Farmer agri pollies have been too focused on sectional interests or been bribed with drought payments etc and gone missing on livestock R&D.

How much livestock R&D is happening in Victoria and South Australia for example?

MLA must also wear significant criticism in this as they have been lazy gravity managers, more concerned about their internal management and other policitical issues than maintaining critical staffing thoughout Australia.

All too often MLA have promised to invest into projects and then not delivered a cent wasting critical time and effort.

It is not surprising that livestock scientists have left or been sacked in droves and few students are interested in livestock anymore.

The standard of any remaining work is declining. Proof is seen in the large decline in science papers written on livestock from Australia.

CSIRO has the publicity machine to raise this issue but Government support has all but dried up. The view that farmers don't want to pay tax and the prevailing economic rationalist view that governments don't do research means that there is now little funding and no policy to do research.

Victoria is even selling its research land to prevent any legitimate long term studies.

The rural newspapers, too, have been part of this trend to bury government research. All too often they do not highlight good research and lazy reporters take the easy line of reporting agri-political issues rather than good science.

Unsubstantiated opinion has replaced sound long-term studies as the underlying mechanism of livestock development in Australia.