Esperance region farmer awarded for innovative project
Esperance region farmer Belinda Lay won the 2019 WA AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award last night, March 7.
She was nominated for an innovative ‘fit bit’ style sheep collar project, which is set to GPS track livestock in real-time and monitor their heart rates and temperatures.
Mrs Lay received a $10,000 business development award to help progress the project.
She said she was shocked to win at first.
"I had actually picked one of the other girls to take it out. I thought her project was really good.
"Then it comes over you in a rush and it’s a bit overwhelming. But it was a really nice night, a great atmosphere and a very enjoyable evening in the end."
Mrs Lay said she hoped the win would raise the profile of her project.
"I am hoping it will bring people together," she said.
"I hope this will be a focal point."
Mrs Lay said she was proud to represent Esperance and the local farming region at the awards night.
"That’s where it’s all happening, on the farm out of Esperance. It will always be home, it will always be our special place."
Transferring to Esperance provided Mrs Lay with an opportunity to excel in agriculture that she was unlikely to have in her home town.
"It was hard for a female to get into that if you are in a family farming area such as where I came from in Beverley," she said.
"With Esperance being more corporate farming at the time, they were willing to take a female on and give me an opportunity to have a go and explore whether I actually liked it.
"In Beverley, where I grew up, it was a family farming area and traditional in the sense that the farms went to the boys."
Mrs Lay thanked Richard Riddle for being a sounding board for her project.
"He helped me with the technical jargon, getting me up to speed to understand the barriers I was facing in regards to the technology side of things, and what I needed to do to bring it to fruition," she said.
"He has been vital."
Mrs Lay also thanked Thinkstra, for providing the infrastructure to run the project.
"The next step is to actually bring the sheep in, take the rams out, put the collars on, put them out into the paddock and start collecting data and seeing what comes in and how we can use it.
"Then to start doing the cost-benefit analysis."
Mrs Lay advised women getting their starting in the farming industry to never "underestimate the power of a network."
"I have been able to use my network, and the skills within it, to bring things together to achieve what I'm trying to achieve," she said.
"There's no such thing as a dumb question, keep asking, keep reaching out to people who have knowledge and utilise what you can."
Mrs Lay's project and discoveries will soon be available for the public to follow on www.coolindown.com.