EPA ensures farmers meet effluent management responsibility
A dairy cow will dump up to 15 per cent of its daily manure output on the concrete yard of a dairy farm. It is then washed into effluent ponds. Managing this issue is important.
Biosolids - appropriately treated environmental sludge - and liquid effluent are potential resources that can be beneficially utilised in agriculture, helping to reduce emissions and fertiliser costs on farm.
According to Dairy Australia, 10-15pc of manure created by each cow on a daily basis is washed from dairy sheds into holding ponds, so reusing effluent can be a beneficial tool on farms.
Dispersing treated effluent across paddocks in instantly-usable liquid form or as a biosolid incorporated into the ground to act as a slow-release fertiliser helps save cuts costs of bought-in fertiliser.
The organic matter of effluent provides soil-conditioning properties and improves soil moisture and nutrient-holding capacity.
With a high nitrogen level, effluent provides productivity gains from pasture responses, which can result in increased production.
Using effluent as valuable source of nutrients
Hans van Wees, a sharefarmer at Tinamba in central Gippsland, Vic, utilises a purpose-redesigned 10-megalitre dam and irrigation system to manage effluent and utilise it for pasture growth.
Washdown water and effluent flow into a large solids trap at the side of the dairy. The trapped solids, when dry, are spread over nearby paddocks. The liquids are pumped into a dam, which is located about 300 metres from the dairy.
A stationary pump mixes the dam water to prevent slurrying.
When Mr van Wees wants to apply the effluent water to the paddocks, he opens a release valve into an irrigation channel connected to the dam.
The effluent water is then pumped into one or two other channels and diluted with irrigation water - at a rate of one part effluent to two parts irrigation water.
Mr van Wees can irrigate 120 hectares directly from this dam or shift the effluent to another dam further down the property and irrigate other paddocks from there.
The capacity of the effluent dam means there is no runoff or flow over into paddocks and consequently no effluent running off the farm in wet weather.
The backup dam further down the property provides double insurance.
Mr van Wees said the system returned fertiliser savings of 100kg/ha of single superphosphate over 120ha.
Jeanette Severs, Queensland Country Life, 22 November 2023.
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Australian dairy imports up 30 per cent in 2022-23
The Australian dairy industry has slipped from fourth to fifth place on the list of world dairy exporters.
Australia ranks behind New Zealand, the European Union, the United States and, for the first time this year, the United Kingdom.
Australian dairy exports were worth $3.7 billion in 2022-23, down from $3.8 billion the previous year, the Australian Dairy Industry In Focus 2023 report released on November 15 has revealed.
But Australia remained a significant exporter of dairy products, despite accounting for about 1 per cent of the world's estimated milk production, Dairy Australia industry analyst Isabel Dando said.
Australia's share of world exports fell from 4.8pc in 2021-22 to 4.7pc in 2022-23, while the UK's share grew from 4.5pc in 2021-22 to 5.3pc in 2022-23.
Australia now exports 30pc of the milk it produced, down from about 50pc two decades ago,
"The share of milk exported has contracted over time due to population growth and an overall decline in milk production," Ms Dando said.
The report also revealed that Australia's milk production and number of dairy farms continued to fall.
Carlene Dowie, Queensland Country Life, 15 November 2023.
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Queensland farmers hit by fire can get emergency help for fodder and fencing
Primary producers affected by recent fires are being encouraged to complete a survey detailing their losses and look at other assistance programs for help.
"We're trying to get a measure of what's been the impact on their fodder resource - that is how much feed have they lost - and fencing," she said.
AgForce contacted all its members this week stating the survey would help determine where support - urgent and long term - is required and where assistance is needed to support primary producers during this emergency and into the recovery.
To get help completing the survey, producers can contact the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) on 13 25 23.
An Individual Disaster Stricken Property (IDSP) declaration provides eligible primary producers with access to freight assistance up to $5000 to move emergency fodder for livestock to their home property; building, fencing materials, machinery and equipment; and animals purchased for restocking as a result of the disaster.
Queensland Country Life, 1 November 2023.
To read the full article, click here.
For further advice on bushfire preparation and safety, click here.
If you need any assistance with bushfire preparation or recovery please reach out to Lynelle on 07 3236 2955 or ea@eastausmilk.org.au
Bega bosses told farmers need good incentives to grow milk pool
Dairy processors have been told to stop moaning about Australia's high farmgate milk prices and shrinking production volumes and focus on ensuring farmers continue receiving the financial incentives they deserve to stay farming.
"The big costs involved in running a dairy farm are no different to running a dairy company - we need a fair return to stay in business," a frustrated farmer shareholder told Bega Group's annual general meeting this week.
While congratulating the national dairy and grocery business for rushing to adjust prices to as much as $9.55 a kilogram (milk solids) in the past two years as processors scrambled to secure enough volume, he was fearful recent price peaks may be short-lived.
Too often dairy farmers were simply paid "what's left" after shareholders and processing costs took their cut, he said.
Yet, even dividends to Bega's farmer suppliers, who represent a big portion of its shareholder base, "didn't cut the mustard".
He foresaw more farmers quitting dairying if processors were not more proactive and offered next generation producers a future with income and investment security.
Andrew Marshall, Queensland Country Life, 26 October 2023.
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Norco introduces phone mental health support for dairy farmers
Dairy co-operative Norco has introduced a dedicated telephone service for farmers struggling with their mental health.
The new service is in response to a spike in mental health issues among farmers following devastating floods earlier this year.
Queensland dairy farmer and Norco supplier Ross Blanch leads the new program.
Mr Blanch has farmed at Lower Mount Walker, Qld, for 50 years.
For the past 23 years he has donated his spare time to counselling and helping farmers in his local community, particularly after natural disasters.
Mr Blanch said he had spoken to more than 40 farmers this year and their mental wellness had declined since this time last year.
Farmers were still suffering from shock following the severity of the floods, resulting in self-isolation and reclusion from social events.
"I have noticed that many farmers are socially distancing themselves from their communities," he said.
"Where there was once over 100 farmers attending industry events, we're now lucky if there are 15.
"The new program with Norco works brilliantly because we know farmers are open to talking about their mental health if it is with a fellow farmer who understands and knows the daily struggles they go through.
"I just drop in for a chat and because I'm a farmer also, they tend to open up at the end of the conversation and their whole tone of voice changes."
Norco Milk supply manager Dr Mark Callow said the 2022 east coast floods were devastating for dairy farmers, as they threatened their lives, properties, livelihoods and cattle.
"One of the main messages we want to share with other farmers - and indeed the broader farming community - is the importance of mates talking to mates, and doing what we can to look out for each other," Dr Callow said.
"We're privileged to have Ross on board to lead this program, knowing that he can connect with farmers, by speaking openly and honestly about his own personal experiences, and how he maintains his own mental wellness."
Dr Callow said the motivation to take positive action and establish this new program was amplified by learning how long farmers, and those living in rural and regional Australia, were waiting to speak to a mental health professional.
"Having to wait up to three weeks to speak to a professional is simply not good enough, let alone at such a critical time as when mental health support is needed," he said.
Dr Callow said the floods tested the resilience of their farmer members and their ability to manage and cope.
"Providing mental health support to our farming community by giving them the opportunity to talk to a trained and likeminded farmer has certainly been well received," he said.
"And at the end of the day, we simply want them to know that there's somewhere to turn and someone they can relate to when in need of some extra support."
The new program is part of Norco's Employee Assistance Program.
It was implemented in response to a 40 per cent increase in community referrals compared with last year, with heightened pressure being felt by farming families after the devastating floods earlier this year.
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Pathways modeled for lumpy skin coming into Australia
Lumpy skin disease is not yet close enough to Australia to 'blow in' but Australian epidemiologists are flat out modeling likely pathways in an effort to put livestock industries on the front foot.
National Animal Disease Preparedness Coordinator Dr Chris Parker, from the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, said given the disease was spread by vectors, its march across the globe would continue.
Australian work with weather patterns was attempting to determine the most likely places it might land on our soil, he said.
"There is a range of other things to consider in this space - what stocking densities would have to exist in the north to see the establishment of LSD, and indeed foot and mouth disease," he said.
"We also need to understand the survivability of the LSD virus on the mouth part of the biting insect, and the probability of insects traveling in a cyclone."
Meanwhile, Australia's dairy industry is about to embark on a study looking at the effect of pasturisation on LSD and its effectiveness as a kill point of the disease.
Dairy Australia's Charles McElhone said this would be an important piece of work that would play a role feeding into the market access process in the event of an outbreak.
While producers have expressed fears about LSD reaching Papua New Guinea, Dr Parker said there was not a great number of cattle there, so FMD reaching PNG would be more of a concern, given the pig population.
It has become very clear that Australian farmers themselves are the front line to defending against FMD.
Mr Parker said the most likely pathway for FMD entering Australia was via infected meat or infected animals, either of which would then need to make contact with a susceptible animal in Australia
Red Meat Advisory Council chair John McKillop said Australia has close to zero risk via the live animal trade.
Swill feeding of pigs and people who have been to countries where there is FMD returning to farms and not following appropriate biosecurity measures were the main risks, he said.
Source: Shan Goodwin, Queensland Country Life, 12 October 2022
Ekka 2022: Henry family celebrates five generations of showing dairy cattle at the Ekka
THERE'S no doubt the dairy industry runs in the blood of many families and it would be hard to argue that there was a better example at this year's Ekka than the Henry family.
A staple of the Royal Queensland Show's dairy competition, the Henry's introduced a fifth generation of the family to the judging ring with three-year-old Liv.
Representing the family's White Park and Tara Illawarra studs, Liv was flanked by her father Matt and her grandfather Mike as she helped parade cattle in an Ekka ring for the first time.
"Our family has been showing dairy cattle for a long time, generations in fact," Matt Henry told the Queensland Country Life.
"Obviously it's pretty special for my daughter to be able to show here with us and for my dad to be here as well makes it three generations showing together, which is pretty special."
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant the Henrys have been unable to visit the Ekka for the past two years, but Matt said the family had been eagerly awaiting the chance to enter the ring on Monday.
"It's a bit of a tradition for us to show here and I have a lot fond memories of the Brisbane show from when I was a kid," he said.
"Hopefully Liv will be able to look back on her days at the show when she's a bit older because it is pretty special to come along as a kid.
"She's been practicing with a calf at our place near Toowoomba, but she has been pretty excited to come to the Ekka.
"We have been to other shows where she has been able to have a go, but this her first Ekka where she's been old enough to have a go."
Mr Henry said he was hopeful his daughter would carry on the tradition of showing dairy cattle at the Ekka, which was first started by his great-grandfather.
"I hope we're able to carry the tradition on for Liv's generation and beyond, but it is a bit difficult to say," he said.
"Every year it gets more challenging to bring cattle in for the show, but we will certainly like to keep it going.
"It's given me so many good memories and it is always special to come with your family, so I'm hoping we can continue on for hopefully a long time to come."
As well as celebrating a fifth generation entering the judging ring, the Henry family also tasted plenty of success in the Illawarra competition by taking out the champion intermediate female with White Park Joyce 38 as well as the reserve champion junior female with Mash Rosso Beauty alongside the Bourke family.
Massively under-resourced response compounds Indonesia's FMD disease crisis
INDONESIA's foot and mouth disease crisis is being compounded by a massively under-resourced response to what is considered the world's most economically destructive livestock disease.
According to the latest PRISMA report, only 498,893 animals had been treated as of July 14, despite 3 million vaccine doses being secured by the Indonesian Government.
To put the FMD crisis into some form of perspective, Indonesia has 16 million cattle and a further 49 million susceptible goats, sheep and pigs on at least 6000 of its more than 17,500 islands.
The disease has now officially spread to 22 of Indonesia's 37 provinces and has placed the Australia livestock industry on red alert.
It is estimated an outbreak of FMD in Australia could cost as much as $80 billion, including in the immediate closure of export markets for meat.
PRISMA - which stands for Promoting Rural Incomes through Support for Markets in Agriculture - is a bilateral agricultural market systems program funded by the Australian Government, which supports the development of the beef, dairy, and pig sectors in Indonesia.
PRISMA's report says demand for pharmaceutical and biosecurity products including antibiotics, vitamins, analgesics, and disinfectants had skyrocketed, with supply unable to keep up with demand.
The Indonesian Government had identified 366,875 infected animals as of July 14, 60 per cent of which were active cases. Some 38.4pc of animals had recovered, while the mortality rate was low at 0.7pc on top of the 1pc culled in the containment effort.
However, those numbers are likely to be significantly lower than the real figures, given there is a reluctance by local farmers to report animal diseases. Sheep and goats also often show few clinical symptoms of the FMD 'O' variation currently active in Indonesia.
Uncontrolled livestock movements
Adding to the problem is that livestock movements appear poorly controlled. The spread of FMD to the islands of Bali and Sulawesi are thought to have occurred following the recent Eid al-Adha festival. This four day event is one of Islam's most important holidays, and includes the sacrifice of animals with the meat often given to poorer people.
The report also says farmers are also unwilling to invest in feed and healthcare products as they begin to lose livestock.
"This is particularly important for smallholder farmers who usually have less than five head of cattle," the report reads.
"Cattle infected with FMD eat less, reducing weight gain and/or milk production.
"Farmers are less likely to invest in high-quality inputs such as commercial feed if they think they will not get a return on their investment."
In addition to the problems caused by reduced nutrition, the report says government veterinarians are also under extreme pressure as they are unable to keep up with the demands from farmers.
"Farmers have resorted to using traditional medicines for their livestock, despite the cost of those also increasing exponentially."
Indonesia was FMD free
Indonesia had been officially free of FMD since 1986, after Australia efforts helped eradicate the disease.
However, FMD was detected in Indonesia between April 28 and May 3 in 2022, when 1247 cattle showing clinical signs of FMD were diagnosed in four districts in East Java.
The current outbreak is thought to have occurred with contaminated meat brought in from India, based on the variant infecting the Indonesian herd.
According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, FMD circulates in about 77pc of the global livestock population, particularly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as some parts of South America.
National Emergency Animal Disease Watch Hotline: 1800 675 888.
Feed additive studies at Ellinbank Research Farm continue in effort to reduce dairy’s methane footprint
The challenge to balance livestock and farm-level methane emissions against production has had scientists, industry and policy-makers working together for several years.
Methane research involving feed additives has been ongoing at Ellinbank Research Farm, in West Gippsland, Vic, particularly measuring cows' burps against milk production.
In 1980, the methane intensity of producing Australian milk was 33.6g methane/kg of milk produced.
Thirty years later, with increasing milk production per cow, the methane intensity was measured at 19.9g methane/kg milk.
Research undertaken by Dr Peter Moate at the time indicated genetics, feeding and pastures caused these reduced measures.
Feeding supplements at the time was shown to have more impact when fed in summer and dry, warmer months of the year.
Feeding a mix of starch and fat additives was shown to be effective in fresh cows, if they also had access to low NDF (neutral detergent fibre) forages.
Ellinbank Research Farm is a premier facility for investigating a range of industry-led and commercial-in-confidence research activities involving animal health and welfare, fodder, pasture production, and renewable energy projects.
Milking about 400 cows off a 150-hectare grazing system, with supporting country, provides opportunity to identify projects that could be investigated for results that can be extrapolated for industry.
Dairy Australia and Agriculture Victoria are key funders of projects implemented at Ellinbank Research Farm.
A major focus of Ellinbank is reducing the methane footprint of the dairy industry.
A decade ago, Ellinbank scientists developed a sulphur-hexafluouride (SF6) technique to measure methane/kg/dry matter eaten by pasture-fed cows, as burps.
This technique enabled them to measure the burps using a tube suspended over the animal's nose, which sucked the air through and into a saddle apparatus around its body.
At the time, the technique measured 21g methane/kgDM eaten, applied against diets where the cow is eating more than 70 per cent forage.
As few years later, using the SF6 technique, an international team of scientists from Ellinbank and Penn State University, United States, discovered a feed additive included in the diet of 48 barn-stalled dairy cows reduced their methane emissions.
One gram of the feed additive, 3-nitrooxyproponal (NOP), was added to the daily grain feed ration for each cow for 12 weeks and methane emissions were measured using the SF6 technique.
About 6 per cent of the food consumed by the cow was converted to methane gas and the NOP additive reduced this amount by 30pc.
The reduced methane production was converted into increased body weight without reduction in milk production or composition.
Ongoing research has continued to investigate if feed additives reduce methane emissions in cows.
Dr Pablo Alvarez Hess has been leading recent Ellinbank research projects identifying the effect of feed additives added to wheat, maize or commercial grain feed, on cows' methane emissions.
The cows used for these investigations have been fed silage on a feedpad, to mimic a grazing system.
Forty cows with the same condition score and age were removed from the main herd, with half of these 40 used as a control group.
The other 20 cows received the feed additive, in the form of canola oil.
With only 20 cows in the experiment, canola oil was hand mixed with wheat and corn and fed to each cow in the bale during milking.
"By adding additional fats to grain, we saw cows reduce methane emissions," Dr Hess said.
"The cows were fed wheat and corn separately. We wanted to see if the fat behaved the same in the gut, and it did.
"We saw methane reduced about 10pc."
In another recent experiment, grape mark was fed in a similar style to a small group of cows.
"There was some minor reduction in methane," Dr Hess said.
Neither of these experiments extrapolated into analysing milk manufacturing properties.
Two more recent experiments, completed in spring 2021, did analyse milk manufacturing properties, as well as methane production.
The two experiments investigated the addition of red seaweed Asparagopsis taxiformis and commercial microbial liquid feed supplement Mylo
Again, 40 cows were used in each experiment, with 20 as control markers and 20 cows identified for treatment. All were fed silage on the feedpad.
The seaweed and Mylo supplement were mixed into a commercial grain-based feed, by hand, and fed in the bale twice-daily during milking, over a period of 35 days.
"Hay mimics a grazing system and we can measure consumption because it's being fed on the feedpad," Dr Hess said.
"That's very valuable for us for measuring intake.
"In a grazing based system, feeding supplements like this at milking time in the bale is the most practical method."
Both additives created a methane reduction, but there were variations in the effects on production.
"There was a moderate reduction in methane for the cows fed grain with Mylo added, and a strong reduction in methane from the seaweed additive," Dr Hess said.
"With the seaweed, we didn't see any productive benefits.
"With the Mylo (a probiotic fed as a liquid), we measured productive benefits - there was a slight increase in milk and a slight increase in feed conversation - and a moderate decrease in methane."
Dr Hess said the milk was analysed for change in manufacturing properties - yoghurt and cheese production - but that data was not yet available.
Deakin University is involved in a project measuring the effect of adding Asparagopsis armata to the feed of dairy cows. A. armata is harvested in Victoria's coastal waters.
Source: Jeanette Severs, Queensland Country Life, 23 June 2022
Will Albanese’s Labor government offer dairy new beginnings?
DA's latest Situation and Outlook report highlights the increasing input costs dairy farmers are facing.
With a newly installed Federal government comes newly appointed ministers who will be briefed by their policy advisors.
The public service and departmental heads will provide briefings as to how their policies can be implemented.
With it, industry bodies will seek meetings to put their member's views forward and ensure their positions are given appropriate consideration.
During the election, agricultural policy was announced in the broad brush but as always, the "devil is in the detail".
Labor announced changes to the agricultural visa scheme and a renewed focus towards to the Pacific to increase farm labour.
Promises have been made to increase biosecurity funding to help prevent lumpy skin and foot and mouth diseases breaching our borders.
These holistic issues are of most immediate concern to farmers and we welcome these commitments.
However, other immediate matters also need to be addressed.
Dairy Australia's latest Situation and Outlook report highlights the increasing input costs dairy farmers are facing.
Fertiliser, fodder, fuel and grain prices have doubled in price over the past 12-months.
These harsh imposts are contributing to the decline in the number of dairy farmers, especially where the farmgate price being received is not equal to their costs of production.
Hence the real need for supermarkets to increase the price of home-brand milk to a minimum of $2 a litre.
The Labor election commitment to convene a dairy symposium is a positive step.
The symposium will enable dairy representatives, from dairy farmers to supermarkets, to address the vast issues which were identified in recent parliamentary and ACCC reports.
The symposium may not be the panacea, but it will help crystallise the ongoing issues and the way in which we need to find a collaborative solution.
Otherwise, the dairy industry we know today, which itself requires strong positive change, will be very different to the industry that will or will not exist in the future.
Source: Queensland Country Life – written by Shaughn Morgan co-CEO eastAUSmilk, 4 June 2022
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."
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
Billionaire farmer Gerry Harvey on making money in ag
FOR THE LOVE: Billionaire retailer Gerry Harvey's love of agriculture has taken him on a sometimes bumpy ride.
Gerry Harvey always wanted to be a farmer and even won a scholarship to agricultural college before a twist of fate saw him become a multi-billionaire retailer.
To pay for his education, he studied part time and held a door-to-door sales job, where he met future business partner, Ian Norman.
"I always used to think by the time I'm 30, I'll have enough money to buy my own farm," Mr Harvey said.
"When I got to 30, I was making so much money, if I became a farmer and made nothing, it would be embarrassing so I kept putting it off.
"So at the end of the day, I kept opening shops because it was a thousand times more profitable than being a farmer for me."
Even so, Mr Harvey is undeniably now a farmer. He might not be hands on but his extensive agricultural investments range from cattle to cucumbers.
No stranger to the horse racing industry, Mr Harvey's ag interests include Westbury Stud in New Zealand, with its hundreds of thoroughbred broodmares and Vinery and Baramul thoroughbred studs in NSW which also host a few hundred cattle in NSW.
He also owns a 500-head Angus cattle operation at Bundella in NSW, Security Foods with its decades-long Wagyu cattle business in Victoria and NSW, and a $30-million, 5-hectare glasshouse in Peats Ridge, NSW, where 65 million cucumbers are grown a year.
Mr Harvey is particularly proud of the Peats Ridge facility's productivity, which he said ranked among the best in the world, but it did cause a stir amongst locals in the early days.
"I drove up there and on the posts were 'No, Harvey, no' and I thought 'What the hell is this?' and found out there was a rumour going around that I had a marijuana farm," he said.
"At no stage, from my point of view would Harvey Norman have a marijuana farm, they'd sack me from Harvey Norman."
No matter which of his agricultural enterprises he talks about, though, the common theme is innovation and diversity.
Coomboona calamity
So, while agriculture has become the darling of rich-listers, this particular billionaire isn't in it for the money. For Gerry Harvey, it's just for the love of agriculture.
He loves watching things grow, whether it's in his home vegetable patch or on a grand scale, and he loves to see the best of the best in operation.
But there are limits.
"I lost $75 million on a dairy farm," he said.
Mr Harvey invested $34 million of Harvey Norman money in a joint venture with businessman Alex Arena into one of Australia's largest dairy farms, Coomboona, in 2015 while the financial press was talking up rivers of 'white gold'.
"Coomboona made sense at the time because we went into it with a guy who owned the property and had $30 million of his own money in there," he said.
"He claimed he knew what he was talking about but, unfortunately, he didn't and he was wrong on so many things and at the end of the day, it was just going to get worse and worse so I just said, 'Mate, we'd better pull the plug on this'."
Coomboona was sold by administrators to the Perich family in 2018 for $40m.
"He (the joint venture partner) wanted to be the biggest dairy in Australia with the best cows in Australia and, in his defence, he probably had 100 of the best cows in Australia, cows that were milking over 60 litres a day," Mr Harvey said.
"He did have that part right but his infrastructure, rate of growth and all sorts of other things, were wrong. Designs for buildings were wrong that he'd swear were the best in the world."
The dairy misadventure drew sharp criticism and dented the big retailer's share price.
"I was one of the people that pushed it and it was a bad mistake," Mr Harvey said.
"If you asked me, 'Do you want to go into a dairy farm?' now, I'd say, 'I have no interest whatsoever, at all, in going into a dairy farm'."
Ag’s profit lag
Mr Harvey said, in his experience, retailing generated much higher returns on investment than agriculture and that if he wanted to "make real money", he would open another store rather than buy a farm.
"If you're doing cattle or sheep, especially over the years, you're looking at very poor returns for the outlay of money," he said.
"You might have $10m invested in a sheep or cattle enterprise and, if you make $300,000 or $400,000 a year, you're going okay.
"So there's no money in it but the money is in the appreciation of the land and, admittedly, there's a long-term proposition.
"I've argued for years, going back 40 years ago, that land's overpriced, everyone's mad, and I've been totally wrong because, every year, if it doesn't go up, it plateaus and goes up a bit later."
Land price doubts
While Australia's record high agricultural land prices had helped many farmers retire with unexpected wealth, Mr Harvey said, he thought it made new purchases less attractive.
"Is this a good time to buy a farm at the moment? I'm a bit shy. So when we've had three years of drought, that's when I'll probably buy another farm."
Indeed, Mr Harvey's most recent land acquisition was a 16-hectare luxury property in Narooma. Webster Nolan Real Estate agent David Nolan wouldn't reveal the price, but said it was a record for the region and bettered the $9 million to $11m indicative range quoted during the marketing campaign.
But Mr Harvey said it didn't signal any change of direction in his property investment strategy. It was the uniqueness of the land, a point surrounded on three sides by Wagonga Inlet with 1.2 kilometres of private water frontage, jetty and guest cottages, that was its allure.
"People go and pay $50 million on a waterfront place on Sydney Harbour but the water is much cleaner in Narooma," he said. "Would you eat a fish caught in Sydney Harbour?"
Ambitions strong
Despite that talk of coastal living and fishing, Mr Harvey is quick to say that, at 82, he's every bit as ambitious as he was at 22.
He thought agriculture was a great choice for people who loved the land and animals.
"Doing something that you love is much more important than doing something for money," Mr Harvey said.
"If you make money and you're not happy, what's the point?
"I think it's a wonderful way of life but if you're going to do it to make money, I'd say don't do it.
"If you love it, the way property prices go, one day, you'll probably just sell the property and use it as a type of superannuation and you've still had a good life."
Good times in farming could never be guaranteed, he said.
"If you're a farmer and you've been having two of the best years we've ever seen, enjoy it, because it's not going to last," Mr Harvey said.
"It's wonderful at the moment because you see so many tragic stories on the land of people committing suicide, and I know quite a few over the years, because you can go through seven years of drought and you make no money and and it's a really hard life and then then you can have this wonderful ride.
"It's a wonderful lifestyle when it's good."
Source: Marian Macdonald, Queensland Country Life, 21 February 2022
The 38-point list dairy will take to Canberra ahead of the election
COURTING CANBERRA: ADF strategy and policy director Craig Hough has released a 38-point list the peak advocacy body will present to politicians ahead of the federal election.
Australia's peak advocacy body for dairy farmers has released the wish list it will present to politicians in the run up to next year's federal election.
It's a long, 38-item, list and Australian Dairy Farmers' policy and strategy director Craig Hough said every single one was important and would boost members' bottom lines.
The big ticket items, he said, included the workforce strategy to help overcome labour shortages as well as climate change adaptation and mitigation.
Still, it was clear both he and ADF chief executive David Inall had a favourite: making sure the elderly get enough dairy in their diet.
"A new big ticket priority would be the fractures research and prescribing minimum standards in aged care around nutritional standards," Mr Hough said.
"That's a demand-side intervention but it plays into the issue around malnutrition."
He said research showing the risk of bone fractures could be reduced with dairy consumption, while deficiencies in the diets of aged care residents had been identified by the Royal Commission.
The finding made this, Mr Hough said, the perfect time for the federal government to develop national mandatory minimal nutritional standards for food provision in residential aged care.
The long-running campaign to stave off European claims that would prevent Australian dairy manufacturers using common dairy food names like Gruyere, on one hand while on the other, demand the word "milk" be reserved for dairy only, would continue.
"ADF is calling on politicians to address misleading product labelling and marketing, including from plant-based alternatives to dairy, as well as trade barriers and supply chain constraints," Mr Hough said.
Another delicate topic on the ADF election list concerns investment in research and development.
Pointing to flatlined productivity over the last decade, the peak body was an increase in agricultural R&D funds, but Mr Hough said it was not suggesting an increase in the farm levy.
Mr Inall said dairy farmers seemed content with Dairy Australia's work on genetics but ADF would seek more input on DA's direction.
"It's going to be a bigger project for us next year," he said.
DA had invited ADF to have "wider and deeper" discussions about its five strategic plans, which would begin in January.
To grow jobs and liveability in regional areas, the ADF will ask for $300 million in funding for the National Agriculture Workforce Strategy, which would include agriculture in the school curriculum as well as improving training opportunities.
It also wants government to encourage more exploration and development of fertiliser production in Australia.
Environmental strategies include investing in the recommendations of the Dairy Industry Adaptation Pathways and Northeast Dairy Climate Futures projects; implementing the recommendations of the Productivity Commission's evaluation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan; and providing a second round of the Energy Efficient Communities Program - Dairy Farming Grants.
Mr Inall said ADF would meet with key representatives of all the major political parties in 2022.
ADF hoped to enlist the state dairy organisations and their members in canvassing politicians, too.
"There's nothing more important than boots on the ground and farmers going into electoral offices out in their country towns," Mr Inall said.
As well as releasing the comprehensive election policy statement, the ADF would produce flyers and talking points for farmers keen to lobby their local members of parliament.
Source: Marian Macdonald, Queensland Country Life, 22 December 2021