Farmer engagement to set eastAUSmilk priorities
This year the dairy exhibitors put in a tremendous effort to prepare the cattle and attend the show. They battled with both the wet weather conditions and the staff shortage issues stemming from Covid-19 at home on their farms. It was an amazing to see them band together and put on an exception dairy display and particularly special this year as Sydney Royal Agricultural Show celebrated 200 years of the show.
Watching the dairy judging and walking through the shed the quality in the animals presented was exceptional. The judges gave praise to the exhibitors and all breeds were complimented on their various traits when the Supreme Champion was named. The ultimate award went to the Jersey breed.
EastAUSmilk Project Officer, Torie Harrison, and I attended the show which for many was their first introduction to eastAUSmilk. The engagement with farmers was very positive, we were able to make important inroads into the understanding and awareness of the what the organisation does and how this is vital to the long-term future of the dairy farmer and their industry.
It was a great opportunity to meet the farmers we are representing, to gather feedback on the organisations current work and hear from the grassroots what priorities eastAUSmilk should focus on for the year ahead.
It was a pleasure to be hosted by Max Wake and family of Benleigh Brown Swiss. Max is the longest serving dairy shed captain at the Sydney Royal Agricultural Show. Over lunch with Max in the Cafeteria he shared some of the history of the show. Max has attended the show every year since 1966. Although Max was only able to attend the show for 1 day in 1973 as he had just returned from his honeymoon.
Before heading home, we travelled to the South Coast with Ruth Kydd, the board representative for the region, engaging with more farmers in the region.
The continuous wet weather has put a huge strain on the dairying business and people in them. Loss of production and compromised animal health with lameness and milk quality issues is common. Most farms are also 6 to 8 weeks behind in planting Winter pasture and crops with a significantly smaller area being planted as it is just too wet to access some parts.
We hosted a dinner in both Shoalhaven and Jamberoo which were well attended. It was an important event for us to consult with more grassroots farmers but more important particularly at this time for farmers to come together to ensure the social and mental resilience of the industry.
Special thanks to Tim Cochrane for organising our visit to the South Coast. EastAUSmilk will be engaging with farmers in all areas of NSW in the coming weeks.
Lynelle Rogers – eastAUSmilk Executive Officer
Dairy Levy Poll – Lets all take notice
With the results in from the Dairy Levy Poll the farmers who pay the levy couldn’t have made their thoughts any clearer. An overwhelming majority of those who cast their votes backed the no change option. This was some 71% of voters who participated. A convincing result such as this can only occur when the alternative options provided are not to the liking of the voters. Possibly more disappointing is the option recommended by LPAC to farmers of an increase of 20% to the levy only received 15% of valid voter support. This raises the question was LPAC listening to the levy payers and is it the right mechanism to decide levy options in the future?
Some will no doubt say it’s not a judgment on the performance of LPAC who selected the options or Dairy Australia who receives and spends the levy funds, but rather a sign of tough times in the industry. I think this would be a naïve and unproductive approach. Farmers have not seen value in their levy and that’s why they have not backed an increase. As farmers are aware the only way to deal with a problem or as we often call it “a stuff up” is to acknowledge the error and deal with it head on. That’s what industry needs to do right now. Let’s put on the listening ears and take direction from the most important people in the industry, the levy paying Dairy Farmers.
What eastAUSmilk will be taking from this result is not the opportunity to tear down individuals or organisations who seem to have lost their way as farmer representatives in recent years and through the entire levy poll process, but rather a much-needed circuit breaker to wipe the slate clean and get it right from now on.
There are two vital questions for all industry bodies not just Dairy Australia to answer very soon. Is LPAC the best way to set future levy options and have the levy funds been spent in the best interests of the farmers who pay the levy?
Matthew Trace President eastAUSmilk
Automation Saved Labour, Water & Energy for Solid Set Irrigation
A Jaggan dairy has implemented an irrigation energy management opportunity from the energy audit report they received through the Energy Savers Plus Program Extension. Through the program the business received a dairy shed energy audit, carried out by AgVet Energy, as well as an irrigation energy audit, completed by The Energy Guys, both engaged by QDO.
The farm aims to increase their homegrown feed and have been increasing their irrigatable area with implementing sections of solid set irrigation systems.
With more and more sections of solid set irrigation systems to manage the business chose to invest in automation.
eastAUSmilk Project Officer, Jade Chan, and I visited the site and conducted a performance test on the irrigation to evaluate the actual energy savings and outcomes achieved since implementing a recommendation from the energy audit.
Installing an automation system to their solid set irrigation has resulted in labour-saving benefits.
When irrigating manually the irrigations would be run for twice in five-hour intervals (per station) which meant a late-night run into the paddocks to switch over the stations. To apply the 287ML per year there are 16 cycles of the 17 stations per year. With each cycle taking 9 nights the business was irrigating 144 nights per year.
Labour required to open and shut valves on the irrigator is estimated to be 15 mins costing the business approximately $2,880 per year. The new automation system uses a controller to manage irrigation scheduling with minimal time required to switch over sections.
The automation has also increased the water efficiency of business as previously there was approximately a 10% over application of irrigation. The improvements have allowed the irrigation to be applied across three-hour intervals instead of two five-hour intervals. Reducing the excessive application of irrigation water, saving 14ML.
Reducing the hours of irrigation also results in a lower energy use saving the business 4,861kWh annually.
With smaller application rates soil moisture remains at optimum for longer, smaller amounts are applied which reduces excess irrigation water applied and will improve pasture production.
The farm also upgraded the sprinklers on a section of the irrigations to improve their water use efficiency.
The pre-existing sprinklers were replaced with NaanDanJain 5035 sprinklers which improved the irrigation’s distribution of uniformity (Du). The new sprinklers were able to achieve 79.91% in comparison to the 58.4% achieved by the old sprinklers. This also increased the average application rate to 9.7mm/hr from 4.4mm/hr. Improving the irrigation efficiency of their solid set will also improve levels of production by increasing effective irrigatable area.
The total expenditure for the business to implement the upgrades was over $47,000. Valuing the increased pasture production at $5,000, plus the labour saving of $2,880 and $2,166 for electricity savings the calculated payback period of this investment is 4.7 years with a return on investment of 21.3%.
Torie Harrison – eastAUSmilk Project Officer
Big attendance at Dairy Resilience Dinners
Well we managed to pull it off. In two weeks eastAUSmilk hosted eight Dairy Resilience Dinners across the flood impacted regions of Queensland.
The meetings were held in Wondai, Kandanga, Maleny, Beaudesert, Plainlands, Allora, Toowoomba and Pinelands.
Another Dairy Resilience Dinner is to be held in Malanda at The Top Rail (Old RSL) on Thursday 21st April.
Please RSVP to 0437 923 398. Jade looks forward to seeing you there!
The events were a huge success with attendance reaching over 160 people. Big thank you to all our farmers who supported the events. I also need to thank the DAF Dairy Team and the eastAUSmilk team for their support made it possible.
When all types, social, sporting, community and industry events were being cancelled due to flooding it made me convinced that Dairy Resilience Dinners were needed now more than ever.
These events have been delivered through the Farm Business Resilience Program which aims to build the strategic management capacity of farmers to prepare for and manage business and climate risks.
Feedback received has been positive with most expressing the dinner was a great opportunity to get off farm for a couple of hours and check in on how our friends are coping. The general sentiment is that we should have more of these events for the dairy industry.
Discussions focused on the flood impacts on farm and the various assistance available for primary producers to assist their businesses with flood recovery as well as touching on the new drought assistance suite.
It was fantastic to have representatives from QRIDA, Rural Aid and the DAF Dairy Team in attendance to support the discussions.
The Farm Business Resilience Program are co-funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and the Queensland Government’s Drought and Climate Adaptation Program DCAP.
Torie Harrison – Project Manager eastAUSmilk
Who is going to pay?
We are starting to see the effects of the Russian – Ukraine conflict with fuel prices crashing through the $2 per litre barrier. Australia’s 26 million people use about 34 billion litres of fuel each year or about 1,300 litres per person. Based on the fuel price increases we have seen since last year, that’s an increase of about $1,000 per person.
While that sounds bad enough, that’s assuming that costs incurred by primary producers, transport and other businesses can be passed onto consumers.
Unfortunately getting markets to work in an open fashion is nearly always more hope than reality. It’s an undeniable fact that Governments of all persuasions want cheap food for the population. If too much is spent on food, it simply does not leave enough for discretionary spending and for Governments to tax us in some other way.
It is highly unlikely that the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) will make any decision that has an adverse effect on consumers.
If fuel was the only commodity that was increasing in price, it might be bearable, but this comes on top of fertiliser, chemicals and steel reaching extraordinary prices. Agricultural industries are still recovering from multiple drought years only to be hit with horrific flooding this year.
The latest figures from the Queensland Dairy Accounting Scheme (QDAS) show that the average QDAS farm spent $60,000 last year on fertiliser and fuel. That figure will at least double this year. The biggest impact on dairy costs might still be coming with upward pressure on grain markets already seen this month.
What happens in Ukraine this month is extremely critical for grain prices. The Autumn planted wheat should be fertilised now for a June harvest and the Spring planting should be near completion. How much of that is actually getting done is anyone’s guess.
As bad as this situation is, it’s also an opportune time with a federal election looming for our dairy advocacy groups to ask the question of our political leaders and everyone in the dairy supply chain – “are you prepared to pay a sustainable price for high quality Australian grown produce? “
“Well, are you?”
Ross McInnes – District Councillor eastAUSmilk
Dairy Levy Poll - Vote Now!
Flood recovery has been front of mind at present and you could be forgiven if you have forgotten all about the dairy levy poll because honestly, we had too.
If you are yet to submit your vote, be sure to do so today. Voting in the Dairy Levy Poll is due to close Thursday, 31st March. Everyone who pays the levy is eligible to vote.
Voting is easy to do online at dairypoll.com.au you will just need your member number which can be found on the ballot paper in the information pack mailed out by Dairy Australia last month. If you do not wish to vote online you can use the ballot paper and submit by email or fax. It is likely too late to send it in by post.
There are four levy options to vote on, being no change to the levy, an increase of 15%, an increase of 20% (which is recommended by the Advisory Committee) or an increase of 25%.
The dairy levy poll is using ‘preferential voting’ where you number the options one to four in order of your preference.
Once the votes are counted, if one of the options has an absolute majority, over 50% of the votes, then that would be the winning option.
If no option has an absolute majority, then the option with the least votes is eliminated from the count with the votes for the eliminated option being redistributed among the remaining options according to the second preference.
If the eliminated ballot did not mark a second preference, then the ballot is deemed ‘exhausted’ and excluding from further counts.
This process continues until one of the options achieves an absolute majority.
This is the first time in 10 years that we have the opportunity to vote on the amount that levy payers will need to contribute into the future. The outcome of the vote will affect all levy payers so it is important as many levy payers as possible have their say and submit a vote.
Torie Harrison – Project Team eastAUSmilk
Lismore floods - a farmer’s perspective
Peter Graham of Rich River Farms, Coraki in New South Wales knew this flood was going to be a significant one due to prior rainfall on the Thursday, Friday (300ml), Saturday (500ml) which came down from the three catchment areas, that were already full, into the Wilsons River.
Sunday night at 5 minutes to 10 Peter received a text from a friend to say there is a lot of water coming your way mate, so be prepared. The three catchments upstream were at record levels of 15.4 meters.
Never has this level of water been seen before.
On the home front internet was intermittent so Peter couldn’t even check the BOM, but when he finally did it hit home for him and his family.
Living on a flood plain and experiencing the levels of previous floods, Peter had some idea what he and his family were in for, but not to the magnitude of what did happen, such was the amount of water and speed in which it was travelling.
‘Compare this flood to other floods it would normally take 12 hours to fill our basin, this flood took 4 hours’.
When Peter arose on the Monday morning, across the gully he saw 100 odd cows stranded, which didn’t want to move and to get to the cows was going to be a mammoth task. Experiencing a moment of anxiety after seeing the cows he had no answers as to how to get to them – only hope that they would be safe in the long term.
What goes through your mind at that moment?
Peter feels very fortunate today as he reflects on the past weeks, he knows he has lost a few cattle where he leases property but can’t get to that property at the moment to see the aftermath.
On the Sunday night after the storm Peter had no power for 9 days due to a generator malfunction and not being able to source another one immediately. He has been milking once a day for the past week and his first load of milk was picked up on Saturday morning.
With the ongoing issue of dealing with mud, mastistis, machinery issues and the list goes on this flood will go down in history for all the wrong reasons.
The enormity of the situation becomes apparent and raises some very valid questions as to ‘why am doing this’? Because I love being a dairy farmer and I love my cows!
Lynelle Rogers – Executive Assistant eastAUSmilk
Invisible Dangers after a Flood
It seems like we can’t catch a break, first the fires, then the drought and now floods. Farmers have been affected all around South East Queensland and North East NSW where there is a big clean-up job and damage assessments underway. However, these wet and humid conditions that follow a flood event are the ideal environments for bacterial diseases to thrive posing a risk to yourself as well as staff who are assisting with clean up.
In previous floods the rates of Leptospirosis, Melioidosis and mosquito borne viruses (Ross River, Barmah Forest virus etc) increase. Incubation periods are 5-15 days for Leptospirosis, 1-21 days for melioidosis and 2-15 for mosquito borne viruses although symptoms can present up to 30 days after.
Symptoms include:
Leptospirosis – flu like symptoms, red eyes, stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhoea, cough, yellowing of skin and eyes, skin rash
Melioidosis – Fever, pain/swelling, chest pain, headache, stomach pain, joint pain, all depending on where the infection is present
Mosquito Borne Virus - headache, fever, joint or muscle pain, skin rash, fatigue and nausea
Minimising your risk:
Cover cuts and abrasions,
Wear gloves where possible and wash hands thoroughly before eating, drinking and/or smoking
Shower thoroughly after contacting contaminated floodwaters, soil and mud
Application of insect repellent, especially dawn & dusk; wearing loose, light coloured clothing
Use respiratory protection (P2 or higher) if possible to minimise melioidosis infection
Various Government and Non-government assistance is available and the list continues to grow for those who are affected by the floodwaters.
Government:
Disaster recovery payment - $1000 per person, $400 per child under 16 for eligible LGA’s
Emergency hardship assistance grants - $180 per person, $900 for families of 5+ persons
Extraordinary Disaster Assistance Recovery Grants - $75,000 for flood affected producers
Disaster assistance loans – Up to $250,000 for 10 years
Not for profit:
Rural aid – financial aid, fodder, farm army and counselling
Lions NEED4FEED – assistance with emergency fodder
Drought Angels – financial support and farm assistance
BlazeAid – resurrecting fences and clean up
Please feel free to contact with the team at eastAUSmilk on 07 3236 2955 or Jade on 0437 923 398 if you need any assistance with application forms, resources and/or want to register for BlazeAid to come to your property to help with fencing.
Jade Chan – Project Officer eastAUSmilk
Mandatory Dairy Code needs further changes over coming 12 months
The Federal Department of Agriculture has said that the Mandatory Dairy Code is "working as intended" in its first mandated review of the Dairy Code. Surely the question is whether this is good enough.
We do not oppose the suggested recommendations within the report. Indeed we welcome them and we call upon the Federal Government to implement them immediately.
Yet the report also states that, in referring to the ACCC review of the dairy industry that there is 'market failure'. When will this be addressed? Farmgate prices might be good now but for how long?
Dairy farmers need the Code to be more than "working as intended". Dairy farmers want a Code that continues to adapt to its environment and ensures that is able to be enhanced to grow with the dairy industry over time.
This is what we need the Code to be - a mechanism that enables dairy farmers to engage with their processors to ensure a strong and transparent farmgate price. We want an Australian dairy industry that will grow not stagnate.
To do this we need dairy stakeholder support, we need government initiatives and above all, we need dairy farmers and processors to work constructively together so that the Code can continue to be more than "working as intended".
The report, based upon submissions and consultation that occurred over the past 12 months, has shown that government and dairy industry players can work constructively as we guide the Code to new levels of accountability and dairy growth. This needs to continue and the Department's dairy consultative group needs to be reconvened and that positive engagement continued.
This will ensure that our messages are heard and where they can, acted upon in a timely manner and in the best interests of dairy farmers.
Having said this, there is a third player in the supply chain that seems to be ignored. Supermarkets and retailers should no longer play a role outside the operations of the Code.
Dairy is quite different to other agricultural commodity groups and the Code could provide greater certainty for dairy farmers and processors within the dairy value-chain, especially if the Code is extended to include their interactions with supermarkets. The protections afforded to fresh food farmers within the Food and Grocery Code are not providing the safeguards needed.
It is about looking at what works and finding ways for a constructive way forward. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. Examples and precedents lay in Codes already in existence and operation, especially clauses within the Franchising and Sugar Codes.
Members of eastAUSmilk are here ready for the challenge. All those in government and elsewhere need to do is call upon us.
Shaughn Morgan – Co CEO eastAUSmilk
Let’s set our own future
On December 1, 2021, eastAUSmilk began with the merging of QDO and Dairy Connect Farmers group. It is a new concept that allows a fresh start and a chance to do things a little differently. While we have a strong presence and long history in both QLD and NSW it's time to have a good look at what we do well, and what we can do better.
One of the important tasks that eastAUSmilk will need to complete over the coming months is to develop a strategic plan. This may sound a bit boring, but it is actually important for our company and our members. A strategic plan will identify why we exist and what we want to achieve for our members. It's a chance for the board, the company and members to identify issues we need to address and then prioritise.
This is not something that the board and staff of eastAUSmilk can do alone. We need the assistance and insight from our members, and our potential members, on what direction we should take.
Over the past 5 years there has been a strong focus on retail pricing given $1/L milk. Both QDO and Dairy Connect that make up eastAUSmilk played a central role in removing $1/L milk and now all milk is at least $1.30/L. The price is now moving up, which is sensible given increases in costs of production, without the anchor of a fixed retail price. Moving forward, we need to decide what else to focus our attention on in the next few years.
We will undertake an extensive consultation process with our members and potential members. We will listen to what our farmers think we should do and we will ensure that these views are properly taken into account. We will not ignore what farmers tell us but embrace your feedback.
Member meetings will occur across QLD and NSW during March and April. I strongly encourage all interested dairy farmers to attend and have their say. Dairy farmers will be notified about the details of proposed meetings in March.
Yes you have been asked for feedback many times by many in the dairy industry and I too feel that we have not always been listened to. This is a chance to be heard by a growing organisation that values your opinions.
Please contact your eastAUSmilk directors or staff if you would like to know more.
Matthew Trace– President eastAUSmilk
