He has more than 30 years' experience in working with the meat and livestock sector, meat processors, live cattle exporters, feedlotters, backgrounders, farmers and importers in China, Japan and the US.

Sheep and cattle producers are urged to attend this highly interactive workshop that will give them an opportunity to have their livestock marketing questions answered by an expert.

The Bathurst workshop will be held on June 7. Bookings are essential. Details from Brett Littler on 0427 007 398.

PRIME Minister Albanese will have announced his cabinet ministers by the time this article is printed, but former Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has been touted as a possible Minister for Agriculture.

He was prominent in Australian Workers' Union matters before entering Federal Parliament in the days when the shearing industry was largely overseen by the unions.

In our modern democracy, all parties in the agricultural sector must work together; the elected government calls the shots and every facet of the industry has to work with the decisions.

RECENT RURAL NOTEBOOK COLUMNS:

THE onset of a tablelands winter is happening, with parents of youngsters who play morning sports experiencing the feeling of being frozen blue while watching sport from the sideline.

Frosts of -6 and -7 on a Saturday morning will test every parent's commitment to their kids.

Livestock on farms live in the open during these conditions and care is needed when selecting sheltered paddocks for birthing females and freshly shorn sheep.

Sheep breeders who are using pain relief products such as TriSolfen, Numnuts and others realise that these products are important measures in the area of animal welfare.

TO follow on from last week's mention of widespread flooding of the flat country in the Brewarrina/Weilmoringle district, a fifth generation grazier from that area was interviewed on ABC morning radio this week.

He told of his family's decision to wind back their Merino sheep breeding in favour of goats and shedding sheep.

He told of the difficulty of sourcing workers for all types of sheep work, shearing, mulesing, etc, and his decisions were made for that reason.

He also mentioned the greatly improved fertility of female goats and shedder ewes, citing an increase from 85 per cent for Merinos up to 140 per cent for goats and almost that figure for shedders.

On the bottom line of his business plan he may find 25 per cent wool and 75 per cent meat.

ANALYSTS are telling us that very few female cattle are now going to slaughter, which means that the herd rebuild is entrenched and store prices should remain strong.

Widespread rain across the north has taken large numbers of cattle out of the market and the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator has broken the 1100c barrier to settle at 1115c.

The wet winter and forecasts of another La Nina next summer means that aggressive restocking will continue.

Three consecutive excellent seasons across much of eastern Australia are causing a lot of remarks that say "Climate change will do us". Please enjoy the good years.

THE group that manages the Perthville Hall must be dismayed to see the building being fenced off and unused for such a long period of time.

This hall was built in recent years to replace a redundant structure and was used on a very regular basis and will be again as soon as needed repairs are carried out.

It is managed by a very earnest group and I'm sure that they would appreciate a leg up from Bathurst council, Perthville Public School, Member for Bathurst Paul Toole and the general community.

A real effort could have repairs done in time for the Annual Village Fair in September.

Ken Hamer and John Trollor are the first contacts when urgent plans are to be made.

WEEK 47 of the Australian wool auctions saw an offering of 45,000 bales.

The market this week basically moved with currency movements.

Our dollar moved upwards by 1pc in our major trading partners' currencies and the Australian dollar market moved downwards by 1pc overall, closing at 1420ac/kg and unchanged in US dollar terms.

Traders were cautious at the beginning of the week due to the underlying Australian dollar/US dollar volatility, however, the fact that Chinese topmakers were keen would suggest that Australian wool is fairly priced for these end users and they need to secure supply of our wool.

Overall, there was a national passed-in rate of 14pc, with nearly 20pc of merino fleece not being sold in WA and 25pc of the national crossbred offering not making growers' reserves.

Despite the hurdles that we face at the moment, it seems that merino wool is still in good demand and our trading partners want this raw material.

Week 48 sees an estimated offering of 37,291 bales, with the four-week forecast showing reduced offerings thereafter.

This may change, however, depending on how much appetite there is to sell at current levels among growers with wool on hold.

THE local Member had fallen in a river and was struggling.

A farmer's 12-year-old son dived in to perform a rescue.

"You wonderful boy," a bystander said. "What can I do to reward you?"

"For Gawd's sake," the young bloke muttered, "don't tell me father."

***

HE asked his bride-to-be if she'd told her parents that he was a sheep cockie.

"Not yet," she said. "I mentioned your police record, that you smoked, drank and gambled heavily, but I thought I'd wait 'til we're married to tell the rest of it."

***

IF you're looking for a helping hand, there's one right on the end of your arm.