Rural & Agricultural
29 April, 2026
Registrations open for second farming info session
REGISTRATIONS are open for the second of two FREE seminars bringing a host of valuable tools and advice for dealing with current farming challenges and addressing outlooks over coming months.
Meridian Ag, with the Victorian Department of Ag, hosted the first of the two sessions yesterday and next Wednesday, 6 May, the Coleraine & District Action Club joins the team with two sessions to be held – one in Casterton and one in Coleraine – to add to the advice file.
Absolutely invaluable to next week’s sessions, is a visit by Dale Grey, Seasonable Risk Agronomist with Agriculture Victoria. “Having Dale visit in person is absolutely invaluable for anyone who attends … he’s a very busy man and really hard to pin down for a visit like this,” Meridian’s Andrew Speirs said. “To have him on-site, with his knowledge and to answer questions is really exciting.”
Dale will provide a practical update on what’s been happening with the climate and what it means for decision-making on farm over the coming year. He’ll look back over the 2025 season and run through the key lessons that came out of it, before shifting into the outlook for 2026. This will include the main climate drivers shaping the season ahead and what the large amount of inland water across Australia could mean for weather patterns. Dale will also talk through when seasonal forecast models tend to be most reliable and give an up-to-date picture of soil moisture across Victoria, extending into South Australia and southern New South Wales, helping farmers better understand and manage seasonal risk.
Andrew Speirs, a Senior Agronomist with Meridian Ag, will also take the floor, running a practical session focused on forage quality and feeding livestock well, without wasting money. “The 2025 harvest for hay in particular was good for bulk – people cut loads of hay last season and there’s still a lot of it around - but unfortunately the quality in many cases was well below expectations and lots of hay will not meet the needs of growing stock or lactating females,” he said.
Andrew will step through how to correctly sample forages and get meaningful feed test results, then how to use those results on farm to fix nutritional gaps and lift animal performance. The focus will be on making sure supplementation is targeted and cost-effective, rather than guessing or overspending or not getting the growth rates needed.
Hey, Jude Café in Henty St, Casterton will host Dale and Andrew for a breakfast session from 8am, next Wednesday, 6 May, or for those who can’t make it, a second session will be held from 6pm that night, over dinner at the Coleraine Football Netball Clubrooms in Winter St, Coleraine. The Meridian team requests registration for the Wednesday, 6 May event by close of business this Friday, 1 May, to help with catering - scan the QR code on the advertisement on this page, or contact the team at Meridian Ag on 03 5581 2826.
Read More: Casterton