The newly launched Ladies in Livestock initiative has been welcomed with great enthusiasm by women involved in agriculture on the Northern Tablelands.
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The first event, hosted by Northern Tablelands Local Land Services and held in Guyra, attracted 46 women who travelled from Ashford, Nowendoc, Tenterfield, Bundarra, Walcha, Armidale, and Uralla.
Georgie Oakes from Northern Tablelands Local Land Services, is a key organiser of the Ladies in Livestock project which is designed to empower women by building their technical knowledge and confidence in the paddock and the stock yards.
“The ladies meet each month on a different property where we provide hands on practical sessions on topics such as livestock management, pastures, biosecurity, pest control, financial administration, health and safety, and the environment,” Georgie said.
“At our first event, the ladies were captivated by guest speaker, Sharon Dundon, who talked about her experience in driving livestock trucks, then moving to Bahrain and educating the locals about animal health and welfare. We also had a practical training session on groundcover assessment which was very well received by the participants,” Georgie said.
Guyra cattle producer, Kirsty White, was delighted with the success of the event.
“I believe there is huge potential to build the capacity of women involved in farming. So many farm women have life skills that could be better utilised in agriculture with a little support and encouragement,” Kirsty said.
“Women often come into a farming business with significant skills from previous careers in industries like tourism, administration, accounting, and law. This project could help these ladies to be more confident and engaged in their family farming operations.
“There was a wonderful atmosphere at the Guyra workshop. Everyone was buoyed by the experience. It’s fantastic that Local Land Services is supporting this initiative.”
More workshops are currently being planned for Guyra and there has been strong interest expressed in holding similar events in other parts of the region.
“If there are other women out there who would like to get involved but can’t make it to Guyra, we’d really like them to contact us so we can organise more activities for women working in agriculture,” Georgie said.