The Mackinnon Project is a recognised leader in sheep and beef consultancy in Australia and internationally.
Based at the University of Melbourne's Werribee campus, we offer a range of services, including academic and contract research, farmer training for individuals and small groups, postgraduate training programs, farm management consultancy, and veterinary services for sheep and beef farms. We also support the training of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine students in veterinary care of sheep, cattle and goats, with a strong focus on development of practical on-farm skills.
Our whole-farm approach
Our consultants take a whole-farm approach to grazing enterprises. We provide advice to farmers in the Mackinnon network on every aspect of successful farm management, from whole-farm planning through to marketing, supporting evidence-based decision-making to achieve their farm goals. The insights and challenges faced by farmers in the Mackinnon network help drive our research and training activities, and we collaborate with our clients to undertake on-farm research to address both farm-specific concerns and industry-wide priorities.
Facilities and resources
As part of the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne, the Mackinnon Project has access to the University's full diagnostic, computing, research and educational facilities. We use these facilities to investigate disease outbreaks, undertake world-class research and find the right resources to help address on-farm challenges.
Our collaborators
We work closely with scientists in the CSIRO, Departments of Agriculture, chemical companies, farm advisers, and specialists in key funding bodies, such as Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) and Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA), to provide the latest information to our clients. We believe in the knowledge base of farmers in the Mackinnon network and collaborate closely to leverage the insights of individual farms to create impact and solutions for the grazing industries.
Counting the cost of animal disease to the red meat industry
We have a major focus on supporting farmers and industry to effectively manage economically important diseases of sheep and cattle. We were major contributors to Meat and Livestock Australia’s prioritisation of endemic diseases for the red meat industry in 2015 and 2022, and our research aligns with addressing key priority diseases in southern Australia including:
$1.5B+
Conditions in sheep around late pregnancy and lambing
$765.3M
Internal parasites in cattle and sheep
$323.7M
Flystrike in sheep
$244.8M
Conditions of weaner sheep
$38.2M
Liver fluke in sheep
Source: B.AHE.0327 Priority list of endemic diseases for the red meat industry, 2022 update.
Services and products
Talk to us about our animal health, disease investigation and laboratory services.
Our proud history
The Mackinnon Project was established in 1983 to improve the productivity and profitability of sheep flocks and beef herds following a bequest from the Scobie and Claire Mackinnon Trust.
The bequest from the Trust is ongoing and continues to support the residency program, training new generations of farm advisors to serve Australia’s advancing livestock industries. Scobie and Claire Mackinnon owned Mooramong Station at Skipton and had a strong interest in animal and veterinary science.