July 29, 2026 • 6 mins
Our Australian correspondent covers bird flu, a Bee Train, bobby calves, and foreign-owned farms.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Is there, Ossie correspondent Chris Russell and Chris, you're not
allowed to talk about Commonwealth Games, gold metal halls or
not just yet anyhow, Look, I want to start with
the subject that's very concerning to us here as well
as you guys, and that's the bird flu. What's the
latest in Australia.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Okay, Well, the latest is we're now up to twenty
seven confirm cases. But probably more significantly, we've now had
our first confirmation by genetic testing that there has been
bird to bird transmission in the wild birds in Australia.
So what that means is that the bird has flown
in here from Antata or wherever and it's transferred it
(00:38):
to another bird from the same area, but that transfer
has occurred within Australia rather than birds just coming in
that already infected, so that's significant. We still have not
seen any transfer to any of the domestic animals or birds,
and there's no one there's no evidence really say that
(01:00):
this virus has impacted our poultry or other agricultural industries.
So you know, the Australian biosecurity authorities have got all
sorts of things happening and've got sentry flocks. They've got
observations happening, particularly along the South Australian coast. The South
Australians now have five confirmed cases and there's been cases
as far north as Morton Island off Brisbane, up in Queensland.
(01:23):
So I guess it's inevitable we're going to see more
of this. And as I said last week, there's been
a lot of migration of birds that we don't normally
see here, being driven up by I guess the hunt
for food and also some very significant storms and Antarctica
which has kind of thrown them off course, I suppose
and sent them to arrive up on our coast. So
(01:44):
it's just a matter of watch and wait. And meanwhile
they're working on a vaculine as fast as they can.
Particularly interesting one comes from that spider enemy I think
we spoke about a few weeks ago, Jamie.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Bobby calves are now a lucrative side hustle for dairy farmers.
Has Man dives into dairy beef and it's the same
with us on this side of the Tasman. That is
a real issue for dairy farmers. The Bobby carf issue
and dairy beef seems to be a way out of
it and a profitable one.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yes, And it's interesting. I mean they are sort of
a necessary evil really previously, but now more and more
seamen has been put into dairy cows from recognized beef bridge.
We've always done that with first carving heafers particularly, just
sort of open up a bit, but all of a
sudden that's now become a very lucrative side hustle, and
(02:35):
the dairy beef market is being increasingly tapped into. And
as I say, the Fulton Market Group over here, which
is the main buyer of beef and port for McDonald's
restaurants around the world, have announced they want to increase
the amount of dairy beef used in Australia by twenty
thirty and from that point on. So there's a big
(02:55):
confidence going on Dairy conference that happened in February, and
they are saying that high quality beef can easily be
created from dairy cows. My experience from America, from having
done a bit of a study tour through some of
those big dairy feed lots over there, is that although
it's relatively inefficient to produce from a point of view
of amount of feed that takes to put on a
(03:17):
killer of weight gain. The quality of the meat is
right up there Jersey beef, freeesi and beef, and so
it is proving more popular and of course the nice
little sign hustle for the dairy farmers. Jamie talk to me.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
About the b road trains and when we say be
we mean the buzzy.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Type exactly right. Well, they're saying the road trains are
buzzing coming across another board. Western Australia is the only
state which has not seen any varaa might as yet
touch wood. The farmers say that's more by good luck
and good management because the West Australian government isn't putting
enough resources they claim, into surveillance. But nonetheless that big
(03:58):
desert between the West in the East is certainly move
working in their favor, and they are very strict. If
I take my caravan through border Town going into Western Australia,
they don't just take my word for it. They will
go through that caravan from top to tail. They'll take
any little bit of honey. I've got even little blister
of packs of pastorized honey, they will be removed, so
(04:19):
you know it. They have kept it safe. Well, they're
our shipping bees on a one way journey back east
to pollinate the almond trees. That's a massive business, the
almond business, and they just can't do it without pollination
and the native bee population in the eastern side it's
been pretty much completely wiped out by varroa now and
(04:40):
increasingly the number of beehives available pollination is getting less
and less. So there's two or three thousand hives on
their way across as we speak to try and help
these guys, all being sold for around about two hundred
and fifty dollars to three hundred dollars a high, so
it's about a two point eight million dollar business that
(05:01):
has been created. But those bees are on a death road.
They will not survive and they will eventually all catch
the disease and they'll probably be wiped out, but at
least for this year they'll be able to help the
arm and farmers get a crop. Jamie.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Thirteen percent of Australia's farming land is now owned offshore
UK being the biggest owner, which shows mass of faith
and sheep.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yes, well, you know, when you look at some of
these amazing big companies, the hands cut family over in
Westminster in UK have now just purchased their third big
station going across a Nuther War. They now own a
massive quantity of land over here and we're looking at
about thirteen percent of the agricultural land being owned by
(05:49):
overseas clients. In particular, UK is the biggest one. I
think China is the second biggest and the US is
the third biggest. And a lot of those farms were
assumed they're going to be converted into beef, but in fact,
particularly the Hand group has kept those farms into sheep
and they've now picked up in the last year about
(06:11):
one hundred and sixty thousand head of sheep in their flock,
just along another boar which they're going to leave in
sheep because they've got great faith that the wool industry
is going in the right direction as far as they're concerned,
and it diversifies their total holdings. I suppose, Jamie, hey,
I am.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Out of time to talk about your gold medal hall
in Glasgow. I must say though, that Larnie Pallast, I
think I've got a name right as a magnificent swimmer.
She's beaten the magnificent swimmer of ours on a few
events Erica Fairweather, so well done. Chris credits where it's due,
the Aussies dominating the Commonwealth Games.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Catch you next week, No worry, Shami,
Is there, Ossie correspondent Chris Russell and Chris, you're not
allowed to talk about Commonwealth Games, gold metal halls or
not just yet anyhow, Look, I want to start with
the subject that's very concerning to us here as well
as you guys, and that's the bird flu. What's the
latest in Australia.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Okay, Well, the latest is we're now up to twenty
seven confirm cases. But probably more significantly, we've now had
our first confirmation by genetic testing that there has been
bird to bird transmission in the wild birds in Australia.
So what that means is that the bird has flown
in here from Antata or wherever and it's transferred it
(00:38):
to another bird from the same area, but that transfer
has occurred within Australia rather than birds just coming in
that already infected, so that's significant. We still have not
seen any transfer to any of the domestic animals or birds,
and there's no one there's no evidence really say that
(01:00):
this virus has impacted our poultry or other agricultural industries.
So you know, the Australian biosecurity authorities have got all
sorts of things happening and've got sentry flocks. They've got
observations happening, particularly along the South Australian coast. The South
Australians now have five confirmed cases and there's been cases
as far north as Morton Island off Brisbane, up in Queensland.
(01:23):
So I guess it's inevitable we're going to see more
of this. And as I said last week, there's been
a lot of migration of birds that we don't normally
see here, being driven up by I guess the hunt
for food and also some very significant storms and Antarctica
which has kind of thrown them off course, I suppose
and sent them to arrive up on our coast. So
(01:44):
it's just a matter of watch and wait. And meanwhile
they're working on a vaculine as fast as they can.
Particularly interesting one comes from that spider enemy I think
we spoke about a few weeks ago, Jamie.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
Bobby calves are now a lucrative side hustle for dairy farmers.
Has Man dives into dairy beef and it's the same
with us on this side of the Tasman. That is
a real issue for dairy farmers. The Bobby carf issue
and dairy beef seems to be a way out of
it and a profitable one.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yes, And it's interesting. I mean they are sort of
a necessary evil really previously, but now more and more
seamen has been put into dairy cows from recognized beef bridge.
We've always done that with first carving heafers particularly, just
sort of open up a bit, but all of a
sudden that's now become a very lucrative side hustle, and
(02:35):
the dairy beef market is being increasingly tapped into. And
as I say, the Fulton Market Group over here, which
is the main buyer of beef and port for McDonald's
restaurants around the world, have announced they want to increase
the amount of dairy beef used in Australia by twenty
thirty and from that point on. So there's a big
(02:55):
confidence going on Dairy conference that happened in February, and
they are saying that high quality beef can easily be
created from dairy cows. My experience from America, from having
done a bit of a study tour through some of
those big dairy feed lots over there, is that although
it's relatively inefficient to produce from a point of view
of amount of feed that takes to put on a
(03:17):
killer of weight gain. The quality of the meat is
right up there Jersey beef, freeesi and beef, and so
it is proving more popular and of course the nice
little sign hustle for the dairy farmers. Jamie talk to me.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
About the b road trains and when we say be
we mean the buzzy.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Type exactly right. Well, they're saying the road trains are
buzzing coming across another board. Western Australia is the only
state which has not seen any varaa might as yet
touch wood. The farmers say that's more by good luck
and good management because the West Australian government isn't putting
enough resources they claim, into surveillance. But nonetheless that big
(03:58):
desert between the West in the East is certainly move
working in their favor, and they are very strict. If
I take my caravan through border Town going into Western Australia,
they don't just take my word for it. They will
go through that caravan from top to tail. They'll take
any little bit of honey. I've got even little blister
of packs of pastorized honey, they will be removed, so
(04:19):
you know it. They have kept it safe. Well, they're
our shipping bees on a one way journey back east
to pollinate the almond trees. That's a massive business, the
almond business, and they just can't do it without pollination
and the native bee population in the eastern side it's
been pretty much completely wiped out by varroa now and
(04:40):
increasingly the number of beehives available pollination is getting less
and less. So there's two or three thousand hives on
their way across as we speak to try and help
these guys, all being sold for around about two hundred
and fifty dollars to three hundred dollars a high, so
it's about a two point eight million dollar business that
(05:01):
has been created. But those bees are on a death road.
They will not survive and they will eventually all catch
the disease and they'll probably be wiped out, but at
least for this year they'll be able to help the
arm and farmers get a crop. Jamie.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Thirteen percent of Australia's farming land is now owned offshore
UK being the biggest owner, which shows mass of faith
and sheep.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Yes, well, you know, when you look at some of
these amazing big companies, the hands cut family over in
Westminster in UK have now just purchased their third big
station going across a Nuther War. They now own a
massive quantity of land over here and we're looking at
about thirteen percent of the agricultural land being owned by
(05:49):
overseas clients. In particular, UK is the biggest one. I
think China is the second biggest and the US is
the third biggest. And a lot of those farms were
assumed they're going to be converted into beef, but in fact,
particularly the Hand group has kept those farms into sheep
and they've now picked up in the last year about
(06:11):
one hundred and sixty thousand head of sheep in their flock,
just along another boar which they're going to leave in
sheep because they've got great faith that the wool industry
is going in the right direction as far as they're concerned,
and it diversifies their total holdings. I suppose, Jamie, hey,
I am.
Speaker 1 (06:27):
Out of time to talk about your gold medal hall
in Glasgow. I must say though, that Larnie Pallast, I
think I've got a name right as a magnificent swimmer.
She's beaten the magnificent swimmer of ours on a few
events Erica Fairweather, so well done. Chris credits where it's due,
the Aussies dominating the Commonwealth Games.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
Catch you next week, No worry, Shami,
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