New and returning board members for 2017-18

Mark Dennis

Board member

Livestock producer Mark Dennis’ family has farmed at Koppio on the Lower Eyre Peninsula since 1965. Today the family runs 2500 ewes for wool, prime lambs and stud sheep, 40 breeder cattle and crop wheat, canola and lupins. Mark was a member of the former SA Farmers Federation organisation, serving on their Nature Resources Committee for 10 years. He has also been on the Advisory Board of Agriculture for eight years, including serving as Chairperson for three years, which included being Chairperson of the Agriculture Bureau of SA.

Gillian Fennell

Board member

Gillian Fennell was born and bred in North West Queensland, before moving to SA almost 15 years ago with her husband and his family when they sold their Qld holdings and purchased Lambina Station – a million acre rangelands cattle station in the Far North of SA, where they run a herd of Charbray breeders. Gillian is President of the Remote & Isolated Children’s Exercise and is also currently the SA Representative for Australian Women in Agriculture, a non-profit incorporated organisation established in 1994. It is Australia’s peak organisation for women across all areas of agriculture. She is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Kate McLachlan

Board member

Kate McLachlan is a fifth-generation South Australian livestock producer based at her family’s property at Gawler River, north of Adelaide. She and her husband Craig work alongside Kate’s father Bill to run the family’s farming operation, Newbold, producing Poll Dorset and White Suffolk prime lamb sires, grain and hay. She is currently the Promotions Officer on the South Australian Poll Dorset Committee. She works off-farm for Elders Rural Services where she is currently employed as their Marketing Manager.

Richard Halliday, Bordertown

Board member

Richard Halliday has worked in the wool industry all his life. He is the principal partner of Callowie Pty Ltd and Callowie Poll Merino Stud – a family farming business which he runs with his wife Jacquie and three children Sarah, Angus and Thomas at Bordertown. It is a mixed farming enterprise of stud and commercial Merino sheep, wool, prime lamb production, lucerne seed and hay. Richard was the inaugural President of Livestock SA, relinquishing this position in December 2014 after he was elected National President of WoolProducers Australia. He is also a member of the SA Sheep Advisory Group and a facilitator of the Rural Industries Skills Training Lifetime Ewe Management program.

Allan Piggott, Moorlands

Board member

Allan Piggott is a third-generation primary producer from Moorlands in the Murray Mallee. He and his family farm 2300 hectares producing grain, prime lambs and rams for the prime lamb industry. He has been involved in the South Australian red meat industry for 35 years and has built an extensive network of contacts. He is chairman of the SA Sheep Industry Blueprint, and initiative of Livestock SA and the SA Sheep Advisory Group. Allan chaired the successful LambEx 2014 conference organising committee, which was held in Adelaide, and is currently a member of the SA Sheep Advisory Group and Royal Adelaide Show Executive Councillor. He is Vice President of the Sheepmeat Council of Australia.

Read about the current 2016-17 board