All points of the Limestone Coast agricultural community centered on McDonald Park recently for a special afternoon.

East Gambier Football Club was packed with people who came to listen to the thoughts of Simon Quilty, who is a nationally renowned speaker, consultant and analyst on the livestock industry.

The afternoon was hosted by the RMA network and it provided the local industry with vital information on how to tackle the current and future challenges in the agricultural world.

One of the key men behind the show which attracted a huge turnout of around 180 locals was director of TDC livestock and property Darren Maney and he said it was a great afternoon where key topics such as foot and mouth disease were raised.

“I think we were all delighted with the attendance and the day was just a really good insight for South East producers,” he said.

“I was impressed with what he had to say and there were a couple of important things from it and one of them was how we all heard to be careful about foot and mouth disease six to eight weeks ago.

“We have to keep bringing that message to the fore because the negative side of it is if it gets here we are in a lot of trouble.

“That was one purpose of it was to share a lot of information of what would happen if it got here.

“Anybody that listened to him about foot and mouth were better informed, especially if the country was shut down and they would keep more fodder on hand.

“But he was also really fascinating and positive on world protein markets and where beef sits in the world.”

Mr Maney said it had been an ambition to bring Mr Quilty to the Limestone Coast ever since he first heard his insights at the Gold Coast.

“Simon is probably the leading forecaster of meat prices in Australia and we attended a conference in the Gold Coast where we heard him speak,” he said.

“We felt this quality of speaker is someone we could bring to our part of the world to share his knowledge with our clients.”

After also hearing Mr Quilty speak to the South East locals, Mr Maney said the ability for all of the competing Limestone Coast companies to work together to make something as big as this happen really stood out.

“What I was really impressed with was the way that four different companies worked together to bring a speaker of this quality for producers to listen to in the South East,” he said.

“It is probably one of the first times the four of us have worked together and we were lucky because the RMA came to the fore.

“All of us were very satisfied with the response because it is easy to get a couple of 100 people together nowadays.

“I have heard nothing but favourable comments from people that attended.”

After the success of the session, Mr Maney revealed he hoped a “similar thing” could be held annually between RMA members.