Farm magazine April 2014

FARM

YOUR

Autumn/Winter 2014

Proudly brought to you by The Monaro Post your local independent paper of the Monaro

The dry Monaro has been transformed of late, as rain arrived just in the nick of time.

Apart from transforming the Monaro’s dusty beige colour to vibrant green, the rain also encouraged good prices as the annual calf-selling season kicked off.

It’s a rare sight to see agents sheltering under an umbrella at Cooma saleyards, but that was the scene at the start of the sales.

Pictured on this page, the rain certainly brought smiles to the faces of buyers at the March 26 cattle sale.

INSIDE THIS EDITION: Monaro Women on the land - learn the stories of some of our local women and their life in agriculture.

Royal Easter Show results.

Monaro Merino Ewe competition.

Autumn/Winter 2014

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30th October 2014

www.monaropost.com.au

This year, thanks to the support from Monaro Farming Solutions (MFS) host producers, MFS is able to once again run the traineeship program.

After a rigorous advertising and selection process, the two successful trainees are locals Cameron Johnson (Cooma) and Kate Connolly (Bredbo).

Kate is working in the Bombala district and Cameron is working in the Cooma district. This year MFS has opted to go back to using a group employer MEGT to make the employment a simple process and to have the benefits of a more structured support system. Kate and Cameron are also undertaking a Cert III in Agriculture which is all work-place assessed and delivered by the group trainer ATEL. Kate is a delightful young girl (18) who has deferred University this year to gain some practical skills in agriculture before commencing an Agricultural Science Degree in Wagga in 2015.

She has already worked across five different properties including Tintagel Pastoral Company, Inverlochie, LeTompe, Bellevue and Finchley, learning many different skills and ways of farming.

Kate has been helping with mustering, feeding out, drafting sheep, drenching, crutching and has spent a day with a fencing contractor. She is living in Bombala in rental accommodation and enjoying her year very much so far. All reports have been very positive with Kate a hard worker who is very keen and willing to learn and uses a lot of initiative and diligence going about her work.

Kate is currently working with Coleen McCoy at LeTompe. Coleen originally became involved in the program to use the extra help however she now realises how rewarding it is to be able to help encourage young people to choose a career in Agriculture and teach the skills and share experience with the younger generation.

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Farm Introducing MFS Trainee – Kate Connolly

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Photo of Kate and her working dog “Socks” who she acquired from Lisa Phillips MFS has been able to source funding from AWI of $1000 per trainee which will go towards paying the trainees to attend the shearing school at “Coolringdon” in May. MFS will also support Kate and Cameron to attend the working dog school coming up in Bombala in May and has helped buy protective and practical clothing for the trainees as well as coordinate their work programs.

MFS thanks NSW Farmers (Cooma Branch) for their donation of $1000 to support this traineeship program as well as RB Sellars who have again donated 2 work shirts and a winter work jumper to both trainees.

Out of intrest, Daniel Rowson (our Cooma trainee in 2012) has recently won the Dalgety Show Rural Achiever Award and has acknowledged MFS in helping him achieve his Certificate III in Agriculture and gain invaluable practical experience on Monaro properties.

For more info please contact Nancy Spoljaric. nancy@msanda.com.au

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Autumn/Winter 2014

Local studs enjoy Sydney Royal success Local Monaro studs have enjoyed great success at this year’s Sydney Royal Easter Show.

Conrayn Merino Stud has won the grand champion unhoused Merino wool award.

Adina Merino Stud, picked up the champion medium wool, August shorn, Merino ewe and Reserve Champion fine wool, August shorn, Merino ram, amongst other awards.

Greenland Merino Stud won the supreme junior Merino and reserve junior champion March shorn Merino ram.

In the cattle section, Rosskin Angus Stud’s H19 Admiral was judged reserve champion senior Angus bull.

The happy winners are pictured with their exhbits and their awards.

Congratulations to all.

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Autumn/Winter 2014

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Farm

Landcare founders call for a new decade of action National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) have again joined forces to call for a new decade of action to tackle the challenges confronting Australia’s land, water, wildlife and farmland.

In 1989 the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and NFF convinced the Hawke Federal Government to support a movement that would engage communities across Australia in activities to reverse the degradation of farmland, public land and waterways.

This was the beginning of Landcare as a national movement. There are now more than 6000 Landcare and

Coastcare groups around the country, working to improve Australia’s farmland, waterways and natural environments.

“For a quarter of a century, Landcare has made Australia a better place, yet the scale of the task ahead is significant,” said NFF CEO Matt Linnegar.

“To meet the growing international demand for food and fibre, Australian farmers will need to continue their efforts to ensure long term sustainability,” Mr Linnegar said.

“Landcare has got people out into nature, working together to repair and restore waterways, wildlife habitat and farmlands all over Australia,” said ACF CEO Don Henry.

“With big challenges ahead, it’s so important that governments and the wider community continue to restore our land and rivers – our life support systems – which are the heart of Australia’s economic security and our way of life,” Mr Henry said.

As founding members of the original Landcare partnership, ACF and NFF have issued a new call to governments at

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all levels, the farming, conservation and corporate sectors, philanthropists and the broader community to: 1) Commit to a decade of action to overcome the challenges confronting Australia’s land, water, wildlife and farmland that lie at the heart of our economic security and way of life.

2) Strengthen the connections between farmers, traditional owners, urban Australians and all those working to improve the health of our environment.

3) Recognise the maintenance and improvement of our farmlands and natural environment as vital components of our living national infrastructure.

Your property’s most valuable asset – A water bore The most valuable asset any landowner can have is a permanent, reliable water supply.

That is why having a water bore constructed to provide that water is the most important investment landowners can make for their properties. No other single factor can compare with the importance of an adequate water supply on a property, as water is the heart of any rural operation, whether it is for crops, livestock, grapes, olives, fruit trees or feedlots or stock and domestic use.

Max Jones of Watermin Drillers says the weather we have experienced over the past couple of months has seen water bore construction climb to an all time high, as supplies of surface water have disappeared in the drought.

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Mr Jones said that with the prolonged dry seasons and the increased understanding of underground water, the traditional farm dam may well become a thing of the past. He said there is extremely little likelihood of underground water supplies ever becoming exhausted, if managed properly.

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Farm Autumn/Winter 2014 5 Revegetation equals productivity and sustainability on farm Contrary to some views, native trees and shrubs can be grown quite successfully on the Monaro if correct planning and preparation is followed, like any other crop in a farming enterprise.

Michael and Annie Platts of Monaro Native Tree Nursery at Bombala have proven that to achieve successful revegetation on farms you need to incorporate your tree planting program into your whole farm plan.

They have undertaken a planting program on their own farm over a period of ten years which, even through the drought years has been very successful, with survival rates over 90 percent.

To achieve s u c c e s s f u l outcomes they believe the first thing that needs to happen is a change of mindset; meaning that your planting project must be of equal importance as any other farm job. It must be prepared and completed at the optimal time for best results, just as is sowing crops, weed spraying, lamb tailing etc.

If you keep thinking you’ll do it when it rains or when you have time, the reality is it won’t get done or it will happen at the wrong time of year or without the proper preparation, which is critical to its success. Michael Platts admits it is not an easy thing to do, as you may find yourself driving past an old fence that needs attention to put up a new fence for your revegetation project, but believes that the benefits of trees on farms far outweighs the compromise.

In the past 20 years the Platts have seen a diverse range of revegetation on farms across Australia and New Zealand

ranging from dairy farms to grazing enterprises, with most farms revegetating at least 10 percent of their land. All of these farmers have recorded an increase of production on their land with a common figure of 20 percent. An example of this is a dairy farmer at Leangatha who put 11 percent of his 200 acre highly productive property down to revegetation because he was losing milk production in the winter due to cold winds from the Southern Ocean. The shelter created and reduced feed requirements for the cattle to keep

no protection. Twenty-five extra lambs @ $100 per lamb soon adds value to the project.

This is without factoring in the reduced moisture loss due to wind, increased bird populations and their impact on insects, future timber source and carbon sink, and the rewarding feeling of bringing your farm back to life.

People can go to our website for more detailed info regarding ground preparation, species selection

projects underway.

The Platts are often asked by farmers when is the best time to plant a tree, and in many cases the answer is ‘20 years ago’.

Go to our website for more detailed info regarding ground preparation, species selection and information about our nursery. www.monaronativetreenursery. com.au

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Tree line is three years old. warm meant an overall increase in profitability.

The Platts are commonly asked how they know that revegetation is improving productivity on farms. Apart from other farmers experiences, they have on their own farm over the past three years trialled two paddocks, one with new tree lines (three years old) and one paddock with no protection. Originally the two paddocks were one. A mob of 500 ewes were split in half prior to lambing. The result has been that the paddock with protection even though the trees are very young, has had a better lambing percentage, eight percent, 10 percent, 10 percent respectively higher than the paddock with

and information about our nursery.

Successful revegetation can only be achieved by the following; • select sites which will be used by livestock • deep ripping for moisture retention • weed control for the first 18 months • plant selection for soil type and rainfall • diverse range of species, from under-storey to trees.

Monaro Native Tree Nursery has a wide range of species suitable for our local area, and are happy to do on farm site inspections to get your farm revegetation

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Autumn/Winter 2014 Farm 6 Women on the land - Margaret Barron, “Adina” Peak View Like many women who call the farm home, Margaret Barron has been living off the land all her life.

“I think farming is a way of life,” Margaret says, “Sometimes it’s hard and other times it’s not, but it definitely isn’t easy work,” she said. “It’s laborious.”

The Barrons have always farmed sheep, but Margaret says they do sometimes dabble in cattle.

Their farm, Adina Merino Stud, is located near Jerangle and produces fine – fine medium Merinos.

With her husband Ray and son James, the Barron’s are well known for producing excellent quality wool, running their sheep on the harsh Monaro.

Outside of farm-work, Margaret has been an active member of the local Country Women’s Association; it is through this group of women she has been able to engage with other members of the community.

“It would be boring if you weren’t involved in something,” she said, “Especially for women. I need contact with friends outside of the farm, I’m definitely a people person,” she said.

This sociability has lead Margaret to also involve herself in the show committee, becoming a valuable member and vice president, of the Cooma P&A Association.

“We already take our sheep to the shows, but I also do quite a bit of judging myself,” she said. “I judge the jams,

cakes and that sort of thing.”

Margaret insists that a life outside of the farm is very important, “If you didn’t have contact with outside people you wouldn’t know what was going on!”

She also enjoys the way her family can engage with the farming lifestyle she leads, indicating that her grandson is very interested in what happens on the farm.

“My son is now the stud principal, but my family who don’t do farming also love to come and visit us on weekends and holidays, we are all very close and the farm is the centre of that,” she said.

When it comes to the future of the stud, Margaret says she and Ray will keep going as long as they can.

“I hope we get some more rain to make things a bit easier, rather than having to feed the sheep all winter, it would be good if the pastures would grow,” she said.

Drought is definitely an issue for all of the farming community and one that farmers of the Monaro face quite regularly.

Adina Merino Stud did well this show season, according to Margaret Barron (right) is a long-time member of the CWA. She is pictured Margaret, who says, with State Treasurer, Kay Anderson.

“We didn’t have an outstanding ram this The Barrons have had quite a successful Royal Easter year, but I think the men were quite Show in Sydney this year, securing the Reserve Grand happy with our results and if the men are Champion Merino Medium Strong Wool with a very happy then we’re all okay,” she said.

“If you win, you win, if you lose, you impressive ewe.

See results on page 3. ([FHOOHQW WHPSHUDPHQW lose, you just have to take it!” she said.

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Monaro Merino ewe competition This year the Berridale Agricultural Ewe Competiton will be held on Friday and Saturday May 2 and 3.

Now in its 85th year, this is one of the longest running ewe competitions in Australia. For anyone interested in learning more about the merino sheep industry and hearing advice from industry leading experts on the finer points of sheep breeding please join us for one or both days.

We are extremely fortunate to have the services of two outstanding judges this year; John Crawford of Redbank Merinos will joing last year’s judge, Paul Walton, of Wurrook Stud, Rokewood Victoria.

Wurrook is Victoria’s largest and oldest Merino stud as well as being one of the most successful.

Both John and Paul are extremely well regarded Merino judges.

A bus will be available both days for spectators at a subsidised rate of $25 per person per day including morning tea and barbecue lunch, bookings are essential.

Lunch will also be available for those using their own transport at a cost of $5 pp.

The competition culminates in a presentation dinner held at the Berridale Inn on Saturday night, again please book your seat.

For all enquiries or bookings please contact us via email at berridaleag@hotmail.com or by phoning either Lawrence on 64568891 or Don on 64544025.

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Autumn/Winter 2014

Women on the Farm

Farm

Sarah Brooks - Saree Border Leicester Stud I have grown up on the land and took to the life of farming at a very early age. As a toddler I started going out in the paddocks with my father on a quad bike and in the ute. I was often found sweeping the floor in the shearing shed with a broom that was way too big for me or teaching a new pup a trick. I’ve always had an animal by my side be it a dog, sheep, lamb, budgie, chook or duck.

Our family produce sheep for wool and meat purposes as well as some crops for our sheep to graze. We breed Merino’s for wool production and Poll Dorset and Border Leicester Rams to join for our own Prime Lamb production as well as to sell.

I love all aspects of farming life but my favourite part is definitely working with livestock. I enjoy training and working with Kelpies, working in the shearing shed, sheep yards and attending Stud Sales. In 2011 after years of learning about breeding livestock from local breeders and livestock agents as well as helping my father with his Dorset breeding I started my own registered Border Leicester Stud, Saree Border Leicester Stud. I am enjoying the

challenge of developing my own bloodline and learning a lot from other breeders. I enjoy attending Working Dog days through the Monaro Utility Dog Club. These days are great because we are able to talk to some of the best trainers in our area and work on our own training methods.

I provide Border Leicester Rams to our local farmers to ensure they have access to top quality rams in our local area. Saree Border Leicester Stud attended the local Shows for the second year running and obtained good results including Champion Border Leicester Ram at Braidwood Show 2014. The local shows are a great way to meet and catch up with other people from the farming community. I am a member of the Australian Stud Breeders Association and the Australian Border Leicester Association.

My plans are to grow Saree Border Leicester Stud to a size where we can continue to provide high quality rams to a broad client base across the Monaro and beyond.

Sue Litchfield “Wondalee� Countegany I moved to the Monaro in 1963 – a young city girl married to a Monaro man Mike Litchfield.

We lived on the family farm in a cottage with no electricity, but felt fortunate to have a roof over our heads in the form of a fibro cottage in a windswept paddock.

Certainly no ‘mod cons’ – but we both had a keenness to get on with life which was farming. The family property

ran merino sheep and Hereford cattle with Mike’s parents firmly in charge of day to day management.

We had two sons Geoff and Andrew within four years and decided that we had to make our own way as eight pounds a week was difficult to live on.

Fifty years on I have learnt quite a lot about the Monaro, both livestock and its wonderful people.

I worked ‘off farm’ for 13 years in rural agencies from 1977 to 1990 and learnt from experiences through the eighties and desperate drought years.

Holidays were taken to fit in with shearing and there was always time on week-ends to help with other farm jobs.

My greatest pleasure is to see our elder son Geoff and wife Helen on the property with three children, Oscar Sophie and Harry.

Andrew is a veterinarian in Orange and married with four children so our seven grandchildren are a wonderful legacy.

Over the years I have been involved with the Monaro Merino Association, the Monaro Committee for Cancer Research, the Cooma Hospital, NSW Farmers involving Wild Dog Control (necessary for self preservation!) – working with all these groups has been a great learning experience but most of all I still enjoy day to day activities on Wondallee.

What of the future you ask ‌.well we are in the process of buying 200 acres next door which I call my ‘sea view’.

We are not moving at this stage and will continue to do what we enjoy and that’s farming on the Monaro despite its challenges!

Family farming is always a big challenge, but for the future of agriculture it’s imperative that families continue to contribute to Australia’s farming future.

Our love of the land is why we are there.

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Autumn/Winter 2014

Monaro girls thrive at Schols Sydney is enjoying a rainy spell at present (it’s good for care for them, all play a unique and vital role in living out the garden!) but the sun held up long enough to allow the Benedictine values of the College.

Diane Anderson, Boarding College administrator at St Students are offered a very wide range of academic, Scholastica’s College, to catch this happy and sunny shot sporting and cultural opportunities at Schols, allowing of the “Monaro team�, a lovely group of girls ranging from each student to discover her own niche and future Years 7 to 11 who board at St Scholastica’s and come learning path. In March, for example, Professor Fred from Cooma, Jindabyne and Ando.

Watson, the Astronomer in Charge of the Anglo Australian The girls recently had good reason to celebrate as Observatory at Coonabarabran, visited the College to give news came through of ex-student Lily Platts’ win of the a community lecture on the life and work of Albert Einstein prestigious Clancy Prize for Religious Art with her much in view of the anticipated anniversary in 2015 of the 100th admired HSC piece ‘The Road Home’, in which she pays anniversary of the General Theory of Relativity. tribute to the home landscape of Bombala and surrounds At the same time, students across a range of years that she loves so much. were preparing for drama performances of Edward Currently back in Bombala on a gap year before she starts a Visual Arts course at ANU, Lily is a fine role model for the local girls and will soon be off on some travel to Europe putting her Clancy prize money to very good use, building on the experience of her recent trip to the Philippines as part of the Good Samaritan outreach there.

The Boarding College is a rich and Pictured above, students at St Schols all from the Monaro: diverse community in Liz Barnes, Alana Smith, Samantha Bird, Josie Platts, Ada Du, which the students, their Virginia and Charlotte Platts. parents and the staff who

Gant’s challenging carnivalesque play, “Amazing Feats of Loneliness�.

Limited boarding vacancies are available for 2015.

The College’s garden setting will possibly come as a very pleasant surprise to those who haven’t visited St Scholastica’s as yet, but may already be familiar with Glebe’s central location on the doorstep of the Sydney CBD. Contact registrar@scholastica.nsw.edu.au to discuss the possibility of boarding for your family and visit www. scholastica.nsw.edu.au to get a feel for life at an inner city school, which offers country students the very best of both worlds.

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Autumn/Winter 2014

Women on the land -

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Jenny Crowe “Nungar Plans Studâ€? Cooma My parents bought a farm when I was about 10 and we • Having our kids involved had sheep, cattle and horses. • Working with our clients While we lived in town during the week, weekends We’re members of the Santa Gertrudis Breeders and school holidays were spent at the farm.

(Australia) Association – travelling to member’s sales, Then I married a farmer, so you could say most of my field days and working with other Santa Gertrudis life. breeders.

We support our local show societies – through We farm sponsorships and showing our cattle. • Beef Cattle – stud and commercial Santa Gertrudis We have a lot of fun catching up with the other stud • Fine wool merino sheep; and owners in the cattle section and we want to ensure • Crossbred lambs. there are cattle on display at our local shows, not just commercial displays.

What I enjoy about farming includes: We’re members of the local Monaro Merino Breeders • Calving time – seeing whether your choice of bull Association – participating in local breeders sales and cow has produced a stunning calf and have previously competed in the Monaro Ewe • Preparing cattle for shows – it can be a bit Competitions frustrating, but you get a real sense of achievement We want to keep increasing the profile of Santa when an animal walks into a show ring, stands and Gertrudis in this region, particularly their suitability for performs beautifully cross breeding with other breeds and we’ve found the • Working with my family – one in, all in. Yes, this can local shows are a great way for people to see them, talk also be frustrating, but we all seem to work well to us and find out more about our breed. together and manage to have some fun too Our kids enjoy and are keen for us to continue

showing our cattle – and we’re hoping to extend our show season to include a few more next year.

On the commercial side, we want to continually improve the quality of our breeding herd with the aim of producing better quality cattle for our clients.

Being a woman in the cattle industry is really no different from any other working mum and having your own family business.

You have days when you question your sanity, but then you have some absolute stunners and it’s all worth it.

One of our nicest highlights this year was having a client ring to tell us that he topped the sale with his calves sired by one of our bulls.

He was stoked and will definitely continue to use our bulls over his cattle.

If anyone is interested in finding out more about Santa Gertrudis cattle, we’re happy to arrange inspections and people are welcome to contact us at Nungar Plain Santa Gertrudis Stud, “Bridlesdale� – phone 02 64524424, mobile 0419 463 332 or email jwcrowe@ bigpond.com

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A very happy Jenny Crowe is pictured at the 2014 Dalgety Show with her champion bull CJ and her father Peter Alt.

SLADE Tarcutta merinosnug

129 Sharp St, Cooma

Tel (02) 6452 2668 Fax (02) 6452 7996

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Autumn/Winter 2014

Big data delivers clearer growth picture for lambs New research based on high-quality and large-scale data sets from the sheep industry’s Information Nucleus program will help breeders manage expectations about lamb growth rates, particularly for twins and triplets.

Lamb producers pursue highgrowth rate lambs by selecting sires with high Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) for increased post weaning weight (PWWT).

However, data from the Sheep CRC’s research flocks has confirmed that lambs born and raised as multiples have a reduced response to increased sire PWWT. With the support of the Cooperative Research Centre for Sheep Industry Innovation (Sheep CRC), Murdoch University postgraduate student Khama Kelman has used more than 160,000 lamb weights from over 17,000 lambs in the Information Nucleus program to accurately determine the effects of litter size on weaning and postweaning lamb weights.

“Having access to such a powerful database and information for a very wide genetic range has enabled a precision that we have never had before,” Ms Kelman said.

“With the data coming from eight different sites across Australia over a five-year period, the information provided us with a comprehensive understanding of how nutritional and environmental conditions interact with genetic potential and multiple births.

“The ability to integrate this information is a major breakthrough

that will allow breeders and producers to have realistic expectations of the ability of a high PWWT sire to deliver increased lamb weights.”

Ms Kelman found that lambs born as twins or triplets to high growth sires were not only smaller before weaning, but after weaning as well.

“At 150 days the difference in weight gain for single-born lambs from a low versus a high PWWT sire was 9.89kg, while in lambs born and raised as twins and triplets the difference was 6.97kg and 3.81kg respectively,” she said.

“However, when lambs of highgrowth sires were born as multiples but raised as singles their weight gain improved, although it was still not as great as lambs born as singles.”

Operating as part of the Federal Department of Industry’s CRC program, the Sheep CRC is a collaboration of industry, government and the commercial sector. It is working to increase the productivity and profitability of the industry through adoption of new technologies in both the meat and wool supply chains.

Producers selecting for increased growth using rams with higher values for PWWT should factor in the impact of lambing percentages in planning nutritional management and turnoff dates, according to Ms Kelman.

“Triplet born lambs can take up to 60 extra days to reach a target slaughter weight, increasing costs of finishing lambs for farmers,” she

said.

Ms Kelman said that while this could be costly for lamb producers, there were potential benefits.

“In some systems, where lambs are sold in stages rather than all at once, having lambs growing at different rates may be useful, although there are increased costs associated with delays in turnoff,” she said.

Ms Kelman’s three-year study is now nearing completion, and she expects that the final analysis will also show flow-on effects of selecting for increased growth in the area of meat quality.

Ms Kelman has recently returned from the European Association of Animal Production Conference Proceedings in France, where she spoke about her research entitled ‘Multiple births limit the advantage of using high growth sires’.

• More information on the use of ASBVs is available at www.sheepcrc. org.au.

Pictured: Khama Kelman.

COOLROOM FOR HIRE Phone Brad 6452 1634 or 0417 407 049

CONTACT FRANKS BUTCHERY

Specialists in revegetation forestry, cold climate & alpine plants COOMA LIVESTOCK SELLING CENTRE Sheep Sales - every 2nd Tuesday in season and special breeder sales.

Cattle Sales – every 2nd Thursday of the month and special Autumn calf and Breeder sales.

Contact Council or Agents for dates FACILITIES AVAILABLE Ř &DWHULQJ RQ VLWH Ř 7UXFN :DVK For enquiries contact the Selling Agents %ROOHU &R Ř (OGHUV

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local native plants retail and wholesale tube stock advanced plants farm tree specialists exotics species for windrows qualified horticulturalist deliveries to Jindabyne and Cooma

“Khalassa”, Gunningrah Road, Bombala Phone: (02) 6458 4096 Email: monarotrees@bigpond.com www.monaronativetreenursery.com.au

Mon Monaro naro e Tree e Native Nurs sery Nursery

Autumn/Winter 2014

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Boco Rock Wind Farm: Investing in the future, locally Construction of the $360 million Boco Rock Wind Farm (stage one) is currently underway south west of Nimmitabel.

Turbines at the wind farm will start spinning this year, generating enough clean, renewable electricity to power approximately 50,000 homes.

However, Boco Rock (stage one) will not only be generating renewable energy, but supporting local jobs and regional investment for many years to come.

During construction, local investment is a big focus for the wind farm. A significant proportion of the investment made in Boco Rock will stay within the Australian economy through construction and supply contracts, and moreover, much will be spent locally. Almost $10 million has already been spent locally since project construction began in August 2013 prior to the turbines even arriving on site, and more than 50 local businesses and contractors have been employed through the project. Those local organisations that have benefitted from project spending in the community have included truck drivers, tradespeople, the Port of Eden, food and accommodation service providers, hardware stores, vehicle maintenance, repair and hire services and plant hire.

Once operational, Boco Rock (stage one) will continue to play its role in our community. On-site, wind farms

allow farmers to drought-proof their land by providing for a stable income stream regardless of rainfall. Locally, the Community Fund of $167,500 per annum will be invested in both the Cooma Monaro and Bombala Shire Council areas.

Broader indirect benefits will be felt through ongoing employment and community initiatives as has happened at other wind farms around Australia to date.

CWP Renewables are also proud sponsors of the

University of Canberra Brumbies. Our commitment to the Brumbies extends to the Community Development Program which connects with over 250 primary schools and 80 high schools in the

GUNYAH HEREFORDS Offering 7 Bulls Wodonga National May 2014

45th On-Property Sale Friday 5th September 2014 30 Bulls - 70 Heifers Robert Hain Gunyah Cooma NSW P. 02 6452 6445 M. 0403 483 702 E. rhgunyah@bigpond.com

region, in addition to local rugby clubs.

As we develop our renewable energy projects within the region we aim to support the communities within which we operate – and through what better

way than investment w in local sports.

If i you’re interested in y being involved, get in b touch with us for more t information. i Continued investment in i the region, however, is dependent on i the outcome of the t current review of the c Renewable Energy R Target (RET).

Right T now, there are signs n that the government is intending to make cuts to the scheme.

Any cut to the RET will impact on farmers and rural communities waiting for new wind farms, wind industry workers who are ready to build those wind farms

and all the Australians who want to see us harnessing our world-class natural resources to power our country.

The RET has earned its place in Australia, bringing jobs, investment and adding vital e c o n o m i c d i v e r s i t y, especially in rural economies.

All A up the RET has stimulated $18.5 billion of new investment, much of it in wind and much of that in regional Australia.

If left A untouched, the RET is set to double this investment.

Renewable e n e r g y generated from the wind and sun is free, but the initial cost to build them is not. The RET supports this at the cost to you and I, the consumer, of 3 to 5% ($40-70 on average per year) on our electricity bill .

Considering that the cost of alternative fuel sources like gas is set to triple in the next five years , continued investment in renewables makes perfect sense. In fact, recent modelling by large energy users has shown that extending or expanding the RET would lead to lower electricity prices in the long term .

Boco Rock (stage one) is a vibrant demonstration of what investment in the renewable energy industry can do for the Monaro region, and we look forward to working with the local community in the years to come.