I have written previously about the importance of Young Auctioneer Competitions and the benefits these state and national based competitions have on up and coming agents. The exposure and experience are invaluable in their continuing development.

But, before agents find themselves in our competitions, agents attend auctioneer schools.

ALPA auctioneer schools have recently adopted a national approach in the format for every school is the same irrespective of where they are held. These schools are open to all agents regardless of age or how long they have been in the industry.

Over two days, attendees learn from experienced and respected auctioneers on all aspects of auctioneering and good agency practice.

A vital part of our training is having a speech pathologist instruct on voice preparation and preservation as well as general public speaking skills.

Another very important aspect of auctioneer schools is delivering important current industry issues such as animal welfare and WH&S.

However, our midyear training coincided with the much talked about and confusion of J-BAS, biosecurity plans and updates to LPA accreditation.

There has been much misinformation about J-BAS and what this means for cattle producers.

In a nutshell: J-BAS is a producer voluntary scheme; J-BAS 6 can be maintained with a biosecurity plan and no history of BJD in past five years; J-BAS 7 and 8 need vet sign off; selling cattle into Northern Territory, a J-BAS score of 6 is required; an selling cattle into Western Australia, a J-BAS score of 8 is required.

On-farm biosecurity plan templates are available and are relatively simple to complete. The plan is then filed in on farm and updated as needed – note there is no need to submit or lodge the plan.

For further advice: MLA www.mla.com.au/lpa Animal Health Australia www.animalhealthaustralia.com.au, or talk to your local stock agent.