Page 2 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Pig Industry Calendar of Events
2019
MAR 9 - 12 – 50th AASV Annual Meeting, Florida, US www.aasv.org/ annmtg
MAY 19 - 21 – ONE19 Conference, Lexington, US www.one.alltech.com
JUN 5 - 7 – World Pork Expo, Iowa, US www.worldpork.org
JUN 12-13 – Australian Biosecurity Symposium, Gold Coast, QLD www. biosym.com.au
JUN 23-26 – International Symposium on Emerging and Remerging Pig Diseases, Santiago, Chile www. emerging2019.com/en
AUG 11 - 14 – The International Conference on Boar Semen Preservation, Hunter Valley, NSW www.boarsemen2019.com
AUG 25 - 28 – Asian Pig Veterinary Society Congress, Buscan, South Korea www.apvs2019.com/invit.html
AUG 26- 29 – SafePork Conference, Berlin, Germany www.safepork- conference.com
NOV 17 - 20 – Australasian Pig Science Association Conference, Adelaide SA www.apsa.asn.au
How to supply event details: Send all details to Australian Pork Newspaper, PO Box 387, Cleveland, Qld 4163, call 07 3286 1833 fax: 07 3821 2637, email: ben@porknews.com.au
porknews.com.au
07 3286 1833
I HOPE you all had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year period with your family and friends and that 2019 will be a better one for the Aus- tralian pork industry. Australian Pork Indus- try Leadership Course
As many of you may know, Australian Pork Limited initiated and launched this industry- specific leadership pro- gram in March 2018 to de- velop and support young leaders to build their networks, discuss indus- try challenges and learn pragmatic leadership skills that can be readily applied to their business.
This course also aims to prepare participants to represent the Austral- ian pork industry more broadly, including as an APL delegate and Board member and on industry associations as well as within their communities.
The first year of the leadership course (Course 1) will be completed by the six participants, name- ly Robert Hewitt, Sunpork Solutions, Queensland; Tracy Anderson, Ander- lea Pork, Queensland; Tristan Donaldson, Don- aldson Farming, NSW; Andrea Dent, DL and NJ Dent, Western Australia; Haydon Stocks, Pastoral Pork, Victoria and Paul Ridgewell, Westpork, WA, when the third and final workshop is held from January 29-31 in Canberra.
Each participant has gained valuable skills and knowledge as well as ex- tended their professional networks, enhanced by their visit to Denmark in October 2018 that was ar- ranged and co-ordinated by Ashley Norval.
It is very pleasing that from their travels and in- teractions with other pro- ducers, several members have already implemented learnings back on-farm that were picked up dur- ing the course, particular- ly from their international travels.
On behalf of the group, both Robert and Tracy made presentations about the course to the APL del- egates in November 2018.
More detail on the key outcomes from the Dan- ish workshop is contained in an article within the Summer 2018-19 edition of ‘Pigs to Pork’ to be dis- tributed in early January.
It is planned that an
by HEATHER CHANNON Research and Innovation General Manager
alumni group will be de- veloped, much like those in place for other agricul- tural leadership programs, to support the next gen- eration of Australian pork industry leaders.
Applications for the 2019 intake of the Australian Pork Industry Leadership Course (Course 2) will open on January 29 and close on February 26 (no late applications will be accepted).
Selection criteria and de- tails of the online applica- tion process will be pro- vided shortly via the APL Communique, and this in- formation will be available on the APL website.
All applications received will be independently as- sessed, according to the selection criteria, by a panel of judges including APL staff, producers/del- egates, industry consult- ants and key stakeholders.
Places are both limited and competitive and will be awarded to the six highest-ranked applicants.
I strongly encourage those who are interested in applying to contact Ashley Norval on 0437 177 527 or ashley.nor val@australianpork.com. au and/or the Course 1 participants to discuss the development opportuni- ties this course will pro- vide to you.
The format of the course will remain as per the first year (with some mi- nor tweaking following a review of Course 1).
Three workshops will be held throughout the year, with two to be held in Canberra and one in Den- mark.
Successful participants will be required to ar- range their own travel to each of the workshops. Session 1: Advanced Team Challenge
This ‘fast track’ experi- ence aims to strengthen team dynamics, identify and manage communica- tion issues and embed a practice of collaboration
across the team.
Session 2: Overseas Ex- pedition
Exposure to, and immer- sion in, another culture can provide new stimulus enabling people to devel- op new perspectives, gain understanding and gener- ate innovative ideas that can then be applied in the workplace once they go home.
This component of the course will involve par- ticipants visiting various farm and processing op- erations in Denmark, with the visit coinciding with the 2019 ‘Svine Kongres- sen’ – the Danish equiva- lent of the Pan Pacific Pork Expo.
This event typically at- tracts over 1200 Danish pig production employees every year and provides excellent networking op- portunities.
Session 3: Leadership Thinking Skills
Development leadership thinking needs particular focus in two areas: emo-
tional intelligence and engagement with others (difficult conversations and the more public world of media) and thinking in complexity (how to think like a futurist).
APL Benchmarking Program update
The Pork CRC Bench- marking Program has now been fully taken over by APL and is being man- aged by Ashley Norval.
The group met in Mel- bourne in late 2018 to discuss the year’s pro- gress on individual farms, learn from each other and talk about the latest industry issues and decision making on-farm in hard times.
Presentations were made by Nigel McGuikan, Dr Rowan O’Hagan, Dr Lechelle van Breda and myself.
I extend my thanks to Rowan for managing the data collection analysis and reporting during the handover period and com- piling presentations for the participants’ meeting.
With the new year begin- ning, there is now oppor- tunity for new members to join the benchmarking group – all production types and farm sizes are welcome to participate.
Data will be entered by individual farms via the PigPass portal, or via Ashley Norval for those who do not have good enough internet access.
Based off the discus- sions at the recent bench-
marking meeting, data will be submitted quarter- ly rather than monthly as originally planned, with all herd recording systems able to be used.
The annual meeting time has also been changed, with the next meeting scheduled to be held dur- ing August in Melbourne.
For a list of the key per- formance indicators we will be collecting, or to discuss your involvement further, please contact Ashley.
Farewell to Tony Abel
It is with much regret that I advise the R&I team will be bidding farewell to Tony Abel, Manager, Product Integrity on Janu- ary 18.
During his time with APL, Tony has played an integral role in man- aging APIQPand more recently, leading the tran- sition to third-party audit- ing with AUS-MEAT as well as managing projects within the Product Integ- rity portfolio.
I’m sure you will join me in thanking Tony for his many contributions he has delivered to industry over the past nine and a half years with APL and to wish him all the very best for his future.
For further informa- tion on any of the topics discussed, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0423 056 045 or heather. channon@australianpork. com.au
Seeking applicants for APL’s 2019 Leadership Course
SUMMER is upon us! Are you ready?
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Page 2 – Australian Pork Newspaper, January 2019 www.porknews.com.au
Research grant to help pigs
☛ from P1
new knowledge and im-
proved husbandry.” Paul Hemsworth, Ani- mal Welfare Science Centre, the University of Melbourne and Alan Tilbrook, Queensland Alliance for Agricul- ture and Food Innova- tion, the University of Queensland, said the project would examine stress resilience in pigs and generate knowledge on early life manage- ment to endow stress resilience in pigs, with expected benefits for their welfare, health, productivity and subse-
quent farm profitability. “Modern pig farm- ing is a major source of food, providing substan-
tial nutritional, social and economic benefits for Australia and the world,” Prof Hemsworth said.
“Animal welfare is of increasing concern to the public, consumers and pork producers and stress vulnerability is an ani- mal health and produc- tion problem in the life of the commercial pig.”
Project investigators are Prof Paul Hems- worth (the University of Melbourne); Prof Alan Tilbrook (the Univer- sity of Queensland); Dr Jeremy Marchant Forde (USDA – Agricultural Research Service, US); Assoc Prof Roger Ras- sool (the University of Melbourne) and Prof Jean-Loup Rault (Uni-
versity of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna).
The investigators agree that prior stress- ful experiences early in life may strengthen an animal’s resistance to subsequent stressors.
Prof Hemsworth said reducing farm animal stress would have sub- stantial economic and social benefits, because stress reduced animal welfare, productivity and health.
“Importantly, public animal welfare concerns can dramatically affect welfare-based buying de- cisions and curtail farm profitability and the con- tinued use of specific ani- mal practices,” he said.
www.APRI.com.au