Confidence remains in dairy goat industry despite lack of representation
After being dropped by the major milk processor they were supplying, Shannan and Marcus Jessen were facing an uncertain future.
The dairy goat farmers were in the process of taking over the family farm from Marcus's parents Dan and Peggy Jessen.
They milk about 2,000 goats, producing 1,000 litres of raw milk a day at their farm in Clifton, southern Queensland. But in February this year, they got the news their processor was stopping its goat milk line.
Despite the setback, the couple remain positive for the future of their own farm and the wider dairy goat industry.
They now supply a cheese and yoghurt manufacturer and have created their own line of freeze-dried raw milk powder.
"We had to really kick it into gear, find some fresh bulk markets, which we did straight away," Shannan Jessen said.
Niche but longstanding
Dairy goats have been a part of Australia's history since goats were brought on the First Fleet as a source of meat and milk.
An industry eventually formed, and it now supplies milk, cheese, and even infant formula to domestic and overseas markets.
But despite its long history, the industry never organised and it has been facing an uphill battle for recognition.
In Australia, dairy industry organisations represent the dairy cow industry.
"There's nothing really for dairy goats and there are quite a lot of dairy goats in Australia," Ms Jessen said.
Shannan Jessen is also the federal export officer of the Dairy Goat Society of Australia, a breed society.
It maintains the stud registration system, keeping records of its members, but it is not mandatory to be a member if you breed dairy goats and it does not represent or lobby for the industry.
Research and development
It is not known exactly how many dairy goats there are in Australia, data is limited, and the federal agriculture department does not keep specific data on dairy goats.
The data kept on goats is for the goat meat sector as it has been the beneficiary of research and development from Meat and Livestock Australia.
A report was commissioned in 2016 by Agrifutures, an agricultural research and development corporation to get a sense of the size of the dairy goat industry.
The report only examined the 68 dairy goat farms specifically licensed to make food products and not all farms took part in the survey.
According to the report, the national commercial milking herd is estimated to be more than 46,000 goats producing more than 16.8 million litres of milk annually.
In comparison, Dairy Australia reports the dairy cow industry has about 5,800 farms registered with more than 1.5 million dairy cows.
The Agrifutures report described the industry as "fragmented" and said it would need to determine what the return on that investment of more research would be before progressing further.
It is not known whether further economic analysis was done.
Shannan Jessen said, in Australia, there were only around six to eight farms with large milking herds, which made it hard to organise as an industry.
"When you've got only say four companies probably owning those farms, it's very difficult to create a governing body," she said.
Genetic recognition
Even without formal organisation, Ms Jessen said Australian dairy goat genetics were sought after worldwide, with Indonesia one of the biggest markets.
Kylie Hopkins and her partner Leo started with dairy goats about 15 years ago at their home on the outskirts of Rockhampton in central Queensland.
Like many breeders, they did not aspire to be commercial dairy farmers.
Instead, their focus was to just breed a high-quality herd of Anglo Nubians.
"We decided that we weren't going to breed goats that weren't productive," Ms Hopkins said.
Since day one, the couple has tested their milk and recorded the details of the quality of milk and the quantity each doe produced.
"That is how we got to having probably the quality of animals we have now," she said.
The couple only has a small operation — milking up to 20 goats in a year — but even a small herd can produce a lot of milk.
Ms Hopkins did not want to produce food products and instead used the milk to feed to pigs for milk-fed pork as well as making soap.
She used social media to teach others about dairy goat husbandry.
"If we can help other people, I think we're fulfilling some type of civic duty," she said.
Despite the processor setback and the lack of formal organisation within the industry, Ms Jessen was confident in the future of the sector.
"There are a lot of farmers out there wanting to do products themselves, which I think is absolutely amazing," she said.
"I think it does have a big future."
Credit - Megan Hughes and Brandon Long, ABC News, 20 October 2024
Queensland dairy farm numbers drop 90pc in four decades
Queensland has lost a staggering 90 per cent of its dairy farms in four decades, going from 3052 in 1980 to 327 in 2020.
That's according to recent Dairy Australia figures, but some in the industry say the number is now closer to 270.
Deregulation in 2000 and the supermarket milk price wars from 2011 are often blamed as the main reasons for farmers exiting the industry or encouraging the shift to larger, more intensive farming systems with greater economies of scale.
Even with the farm gate milk price set to jump significantly in the new financial year, some farmers say the family dairy farm will continue to struggle.
Dairy desert
At Tabooba, south of Beaudesert, Anthony Sellars is the last dairy farmer standing in his area.
"One just up the road shut down two months ago. I'm the only one left on this road now," Mr Sellars said.
Mr Sellars said the supermarket milk wars and rising fertiliser, grain, diesel and herbicide costs had put pressure on dairy farms, shrinking profit margins.
"The government needs to pull the supermarkets in line because they get away with anything they want. They dictate the price that the processors sell milk on," Mr Sellars said.
"It may be getting better, but I don't think so. We are getting a bit of a price rise in July - probably around eight to 10 cents a litre to take it to 83c, but with all the costs that we've incurred lately, we really need a 20c/L pay rise."
Down the road at Christmas Creek, Michael Cahill made the difficult decision to give up dairying in 2017 due to the milk wars and sustaining a serious head injury.
In 2010, he was getting about 58c/L, but when the price fell to 53c/L, it was the last straw.
He sold his family's 300 dairy cows and leased out part of their property and the milking shed, which included five automated milking robots.
"Everything got a bit too hard for me, so I gave up. I sold the cows to someone and they leased the dairy off me. That didn't work out too well, so the dairy's closed now," Mr Cahill said.
"I had been doing a bit of work off-farm milking cows for other people. I'm not doing anything much at the moment.
"It's hard. It's something I've done most of my life and it's hard not to be in it."
Mr Cahill is still looking to sell the milking machines and other equipment, but with not many Queenslanders looking to invest, they will probably go to a southern operation.
He's also still considering leasing the farm, but being a little 'gun shy' from his last experience, it would have to be to the right person.
Despite all the hardships, the farmer still thinks the industry has a bright future.
"It'd be nice to see some young people get back into the industry. It is a good industry to be in."
History preserved at Murgon
As more family dairies sell up or move to more automation, Cynthia Hatchett preserves Queensland's rich dairy history as president of the Queensland Dairy and Heritage Museum at Murgon, north of Kingaroy.
With travel opening up, the museum has been getting up to three busloads of adults and school children a week to soak up the history.
One of Mrs Hatchett's favourite things to do is put on a butter making demonstration - a crowd favourite.
"You'd be surprised by the comments we get. The older generation say, 'I did that before I went to school' or different things like that. It's really lovely to listen to them," Mrs Hatchett said.
The museum contains dairy memorabilia and machinery from across the region, including an old Lister cream separator.
"A number of people that have worked within the industry are very interested to still have a look at it," she said.
"It's surprising the number of men who say, 'Oh, that was my job. I used to have to do that'."
While her parents were not dairy farmers, she fondly remembers visiting farms owned by her aunties and uncles and helping. Her husband Rodney, however, did grow up on a dairy.
"Rodney's mother used to say, 'If the crop failed, you could always rely on your cream check to buy the groceries'," she said.
"I think every farm had some cows and milked cows, and had some pigs and different things, but not anymore. That's the way it is, isn't it? They don't seem to like the little man anymore."
There's still hope for the industry
Harrisville dairy farmer Paul Roderick said there were several factors pushing farmers out, including geography and family matters.
"I think there's outcomes for everyone, but the reality is, some farms are transitioning towards an exit because of all the headwinds and even succession planning and cost of land or alternative land uses," Mr Roderick said.
Mr Roderick said even if prices went into 'the early 80s', it wasn't a guarantee for success.
"We're going to see increased milk prices, but the reality is a lot, if not all of it, will be eaten up with higher grain prices and higher costs with the wet weather," he said.
"While I think there's a really good opportunity with the market, you've got to have a system and you've got to have the resources to be able to run a fairly large enterprise and that requires either family labour or also some employed labour, which is another challenge.
"Dairy has always been pretty good to us and we see a strong future in it but we probably realise to milk the amount of cows on our farm, we probably need to look at better housing and that's going to cost a bit of money but we reckon we can do a better job and iron out some of the seasonal bumps."
Mr Roderick said for the industry to be sustainable for everyone, the cost of production needed to be reflected at the supermarket predominantly.
"There's been 10 years of inertia with the price and I guess we're going to have to see rapidly increasing prices to make up for it, and it's hard for those retailers because they don't like doing that."
However, Mr Roderick, who is also a director at Dairy Australia, said there was hope on the horizon.
"If we get input prices under control and you've got your labour under control, there's a real opportunity for people to grow production with reduced costs and a really good milk price," he said.
"It's not all negative. I'm looking towards the 2023-24 year as the year that maybe dairy can potentially make some good money and maybe even see some new interest or new investment."
Organic fertilizer in the form of cow manure builds soil health, cuts inputs at dairy farm
Having an 800-tonne stockpile of manure couldn't have come at a better time for a dairy duo on the Darling Downs.
Brenden and Kait Ballon at Hillcrest, Maclagan, decided to start building the pile of composted cow poo a year ago to improve soil health, but with some synthetic fertilisers reaching $1600 a tonne, it's a welcome coincidence.
"The main reason was to try to get a bit of carbon in the soil and a bit more fertility, but it will definitely save on our fertiliser costs for sure," Mr Ballon said.
While it won't provide the same high concentration of nutrients offered by inorganic options, the farmers said it would be ideal for their upcoming winter plant.
"I want to get this out into paddocks before we plant winter multi species forage crops," Mr Ballon said.
"I'll probably deep rip the soil, spread the solids with a manure spreader at about 20t/ha, and incorporate it with a disc."
Kait and Brenden Ballon are on a mission to improve soil health at their dairy farm.
The pair run 150 Holstein and Jersey cows and 100 Speckle Park cross Angus steers and heifers which feed on grass, forage crops and hay. Cash crops like sorghum and sunflower are also part of the business.
Traditionally, the farmers would collect the excrement from the feed pad, dairy, laneways and pens, scoop it into piles with a tractor, and spread it on their pasture.
However, moving to a bigger scale has allowed the waste to break down and become more biologically available.
"This is our first go at it. The only reason I haven't done it before is because I didn't have a big front end loader," Mr Ballon said.
"I started growing out straw and green hay that got a bit funky, 'lasange-d' it, as such, and as I was doing that, I made a brew of liquid soil microbe booster in a 1000L shuttle and sprayed it to get that stimulation going."
He also used the manure and urine wash out from the dairy as a biological stimulant.
Some parts of the pile are very decomposed and others are quite fresh, so blending it up is ideal.
Mr Ballon said they tried to limit buying inputs by recycling what they had on-farm, but they did use urea from time to time.
"We try to use as much non-synthetic fertiliser as we can, but there are some circumstances where I will use urea post-plant to spread on top," he said.
"I did a bit last year and I might even do a little bit this year, but if the prices are too stupid then I won't worry about it."
They also had 1000t of feedlot manure delivered to their second block last year, setting them up for months to come.
In the broadacre cropping market, Terra Firma Fertilisers agronomist Ruby Earsman, Beaudesert, said enquiries into their organic poultry manure fertilisers had increased significantly.
"We started seeing a big increase in interest last year due to the rising price of synthetics," Ms Earsman said.
"It's all pre-planting for winter cropping at the moment. You've got broadacre grain growers, and then, because there's money in beef as well, a lot of pasture growers who are applying it to their pastures."
Ms Earsman said many growers were interested in custom blends.
"We work with growers to create custom blends that deliver key essential and trace elements in a stable form," she said.
"We can put a bit of synthetic fertiliser in with our poultry manure base so you're getting certain nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus and then trace elements like zinc."
After receiving market feedback, the company has also introduced shorter pellets which suit airseeder applications.
"These biologically active pellets provide a more holistic approach to conventional farming as they replenish soil carbon, soil biology, and essential nutrients," Ms Earsman said.
Even major resellers are getting in on the manure action, with Nutrien Ag Solutions Goondiwindi buying 9000 tonnes of chicken manure from a Darling Downs poultry farm to meet customer demand.
It has already sold 5000 tonnes to a client keen to build up their soil carbon.
Dairy farm boosts milk production thanks to 20,000 trees
David Vonhoff says the shade provided by thousands of trees such as the tipuana is improving herd health.
A Darling Downs dairying family originally planted 20,000 trees on their property to address runoff and salinity issues, but now they're banking extra milk money as well.
David and Cheryl Vonhoff, who bought their farm at Brymaroo near Oakey more than two decades ago and planted the trees with the help of Landcare programs, are seeing an increase in milk production.
"The shade for the cows is probably worth $56,000 a year to us in cow comfort," Mr Vonhoff said.
"We worked out the other day that it was $1.40 per day per cow extra over 200 cows over 200 days."
The family farms 600ha, milking about 200 cows which produce more than one million litres of milk a year.
When they bought the property, the land was bare and there were only about 100 native trees left - a mix of mountain coolibah, grey box, river red gum and brigalow.
"It was just one big paddock and it was bare, overgrazed and flogged out. We had a two inch storm not long after we bought it and the water that skated off the hill was just unreal," Mr Vonhoff said.
"The water table just built up [on the flat] and it just turned into a swamp. The minute amounts of salt that was in that water stayed behind [with evaporation]."
After seeing the damage, they got to work, planting trees like Chinchilla white gum and tipuana, and grasses and legumes like buffel grass and leucaena.
They've since added lucerne, oats, vetch and multi species pasture across cultivation and rotational strip paddocks, which are assisted by dams and bores.
"Now, there'd be bugger all water running off here. It doesn't matter how heavy the rain is, because all this stuff is holding that water back," Mr Vonhoff said.
"If you can hold the water back, you've got that potential for that water to grow grass, and if you've got grass growing, you've got the potential to slow water down, so it's just a compounding thing."
The cattle feed from a trough in the night, then they go on to lab lab, get pushed through to grass lucerne strips, go on to water and sudangrass, back onto the lucerne strips, then home for water. Then at about 1pm they get access to the tipuana trees before milking time.
Cattle also graze on the tree leaves when they can reach them.
"When the cows come in here, it doesn't matter how luscious the grass is, they will pick all these leaves," he said.
"If you're desperate, you can lop [the out of reach leaves] off. Quite often I do some pruning around the place and throw that on the back of the four wheeler and take them up to the poddy calves - the poddys just love eating these leaves.
"I also utilise the Chinchilla white gum - the poddys just love eating the leaves off them. I get into trouble for doing it. Some seem to think I'm trying to turn the calves into koalas, but that doesn't worry me."
In addition to cow comfort, Mr Vonhoff is also seeing the environmental benefits from the wide-scale tree planting.
"It gives me a great thrill... it doesn't matter where you pull up, you hear birds talking, and that's got to be a benefit for insect control and all the rest of it," he said.
"I've been very much involved in land care, even before Landcare started, and I was always passionate about doing a lot of different things and going to a lot of different field days and presentations with regards to better land management.
"With Landcare there was a lot of opportunity, a lot of funding and a lot of help available. And if that was available, I was quite happy to take it up and take advantage of it, and the tree planting was a big part of that.
"Taking the trees away is what stuffed up the environment and caused that salinity down on the flat.
"That area down there is really highly productive land now. We cut hay off it and the milking cows graze on it quite often, where once it was just bare, salt affected land."
The Vonhoffs are now planning to plant more tipuana trees and leucaena.
Source: Brandon Long, Queensland Country Life, 23 March 2022