This year's ANZAC Day saw hundreds turn out to remember the efforts of Australia and New Zealand's great service men and women. Veterans, schools, clubs and businesses poured into the streets to march in grand parades, and packed in close to attend services held across the Hinchinbrook Shire. Beautiful wreaths were lain and the bugles mournful tones echoed across respectful silences as flags were lowered to half mast. A gunfire breakfast, coffee and traditional ANZAC biscuits kept everyone going
Read the full storyAllan Colquhoun grew up in Sydney, but his life has taken him far beyond the city limits. In his youth, he worked with a station owner named Bob, whose property combined dairy and sheep farming with a focus on Jersey bulls and cows. One vivid memory that’s stayed with him is of Bob chasing down a bull meant for butchering on his stock horse —a beast that, to Allan’s amazement, climbed over the holding fence one hoof at a time to escape. Allan spent most of his working life as a coastal travelle
Read the full storyHinchinbrook Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Tourism held their monthly Coffee Connect last week, being hosted by local business Wild Local. There was a very strong attendance at this event, with Federal Member for Kennedy Bob Katter and KAP Senate candidate, Robbie Lyon. Rebecca and Dom Zaghini provided a delicious light snacks and gave the audience an overview of their business journey from inception to their current location, the diverse range of products they provide and some insight into t
Read the full storyOver the weekend, the Ingham Kennel Club hosted six rounds of dog shows, featuring judges from across Australia who rotated to ensure fair and balanced competition. Dogs were entered into one of seven group categories, with the Toy Group attracting the largest number of entries. Sunday's shows saw the Italian Greyhound emerge as a standout, making up 20 of the 170 total entries across the weekend. Unique and rarely seen breeds like the Xoloitzcuintli and Briard added excitement to the event, of
Read the full storyAn Australian-first initiative to improve fatigue management on farms has heard directly from busy primary producers about how they prioritise rest, safety and productivity.
CQUniversity researchers are compiling the practical advice for farmers, with farmers – with input from across dairy, cotton, eggs and grains sectors.
Now the project is creating useful guides to highlight causes, impacts and management strategies for fatigue on farms – and launching a new survey to grow understanding of farmers’ experiences.
Fatigue on-farm has been identified as an industry-wide priority for the Rural Safety & Health Alliance (RSHA), a collaborative partnership between AgriFutures Australia, Australian Eggs, Australian Wool Innovation, Australian Pork Ltd, Cotton Research and Development Corporation, Dairy Australia and Grains Research and Development Corporation.
In collaboration with the RSHA, the Farming and Fatigue: Growing Sensible Solutions project aims to help industry measure and manage fatigue on-farm.
Amy Cosby is part of the project team from CQUniversity’s Agri-tech Education and Extension team as well as a dairy farmer and busy mum.
She says the research is a first for the Australian agriculture sector, and importantly works with farmers to highlight effective habits for rest and wellbeing.
“What farmers have told us so far is that managing fatigue on farms is about more than hours in bed – it’s impacted by stress, and seasons, and weather, and of course the huge workloads involved with life on the land,” she said.
“But what we’ve also found, and what is certainly my personal experience, is that farmers also consider what they eat, how they exercise, how they schedule employee shifts, and even how they socialise, to try to get better rest, balance their life and avoid fatigue.
“We want producers to have a clear understanding of how their current working patterns can be tweaked to better manage the real risks of fatigue on farms,” Amy said.
Farmers can learn more about the Farming and Fatigue project and complete the anonymous survey online: https://bit.ly/FarmingFatigueSurvey