Samantha Clayfield

Qualifications: B. Agriculture undertaken at Roseworthy Campus, University of Adelaide, South Australia.

Employer: Department of Primary Industries

Address: 402 - 406 Mair St, BALLARAT, Vic 3350

Mobile: 0428 513 722

Email: samantha.clayfield@dpi.vic.gov.au

BWBL groups

Ballarat Lamb

Position:

Sheep Industry Development Officer

Farming Background:

Sam grew up on a family farm ‘Arisaig’ in Coonawarra, South Australia. While she was growing up on the property, her grandparents ran Hereford and Angus cattle, a dairy with Jersey cows, merinos for wool and 1st cross ewes for prime lambs as well as the occasional crop. The property has since been divided between the 10 kids and now ‘Annilen’ is run by Sam’s parents. The land is quite flat and is dotted with large red gums. There are a few swamps on the property too that fill up over winter. Sam’s family runs 1st cross BL/Merino ewes that are crossed with Poll Dorsets to produce prime lambs. The family also has a flock of Corriedales on the property which are forming the basis of a new self replacing flock. The family did lease a vineyard for 5 years, but as the grape prices dropped off the family decided to exit the industry.

Sam finished attending Roseworthy Agricultural College (RAC) in SA at the end of 2007. The campus farm at Roseworthy had a mix of sheep, cattle, dairy cattle and cropping as well as various trials on the college farm. During this time she was able to get some hands on experience in all of these enterprises and see new farm management technology as it was trialled on the college farm.

After RAC, Sam spent 3 months working as a vineyard labourer/ cellar hand and then spent 8 months travelling with a shearing team through western Victoria as a rouseabout. She spent this time living out of her car and swag and visiting different properties in the South West. During this time she was able to see the variety of different sheep operations that there are across the region. Sam also turned her hand to becoming a shearer’s cook for a short while as the shearing team travelled up into NSW, before gaining a position with the DPI in Ballarat.

Projects currently working on:

Sam is currently helping record and collect data from 2 of the 20 Sentinel Flock Project farms across the state. The Sentinel Flock Project has been set up to identify the causes of lamb and ewe mortalities on farms across Victoria. The Sentinel Flock project allows for a Sheep Officer and an Animal Health person to monitor a farm and record management practices and help to identify areas where increases in on farm productivity can be made as well as animal health/ welfare can be bettered.

As Sam is still fairly new to DPI, she has been helping out other staff members with different field days too. She has spent her first year at the DPI travelling and helping out with events such as ‘EverGraze’ field days in the Ballarat area and is currently being trained to be able to deliver accredited training through DPI.

Sam is currently the coordinator of the Ballarat BESTWOOL/BESTLAMB group too.