How Oxley Island dairy farmers Pat and Em Neal operate a successful pasture-based system
High-quality soil, reliable annual rainfall and good management make for a successful pasture-based dairy on the NSW Mid North Coast.
Pat and Em Neal own and operate Willaree Dairy, more than 200 hectares, at Oxley Island in the Manning Valley.
Pat is a fifth-generation dairy farmer, and Em hails from a strong dairy farming family.
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Source: Hayley Warden, 2 May 2023
Up to 450mm of rain falls in the Illawarra and Shoalhaven region, devastating farmers
Shoalhaven dairy farmers are again battling the elements as yet another east coast low dumps up to 450 millimetres of rain in four days.
Wogamia's Daniel Cochrane is currently milking 450 cows.
He says milk production is down by approximately 20 per cent.
Between 350-380mm of rain has fallen on the property located on the Shoalhaven River since the skies broke open on Friday.
"For us farmers here in the Shoalhaven, it's the second time in three months that we've had water up over the farms, and the river is still rising now," he said.
"Many farms had just dried out enough to sow winter and spring feed, and now it's all under water."
Daniel said the weather was taking a toll on farmers' mental health.
"I'm not sure how much more some people will be able to take," he said.
"It's not necessarily financially, but mentally."
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Nowra received 366mm, Kangaroo Valley 454mm, Robertson 562mm, Albion Park 477mm, Moss Vale 333mm and Kiama 429mm in the seven days to Wednesday, July 6.
While further north, Camden received 390mm.
Major flooding occurred along the Upper Nepean River at Menangle Bridge, which peaked at 16.61 metres on Sunday morning.
Major flooding is occurring along the Hawkesbury River at North Richmond where river levels peaked at 14.18m early Monday morning, followed by a second peak of 14.19m on Monday evening.
The Upper Nepean River at Menangle Bridge peaked at 16.61 metres around 07:50 am Sunday with major flooding.
The Hawkesbury River at North Richmond (WPS) peaked at 14.18 metres around 03:15 am Monday. Renewed rises were observed overnight Monday with a second peak of 14.19 metres around midnight Monday.
Pyree's Tracey Russell described the situation as heartbreaking.
"We worked so hard to get the seed in the ground, and now it is all under water again," she said.
"What little we did have has flown out the window."
Tracey will be forced to run nearly 1000 cows on just 5 hectares of land.
"Our cows spent that time here for the last three months following the last flood," she said.
"It's devastating. The cows ended up getting so sick with mastitis and sore feet, and they had nowhere to lay down. That was the biggest problem.
"They are freezing; they are really suffering. We've just got to keep the feed up to them; that's all we can do.
"I don't know what we are going to do this time.
"We have got some woodchip in to build a mound for them to be able to lay down."
Jim Hindmarsh & Son Nowra manager Jim Hindmarsh said a cattle supply shortage was inevitable.
"Last week, there was a severe drop in the restocker and feedlot markets, the meat market held its ground, but due to the wet weather, the supply has been taken out of the game," he said.
"There's going to be a shortage overall going to the processors."
Mr Hindmarsh had hoped the rain would steady on Monday, but it had not abated.
"This will have a major impact on farmers; with 300mm of rain, people won't be able to move cattle," he said.
"Thankfully, they were able to clear off cattle in the last few weeks before the rain hit."
Mr Hindmarsh was forced to call off Camden's Tuesday sale.
"The flood water is at the highest level since we have been operating there for 12 years, and a lot of people who have worked there much longer than that have said it was the highest they had ever seen," he said.
Milk processors roll out 2022/23 opening prices
While opening milk offers for the 2022/23 season have been solid, they still fall short of what is needed to help the industry's economic recovery, according to dairy farmer advocacy groups.
While early opening milk price announcements have set new records, soaring input costs, skilled labour shortages, and extreme weather conditions may prove too much for some dairy farmers who find themselves lured by exceptional land values or the relative simplicity of beef production.
The Dairy Mandatory Code of Conduct requires dairy processors to publish standard form milk supply agreements for the following financial year on their websites by June 1 at 2pm.
Minimum opening milk offers for the 2022/23 season, so far.
Milk Solids (MS)
Fonterra: $8.25/kgMS
Bulla: $8.30/kgMS
ADFC: Jul-Dec $8.40/kgMS, Jan-Jun $9.20, full year average payout $8.80/kgMS
Saputo: $8.50/kgMS
Lactalis: $8.80/kgMS (northern Victoria) and $8.65/kg/MS (western Victoria and Gippsland)
Beston: $8.75/kgMS
UDC: $8.50/kgMS
Goulburn Valley Creamery: $8.50/kgMS
DFMC: $10.96/kgMS (Far North Queensland); $11.21/kgMS (south-east Queensland); $10.71/kgMS (NSW); $8.64/kgMS (southern Victoria); $8.74/kgMS (northern Victoria); $8.87/kgMS (South Australia)
Cents a litre (c/L)
Norco: 83-85c/L
DFMC: 78.24c/L (Far North Queensland); 83.09c/L (south-east Queensland); 77.7c/L (NSW)
Gloucester, NSW, dairy farmer and eastAUSmilk vice-president Graham Forbes said while some of the price rises were substantial, they were not enough to cover input costs.
"Some input costs, such as fuel, have doubled, while fertiliser has increased by 250 per cent," he said.
"The challenges for farmers shortly will be input costs, the availability of products, rising interest rates, general inflation, and instability within the economy.
"Just last week, wheat hit $500 a tonne."
Mr Forbes milks a herd of 700-odd predominantly Holstein cows and supplies Norco.
He described it as "terrible" to see milk prices still at $1.30 a litre when they were the same price in 2011.
"No industry can sustain that,' he said.
"If we don't get the price up, the whole industry suffers.
"We've been pushing for a $2 a litre minimum price in supermarkets, which I don't think is unrealistic in today's world.
"Everything else has gone up in the supermarkets; nothing else has been held at a low price for so long."
Brian Cox, Meralyn Pastoral Co., Kerry, Queensland, supplies milk to Lactalis, South Brisbane.
The third-generation dairy farmer milks 120 Holstein and Holstein/Jersey cross cows.
"I think it is still early days, and I am hopeful that the price will increase as competition for milk increases,' he said.
Mr Cox said the Dairy Mandatory Code of Conduct had been positive for farmers and provided a sense of stability.
"I would like to think it rebalances the power between processors and farmers," he said.
"As farmers, we never knew what prices other companies were offering. Now the information is general knowledge.
"The Mandatory Code has been valuable because it gives us some certainty about our options."
Mr Cox spoke of the most significant challenges facing the dairy industry in the next 12-months.
"The weather has just been horrific, and we are not set up for this type of weather in Queensland or anywhere," he said.
"One Saturday night recently, I was walking around in the mud, getting rained on, and I thought, 'I don't know if we get paid enough for this'.
"I hope it will be recognised that there might be a milk shortage again this season."
Mr Cox believes more farmers may consider exiting the industry.
"For the last 12 to 18-months, it feels like dairy farmers have been exiting to beef," Mr Cox said.
"There's also a lot of competition for land at the moment.
"Speaking from a Queensland and northern NSW perspective, we are not seeing young farmers coming through.
"I'm in my 30s, and I could count other farmers the same age on the one hand, and I don't think there would be many, if any, in their 20s."
Soaring fertiliser, fuel and grain prices are also taking their toll on farm businesses.
"We have noticed that fertiliser has been going up for the last two to three years - all our inputs seem to be going the wrong way," Mr Cox said.
"We are choosing to weigh up if there are benefits to fertilising at the current prices.
"For the last five to10 years, we have constantly been seeking efficiencies to counter increasing costs and lagging milk price; yes, the price looks like it will move, but inflation and all our expenses seem to be moving faster.
"We're working on getting better and better, and we're running out of places to look for the cheap options.
"For many farmers, it won't matter what price they are offered for their milk, they could go to a dollar, and they're not interested.
"They have already decided they are exiting, so it is too little too late."
The latest Dairy Australia Situation and Outlook report has indicated that after successive seasons of recovering profitability, the net effect of rising fertiliser, fuel and grain costs on margins amid the conflict in Ukraine and ongoing COVID-19 disruptions is a crucial question as farmers and processors try to plan in a volatile market.
Dairy Australia's industry insights and analysis manager, John Droppert, said ongoing growth limitations and heightened margin risk are expected to offset good milk prices and favourable seasonal conditions, resulting in a comparatively flat milk pool totalling 8.6 billion litres nationally.
"The 2022/23 season will be marked by rising numbers throughout the supply chain - from production costs to farmgate prices, from commodity values to food expenditure," Mr Droppert said.
"Meanwhile, labour shortages remain a significant constraint, while high beef prices and soaring land values have enticed farmers and farmland away from dairy."