VIRTUAL fencing, genetic mutations to wipe out lice and worms, mobile meat processing plants, and sheep bred with feed conversion ratios to rival poultry, are all tools producers hope the sheep industry will have available to it by 2050.
These 'blue sky' ideas were among those put forward at four SA Sheep Industry Blueprint consultation workshops across the state at Cleve, Burra, Murray Bridge, and Lucindale in the past few weeks.
The workshops - attended by nearly 100 producers, agents and service providers - outlined the plan, and provided valuable feedback for focus areas to meet its targeted 20 per cent growth.
The push is on to lift the SA lamb, mutton and wool value chain from $1.48 billion to $1.8b by 2020.
The initial three-year planning process has been extended to five years to include a Cattle Blueprint, with the Livestock SA and the SA Sheep Advisory Group partnering with University of Adelaide and PIRSA.
Blueprint manager Steven Lee said most of the workshop suggestions fell into the five key areas of the value chain identified at a stakeholder meeting earlier this year - on-farm, the service sector, education and training, processing, and consumer focus on domestic and export markets.
The four recurring research priorities among attendees were to improve sheep producers' ability to capture on-farm data efficiently to make more profitable decisions, improving the feed base, controlling sheep lice, and improving lamb survival.
"It is estimated pasture utilisation is in the 30 per cent range, so we can increase that significantly," Dr Lee said. "However, people pushing their systems need good decision-support tools to avoid risky management.
"The wool processing representatives on the SASIB working group have suggested controlling sheep lice would go a long way to achieving a 20pc gain in the wool industry".
Dr Lee said most producers had accepted 20pc growth as an achievable target but the goal posts could be moved if necessary.
Blueprint chairman Allan Piggott spoke on his recent appointment as the SA chairman for the reinvigorated Southern Australia Meat Research Council.
He said Meat & Livestock Australia's new research, development and adoption consultation model was made up of seven regional committees across SA, Vic, NSW and Tas, which would give southern Australian producers greater input into prioritising research funded by their red meat levies.
There were many synergies between the plan and what the council was trying to achieve. Therefore, it had been decided the SA regional committee would be made up by Blueprint Working Group members, with additional representatives from the cattle industry.
Mr Piggott was thrilled with the discussion in the blueprint workshops and excited to see so many young enthusiastic sheep producers keen to drive the industry forward.
"MLA has flagged it will be moving from short-term projects to longer and more collaborative research projects working on bigger challenges,'' he said.
"I hope to put forward some of these good ideas when SAMRC meets in late November and get some of the research happening."
Catherine Miller
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
Stock Journal's livestock editor and South East correspondent.
