South Australian Livestock Consultants Technical Update

Summary

The South Australian Livestock Consultants' Livestock Advisor Update was held on the 22nd of August 2017 at the SARDI plant research lecture theatre at the University of Adelaide's Waite Campus, from 8:30am-5:30pm.

The update aimed to provide livestock consultants, advisors, technical sales representatives, veterinarians and agribusiness consultants with the latest research and programs from MLA, AWI and the Sheep CRC, as well as from various farming systems groups.

The program was split into 4 sessions, with each session a mix of 45 minute presentations on technical, in depth topic, and short, 5 minute summaries from farming systems groups in Southern Australia.

Overall, respondents indicated that they gained benefit from attending the update in terms of technical learning, but mostly in terms of networking opportunities. It was indicated that an update like this should be held annually, and that respondents would be willing to travel greater distances if they perceived the topics and speakers to be of high value to them. The day could have been improved by having fewer sessions but making them more in depth, and increasing the time available to network.

It was also noted that there could be more time for questions and interaction between the audience and the speakers, as it was felt that there was a lot of value in being able to talk directly to the speakers that were specialists in their fields.

The technical update was found to be both achievable and desired, and should be instituted annually for all those in the livestock advisory sector.