With voting closing on November 6, just 10.6 percent of NSW woolgrowers have cast their ballot in WoolPoll 2009. That’s 1,704 out of a total of 16,056 eligible growers state-wide. Nationally, only 11.3 per cent of growers have voted in the poll to determine what percentage of their wool incomes go to Australian Wool Innovation, the nation’s wool research and marketing body. NSW has the highest proportion of growers of any state representing 36 per cent of all the levy payers nationally. WoolPoll chair Will Roberts said the poor response to the poll so far was alarming and is urging woolgrowers who care about the future of this industry to lodge their vote.

NSW Wine awards

The significance of the wine industry in southern NSW was clearly shown at the NSW Wine Awards, the State’s biggest wine show. Of the top 40 wines in NSW, seven came from the Riverina region, five from the Hilltops region around Young and two from the Tumbarumba district, meaning 35 per cent of winners came from three wine growing regions in southern NSW. The Hunter Valley still topped the list of winners with 18 awards. Of the top 40 wines, 12 were awarded trophies to highlight the continual improvement in wine quality.

Transporting

livestock

New research has been conducted into the effects of restricting the feed intake of livestock before they are transported to help develop new guidelines for the transport of sheep and cattle by road. CSIRO scientist Drewe Ferguson says the project’s findings are the result of three years of research into whether some period of food and water curfew prior to loading had a direct effect on the ability of the animals to cope when their transport. So far,

the research project has proved inconclusive.

Cereal disease

Grain industry advisers and growers in the southern cropping zone can now easily access comprehensive information about cereal foliar diseases and their management. This information is available through links from a single page on the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) website. The disease links’ page has been set up to make it easy for advisers and growers to locate technical reference links for common diseases in wheat, barley and oats.