New leaders appointed for agribusiness board
Agribusiness Gippsland has appointed Stuart Quigley as its new chairperson.
The board announced Stuart’s appointment following the departure of chairman Paul Ford who has left the organisation to lead the newly established Gippsland Food and Fibre Taskforce.
Deputy chair is Lardner Park chief executive officer Nicole Pero.
Stuart Quigley is a leader in Gippsland’s $7 billion agribusiness sector. He brings to the role senior executive insight in food manufacture, innovation and delivery of programs to fast track entrepreneurship in emerging leaders.
Stuart has worked with large and small specialist organisations in both the public and private sector. He has been an AGI board member for three years and convenor of the events and projects sub-committee.
“Gippsland’s food and fibre sector is on the cusp of a new phase of steady growth.
“AGI has built strong networks with the key strategic stakeholders that will drive that growth. I’m excited to be leading AGI at this important time,” he said.
Nicola brings to the new role international experience in event management, delivering a range of events at Lardner Park that showcase food and fibre as the economic engine of Gippsland.
Nicola is an experienced board member and has a wide portfolio of board positions.
“In the last two years we have built Farm World around the theme of opportunities in food and fibre. Over 55,000 people attend Farm World each year and I’m excited by the fact that this group see a positive future for food and fibre in the region.”
In its recent budget, the state government announced an initial investment of $700,000 to create a new Gippsland Food and Fibre Taskforce. The objective of the task force is to deliver a portfolio of projects that provides a foundation for growth.
Paul said he was honoured to have served on the AGI board for six years, five of which he was chairman.
“I thank the AGI Board for this opportunity to build a large and diverse network of contacts in agribusiness. I have also been embedded in the Government’s Regional Partnership Program.
“These two streams of activity now converge and I look forward to working with Gippsland’s food & fibre community to identify projects that will have maximum impact across the value chain,” Paul said.
Even if there is new growth of pasture and you are using various supplementary feeds, you could ask – why feed roughage?
Roughage are the bulky feeds that are mostly considered to be high in fibre and low in energy.
Roughage is needed to be fed to your livestock this winter for any of the following reasons:
Even though some roughage may be left uneaten, for digestive function livestock require a minimum amount of fibre and long roughage to maintain their digestive systems. This is sometimes known as the ‘scratch factor’ and stimulates rumination (cud chewing);
When moving livestock onto green pasture, their rumen needs time to adjust to a new feed type;
Newly growing pasture may not have adequate fibre levels;
It may be better to supplement stock to allow the pasture to establish and develop;
Hungry cattle need to be prevented from gorging themselves on pastures that may have potential to cause nitrate poisoning or bloat;
If feeding grain or pellets with too little roughage, acidosis or grain poisoning can occur
As we move further into winter, hay may be needed to reduce grass tetany risks and allows a way of administering Causmag.
Another good reason to feed livestock roughage in cold weather, roughage in the diet helps keep livestock warm because the fermentation and breakdown of cellulose creates heat energy.
If livestock do not have enough roughage, the weight will melt off as they will extract body fat to create energy for warmth, therefore it is effective to feed your livestock late in the afternoon to provide ‘heat’ through the night.