EastAUSmilk rocks Finley & Blighty

36 dairy farmers descended on Finley and Blighty last week to visit some very impressive dairy farms. Attendance of 29 Queensland farmers were funded under the Dairy Farmers Technology Uptake Program through Queensland DPI’s ‘Bush Boost Fund’. 7 of the farmers that travelled were from NSW, both from the north and south coast, were funded by eastAUSmilk.

The farmers visited 8 different dairy farms across Finley and Blighty with one situated over the border south of Echuca. The farm systems varied immensely, including pasture, hybrid and a range of TMR systems including free stalls, dry lots and compost barns. The 8 farms varied from a small 200 cow herd, 4 farms were milking just over 1000 cows, one was milking around 2000 cows and one over 3000 cows. There was a lot of technology to see including full robotic milking platforms, rotary dairies, various cow monitoring technologies and robotic sprayers.

We also heard from several speakers at our dinners in Blighty and Finley. We heard from representatives from Garlock about their impressive products including greases, sprays and additives for both fuel and oil.  Rob Miller from Milton in NSW spoke about his cheap fit for purpose feed pad and approach to investing in land and minimising expenditure on depreciating assets. Ron McCalman and Tom Kindred from Murray Irrigation Ltd spoke about the local irrigation scheme and their proactive approach to helping farmers best utilise irrigation and Murray Irrigation to build their business. We also had a panel session of hosting dairy farms on the last night.

This was a very worthwhile exercise which the visiting farmers greatly appreciated. It was great to see so many young people attend and a special thanks to the Daley girls and Clewley kids for attending in force and taking in so much on one of their first dairy trips. One of the farms we visited said that this was the most positive and inquisitive group that had ever visited their farm which they really appreciated.

The trip was successful in connecting dairy farmers across the two states of different ages and experiences, where they were able to share thoughts and learnings to bring new ideas back onto their own farms. The trip will be followed up with an online Zoom session to encourage ongoing discussions and further learning.

Eric Danzi - CEO, eastAUSmilk

Full focus on the Finley Farm Tour

In March of this year, a group of Queensland and New South Wales farmers will travel down to Finley in southern New South Wales to tour intensive dairy farms around the region. The trip is part of our Dairy Farmers Technology Uptake Program (DFTUP) supported by the Queensland Government’s by the Bush Boost fund. The program will fully fund 20 spots for Queensland members to travel down to join the Finley Farm Tour. The DFTUP focuses on the training of new technologies leading to better on-farm adoption to improve labour efficiencies, animal welfare, business management and profitability which compliments the program’s grant program and other nation-wide initiatives to get more technology onto farms.

We have been lucky to secure seven different farms to visit in the Finley region and one farm in northern Victoria. There are a wide range of farm systems and technologies attending farmers will see which include freestall and compositing barns, and Arizona dry lot. Farms also have a range of automation on farm including feed management, heat detection and milking systems. There are significant regional and environmental differences when compared to the key dairying regions in Queensland and New South Wales however in some scenarios there are significant similarities where farmers will have the opportunity to learn about the different challenges each hosting farmer has had with their farms and on-farm investments.

After visiting farms across the region, guest speakers from Garlock, Murray Irrigators Limited and a NSW dairy farmer will chat to the group through a series of dinners held during the tour. The final dinner will consist of a panel discussion with the hosting farmers where any last-minute questions and information can be shared. eastAUSmilk are happy to be connecting farmers from North Queensland all the way through to the South Coast of New South Wales on this trip.

Jade Chan - Project Officer, eastAUSmilk