JUST after midday on Sunday, with a great sense of expectation, the opening of this year’s Sheepvention was held to a sizeable crowd in the Ram Shed at the showgrounds.

Sheepvention president, David Botterill, opened proceedings with a nod to the many people who both made the event happen or supported it through patronage.

“Sheepvention 2023 is a testament to the hard work, dedication and passion of everyone involved in the sheep and agricultural industry,” he said.

“It is a celebration of our shared heritage and the important role that agriculture plays in our society.

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the Hamilton Pastoral and Agricultural Society members and our generous sponsors for their unwavering support in making this event possible. Your contributions have allowed us to showcase the very best of our industry.

“I would also like to acknowledge the efforts of our dedicated team of volunteers and staff who have worked tirelessly over the past year to bring Sheepvention 2023 to life, your commitment and enthusiasm are truly commendable.”

Next was Victorian agriculture minister, Gayle Tierney, who said, “it’s an absolute pleasure to be here”, calling it a “great event”.

“I love Sheepvention, it’s probably my 16th or 17th Sheepvention,” she said.

“I make no secret of it in the Parliament and everywhere I go.

“It’s … an occasion where we can actually celebrate the sheep industry, we can celebrate the hard work that goes into making sure that we’ve got the best produce, but it’s also about having that pride about what we do in the agricultural sector and it’s about bringing the community together, and of course, informing other communities about the great work that we do.”

She acknowledged the ongoing striving for improvements in meat and fine wool along with supply chain efficiencies, and paid tribute to the Glenthompson-Dunkeld BestWool/BestLamb (BWBL) for celebrating its 25th year and called them “a strong presence in the Hamilton region that has marked the difference to the sector’s ongoing development”.

The challenges of floods and storms, along with biosecurity were major themes, and Ms Tierney said of the latter - “this government is taking (it) very, very seriously”.

“Everyone has a role to play in biosecurity and protecting our agriculture and environment from pests and diseases,” she said.

“Biosecurity signage, and simple actions such as cleaning boots and equipment and monitoring herd health are examples of everyday actions producers must take to keep our livestock safe and well.”

Southern Grampians Shire mayor, David Robertson, stressed the importance of the event to the region and said “Sheepvention has put Hamilton as the mecca of the sheep industry”.

“At this time of the year, everybody from all over Australia comes to Hamilton for one reason,” he said.

Cr Robertson said the current and past presidents, along with the committee, had done a “fantastic” job over the course of the event’s 43 years, as “they turn up and it works like clockwork”.

“This area down here produces $4.2 billion worth of agricultural production and we’re the number one in Australia,” he said.

“We’re very proud of that and I think a lot of that stems from Sheepvention.

“It’s a creator of ideas, and creator of infrastructure, mechanisms, the way we do things in agriculture.”

He said the event had seen significant changes as the way the industry had developed and cited examples of things that were becoming outdated such as wooden races and a lack of covered yards - “the infrastructure has changed enormously”.

“Drones, virtual fencing, genetics, has all changed,” Cr Robertson said.

“It’s mainly changed because farmers create the ideas - they’re creative. You’ve got a problem, we’ll find a solution to that problem, we’ll solve that problem.

“There’s something new always around the corner.”

Cr Robertson closed by mentioning the rising costs of Sheepvention, including $410,000 for the marquees alone, which was something he hoped could be addressed with a proposal for more permanent sheds.

Fletcher International Exports founder, Roger Fletcher, was guest speaker and early in his speech introduced a topic that he considered unheralded.

“The great thing (with) these conventions … one advantage no one talks about (is) mental health,” he said.

“It gives (people) a great chance to come out and meet people and get away from home for a day or two. This is why shows like this must keep going.”

Mr Fletcher said the challenges in his industry associated with COVID-19 have been great, with shipping taking “two, three or four months to get containers to different countries” as just one example, but maintained a positive outlook.

“But don’t fear - I always say, fear is the biggest problem we’ve got,” he said.

“Some of the good things that are happening in the industry over the last seven or eight years - we’ve opened up a lot of markets with free trade agreements.”

He cited the opening of markets in USA, Japan, Korea and China as being very good developments and said the next challenge was the European Union.

“We’re working with the government very hard on that,” Mr Fletcher said.

“There’s no way we’re going to agree with what they’ve offered.”

He said the sheep meat market had changed dramatically over the last 40 or 50 years with mutton lamb then being just a “commodity” for army camps or work camps.

“Today, we’ve got higher prices,” Mr Fletcher said.

“We’re now producing into the highest-class markets around the world.”

He did lament the closing of woollen mills in Australia - “we couldn’t compete with China” - and spoke of the import market being “the lowest we’ve had for years” but maintained “a confidence in the country”.

“We got held up with products of all sorts and that’s slowed the economy down, and that’s no different than the rest of the world,” Mr Fletcher said.

“I think after 12 months, we will come back stronger and better than ever. Australia is the major sheep meat exporter in the world; of course, the biggest in wool.

“Merino wool is I think going to be important to us in long term because (the) middle class is growing at a faster rate than anything else in the world. A lot of people say ‘we’ve got to feed more and more people around the world’ - not quite correct, I think our main customers are going to be the middle class, it’s growing bigger with meat and wool products, and wants better fibres, especially natural fibres.”

Virbac livestock regional sales manager, Matthew Grills, joined in and took Mr Fletcher through a Q&A session, first asking him how he made his business a success.

“One of the biggest things we did - and this is not going to go down well somewhere - we broke away from government and council abattoirs,” he said.

“I always say to governments - they can’t run businesses. That was proven in the wheat industry and I think as we broke away from it a lot of other companies have followed over the years.

“I think one of the great things about the sheep industry or the sheep processing industry, they’re mainly family-owned meat companies and we’re highly competitive against each other and I suppose I was a footballer and I didn’t like coming second.”

Mr Fletcher was asked about what export market had the most future potential but quickly answered “we never can say one market’s going to do it”.

“We’re in about 90 countries around the world,” he said.

“People wouldn’t know where we export meat to - you’ve got a lot of little clients that (do) just one or two containers a month. The main thing is … if my customer can’t get the people to eat it, whether that’s a restaurant chain, an airline or supermarkets, we’ve failed.”

Expanding on his earlier comment about the free trade agreement with the European Union, Mr Fletcher had a lot to say.

“If we’ve got some good media people today, I’ll just go through a little thing with you,” he said.

“When you go to your farm, a lot of the machinery is all European built. We throw them on a truck, guess what the trucks are? Mercedes, Scanias, and they’re all British trucks. I take them to the abattoirs, and they’re European equipment. Half the pharmaceuticals are European.

“Then even when I go to do the banking, we’ve got Rabobank and then European insurance companies, and guess who owns all the ships and the ships say to me, ‘oh, we’ve got plenty of product to bring back to Australia, but we’ve got nothing to take up, so we’re charging you more money’ - and they’re all European ships.

“So I think that’s important to get through to the Europeans.”

Supplying more lamb to USA restaurants, staffing in abattoirs, NSW floods, energy costs, food security, a better connection between farmers and consumers, and the surprising revelation that one lamb could end up with “47 different customers” were other topics he covered, but he dwelled on his chief concern, reliable and timely transport.

“It’s no point in having a product on the menu and it’s not there on time,” Mr Fletcher said.

He said he was “proud his name was on the box” when it came to the chain of getting things right from the farmer to the customer and spoke highly of those who worked for his company - “our workforce is the most important people we have”.

“I would say … we’ve got some of the best employees we’ve ever had in my life working for us now,” Mr Fletcher said.

“It’s a team effort.”