AUSTRALIA’S sheep, lamb and wool producers are the nation’s keenest to form collaborations, according to the Farming Together program.

INCREASES in wool, lamb, beef, live cattle and dairy export earnings are forecast to keep Australia’s gross value of farm production above average next financial year.

FIRST cross ewe lambs sold to $321 and Merino ewe-lamb units made to $242 in online AuctionsPlus sales last week.

AUSTRALIAN sheep meat and beef industries have had a win in improved chilled access to the United Arab Emirates, one of our largest red meat markets in the Middle East region.

MERINO and Dohne ewe sales continued to feature on AuctionsPlus last week, as sheep and lamb numbers lifted slightly. Sheep and lamb numbers lifted 403 to 30,486 head of commercial stock last week.

Sheep producers could be in for their best year yet according to predictions made at an MLA forum in Melbourne today.

VICTORIA’S decision to mandate electronic sheep and goat identification will be used to promote the state’s sheep meat products at the world’s largest annual food and hospitality trade show in Dubai.

A strong finish to the year saw Australia’s 2016 lamb exports rise 3 percent over the previous year, while mutton exports fell 12pc. Total lamb exports last year reached 242,285 tonnes shipped weight, up from 240,000t the year before. Last year’s trade was back slightly from 2014’s record volume, but 23pc higher than the five-year average.

SHEEP meat exporters have fuelled a 500 percent increase in the number of lambs processed through Meat Standards Australia eating quality pathways and standards since 2010-11, Meat & Livestock Australia has reported.

WOOL prices are expected to increase 6.9 percent in 2016-17 and boost production, according to National Australia Bank.