Singleton farmer Max Wake fights to build new dairy on floodplain
A Hunter Valley, NSW, dairy farmer says he has been told by the local council he cannot build a new dairy on his land as it is located on a floodplain.
Max Wake and his son Gavin were busy last week organising repairs to the centre pivots used to irrigate their property located on the Hunter River floodplain at Whittingham, NSW.
Standing on land where the Wake family hope to build a new multi-million dollar dairy and cow feed pad facility, last month's mud has swiftly been replaced by dust - the cycle of life on the land.
Despite the current dryness of the site selected for the family's proposed dairy infrastructure, Max Wake said had received a verbal rejection from Singleton Council's planning department that the development application (DA), submitted by Pittman Building Services, could not proceed as it is located on a floodplain.
Floodplain developments are currently front of mind for many councils following record flooding this year.
Singleton Council spokesperson said the council was in receipt of a DA for an upgrade of an existing dairy shed at Whittingham.
"The proposal is located in a high hazard floodway as identified in council's flood mapping. Council is currently assessing the application. No determination has been made," the spokesperson said.
Mr Wake, who has been dairying on the property for 47 years, said the selected site was not impacted during the most recent flood in July.
"In fact in the second highest flood on this property since 1955, in June 2007, the water was only lapping at the bottom wire of this fence," he said pointing to the fence on the nearby paddock.
"We are prepared to build the site up a metre with fill, that will cost several hundred thousand dollars, to ensure the building is out of flood.
"I know at this stage it is just a verbal rejection, but I hope council would be prepared to take a site visit and discuss the proposal with us."
Mr Wake said two years ago council approved a hayshed adjacent to the dairy infrastructure site.
This shed was not impacted by the two floods this year and Mr Wake said why take a different approach now when it was fine to build on this section of the floodplain in 2020.
Gavin Wake said the family wanted to spend in the vicinity of $4 million to improve the farm's efficiency and productivity, create a better work environment for workers and improve cow comfort.
"This farm supports four families, is the major supplier to the Hunter Belle brand of milk, cheese and other dairy products and we want to continue to grow the business in a changing environment," he said.
"Our existing dairy is well and truly past its used-by date with the new dairy capable of handling 250 cows/hour where we are currently only milking 80 cows/hour in the existing dairy.
"We have to build this infrastructure to survive."
The Wake family's existing herringbone dairy is now the oldest one still operating in the Hunter.
Keeping with the family tradition of adopting emerging technologies, they wish to now build a new facility, which Max Wake said would lift the herd's milk production from 23 litres/cow/day to 30litres/cow/day.
"That's a huge difference in terms of productivity," he said.
Gavin said the feed pad, where the milking herd would be housed, would allow the business to use water far more efficiently as they would opt to grow corn rather than rely on pastures to feed the milking herd.
"With the two centre pivots it just makes economic and environmental sense to grow corn silage and feed that to the cows. We have to make the most of that water and this management system is proven to do that," he said.
At the heart of their operation is their nationally acclaimed Benleigh Brown Swiss stud.
Source: Louise Nichols, Farmonline National, 8 December 2022
Littleproud, Collins fail to outline vision for Australian dairy
Dairy leaders are calling for federal policy-setters to outline their vision for the sector, but none have been forthcoming.
Australia’s dairy industry has been overlooked by the two politicians aiming to set the nation’s agricultural agenda, as the 2022 election campaign enters the final fortnight.
Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud and opposition agriculture spokeswoman Julie Collins were asked by The Weekly Times to outline their plans for dairy over the next three years. Both failed to respond.
United Dairyfarmers of Victoria vice president Mark Billing said the lack of vision from Canberra over dairy was “just not good enough”.
“There was a lot of goodwill for dairy through the past two years of Covid. We kept the milk flowing from the farm to the factory to the supermarket, despite all the challenges,” he said.
“Australians really took notice of the value of not just dairy, but agriculture as a whole and take these things less for granted than perhaps they once did.”
Mr Billing identified increased input costs and labour shortages as key concerns for the sector, which will necessitate higher retail prices.
He said biosecurity and support for flooded farms in northern NSW were also simple funding announcements were a federal government can make a real difference.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison inspected Norco’s Lismore factory shortly after the northern NSW floods in March but follow up funding is yet to be announced by the PM nor Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.
“We see a lot of attention with bushfires but the floods have really hit a lot of farmers hard. They shouldn’t be forgotten about just because they’re out of the news,” Mr Billing said.
Mr Littleproud has previously promoted the benefits of the mandatory dairy code of conduct but offered little new Coalition policy for the sector, which has faced more than a quarter of its farmers leave the sector in the past five years.
Ms Collins was asked last month whether Labor planned to re-regulate the dairy industry.
“We’ve been talking to dairy farmers, and we’ll be making announcements about what we want to do in the coming weeks.” Ms Collins told ABC radio in early April.
No announcement has occurred in the past six weeks since the interview.
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.
Dairies impacted by heavy rainfall and flooding
Recovery and repairs are underway for the Gympie, Wide-Bay and Burnett regions after being affected by ex-tropical cyclone Seth last week. Floodwaters that impacted the region affected the accessibility of highways, bridges, and creek crossings. This caused significant logistical issues for feed trucks, milk tankers and worker accessibility to farms.
Dairy farms around the region were impacted with varying severity with farm roads washed away, irrigation systems damaged and fences taken down or caught with debris. Flood water also affected some of our hay and crop producing farmers with paddocks inundated and crops waterlogged. A full damage report is yet to be compiled as assessments and recovery is still underway.
The impacts of a weather event such as this will continue to be experienced by our farmers well after the flood water recedes with ongoing cell count or mastitis issues caused from the combination of compromised cow health and change in environmental conditions.
Flood waters can also have a long-term impact on the farm through weed seed and nutrient deposits where floodwaters have sat as well as the removal of nutrients from runoff and erosion. This may have an impact on the short- and long- term soil health, influencing soil carbon, calcium, and magnesium ratios and available phosphorous.
More information and resources on long-term flood impacts can be found on Growcom’s Agrilearn website under the NDRP: Floods program.
Category B assistance has been activated and is available to flood affected famers in this region, which entitle farmers within the declared disaster areas to fodder freight subsidies and concessional loans to ensure business continuity.
Grants jointly funded by the Commonwealth and Queensland Government have also been made available. Funding of up to $50,000 for primary producers, small businesses and not-for-profit to assist with the repairs and recovery efforts from the floods.
To find out more information about financial assistance, funding eligibility or to update us on flood damage please feel free to contact us.
Jade Chan, Project Officer eastAUSmilk