Australia's shrinking dairy industry continues to wither as milk is trucked across the country
Dairy lovers looking to buy local should check the label next time they take the cap off a bottle of milk.
The exodus from the industry has resulted in dairy processors trucking fresh drinking milk thousands of kilometres across the country to meet increased demand.
"It is very sad when people that love dairy farming have to cease because of the business circumstance," said dairy farmer and president of advocacy group eastAUSmilk Matthew Trace.
"Even though they love it, and people still want the product."
Mr Trace says demand is not the issue, but supply is a problem in Queensland.
"We're basically at a 50 per cent deficit, so about half of what's consumed," Mr Trace said.
"There is a lot of milk not far over the border in New South Wales, but there's also a significant amount coming all the way up from Victoria."
Changing industry
Since 1980, Dairy Australia estimates the number of dairy farms declined from 21,989 to 4,163, but the average herd size grew from 93 to 305 cows.
The trend is towards fewer farms, larger herds, and increased production.
Supplementary feeding and improved breeding have more than doubled the average dairy cow's milk supply from 2,900 litres in 1980/'81 to 6,164 litres in 2022/'23.
Victoria leads Australia's milk production with 2,774 registered dairy farms, compared to 466 in New South Wales, 351 in Tasmania, 278 in Queensland, 182 in South Australia, and 112 in Western Australia.
Since 2006/'07 Dairy Australia estimates the number of registered dairy farms dropped by 62.13 per cent in Queensland, 49.57 per cent in New South Wales, 49.55 per cent in Western Australia, 48.67 per cent in Victoria, and 26.11 per cent in Tasmania.
In the same period, Australia's milk production only reduced from 9,583 million litres to 8,129 million litres.
Johanna Marie and Jennifer Nichols, ABC News, 4 December 2023.
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Queensland's Radel dairy farming family to leave industry after 117 years
After 117 proud years of dairying, and four years bottling their milk under their own popular Central Queensland Dairy Fresh brand, the Radel family has made the hardest of decisions, to exit the shrinking industry.
"It is a very emotional thing, these cows are like family. The reality is you spend more time with these cows than you do with a lot of even your best friends," he said.
The independent Cooloola Milk processing plant had been bottling Robbie's milk at Dagun, near Gympie, but the factory's owner is planning to retire and has put it and the surrounding land up for sale.
Mr Radel's approaches to other dairy processors failed to secure a viable deal.
He was upset that despite the fact Lactalis (Parmalat) trucks drive right past his Coalstoun Lakes farm in the North Burnett, the French-owned company refused his offer to supply them with milk in a market where demand far outstrips supply.
They share a rocky past — Mr Radel has publicly blamed poor prices from Lactalis for the bank "forcing" them to sell their much larger Biggenden-based dairy.
"I spoke with their [Lactalis] field officer who said, 'Oh yes, that sounds good, yes, the truck goes past, send me some of your test results from the quality of the milk and the volumes,'" Mr Radel said.
"And before I even had a chance to do all that I received a text message from her just saying I've spoken with management, and they're not prepared to take you on as a supplier.”
"They drive literally past my gate but would rather drive to Victoria and pick up milk to bring into the Queensland market than pick up someone who has got 117 years of supplying high-quality milk."
After declining to comment this morning, a Lactalis spokesperson provided a written response this afternoon.
"We were one of many dairy processors that the farmer approached, and we are deeply saddened to hear that the farmer is now closing their dairy farm," the statement read.
"At the time that the enquiry was made to Lactalis on 17 July 2023 we had sufficient milk to meet our requirements.
"Under the Dairy Code of Conduct we are obliged to publish our Milk Supply Agreements, by 2pm on 1 June and have the Milk Supply Agreements finalised with each of our farmers by the start of the new milk season commencing on 1 July."
Jennifer Nichols and Johanna Marie, ABC News, 23 November 2023.
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Maleny Dairies addresses animal welfare concerns with artificial insemination, adoption
It has long been a stain on the dairy industry — the slaughter of unwanted male "bobby" calves in their first week of life.
Key points:
Maleny Dairies program sexes semen before the herd is artificially inseminated
Practice ensures majority of calves are born female
The home farm is trialling Ceres Tags to monitor animal movements
Maleny Dairies, an independent dairy processor on the Sunshine Coast, says it is addressing those concerns on its home farm.
The family-owned business has celebrated the arrival of its first female calf born from a program that sexes semen before the herd is artificially inseminated to ensure the majority of calves are born female.
Bobby calves welcome tourists on farm visits to the factory and there is a waiting list for an adoption program.
Owner Ross Hopper said he was asked lots of questions about what happened to male calves.
"We've had activists ring us up and we just encourage them to come on a tour and we'll answer all your questions," he said.
He said the dairy had nothing to hide.
"We have bobby calves as our tour calves and then when they are getting a bit too old and boisterous and too rough on the tourists here, we have got an adoption program," he said.
"We sell them on and people use them as their pet lawn mowers."
The dairy has also tagged 10 cows with GPS trackers in a six-month trial with Brisbane-based agtech company Ceres Tag.
Solar-powered ear tags weighing 35 grams communicate directly with satellites to monitor activity levels, temperature and if the animal is being attacked, stolen or behaving abnormally.
Maleny Dairies chief executive Stephen Tait said big retailers such as Coles and Woolworths wanted primary producers to be more transparent and to have more responsible management of their herds.
"With Ceres Tag we can use technology and data to prove how well we run our herd and our business," Mr Tait said.
Improving traceability
At $US3,000 for 10 tags the price is high.
But Ceres Tag general manager of projects Greg Campbell said the cost would come down and the tags provided proof of provenance to producers' customers.
"If it is reduced stock theft, through carbon accounting or through better identifying sick animals, all of those things add up to savings," Mr Campbell said.
Industry in decline
Savings are important as challenging times continue for the dairy industry.
Just 53 per cent of 573.8 million litres of fresh milk sold in Queensland last year was produced in the state.
The rest was trucked up from southern states where the cost of production is lower.
The number of dairy farms in the state has shrunk from 1,500 to fewer than 280 since deregulation in 2000.
The average price paid to farmers in Queensland and northern New South Wales last year was 71 cents per litre.
Co-chief executive of farmer advocacy group eastAUSmilk, Eric Danzi, said farmers had continued to exit the industry and record prices were now being offered for fresh milk, with competition fierce for supply.
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Uncharted territory
Mr Danzi said Maleny Dairies, Lactalis and Bega were currently offering an average of 86 cents per litre while Norco was offering 84 cents per litre.
"It is a reflection of the massive shortage of milk but also the high escalation in input costs for fertiliser, fuel and chemicals," Mr Danzi said.
"Realistically the price needs to go up by at least 15-20 cents per litre at the farmgate just to cover the farm cost increases."
Investing in the future
Ross and Sally Hopper have spent millions of dollars upgrading their factory.
Mr Hopper said Maleny Dairies' point of difference was supporting smaller family farms that would never receive bonuses from larger processors because their volumes were too small.
"Demand is high and we are positive about the future," Mr Hopper said.
"We don't want any more farmers to disappear, we've got to look after them.
"Once they're gone there are no new ones starting up."
Tough time for Cedar Pocket farmers with no time to stop to mourn
Barbara Gear hasn't had time to stop and grieve after police made the grim discovery of the body of 54-year-old motorcyclist Phillip Lambert on her dairy farm at Cedar Pocket near Gympie on Thursday.
Early on Wednesday morning, Mr Lambert was riding home from Gympie shopping centre, where he worked as a cleaner, when his motorbike hit a wall of water in torrential rain on a dark country road.
His body was recovered at about 11.30am on Thursday.
Records show an incredible 352 millimetres of rain fell at Cedar Pocket over five hours.
The floodwater swept away all of Barbara and Robert Gear's boundary fences, destroyed Granview Dairy's sorghum crop and scattered 400 head of cattle.
(Since we took Ms Gear's photograph on Thursday, her creek flats have flooded again.)
Cattle were forced to swim for their lives after they were caught in the dangerous weather event, the intensity of which hadn't been predicted.
While Ms Gear understandably did not want to discuss the loss of a valued member of her close-knit community, she did give insight into the most frightening flood she has ever witnessed.
In the exhausting hours since, she has worked tirelessly to re-erect smashed fences, helped dozens of emergency services workers who were combing their property, taken stranded workers back on the farm, and searched for her prized cows whose udders were painfully full, out in paddocks that were cut by debris-filled water.
Fences have to be fixed to stop cows getting on the road. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)
"We've collected all the girls from various paddocks. There were about 30 stuck up against the fence line that were swimming.
There were no fences whatsoever, they were actually up on the bitumen road trying to get away from the water," Ms Gear said.
"We've got most of them back. We've found three dead ones. One's in the top of a tree, one was swept under the highway culvert and she got stuck there so she obviously drowned. For the amount of cows that we have just finding three is quite good."
In the middle of the night her worker, James May, was driving his vehicle from side to side on Tin Can Bay Road, trying to herd cows that were dangerously standing in the middle of the main thoroughfare.
"The police turned up. They must have thought I was an idiot hooning, but they eventually pulled up behind me and had their lights on helping me get them off the road," Mr May said.
Next door, the flood triggered strong emotions for Geoff Pearce who only last month faced the same daunting clean-up after a terrifying flood on his other farm at Tansey.
"It's a little bit close to home for me this one, it's quite sad. It's a big effort, all the fence rebuilding and helping neighbours with stock replacement," Mr Pearce said.
"It's a big job but that's what people on the land do. They help each other out and all our neighbours here have been great. Emergency services have been great."
He has recovered three of his six cattle that were swept away. But the fences he fixed with friends, have been flooded again.
The biggest fall was at nearby Mount Wolvi on Tuesday night, where 425mm of rain fell overnight; 140 millimetres of that in just one hour.
The rain poured off the mountain down to the flats, flooding Alba aquaculture farm and owners Bambi and Andrew Gosbell's second dwelling.
"Water basically just poured through the house, so it just destroyed the carpets and all the furniture and everything. It ran through that house like like a torrent," Mr Gosbell said.
"It was just literally like something you just see out of the movies. It was torrential … It's taken out all the fencing on the boundary to the forestry and it's taken out between our neighbours so we've lost a fair bit of fencing as well."
The couple's main dam overflowed, but luckily the farm's crayfish ponds were undamaged and the sheep made their way to higher ground.
Several kilometres away Jason Lewis lost precious topsoil at his Cooloola Berries farm that was primed and ready to plant this year's strawberry runners.
"We've got neighbours missing cattle and sheep, and heaps and heaps of fences down, lots of farm equipment washed away, trucks have been in water," Mr Lewis said.
Water ran through their back shed on Wednesday, and on Friday swamped their farm cafe.
Australian Macadamia Society chief executive Jolyon Burnett said growers had been expecting a bumper crop and described the flooding as "heartbreaking".
Fields have flooded across south east Queensland and northern New South Wales and orchard floors have been damaged.
At Lindols Macadamias outside Gympie, water flowed through a shed and a large section of orchard.
Owner, Sandra Lindstrom said the true impact of the flood will not be known for months.
"Twenty or so young trees snapped off, but what often takes them out is a root rot/fungus. They were about 3 metres underwater on Wednesday," Ms Lindstrom said.
Her orchard has since been flooded again, by the storm system sitting over the region.
Source: Jennifer Nichols and David Barnott-Clement, ABC Rural 25 February 2022
Far from the COVID crowd, farms are offering a new kind of camping for travellers looking to get away
As pandemic-weary campers leave cities in droves, searching for serenity and space in the bush, farmers are signing up as hosts for an extra source of income.
In the grips of a terrible drought that forced them to sell 40 prime milkers to the meatworks, dairy farmer Libby Rough listed with Youcamp to help pay for groceries and school costs.
"We didn't get a milk cheque for three months and friends had come and said, 'You should put this [farm] on a booking system'," Ms Rough said.
They opened Hidden Pocket, named for its private position on the Mary River at Moy Pocket near Kenilworth in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.
Just four camping sites have helped turn the farm's fortunes around, earning the family more than $50,000 since American-owned Hipcamp bought out Youcamp in August 2020.
Hidden Pocket is booked out months in advance and has twice been nominated for awards.
"We pride ourselves on having a campground where thousands of people are not camping on top of each other," Ms Rough said.
"We provide fire pits, we provide kayaks — although I did lose six in the floods — we also provide tyre tubes and so people come here, and they get to relax.
"Occasionally they might get [phone] reception."
What is Hipcamp?
Since 2019 the number of people using the camping platform has increased by 450 per cent.
"Hipcamp is essentially a marketplace where we connect landowners, farmers, and their land with people who really want an outdoor experience ... campers, glampers, caravan people," Hipcamp general manager James Ho said.
"Ironically, for us, I think we've overall been a net beneficiary of the pandemic; our user base has almost tripled in the last 12 months alone.
"In fact, we've seen this past summer, our biggest summer holiday on the record. Our host base has more than doubled in the last 12 months as well."
Crucial infrastructure
For the Rough family, the money has paid for infrastructure that they otherwise could not have afforded, including farm fencing and fixing the road that milk tankers use to access their dairy.
"Those kind of jobs are really essential to our business because you can't have a milk truck driver saying I'm not coming in because the road's not good enough," Ms Rough said.
When a group of guests, who are required to be fully contained, used the bush as a toilet — Hipcamp followed up on her complaint and charged the campers $300 for the clean-up.
"The [other] reason why we went through Hipcamp is because of insurance; you would be stupid to open your property up to camping without insurance."
An unexpected bonus has been the friendships they have made with return visitors.
"It's been a really, really good thing because we don't get a social life and sometimes Pete will come down and talk to them as well. He says he's not into it, he says [that] it's my thing — but I've caught him talking to people. Anyone who wants to talk about cows," she said.
Room to grow
The Queensland Farmers' Federation (QFF) has released a discussion paper titled Unlocking Queensland's agritourism potential.
It estimated agritourism could be worth up to $4.5 billion a year to the state by 2030 but found the lack of consistent local government planning guidelines were a barrier to farmers wanting to diversify their businesses.
In an age where fewer city dwellers have country cousins, the connections agritourism builds are important.
Source: Lucy Cooper & Jennifer Nichols, ABC Rural, 30 January 2022