Hunter Local Land Services will hold a series of seasonal condition workshops in October, to help landholders and managers make good planning decisions as they deal with the dry start to spring.
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There has been very little rainfall since early winter across the region and many farm managers are looking for options for feeding and marketing their livestock.
“A dry winter has seen winter pastures not providing the feed for this time of year and older pastures from last season have been depleted and are now of no value to provide sufficient nutrition for livestock,” said Sustainable Agriculture Advisory Officer Albert Mullen.
“Unseasonably warm weather and windy conditions in recent weeks has impacted water supplies and heavier reliance from stock is impacting both quantity and quality of these resources.”
Hunter Local Land Services staff are urging landholders to prepare their properties now and consider their options for managing livestock, heading towards summer.
“Crunch time is now looming for landholders to make staged decisions on dry season management for stock if not already in train,” said Mr Mullen.
“These workshops will include advice on feeding, herd strategies, animal health and welfare as well as the long term forecast for beef markets.”
The workshops will feature cattle industry experts, district vets, agronomy and pasture representatives and rural financial counsellors.
The Dungog session will be held on October 18. Landholders are asked to RSVP to the Hunter Land Services office on 02 4938 4929.