty-eight events were successfully delivered to 883 participants between March 2014 and December 2016, spread across a distance of 1200km. Participants were very satisfied with the standard of these events, the value to their businesses and 40% identified an intention to make changes to their practices. Partnerships at local, state and national levels were crucial for practice change by bringing expertise into Queensland, creating exposure to a wider audience, minimising the risk of duplication and allowing greater leverage of funding. These partnerships should continue to be developed.