Co-Investors

DPIRD sheep research scientist and leader of the DPIRD sheep feed intake facility at Katanning, Beth Paganoni brings a great combination of research x communication skills to the WALRC team.  Her work in the sheep reproduction and genetics space has held her in high regard with sheep producers and the research community. Currently based out of DPIRD’s Bunbury office, her current major project will see accurate measures of feed intake, gas production and body composition measured together for the first time.

Georgie is a skilled Research Program Manager, with experience across a range of agricultural industries and key national rural issues. Her background in environmental impact assessment and sustainability brings a rich understanding of key issues and drivers of rural and regional Australia.  Her role as MLA Consultation Manager brings together her passion for people, agriculture and how research can support these industries.

Hayley is a principal research scientist, leading the CSIRO mixed farming systems team in WA. She has expertise in ruminant nutrition, forage improvement and integrated crop/livestock systems in dry and saline areas. Her team primarily conduct research in southern Australia but also have projects in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Myanmar and Tibet. Recent outputs include near infra-red spectrometry calibrations for rapid and inexpensive prediction of nutritional value of plants in the southern feedbase.  Hayley led the development and commercialization of AnamekaTM saltbush – a cultivar with improved feeding value to sheep and cattle.

Caroline’s role at Murdoch University is centered around Biochemistry and Nutrition and the Centre for Animal Production Research within the School of Veterinary and Life Sciences. She is a Murdoch University graduate in veterinary science and worked in private veterinary practices in Western Australia and United Kingdom after graduation. Her research career has followed a diverse range of interests in the fields of nutrition, parasitology and animal production, and she brings this passion for veterinary science to her role teaching both undergraduate and post-graduate students in the veterinary science and animal science programmes, with her main teaching area being animal nutrition.

Kelsey is a reproductive biologist by training and the current Lefroy Research Fellow. Before moving to Western Australia in 2020, Kelsey completed her PhD at the University of Sydney. Both her PhD and postdoctoral research focuses on translating the science underlying livestock reproduction into products that can be immediately applied on-farm. Her current research interests lie in the interplay between climate, diet and livestock reproduction, interventions during ewe gestation to improve lamb production and biological defleecing. Outside of research, Kelsey also co-manages a national livestock fertility testing business, The Reproduction Company, with her colleagues in the Eastern states.

Bridget Peachey is General Manager of Research at Australian Wool Innovation, having first joined AWI as the Program Manager for Sheep Health & Welfare. Bridget is originally from New Zealand and has a Master of Applied Science degree in Animal Science from Massey University. Bridget grew up on a dairy farm and has held various roles across the dairy, beef and sheep industries in both New Zealand and Australia in research, policy and program management including with HortResearch, AgResearch, Meat & Wool NZ (now Beef + Lamb NZ), Dairy Australia and Australian Lot Feeders’ Association.