HIGH livestock prices and the promise of lucrative seasons dominated 2015.
It was also a year that shaped up to deliver what could have been a bumper harvest.
Climatic conditions and a dry finish unfortunately put this to an end and some areas in southern NSW lost more than 80 per cent of the winter crop due to hail storms.
The wool market was up and down yet producers reflected on what was mostly a good year.
In fact, the latest NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) figures point to an increase in gross margins of 12 to 17 per cent for sheep producers.
This equated to a rise of $3 to $5 per dry sheep equivalent (DSE).
DPI sheep development officer, Geoff Casburn, said the modelling compared GMs for 10 typical sheep enterprises.
“The best results were for 20 micron Merino ewes joined to a maternal meat ram with a GM of $35.93 per DSE – that’s delivering $359 per hectare with an increase of $5.13 per DSE compared with last year,” Mr Casburn said.
Wool growers dug deep to to raise more than $55,000 for the Ronald McDonald House at Westmead, Sydney.
The 11,000 kilograms of wool was donated by more than 100 Riverina and central NSW growers.
Representation of the Riverina dairy industry also stepped up a notch when Euberta farmer Simone Jolliffe was elected Australian Dairy Farmers president.
Meanwhile, the seed industry lost a major player when Evan Moll, "Elderslie", Gerogery, died on Monday, November 16.
The Moll family is one of the oldest seed growing families in NSW. They began in the industry in 1923 with the former Department of Agriculture (now Primary Industries).
In 1949 the Moll family were also among the first members of the registered seed system.
