The Milne Feeds team exhibited at LambEx in Adelaide this year. It had been six years since the last event, due to COVID. LambEx 2024 was attended by 1,500+ sheep farmers from across Australia and around the world. We met farmers from Canada and America who spoke highly of the event. A concerning fact that emerged from our discussions with them was that the American sheep flock has declined from a peak of 56 million in 1945 to only 5 million today, and it's still shrinking.
Among the many attendees were a large number of farmers from Western Australia. We caught up with Dawson Bradford from our Narrogin Depot, who had brought his rams over for the event. Dawson Sr was also in attendance and, as one of the founding members of LambEx, was honoured with a painting presented to him during the evening.
The event's organisers started LambEx with a desire to improve and inspire the industry. To emphasise this, the slogan for LambEx 2024 was:
Inspire. Advocate. Innovate
· Inspire - the industry to make changes and remain profitable.
· Inspire - the next generation.
· Inspire - through knowledge.
· Advocate – that, as an industry, we want to be telling our story.
· Advocate - for better communication about how we raise our lambs and maintain welfare and health.
· Innovate - through speakers who offer insights into how to improve the industry and develop skills to ensure its sustainability in the coming decades.
· Innovate - through the technologies that have been developed and showcased at LambEx – sheep handling & Milne Feeds products.
LambEx provides an opportunity to tell the story, with much of the marketing focused on the city of Adelaide and raising awareness of the event's purpose.
The future of the sheep industry looks bright, as highlighted by many of the speakers. One standout was Tom Bull, who expressed confidence that Australia could lead the world in developing a well-diversified and premium market for sheep meat. He predicted that lamb could eventually be seen as a delicacy, much like Wagyu beef, in restaurants worldwide. Also discussed was the fact that Australian lamb is among the best in the world, and the industry is poised to continue thriving. Additionally, the lamb price forecast for the next five years is promising, and we hope to see this materialise.
Another noteworthy speaker was Dr Ball, who discussed how flock profiling allows breeders and producers to rank their flocks genetically against others based on DNA tests from 20 animals per flock. He noted, "If you’re a commercial breeder and want to know where you stand in the big, bad world, flock profiling is for you." This profiling includes factors such as eating quality and carcass traits, which can help breeders obtain better prices when selling their sheep.
From all the presentations we attended, it’s clear that the future of the sheep industry is promising. Despite the challenges of the past 12 months, many sheep producers commented that it was refreshing to hear some positive news instead of the usual doom and gloom.
Finally, it was announced that the next LambEx will be held in Adelaide in 2026. Given the success of this year's event, we expect to see even more attendees from the sheep industry there.
Sources:
beefcentral.com/news/opportunities-for-sheep-to-ride-on-the-wagyus-back
border-wars.com/2013/05/the-u-s-sheep-industry-is-belly-up.html
