Over the years, Bruce Pattinson's experience with the really great breeders is they only have a maximum of three breeds or a few colour varieties within one breed.

To make one kilogram of honey, female worker honey bees may visit around 1 million flowers, collectively flying around 144 000 kilometres. They fly in search of flowers, like I flew from Silicon Valley where I grew up to Australia in 2013 in search of beekeeping work.

Tocal Field Days has grown over the years to become the premiere agricultural event in the Hunter Valley. The event was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID restrictions, making it all the more exciting for Tocal Field Days to be back.

There is obviously no one best breed of poultry as all the breeds have been designed for different purposes in particular areas.

It has never been as easy for people to participate in study and formalise skills as now with the increase of diverse programs, more options to access funding and interactive online delivery.

Training has lots of benefits for the whole agricultural sector, for individual farming businesses, and can open new opportunities for the individuals.

Smart Farmer's resident poultry specialist Bruce Pattinson has a look at how to breed with success.

There has been a lot of concern expressed in recent times about the shortages of workers to fill the growing number of jobs across rural industries.

Do you have difficulty distinguishing bees and wasps? Many people do.

Lately, as my mates and I get older, we have been discussing how poultry housing needs to be as comfortable for us humans as it is for the birds.