Chris Wilson is a busy sheep and grain farmer at Wantabadgery, who after ignoring and hiding many signs and symptoms of depression for 15 years, was confronted by his sister and sought professional help.

After living with the illness that was at times debilitating and forced him to spend days inside his home and unable to work his farm for so long, Chris is now committed to sharing his story in the hope others won’t wait as long as he did.

Chris’s ability to describe his descent into depression, how he tried to hide his struggle from those closest to him, and what would help him through dark times that included suicidal thoughts is a powerful tool to start conversations and raise awareness.

Chris sought professional help from a local psychologist at a time when he had no idea what else to do. Ensuring people are aware of the help available to them when they need it is a key part of Chris’s motivation to share his story.

Chris has delivered many presentations to community and school groups across the Riverina in order to start the conversation about mental health and remove any feeling of shame or stigma from it.

After spending 9 glorious years at Uni, almost finishing an Ag degree but then changing, Tim graduated from the University of Queensland as a vet in 2006.

Moving south to Coonamble for his first job Tim worked in Mixed practice from there it was off to the UK, locuming in QLD and back managing the Coonamble vet business.

Tim co-founded the Western Rivers Veterinary Group in Warren 2013 With the motto " anyone who wants a vet gets a vet" A clinic in Nyngan was built and a joint venture in the North Australian Veterinary Group in Cloncurry was established.

As a part owner of vet clinics that put vets into cattle farms across 3 states Tim saw an opportunity to develop a full time veterinary based sheep services business, sold out of the vet clinics and formed For Flocks Sake based out of Dubbo.

FFS provides services and advice for producers who want to grow their best sheep and make every ewe a winner!

Simon graduated from James Cook University with a veterinary degree in 2014. He then set out to develop skills and gain experience as an ambulatory large animal veterinarian. In 2019, as the only applicant, he gained employment with Coolac Veterinary Service.

In 2020 he was fortunate to get the opportunity to buy in to the business. With his business partner Tom Graham, they provide a Livestock health and production service to the Riverina, South West Slopes and Central West regions of NSW. However Simon says this is all trumped by his wife and four kids who motivate him to keep showing up each day.

Edward McFarland is currently managing a livestock operation on a mixed farm at Darlington Point.

Ed was raised west of Hay on the family merino sheep breeding property, predominantly a wool operation, where they also ran cattle at opportune times. After completing a mechanic apprenticeship he spent 9 years running a livestock contract labour business which involved all facets of livestock husbandry and production. This also included the education of young or spoiled livestock with the focus being safety and handling efficiency to improve productivity.

Since 2012 he has been working large scale and intensive livestock productions for corporate businesses which has given him the opportunity to further develop his knowledge and skills. For as long as Ed can remember he has always had an interest in livestock production and handling which has developed into a passion along with breeding and training stock dogs. Those close to him would say that his passion is more of an obsession.

Boyd owns and operates Plevna Merino Stud with his wife Alex at Trundle in Central West NSW.

Boyd has been in the sheep industry for 30 year and has spent 20 years teaching Primary Industries at TAFE Western specialising in stock handling and sheep husbandry to a diverse range of students.

In 2015 Boyd was contracted to AWI to develop Livestock Handling and Sheep Selection Education Resources.

Geoff has worked as an agent for more than 13 years and has been involved in dog trialling since 1989. Notably, Geoff represented Australia for dog trailing in 2001.

Geoff was the Manager of Glendemar Merinos, Marnoo Victoria and was also the operations Manager at Collinsville Merino Stud, Hallett South Australia.

Geoff is the President of the Hay Working Dog Club and has been presenting Stockmanship at Wyvern Weekend since its inception.

Charlie (BA Business), Agribusiness (Marcus Oldham) joined the Sprout Ag team after six years with a top 100 ASX financial services provider in the Agribusiness and Commercial sectors providing support to a diverse mix of agricultural pursuits and service industries.

Charlie was born and raised in the irrigation community of Coleambally and is passionate about the land and the businesses that operate on it. Based in Hay, Charlie is looking to give back to the local communities around him by providing a wide range of support and advice to family farming businesses, to help them grow and prosper into the future.

Pat lives with his family in Bethungra NSW, where they run a mixed sheep and cropping enterprise. Over the past 20 years, Pat has built his reputation as a quality sheep classer.

Mitchell Rubie, who is employed on the family-owned Lachlan Merino Stud at Forbes, also has a Bachelor of Agricultural Business from Charles Sturt University and was favourably awarded the 2022 Peter Westblade Scholarship.

Mitch has recently started his own classing/Sheep advisory business 'Rubie Livestock Advancement'. This involves classing sheep for clients of Lachlan Merinos and Craig Wilson and Associates as well as developing his own growing client base.

Sally grew up on a grazing property on the Monaro NSW and studied Agriculture Science at UWS Hawkesbury and Post Grad studies at UNE and Sydney Uni focusing on Animal Breeding Management.

Sally’s career spans over 30 years, 20 years with NSW DPI and since 2011 running her consultancy business, SheepMetriX, now employing 4 full time staff, servicing a current client base ranging across Australia and overseas in the Falkland Islands and Patagonia Argentina.

Sally is passionate about agriculture and more specifically the Australian sheep and wool industry. Sally loves working with the diversity of people and situations that the sheep industry provides, and her passion is being able to bring the science to client’s fingertips in a practical way.

Managing director and co-founder of Endeavor Wool Exports, Joshua has a long-term involvement with the wool industry.

Joshua also sits on the AWTA board, appointed as the nominee director for Australian Council of Wool Exporters Inc on October 2020, is Chair of Environment & Safety Committee and President of Australian Council of Wool Exporters and Processors Inc

Carol runs the business side of Woodpark Poll Merino stud and commercial Merino, cattle and pasture production operation in the NSW Riverina and Victorian Western District.

Carol is an award winning strategic business planning facilitator, with previous roles including delivering business planning workshops with farmers to bring out their business skills and assist them to develop their own business plan with a strategic approach embedded, and have also worked as an independent agribusiness consultant with several agribusiness specialists, including most locally Booth Associates in Hay and Griffith.

Carol still enjoys consulting as a facilitator, business consultant and strategic planning specialist when farm business commitments permit.

Marty is the fourth generation family member to manage Moses and Son. Marty first joined the family business as a store-man in 1980, after 5 years working in the electrical and petroleum industries. He eagerly progressed through the various facets of the business, gaining the necessary experience and qualifications to be appointed Managing Director in 1993.

Marty is actively involved in both the wool industry and the community. Most notably, his work as Director of the Inland Wool Brokers Association, Yennora Wool Brokers, and Director representing Brokers on the board of the Australian Wool Exchange Limited. In more recent years, Marty has developed a passion for sheep and genetics. He is a founding member of, and current Public Officer for the Peter Westblade Scholarship.

Kathleen is a fifth-generation farmer and ag industry professional with nearly 25 years experience in the sector. Kathleen and her family live on a property near Yass in Southern NSW, where they run a self-replacing, superfine merino flock and operated an award-winning small business farm animal resource management (farm) - an agricultural education business that was established in 1994 to promote the importance of agriculture in an increasingly urban community and provide consumers with an opportunity to engage with practicing farmers.

Kathleen has a Bachelor or Rural Science with Honours from the University of New England. She majored in animal health and sheep and wool production and completed her honours thesis on Ovine Johnes disease.

Kathleen has worked in a number of regulatory, program management and policy roles with the Australian government in Canberra. She has worked in animal welfare, agvet chemical regulation, food policy and water management. Previously Kathleen was the Program Manager for Capacity Building at the Grains Research and Development Corporation and Industry Leadership and Communication Manager for the Sheepmeat Council of Australia in Canberra before starting as the Communication and Adoption Manager at the Integrity Systems Company – part of the MLA Group.

Kathleen spent a year as the Breed and Business Development Manager for Herefords Australia before starting as Program Manager SustainaWOOL with AWEX in September 2023.