Sheepmeat's Ferme future

SCA president Ian McColl said Dr Ferme has the skills, contacts and experience necessary to lead the organisation.

Veterinarian and policy adviser Dr Ferme replaces Ron Cullen, who resigned after five years with the council.

"My key focus is making sure we represent the interests of producers," she said.

"We need to ensure that we continue to maintain markets but also open new markets, and make sure we provide continuous improvement in animal welfare.

"Most importantly for SCA is consultation with members and industry and representing the interests of our producers, that is our core responsibility."

Originally from Crystal Brook, Dr Ferme has been involved in the industry from a young age.

"My experience in the industry started from a young age growing up on a property in the Mid North of SA, where my family are still farming today," she said.

Dr Ferme studied veterinary science at Murdoch University and worked on sheep and cattle properties across WA during her studies.

"After completing my degree I was honoured to be awarded a scholarship to undertake a year with AQIS where I worked with Australian biosecurity systems, which was a great opportunity to get to understand the system."

Dr Ferme also worked as a graduate vet in Warrnambool and as a mixed practice vet in the Clare Valley before moving to Canberra two and a half years ago with SCA.

"My role with SCA has been in animal health and welfare policy work," she said.

"There's a number of things we've been working on but probably the greatest one would be the OJD review and setting guidelines for the welfare of sheep on farm.

"We have also had a lot to do around traceability and emergency animal disease response and biosecurity systems for the sheep industry."

Dr Ferme said she thought EID was a fantastic management tool for producers to use on farm.

"But moving into it becoming a mandatory requirement, it's problematic - we need something that's cost effective and practical for implementation on farm.

"Reading of the tag, whether that's through a visual or electronic system, is only a small part of the traceability and we need to have greater compliance.

"Whether it's through electronic tags or visual tags, that's the critical thing - we need greater compliance."

Moving forward, Dr Ferme said the sheepmeat industry was looking very positive.

"It's good to see the Korean FTA finalised but we also need to continue looking at other markets and continuing to provide that market access."

Next year will be a big one for SCA, she said.

"We're going to be doing a lot of work around strategic planning for the industry and where we see the industry going in 2015 to 2020.

"There will also be a lot of work around emergency disease preparedness and making sure the sheepmeat industry, and the livestock industry, is prepared for that.

"I think it's a really positive direction the industry is heading in and I'm looking forward to working in it."