Newsletter

The next meeting will be held on Thursday the 9th of November 2023 at 6.00pm East court Chinese Restaurant 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond. Please advise if you wish to attend, text Jim Middleton sec 0418254950

Recently we were approached by Tasmania Racing for advice regarding apprenticeship training and setting up an association for Tasmanian farriers. Armando Djuric and Jim Middleton traveled down to offer our advice and present some proposals. Armando took some tools down and did a clinic for the farriers in Launceston. We had meetings with officials from TAS Racing regarding training apprentices and qualifying existing farriers. TAS Racing is going to try to get their own farrier course going by running their own RTO. We are hoping that this will come to fruition as it will prove to Racing NSW that this is the way forward for training our apprentices moving forward. The farrier TAFE courses in NSW face significant problems and we need to be ready to take control of the industry’s future.

The association is looking to rewriting its constitution as it needs to be updated. There are many obsolete rules and new ones need to be written into the document. We hope to have a draft which we can present early in the new year.

At the last meetings ideas were discussed regarding apprentices leaving before finishing the full four years of indentureship. The most logical solution would be to offer a finishing incentive for apprentices at the end of their time. How this could work is the next problem.

Regards Jim Middleton secretary

The next meeting will be held on Thursday the 7th of September 2023 at 6pm East court Chinese Restaurant 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond. Please advise if you wish to attend, text Jim Middleton sec 0418254950

As one of our long-term objectives is to consolidate farriers into one association, we are currently in preliminary discussions with the Professional Farriers Association NSW regarding an amalgamation. Even though associations have different priorities we should be able to come to an agreement which will benefit both parties. The aim of all farrier associations should be to have unity and positive directions for the farrier industry as a whole. The industry is currently fragmented which creates confusion for both farriers and the horse owning public. With unity, good management and consistent income streams we can achieve good outcomes for the industry.

There has been reports of apprentices finishing indentureships before their time has been completed. We are not totally sure why this is happening, but it appears apprentices are leaving after they finish their last year of TAFE. If anyone has any information regarding this matter, please contact the association so we can look into it further.

Tasmania Racing has contacted us requesting assistance with certifying farriers. Amando Djuric and Jim Middleton will go to Tasmania at the end of this month to assist TAS Racing. Currently farriers are being certified by a private RTO from South Australia and there have been some conflicting opinions on the outcomes of this process. At least they are moving forward with making the trade more professional.

The committee will stand for. 2023-2024

President Malcolm Hunt

Snr Vice Presidents W Wright K Nicholson

Secretary/Treasurer Jim Middleton

Committee J Watt A Djuric G Morrison

Regards Jim Middleton secretary

Hi to everyone. My apologies for the teething problems with the new website as I have had some problems learning how to use the back end so I can add members and new posts.

The next meeting will be held on the 29th June 2023 at 6pm East court Chinese Resteraunt 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond.

The meeting will be taking nominations for officers for the coming financial year, if there are no new nominations the committee will stand.

The Derek Gardner clinic held at Hawkesbury TAFE had a good attendance and we had 12 members and apprentices who were all subsidised by the association at a cost of $1200

The association once again sponsored the apprentice farrier competitions at the Tamworth Cutting Futurity. The apprentices received vouchers to buy tools. Total value of the sponsorship was $2000

The association has also sponsored Kate Nipperess in her quest to compete with the Australian equestrian team at the Paris Paralympics 2024. Kate was injured in a horrific trackwork fall at Warwickfarm in 2016 which left her wheelchair bound. We will cover the cost of shoeing her horse Cruise and have supplied her with MFA sponsored clothing. We wish her all the best. Kate also has a go fund me page and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Can members please check their details on the website to make sure details are correct. If there is a problem, please let us know by email mfansw@mfansw.com.au as we have ceased the member logins and changes can now only be made by the association.

If members are not receiving text messages please let us know , if there are any farriers who are not on the website and you feel they should be get them to apply on line. Membership is free of charge for any tradesmen who have papers

Regards JIm Middleton secretary

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 13th April 2023 at East Court Chinese Resteraunt 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond at 6pm Please contact us if you will be attending for catering purposes 0418254950   

The current MFA web site platform software will become unsupported in the comming months.We have transfered the website to another provider and changed the look of the site with the same features and buttons.This process should be completed by the end of this week when all the farrier profiles have been exported to the new site.

There is a scheduled teams event in May from the 17th – 20th .This event is being run by the Proffesional Farriers Association at the Willinga Park Gold Buckle Campdraft event on the south coast  .The MFA will be sponsoring the event in the way of gift vouchers for apprentice competitors.If anyone wishes to compete please contact the Proffesional Farriers Association for details.

The next meeting will be held on Thursday  18th November  2021 at East Court Chinese Resteraunt 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond at 6.00pm Please contact us if you will be attending for catering purposes 0418254950

Please note this will be the annual general meeting for 2021.Audited financials will be presented at this meeting before they are handed to the Dept Fair Trading

There has not been a lot happening due to COVID in 2021. We will keep members informed of any news and events as they come to hand

There may be some vacancies servicing metropolitan and some provincial race meetings as some members have or are close to retiring from race meetings. If anyone is interested in applying for these positions please contact us to discuss

Simon Roberts is leaving the Goulburn area in January2022 so if there is anyone interested in a 128k business or an apprentice coming out of their time please contact Simon on 0409745508

Regards Jim Middleton secretary

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday  22th 2021 at East Court Chinese Resteraunt 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond at 5.30pm Please contact us if you will be attending for catering purposes 0418254950

At this meeting we will be taking nominations for officers for the coming year.If there are no other nominations the committee will stand for 2021

The audits have been completed for the association and will tabled at this meeting then forwarded to the Dept Fair Trading as required,

As yet we have had no correspondence from race clubs regarding the service increases for 2021.If we do not recieve any correspondence the new service rates will be charged from July 2021.

We have been recieving many complaints from horse owners about the lack of communication from farriers.We ask that members do better regarding this matter.If you do not want to provide your services please advise the client and/or provide them with a name and phone number of someone else that may be able to help them out.If you dont wish to talk to the client as a matter of courtesy send them a text at least.We purvey ouselves as being proffesional on your behalf so please act proffesionally.

Regards JIm Middleton

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 20th 2021 at East Court Chinese Resteraunt 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond at 6.00pm. Please contact us if you will be attending for catering purposes 0418254950

The association has made applications to increase service fees from July 1st to all the race clubs we currentley service. This is due to increases in Saturday race fields and a significant increases in trial numbers across all clubs.These fee increases will enable appropiate rates of pay to farriers that service these venues and a small increase in revenue for the association.

In the last few months there have been many enquirys regarding farriers in Bega and surrounding areas.There seems to be a lot of work down there but there are very few if any qualified farriers min these areas.It may be a good oppurtunity for anyone looking for sea change.

The Camden Show is keen to put on a major farrier competition in 2022.I have spoken to Steve Head regarding the matter and any interest in setting up and/or competing in the event please contact Steve. The association will sponsor the event in some way which is yet to be determined.

There has been some dicussion about how the Farrier industry will move forward in regards to associations.We have been down this path a number of times how ever due to egos and personal agendas it has been very difficult to gain any momentem. It may be time to approach the subject again in a different way.We have some ideas which will be discussed at the next meeting

Regards Jim Middleton secretary

The next meeting will be held on Thursday 4th March 2021 at East Court Chinese Resteraunt 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond at 6.00pm. Please contact us if you will be attending for catering purposes 0418254950

The association has donated 5 gas Pro forges and supplied 10 new stainless steel  flues at Hawkesbury TAFE.The cost and availabilty of cokeing coal has made using coke fires prohibitive in the long term.The coke fires will still be used as neccesary in the teaching of the course

It has come to our attention that Queensland TAFE has been directed by the Dept of Employment and Training QLD that anyone training an apprentice must have a CERT IV in Farriery in order to employ an apprentice.We are in discussions with University of QLD regarding this matter.The legalities of the decision are dubiuos as the trade is not licensed and the potential to stop any new apprenticeships is very real as tradesmen are unwilling or unable to take the time and the costs of upskilling.We will maintain the fight to reverse this decision.

The association has re-aquired the contract to service Inglis Sales at Warwickfarm.

 We will be discussing price rises for the race courses we service which will take effect in July 2021.

Regards Jim Middleton secretary 

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday 11th November 2020 at East Court Chinese Resteraunt 1st floor 144-148 Windsor Street Richmond at 6.30pm. Please contact us if you will be attending for catering purposes 0418254950

Due to covid restrictions we are finally having a meeting. Needless to say not a lot has been happening this year however we have been fortunate that the industry has been ticking along as normal.

Our main objective is still to provide service country race clubs under the association banner to ensure farriers are paid correctley and to provide a long term sustainable passive income for the association.This in turn creates a fee free membership and supports apprenticeship/TAFE schemes and incentives

Did you know that the federal government if offering apprentice incentives for new apprentices.There are payments up to 18K per annum for new apprentices available.Contact an apprenticeship provider for more information 

We have been working with Gow Gates insurance regarding specific insurances for farriers .Click on the link below if you are interested in a quote

Download the Equine Liability Proposal Form

Regards Jim Middleton  secretary