THE Tasmanian sheep and wool extension and communication project, Sheep Connect, has been funded for another three years by Australian Wool Innovation.
Sheep Connect Tasmania (SCT) relied heavily on social media, through an e-newsletter, to promote activities such as field days and workshops, co-ordinator James Tyson said.
"I believe one of the key success factors for the project is the balance of interactive and passive extension models," Mr Tyson said.
"Timely and relevant events, along with quality communications via a range of channels, has resulted in producers making changes to their enterprises that deliver improved productivity and profitability," he said.
SCT aimed to increase the productivity, confidence and resilience of Tasmanian sheep and wool businesses, while enhancing the industry's reputation of being profitable and sustainable.
Mr Tyson said the underlying approach was to maintain a base level science-communication approach, using a balance of interactive (workshops, field days, seminars, meetings) and passive (e-newsletters, hardcopy newsletters, media, social media, websites) extension models.
"E-newsletters have been a popular and successful component of the project, with weekly to fortnightly e-newsletters achieving open rates up to 53% (agricultural industry average is 24%) and click/open rates up to 56% (agricultural industry average is 21%)," he said.
Sheep Connect had engaged with more than 930 attendees at field days, workshops and other events, on topics including sheep handling, lamb survival, electronic identification, footrot, and animal health.
"Since 2012, our e-newsletter open rates have increased by almost 70%, and our click rates by more than 105%," Mr Tyson said.
"Every one of our e-newsletters is also promoted through Twitter @sheepconnect, enabling producers to catch up on the latest Tasmanian sheep and wool industry news," he said.
In the next three years, areas identified in a comprehensive strategic planning process - undertaken last October - would be put in place.
He said the planning process resulted in the identification of a range of new and exciting areas of focus for the next three years.
"A number of these have not been covered in current or previous phases of the project; including business management, systems efficiency, animal health, and pasture productivity," Mr Tyson said.
