A field of nine candidates is facing the starter and I know Howard Sinclair, Scott Sullivan, Mitchell Clapham and Wendy Bowman quite well.

Each of them has a well-earned reputation for quality service to their community and to the rural sector.

Other candidates are Nicholas Cantor, Benjamin Fry, Jillian Pennisi, Andrew Rawson and Shae Hamson.

Three candidates will be elected and will join four appointed members selected by the minister.

LLS now has a very low profile but it is one of the last bastions for producer participation in rural matters that involve the NSW Government.

If we rewind the clock to RLPB or LHPA (industry forerunners to LLS), we find that a weekly column came from the board's district vet and Western Advocate chief of staff Brian Wood interviewed the board general manager and chairman on a very regular basis.

This must be progress in state Nationals' eyes.

Voting is not compulsory and is conducted by post or online.

THE deaths of three of our more notable citizens occurred close to Easter week.

Laurie Evans from Oberon is remembered as one of his town's best forwards in their greatest league premierships, a top class farmer and a great friend.

Kay Peacock from Bathurst was a former champion golfer, hairdresser, cyclist and friend to everyone.

Jim Denmead, also from Bathurst, was a band leader, bugler at many official events and a real family man.

Bathurst and district will miss each of these valued citizens.

OTHER RECENT RURAL NOTEBOOK COLUMNS:

COMPUTERISED auctions of trade and stud livestock have been quite successful with a lot of faith being shown in video presentations and accredited assessors.

When the South Australian Stud Merino Ram auctions start in late winter, there will need to be some type of hands-on inspection for wool character, softness and lustre as these qualities are difficult to measure and describe.

Solutions will be found, but the issue raises the question of who you would use for an assessor to pick five rams at $2500 each for you.

Maybe some of the virus restrictions will be lifted by mid-winter.

THE lovely autumn season rolls on with a 42-year-old local man telling me that he hasn't seen oat crops like this since he started school.

An older lady said: "This is why I don't listen to people who think they are wise. The real wise ones still have the basis of their stocking rates and have pressed the green button for fertiliser orders."

I believe that over 130 super orders are now taken up by local business.

It never rains dollars but it does rain hope and confidence and we hope that this lovely outlook will continue.

HEAVY storms in the north west of our state have caused localised flash flooding and filled many surface water storages.

Much of the run-off was below Burrendong, but the Cudgegong River helped add at least 10 per cent to the storage in several falls.

Our own Oberon and Chifley dams have picked up several percentage points and a lot of their catchments are at the stage where some suspect areas are getting to a boggy state.

NSW has made a huge change from bushfire to virus but our real heroes are the workers who are at the frontline in both spheres.

The next couple of months are going to be vital as our country fights the coronavirus.

We must support our government, health authorities and police force.

Our Aussie spirit will survive the problem, but we must stick together and not take silly risks.

FARM chemical suppliers and users whose chemical accreditation is reaching expiry date may be interested in the re-accreditation one-day course that is currently available.

On behalf of Countryco Trading, Geoff Paton has course details for dates and cost.

Because there are legal responsibilities for all chemical users and suppliers, all involved should carry chemical accreditation cards.

All details from Countryco on 07 4639 4919.

A LOT of self-isolators would have watched the autumn Championships at Randwick over Easter and we've noted some great performances from British and Japanese raiders.

English jockeys and trainers often referred to their horses as "having a great turn of foot" if they could accelerate quickly in a race.

In the merino world, I sometimes hear a specialist breeder say a sheep is "sweet in the wool" and this denotes character to us old stagers.

When the late Jim Watts left the CSIRO in the early 1980s, he told me he went straight to the Banavie studs, Gowandale, Wallaloo Park, Charinga and Glendamar at Marnoo, because they had lots of character and he based his SRS system on character.

THE wool market improved a little this week due to a reduced offering of 22 per cent.

The fine merino wools saw gains of around 20c/kg, while the medium types gained around 30c/kg.

Crossbred wools gained around 8c/kg and merino cardings lost a bit of ground, finishing the week down 10c/kg.

The Northern Market Indicator finished the week on 1333c/kg, up 13c/kg.

The COVID-19 virus is having a dramatic impact on wool trading, as it is on all other commodities.

Buyers are saying a lot of confidence has disappeared from the market with so much uncertainty throughout the whole world.

It is not clear where world economies may be at the end of all the disruption.

Strong signals are coming out of China, however, that they are nearly back to full production.

Unfortunately, they are on their own, with no wool going into any European mills.

Next week will see 21,523 bales on offer with only a one-day sale in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle.

GEORGE says that his kids believe he is God. They only speak to him when they need something.

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OUR clever farmer took a pretty woman to an inner city hotel, booked in as husband and wife and gave an address.

When checking out after breaky, he was given an account for $8200 and told: "Your wife left three days ago and she's been here with friends, one each night, for 10 days."

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AFTER 14 days of staying at home with his wife, I'm told that a local farmer answered his door with earplugs around his neck. Sixty more days may be interesting.