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DairyfarmerQDO conference attracts big crowd at Toowoomba

The Northern

INSIDE■ China FTAsocial mediacampaign

PAGE 8

■ Farmer out to beat tough times

PAGE 10■ Dairyfarmers drive ESKiinitiative

PAGE 11■ Industry reef achievements

PAGE 12■ Is your farm fl ood-ready?

PAGE 19■ Parkers snare double at Ekka

PAGE 22

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

■ Continued page 4

KEY POINTS ■ Need to understand

profi tability in northern industry

■ About quarter of farms doing okay

■ Need for more fl exible production requirements

By Bria n Tessmann, QDO president

Paul Roderick, from Harrisville, Qld, and David Kucks, from Quinalow, Qld, featured in a session on business profi tability.

THOSE of us in the northern dairy industry are familiar with the question: What is the right dairy-farming system for Queensland and northern New South Wales?

This question was again asked of me at the Queensland Dairy-farmers’ Organisation’s (QDO) successful dairy conference, held at Toowoomba in September.

The conference gave an indi-cation of the answer with the af-ternoon session of the day, which featured an in-depth look at the farming businesses of two of the industry’s younger farmers.

One farm was an above-aver-age-sized irrigation, pasture and partial mixed ration (PMR) farm in the south-east of the State. The other was a larger farm employing a total mixed ration (TMR) system operating on the northern Downs.

This session looked at the full range of these farmers’ operating expenses and was met with great interest from those in attendance, and QDO thanks Paul Roderick and David Kucks for opening their books and their lives for the scru-tiny of those who attended.

This session was underpinned by the work of people such as Queensland Department of Ag-riculture, Forestry and Fisheries offi cer Ray Murphy, who does a great job operating the Queens-land Dairy Accounting Scheme (QDAS), which was the source of much of the information used.

QDAS is an invaluable data

source that has been operating for more than a couple of decades.

I believe we could be using it much better. QDO wants to better understand the production sys-tems that work best in different circumstances and the best pro-duction practices within each of the different production systems used in Queensland.

A range of comments were made to me at the conference around this topic. I make note of some general truisms that can be taken from the experience of the past decade or so, while noting

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Ross McInnesChairSubtropical Dairy

SD to provide feed buying advice

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014 THE NORTHERN DAIRYFARMER

WELCOME 3

The Northern

Dairyfarmer

Brian TessmannPresidentQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation

Toowoomba success set for Gympie repeat

The Northern Dairyfarmer magazine is a joint industry owned and operated publication targeted at delivering the latest research and development information and industry news to dairyfarmers and industry stakeholders of the northern dairy industry. The Northern Dairyfarmer is published on about the 13th of every second month in February, April, June, August, October and December.

EditorialEditors: Carlene and Alastair DowiePO Box 59, Carisbrook, Vic, 3464Email: <[email protected]>Phone/fax: (03) 5464 1542Mobile: 0418 553 282

AdvertisingAdvertising manager: Peter RoachNorthern Dairy Farmer, Fairfax Agricultural Media, GPO 257, Melbourne, Vic 3001Email: <[email protected]>Phone: (03) 8667 1127Fax: (03) 8667 1141Mobile: 0417 371 364

Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation LtdAdrian Peake, Executive Offi cerPO Box 13061, George Street Post Shop, Brisbane, Qld, 4003Phone: (07) 3236 2955Fax: (07) 3236 2956Email: <[email protected]>

Subtropical DairyBrad GranzinExecutive Offi cerMobile: 0431 197 479Email: <[email protected]>

Mailing and distributionThe Northern Dairyfarmer is distributed to dairyfarmers throughout Queensland and northern NSW. If you are a dairyfarmer and are not receiving a copy, contact:Queensland Dairyfarmers’ OrganisationPO Box 13061, George Street Post Shop, Brisbane, Qld, 4003Phone: (07) 3236 2955Fax: (07) 3236 2956Email: <[email protected]>

CopyrightAll material in The Northern Dairyfarmer is copyright. Reproduction in whole or part is not permitted without written permission of the publisher.

Editorial contributionsEditorial contributions are welcome, but no responsibility can be taken for their loss. Copy is preferred by email in Word or text-only format with pictures and graphics as 300dpi JPGs. Deadline is two months before publication.

PrintingRural Press Printing

Published by: Agricultural Publishers Pty LtdABN 55 000 560 430

ISSN 1833-8887

THE fi rst of the Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation’s (QDO) two conferences this year was a big success when held at Toowoomba in September. The day-long event featured a packed program of informative speakers, with the day’s presentations followed by the QDO an-nual general meeting (AGM) in the afternoon and an informal barbecue dinner in the evening.

While the industry continues to face challenges, the conference was a great chance to net-work with other farmers and industry representatives and our industry sponsors while also hearing about the latest opportunities for the dairy industry. With the theme of New Horizons, the conference had a strong focus on looking ahead to potential bright spots on the horizon for our industry.

This month’s issue of the Northern Dairyfarmer has a full wrap on the conference proceed-ings, including social photographs from the day and stories on the presentations.

I now look forward to joining with Subtropical Dairy (SD) for another great conference when it is held at Gympie on November 5. The Gympie forum will follow a similar theme to

that at Toowoomba but will also feature some unique presentations, meaning it will still be of high value for those of you who have already been to Toow-oomba. The Gympie joint forum sessions will also be followed by the SD AGM on November 6.

It is no small task for the team at QDO to put together two conferences in such a short timeframe but I congratulate them on their efforts in making these events so well organised, informative and enjoyable and I look forward

to catching up with you at Gympie.

Although the rainfall during the past couple of months has been welcome high input prices are still making business challenging. To provide more information around buying options for grain and fodder, Subtropical Dairy (SD) is publishing a weekly email update on this topic. You can join this mailing list by emailing Brad Granzin, <[email protected]>.

In August and September, SD hosted two workshops focused on improved communication in two different areas: one among our service providers and the second among our groups and networks. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to these workshops, with the outcomes providing some great insights and suggestions.

We have a number of events planned over October and November. Our Young Dairy Net-work will be involved with Moo Baa Munch at Toowoomba, Qld, and running Lead Up work-shops. There are also events in the planning around Dairy Australia (DA) programs Cups On Cups Off, Sustainable Farm Families and the Employment Starter Kit (ESKi). • The Countdown Cups On Cups Off training program covers the milking process, emphasis-ing mastitis prevention and control.• Sustainable Farm Families is a two-day workshop focused on assisting farmers to partici-pate in a health education program that helps them recognise and identify factors that affect family farm health, wellbeing and safety. • ESKi from the DA People in Dairy team provides easy access to the information and docu-ments you need to start employing someone.

We will send you more details around these events as they become available. Congratulations to Jordan Minniecon, who was recently appointed to permanent extension

offi cer role at the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fish-eries Gatton. We look forward to working with Jordan well into the future.

Our next annual general meeting will be held at Gympie on November 6 in conjunction with the second Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation forum. More details will be provided in the next few weeks. I look forward to seeing you there.

ICE cream could prove to be a bigger export market opportunity for Norco than the fresh milk it is currently selling in China for $9 a litre, deputy chair Tony Wilson told the Queensland Dairyfarm-ers Organisation conference in September.

Ice cream was an easier prod-

Plan to ice cream Asian markets

THE NORTHERN DAIRYFARMER OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014

4 QDO CONFERENCES

■ From page 1

Brian Tessmann addresses the QDO conference.

KEY POINTS ■ Norco ice cream

good potential for Asian export

■ Norco happy with Coles contract

■ Seeking to build on provenance

By Carlene Dowie

Tony Wilson: Our strategy is to do what is best for Norco and its farmer members.

Dan Dickeson, Lion farm services manager Queensland and NSW, Gerard Mullins, Ellangowan, Qld, Rachael Parkes, Ellangowan Qld, and Peter Cavanagh, Allora, Qld.

Jason and Bevan Black, Nanango, Qld.

uct to export because it could be delivered by ship and had a shelf-life of 12 months.

It also offered more fl exibility in how it was manufactured and could be made from powder, but-ter or other dairy products that could be bought in if there was a shortage of fresh milk at a par-ticular time of the year.

Mr Wilson said Norco was building its export and domestic marketing around the concept of provenance and growing con-sumer interest in the paddock-to-plate product story.

This meant it was committed to high quality and animal wel-fare standards, he said.

Mr Wilson also defended his co-operative’s signing of a fi ve-year deal to supply Coles’ private-label milk in South East Queensland that was sold for $1 a litre.

He said the $1/litre milk was already being sold by Coles well before Norco signed a contract with the supermarket chain.

The contract had exceeded Norco’s expectations.

“Our contract with Coles is a good one — we are happy with the returns from it,” he said. “I know it ($1/litre milk) is not do-ing the industry as a whole any favours but it is here to stay.

“Our strategy is to do what is best for Norco and its farmer members. If it’s profi table, we’ll do a contract.”

Mr Wilson said Norco was re-ceiving increasing inquiry from China for its fresh milk, which is fl own in on pallets.

It had taken two years to reach this point.

He said China was a great market because it had a growing middle class who lived in large cities, who understood English and who had a relatively relaxed approach to life.

But he warned it was diffi -cult to enter the Chinese market without a partner; Norco’s part-ner, PGS, had a good relation-ship with the Chinese quarantine service, which had been vital in opening up the fresh milk market that had previously been almost non-existent, he said.

Another challenge Norco had

faced was overcoming the po-tential problem of its brand and packaging being counterfeited in China.

Each bottle of its milk sold in China has a special code, similar to a QR code but unique to each

batch of milk, that enabled a con-sumer using a free mobile phone app to scan the bottle and obtain information about the product. This code is current only while the milk is still suitable to drink.

ND

that there are always exceptions to these truisms.

While a big sector of the north-ern dairy industry is doing it tough, there are about one quarter of farmers who are doing okay. The reasons for that success are many-fold and not always related to the tactical management and skill of the farmers concerned.

While it is diffi cult to make a TMR system operate profi tably with fewer than about 500 cows, as we saw at conference, some in-novative operators who run a tight budget can make it work.

The costs of feed per litre for a TMR and many PMR systems vary less through the seasons than for many irrigated-pasture farms. ND

Profi table Queensland industry vital

IT was in the entire Australian dairy industry’s interests for the Queensland arm to be in balance, with profi tability for farmers and processors.

Dairy industry analyst Chris Phillips told the Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation con-ference at Toowoomba in Sep-tember that processors needed to provide more clarity to farm-ers and to be more fl exible about milk supplied by farmers if this was to happen.

But he warned there would be no change to supermarkets sell-ing milk at $1 a litre any time soon and farms needed to be profi table at a 55-60 cents/litre milk price.

There were widely divergent views about the future of the Queensland industry, he said. Some people believed the indus-try had reached tipping point and would be unable to recover from its position of long-term decline while others were confi dent busi-nesses could be profi table and there were opportunities in the future.

Positives included the grow-ing demand for milk in the re-gion on the back of population growth, market opportunities and new companies interested in the market.

Negatives included super-market pricing policies, tough climatic conditions and greater uncertainty from processors.

There was a shortage of milk in Queensland, which could no longer be topped up by milk from New South Wales, meaning milk had to be shipped from Victoria. On current trajectories, this could be as much as 100 million litres in fi ve years’ time, Mr Phillips said.

There was little prospect of improved milk prices in the next fi ve years, despite them being signifi cantly lower than four years ago, he said.

Coles and Woolworths were unlikely to change their low-cost-milk strategy. Coles had recently promised investors it would continue to be a price-leader for milk, and both major supermarkets were facing in-creasing competition from Aldi and were desperate to protect their market share.

He said there were limited opportunities in Queensland for regional brands as many of the current processor brands already had a regional fl avour. Export op-portunities were also limited for the northern dairy industry as it needed extra milk to allow the scale to produce goods suitable for export.

With the exception of Norco,

processors operating in the re-gion were looking for export op-portunities in other areas.

But most importantly, returns from the export market were mostly at lower prices than those currently being received in the north and fl uctuated widely, Mr Phillips said.

The northern industry poten-tially had an export opportunity in its expertise in subtropical dairying, which would be a valu-able resource in many parts of the world.

Mr Phillips said there were limited opportunities for any in-crease in milk price and farms would need to be able to operate at the current levels.

It was possible for farms to be profi table at these prices, he said, pointing to the top 25% of farms in the region that were making a profi t.

The northern industry had challenges around profi tability, notably that it had a lower fac-tor productivity than other dairy regions due to its smaller scale, the intensifi cation of systems that made timely decision-making more critical and the high use of imported feed.

Flat supply contracts also lim-ited individual farmers’ ability to make the most of their systems, Mr Phillips said.

The industry had not looked at addressing this issue by taking advantage of different optimal

production patterns in different regions, although Parmalat had taken a step in this direction by relaxing contract adjustments from 110% to 140%.

Mr Phillips said the industry could also help farmers by sup-porting collective bargaining groups.

There was a lot of interest in the region in alternative supply models, including a single co-operative and a milk exchange.

Mr Phillips said there were issues around a co-operative if it did not have control of some manufacturing while the con-cept of a milk exchange had not caught on and could prove prob-lematic for farmers in that they usually had strict quality require-ments, which meant milk that didn’t meet the grade was simply not collected.

Improved understanding of different farm systems and how to work to make them profi table, improving business management skills and introducing bench-marking systems could help the northern industry improve its profi tability, Mr Phillips said.

The industry needed to have a core groups of farms that was profi table at the 55-60c/litre lev-el.

There also needed to be re-newed sense of trust and part-nership between processors and farmers, including more clarity from processors, he said. ND


QDO CONFERENCES 5

KEY POINTS ■ Export production

limited by milk volume

■ Subtropical region not able to meet domestic demand

■ Northern dairy knowledge valuable overseas

By Carlene Dowie

Chris Phillips: northern industry needs core group of farmers who can be profi table at a milk price of 55-60 cents a litre.

Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation president Brian Tessmann (at right) makes a special presentation to QDO staff member Adrian Pratt.

Conference to explore new horizonsTHE dust has only just settled on the success of the Queensland Dairyfamers’ Organisation’s Toowoomba conference, but work has already begun on the second QDO conference of the year, in Gympie.

This conference will run with the same theme to that of the Toowoomba conference, although farmers are being re-minded that there will also be some unique presentations as well, meaning that there may be some farmers who choose to at-tend both conferences.

Organisers are working hard to ensure that the program contains

a wide range of quality speak-ers, with the Gympie conference to include a strong focus on the processing side of the industry. A full program and registration details will be mailed to QDO members in October and further details will be published in the QDO Weekly Update.

It is expected that several

presentations at Gympie fromthe processors will help the industry gain a clear picture

of where the processors see Queensland milk supply headed in coming years.


6 QDO CONFERENCES

CONFERENCE PARTNER PROCESSOR SPONSORS

GOLD SPONSORS

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BRONZE SPONSORS

SILVER SPONSORSSILVER SPONSORS

NON-ATTENDING SPONSOR

RIGHT: Toby Doak, Alltech, Toowoomba, Qld; Lyn

Fisher, Ridley, Toowoomba, Qld; Ches Priebbenow, Greenmount, Qld, and

Geoff Tacey, Kingaroy, Qld.

As was the case with the Toowoomba, the Gympie con-ference is a one-day event which also leads into an informal barbe-cue dinner. It will be followed on November 6 by the Subtropical Dairy annual general meeting.

A range of trade displays from sponsors will be on show throughout the day and into the evening at the barbecue.

The conference will feature a range of expert speakers includ-ing sections of the day devoted to the processing sector, farm-ers’ perspectives, and market and research trends from Dairy Australia. Topics to be dis-

cussed will include the vision for Queensland farmers’ milk for the next fi ve to 10 years, processors’ views on the future, the strategy for milk supply, along with many other topics.

QDO president Brian Tess-mann said that after the success of the Toowoomba conference, excitement was already high for the Gympie event, which was shaping up to be even better.

”On behalf of all of QDO I look forward to catching up with you in Gympie and am sure that it will be of very high value for farmers and the greater industry,” Mr Tessmann said. ND


QDO CONFERENCES 7

Dolores and Alan Stock, Lockyer Valley, Qld.

Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation’s

mascot Daisy and

the Dairying Better

‘N Better team’s Sally

Whatman catching up

with farmers during the

lunch break.

Chris Kunde was presented with the Lindsay Volz Award by Denise Volz.

John Saville, Nobby, Qld; Elke Watson, Mary Valley, Qld, and Rawdon Briggs, Collier International Rural & Agribusiness.

Paul Judge, Gowrie Junction, Qld, and Aaron Clews, Rockhampton, Qld.

David and Wendy Jones, Kenilworth, Qld.

RIGHT: Steve Wregg, from Ecolab, was

presented with a token of appreciation for his work

in the dairy industry, as he has recently retired.


8 NEWS

Latest YouTube videoTHE Queensland Dairy-farmers’ Organisation (QDO) has created a new video for its YouTube chan-nel featuring an innovative new farm system estab-lished by the Wieck family on the Darling Downs.

The Wiecks recently completed construction of a 24-hour barn system for their cows, feeding a to-tal mixed ration complete with milking robots and an automatic manure scraper.

Viewers can see the video by searching for “Queensland Dairyfarm-ers” in YouTube.

Chinese sales boomingNORCO is reporting its airfreighted fresh milk sales to Shanghai have grown from 1000 litres to 16,000 litres a week in fi ve months.

The northern New

South Wales co-op hopes to increase fresh milk ex-ports to China to 20 mil-lion litres/year in the next 12 months, amounting to about 10% of total pro-duction. It said it secured about four new customers a fortnight and the milk re-tails for $8-$9/litre.

Chief executive Brett Kelly said: “The market we are targeting is the middle class. They’re pretty well ed-ucated, quite fi nancially well off and very, very focused on quality of products.”

Cheese beckonsA NORTH Queensland dairyfarmer is turning to cheese as milk prices in Queensland turn sour, ABC Rural has reported.

Rockhampton ABC re-porter Suzannah Baker re-ported that Dale and Paula Fortescue own 110 milk-ers at Eungella, a township west of Mackay, supplying Rockhampton milk proces-sor Parmalat.

However, as dismal aver-age prices of 52 cents a li-tre cast a shadow over the family’s future, Mr Fortes-cue said he was in desper-ate need of a “plan B” to thwart the “dim” situation.

“The cost of production is around 55 cents/litre, and with infrastructure costs and trying to improve the farm you need at least 7 cents/litre more (than what is being paid now),” he said. “Plan A is if we can get bet-ter milk prices, and plan B is to go back to the old indus-try, before deregulation. I’m looking at a cheese factory with a coffee shop on the end of it. That’s the plan.”

The interview can be heard through QDO’s Fa-cebook page.

Walk of fameRODNEY Hopson was in-ducted into the Guernsey Walk of Fame at this year’s Ekka for his work for the breed since the late 1970s.

Mr Hopson was Queens-

land branch president for 14 years, as well as federal president for nearly a dec-ade.

Federal president of the Guernsey Cattle Society of Australia Allan Clark made the award.

Milk going to waste: studyAN AUSTRALIAN study has established that nearly one-third of the total do-mestic milk supply is wast-ed.

Scientists led by Brad Rid-outt of CSIRO Animal, Food and Health Sciences in Vic-toria found indications that the level of waste for dairy products in the Australian food system was 29%. The team of CSIRO scientists from across Australia used asystems approach to calcu-late wastage by diagnosing total national dairy product intake from the Australian National Nutrition Survey and comparing that with to-tal domestic milk supply.

ADF spreads FTA message

AUSTRALIAN Dairy Farm-ers (ADF) summoned the voices of the dairy industry behind its #FTA4dairy social media cam-paign, which ran on Monday, September 1.

In a bid to secure a posi-tive China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) outcome for dairy, which could see the indus-try save more than $30 million in tariffs per year, the dairy commu-nity did its part to make this FTA a dairy deal.

Farmers and industry support-ers around the country uploaded a #FTAdairy ‘selfi e’, holding a hand-written sign with a positive message incorporating the cam-paign’s hashtag to social media, incorporating the #FTA4dairy and

#FTA4farmers hashtags. ADF president Noel Campbell

said that the industry was work-ing hand in glove with the Federal Government to ensure dairyfarm-ers got the best possible outcome from this deal.

“As the China-Australia FTA negotiations progress, our dairy industry has an opportunity to se-cure a brighter future by gaining greater competitive access to Aus-tralia’s largest and fastest growing market,” Mr Campbell said.

“A positive China FTA will not only benefi t farmers and manu-facturing companies but also cre-ate additional jobs in the dairy processing and manufacturing sectors, as well as positively af-fecting the overall economy.

“This is why we are working hard to ensure that the China FTA is the dairy deal.”

The ADF-driven social media initiative has been adopted by the broader Australian agricultural community, #FTA4farmers, to promote a positive China-Aus-tralia FTA outcome for Australian

farmers nationally. Dairyfarmer and author of The

Milkmaid Marian blog, Marian Macdonald said that a coordinat-ed social media campaign was a great way of generating a ground-swell of support.

“This campaign is a wonderful way to back Aussie foodies and farmers,” she said. “The Kiwis already have an FTA with China, so let’s show everyone that a fair go matters and have a bit of fun doing it.”

ADF chief executive offi cer, Natalie Collard, said Australia would not be the only winner in this deal. “For the relationship between Australian and Chinese dairy industries to be successful, it must be mutually benefi cial,” Ms Collard said.

Ms Collard said that Chinese dairy consumers were also set to reap big rewards from the deal as well with improved access to high-demand value-added prod-ucts such as infant formula and greater diversity of supply.

“Social media is just one of

the many ways we are working to ensure the China FTA is a dairy deal,” Ms Collard said.

“I encourage the dairy communi-ty — whether you’re a dairyfarmer, industry group member, political representative, or an everyday Aus-sie consumer — to jump online, start tweeting for Australian dairy and make a difference.”

To fi nd out more information and how to get involved in this campaign, visit website <www.FTA4dairy.com.au>. ND

QDO president Brian Tessmann supports the campaign via QDO’s Twitter account, @QldDairyfarmers.

KEY POINTS ■ Social media

campaign to support China FTA

■ FTA to deliver major benefi ts

■ Part of wider strategy

Govt key role in competitiveness

THE passage through the Senate of the carbon tax repeal Bills at the start of September has been gener-ally welcomed by the whole dairy value chain.

While the dairy industry is not immune to climate change and variability and as an industry is trying to reduce emissions, in-cluding though the dairy industry sustainability framework, the gov-ernment now needs to fi nd ways of reducing carbon emissions that do not hamper Australia’s interna-tional competitiveness.

Across the industry, farms and factories will continue to look for new energy-effi cient technologies and clean energy alternatives.

The industry also encourages government to move away from the old dirty energy sources and move to renewable sources with schemes that are better considered and implemented than some we have seen in the past.

All this needs to be considered in the context of Australia’s indus-tries having access to affordable and competitive electricity. Even after the removal of the carbon tax, most farm tariff price rises will drop from 15-18% increases to 10% increases for 2014-15.

By comparison, most house-hold tariffs will now only increase by about 5% — the difference be-ing that the State Government is moving farm tariffs toward being “cost-refl ective”.

Clearly there are still major challenges that the governments of all levels need to address when it comes to farm electricity tariffs and prices.

The carbon tax was one of these poorly thought-out, unproductive and costly measures introduced for political outcomes under the guise of helping the environment.

While agriculture was techni-cally exempt from the tax directly, it was clearly hit by fl ow-on cost increases.

What really incensed many dairyfarmers was the story that dairyfarmers could pass on the costs. Product sold on the inter-national market has to meet that market, often against product from countries without any emission tax at all.

Even more galling was the fact that the domestic market was even less responsive to the extra cost burden, with supermarkets using their market power to drive prices lower (including through the on-going supermarket milk price war) rather than allowing the market to show the appropriate response.

This market failure and the need for competition policy reform was highlighted in September by new Nationals Senator Matt Canavan in his maiden speech to the Sen-ate.

In his speech Senator Canavan said the fundamental mistake of national competition policy was the view that the country needed

potential competition from only a few large fi rms to deliver the ben-efi ts of actual competition from many small fi rms.

He said that the actual experi-ence was that potential competi-tion had not delivered the goods. Further, he said while banks and large supermarkets had returns of more than 10%, many farmers struggled to see a return of 2%, which was not right.

This fact demands change to national competition policy but there are also other changes the government can make to improve the farmgate returns for dairy-farmers and the rural sector.

The fi rst cab off the rank here must be the Free Trade Agreement between China and Australia.

The dairy part of this deal has the potential to be of great benefi t to both countries if handled cor-rectly.

What Australia requires has been described as a “New Zea-land-plus” deal, which means get-ting a deal that is equal to the one already in place between China and NZ.

This deal would need to be fast-tracked to let Australia catch up to the progressively reduced tariffs and increased access levels that the Kiwis now enjoy.

Such a deal should see benefi ts fl ow to farmers currently supply-ing export markets, and if there is any market function left at all it should fl ow down to suppliers of the domestic markets as well.

From China’s point of view, the deal has many benefi ts includ-ing giving access to an alternative source of high-quality milk and dairy products that can help feed its population for many years.

In addition, Australia can help China grow its domestic dairy industry and so improve China’s own food suffi ciency.

This deal has the potential to be a boon to both countries if handled well or a negative if the opportu-nity is lost.

So while it’s all very well torepeal the carbon tax, the realtests of this government to im-prove international competitive-ness and farm profi tability is yet to come. ND


NEWS 9

KEY POINTS ■ Carbon tax repeal

welcomed ■ Further energy

review essential ■ Benefi cial trade

agreement with China needed

By Bria n Tessmann, QDO president

Dairy farms will continue to look for new energy-effi cient technologies and clean energy alternatives.

NDF1140711

Farmer out to beat tough times

STEVEN Duncan knows dairy-farming can be tough at times but he is out to prove he can be tougher.

Two fl oods in three years, de-pressed milk prices and escalating costs have not been enough to de-ter the Lockyer Valley, Qld, farm-er from investing in the future.

Last year, he installed three robotic milking machines. This year, he has just completed build-ing a compost barn to house his cows as part of an ongoing com-mitment to improving production, reducing disease and stress on cows and combating the current economic environment.

Mr Duncan said the invest-ments and a strong focus on home-grown feed are part of a long-term strategy to keep the farm viable even in the harshest times.

He admits that some might view the compost barn commit-ment as ‘pretty crazy’ in the cur-rent south-east Queensland dairy environment, but he said it is all about being sustainable.

“Healthy cows are the core of our business and our focus is pre-venting disease, not treating sick animals,” he said.

“The compost barn will help us achieve that.

“We’ll be able to look after our cows and control the environment 24/7. The barn will provide the missing link in our system; a soft and dry place where the cows can rest.”

The barn, which was complet-ed this winter, will reduce lame-ness stemming from cows walk-ing on laneways or standing on concrete for a prolonged time and it will stop cows lying in mud and contracting mastitis. Mr Duncan expects a production spike and signifi cant animal health benefi ts as animal comfort increases.

“Now they can lie in a com-fortable environment underneath a high roof that allows the breeze to fl ow through,” he said.

Previously, the Duncans’ cows would spend a number of months a year beneath shade on a con-crete fl oor, rather than lying, and this can take its toll on milk pro-duction.

According to Mr Duncan, stud-ies show milk production is re-duced if cows stand for too long.

“If cows are spending a lot of time on their feet, whether it be walking long distances while grazing or standing under a shade structure, it decreases their capac-ity to produce milk,” he said.

“When cows are lying down there is much higher blood fl ow through the udder and therefore more milk produced.”

The Duncans previously tried to boost production by increasing cow numbers, but came to real-ise that milking more cows is not necessarily the way to go.

“The more cows you have, the more bought-in feed you rely on if you can’t produce enough home grown high quality forages,” he said.

“If your infrastructure is not set up for handling a higher number of animals then risk of disease in-creases. These costs outweigh the profi ts of milking more cows.

“We decided to go the other way and milk fewer cows, look after them better and increase pro-ductivity that way.”

The farm is now milking 160-180 cows on a Lely robotic sys-tem introduced in January last year. Ironically, the robots were introduced less than a fortnight before fl oods engulfed 85% of the farm.

“We certainly had our chal-lenges that fi rst month,” Mr Dun-can said. “Luckily, we had a gen-erator that worked for about six days.”

The system is now working well, saving labour costs and helping to achieve a fi ve to 10% increase in production.

“The number one reason to introduce the robots was to save on labour, which is getting more expensive and not any easier to fi nd,” Mr Duncan said.

The system is also giving the farm the option of milking more regularly.

“We can use the capacity to milk more than twice a day to in-crease production without having the expense of extra people work-ing on the farm,” he said.

“ We’ve always been interested in high-capacity animals and in-creasing production per cow. The robots fi tted into that scenario.”

The robots are averaging 2.6 to 2.7 milkings per cow, per day and the farm is averaging 26.5 litres per cow, per day. That number jumps when winter forage comes on board. Last year, the herd peaked at 32 litres/cow. This year, with better forages and the barn providing a soft and dry place for cows to rest comfortably, that number rose even higher, to 33 li-tres and is still rising.

“The compost barn is going well and we’re seeing the ben-efi ts,” Mr Duncan said. “The mas-titis has almost disappeared even with the splash of rain we received in the past couple of weeks.”

The Duncans have three prop-erties with the 60-hectare dairy component supported by grain and hay enterprises.

“It was a conscious decision to grow our home-grown feed at a competitive price and better qual-ity,” Mr Duncan said.

The farm has also altered its calving pattern to a year-round system with only four weeks off over the hot Christmas period — a

change made to meet the demands of processors wanting year-round milk supply.

Despite the challenges, which have been plentiful in recent years, Mr Duncan, 33, and the fa-ther of two young boys, remains committed to the industry, con-tinuing to work the farm with his father, Graham.

The fourth-generation dairy-farmer admits he has tried other jobs in the past, including several years as a machinery salesman, but says dairyfarming is his prior-ity.

“I have been away and done other things but dairyfarming is my passion,” he said.

Recovering from fl oods has been diffi cult.

“We’re probably still not recov-ered; we’re still hand-to-mouth,” he said. “People need to under-stand that we are farmers out there trying to do what we can to feed our own families and that we are committed to supplying a high-quality product to the Australian public.”

Mr Duncan fi rmly believes increasing public awareness and understanding through proactive programs, such as the industry’s Legendairy communications ini-tiative, is one way to achieve this, along with a campaign to develop sustainable markets and promote sustainable milk pricing. ND

For more Legendairy sto-ries, visit website <www.legendairy.com.au>.


10 LEGENDAIRY

KEY POINTS ■ Compost barn and

robotic milkers installed

■ Aiming to maximise home-grown feed

■ Higher milk production/cow

Steve Duncan sees a positive future for the dairy industry in Queensland, despite recent tough times.

Dairyfarmers drive ESKi

RESEARCH shows one of the key issues in attracting and re-taining people on dairy farms is the employment practices being used.

In response to these fi ndings, Dairy Australia (DA) has co-or-dinated workforce planning and action steering committees in the regions of WestVic Dairy and DairyTas. The committees were formed with a primary focus on developing actions and support-ing the dairy industry to attract and retain the skilled workforce it requires.

The Employment Starter Kit initiative — or ESKi — is the fi rst action to be delivered by the committees and was developed with direct input from farmers.

“ESKi is a user-friendly em-ployer kit that details all of the mandatory requirements for dairy businesses that employ staff, plus has some great ideas for improv-ing the employment experience on-farm,” DA people develop-ment council project manager Bill Youl said. “The kit has been built from DA’s The People in Dairy website, which has easy-to-access ‘people management’ information and resources.”

The idea of ESKi arose direct-

ly from farmers who had con-cerns regarding their ability to attract and retain dairy farm em-ployees. Providing a good work environment is seen as a key fac-tor in reducing staff turnover — which is costly to dairy farm em-ployers and includes the loss of

key industry skills and capability. In the next few months, Sub-

tropical Dairy in conjunction with DA will be running a series of workshops introducing ESKi. Dairyfarmers can keep an eye out for these workshops in each region. ND


SUBTROPICAL DAIRY UPDATE 11

FUNDING has now been made available by Dairy Australia through Sub-tropical Dairy to support and encourage emerging and existing groups to undertake dairyfarming-related group activities. Dairy Australia invests in group-based extension and farm change activities that support the adoption and application of new technology and practices, and support farmers to improve farm business management perform-ance.

Activities eligible for support may include and are not limited to fund-ing facilitators to insti-gate new groups and/or support effective group operation, funding indus-try and technical speak-ers, provide discretionary funding for groups to pur-sue priorities and cross group sharing of “wins”.

Funding is available based on applicants meet-ing a clear set of guide-lines (included in the Ex-pression of Interest form) that relate to overall im-provement of farm busi-ness management of up to $3000 per annum for the next two-year period.

Applicants will have to demonstrate strong group leadership and good organisation, clear group objectives, a clear operating plan outlining how funds will be invested or add value to the group and responsibility in eval-uation and reporting on the group’s progress.

Associated groups in the region can access funding through Young Dairy Network (YDN) groups and Sub Regional Teams (SRT).

Contact: Subtropical Dairy executive offi cer Brad Granzin, mobile 0431 197 479 or email <[email protected]>.

SD discussion group funding

Sustainable Farm Families promotes healthy farmingTHE Sustainable Farm Families (SFF) is a program that promotes the importance of health, well-being and safety to dairyfarm-ers. Developed by the National Centre for Farmer Health, this program will be piloted by Dairy Australia in conjunction with Subtropical Dairy.

The program is run by regis-tered nurses with experience in rural, gender and farming health

delivering messages that are ho-listic to health, wellbeing and safety and integral to farm busi-ness. Two follow-up workshops will enable participants to re-view and reassess their priorities and reignite their focus on their health and wellbeing.

Some benefi ts from the pro-gram will include: • increased knowledge and aware-ness of health and wellbeing;

• infl uence on health and safety knowledge decisions; and • infl uence on participants’ out-look, enabling participants to engage and connect with peers, the local community and indus-try.

The fi rst of the SFF workshops will be run at Toowoomba on Oc-tober 15-16. ND

Contact: Brad Granzin, email <[email protected]>.

KEY POINTS ■ Employment

Starter Kit developed

■ Aims to help farmers manage staff

■ Workshops planned for SD region

ESKi was developed by farmers in Tasmania and Victoria and launched by Dairy Australia managing director Ian Halliday, Penny Williams and Lynne Kosky in Tasmania last year.

Industry can be proud of Reef success

AS THE debate continues to rage about the long-term health of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), it is pleasing to note that the Queens-land dairy industry is quietly get-ting on with the job of improv-ing land management and water quality.

The Queensland dairy industry is just a small part of the picture when it comes to land manage-ment in catchments adjacent to the GBR, but dairyfarmers also know that we have a signifi cant contribution to delivering ben-efi ts to the reef by continually

improving our farm practices.This is exactly what farmers

along the coast from the Atherton Tableland in the north to Burnett and Mary River catchments in the south are doing.

Farmers and the industry are undertaking a range of projects that deliver positive outcomes for their farm’s productivity, while also improving water quality in rivers and creeks, and therefore the GBR.

In the dairy industry, exam-ples of these projects include improved effl uent management systems to ensure nutrients from cows’ waste is put back into a farm’s soil as fertiliser, improved creek crossings and laneways that stop erosion and runoff, and fencing of waterways to further stop erosion.

On one farm alone, soil test-ing (costing about $100) has highlighted that the farmer was

spending about $16,000 per year on phosphorous applications that weren’t needed. This money has now been diverted to elsewhere in the fertiliser budget to apply nutrients that were required for optimum productivity.

Many of these projects have been assisted in recent years by the Australian Government’s Reef Program (formerly known as Reef Rescue), which has part-nered between farm businesses


12 NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT UPDATE

THE Dairying Better ‘n Better (DBNB) team hosted three workshops in Queensland that gave farmers the latest informa-tion on soil nutrition and an update on the indus-try’s work on soil testing. The casual gatherings were held at Wondai, Kandanga and Malanda and were a chance for farmers to dis-cuss the latest soil and ag-ronomic challenges facing Queensland’s dairyfarmers.

Agronomist David Hall spoke at the sessions in Wondai and Kandanga, fa-cilitated by Sally Whatman from DBNB. Senior exten-sion offi cer (soil science) Ross Henry with DBNB presented at Malanda.

Mr Henry said soil nu-trition was a core focus for DBNB, working with farmers to improve their fertiliser effi ciency and soil fertility, including under

several projects under the Australian Government Reef Program.

Both Mr Henry and Ms Whatman have been work-ing across dairy farms testing soils and gathering information to put into in-dividual farm soil and nu-trient management plans (SNMPs) for farmers in the Burnett Mary region and Far North Queensland (FNQ). This includes eight new SNMPs in FNQ and eight in the Burnett Mary region.

“These workshops were a chance to share the fi nd-ings of the soil testing so far,” Mr Henry said. “The information we are gather-ing is useful not just for in-dividual farms but for farm-ers across these regions. We are able to look at spe-cifi c trends that may be oc-curring across the State or locally, and provide general

guidance on improving soil health, which ultimately will help improve produc-tivity and profi tability.”

DBNB industry develop-ment support offi cer Sally Whatman said that one of the valuable parts of the day came with farmers tak-ing the time to complete question-and-answer ses-sions.

“These Q&A sheets help us identify the important issues for farmers and allow us to continually improve how we are delivering serv-ices to the industry,” she said. “All three sessions were interactive and had strong participation from the farmers, which really helps make these events a success.”

Soil workshops deliver industry update

David Hall presenting at one of the soil nutrition catch-up sessions.

Ross Henry, from the Dairying Better ’n Better program, conducts soil tests on farm on the Atherton Tableland. The soil tests are just one of a range of programs that the dairy industry is using to deliver positive outcomes.

KEY POINTS ■ Dairy program

improves water quality

■ Working with farmers successful

■ Other factors infl uence Reef health

By Brian Tessmann,QDO president


and the government to deliver mutually benefi cial outcomes for farms and the environment.

The government partnership funding model, which is based on a 50:50 contribution with the farmer, is necessary because the scale of these investments is quite signifi cant, and farmers would not be able to undertake the projects on their own.

The program continues to be a roaring success. It is a model example of how proactive gov-ernment programs can achieve far greater success by working with industries rather than opting for a regulatory or legislative ap-proach.

Sixty-two dairyfarmers re-ceived fi nancial assistance through water quality grants in the fi rst fi ve years of the program. A total of 3681 hectares were im-proved through soil, nutrient, and chemical management practices.

The program has also worked with 66 farms on soil testing and plans for soil nutrient manage-ment, called Soil and Nutrient Management Plans (SNMPs), improving 11,846ha of land via soil and nutrient management.

All this work is continuing under the new phase of the pro-gram, where DBNB is working on even more grant partnerships and SNMPs with farmers.

In addition, the industry is also working on projects that deliver a greater good for the entire in-dustry through various research projects. This research is driven by several different bodies and agencies, but is spearheaded by the industry through the Queens-

land Dairyfarmers’ Organisation and Subtropical Dairy’s natural resource management project body, Dairying Better ‘n Better.

The industry is also part of a greater agricultural effort that has reduced pollutant loads entering the GBR: nitrogen by 10%, sedi-ment by 11% and pesticides by 28%.

The industry also appreciates that it is part of a much bigger picture when it comes to the long-term health of the Reef. Other major factors infl uencing the health of the Reef include major resources developments already under way or planned, including those at Curtis Island and Abbot Point. On top of that there are issues such as natural disasters (cyclones and fl oods) and continued urban develop-ment, including large develop-ments such as a proposed new major resort and casino, north of Cairns.

While these potential negative impacts on the Reef health have to be continually addressed, the Queensland dairy industry has developed a widespread reputa-tion for delivering both for the Reef and for dairyfarmers’ pro-ductivity. We all should hold our heads up high and be proud of the positive achievements that are delivering positive outcomes for the health of one of Queensland’s most important environment and tourism assets. ND

QDO has highlighted a range of successes under the Reef Pro-gram on our YouTube channel. Search for “Queensland Dairy-farmers” in YouTube.

Soil from one of the tests done as part of SNMPs on the Atherton Tableland.

Give ACCC tools for job

AS most people realise, the fi nan-cial situation facing dairyfarmers who supply milk chiefl y for Aus-tralian consumers is becoming ever more dire and the local milk supply in regions like Queensland and Western Australia is falling further behind consumer require-ments.

So, as the Queensland Dairy-farmers’ Organiation (QDO) has often said, the need for the Fed-eral Government to quickly take decisive action is critical if an ef-fective and effi cient dairy industry is to survive.

Recently the Australian Com-petition and Consumer Commis-sion (ACCC) chairman Rod Sims spoke out in favour of introducing an “effects test” within the Com-petition and Consumer Act to help crack down on big businesses act-ing in a way that puts an unfair squeeze on smaller competitors.

Some years ago, an effects test was part of the former Trade Prac-tices Act, but this was removed partly due to pressure from some large corporations.

QDO applauds the comments from Mr Sims, which are in line with the requests of the Queens-land dairy industry for policies that could help alleviate the im-pact of the supermarket milk price war.

Since Coles fi rst cut the price of its store-brand milk to $1 a li-tre in 2011, QDO has expressed its concerns that the tactic was a marketing gimmick that was un-fair and had adverse impacts on not just smaller milk retailers but also processors, farmers and the entire milk value chain.

An exhaustive Senate inquiry

heard many similar fi ndings and raised serious questions about the “loss-leader” tactics that may be being applied to milk. QDO has continued to point out the conse-quences of the retail end of the value chain selling milk at 1992 prices while we all face 2014 costs, which is evidenced most starkly by the string of farm exits in the past three years.

Industry has tirelessly put for-ward solutions to these problems to Federal Government, with two of our key principles including an effects test within the Act and an ombudsman with real power to enforce a mandatory code of con-duct.

We now have the chairman of the competition watchdog — the ACCC — effectively stating that he feels the Act should be strengthened to include an effects test.

We are not far from approach-ing four years of $1/litre milk, and it is clearly urgent that the Federal Government heed these concerns and provide the ACCC with the tools that it requires to fairly han-dle the issue.

We know the government is already undertaking a review of competition policy but we also know this process could take years before it yields meaning-ful change. That is why industry needs the government to act now and make some changes to the Act that then can be reviewed later.

In addition, we need the man-datory code and the ombudsman as a matter of urgency.

The scale of the impact on the milk value chain and especially farmers requires more urgent ac-tion from the Federal Govern-ment, while further refi nements following the review could be made down the track to ensure the whole process was right.

QDO supports businesses be-ing successful and even outcom-peting other businesses through fair means. But when a company is allowed to get so big that it can use this might to disrupt small players, this raises a red fl ag for attention by the government and the ACCC, which seems to be the concerns that Mr Sims has raised.

There is a whole range of tac-tics the ACCC could be looking to target, but QDO sees that this is as much as anything about ensuring there is the opportunity for small businesses to start up and build a business and increase fair compe-tition in the market.

Without an effective effects test, there is less chance of a new innovation or product that would allow not only new business but the whole industry to grow.

In other words, it is anti-competitive to allow the market-dominant player to force smaller

players out of the market simply through the exercising of the dom-inant market power. This is quite different to small business being forced out through them being uncompetitive in production and distribution costs, for example.

QDO has always understood that the usual market forces are at play and can infl uence the value chain, but importantly we feel that in the domestic milk market there are unfair tactics being deployed.

It is clearly time for the Federal Government to decisively act on this important issue. ND


14 MILK PRICE WAR

KEY POINTS ■ QDO supports

ACCC call for supplier ‘effects test’

■ Senate inquiry highlights danger of $1/litre milk

■ Need for ombudsman and mandatory code

By Brian Tessmann,QDO president

THE Federal Government has fi nally released its draft prescribed code of conduct for supermarkets. It is part of a wider con-sultation paper seeking comments on improving commercial relationships in the food and grocery sector.

The code has been de-veloped by government in consultation with the re-tailers and the Australian Food and Grocery Coun-cil. The Queensland Dairy-farmers’ Organisation will now assess the proposal, as will the National Farmers Federation and Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) and many other farmer and supplier organisations and companies that supply su-permarkets. It is now im-portant there be a strong farmer industry position developed and agreed that will ensure the code of conduct is robust and balanced to lead to lasting improvements in the way farmers are treated as the producers of food for Aus-tralian consumers, not only in quality but, most importantly, in value, to keep a viable farm sector.

ADF notes the release of the draft opt-in volun-tary prescribed Food and

Grocery Code of Conduct (the grocery code) and urges the government to adopt a mandatory code of conduct. ADF president Noel Campbell said he was “pleased that many parts of the mandatory code ADF has developed with QDO have been in-cluded in the draft grocery code”.

“However, it is unfortu-nate that there appear to be no specifi c penalties for non-compliance with the draft grocery code and no-one to specifi cally enforce the code,” Mr Campbell said. “This is why ADF is calling for a mandatory code of conduct without the option to opt-out and an independent super-market ombudsman with penalties to balance the excessive market power of the major retailers.”

Details on code of conduct released

Noel Campell: unfortunate code has no penalties for non-compliance.

Who owns our milk?

THERE is a fundamental question for farmers. Who owns the rights to the produce from your farm?

When farmers have grain, hay or cattle for sale, they have the choice to sell to a number of dif-ferent buyers and markets, but when it comes to milk, the proces-sors demand in their farmer con-tracts that farmers adhere to what has become dairy’s 11th com-mandment — “thou shall send all your milk to me — or else.”

Our product is perishable, so having a home for that milk every day of the year is an abso-lute necessity. But we have had some alarming situations in recent years where unsustainable prices have been offered, particularly for tier two milk, but the farmers had no choice but to supply all of their milk to that processor.

The ramifi cations of the exclu-sivity clauses on our milk con-tracts run right throughout the supply chain.

The plain facts are that retail-ers can only have a marketing strategy that includes unsustain-ably priced store brand milk if the processor that fi lls the tender can guarantee the volumes required.

That may not matter if the do-mestic milk market was work-ing properly, but with the market failure that we see at the moment caused by the severe discounting of milk, the control of this milk plays an integral part of the whole plot.

We are consistently told by the processing sector that store brand milk discounting is the reason for their inability to pay more for our milk from our farmers.

The retail sector has been highly critical of the processing

sector for their lack of innovation both in processing and market-ing. But when you consider that within months of launching new products, their innovative prod-ucts and packaging have often been mimicked and then sold at a discount price under a retailer’s own brand, I can fully understand manufacturers being wary with developing new products.

So, where do we end up with this whole situation? The retailers are quite happy to commoditise our product and devalue it to at-tract store customers and to grow the market share and power of their own store brand, the proces-sors are under pressure and dairy-farmers are under extreme fi nan-cial pressure with rising costs and an unsustainable price.

The damage done to the British dairy industry by retail discount-ing has been highlighted many times where farmgate prices crashed, then retailers sought direct supply and achieved two things: it gave them control of the marketplace and also sold their credentials to the public even though everyone knew their initial actions caused the damage in the fi rst place.

The blueprint for this strategy is being copied in many markets including Australia.

The control of milk is a corner-stone of our future. If the proces-

sors cannot achieve enough return for themselves and suppliers out of the marketplace, then do they deserve the control and the exclu-sive right to our milk?

If dual supply type contracts were to be considered, it must be done in a mature fashion where clear obligations are recognised and adhered to by all parties. It is generally recognised that if a processor contracts a certain daily volume then at a minimum rough-ly that relevant volume should be waiting for the tanker each pickup time.

Processors who supply the do-mestic market need an even and consistent supply pattern from their milk suppliers. Farmers need the ability to be fl exible in their systems that meet this market requirement. Farmers well may need some extra price incentive to produce milk at the more cost-ly times of the year to meet the processors’ market requirement. Likewise the farmers may need some fl exibility in the contract to allow them to grow the business or achieve a better price into al-ternative markets for a seasonal

oversupply at times of year when production costs are low.

One innovative scheme that seems to deliver a better outcome is the bonus scheme introduced by Parmalat for its suppliers in Western Australia. This scheme, which delivers a worthwhile bo-nus for milk supplied over expect-ed volumes in the greater autumn period, while not the total solu-tion looks to be a rare win-win for both farmer and processor. Like Queensland, WA is now desper-ately short of milk in this period and alternative interstate sources are considerably more expensive to bring in so giving incentive to local supply would seem an obvi-ous tactic.

This whole supply and pric-ing fl exibility issue is a debate that needs to happen. Keeping vi-able farms and sustainable value chains should be paramount to all farmers’ processors and the whole value chain, so if that means some farmers fi nding other customers in alternative markets for their milk to stay in business, then we all need to review the issue with an open mind. ND

MILK PRICE WAR 15

KEY POINTS ■ Exclusive milk

supply contracts in place

■ Limit farmers’ ability to get more for their produce

■ Needs mature approach to solve problem

By Ross McInnes,QDO vice-president

AGRICULTURE Minister Barnaby Joyce has weighed into Coles’ and Wool-worths’ $1-a-litre milk battle, saying “what was a great trick for a few years will turn into a very bad business plan”.

Mr Joyce made the com-ments to the Sydney Morning Herald after the Australian Competition and Consum-er Commission (ACCC) launched action against Coles in May for its treat-ment of suppliers.

The ACCC alleged Coles forced smaller grocery suppliers to pay additional rebates to fund a new sup-

ply chain program. Coles has denied these claims.

Mr Joyce said he wel-comed the ACCC action but the dairy industry would eventually “sort it-self out”.

Coles and Woolworths slashed the price ofmilk to $2 for two li-tres four years ago, trig-gering the supermarket price wars that have led to strong discounting of a range of household staples, including bread, butter and eggs.

But Mr Joyce said “insur-mountable demand” from Asia’s fast-growing middle

class was threatening the supermarket duopoly’s business model. He said in northern NSW alone 16,000 litres of milk a week was being fl own to China, where it was fetching $7-$12/litre.

“They want to go up to a million litres a week,” Mr Joyce said. “This is sending signals to the market that if you want to pay people $1/litre then you’re not going to be in business for much longer, because there is a vastly greater demand, an insurmountable demand, that’s going to come into that place.”

$1 milk trick must soon end


Dairyfarmers need a place to sell their milk every day.

Nutribiz attracts young farmers

ORGANISERS were delighted to see a group of Young Dairy Network members gather to do the Nutribiz training workshop. The Nutribiz workshop combines basic nutrition training with we-binar technology to give farmers the skills they need to move for-ward with ration balancing and nutritional management on-farm and with web-based discussion groups.

Ross Warren (DAFFQ Gym-pie) and Jordan Minniecon (DAFFQ Gatton) travelled down for the workshop and led the group through a very hands-on training session. The workshop focused on the cow’s basic anato-my, feeding the rumen and keep-ing it healthy and the importance of dry matter intake, with lots of practical demonstrations and in-teractive sessions.

Farmers also linked with an outside trainer for this session, Viv McCollum. Ms McCollum was the guest speaker and was

able to demonstrate how easy it is for farm-ers to participate in on-line learning and net-working opportunities.

The follow-up ses-sion, covering feed quality and balanc-ing the diet, is usually held a couple of weeks later and is an online learning opportunity in which farmers are

assisted to log in to the training session from home and test out their online technology.

Three groups completed this workshop series last year and reconnected in August to join a

webinar looking at heifer rearing and dry cow nutrition.

The opportunities for learning once dairyfarmes are comfort-able with the technology are end-less. ND


16 DAFF UPDATE

UQG Dairy Stats Aug 14Total dairy farm area (ha) 250Irrigated area (ha) 75Monthly milk production (L) 137,654

Production Herd Fresh Stale Milking cows 98 90Days In Milk 127 237Milk yield (litres/cow/day) 31.2 24.5Fat % 3.59 3.59Protein% 3.35 3.35Somatic Cell Count 219 219Number of dry cows (inc heifers) 101

Ration Grazing Area in rotation (ha) 6 15Pasture type Rye Kikuyu/chicoryTotal grazing intake (kg DM) 2 2PMR (kg DM/cow) Silage type

Corn 8.6 6.2Soybean 0.6 0.9Lucerne (R/B) 2.1 Sorghum 3.1

Grain Barley 2.2 2.0Wheat 3.2 3.0

Protein meal Soybean 0.9 0.7Canola 1.4 1.1

Minerals 0.6 0.5Total PMR intake 19.6 17.5Total DM intake (kg DM/cow/day) 21.6 19.5

Diet cost ($/cow/day) Actual 7.39 5.84Opportunity 9 6.29FCE (litres milk/kg DM) 1.44 1.26True FCE ($ milk income/$ diet cost) 2.19 2.17

IN the past two months, not only has the dairy team farewelled Dr David Barber and John Miller but it has more recently said goodbye to Dr Mark Callow.

Dr Callow worked for the Department of Ag-riculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) for the past 16 years as a sen-ior research agronomist within the dairy team. He will remembered for his considerable involvement, project leadership and contribution to the M5 project, Forage Plu$, Wa-ter Use Effi ciency, C4Milk and Dairy in Action projects. He also played a key role in the move from Mutdapilly to UQ Gatton and also lectured many UQ students.

He will be remembered at DAFF as the kikuyu

specialist, whether es-tablishing, growing and managing kikuyu across Queensland or getting the word out about kikuyu to the wider industry.

DAFF wishes Dr Callow the very best and every success with his new job at Norco as the new dairy farm services offi cer for Queensland.

DAFF specialist takes up role with Norco

Dr Mark Callow assesses a sorghum crop.

Only dairyfarmers could be this interested in cow manure.

Rumen model demonstration at the workshop.

By Belinda Haddow, YDN regionalco-ordinator

STEVE Childs has been dairying since he left school, having grown up on a dairy farm at Rosevale in South East Queensland.

The Childs family — Mr Childs, with his mother and father and older sister and two younger brothers — dairied on a dryland farm at Rosevale. Mr Childs also worked at Mutdapilly Research Station while still at home.

In 2004, following deregula-tion of the industry and many years of drought, lack of stock water was the fi nal straw and he left the family farm to move to a dairy management position at Toogoolawah.

He, with his wife and three children, moved to the new farm and managed a dairy herd there. They had 100 cows of their own, which were added to the owner’s herd, so Mr Childs was managing a milking herd of about 250 cows.

Moving into a management po-sition was different to working on the home farm with family. Own-ers of any property have their own goals and expectations and there are sometimes issues with capital/machinery and plant condition and feed issues.

Before moving, he had also

broken his foot, which meant the adjustment into the new role and new farm was a pretty tough process. One of the big positives of this position was the fact that Mr Childs could get involved in growing the pastures and feeds — one of his favourite things about farming.

The owner of the Toogoolawah property eventually indicated that he wanted to sell the business so Mr Childs then took a position on a Kalbar dairy farm. This was a full-time dairy manager position but in a different type of dairy business: a smaller farm in a land-locked situation and based around a total mixed ration (TMR) feed system. The farm was also hav-ing some issues with somatic cell counts so this was a challenge on which Mr Childs was able to focus in order to make some real improvements.

He is now in a management po-sition on another farm just down the road from the original home farm at Rosevale. The operation is milking about 170 cows, the herd comprising about one-third Brown Swiss, with the majority being Friesians with a few cross-breeds.

It is a 210-hectare farm that gets very wet and tends to go un-der water in the fl oods. There is about 48ha of irrigation available, pumped out of a lagoon on the property. The feed plan is based around ryegrass pasture and bar-ley, with some corn silage in win-ter/spring and then a full TMR in summer based on corn silage. Some of the corn silage is home grown, with the rest being bought in.

There are pros and cons of working in management posi-tions compared with owning a farm and Mr Childs is aware of all of these issues. Some of the pros include the fact the individual doesn’t have the fi nancial burden of large capital purchases (such owning land and major plant and machinery) but he or she still has the option to build equity through possibly owning a portion of the herd. He or she also gets the op-portunity to build skills in various parts of the dairy business and add to the skills and knowledge of the owner of the business. The owner of the business can be involved to various degrees, depending on the individual agreement.

However, they will always want costs to be minimised. At times the person in the manage-ment position can be putting a lot of effort into various parts of the

business and, depending on the individual agreement, there may not be a lot of reward for doing so.

Mr Childs said he hoped to continue into the future in the dairy industry. Being an active member of the Young Dairy Net-work (YDN) has given him the opportunity to meet a lot of good people and to travel to differ-ent destinations with YDN tours and conference sponsorships. He travelled with YDN on its tour to New Zealand and then attended the Australian Dairy Conference at Geelong, Victoria, earlier this year.

In both places he met a lot of new people and other young farm-ers. One of the key things that stood out for him was farmers and industry commenting on the lack of support government extended to Australian farmers.

Food for thought. ND

Management a rewarding career choice


ON FARM 17

By Belinda Haddow

KEY POINTS ■ Management

positions with different challenges

■ Young Dairy Network involvement

■ Lack of govt support for industry

Cows grazing on the property Steve Childs manages at Rosevale.

The farm has about 48ha of irrigation.

The feed plan is based around ryegrass pasture and barley.

The farm is very wet and tends to go under water in fl oods.

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Ideas for managing in drought

By Ross Warren, senior extension offi cer

WHILE there has been some re-lief to the dry conditions through-out the Subtropical Dairy region during August, the drought is still lingering. Commodity prices have been bouncing around a lit-tle, however, dairyfarmers would all like to see them come crashing down to reduce variable costs.

All things considered there are some active measures that may be implemented to assist with getting through the dry spell.

The most important considera-tion is to keep the milk fl owing. Without milk, cashfl ow slows and the whole dairy business will suffer.

Challenging times can be a good time to assess the herd. Out with the old, in with the new could be a real option. Some great cows often come onto the market during droughts. Con-sider replacing some ‘free load-ers’ with some young productive cows, the changeover may not be a great deal.

Cull cow prices have jumped signifi cantly in the last month and kill space has opened up. Have a real good think about this as an option. Younger cows have their whole life ahead of them,

make sure they have all the health checks and they will look after the business for the good seasons ahead.

Some hard decisions also need to be made about heifers. Heifers are the future of the herd; however, too many heif-ers can be a signifi cant drain on cashfl ow, particularly if full

feeding is required.It is important to remember

that it is better to feed fewer ani-mals well than a lot of animals poorly. There are export oppor-tunities for particular breeds of dairy heifers. Investigate this op-tion.

Selling some heifers will free up feed for the remaining stock on the farm, and some of the feed could help top up the milkers to maintain or increase production and assist cashfl ow.

The rain in some regions dur-ing August has provided a great fi nish for winter crops or perhaps enough moisture for a spring planting. Whatever the case, it has been very well-received and has provided some forage op-tions that were not present be-forehand.

It is prudent to keep an eye out for some opportunity forage that may not have been about a month ago. When considering crop planting options, the amount of stored soil moisture is critical in deciding the plant species selec-tion. There are numerous forage options, each with particular ap-plications and nutritive composi-tion: choose the most water-effi -cient species that fi ts within the system.

The three-month weather out-

look varies depending on loca-tion; however, there is a general forecast for an ‘average’ season across many areas.

The Queensland Government drought assistance scheme is in operation within drought-declared regions of Queensland. This scheme provides assistance for fodder freight, as well as some other costs associated with drought expenses. It is impor-tant to lodge claims within six-months from the date of original purchase, submitting a claim each month is useful in assisting with cashfl ow.

If not in a drought-declared re-gion it is worth applying for an

Independent Drought Declara-tion. Don’t self assess, lodge a claim, the farm may fi t the crite-ria and be eligible for assistance.

Hopefully the rain in some re-gions during August is the start of a better season ahead. In the meantime consider some of the points above when making deci-sions.

Most importantly keep in touch with friends, family and advisers. Attend the industry ac-tivities that are being held within the region and have a yarn with a few mates. These events usu-ally make people feel better and someone may provide an idea that could work on the farm. ND


18 DROUGHT MANAGEMENT

SUBTROPICAL Dairy (SD) is emailing directly to farm-ers in the region Dairy Aus-tralia’s (DA) weekly hay and grain reports.

The reports have been commissioned by DA to provide an independent and timely assessment of grain and hay markets in the North Coast New South Wales, Darling Downs and

Far North Queensland dairying regions. Actual prices may vary for quality or other reasons but the re-ports give a good indication of prices in the region.

Grain prices are esti-mates based on delivery to dairy farms with allow-ance for freight, storage and marketing costs, but exclusive of GST. Wheat

prices are for the relevant stockfeed wheat available in a region (ASW, AGP, SFW1 or FED1) and F1 for barley.

Hay prices are deliv-ered, GST-exclusive, based on shedded hay without weather damage and of good quality and colour.It should be noted thereis a wide variation in quality for hay so prices are indica-

tive for a mid-range prod-uct.

The reports are also available directly from DA.

Anyone who would like to receive the reports and has not provided their email address to SD can con-tact Brad Granzin on mo-bile 0431 197 479 or email <[email protected]> to be included on the email list.

Hay/grain reports emailed to farmers

It is important to remember that it is better to feed fewer animals well than a lot of animals poorly.

KEY POINTS ■ Assess herd and

consider changing over animals

■ Look out for forage opportunities

■ Keep in touch with other farmers

MASTITIS is a common and cost-ly issue for the dairying industry, particularly during and following periods of wet weather and fl oods. It is a key priority area for Dairy Australia, and the industry as a whole, and a program has been written to be delivered throughout Australia in local dairy regions.

Vets in the regions have been recruited to be involved and trained in the program, and with their intimate knowledge of their

local surrounds and clients, they can help to make the program rel-evant to local dairyfarmers.

The courses are delivered to farmers and their staff through the National Centre for Dairy Educa-tion Australia (NCDEA). Sub-tropical Dairy (SD) is rolling out a number of the Cups on Cups Off (CoCo) courses for the SD region.

The fi rst of this round of CoCo courses was held at Beaudesert on September 11-12. Steve Jervis, a farmer in the region, attended the workshop and supported a number of his staff to go along too.

Mr Jervis said he was pleased he could take his staff along. The workshop reiterated the reasons why he was always “banging on” about reducing mastitis in his herd, he said.

Interaction with other dairy-farmers at the workshop also

highlighted to Mr Jervis how common an issue mastitis was on all dairy farms.

Mr Jervis and his wife, Sharon, milk about 500 cows in a total mixed ration system. Mr Jervis was born and raised on a dairy farm but for a while he was in the building game as an electrician.

Some 15 years ago he decided to look for a small farm from which to trade but ended up buy-ing a dairy farm instead. In 2001, Telemon came on the market so he and his father also bought this farm. Mr Jarvis spent most of his time carting feed and has only this year started to operate the dairy side.

Starting with the fl oods of 2011, the operation experienced three fl oods in three years. This was disastrous for the prevalence of mastitis in the herd, which continued to fl ourish with each

wet event. The average herd so-matic cell count (SCC) rose above 300,000 and stayed there.

Mastitis was detrimental to the longevity of the cows and the business so Mr Jarvis had to put some things in place to reverse this trend. After making changes in the way the dairy was man-aged, and with the education of staff, mastitis is now under con-trol with a 150,000 SCC.

Mr Jarvis is keen to make long-lasting changes in his dairy system so this issue never gets out of control again, which has prompted him to put a number of his key personnel through the CoCo course. Understanding the issue and the cause and effects means they can be attentive to this herd health issue all the time and be ready to manage the herd, whatever mother nature throws at them. ND


SUBTROPICAL DAIRY UPDATE 19

CoCo helps farmer tackle mastitisKEY POINTS

■ Courses explains mastitis management

■ Farmer attends with staff

■ Floods create mastitis issues

By Viv McCollum

Is your dairy farm fl ood-ready?HEADING towards the start of the fl ood season in the Subtropi-cal Dairy region, it is time to get prepared.

The New South Wales North Coast was reminded recently how quickly the seasons can turn around. In late August, while preparing for drought feeding, the dairy industry in the North-ern Rivers and parts of the Mid North Coast was hit with a cou-ple of heavy rains resulting in some fl ash-fl ooding. Flooding is a common event in spring/sum-mer in this region and has the potential to hit dairy businesses hard. The last signifi cant event was only 18 months ago.

Planning for these events and being ‘fl ood-ready’ can help to minimise fl ood impacts. A project was initiated in 2013 to consider strategies to assist farmers, communities and gov-ernments to be fl ood-ready. A steering group comprising farm-ers, industry representatives and agencies was formed to drive the project.

The North Coast NSW Flood Ready Dairying project is based on the experiences and learn-ings from previous fl oods in the northern dairying region. It aims

to give dairyfarmers and indus-try practical strategies on fl ood preparedness for their businesses and also build awareness of dairy fl ood issues at the local, State and national level. Through risk man-agement strategies and planning, the dairy industry will build on its strength and resilience to bet-ter meet the challenges of fl oods and major weather events.

A key action of the project has been developing a strategic plan in response to recurring issues raised by dairyfarmers and in-

dustry after major fl ood events to identify the agreed priorities and options for reducing the impact of fl oods. The Flood Ready Dair-ying Strategic Plan for the North Coast Region has been a work in progress for the past 12 months and is now ready for release.

The Flood Ready Dairying Steering Group is encouraging dairyfarmers throughout the re-gion to have a look at the plan and consider what strategies might work for their farms and in their local communities.

The Flood Ready Dairying Project will now move into stage two, with fl ood planning tools and checklists being trialled on dairy farms before being recom-mended to the wider dairying community for use.

To access a copy of the Flood Ready Dairying Strategic Plan or to talk to someone about the project, contact <fl [email protected]>. The plan will also soon be available online at <www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/agricul-ture/emergency/fl ood>. ND

IT is a good idea for dairy-farmers to think about hazards, risks and areas of vulnerability on their prop-erty at least once a year. For farmers in northern dairy regions, this is a good time of the year to do those checks as the cyclone, fl ood and fi re season approaches.

Use of a checklist can be linked to a review of emer-gency planning for the busi-ness. Recognising hazards, then taking steps to reduce or prevent them, may cre-

ate a safer environment for everyone on the farm.

Dairy Australia has de-veloped a Dairy farm emergen-cy preparedness checklist, which includes suggestions to help farmers prepare for and re-duce the potential for in-jury and property damage. The checklist is not meant to be all-inclusive but may be a useful starting point or guide.

The document can be downloaded from the Dairy Australia website

at <http://www.dairyaustra l ia .com.au/~ /media /Documents/Animal%20m a n age m e n t / E nv i ro nment/Extreme-weather/Dairy%20farm%20emergency%20provention%20checklist.pdf>.

Disaster checklist

Floods are part and parcel of dairying in many areas.

Binney game plan around growthDAVID Binney and his wife, Sandra, and their four children, Jack, Ellie, Thomas and Lauren, dairy on an irrigated farm at Kyo-gle, northern New South Wales. Mr Binney has held numerous dairy industry roles but presently represents dairyfarmers through his role on the Subtropical Dairy board. He is an active mem-ber and a great supporter of the Young Dairy Network (YDN) and young farmers in the indus-try and sits on the organisational steering committee for the Far North Coast YDN.

So, when the South-East Queensland (SEQ) YDN region decided to hold a ‘Game Plan’

dinner with a farmer panel, it was a no-brainer to ask Mr Binney to go along to be part of the panel for the night.

Mr Binney sat on the panel with three other farmers: Daniel Holmes, Brookstead, Darling Downs; Clint Stephens, Kalbar, SEQ; and Dominic Hogg, north-en NSW. Each farmer had an in-teresting personal and business journey to share on the night.

This was Mr Binney’s story.Mr Binney was quite young

when his father died in 1994 and he was thrust into managing their family’s dairy business. De-regulation was also being talked about at the time and was another challenge to confront when he took over the business.

He learnt quickly how to man-age money and a business through his rapid entry into dairying. The couple went through the process of share-farming initially, then leasing and then the outright pur-chase of the farm at Kyogle. At the same time Mr Binney was in-troduced to Rotary and went to a Rotary Youth Leadership Awards camp. During the week at the camp participants were exposed to a number of great motivational speakers, one of whose com-ments has stayed with Mr Bin-ney. The speaker said: “Never say ‘can’t’, never say ‘no’ and don’t accept either. If you want something badly enough you’ll get it or you’ll fi nd a way to do it. Surround yourself with peo-

ple who can help you get to that goal. Don’t accept that you can’t fi nd someone who says ‘maybe’ or ‘you can’ or who can help you get where you want to be.”

Mr Binney has used that phi-losophy ever since.

When deregulation occurred he was considering joining the police force and had all the pa-perwork fi lled in ready to go. He was sitting with his wife on a Sat-urday morning reading the paper and came across a farm that had come up for auction at Kyogle. It was a ‘fi re sale’ and milk prices had sunk to 22 cents a litre.

Mr Binney looked at this as an opportunity. The industry was in pain and at an all-time low but it couldn’t possibly stay there


20 YOUNG DAIRY NETWORK UPDATE

THE South East Queens-land Young Dairy Network (YDN) Game Plan event was a social dinner at the Royal Hotel at Kalbar, Qld, just before the fi rst State of Origin rugby league match.

It was based around the idea that YDN members pick up lots of ideas just networking with other farmers at functions, not just in a formal learning-type environment.

The thought was to get some young farmers from across the YDN regions to gather to share their knowledge with the group, keeping it informal and in-teractive in a farmer panel format.

Barb Bishop was invited to facilitate the process and the panel discussion on the night, and with typical

Barb-fl air the Game Plan idea was realised.

Having speakers from Queensland and New South Wales on the panel helped with the State of Origin theme.

The two Queensland farmers were Daniel Holm-es, from Arabella Farming, Brookstead, on the Darling Downs, and Clint Stephens, from Kalbar in South East Queensland. The two NSW farmers were David Binney, from Binney Farming, Kyo-gle, and Dominic Hogg, a young farmer and agribusi-ness person at Lismore.

The panel discussion and question-and-answer session was based around each farmer’s ‘game plan’ for the future. What does their game plan look like? What’s in the game plan

(for example, people, feed, animals, environment, fi -nances, adverse effects)? What advantages does their business get from hav-ing a game plan? What have been the biggest blockages to their game plan?

The panel discussion for-mat and having Ms Biship facilitate the discussion worked well to draw infor-mation and questions out from both the panel and the audience.

A large part of the evening was spent discuss-ing and questioning the panel members on their individual business and personal journeys. A large part of the success of the night had to be attributed to the openness and hones-ty of the farmer panellists. All were very forthcoming

in sharing and discussing themselves and their jour-neys. Of particular inter-est to the YDN audience was the pathway of the various speakers’ journeys: “How did they start their journey in their own busi-ness?”; “What motivated them along the way?”; “What were the challenges and hurdles they encoun-tered?”.

Supporters and sponsors of the night were Jason Weare and the team from BEC Feed Solutions, and Pat O’Neil and the team from FarmCraft, who put up the Origin-fl avoured lucky door prize of tick-ets to the State of Origin match in Brisbane and some starter money for re-freshments. Geoffrey Chalk took out the prize.

Game Plan event great success

Johanna Stephens and Ruth Chalk at the dinner.

Pat O’Neil (Farmcraft), Steve Childs and Tom Prenzler enjoy a chat.

Sarah McInnes, Ben Woodforth, Jason McInnes, Callum McInnes and Geoffrey Chalk.

Two of the panel speakers: Clint Stephens and David Binney.

By Belinda Haddow

or there wouldn’t be any dairy industry left. The Binneys went to the auction and were success-ful. It was a relatively cheap pur-chase and a great starting point for them.

He said he felt that they’d had a bit of luck in the early part of their business journey but Barb Bishop, who facilitated the Game Plan evening, was quick to point out that she believed they really hadn’t had any luck at all. She said the Binneys sought oppor-tunities.

It wasn’t long after they bought the Kyogle farm that the couple decided they wanted to continue to grow. They brought 160 cows from the family farm at Lismore, NSW, and proceeded to fi ll the farm at Kyogle. They soon found another farm at Fairy Hill to purchase. At the time, they purchased this property against the advice of their family.

Mr Binney had grown up in a family where his parents be-lieved they had to have cash to purchase things. Mr Binney said it was seeing his father never completely own the farm he was farming that had given him the drive to accumulate assets.

The Binneys went ahead with the farm purchase as it was a good sized farm with cropping area. This suited Mr Binney, as with his engineering background he loved working with tractors and machinery. They farmed the property for three years un-til yields started to drop and the drought hit. At that stage the property market was at a peak and when they sold the property it had doubled its value.

The sale of this property gave the Binneys a stepping-stone from which to purchase the prop-erty beside them. The milk price was rising and they continued to expand the dairy business. Dur-ing this time Mr Binney was elected to the board of Norco Co-operative. He was a young farmer, keen to have a go and interested in business. He was following in the footsteps of his father, who had also held a direc-torship with Norco.

The directorship provided Mr Binney with an invaluable op-portunity, which he looks back on fondly, to rub shoulders with some smart business people. He

spent six years there and chaired the risk and audit committee. This gave Mr Binney great skills in assessing risk and weighing up the current position of his busi-ness and what the threats and op-portunities were around him and the business at any point in time.

In the process of expanding, the Binneys were challenged with the usual climatic ups and downs.

The weather at Kyogle can present the full range of ex-tremes, from very wet to very dry. In the 13 years they have been on their farm, there have been three extreme dry seasons which have extended past 6-8 months. While there is a river beside the prop-erty, irrigation can be restricted or completely halted, depending on the season.

Risk assessment plays a key role in all of the business deci-sions on the farm, particularly when increasing debt and/or ex-panding. When the property next door to the farm was purchased, the cow numbers were increased substantially. While the farm was irrigated, this wasn’t anywhere near suffi cient for the number of cows they were milking. There were no facilities to manage this number of cows with the ex-tremes of weather that were pre-senting themselves. A decision was made to “de-risk” the dairy.

With the capital available after the sale of the cropping property, a 350-400-cow feedpad was built and a 1600-tonne concrete silage bunker was constructed right be-side it — a substantial investment in the dairy business. This invest-ment helped them get through not only the dry seasons but the wet as well and it helps fl at-line their dairy production. It has also resulted in an increase in milk components and an increase in their margins.

The dairy business has settled at about 380-400 cows and the Binneys now have three farms. The third is a heifer farm that they purchased last year. They have also invested in a heifer-rearing shed where they can rear up to 250 heifers a year.

They batch calve about six months apart and aim to have their herd peaking in production in autumn when the milk prices are at their highest.

If they step back and look at the dairy business, the Binneys can see the opportunities that it has continued to present to them. It has been a fantastic business and has grown in asset value in the 13 years they have been there. There have been highs and lows in the business — with the lows revolving mostly around cash in the business. But Mr Binney said there would always be lows and they had continued to invest in their business and make calcu-lated decisions, assessing their risk along the way, and this had resulted in a business that had presented them with growth in their asset wealth.

At this stage there are no inten-tions to grow the dairy business further. They are land-locked in their current location so they have begun looking for other op-portunities. As a short-term solu-tion to their asset growth plans, they have been buying properties in the housing market that are positively geared.

The long-term strategy for the farming business into the future keeps moving. When they started with 160 cows they wanted to milk 250 cows. When they got to 250 the target was 400. Now they are at 400, they can look to

1000-cow dairies and those don’t seem out of reach. But they can’t do this on the current farm at Kyogle.

Mr Binney is always looking forward and has assessed a cou-ple of farms during the past few years.

At the moment they will stick with their short-term strategy in housing. There are lots of oppor-tunities at Kyogle. The Binneys can then use these openings to increase their equity to prepare themselves for the right opportu-nity in the dairy industry when it presents itself.

Ms Bishop summed up Mr Binney’s story: “The story you have just told shows that the criti-cal art of the plan is always about growing your business. It’s not about dairying or buying houses, but growth.

“You need to know what your game is, then you can work out how to get there.

“If your game is milking cows, then you’ll buy more cows, but none of the guys on the Game Plan panel said that their game was milking cows; they each said that their game was something else. Remember that it’s not al-ways about doing more of the same.” ND


YOUNG DAIRY NETWORK UPDATE 21

David and Sandra Binney and their children Ellie, Lauren, Jack and Thomas have built their farm business around growth.

Parkers snare dairy double

A YOUNG couple’s commit-ment to the dairy industry has paid off with them picking up both the supreme champion cow and supreme champion udder ti-tles at this year’s Royal Queens-land Show.

Chad and Carita Parker’s Glen-Echo Moonshot Tossa claimed the top dairy double, but only by the slimmest of margins on a countback after tying for fi rst place.

It was the second time the Glen-Echo name had achieved the coveted double.

In 2007, the dairy stud won both supreme champion cow and supreme champion udder with Glen-Echo On Moon Darling.

On Moon Darling was in fact the grand-dam to this year’s champion, Moonshot Tossa.

“This supreme cow is by the son of our last supreme cow,” Mr Parker said.

At the time, Mr Parker was a newly appointed joint owner with his father Jeff.

Nowadays, Chad and Carita run the 400-head dairy at Ke-nilworth while also raising their children, Klara, 3, and fi ve-month-old Cooper.

Mr Parker said the operation was very much production-fo-cused.

“We milk 400 Jerseys and eve-

ry single one is treated equally. Nothing else gets preferential treatment — nothing,” he said.

Mr Parker said occasionally a calf would catch his eye from within the herd that might make a good show cow.

Suspense hung over the judg-ing of the supreme champion dairy cow.

Each of the judges, Scott Ed-wards, Queensland — Ayshire, Jeff Parker, Qld — Brown Swiss, Dallas Clarke, New South Wales — Guernsey, Ray Blackburn, Western Australia — Holstein, Brian Wilson, NSW — Illawarra, and Patrick Nicholson, Victoria — Jersey, provided their points and comments to a eagerly wait-ing crowd.

It was Moonshot Tossa’s udder and overall balance that helped the cow secure the broad ribbon.

Mr Parker — a plumber — said he was proud to represent the younger generation of farm-ers coming through.

“There are a few but we are defi nitely in the minority,” he said.

He said Moonshot Tossa will go back into the herd but he would keep an eye on the cow about a month before show sea-son rolled around again.

The Parkers also expanded their ribbon count by winning both the supreme champion in-termediate cow and supreme champion intermediate udder

titles with Glen-Echo Moonshot Treasure.

The McCarthy fam-ily from Budgee, Qld, helped the Jersey breed further stamp its domi-nance on 2014 with their cows Ascot Park Pitinos Beauty and As-cot Park Elton Wanda joining Glen-Echo Moonshot Tossa to win the supreme champion group of three.

The supreme champi-on junior female, Lead-er Lavanguard Tammy, made it a Queensland double, having won the same title at the Toow-oomba Show in March.

Owner Travis Deans,

Leader Holsteins, Oakey, Qld, said it meant a lot to get the win with their junior champion Hol-stein.

“It was great she could do it twice in one year. She’s my wife’s (Melissa) special heifer so that made it especially good,” he said.

Lavanguard Tammy is due to calve in September.

The Oakey-based Wadley family won the Eunice Scott Me-morial Supreme Ayrshire Exhibit trophy with their senior cham-pion cow, Auchenroad Poker Sukey.

In the Brown Swiss section, Joe and Noelene Bradley, Day-boro, Qld, won the junior cham-pion ribbon with Oakleigh Vigor Rache 5, as well as the intermedi-ate championship with Oakleigh Motown Priscilla 6.

The Cochrane family, Ama-moor, Qld, took out the senior champion section with Mountain View Lola 2.

Wyrallah Levi Lechello, owned by the McConnells, Ro-sevale, Qld, exhibited the junior champion female Guernsey.

Sunny Valley Spider Bell snapped up the intermediate champion Guernsey ribbon for the Clark Partnership, Lismore, NSW.

The Clarks also took home the senior champion Guernsey rib-bon with Sunny Valley Mentor Bess.

In the Holstein judging, the Deans family earned the inter-mediate champion ribbon with Leader Shottle Sadie while Gle-nalbas Goldwyn Olivia from the Arabella Farming Company, Brookstead, Qld, snatched the senior champion gong.

The junior champion Illawarra ribbon went to Riverwood Fa-vourite, owned by the Ledger family, Carters Ridge, Qld.

They also had the intermediate champion, Fairview Treasure 76.

JP Bourke and Co Pty Ltd, Gladfi eld, Qld, collected the sen-ior champion Illawarra ribbon with Myrtleholme Sweetie 4.

The hotly contested Jersey competition saw Ardylbar Tequi-la Eva, from the Barron family, Cambooya, Qld, win the junior champion title. ND


22 EKKA REPORT

By Ashley Walmsley

Julia Harpham, Tenterfi eld, New South Wales, sashes the supreme junior heifer, Leader Lavanguard Tammy, from Leader Holsteins, with judge Scott Edwards, Toowoomba, presenting the John and Ida Scott Memorial Shield, along with handler Kayla Bradley, Lockington, Victoria.

Carita and Chad Parker, Glen-Echo Jerseys, Kenilworth, hold the Queensland Country Life Supreme Dairy Cow shield and ribbon, while handler Erin Ferguson, Toolamba, Victoria, holds Glen-Echo Moonshot Tossa.


NORTHERN DAIRY DIARY 23

DIARY DATESTo have an event included in the diary dates, sendinformation to Carlene and Alastair DowiePhone/fax: (03) 5464 1542Email: <[email protected]>or submit to website <www.dairyinfo.biz>

Oct Sustainable Farming Families Workshop15-16: Toowoomba, Qld Contact: Brad Granzin Phone: Mobile 0431 197 479

Oct North Coast National Dairy Spectacular16-18: Lismore Showgrounds, North Lismore Contact: Secretary Phone: (02) 6621 5916. Fax: (02) 6622 0384 Email: <[email protected]>

Oct New Generation Conference22-24: Coffs Harbour, NSW Contact: Traci Gordon Phone: (02) 6653 5614. Email: <[email protected]>

Nov Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation5: mini-conference Gympie, Qld Contact: Kylie Dennis Phone: (07) 3236 2955. Email: <[email protected]>

Nov Subtropical Dairy AGM and board meeting6: Gympie, Qld Contact: Brad Granzin Phone: Mobile 0431 197 479. Email: <[email protected]>

Nov Queensland Dairy Accounting Scheme10: report-back meeting Malanda, Qld Contact: Ray Murphy Mobile: 0417 622 273

Nov Australasian Dairy Science Symposium19-21: Waikato, NZ Contact: Website: <www.adssymposium.com.au> Phone: (08) 9525 9222 Email: <[email protected]>

Nov Queensland Dairy Accounting Scheme25: report-back meeting Woodford Contact: Ray Murphy Mobile: 0417 622 273

Nov Queensland Dairy Accounting Scheme26: report-back meeting Clifton Contact: Ray Murphy Mobile: 0417 622 273

Nov Queensland Dairy Accounting Scheme27: report-back meeting Beaudesert Contact: Ray Murphy Mobile: 0417 622 273

Getting on top of hoof health

This is one of the many examples of the dairy service levy at work locally. Farmers receive a benefit of $3 for every $1 invested

by Dairy Australia on their behalf. For more information on this and other levy investments visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au

Caring for your herd’s hooves and legs is

part of the daily health check. Keeping an

eye on feet not only saves a cow from

pain, it makes financial sense.

Dairy Australia calculates estimates each

lame cow can cost up to $600 to $700/

year through lost milk production, lower

fertility, an increased risk of culling and

actual treatment costs.

About 80%-90% of lameness occurs in

the feet; most commonly in hind feet.

You can restrain a cow in a crush or

rotary bail or even on the platform in a

herringbone dairy.

If you suspect lameness, examine the

hoof using an examination kit comprising:

a soft rope for tying the leg;

hoof testers;

a sharp hoof knife (double-sided)

protected with a pouch;

sharp hoof trimmers; and

sharpening tools.

Examine the foot, looking for:

sole injuries;

white line disease;

foot rot, or

interdigital cracks.

The more stable and comfortable a cow

feels, the quieter she will stand. Having a

non-slip surface and/or straps to support

the weight of the cow will assist.

Talk to your vet about treatments like

trimming and paring, blocks, antibiotics,

anti-inflammatories/painkillers and rest. If

more than 7% of the herd is affected by

lameness, problems will be identifiable

which should be worked on with advice

from your vet.

Visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au for

suggestions on ways to help restore hoof

health in your herd.

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