Western Murray Land Improvement Group Inc

Wakool Sheep Night 2022

An annual event, an iniative of Central Murray Best Wool Best Lamb

Capacity to Deliver

The issue

The annual Wakool Sheep Night was held on Monday 27th of June 2022 as a joint initiative of Central Murray BestWool BestLamb (CMBWBL) and Western Murray Land Improvement Group (WMLIG). CMBWBL Coordinator Rick Ellis began the evening explaining how crucial it is to have a business plan for your sheep enterprise. This was reinforced by. Dr Mark Ferguson by stating ‘you just live in hope of rain and hope of good prices. This is not planning.’ Having a farm business plan and capturing as much data as you can to make informed business decisions.

The solution

Dr Mark Ferguson the co-founder of neXtgen Agri and Henry Hickson neXtgen Agri’s Livestock Breeding Consultant presented on the keys to running a successful sheep business. neXtgen Agri is renowned in the sheep industry and focuses on converting the complexities of genetic science into understandable logical and intuitive decisions

The impact

54 people attended the Wakool Sheep Night. Of the 54 people that attended, 31 attendees participated in the survey (57% of attendees)

  • 94% of survey participants found the workshop very relevant.
  • 90% of survey participants strongly agreed that the presenters were engaging.
  • 94% of survey participants are likely to make a change to their business following the workshop.
  • The night received an overall rating of 8.7 out of 10.

The key changes that participants were going to make are:

  • Better planning
  • Flock profiling
  • Recording better data

Topics that participants would like to see in the future:

  • Biosecurity (most listed)
  • How to buy rams – price vs characteristics
  • Return of investment for commercial flocks
  • New technology in farming and economic and environmental sustainability e.g., carbon offsetting
  • Help for beginners or experts happy to provide tours.
  • Sheep classing and dog training
  • Mulesing and wool workshops
  • Yard design and data collection
  • Data collection
  • Feed Conversions vis Sheep type
  • Regenerative farming, biodiversity preservation, connections of flood streams between several farms.
Author: Roger Knight

Key facts

  • 54 Participants
  • 94% surveyed stated they were likely to make a change to their business following the workshop.

Project Partners