the northern dairyfarmer -...

The Northern

DairyfarmerJUNE-JULY 2011

■ EFF-ing tax to hitdairy

PAGE 4

■ Disasters hit Qldmilk production

PAGE 6

■ Funds for YoungDairy Network

PAGE 10

■ Field days helplift FCE

PAGE 17

■ New climaticindex beingdeveloped

PAGE 20

■ Incentiveprogram helpserosion control

PAGE 21

INSIDEQld dairyfarmers take milkfight to Canberra

QUEENSLAND dairyfarmershave taken the milk wars toCanberra to voice their concernsabout the ruthless price-cuttingstarted by Wesfarmers whollyowned subsidiary Coles and theimpact this will have on theirindustry.

In late March, Coles execu-tives faced intense scrutiny at theSenate Economic CommitteeInquiry into milk prices – whichColes triggered with its ‘DownDown’ cut-throat discount cam-paign on Australia Day.

A number of QueenslandDairyfarmers’ Organisation(QDO) dairyfarmer representa-tives were in Canberra for theinquiry, alongside dairyfarmerrepresentatives from otherregions of the country.

The trip presented an oppor-tunity to highlight the industry’s

case to the committee’s Senatorsand to national media in theCanberra press gallery.

“The cut-throat discounting of‘supermarket-brand’ milk to $1 alitre has already had an impact onthe viability of a large number ofQueensland farmers,” QDO presi-dent Brian Tessmann said.

“Milk payments are down andwe are extremely worried aboutthe impact of the cut-throat dis-counting on the viability of themilk production sector inQueensland.

“This is about having a sus-

tainable milk value chain – andat the moment Coles’s actionsare threatening to smash thechain to pieces.

“With the drop in income onsome farms for February, extrap-olated out across the year, we’relooking at a drop in income foran average-sized farm of about$8000 per year.

“This is affecting us right nowand we have the evidence in blackand white, which totally defiesColes’s ‘hand on heart’ claim toconsumers and government that itis not hurting farmers.”

KEY POINTS■ Dairyfarmers head

to Canberra to putcase

■ Coles’s actioncosting farmsthousands ofdollars

■ Qld farmsparticularly hardhit

Queensland dairyfarmers Greg Anderson, Jenny Easlea,Grant Wieck and Ross McInnes travelled to Canberra tohear Coles representatives speak at the Senate Inquiryinto milk prices.

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WELCOME 3

THE Subtropical Dairy board recently met on May 18-19. The board regrettably had to sayfarewell to Dr Brad Granzin, who resigned from the board to take up a senior dairy industryposition with the Department of Primary Industry in Victoria. Dr Granzin has been involvedin Subtropical Dairy for many years and his corporate guidance and advice shall be sadlymissed.

However, this now means that there will be up to three positions eligible for election at ourannual general meeting to be held on October 12. Applications for this position will be adver-tised widely during June and July with the assessment panel to meet during August 2011.

The AGM is being held this year in conjunction with the Young Dairy Network forum sothat the event will be held during three days, October 12-14, on the Gold Coast.

The board has also undertaken to progress through a strategic planning process for 2012-17 during the coming six months and the outcomes from this, in consultation with industry,will guide the direction of Subtropical Dairy into the future.

Subtropical Dairy has also engaged the services of a creative arts student to reproduce inboth DVD and web-based formats (see article on page 13) information from the recent roundof sessions delivered by Dr Bob Patton from the US. We are hopeful that this information will

be available for distribution in July 2011.However, at present our number one priority is to fund and rollout work-

shops around milk quality issues across our region, which will includeaspects of milking machine maintenance and mastitis control. If anyone isinterested in having one of these workshopsin their area please contact Neale Price on

email <[email protected]> ormobile 0400 022 843.

SINCE the cut-throat retail milk price war was started by Wesfarmers wholly owned sub-sidiary Coles on Australia Day, the resultant impacts have been clear to dairyfarmers acrossthe country.

Farmers knew that with their relatively weak bargaining position at the start of the supplychain supplying a highly perishable product, they would cop the consequences of the devalu-ation of milk by Coles. Coles is abusing both the unique nature of fresh milk as a ‘loss leader’marketing agent and its massive market power to steal market share from other supermarkets,small retailers and distributors while at the same time growing the market share of its ownsupermarket-branded milk.

Dairyfarmers in Queensland are already being affected as processor-branded milk sales arelosing market share to discounted supermarket store brands as consumers shift their purchas-es to chase a short-sighted and short-term saving and small retailers buy their milk from thesupermarket rather than their vendor. The impacts of these predatory actions will be smallbusiness and dairyfarmers losing their viability.

In contrast, some sections of the government and their departments have apparently strug-gled to recognise this issue or take action and plan a way forward to allow farmers a chanceat a sustainable future and to maintain the production of fresh local milk as an option for thenation’s consumers.

With some in government turning a blind eye, not wanting to upset the ‘big end of town’,this will only see the situation get worse.

The solution to this issue has to be more than just ending the current unsustainable cut-throat milk price discounting. As such, the Queensland Dairyfarmers’ Organisation (QDO)has publicly been explaining the 10 recommendations included in the second part of its sub-mission to the Senate Economics Commission inquiry.

These recommendations are about setting out the solutions to the prob-lems and issues that exist in the Australian domestic drinking-milk supplychain.

You can read more about the work QDO is doing on the milk war in thefollowing pages of The Northern Dairyfarmer.

QDO sets out recommendations

The Northern Dairyfarmer magazine is ajoint industry owned and operatedpublication targeted at delivering the latestresearch and development information andindustry news to dairyfarmers and industrystakeholders of the northern dairyindustry.The Northern Dairyfarmer ispublished on about the 13th of everysecond month in February,April, June,August, October and December.

The Northern

Dairyfarmer

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

AdvertisingAdvertising manager: Peter RoachPO Box 2544, Gladstone Park,Vic, 3043Email: <[email protected]>Phone: (03) 9344 9906Fax: (03) 9338 1044Mobile: 0417 371 364

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

Subtropical DairyNeale Price, Executive OfficerPhone: (07) 3396 6229Mobile: 0400 022 843Fax: (07) 3396 6628Email: <[email protected]>

Mailing and distributionThe Northern Dairyfarmer is distributed todairyfarmers throughout Queensland andnorthern NSW. If you are a dairyfarmer andare 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 iscopyright. Reproduction in whole or part isnot permitted without written permissionof the publisher.

Editorial contributionsEditorial contributions are welcome, but noresponsibility can be taken for their loss.Copy is preferred by email in Word or text-only format with pictures and graphics as300dpi JPGs. Deadline is two months beforepublication.

PrintingHarris Print

Published by:Agricultural Publishers Pty LtdABN 55 000 560 430

ISSN 1833-8887Ross McInnesChairSubtropical Dairy

Brian TessmannPresidentQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation

Subtropical Board farewells Brad Granzin


4 FEDERAL BUDGET

By Ross McInnesQDO vice-president

THE debate on the proposed car-bon tax will be a concern to alldairyfarmers in Queensland andthroughout Australia, and alsoshould be of great concern to allAustralians.

While the government hasbeen quick to assure rural indus-tries they will be exempt fromthe tax until 2015, the fact is that‘EFF’ input costs under the taxwill increase significantly. TheEFF that I talk about is ‘electric-ity, fertiliser and fuel’ costs –they are the major areas of dairy-ing that will be affected.

The proposed tax, unfortu-nately, has a policy and detailvacuum behind it, and this iswhere our concerns lie.

There are two fundamental

questions that need to beanswered to give some degree oftransparency for dairy business-es.

Firstly, is food part of a con-sumer’s carbon footprint? Thereare a number of academics whobelieve that higher food costsfrom any carbon price should notbe passed on to the consumer.

For any thinking person, thepremise of a government-imposed cost increase on a com-petitive dairy business that can-not be passed on to the consumerdefies logic.

The Queensland DairyAccounting Scheme (QDAS)quotes average input costs acrossthe regions of 3.5-5 cents perlitre ($35,000-$50,000 per mil-lion litres) for the EFF cate-gories.

A 30% increase in these cate-gories will affect the average bot-tom line by $10,000-$15,000.

Hopefully the commentsfrom Minister for ClimateChange, Greg Combet, that mil-lions of households will be betteroff under this tax will make himrealise that food producers can-not be disadvantaged under thisprocess, either.

This raises the other funda-mental question: how does themarket work to ensure the pro-ducer doesn’t carry the cost?

This is the difficult part and

there would be few people whohave faith in any imposed artifi-cial price alteration being trans-parent through the wholeprocess.

Governments usually scorewell for the concept part and thenabout one out of 10 for imple-mentation.

It has been extremely ama-teurish of the government to pro-pose such a fundamental changeto our society and value chainsand then have little or no detailbehind the announcement. Manycity-based commentators andpoliticians say the “market” willsort things out but have a lack ofknowledge of how markets actu-ally operate in the real world orof the small margins that dairiesoperate under and how any slightadjustment can have large effectson business viability and sustain-ability.

Mr Combet needs to explainhow imposing a tax at one endand compensating the consumerat the other end and hoping themarket sorts things out is anacceptable outcome.

As we have seen through theColes milk pricing fiasco, the cor-relation between production costsand appropriate retail pricing hasbeen de-coupled as Coles usesand devalues milk as an advertis-ing agent, creating an unsustain-able situation for dairyfarmers

and others in the supply chain.This is not a case of the ‘market’working it out; rather, it’s a caseof major supermarkets using theirmarket power to ‘work’ the mar-ket for themselves at the cost anddemise of others and creating asituation of market failure for thefresh milk supply chain.

What does the tax mean forcompetitiveness of our foodindustries in the world market oragainst imported products, whereour competitors face no suchimposts as are being proposed byMr Combet, but in fact manyreceive government subsidiesand protection support?

It is a policy dilemma that ifnot properly addressed will driveinvestment, employment andemissions off-shore – out ofAustralia. Where is the benefit forAustralians and the globe in that?

The price of food toAustralian consumers fromAustralian farms should reflect acompetitive cost of production,taking in to account our society’sexpectation of human resource,environmental and animal wel-fare standards.

As an invaluable componentof everyday consumption of foodin Australia, the dairy industryexpects more than to have ourwork devalued by ill-consideredpolicies coupled with dubiousretail practices.

‘EFF’ing tax to hit dairyKEY POINTS■ Tax to hit

electricity, fuel andfertiliser costs

■ These make up 30%of dairy farm costs

■ Market pricescontrolled bysupermarkets

■ No opportunity topass on highercosts

Federal Budget heavy on rhetoric

THE Federal Budget has sparedthe agricultural sector majorcuts, but has failed to deliver avisionary approach that recog-nises agricultural industries as akey pillar of the economy,according to the QueenslandFarmers’ Federation (QFF).

“Disappointingly for Queens-land farmers, they will have towait at least another year to pre-pare themselves for the nextdrought,” QFF chief executive

officer Dan Galligan said. “Thelong saga that is drought reformwill continue to drag on, with theWest Australian drought pilot toexpand and continue over anoth-er year. We acknowledge that thegovernment needs to get thisright but they have missed anopportunity to help Queenslandfarmers prepare for climatechange and the next drought ornatural disaster.”

Mr Galligan also acknowl-edged that rural research anddevelopment had also been large-ly spared from the governmentaxe but said this was ultimatelythe only sensible path of actionfor the government to take. “Thisrecognises the importance ofagricultural productivity growth

to the economy but a status quofor research and developmentinvestment over time means thatwe will continue to slide back-wards in real terms,” he said.

Meanwhile, the NationalFarmers’ Federation (NFF) wel-comed the Federal Government’scommitment to funding for somekey agricultural programs, butsaid future government invest-ment that went well beyond thescope of the Budget was required.

“The NFF was preparing for aconservative Federal Budget thatlooked to redirect the economyback towards surplus followingthe fiscal hits of the global finan-cial crisis and the January floodsand cyclones,” NFF presidentJock Laurie said. “From this per-

spective, this Budget has notbeen surprising.

“Yet, while we welcomeinjections in the areas of environ-mental stewardship, regionalinfrastructure, the drought pilotextension, mental health, region-al migration and capital depreci-ation concessions, the govern-ment must not lose sight of somekey priorities for agriculture thatremain in limbo without fundingsecurity.

“There remains unfinishedbusiness relating to the Bealereview on enhancing Australia’squarantine system, while keyinfrastructure initiatives such asthe National Freight Strategyneed funding to bring the visionto reality.”

KEY POINTS■ Drought reform

trial extended■ R&D spared cuts■ More investment in

ag needed


MILK PRICE WAR 5

ONGOING delays to striking asustainable solution to the retailsupermarket milk price wars willcontinue to see damage beingincurred by the Queensland dairyindustry, according to theQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation (QDO).

QDO president BrianTessmann said in response to asecond interim report from thecurrent Senate Inquiry into milkprices that the Queensland indus-try was feeling the impact of themilk wars right now and furtherdelay would see this damage con-tinue to the State’s dairyfarmers.

The second Senate report,released in early May, effectivelycalled for more time to assess thefull impact of the $1-a-litre pricecuts, led by Wesfarmers-ownedColes, Mr Tessmann said.

“But for farmers, the situation

is unsustainable and needs urgentaction,” he said. “There is a groupof 185 dairyfarmers in Queenslandwho have already seen their milkcheques drop as a consequence ofthe milk war as cut-throat dis-counted supermarket store brandstake market share away fromprocessor name brands.

“This situation is the same aswhy rules are set for sport. Howmany head-high tackles do youneed and players carried off thefield before the rules arechanged?

“How hard do farm marginsneed to be squeezed and howmany farmers have to call it quitsbefore we get action to preventmore farmers becoming casual-ties of this Coles-led milk pricewar?”

Mr Tessmann said heacknowledged the effort of theSenate committee and the fact ithad pored through numeroussubmissions and hearings on acomplex issue.

“We also greatly appreciatethe efforts of Senators (Nick)Xenophon, (John) Williams,(Christine) Milne and (Bill)Heffernan in calling for interim

actions and stating additionalcomments, including that ‘thebenefits of the milk price warwill inevitably be short-lived andcould well result not only inhigher prices and less choice forconsumers in the longer term butalso significant and irrevocabledamage to Australia’s dairyindustry’,” Mr Tessmann said.

“Senator Xenophon, withsupport from the other threeSenators, has called for interimmeasures to protect farmers nowwhile the Senate constructs asolution for the longer term. Weagree that there is a need for that.

“This is especially the casewith Coles executives continual-ly refusing to acknowledge thatthe price war is affecting farm-ers, especially in Queenslandright now. This is in stark contra-diction to public comments fromWoolworths CEO MichaelLuscombe that the milk cuts areunsustainable and the impact ishappening now, citing the cur-rent impacts on Queenslanddairyfarmers and that processorshave stated that the current situa-tion is putting much-neededplanned investment at risk.”

Action needed to shield dairyfarmersKEY POINTS■ Action needed now

from Govt on milkprice

■ Farmer milkcheques alreadyreduced

THE QueenslandDairyfarmers’ Organisation(QDO) has toured south-eastQueensland dairy farms withShadow Minister forAgriculture and Food Security,John Cobb. During a two-daytour of the region in April, MrCobb visited flood-affectedfarms throughout the LockyerValley and north of Brisbane atDayboro.

QDO president BrianTessmann, vice-president RossMcInnes and chief executiveofficer Adrian Peake explainedto Mr Cobb the progress of theflood recovery. The party alsodiscussed in detail the currentsupermarket retail milk pricewar.

Mr Cobb and the QDOthen also met with about 40dairyfarmers at Gatton to dis-cuss these two key industryissues.

During the tour the groupvisited three Lockyer Valleydairy farms owned by Errol andJulie Gerber, Graham and ChrisDuncan and Warren and JillianDavis.

The following day, Mr Cobband the Member for Dickson,Peter Dutton, visited Statecouncillor Jenny and GregEaslea’s farm at Dayboro, Qld,with local farmers.

The QDO is continuing tolobby key federal politicianssuch as Mr Cobb to help strivefor a fair outcome as theSenate Inquiry moves towardits final report later in theyear.

Cobb tours Qlddairies

President Brian Tessmann,Graham Duncan, ShadowMinister for Agriculture,John Cobb, and vice-president Ross McInnes.

Qld farmers call for code of conductTHE Queensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation (QDO) has out-lined a path forward that wouldallow the Federal Government toprevent farmers becoming casu-alties in the retail milk price warand also deliver a sustainablemilk value chain.

QDO president BrianTessmann said that sinceWesfarmers’s wholly owned sub-sidiary Coles started the milkwar with $1-a-litre supermarket-brand milk on Australia Day,farmers across the country hadbeen clear about the impacts thiswould have on their industry.“We are now setting out the solu-tions,” Mr Tessmann said.

QDO recently presented theserecommendations to FederalShadow Minister forAgriculture, John Cobb, as hetoured flood-affected dairy farmsin south-east Queensland, andalso highlighted the recommen-

dations in several media inter-views.

QDO has lodged 10 recom-mendations to the Senate eco-nomics committee into the milkvalue chain and outlined stepsfor the government to take toensure continued fresh milk pro-duction for Australian con-sumers every day of the yearacross the country and that farm-

ers are paid a price for their milkthat is sustainable. Theseinclude:• establishing a mandatoryAustralian Drinking Milk Codeof Conduct to deal with the com-plex relationship between farm-ers, processors, distributors andretailers;• appointing a commissioner tohead the Australian DrinkingMilk Code of Conduct; and• having the Federal Governmentamend the legislation tostrengthen the anti-competitiveprice discrimination provisionsand to introduce a competitionand sustainability ‘effects test’.

In addition, Mr Tessmannsaid there was an urgent need forAustralian Competition andConsumer Commission (ACCC)action to investigate Coles’sactions in the cost-cutting war,and this also formed part of therecommendations.

Dayboro district farmersgather at Greg and JennyEaslea's property to hear arun-down of the QDO'srecommendations.


6 INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

QUEENSLAND and northernNSW dairy production is downby 7% for the year to March and20% for the past three monthsfollowing the recent floods andCyclone Yasi. However, predic-tions from farmers about theirfuture intentions demonstrate theresilience of the industry.

The floods have resulted in50% of Queensland and northernNSW respondents to the annualNational Dairy Farmer Survey(NDFS), undertaken in February,expecting lower production thanwould have been the case hadflooding not occurred. Thecyclone in Far North Queenslandhas resulted in a similar outcomefor 33% of respondents in thatregion. While the cyclone did

less physical damage than wasanticipated, disruptions to powersupply, ongoing wet weather andother flow-on implications had amajor impact on farms.

Dairy Australia manager ofstrategy and knowledge, JoanneBills, said the results from thesurvey, which formed part ofDairy Australia’s 2011 Situationand Outlook report, clearlyshowed the impact of the recentextreme weather but also demon-strated the resilience of theregion’s farmers.

“Herds have experienced sig-nificant animal health issues butherd size has not been affectedsignificantly by the extremeweather events at the time of thesurvey, which hopefully will seethe industry production capacitypreserved,” Ms Bills said.

“However, the severe finan-cial impact of the floods andcyclones and their aftermath onindividual farmers, as well as thecurrent farm-gate return impactsfor some farmers and widerimpacts on farmers’ confidenceof the supermarket price cuts,will have many people question-ing their ability to regroup and

continue in the industry.”Surprisingly, given the numberof farms affected by floods, atthe time of the survey, just 9% ofrespondents in Queensland andnorthern NSW expected theirherd sizes to be smaller in 2011-12 than would have been thecase if the flooding had notoccurred. In Far NorthQueensland, the recent cycloneresulted in 7% of respondentspredicting a smaller herd sizenext year. However, Ms Billssaid, it should be noted that therecovery from the impacts ofthese disasters would be a longprocess so it was early days atthis stage.

“Northern dairyfarmers arealso continuing to invest in theirenterprises, with 73% havingmade a capital purchase in theprevious year,” she said.

Milk price rather than theweather was the main futurechallenge to the industry identi-fied by northern dairyfarmers,with 72% citing this as their pri-mary concern. This has affectednorthern dairyfarmers’ confi-dence about the future of theindustry, with only about half

(48%) being positive about thefuture of the industry – lowerthan the national average of 69%.

“Reliance on the domesticfresh milk market in the face ofthe recent sharp discounting byretailers; farm-gate returnimpacts for farmers whose pay-ments link to processor brandsales, which have lost marketshare; some negative price sig-nals from dairy processors asthey seek to balance fresh milkdemand and supply; and thetough seasonal conditions arekey contributors to the lowerconfidence levels,” Ms Bills said.

Confidence is lowest in FarNorth Queensland, with only33% of dairyfarmers from thatregion positive about the futureof the industry. Nevertheless, atthe time of the survey, just 3% ofthe region’s farmers said they didnot intend to be in the industry inthree years’ time – slightly belowthe national average.

Qld dairy feels impact of floods, cycloneKEY POINTS■ Floods, cyclone

cause productiondrop

■ Milk price identifiedas main futurechallenge

■ Confidence lowestin FNQ

MORE INFO<www.dairyaustralia.com.au/situationoutlook>

DFMC and National Foods reach supply agreementTHE Dairy Farmer Milk Co-operative (DFMC) hasannounced an agreement withNational Foods on milk supplyvolumes for the 2011-12 sea-son. DFMC chairman, IanZandstra, welcomed the finali-sation of the deal, under whichNational Foods will buy about900 million litres of milk fromDFMC member dairy farmsacross Queensland, NSW,Victoria and South Australia in2011-12.

“This purchasing commit-ment by National Foods providessome much-needed certainty todairyfarmers and is a positivedevelopment for an industry stillcoming to terms with the impactof the aggressive milk price dis-counting by Coles supermar-kets,” Mr Zandstra said.

“National Foods is operatingin a challenging market and,reflecting this environment, the

contract negotiations were toughat times. However, we arepleased we have been able towork constructively withNational Foods to achieve amutually beneficial commercialoutcome.”

Under the agreement,National Foods has committed topurchase about 870 million litresof contracted milk (plus or minusa 10% variance) from DFMCmembers nationally at a ‘tierone’ milk price.

This commitment is subject tocertain conditions, including thestatus of supermarket private-label contracts in some States.

DFMC’s contracted milk vol-ume commitments vary byregion. DFMC is currently work-ing through the numbers todevelop milk supply volumes tai-lored to the production profile ofeach of its 780 supplier farms.

The aggregate tier one vol-

umes by region for 2011-12 havedecreased in south-eastQueensland as a result ofNational Foods losing the con-tract to supply Woolworths’ pri-vate-label drinking milk contractlast September. The contracts for2011-12 are:• Far North Queensland: 51 mil-lion litres (2010-11 – 55 mil-lion);• south-east Queensland: 95 mil-lion litres (2010-11 – 133 mil-lion).

In response, Far NorthQueensland dairyfarmers toldthe ABC the cuts weren’t as badas they had been expecting.

QDO councillor in NorthQueensland, James Geraghty,said farmers had predicted muchbigger cuts.

“It was indicated that the vol-umes would be down in the mid-40s. The volume has now comeout at 51 million litres,” he said.

“It’s taken a lot of pressure out ofthe industry. It’s still a drop butit’s less of a drop than wethought it would have been.”

However, in south-eastQueensland, Andrew Burnett,who farms near Gympie, saidsupplying 2000 litres less milk aday would mean an income cut.

“It’s going to be in the orderof about 20% that our incomewill be reduced,” he said. “It’sgoing to be pretty tough for uspersonally because we had twofloods in four days at the start ofthe year and we’re taking a hugecashflow hit just on milk volumeand also farm repairs and thatsort of thing.

“With prices being knockedaround like they have been, youreally question your viability.”

In NSW, the amount of milkrequired by National Foods willdrop by 33 million litres nextseason.


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8 FLOOD/CYCLONE UPDATE

THE effects of recent heavy rainand flooding across Queenslandon prime cropping and grazingland could be felt for some timeas unwanted pests hitched a rideon fast-moving waters.

Biosecurity Queensland gen-eral manager Dr Bruce Wilsonsaid landholders should be awareof how weeds spread to newareas through heavy rain andflooding as well as machinery,animal and fodder movement.“The risk of weed spreadincreases dramatically duringand after heavy rain and floodevents, not only from weed seedcarried by the water itself butalso during recovery efforts,” DrWilson said.

“Weeds are spread as thewater picks up seeds and plantparts and moves them across the

landscape, potentially into newareas.

“They can also hitch a ride onmachinery, fodder and animalsmoving in and out of affectedareas. It’s important for peoplemoving machinery, animals andfodder to have a weed hygienedeclaration demonstrating eitherthat machinery has been cleanedor that fodder and animals maybe contaminated.”

Department of Employment,Economic Development andInnovation (DEEDI) weedsresearcher Vikki Osten saidwhen the heavy rain and flood-affected land dried out, landown-ers were likely to see weed seedsgerminate or vegetative repro-duction materials reshoot or re-establish.

“We may see some alienplants in paddocks or along creekand river banks that are com-pletely new to the area,” MsOsten said. “For example,parthenium and parkinsonia aretwo weeds likely to be spread bythe heavy rain and floods thatmay be appearing in new areas ininland Central Queensland.”

Parthenium is regarded as one

of the worst weeds because of itsinvasiveness and its economicand health impacts. Isolatedinfestations of parthenium can bequickly controlled but it needsongoing effort by the communityto detect, report and controlinfestations.

Dr Wilson encouraged land-holders to be alert to new plants,seek identification and be readyto implement control.

“Weed management canoften be overlooked untilweeds become widespread,becoming a costly burden forthe landholder,” he said. “Themost cost-effective ways tomanage weeds is to stop themarriving on the property and tocontrol any new infestationsquickly.”

Ms Osten said despite thepotential for weeds to spread tonew areas, an upside of therecent events may be the removalor reduction of weeds from someareas.

“Prolonged inundated crop-ping areas may also see a reduc-tion in some of the pre-floodweed flora of the area as water-logging can kill or significantly

reduce seed viability,” Ms Ostensaid.

“However, the downside ofthis is that it may also happen ingrass pasture country – grassstands may be severely reduced,opening up land to competitionwith weeds.”

Weeds cost Queensland anestimated $600 million annuallyand have significant impacts onprimary industries, naturalecosystems, and human and ani-mal health.

Contact local councils forinformation on the identificationand appropriate control of theinvasive weeds. DEEDI officersand weed scientists are alsoavailable to advise on weed iden-tification and management solu-tions in badly affected areas.

Stop weeds taking rootKEY POINTS■ Floods, wet

weather increaseweed risk

■ Identify new weedson-farm quickly

■ Take action tocontrol new weeds

MORE INFODEEDIPhone: 13 25 23BiosecurityQueensland Phone: 13 25 23 Website:<www.biosecurity.qld.gov.au>

Wage assistance extended in FNQWAGE Assistance Subsidies(WAS) have been extended forFar North Queensland employersaffected by Cyclone Yasi.

The Federal Treasurerannounced at Easter that WAShad been extended for another 13weeks to 26 weeks and the duedate for applications would beextended from May 13 to June30.

The boundary of the area eli-gible for assistance has also beenextended to include the part ofCairns Regional Council below17° latitude south.

The industry recovery offi-cers (IROs), managed by theQueensland Farmers’ Federation(QFF), played an important partin providing evidence that boththese changes were necessary tohelp sustain the Yasi recoveryeffort, especially to keep workersin place while farms and busi-nesses tried to rebuild cashflow.

QFF, the Queensland

Dairyfarmers’ Organisation(QDO) and others see WAS as avital interim measure that isneeded to avoid a local recessionafter the widespread destructionof a category five cyclone.

QFF members have alsoadvised governments that the

February 3 employee eligibilitydate should be varied to reflectthe reality that seasonal agricul-tural work only begins after thewet season ends, but thereremains no news of that change.

QFF’s team of IROs will beassisting eligible farms and small

businesses to reapply toCentrelink for WAS where theyhave been previously rejected.

Affected dairyfarmers can getassistance with governmentgrants and forms through dairyIRO Lyn O’Connor, phone (07)4096 7213.

AS THE Northern Dairyfarmerwent to print in May, theQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation (QDO) was in theprocess of completing its surveyof Queensland dairyfarmers toassess how they were recover-ing from the recent summer ofnatural disaster.

With 98% of the Queenslandindustry affected by floods andcyclones, this survey is animportant mechanism to gaugethe recovery process and toensure that the ongoing recov-

ery effort can occur as quicklyas possible.

It is immediately apparentthat the recovery will be a longprocess for many farmers andthat the challenges of the natu-ral disasters remain, eventhough the issue has droppedfrom the media radar.

QDO has also neared com-pletion of the first round of pay-ments from the industry relieffund (which was made possibledue to generous donations ofprocessors, other stakeholders,

and Woolworths) and informa-tion will soon be available on thesecond round of the relief fund.

Meanwhile, for farmers whohave questions or difficultiessurrounding government assis-tance with the natural disaster,QDO has staff who can help.

Call Karen, phone (07) 32362955 or Belinda, mobile 0423003 638, for assistance in lodg-ing a hardship case with QRAA.For any other natural disasterrelated queries call the QDOoffice, phone (07) 3236 2955.

Disaster recovery still progressing


FLOOD/CYCLONE UPDATE 9

THE Queensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation (QDO) is aware thatthe natural disasters that haveaffected Queensland in the pastsix months have had a majorfinancial impact on many farms.The QDO encourages farmers totake a good look at their financesand, if necessary, seek profession-al help sooner rather than later.

QDO has been in contact withthe Department of Employment,Economic Development andInnovation (DEEDI) FarmFinancial Counselling Service andit is in a position to be able to visiton farm within two weeks of beingcontacted in the majority of cases.

The QueenslandGovernment’s farm financialcounselling service is a free andconfidential service for primaryproducers that assists clients to:• understand and developimproved financial management;• communicate and negotiatewith financial institutions;• identify and assess the financialimpact of options; and • compare the viability of variousenterprises.

The service helps primaryproducers and small businesses

prepare applications for loansand government assistanceschemes through QRAA andCentrelink. Farm financialcounsellors are located in

regional centres throughoutQueensland, including Biloela,Bowen, Bundaberg, Gatton,Gympie, Innisfail, Kingaroy,Mackay, Mareeba, Toowoomba,

Townsville and Warwick.Contact: website: <www.

dpi.qld.gov.au/16_6698.htm>,phone: DEEDI hotline, 13 2523.

Free financial assistance for farmers

SINCE the last issue of TheNorthern Dairyfarmer, theQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation (QDO) has contin-ued the task of distribution offunds under the Industry ReliefFund, which was established bythe QDO State council to assistQueensland dairyfarmers affect-ed by the recent natural disasters.

To date more than $870,000has been distributed to 431

dairying enterprises to assistwith recovery. The first roundof the fund closed on May 20.The QDO team is now workingon the second round of therelief fund.

The fund to date has attract-ed more than $1.4 million, withgenerous support from a num-ber of processors, individualsand businesses associated withthe industry, including $1 million

from Woolworths, resultingfrom the donation of five centsper litre on all white milk soldthrough their stores for a peri-od of two weeks.

Application forms have beenmailed to all dairy producers,and additional copies can beobtained by contacting theQDO office, phone (07) 32362955, website <www.dairy-page.com.au>.

The QDO would like toagain publicly thank all who havemade contributions to the relieffund, including the followingorganisations which made sub-stantial donations: the GardinerFoundation, WarrnamboolCheese and Butter, BegaCheese, Murray Goulburn,Tatura Milk, United DairyPower, Fonterra andWoolworths.

THE National Farmers’ Feder-ation (NFF) is calling for a bal-anced approach to the develop-ment of the Murray-DarlingBasin Plan, following the decisionby scientists involved in theprocess to withdraw on the basisof environmental science alone.

NFF president Jock Laurie hascriticised the single-minded per-

spective of the WentworthGroup of Concerned Scientistsin considering only the health ofthe river, and not the health ofregional communities, in its deci-sion to withdraw from theMurray-Darling Basin Authority.

“A comprehensive approachis required: one in which theneeds of the affected communi-

ties and the economy are bal-anced with the needs of the envi-ronment,” Mr Laurie said.“Whatis missing from the commentsmade by the group is balance –their perspective is that theneeds of the environment out-weigh the needs of the commu-nities that rely on the Murray-Darling Basin for survival.”

Socioeconomic science just as important for MDBP

The natural disasters that have affected Queensland in the past six months have had amajor financial impact on many farms

Queensland industry relief funds flow

DAIRYFARMERS have adaptedwell to dealing with the hot anddry climate experienced in thepast decade but with the extremeand prolonged wet weather seenthis summer, current farming sys-tems have been unable to copewith the change in conditions.

To address a host of issuesthat have arisen from the wet andto build more resilience withindairy systems, the Young DairyNetwork held a workshop titled‘From Dust to Mud – MakingOur Farms Work in BothExtremes’ last month atCambooya, Qld.

Identifying infrastructure andcow health issues was the majorfocus of the day, which saw 34young dairyfarmers identifywhere their systems failed tomanage with both the heat andthe wet and work to find practi-cal solutions.

Young Dairy NetworkDarling Downs co-ordinatorTheresa Kunde said: “Our cur-rent farming systems weredesigned to overcome drought,with herd numbers having atleast doubled since the last peri-od of protracted wet weather inthe mid-1980s.

“Cows and infrastructurehave not coped with the wet,leading to massive drops in milkproduction and quality, very highcull rates due to mastitis andlameness and high mortalityrates through mastitis and three-day sickness, which has led to amassive reduction in profitabilitythrough loss of production andstock and cost of treatment.”

Attendees at the workshopgained the expertise of seniordairy extension officer with theDepartment of Employment,

Economic Development andInnovation, Ross Warren, whospoke about innovative solutionsto infrastructure issues, and prin-cipal veterinary consultant ofDairy Focus, Dr Rod Dyson, andproject leader of CountdownDownunder, John Penry, whospoke about cow health issues.

With most infrastructure hav-ing been built to deal with dryweather conditions, Mr Warrenintroduced new and innovativeideas on how to change andmanage infrastructure. The mostpopular part of his presentationwas the development of sandloafing areas that incorporateddrainage and management toprovide a dry and clean place forcows to camp.

Mr Warren spoke of theimportance of designing loafingpads in entries, exits and lanesthat minimise bacteria harbour-ing and provide minimum impacton feet, legs and joints in bothwet and dry conditions.

The constructed sand loafingpads that were discussed consistof a firm base including ag pipes,which are covered with about 20millimetres of gravel, 100mm ofcoarse sand, and shavings, barkor straight sand. Mr Warren out-lined that keeping the areas cleanand well maintained was critical.

When it comes to cow health,Dr Dyson and Dr Penry, who areboth specialty dairy vets, passedon the experience of what theyhad seen in northern Victoria interms of cow health issues inprolonged wet weather.

Their main message for theday centred on a four-step pro-gram at milking in wet or muddyperiods to ensure cows had thebest opportunity not to contractmastitis:1. Wash all teats and dry withone paper towel per cow beforecups go on.2. Strip cows every day to detect,treat and isolate clinical cases.3. Cover 100% of teat skin onevery teat with teat disinfectant.4. Keep teats clean for an hourafter the cows leave the shed. Setup feeding and other routines socows do not lie down soon aftermilking.

Young dairyfarmers Andrea

and Chris Kelly sought an updateon cow health and infrastructurewhen they decided to attend theworkshop, having experienced asharp rise in mastitis followingthe deluge of rain during summerat their Thornton, Qld, dairy.

“We had never had this muchtrouble with mastitis, especiallywith recurring mastitis, so wedecided to attend the workshopto get a refresher on what weshould be doing,” Mrs Kellysaid.

“The workshop was veryhelpful, providing us with differ-ent options for feed pads whichwe are now looking into and a

good reminder about how to con-trol mastitis.”

From Dust to Mud was fund-ed by the Australian GovernmentDepartment of Families,Housing, Community Servicesand Indigenous Affairs, and theAustralian Department ofAgriculture, Fisheries andForestry.


10 YOUNG DAIRY NETWORK

DEALING with stress and well-being during challenging timeswas a focal point of a high teaheld for women in the South-East Queensland Young DairyNetwork recently.

The Centre Within's HelenEveringham joined 16 womenfor a delicious morning tea atZengarra Country House atLake Moogerah on May 9, pro-viding them with tips and toolsto help them work through avariety of situations in their lives(particularly difficult situationsand environments).

With women playing a vitalpart in their families, businesses,communities and the dairyindustry, the Young DairyNetwork felt it was crucial toprovide them with the knowl-edge and strategies to bettercare for themselves and others.

Ms Everingham has been con-

Attitude is everythingKEY POINTSWOMEN'S

WORKSHOP■ Workshop focuses

on dealing withchallengingsituations

■ Women play keyrole in farms andcommunities

From dust to mudKEY POINTS■ Farmers need

strategies to copewith wet and dry

■ Ongoing wetconditions have ledto increase indisease

■ Update feed paddesign

■ Take steps toreduce mastitis

MORE INFOTheresa KundePhone: 0428 147 749Email: <[email protected]>Websites: <www.dairyinfo.biz>

Cows at Waylon and TashBarrons' place atCambooya, Qld.

Rod Dyson, of Dairy Focus,talks about cow healthissues.

COMMUNITY capacity in theQueensland dairy industry willreceive a boost thanks to FederalGovernment funding justannounced under theCommunity InvestmentProgram.

Three Young Dairy Networkprojects have been awardedfunding that will help strengthenfarming communities in theregions of the Darling Downs,South-East Queensland and theSunshine Coast. The projectstotal $435,547 and run for threeyears to June 30 2014.

“The new funding commit-ment is welcomed and willallow the Young Dairy Networkto continue to assist youngfarmers to improve their skillsand to provide opportunities forfarmers to come together toexchange ideas and experiencesand encourage social interactionat an industry level,” YoungDairy Network chairman PaulRoderick said.

“It will also allow them tomeet people with similar inter-ests to build community spiritand networks. The network pro-vides mentoring, friendship andsupport in times of adversity, asocial outlet, and leadershiptraining and experience.

“The additional funding willsupport the continuation of net-work activities including capaci-ty-building workshops, trainingopportunities and the roll-out ofcommunication tools developedunder the former program,including a Young DairyNetwork webpage and data-base.”

Queensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation chief executiveofficer Adrian Peake also wel-comed the funding and said itdemonstrated a confidence fromthe Federal Government that theYoung Dairy Network projectand delivery team had achieved arange of great outcomes foryoung dairyfarmers and industrystakeholders and that they wouldlike to see this continue. “Onbehalf of the Young DairyNetwork and the Queenslanddairy industry, the QDO wishesto thank the Federal Minister forFamilies, Housing, CommunityServices and Indigenous Affairs,Jenny Macklin, andParliamentary Secretary forCommunity Services, Julie

Collins, for their continued sup-port for the project, especially inthe current challenging environ-ment with the industry striving torecover from floods and cyclonesand battling the impacts of themajor supermarket price war,” hesaid.

“This investment in theYoung Dairy Network is aninvestment in the future of ourindustry and rural and regionalcommunities and we thank the

Federal Government for itscontinuing support of the pro-gram.”

The Young Dairy Network isa joint initiative of theQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation and SubtropicalDairy is supported by theNSW Farmers Association,processors and the QueenslandDepartment of Employment,Economic Development andInnovation.


YOUNG DAIRY NETWORK 11

Young dairy networks awarded fundingKEY POINTS■ $435,547 funds for

Young DairyNetworks

■ Will allow roll-outof workshops andcommunicationtools

Chairman of the Young Dairy Network Paul Roderick withhis young son Logan.

Mud and flood partyFOLLOWING a summer thatmost would like to forget, theDarling Downs Young DairyNetwork held a ‘mud and floodparty’ to give members anopportunity to get togetherand have some fun.

More than 40 adults and a

large number of childrendescended on GowrieJunction in February, wherethey had the chance to sharetheir stories and photos andtell of their best innovationsto make life easier during thefloods.

Some of the mud fun atthe party.

Malachi Garratt, JessGarratt, Peter Garratt,Raymond Murphy (holdingbaby Patch),TheresaKunde, Belinda Tones andPeter Megel.

Dairy women enjoying a chat.

ducting practical workshops andcourses in self-esteem and per-sonal development throughoutAustralia for The Centre Withinsince 2003 and has helped thou-sands of people from all walks oflife to make improvements totheir lives. Her ability to shareher personal journey with thegroup and relate real-life experi-ences was described as a true

inspiration to everyone whoattended. "Attitude is every-thing. It's not what happens toyou; it's how you handle it," isthe The Centre Within's motto.

Contact: BelindaHaddow, South-East Qld co-ordinator. Phone: 0423 003638, email: <belinda@ dairyinfo.biz>, website: <www.dairyinfo.biz>


All dairyfarmers, sharefarmers and dairy farm managers are eligible to

receive a free copy of the Australian dairy industry’s official dairy

magazine – The Australian Dairyfarmer.

Each issue the magazine covers all aspects of dairy farm management

including pastures, genetics, nutrition, milk harvesting, computer

technology, waste management, calf rearing, and herd health. On-farm

stories, featuring dairyfarmers, are used extensively to convey the

messages.These case studies are backed up by research and

development, industry, extension and product information.

The Australian Dairyfarmer is the only publication that meets the

information needs of all of today’s dairyfarmers.

If you – or a dairyfarmer or sharefarmer you know – are not receiving

the magazine or if you have changed your address, fill in this form and

return it to AUSTRALIAN DAIRY FARMERS:

MAIL Kate Williams, Australian Dairy Farmers,Level 6, 84 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

FAX (03) 9642 8166PHONE Kate Williams (03) 9642 8066EMAIL [email protected]

Are you getting

your FREE official dairyindustry magazine?

Please add my name to the Australian Dairyfarmer mailing list

I am a: o Dairyfarmer

o Sharefarmer

o Farm manager

Name:__________________________________________________

Address:________________________________________________

Town:_____________________________Postcode:_____________

Phone number:__________________________________________All details are strictly confidential and will not be made available to any third party and will only be used to magazine distribution purposes

Sarah Chahine,Australian Dairy Farmers,Level 2, Swan House, 22 William Street, Melbourne VIC 3000(03) 8621 4280(03) 8621 [email protected]

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NEWS 13

SUBTROPICAL Dairy conduct-ed two adviser/service providerupdates on the topics of nutritionand mastitis in mid-April. Morethan 30 service providers andindustry support professionalsattended these workshops, heldat Gatton, Queensland.

The attendees included repre-sentatives from National Foods,Parmalat, Norco, Department ofEmployment, EconomicDevelopment and Innovation(DEEDI), milking machine tech-nicians, University ofQueensland and veterinarians aswell as other industry.

The first workshop was heldat University of Queensland,Gatton, with sessions deliveredby Dr Bob Patton PhD, PAS,Nittany Dairy Nutrition; Dr

Emiliano Raffrenato, from theUniversity of Queensland, andDr Steve Little, Grains2Milkprogram leader for DairyAustralia. This workshop cov-ered topics including feed effi-ciency, neutral detergent fibre(NDF) structure and its effectson NDF digestibility and milkproduction and transition cowmanagement.

The second workshop wasdelivered by Dr John Penry,Countdown Downunder projectleader from Victoria, andfocused on the current issues ofmanaging in wet conditions withspecial emphasis placed on mas-titis control and milking machinemaintenance.

Other speakers included JohnMiller, from DEEDI, who related

some of his first hand experi-ences from visiting farms duringJanuary and February 2011 as aresult of the rains and floodingthroughout all areas of theSubtropical Dairy region.

Up-to-date information wasprovided on an aggregated basisof the current level of bulk milkcell counts, which indicated aneed for further work, informa-tion and assistance to be direct-ed into addressing currentissues.

Dr Penry then introduced thenew Countdown resource pack,which has been developed in twoparts, one for advisers and theother for use by advisers withtheir farmer clients.

Kenilworth, Qld, veterinarian,Marcus Anstey then worked

through some scenarios associat-ed with drying off.

The service providers werealso invited to attend aCountdown Symposium on June8 in Melbourne.

As a result of this workshop,Subtropical Dairy is endeavour-ing to access funding to deliverworkshops across the regionaddressing these topical andurgent issues. Additionally thereare eight separate handouts avail-able on a range of managing inwet conditions topics.

Expressions of interest in thedelivery of a workshop in areasshould be addressed toSubtropical Dairy executive offi-cer, Neale Price, mobile 0400022 843 or email <[email protected]>.

Nutrition and mastitis updates

Research to look at flood impact on reefTHE Federal Government willundertake research to protect theGreat Barrier Reef from harmfulpollutants, including run-offfrom agricultural land duringextreme weather events.

Minister for Sustainability,Environment, Water, Populationand Communities, Tony Burke;Minister for Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry, JoeLudwig; and ParliamentarySecretary for Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry, Dr MikeKelly, announced funding for 18new research projects designedto improve water quality andultimately protect the reef.

“Significant flood events are a

natural phenomenon and canmove vast quantities of sediment,nutrients and pesticides fromagricultural land into the reef’slagoon,” Mr Burke said.

“Most of the pollution enter-ing the reef is stored in the catch-ments. These pollutants canleave the reef vulnerable to bothshort- and long-term impactssuch as coral mortality andincreased algal blooms.

“The Great Barrier Reef isone of Australia’s most uniqueecosystems and the govern-ment’s investment in safeguard-ing the reef will be of benefit tofuture generations.”

Mr Ludwig said the timing of

this research would enable thegovernment to monitor andunderstand the impacts of realflood events on the reef’s lagoon.

“Many farmers are alreadyengaged in activities that aim toprotect the reef,” Mr Ludwigsaid.

“This important research willlead to a better understanding ofland management practices thatwill help farmers reduce run-offof nutrients, chemicals and sedi-ments across the reef catch-ments.”

The funding builds on thegovernment’s commitmentsthrough its Reef Guardians ini-tiative and the $200 million

Caring for Our Country ReefRescue program, which areaccelerating the adoption ofimproved land managementpractices across reef catch-ments and reducing the run-offsediments, nutrients and chem-icals.

Dr Kelly said the governmentwould invest $8.85 million underCaring for our Country for 18research projects that aim toreduce run-off of dissolved nutri-ents and chemicals from agricul-tural lands to the reef lagoon by25% by 2013.

Further information is avail-able at website <www.nrm.gov.au>.

WITH fewer than 750Subtropical Dairy (SD) dairyfarm-ers spread over almost 3000 kilo-metres from Kempsey in NSWthrough to the AthertonTablelands in Far NorthQueensland, the ability to deliverinformation, education and exten-sion on the latest in research anddevelopment outcomes isbecoming increasingly difficult.

The struggle to deliver infor-mation to all of our stakeholdersin an effective and efficient mannerhas always been front of mind dur-ing discussions at the SubtropicalDairy board meetings.

In February this year it wasdecided to trial a pilot programinvolving the filming and video-ing of a series of industry work-shops. The film would then beedited into a DVD and web-based format and therefore beaccessible to all of our stake-holders free of charge.

Subtropical Dairy contractedthe services of a QueenslandUniversity of Technology (QUT)Creative Arts student afterreviewing a number of applica-tions from a variety of people andorganisations. She attended theDr Bob Patton Young Dairy

Network sponsored nutritionday at the Roderick (Harrisville)and Teese (Beaudesert) farms aswell as the Dairy Australia spon-sored large herd seminar atGatton.There were three speak-ers at the later event including DrPatton, Dr Steve Little and DrEmiliano Raffrenato.

Additionally, with a view toupgrading the knowledge andskills of service providers to theindustry the adviser workshopson nutrition and mastitis werealso filmed, and a refined DVDwill also be developed to be avail-able to those service providers.

The DVD and web-basedvideos will include excerptsfrom the farm walks, copies ofPowerPoint presentations, ques-tions asked and diagramspenned by Dr Patton during hisdiscussions. The DVDs will beavailable from the SD executiveofficer Neale Price and the web-based options will be uploadedonto <www.dairyinfo.biz> to beviewed and/or downloaded.

It is expected that these willbe available in July and SDwould be interested in feedbackfrom all stakeholders on this ini-tiative.

Technology options to overcome distance


14 RIGHT TO FARM

RURAL landholders surround-ing Kingaroy, Qld, are facinganother threat soon after cele-brating the end of CougarEnergy’s failed UndergroundCoal Gas (UCG) trial.

Several landholders havebeen approached by VolcanHoldings seeking access toprime red-soil land to beginexploration for volcanic bauxite.They have been told that theState Government has recentlyapproved exploration permits forvirtually the entire red-soil farm-lands of the South Burnett.

Many farmers were pinningtheir hopes on the Government’sstrategic cropping land (SCL)legislation as a means of protect-ing their cropping land againstshort-term mining and energyinterests.

However, they were dismayedto learn that the two defining fea-tures of their fertile land are thetwo aspects that appear to rulethem ineligible for SCL status andthe protection that goes with it.

SCL guidelines recentlyreleased by the Department ofEnvironment and ResourceManagement (DERM) state thatsoil must not have an acidic pHlevel of less than 5 and that theinclination of the farm paddockmust not exceed 5%. It wouldappear that many of the fertilered volcanic soils of the SouthBurnett fall outside one or bothof these criteria.

Although they would normal-ly welcome co-ordinationbetween government depart-ments, the co-incidence of manyred soils being ruled out of SCLstatus by DERM and at the sametime having the Department ofMines and Energy grantingexploration permits for volcanicbauxite on these same soil typesis too much for some.

Kingaroy Concerned CitizensGroup (KCCG) secretary JohnDalton said that some groupmembers saw it as a co-ordinatedevent.

“The State Governmentgrants permits to explore for vol-canic bauxite one month andthen rules out SCL protection ofthe same soil type the next,” hesaid. “It is difficult not to be cyn-ical. Local landholders are on thelookout for the thin edge of thewedge when it comes to this sortof development.

“We told both Ministers KateJones and Stephen Robertsonduring the Cougar fiasco that ifthey want co-operation from

local communities they have tospend time informing and con-sulting locally. They can’t juststamp an approval in Brisbane,trust the company to do the rightthing informing the locals andexpect anything other than suspi-cion or hostility.

“We will also be contactingboth government departments toremind them of their undertak-ings given during the CougarEnergy events to get it right andnot hide behind the companydoing the exploration. The gov-ernment grants the permits so ithas some obligation to justify itas a good idea.

“It’s information beforeexploration.”

KCCG president GaryTessmann said that it looked as if

its local group of concerned citi-zens might be about to have aninflux members from the fulllength of the South Burnett, notjust surrounding the CougarEnergy site at Coolabunia, Qld.

“I think this will be a case of‘lock the gate and negotiate’,” hesaid. “We expect that the govern-ment and Volcan to feed us theline that this is just explorationand not full-blown mining.However, there is no way that agovernment that grants a permitto explore won’t also approvefull mining if it turns out thatdeposits are viable.”

The group is planning a seriesof meetings to inform and sup-port the many farmers who willbe directly affected by theseevents.

New mining threat in South BurnettKEY POINTS■ Bauxite exploration

permits granted inSouth Burnett

■ Strategic croppingland status notgranted

■ Same area wasthreatened byunderground coalgas

Local landholder Alan Sommerfeld walks his peanut andcorn rows, which are considered not strategic croppingland but rather a possible bauxite mine.

RECEIVE A FREE SAMPLE PACKComplete the coupon and post to HotCow Australia, 18 Crook St., Bacchus Marsh, Vic 3340 or email [email protected]:

Address:

Phone: Email:

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0


RIGHT TO FARM/INDUSTRY TRENDS 15

By Brian TessmannQDO president

THE recent release from theState Government of the criteriato identify strategic croppingland (SCL) has disappointedmany farmers on some of theState’s best land for human foodproduction and left them con-cerned about the future. They arewondering why their high-quali-ty soils would not be classified asstrategically important.

While some may consider thecriteria a launching point toprogress the policy, these criteriaare unsatisfactory to even hope toachieve a reasonable level of pro-tection for much of the State’s high-quality soils used for growing food.

There is a high level of con-cern that the criteria will fail toprotect some of our most fertilesoils, even if the land has had along history of successful foodproduction of high-value cropsand has current inclusion on thecropping land maps that have

already been released. Manyareas that produce valuablecrops often for human consump-tion are on land that does notconform to the criteria set out bythe government.

With Queensland’s diverserange of climates, soils andfarming systems, growing pro-ductive crops is a more complexbusiness than these eight criteriawould make out.

Because of that, there is a realrisk the policy will not fulfil itsintent of protecting all of our bestfood-producing land, which is afinite and valuable resource andcritical for all of our futuresglobally.

The proposed legislation alsowill not protect land from any ofthe various gas extractive indus-tries that are already spreadingfar and wide across the State atbreak-neck speed.

The criteria and policy frame-work actually seem to havegreater potential to limit afarmer’s ability to diversify theirfarming operation rather than toprotect the land’s long-term foodproduction capacity from short-er-term intrusive mining activi-ties.

Landholders battling themany gas projects around theState have long realised that thisproposed legislation will not betheir safety net.

But it came as a shock tofarmers in places like the fertile

South Burnett region that theSCL criteria will fail to protectthem from intrusive long-termmining impacts.

These farmers – who growcorn and legumes such aspeanuts and navy beans, amongothers, mostly for human con-sumption – have not only hadmining companies searching forcoal and gas on their propertiesbut now face the possibility ofbauxite mining as well.

Bauxite mining is an invasiveprocedure and a mining companyis currently exploring regions ofhighly fertile red volcanic soilacross a number of regions insearch of the aluminium-produc-ing ore.

The issue that has shockedmany farmers is that much ofthe red-soil cropping land thatproduces the earlier-mentionedcrops will fail to meet the SCLcriteria, particularly the criteriaregarding the allowable slope ofthe land. This will mean that

much of the scarce but fertilered-soil cropping land aroundthe State will not be affordedany protection under this legis-lation from intrusive miningactivities.

Many areas that are currentlyproducing high-value humanfood crops such as fruit and veg-etables, sugarcane, corn,peanuts, navy beans and otherfood legumes or high-qualitydairy grazing will find it difficultto fit under these eight strict cri-teria.

At the end of the day this leg-islation will protect barely 2% ofthe State and if not revised willexpose much of the food-produc-ing land to the many risks ofmining.

While mining companiescontinue to chase profits as theysee fit, while at the same timedelivering royalties to the gov-ernment, the real question for allis: what is the real and true costto our future?

Too many gaps in SCL criteria

Report reveals latest trendsTHE latest genetic trends andproduction statistics forAustralia’s national dairy herdhave just been released in the2010 Australian Dairy HerdImprovement Report, publishedjointly by the Australian DairyHerd Improvement Scheme(ADHIS) and the NationalHerd ImprovementAssociation of Australia(NHIA).

ADHIS chairman Wes Juddsaid the data, which was collect-ed through herd recording, pro-vided some interesting insightsabout the industry.

Mr Judd, a Queensland dairy-farmer, said the herd-recordingdata for his cows was an essen-tial tool use for making a varietyof management and businessdecisions.

“We use herd recordingdata for decisions about breed-ing, mastitis management, cullingand feeding,” he said.

“And of course, our datagoes into the ADHIS data basefor the calculation ofAustralian Breeding Values(ABVs), bull proving and track-ing national trends such as inthis report.”

KEY POINTS■ Strategic cropping

land legislation setsstrict criteria

■ Fails to protectmuch farm land

■ Farmers exposedto miningdestroying theirland

With the weather warming up, dairy farmers

are being urged to put their farm’s heat

stress action plan into effect.

Dairy Australia’s Cool Cows program leader,

Dr Steve Little, said cows needed time to

adjust to hot weather.

The Cool Cows Weather Forecaster at

www.coolcows.com.au can help you beat

the heat this summer. This tool provides up

to date ‘heat load’ information specific to

each dairy region over the months when

heat stress risk occurs.

In hot weather, cow comfort is affected by a

combination of temperature, humidity and

the length and severity of conditions.

The Weather Forecaster expresses Bureau

of Meteorology forecasts in cow comfort

terms, using the Temperature Humidity Index.

You can use the Weather Forecaster to keep

an eye on how your cows are coping and to

see when days of heat stress risk are

forecast for your area.

Cool Cows also offers a free alert service

that will send you an email whenever the

weather forecast for your area indicates

cows will be subject to high or extreme heat

stress in the next few days.

For little or no cost, you can reduce the

impact of heat stress on your herd by:

• providing access to shade and cool

drinking water at all times, even if this

means changing the paddock rotation;

• sprinkling cows with water in the dairy

yard before afternoon milking (and

before morning milking if needed);

• wetting concrete in dairy yard for an

hour before cows arrive;

• changing milking times so cows are not

walking to the dairy in the afternoon

heat; and

• altering mating management and

nutrition.

Beat the Heat

Cool Cows is one of the many examples of the dairy service levy at work. For more

information on this and other levy investments visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au

Farmers receive a benefit of $3 for each $1 invested by Dairy Australia on their behalf. ND

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16 REEF RESCUE

By Anna-Louise Cross

WITH an acre of covered con-crete comprising the 450-cowdairy shed and feed pad and 440tonnes of manure collected annu-ally, Sunshine Coast dairyfarm-ers Ivan and Shelly Wrightdecided to capitalise on their‘natural asset’ by buying a slurrytanker.

When year three of the ReefRescue Water Quality Grantsprogram launched last year, theWrights applied for financialassistance in the purchase of aslurry tanker to enable them toexpand and improve the reuse oftheir effluent.

“We really wanted to increasethe area being fertilised by ourdairy effluent as we have seenfirst-hand the benefits of apply-ing manure to our soils,” IvanWright said. “When the ReefRescue program began we wereprovided with an excellentopportunity.”

The Wrights’ farm is in theSunshine Coast hinterland and is

part of the Mary River catch-ment. After building their dairy,the Wrights implemented anutrient reuse/effluent distribu-tion and collection systemdesigned by Agri-ScienceQueensland.

The system directs all efflu-ent into a trafficable solids trapwith a weeping wall, whichallows the solid and liquid com-ponents to be separated. The liq-uid effluent is then distributedthrough two centre-pivots.

After seeing the benefits inutilising their effluent as nutrientto irrigate their crops and pas-tures, along with the reduction infertiliser costs, the Wrightsdecided to investigate how tobest distribute effluent over thewhole farm.

“Once we saw the reductionin synthetic fertiliser needed forthe pivots we realised we weresitting on a goldmine of nutrientsand the rest of the farm couldreally benefit from using theeffluent,” Mr Wright said.

“We had attempted to stock-pile the solids from the trap,along with the wet manure fromthe feed pad that we scrappeddaily, but found that it just wasn’tdrying out so we needed an alter-native to a manure spreader todistribute the wet manure fromthe solids trap.”

The Wrights investigated anumber of alternatives to reusingtheir effluent and decided to pur-chase a slurry tanker, whichwould enable them to recycle the

water used for their washdownand redistribute the effluentacross a further 81 hectares.

“A slurry tanker inQueensland is definitely not asight you see every day but afterbattling with the stockpile andspreader we knew this was theway to go,” Mr Wright said.

The tanker has an extendablearm that agitates the pondedsolids and allows the slurry to bepumped into the tanker. The12,500-litre tanker takes only 15minutes to empty and is fittedwith flotation tyres to limitpotential soil compaction.

With the recent wet weather,the tanker has not be used as fre-quently as anticipated, but theWrights have already seen a reduc-tion in fertiliser costs and as anadded bonus have cut down labourtime by washing out the feed padrather than scrapping it daily.

The Wrights say they intendto conduct regular soil tests tomonitor nutrient levels and toassist in determining fertiliserrates.

Year three of the ReefRescue Water Quality Grants inthe Burnett Mary region hasprovided financial assistance to11 dairyfarmers to helpimprove water quality in thecatchments entering the GreatBarrier Reef lagoon. Year fourof the Water Quality Grantsprogram will be opening soonso producers in the area will besent information shortly onhow to apply.

This project is supported bythe Queensland dairy industryNatural Resource Managementpartnership, through fundingfrom the AustralianGovernment’s Caring for ourCountry initiative.

Reef Rescue helps farmers capitaliseon natural assetsKEY POINTS■ Reef Rescue

provides funds fornutrient reuseinitiatives

■ Farm introducesslurry tanker

■ Enables effluent tobe used on widerarea of farm

Slurry tanker used for distributing liquid effluent.

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FEED CONVERSION 17

AN EXPERIENCED nutritionconsultant from the UnitedStates, Dr Bob Patton, was invit-ed to speak at a series of fielddays held throughoutQueensland recently on optionsfor improving feed conversionefficiency (FCE) for dairy cowsin subtropical environments.

The field days were part ofthe Department of Employment,Economic Development andInnovation (DEEDI) new exten-sion project, Dairy in Action, runin collaboration with theQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation (QDO) FarmReadyproject and the Young DairyNetwork.

Dr Patton’s previous visits inthe past 12 years have been pop-ular with Queensland dairyfarm-ers and have helped draw terrificnumbers to the field days.

More than 150 farmers andconsultants attended the fielddays held at Malanda,Rockhampton, Gympie,Harrisville, Beaudesert,

Quinalow, Gladfield and UQGatton in April. Dr Patton’s talksfocused on different strategiesfor improving FCE under vary-ing subtropical dairy feedingsystems.

Dr Patton said that FCE was akey measure of a dairy businessand was commonly expressed asthe amount of milk produced (inkilograms) divided by the DM(kg) consumed. However, hesaid, farmers also needed to beaware of the “true FCE” cost as ittook into account milk producedfrom all feed obtained whether itwas home-grown or bought-infeed. Dr Patton said that a dairy-farmer’s biggest overhead costwas the “maintenance cost ofeach cow” (the cost of the feed tokeep the cow alive) and thatfeed-related costs should be lessthan 60% of milk income.

Dr Patton identified four mainfactors that would contributegreatly to increasing FCE: 1) increasing milk production

per cow through achieving high-er peaks milk yields during lacta-tion;2) reducing the cost of rationingredients;3) usually, but not always,increasing the use of home-grown feed; and, most impor-tantly,4) reducing feed wastage.

A lot of interest and time wasspent discussing the importanceof reaching higher peak milkyields, particularly through man-aging a smooth transition period(the 15 days before calving andthe first 15 days post-calving).

Dr Patton said the potentialpeak milk yield was determinedin the dry period and that “80%of a farmer’s time should bespent managing the cows duringthis critical (transition) period”.

Having been a dairyfarmerhimself for 20 years, Dr Pattonhas an understanding and knowl-edge of the challenges faced by

dairyfarmers that created greatplatforms for discussions onpractical improvements thatcould be made on farms and thefuture planning that would benecessary for increasing produc-tion levels. Appreciative of thechallenging circumstances ofrecent times, Dr Patton said allfarmers needed to remember that“20% of a cow’s productioncomes from her genetics, 30%from her nutrition and 50% fromher management. Therefore,your greatest improvements inproduction and FCE can begained by focusing on manage-ment.”

The project team thanks allfarmers who attended the fielddays, as well as to those whohosted them.

Field days help farmers improve FCEKEY POINTS■ Improving feed

conversionefficiency vital forbusiness

■ Feed cost needs totake into accountcost of all feed

■ Increase milkproduction percow

MORE INFOJo GormanPhone: (07) 5460 1192

Farmers listen to Dr Bob Patton atthe Rockhampton field day.

Dr Bob Patton talks to farmers at theMalanda, Qld, field day.

Farmers listen to Dr Bob Patton atthe Quinalow, Qld, field day.

Farm walk at John and Chris Kelleher's at Rockhampton,Qld.


18 SUSTAINABLE AUTUMN MILK PRODUCTION

NORTHERN dairyfarmers areall too familiar with the bigautumn dip on the milk produc-tion rollercoaster, but CycloneYasi and widespread floodingmade this year’s ride a screamer.

While this year’s events were,thankfully, out of the ordinary,many farmers are still lookingfor ways to brace themselves forthe more usual late summer andautumn challenges – and PaulRoderick is one of these farmers.

The Roderick family hostedone of the four SustainableAutumn Milk Production fielddays held across southernQueensland in February andMarch on their 240-hectare farmnear Harrisville.

Like many dairyfarmers, theRodericks see their milk produc-tion come under pressure inFebruary and March mostly dueto lower dry matter intake by themilking herd as result of the heatand humidity, and in the longerterm conception rates are alsoaffected.

Mr Roderick has introduced anumber a strategies to improveautumn milk supply. “But we’re

not aiming for a totally flat milksupply,” he said. “It’s more eco-nomical to stay within the allow-able tolerance.”

Feeding strategies are one ofthe keys to improving produc-tion. “We make the best-qualitysilage possible to feed through-out the year,” Mr Roderick said.“Silage makes up the bulk of thediet in autumn when pasturequality drops and this helps tomaintain milk production at rea-sonable rates. Protein meals areincorporated into the silage andfed out using a Bobcat.

“The diet usually consists ofaround six to eight kilograms aday of grain fed in the dairy,eight to nine kilograms of silageand three to four kilograms ofhigh-quality grazing.

“When there is no suitablepasture, grazing is replaced byone to two kilograms of lucernehay. The diet formulation ismostly intuitive but nutritionistsare consulted and theNutritionPlus workshops havebeen useful.”

Mr Roderick said lucerne andlablab were preferred over foragesorghum. “Forage sorghum isdifficult to manage in a wet yearbecause it grows rapidly andloses quality,” he said. “Lablabhas a longer window when atoptimum quality.

“About 16ha of lucerne isgrown to be either grazed orbaled. Bloat is managed by feed-ing silage first and addingRumensin to the grain.

Sometimes bloat oil is alsoadded to the trough water.

“Corn is preferred for sum-mer silage but forage sorghum isgrown when less irrigation wateris available. If the corn can’t beensiled in the two-to-three-weekwindow of optimum quality it isleft for grain.”

Mr Roderick said they werealso a lot smarter with irrigation.“We understand water schedul-ing better and can grow more drymatter with less water,” he said.

“Calving is reasonably eventhroughout the year but slightlyfewer calves are born inNovember and December.During the hotter months con-ception rates are down, and

stressed cows show fewer signsof being on heat. At this time ofyear we use a good quality bull.”

Reproduction is closely mon-itored and recorded using theWestfalia Dairy Plan software.Joined cows are pregnancy testedevery six weeks, and post-nataltests are conducted on everyfresh cow.

A number of strategies areused to manage heat stress. “Ashade shed was built in 1992 fol-lowing a severe heat wave, whichaffected many of the local dairyherds,” Mr Roderick said. “Thishas made a huge difference toboth milk production and cowcomfort.

“Cows also receive a goodwetting under four garden sprin-klers in the new dairy yard.Good airflow is important andfans would be ideal for this. Inhotter conditions the afternoonmilking is also delayed by 30minutes.”

The Sustainable AutumnMilk Production field dayswere funded by Dairy Australiaand the AustralianGovernment’s Climate ChangeResearch Program through theFuture Ready Dairy Systemsproject.

Smoothing the production roller coasterKEY POINTS■ Avoiding autumn

milk productiondrop important

■ Maintaining qualityfeed vital

■ Minimising heatstress alsoimportant

MORE INFORick KowitzPhone: 0427 669 994

Paul Roderick in the holding yard of the new 14-a-sideherringbone computerised single-operator dairy at hisfarm.

FUNDING for a three-yearresearch project aiming to investi-gate practices to improve fertilis-er use efficiency on Queenslanddairy farms has been approved bythe Australian Government’s ReefRescue program.

The Queensland Dairy-farm-ers’ Organisation has partneredwith leading researchers fromthe Queensland UniversityTechnology, James CookUniversity and CSIRO to set uptrials on two irrigated dairyfarms: one near Gympie and theother on the Atherton

Tablelands. A key aim for theresearch is to determine whetherurea treated with a nitrificationinhibitor can improve productionand reduce nitrogen losses.

Even more importantly, acost:benefit analysis will show ifthe treatment has potential tohelp dairyfarmers to becomemore profitable and sustainable inthe future.

The research will also assessefficiencies of nitrogen andphosphorus fertiliser usingmodern technology to measurelosses from leaching, run-off and

gaseous emissions. By combiningthis information with compre-hensive soil profile nutrientanalysis, the research will help tosolve the mystery of wheremost of the nitrogen and phos-phorus ends up after its broad-cast onto the paddock.

Dairyfarmers will have theopportunity to follow the proj-ect and hear first-hand fromresearchers at field days to beheld in 2012 and 2013.

Contact: QueenslandDairyfarmers’ Organisation,phone: (07) 3236 2955.

Dairy fertiliser efficiency research gets green light


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20 CLIMATE PROJECT

By Jarrod Lees and John Gaughan,UQ Gatton

HEAT load is the major cause ofmilk production losses in tropi-cal and subtropical areas ofAustralia. The dairy industry’scurrent climatic index for cate-gorising heat stress is the temper-ature-humidity index (THI).

THI was developed in the1950s as a discomfort index forhumans and was adapted for usewith dairy cows in the 1960s.

As the name suggests THI

takes into account temperatureand humidity. However, researchin Australia and the UnitedStates has shown that air move-ment (wind speed) and solarradiation have a major affect ondairy cows and that individualcows respond differently to thesame environmental challenge.

A new method of assessingheat stress in dairy cows – thedairy heat load model (DHLM) –is being developed byresearchers at the University ofQueensland and MelbourneUniversity with co-operationfrom commercial dairies inQueensland, NSW and Victoria.

The research has been fundedby the Department ofAgriculture, Fisheries andForestry (DAFF), theQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation (QDO) and DairyAustralia.

The DHLM has a number ofintegrated components:(i) the dairy heat load index(DHLI), which determines cowresponses to ambient tempera-ture, relative humidity, windspeed and solar load;(ii) accumulated heat load(AHL), which is is an importantfactor that managers must con-sider when managing heat stressin their cows. On a hot day cowswill accumulate heat (body tem-perature increases) because theyare not able to completely dissi-pate the extra heat by standingunder shade, by panting orthrough management strategiessuch as sprinklers and fans. Thisresults in an increase in bodytemperature by 0.5°C to 1.5°C.The additional heat must be dis-sipated during the night or theanimal will enter the next daywith an elevated body tempera-ture or some degree of AHL.

It is possible during heat-waves that cows will face three

or more days with elevated bodytemperature. The level of theAHL will have a significantimpact on how dairy cows aremanaged during heatwaves.

The THI gives a value for aparticular point in time; however,it does not take into accountaccumulated heat, which is amajor weakness. (iii) A further improvement willbe that the DHLM can be adjust-ed for animal factors such asmilk yield, days in milk, age,body condition score, coat colourand health status. In this wayfarmers will be able to determinethe heat load effects on theirherd.

The current THI ‘assumes’that all animals are the same.Other adjustment factors includeprovision of shade, ration typeand sprinkler usage.

The DHLM will allow dairy-farmers to:• categorise their cows intogroups based on their heat stressrisk; and• determine the financial impactof providing heat load abate-ment strategies such as addition-al shade. The DHLM will pro-vide dairyfarmers with an easy-to-use practical tool that can beused to better manage theirdairy herds.

This project is supported byfunding from Dairy Australiaand the Australian GovernmentDepartment of Agriculture,Fisheries and Forestry underFarmReady, part of Australia’sFarming Future.

New climatic index being developedKEY POINTS■ Current heat index

has limitations■ New model takes

into account airmovement andsolar radiation

■ Also looks ataccumulated heatstress

Dr John Gaughan giving apresentation on the currentstate of DHLM research ata Cool Cows workshopheld at David and CameronJankes' Westbrook, Qld,dairy.

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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 21

ON-FARM incentive fundingprovided through theQueensland Government’sHealthy Country program for theLockyer Valley region in 2010has assisted to minimise soil ero-sion on some farms during theJanuary floods.

Thirteen Dairying Better ‘nBetter program participants inthe Lockyer Valley had theopportunity to receive some on-farm incentive funding in 2010.Funding was available for proj-ects designed to improve soiland/or nutrient run-off from

farms, which otherwise couldpotentially end up in the riversystems of south-eastQueensland.

A number of different proj-ects were applied for, includingmanure spreader purchasesaimed at reusing stored manurestockpiles as nutrients across thefarm, irrigation system upgradesto low-pressure systems and soilsampling programs covering thewhole farm. Several farms choseto use the funding to convertsome of their conventionallytilled paddocks in erosion-proneareas to permanent pastures, in

the hope of alleviating topsoilloss and channel erosion in theevent of heavy rainfall.

These projects were testedearly this year during the flood-ing events experienced in theLockyer Valley region. A num-ber of farmers reported that theirestablished permanent pastureshad held together better thanexpected, and had managed toalleviate past erosion problems,particularly in areas adjacent toriparian zones, and on slopesgenerally prone to channel ero-sion.

The success of the pasture-

root systems in binding the soiltogether has paid dividendsover such an abnormal wet sea-son.

Some of these farmers arenow planning to convert moreerosion-prone areas to perma-nent pastures.

The Dairying Better ‘n Betterfor Tomorrow program is a jointindustry initiative between theQueensland Dairyfarmers’Organisation, Subtropical Dairyand Dairy Australia, supportedby the Department ofEmployment, EconomicDevelopment and Innovation.

Program helps minimise erosionKEY POINTS■ Work undertaken

to reduce nutrientrun off

■ Helped save soilsfrom erosionduring floods

■ Permanentpastures playcritical role

Flooding had less erosion impact on some Queensland dairy farms thanks to projectsundertaken last year.

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22 QUAD BIKE SAFETY

QUAD bikes are a common sighton Australian farms but in theperiod 2001-09 they caused 127deaths – an average of 14 peryear.

Details from the NationalCoroner’s Information Systemcompiled by the University ofSydney’s Australian Centre forAgricultural Health and Safety(ACAHS) indicate that quadbikes are now a leading cause ofdeaths on farms – second only to

tractors. Almost half of thesedeaths are the result of themachines rolling over and crush-ing the victim.

“It has been known for sometime that the stability of quadbikes is questionable and thatthey are prone to rollover,”ACAHS director Dr Tony Lowersaid. “Often quad bikes are notthe best or safest vehicle for thejobs that need to be undertakenon the farm. In many instances asmall ute, side-by-side vehicle ortwo-wheel motorbike will be abetter alternative.”

Previous manufacturer-ledresearch has not supported theuse of devices to protect the riderin the event of a rollover. “Thishas led to confusion amongfarmers as to whether rolloverprotection devices should be fit-ted or not,” Dr Lower said.

However, recent Australian

assessments undertaken by high-ly credentialled independentengineers have called this adviceinto serious question. While fur-ther study continues, all quadbike owners should note thatrollovers are a common cause of

death and, if quad bikes are to beused, owners/operators mustassess the risks and take controlsto reduce injury in the event of arollover.

“Many farmers and otherorganisations have moved awayfrom using quad bikes at allbecause the risk of rollover hasbeen seen to be too high,” DrLower said. “Others, includingagricultural training institutions,have looked at the issues and fit-ted suitably tested protectivedevices to reduce risks in theevent of a rollover.”

New evidence on quad bike safety

TO BEST manage safety in quad bike andside-by-side vehicle operation on Australianfarms and to meet occupation health andsafety (OHS) obligations, farmers shouldadopt the following principles:1. Machine or vehicle selectionWhere possible select a machine that has alow risk of rollover. Consider the machinesthat can be fitted with a suitable operatorprotective device, including a rollover pro-tective structure and operator restraint.Many jobs on Australian farms can be under-taken using alternative vehicles to quadbikes. If using a quad bike, fit a testedrollover protection device.2. Conditions of operationSpecify the jobs for which the quadbike/side-by-side vehicle is to be used, theconditions of operation (including speed

and load and tow limits) and the areas onthe farm on which the machine is to beoperated, and define “no-go” areas.3.Attachments and loads Make sure attachments and loads complywith the specifications in the operator’smanual, taking into account that loads willreduce stability. This information should beavailable from the supplier.4. Quad bikes and passengers Do not allow passengers on quad bikes.5. Quad bikes and children Do not allow children under 16 years of ageto operate adult-sized quad bikes.6.Training operators of quad bikes andside-by-side vehicles Make sure that operators of quadbikes/side-by-side vehicles are trained tooperate the machines safely.

7. Induction to safe operationof quad bikes/ side-by-sidevehicles Make sure that operators receive a thor-ough induction to safe operation of thevehicle on the specific property.8. Maintenance Ensure that machines are well maintainedfor safe operation.9. Helmets Provide a suitable helmet and ensure that itis worn.10. Supervision Supervise safe operation.

Courtesy of an Australian Centre forAgricultural Health and Safety publication:Safety of Quad Bikes and Side-by-Side Vehicleson Australian Farms, A Practical ManagementGuide.

Principles for quad bike and side-by-side vehicle safety on farms

KEY POINTS■ Quad bikes present

serious rolloverrisk

■ Safest choice maybe to use anothervehicle

■ Rollover protectiondevices may help

MORE INFOAustralian Centre forAgricultural Healthand SafetyPhone: (02) 6752 8210Website:<www.aghealth.org.au>

A rollover protectiondevice and helmet will helpreduce injury and deathfrom quad bikes. Photo:Australian Centre forAgricultural Health andSafety

NDF1134976


NORTHERN DAIRY DIARY 23

June Farmfest7-9: Toowoomba, Qld

Contact: Rural Press EventsPhone: (02) 6768 5800, Fax: (02) 6768 5811Email: <[email protected]>Website: <www.farmonline.com.au/events /farmfest>

June Situation & Outlook launch16: Brisbane

Contact: Jade HauserPhone: (07) 3236 2955Email: <[email protected]>

June Primex16-18: Casino, NSW

Contact: Exhibition MarketingPhone: (07) 5531 4600 Fax: (07) 5531 3072Email: <[email protected]>Website: <www.primex.net.au>

July 1 World Milk Day Website: <www.worldmilkday.com>

July Dairy Research Foundation Symposium6-7: Camden, NSW

Contact: Phone (02) 9351 1635Website: <www.vetsci.usyd.edu.au/foundations/drf>

July Queensland Dairy Showcase16-17: Gatton, Qld

Contact:Adam WielandMobile: 0428 369 213 Phone: (07) 4698 7008Email: <[email protected]>

August Ekka, RNA Showgrounds11-20: Bowen Hills, Brisbane

Contact: RNAPhone: (07) 3852 1831Fax: (07) 3257 1428Email: <[email protected]> Website: <www.ekka.com.au>

August Irrigation Australia 2011 Conference22-25: Launceston,Tasmania

Contact: Irrigation AustraliaPhone: (02) 9476 0142Fax: (02) 9476 0792Email: <[email protected]>Website: <www.irrigationaustralia.com.au>

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

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