Past Conference Presentations

2019 MerinoLink Annual Conference and Field Day

Wednesday 19th June 2019

Armidale City Bowling Club

Session 1

1. MerinoLink Welcome –  Richard Keniry, MerinoLink, Chairman
2. Profitability Constraints to Wool Production – Dr Phil Holmes of Holmes & Co., Adj. Professor University of New England    Click to view presentation
3. Animal Welfare Related to Wool Production Systems – Steven Read, CEO, Michell Wool Click to view presentation
4. Numnuts Official Producer Launch – Robin Smith, Director Numnuts

Session 2 

1. Flystrike Research and Development Updates – Bridget Peachey, Program Manager, Sheep Health and Welfare, Australian Wool Innovation  Click to view presentation
2. Synthetic Meat – MLA’s R&D Programs to Combat any Threat – Sean Starling, General Manager of MDC, Research, Development and Innovation, Meat and Livestock Australia  Click to view presentation
3. Agribusiness Insights and Farm Financing – Neil Findlay, Agribusiness Customer Executive, National Australia Bank  Click to view presentation
4. Artificial Breeding Technologies – New Developments – Associate Professor Simon de Graaf, University of Sydney  

Session 3

1. The Hour of Power- Sponsored by T. A. Field Estates
   Encouraging Young Researchers and Industry Innovators
   5-minute presentations from nine up and coming industry visionaries

• The Peter Westblade Scholarship Experience – Anna Cotton (Peter Westblade Scholarship Recipient 2018) Click to view presentation
• Environmental Stability in Sheep – Dominic Waters (University of New England, NSW)  Click to view presentation
• Working as an Agriculture Officer in Western NSW – Drought Management Tools – Tanisha Shields (Western Local Land Services, NSW)  Click to view presentation
• Sensor Use in Lambing Ewes – Amellia Redfearn (CSIRO, University of New England, NSW)   Click to view presentation
• Pharmakinetics and Efficacy of a Modified Release Meloxicam Formulation in Sheep – Christine Plummer (University of Sydney,NSW)  Click to view presentation
• An Unconventional Role in the Wool Industry – Selling Wool Online – Tom Rookyard (AuctionsPlus Wool, NSW)  Click to view presentation
• Grazing Preference of Sheep on Tall Fescue Cultivars – Kieran Smith (University of New England, NSW) Click to view presentation
• Supplementation for Colostrum/Milk Production in Ewes and Immunity Transfer to Lambs – Kayla Kopp (Charles Sturt University, NSW)  Click to view presentation
• Assessment of Behavioural Responses to an Audio Cue Using Different Training Methods for Virtual Fencing of Sheep – Bonnie Mayes (University of New England, NSW)  Click to view presentation
• Achieving More Lambs via Selective Breeding – Associate Professor Forbes Brien, University of Adelaide, SA  Click to view presentation
• DNA Project Update: Doubling the Rate of Genetic Gain and What it Means for You – Dr Tom Granleese, University of New England  Click to view presentation

Session 4 

1. Merino Lifetime Productivity Project: Profit from Lifetime Productivity
   Geoff Lindon, Program Manager Genetics & Animal Welfare Advocacy, Australian Wool Innovation  
2. Panel of Speakers – Q & A with all speakers
3. Close

Thursday 20th June 2019
CSIRO “Chiswick”, New England Highway, Uralla NSW

Session 1

1. Welcome, Introduction and Safety Briefing
   Jason Letchford, MerinoLink Limited CEO
2. Numnuts Introduction
   Robin Smith, Numnuts Director
3. ASKBILL – Forecasts to Assist Sheep Management
   Lu Hogan, Co-ordinator of Industry Training & Engagement, Sheep CRC
4. WoolQ – Will Wilson, Project Chair, WoolQ
5. Virtual Fencing – Dr Danila Marini, University of New England
6. Taking the Angst out of Grazing Management in Drought – Bart Davidson, MaiaGrazing Grazing Consultant

Session 2

1. MLP Welcome and Introduction – Duncan Lance, Chair NEMSEA
2. MLP Project Overview – Anne Ramsay, MLP Project Manager
3. MLP at New England – Jen Smith, New England Site Manager
4. CSIRO Add-on Projects – Various speakers
5. Evaluation collections

Location 2: Sheep Yards

1. Understanding the Results and Sire Introductions – Ben Swain, AMSEA EO
2. Field Day Wrap Up – Jason Letchford & Duncan Lance

2018 MerinoLink Annual Conference and Field Day

20th and 21st June, 2018

 

Session 1

1. MerinoLink welcome and brief project outline Richard Keniry MerinoLink Chair

2. QPLU$ Revived; Merino Breeding Fundamentals Dr Kevin Atkins former Principal Research Scientist

3. What are ASBVs good at? A Journey from Raw Data to ASVBs – A Practical Approach Mark Mortimer CentrePlus, Tullamore, NSW

4. The Genetic Program in Action on Farm Dave Vandenberghe Wattle Dale Merinos, Scadden, WA

 

Session 2

5. Driving Adoption in Genetics Dave Packer Adoption Manager – Genetics, Meat & Livestock Australia

The Hour of Power

Session 3

6. Non Mules Case Study summary MerinoLink Geoff Lindon Program Manager Genetics & Animal Welfare Advocacy, Australian Wool Innovation

7. Product Quality Down the Wool Value Chain Steven Read Michell Wool Pty Ltd, Adelaide

8. What are the productivity trade-offs for Merino flocks? Dr John Web Ware Mackinnon Project, Melbourne University

 

 

 

 

2017 MerinoLink Annual Conference and Field Day

21st and 22nd June 2017

 

Session 1: Make a Difference

MerinoLink Future Direction; Richard Keniry

MLA Future of sheep meat; Richard Norton

The R & D Process; Richard Simpson

 

Session 2: Next Gen Ag

Attracting, Retaining and Developing our youth in Agriculture; Sandra Ireson

Benefits and Barriers to Adoption of Precision Sheep Management; Lexi Cesnik

Benefits of using eID technology; Anthony Uren

ASKBILL Sheep CRC; Lu Hogan

 

Session 3: R&D Working

Feed Supplement Trial Preliminary results; Sally Martin

Using the genetic technology, ML trial results; Sally Martin

Flock Profile Merinolink 2017; Tom Granleese

 

Session 4: R&D in Practice

Feedbase challenges to improve grazing systems; Richard Hayes

Future challenges for merino production systems; Phil Graham

Ewes for the future, lambs wool and profit; Kieran Ransom