EnvironmentMore than a dozen South Australian towns break September heat records
Hot, gusty northerlies pushed temperatures 10 to 15 degrees above average, to the mid-to-high 30s; Adelaide had its second hottest September day on record.
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Australia
Environment
LivestockVaccinating virgin bulls cut breakdown losses from half to a few, WA family finds
An MLA demonstration that followed more than 3,500 bulls around Esperance backed what the Fowler family had seen: vaccinated young bulls break down far less often in their first joining.
OpinionOpinion: half of Australia's farmers may retire within 15 years; who replaces them?
Agribusiness lawyer Trent Thorne argues that training placements help, but farming will not keep young people until it offers clear routes to ownership and leadership. The views are the writer's own.
LivestockVaccinating cattle before feedlot entry halves respiratory deaths, BeefEx told
JBS now pre-vaccinates all Angus cattle entering its five yards, and MLA says bovine respiratory disease deaths are down 50% even as cattle on feed rose by half.
LivestockEgg industry chief tells Australian feedlots how to win public trust on covered sheds
Australian Eggs' Rowan McMonnies told BeefEx that eggs lifted community trust from 56% to about 68-69% by listening, not fighting, and urged lotfeeders to do the same before investing in covered housing.
CropsSydney researchers map Yr88, a wheat gene behind 86% of stripe rust resistance
University of Sydney scientists at Cobbitty mapped Yr88 from the wheat line Kazouria Taliani; it explains about 86 percent of resistance to one stripe rust strain but is race-specific rather than durable.
AgrotechTwo spraying robots cut chemical use by 85% on a Queensland farm
Coggan Farms near Meandarra in Queensland runs two SwarmFarm Robotics SwarmBots with Weed-It spot-spraying cameras and an AutoFill station, and typically saves about 85% of herbicide during fallow spraying.
AgrotechFitbit-style collars track cows to explain calf losses in northern Australia
CQUniversity's Mooternal project fits cows and calves with GPS and movement sensors and is building algorithms to detect when a calf is lost and why, with commercial trials planned from 2027.
LivestockEU deforestation rules look certain to start on schedule, Australian beef exporters told
An Australian government webinar indicated the EU Deforestation Regulation will apply from 31 December after two delays, so beef and lamb shipped by sea from next month must comply.
CropsWeekend deluge in Western Australia lodges oats but lifts crops weeks before harvest
Almost 100mm fell in parts of WA's south after one of the driest Julys on record; a Bremer Bay farmer's oats were flattened while farmers further north who missed the rain hope for more.
FisheriesMenindee fishway reopens for final trial year as low water raises fish-kill fears
A camera-monitored fish passage run by Finland's Fishheart has reopened on the Darling-Baaka at Menindee for the last season of a three-year trial, with up to 50,000 fish expected to move upstream.
LivestockAustralian cattle producers want levy accountability before any rate change
More than 1,000 responses to the first review of Australia's Cattle Transaction Levy in two decades asked for clearer evidence of what the $5 levy delivers, with biosecurity the leading call for new investment.
FruitsRiverland couple turn 40 acres of pulled-out vines into refuge for regent parrots
As wine grape growers in South Australia's Riverland rip out vines in an oversupplied market, one Murtho property has been returned to native vegetation instead of a new crop, creating habitat for the endangered regent parrot.