This stark assessment has come from a highly placed AWI source, as some in commodity groups urge a takeover by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA).

All woolgrowers in Australia are shareholders in AWI, but this is not so with the MLA, where the board is appointed.

Just for the record, when Wally Merriman was appointed chairman of AWI, the market indicator was 820 cent a kilogram and the company had $11 million in the bank. In 2018, the indicator is above 2000 cents and AWI has $110 million in reserves – a far cry from near insolvency. This is the honey pot so attractive to some at the MLA.

Those looking to reform meat industry representation should take a good look at a model similar to AWI, instead of running around the countryside with differing agendas that are hardly democratic. Woolgrowers need to wake up before any compliant government allows personalities to destroy a damn good thing.   

Sighted in the meat section at one of our major supermarkets meat section is mince made from plants and vegetables.

This faux-mince product is labelled Funky Fields. Not on, say meat producers – sell it elsewhere in the supermarket. The solution is very, very easy. Back in the mid-1980s, dairy farmers were alarmed that supermarkets had loaded up display cases bought by the Australian dairy industry with a wide range of imported cheeses.

At a Goulburn Valley location, farmers stormed a large supermarket and unloaded the shelves of imported cheese into supermarket trolleys. At the checkout, one till managed to hit $4000, where the hard-working attendant was told that the customer was unable to pay.

This same scenario was being repeated further along the line.

Within two hours, all imported cheese was removed from a large number of supermarkets who, to put it mildly, “got the message.”   

Public comment on the issue of brumbies running wild continues to gallop along. Are they icons or are they miscreants?

The question to commentators should be, have you actually observed horses in the wild, or is it image gained from Patterson or a heavily edited movie that is oh so romantic.

Those charged with defending the environment say the horses must been controlled. Horse lovers say no, and of course the scarce mountain cattlemen so leave them alone.

In the past, I have been told by some people who have trapped horses in the national parks that they had shot stallions, which of course limits breeding.

Yes, difficult. But surely the gelding of colts stands a chance in controlling numbers?