EDGEnetwork

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MLA's EDGEnetwork® offers practical learning opportunities to help producers gain knowledge and develop skills necessary to improve their livestock enterprises.

Delivered through workshops, farm walks, demonstrations, group discussions and projects, EDGEnetwork sessions provide a learning pathway for producers. This pathway enables producers to apply various business practices and principles, as well as outcomes from industry research and development, directly in their production environment.

An educational and informative format encourages producers to expand their current expertise and learn new skills, be motivated by other producers and access the latest information.

Producers gain the best of group and individual learning by working in small groups that enable them to receive personalised service. This allows them to focus on the specifics of their business while sharing their experiences, triumphs and challenges with like-minded producers.

The EDGEnetwork workshops have been developed by industry specialists and tested by producers Australia-wide to guarantee their quality and relevance.

Developing business skills

The EDGEnetwork can benefit a producer's entire farm businesses by developing business skills that help them:

Make better decisions.
Gain greater control.
Understand how to achieve profit.

Business EDGE

A two-day financial and business management training workshop for northern beef producers. The aim is to enhance producer knowledge and skills in basic financial and business management to improve beef business efficiency and profitability. Improving financial and business performance is particularly important given the continued climate of declining terms of trade, increasing land prices, tightening credit and rapid national and global economic and policy influences affecting beef enterprises.

The EDGEnetwork program is continually updated and offers workshops ranging across key areas including:

Natural resources and environment management

BeefCheque and LambCheque

Aims to build your skills and develop a grazing plan to use in your enterprise on a daily basis. The workshop will help you understand how pasture plants grow, determine how pasture quality and quantity affect animal intake and performance, make tactical grazing decisions and develop feed budgets.

PROGRAZE^©

Helps you to manage your on-farm resources better. It will demonstrate how to assess animal and pasture productivity, set production targets and budget feed to reach your targets, and monitor pasture quantity and quality. The workshop also shows how to integrate management activities, make the most of resources and increase sustainability of your farming system.

Weed Removers, Pasture Improvers

Demonstrates how to manage pasture composition to maximise opportunities for the desirable species while minimising weeds. Completing this workshop will enable you to achieve more productive pastures through weed management using a wide range of cost-effective tools.

Healthy Soils, Healthy Profits

Investigates what is happening underground and how improving soil health can increase the profitability and sustainability of grazing systems. You will learn how to identify individual property soil health issues, evaluate how management can affect soil health, and develop action plans to address soil health problems.

Genetics and breeding

Terminal Sire Selection

Is designed to ensure your sheep and lamb business is following a breeding program with the potential to achieve your desired production targets. Completing this workshop will enable you to use genetics to identify the desired breeding gains and develop strategies for your own operation.

More Beef from Breeding

Is designed to help your beef business follow a breeding program with the potential to achieve your desired production targets. The workshop covers topics such as establishing production targets, breed and animal selection, and developing strategies for your breeding system.

The Breeding EDGE

Is designed to help you develop a cattle breeding program or improve your existing one. Topics covered include examining your current situation, reproduction issues, genetics, setting breeding objectives, livestock selection and managing the herd to capture benefits.

Grazing and nutrition

Grazing Land Management

Will assist you to develop grazing management strategies to increase profit and sustainability. Completing this workshop will allow you to assess the condition of your paddock, understand more about the grazing ecosystem, meet target markets while remaining sustainable in the long-term and determine the financial impact of grazing management options.

The Nutrition EDGE

Gives a comprehensive look at ruminant nutrition. The topics covered include minerals and managing deficiencies, pasture growth and quality, and grazing management.