THE Sheep Alliance of WA will formally wind up operations this month after a special resolution was passed at the organisation's annual general meeting recently.
The Alliance brought together a complete representation of the sheep industry supply chain and at its peak had more than 50 members, representing all universities and tertiary institutions, sheep processors, live exporters, wool brokers and exporters, livestock agents, grower groups and lobby groups.
The membership structure meant the organisation was in a unique position to drive change in the industry, with stakeholders joining to help develop strategies to arrest the decline in sheep population and create a more sustainable sheep industry.
The organisation was established with three years of State government funding, with an expectation that it would need to be self-funding to survive beyond that point.
A halt in funding and no drive from members to transition to a paid membership structure saw Alliance directors unanimously vote for its closure and gifting its cash surplus, $30,000 in unclaimed director fees, to the WA Livestock Research Council (WALRC).
Sheep Alliance chairman Craig Heggaton said it was a constitutional requirement for members to determine where the surplus funds should go, but a legal requirement that they be gifted to a 'like' not-for-profit association.
"WALRC fits that criteria perfectly," Dr Heggaton said.
In presenting the association's achievements to members and guests attending the wind-up meeting, executive officer Esther Jones reflected on the group's two-year tenure and listed the development of the membership structure and opportunities that it created as highlights.
"We were able to bring all of industry together to address a common goal of progressing the profitability and sustainability of the WA sheep industry at a time when sheep numbers were in significant decline," Ms Jones said.
She said they supported DPIRD's SIBI program and directly helped in areas where they had a particular interest or expertise.
Ms Jones also highlighted the role that the Alliance played in WA hosting LambEx 2018.
"Our primary goal was to promote the business case for sheep and staging an event such as LambEx made a significant contribution to that cause," Ms Jones said.
"The Sheep Alliance was in a position to advocate to bring LambEx to the West and was also able to provide the founding procedures to establish the event until professional conference organisers were appointed.
"Had we not done that it is unlikely LambEx would have been delivered at all in 2018.
"But perhaps our biggest LambEx achievement was to put Sheep Alliance director Bindi Murray into the position of LambEx chair and in doing that we made a great contribution to developing and nurturing her remarkable leadership skills."
Dr Heggaton applauded the fact that the Sheep R&D Prospectus commissioned by the Alliance and now endorsed by AWI, MLA and DPIRD, is being used as a key document in guiding the next wave of sheep R&D program design.
"We have handed over the prospectus to the co-investors of the WA Livestock Research Council - CSIRO, UWA, Murdoch and DPIRD and they are now working together to form a joint approach to livestock R&D in this state," Dr Heggaton said.
The Alliance and its predecessor organisation, the Sheep Industry Leadership Council, was an initiative of DPIRD and established under the Royalties for Regions program.
