SALRC 2024 Awards Announced

The Southern Australia Livestock Research Council (SALRC) has announced the 2024 award winners across the southern Australian livestock industries. The awards were developed to recognise, reward and celebrate excellence in the contributions of individuals to research, development, extension, communication and practical application of innovation on farm, to improve the profitability, productivity and sustainability of the Southern Australian red meat and livestock industries.

SALRC 2024 Award recipients are:

– Producer – Richard Kirkland (Mixed farming enterprise, Millicent, SA)

– Scientist / Researcher – Stephen Lee (Director, SA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub)

– Communication / Extension – Jillian Kelly (Consultant, AHN Consulting, Coonamble, NSW)

– Young Achiever – Andrea McKenzie (Senior Extension Officer, Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries)

In announcing the award recipients, SALRC Chair Ian Rogan said “SALRC is very keen to encourage excellence and innovation in our sheep meat and beef cattle industries. Whether it’s livestock producers who are testing and adopting best practices on farm or the research and extension service providers who are contributing to an innovative, productive and profitable future for our livestock industries. We are proud to announce our 2024 SALRC awards winners.”

The Award Winners:

SALRC Producer 2024 – Richard Kirkland

Richard manages his mixed farming, family enterprise with prime lambs, self-replacing ewes, cattle and cropping near Millicent in the southeast of South Australia. The enterprise is based on a flock of 8500 maternal composite ewes run on 2500ha as well as cropping 700ha of broad beans, wheat, barley and canola. Richard actively promotes RD&A throughout the local area including hosting cropping, pasture and livestock trials as well as workshops on quality assurance, low stress stock handling, Lifetime Ewe Management program and Grass to Dollars (PGS). He is currently a member of the Millicent Ag Bureau and a Director on the board of Livestock SA, as well as chair of Wooltag. Richard has been an active adopter of auto-drafting, sheep handling facilities, portable satellite yards, lead-up facilities to handlers, and eID technology within his prime lamb enterprise and has opened his farm up for other producers to learn from the way he has set these systems up on his own property. Richard actively engages with researchers and livestock advisers and is involved in case studies, podcasts and industry videos to promote on-farm adoption.

In receiving his award, Richard Kirkland, Producer Award recipient responded with “I feel honoured and privileged to have been nominated and win this award. SALRC is instrumental providing regional specific R&D for the red meat industry and ensures appropriate extension work that helps with the adoption of new farming practices. To be recognised as contributing with R&D and aligning with the SALRC principles is extremely rewarding.”

SALRC Scientist / Researcher 2024 – Stephen Lee

Stephen is based at the University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, and is currently Director of the SA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub with a network of over 60 members primarily focused on livestock and grains industries. Since completing his PhD in 2011, he has worked extensively with beef and sheep producers and a wide array of R&D collaborators across the livestock and red meat value chain in areas spanning reproduction, feed efficiency, feed-base performance and utilization, genetic evaluation systems and improvement, livestock wellbeing, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, meat quality, animal health condition detection and management, supply chain feedback. Stephen has led the successful DAFF Action on Ground project which trialed and showed the practice of rapid post weaning growth in commercial scale farming and feedlot systems to reduce enteric methane emissions from cattle by reducing the time (by up to 60%) for weaned calves to reach common carcase weight specifications. Stephen has led a MLA Donor Company funded Producer Innovation Fast Track project which delivered successful proof of concept on how MSA carcase data could be utilized in genomic evaluation. This approach has subsequently been implemented successfully in multiple beef genomic evaluation and breeding programs across Australia. As Director of the SA Drought Hub, Stephen has been involved in the co-design and development of projects that have delivered practical strategies for sheep producers to mitigate against the impacts of heat stress on sheep productivity.

 In responding to his award as SALRC 2024 Scientist / Researcher, Stephen Lee said “I am honoured to be nominated and receive this award. I have been fortunate to have the opportunity from early in my career to establish great collaborations with livestock producers, value chain partners, and colleagues from across Australia on research and development programs focused on measurably improving productivity, profitability and sustainability. Through my current role, this scope has expanded to drought and climate resilience. I would like to acknowledge the SA Livestock Industry Blueprint Working Group; they have been a driving force in collaborative project development.”

SALRC Communication / Extension 2024 – Jillian Kelly

Jillian is a veterinarian based at Coonamble in central west NSW and provides services to livestock producers across a wide region of the state. As a district veterinarian with Local land Services over an extended and widespread drought in 2017-2020, Jillian initiated a number of initiatives to provide advice to producers on livestock nutrition and animal health that became highly valued by producers. In 2022 she established her own private consulting business, AHN (Animal Health and Nutrition Consulting). Since starting AHN, Jillian has been a contributor to a number of livestock industry advisory initiatives, including Productive Producer, Sheep Connect, Humans of Agriculture, MLA Back to Business and Productivity and Profitability. Jillian runs workshops and training programs for livestock producers , writes and presents content for regional print media and radio, and a fortnightly newsletter to AHN clients that is current to events that are happening out in the paddock. Jillian is keen to promote career and personal development opportunities for emerging animal science and veterinary professionals through a number of initiatives including as a mentor for the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation Rural Leaders Resilience 2023 program, and has actively encouraged employment of early career livestock advisors in AHN.

The Communication / Extension 2024 Award recipient Jillian Kelly said “I’m thrilled to receive this award. I’m pleased that the producers that I work with find enough value in the service that I deliver to recognise my efforts in this way. A big thank you to SALRC and here’s to keeping the communication going between research, industry, advisors and producers through these channels”.

SALRC Young Achiever 2024 – Andrew McKenzie

Andrea is based in Cunnamulla, Queensland, is a qualified veterinarian and works as an extension officer for the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF). Andrea’s roles include project leader for the Leading Sheep project which is the core sheep extension initiative for Queensland, co-funded by AWI and DAF. Andrea has had significant influence on the direction of small ruminant extension work in Queensland, bringing strong technical foundations for rangeland sheep and goat production, extension expertise and a high level of strategic insight to support and direct growing extension capacity in DAF. Andrea has a young family and is a managing partner in a grazing business involving sheep, cattle and goats at Yerala near the border between Qld and NSW. She applies her time with DAF to support the sheep industry at a state level while supporting the local industry through her own grazing business. 

 Andrea McKenzie, Young Achiever Award recipient, responded “I’m pleased to be at a stage in my career where I can give back to the industry that’s given so much to me”. 

The Awards were presented at the SALRC Rural Bank Livestock 2024 Conference Dinner on Wednesday 24th August 2024 at Albury. SALRC will continue to identify and recognise outstanding contributors to the red meat and livestock industries again in future.