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NSW border opens up to Victorian ag workers
Elizabeth Gracie
Agricultural workers from Victoria will now be able to cross the New South Wales border without quarantining for two weeks in Sydney.
NSW Agriculture Minister Adam Marshall said that in order to qualify for the quarantine exemption, prospective workers will have to apply for a ‘Highly Specialised Critical Services (Agriculture) Permit’ through Service NSW.
The agricultural exemption permit will now allow critical work to occur.
According to Marshall, the new permit system is “absolutely vital, not just for our border communities but our overall economy”.
The news comes in the wake of Melbourne’s coronavirus outbreak that has seen state borders close indefinitely and Melbourne residents go back into lockdown for a further six weeks.
Previous arrangements for interstate agriculture workers have seen employees forced to go into quarantine in Sydney for two weeks, even if they are transiting from regional Victoria and have undergone pre-screening for the novel coronavirus.
However, the exception is limited to a radius of 100km north of the Victorian border, meaning that for workers further north in NSW will still need to quarantine in Sydney for a fortnight if they want to work.
More recently, Federal Minister for Agriculture David Littleproud urged state premiers to seriously consider the impact state border closures would have not just on the agriculture industry, but on the cost of groceries, animal welfare and even critical human health for regional Australians.
“The arbitrary closure of state borders have had serious unintended consequences not only on agricultural supply chains but also regional Australians wellbeing,” said Littleproud.
“State health officials need to engage specifically with regional communities and industries at the direction of the premiers to identify workable solutions that keep supply chains open while keeping Australians safe rather than arbitrary broad-reaching decisions”.
NSW Farmers also backed calls for an agriculture permit system to be implemented to address disruptions to routine farm management activities due to state border closures.
“We do recognise the important intent of the border closures to suppress the spread of COVID-19, but these hard measures are having a major impact on the agriculture sector, food production and the economic health of regional NSW”.
Jackson said NSW Famers was pleased with the new permit system and the recognition of specialised agriculture services as a critical industry.
“NSW Farmers thanks the NSW Government for this positive move in response to our advocacy on behalf of producers, processors and contractors,” said Jackson.
The next step to be undertaken should be to extend the agriculture permit system to Queensland said NSW Farmers.
“This is a good step in reducing the uncertainty and we strongly encourage the Queensland Government to follow the NSW leadership as we all seek to operate in COVID safe workplaces”.
“With a bumper grain harvest looming in northern NSW, similar steps must be made urgently to allow the movement of workers, contractors and machinery across the Queensland border,” said Jackson.
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Trace minerals are required for optimal growth, reproduction, and immunity. Optimising trace mineral status relying solely on oral supplements across a herd may fail because of variation in individual intake and reduced absorption due to antagonism of other ration components and minerals. The use of injectable trace mineral supplements has been associated with positive reproductive outcomes including improved conception rate, increased odds of pregnancy and greater final in calf rate. A study conducted on 2,168 dairy cows, administered injectable trace minerals, four weeks prior to calving and again four weeks prior to the start of mating showed treated animals had a 3.3 per cent greater final in-calf rate, and a reduced time from start of mating to conception, compared to control animals 1 . The Importance of B12 Dr Carl Eden, Technical Services Veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim says “Vitamin B12 is sometimes referred to as a ‘super vitamin’ because it is only required in very small amounts but vital to many essential metabolic pathways. However, demand for B12 can vary considerably during the year and we see serum levels of B12 fall at critical times, such as the first few months after calving.” Vitamin B12 contains cobalt, so deficiency in cobalt can lead to deficiency in vitamin B12 because ruminants get most of their B12 as a byproduct of ruminal fermentation where the bacteria in their rumen assemble B12 from cobalt for use by the cow. Sub-optimal trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at calving, mating, and drying off has been shown to negatively impact growth, reproduction, and immunity. Using a trace mineral injectable containing vitamin B12 can improve trace mineral and vitamin B12 status at these critical times. Marks-Min with Vitamin B12 – The Evidence In the largest trace element study to date, Marks-Min Injectable Trace Mineral with Vitamin B12 demonstrated remarkable results when compared to a reference trace mineral injection. “Given the differences between Marks-Min and other products on the market, we wanted to generate a compelling data set to demonstrate how effective it was compared to the pioneer product. We entrusted this work to a third-party research company” says Dr Eden. “We chose farms that were at the top of their game from a reproductive perspective. We made sure that the farms had no evidence of trace element or vitamin B12 deficiencies or excess.” Across all outcomes of interest, Marks-Min demonstrated clear non-inferiority when compared to the reference product. Outcomes measured included submission, pregnancy and conception rates, and six week in-calf rate. Marks-Min demonstrated it is highly suited as an alternative treatment to the reference product. Reference: 1. Hawkins, D., and B. V. S. Franklin. New Zealand Dairy Veterinarians Newsletter 24 (2007): 12-16 Company website: livestockfirst.com.au Company email address: CustomerCare.Australia@boehringer-ingelheim.com Company video: https://vimeo.com/1138807630?fl=pl&fe=cm
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