Dairy News Murray October 2025

KICKING GOALS

Lower volumes and higher prices likely

BY GEOFF ADAMS

A DECLINE in the national dairy herd will contribute to lower milk volumes, according to the latest ABARES agricultural commodities report.

The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences points to a fall in volume of about one per cent this financial year.

However the report notes a higher farm gate milk price this year, forecasting value of production to rise by seven per cent.

The industry is, however, facing subdued export prices due to increasing global production and restricted global demand.

Farm gate milk prices are forecast to rise to 70.5¢/ litre in 2025-26, up by eight per cent from 2024-25, to be just below the five-year average in real terms.

Prices are expected to rise as milk supply tightens, reflecting a decline in domestic milk production, while domestic demand for market milk is expected to remain stable.

The forecast value of milk production in 2025-26 has been revised up by $0.2 billion since the June 2025 Agricultural Commodities Report.

Despite an expected rise in the value of milk production, the value of Australian dairy exports is forecast to fall by seven per cent to $3.5 billion in 2025-26 from record highs in 2024-25

This reflects both falling export volumes and prices across all major exported Australian dairy commodities.

While lower export volumes are consistent with expected lower milk production, export prices are expected to fall given relatively strong global exportable supply:

Whole milk powder export values are forecast to fall by 15 per cent to $406 million.

Skim milk powder export values are forecast to fall by 11 per cent to $686 million.

Cheese export values are forecast to fall by four per cent to $1.2 billion.

Butter export values are forecast to fall by one per cent to $189 million.

Milk powder export values are expected to fall by more than other dairy exports given lower Australian export volumes as well as falling

global prices (given increased global production from key powder producers such as New Zealand and subdued demand in key milk powder export destinations).

By contrast, the falls in the export values of high-milk fat products are expected to be less significant due to relatively low production of milk fats in Europe, which is expected to support butter and cheese prices relative to milk powders.

The forecast value of dairy exports in 202526 is $0.1 billion higher than the June 2025 Agricultural Commodities Report, due to an upwards revision in export prices given recent price data.

Domestic prices to rise

While rising, farm gate milk prices are forecast to remain below the historical highs seen in 2022-23.

Processor competition to secure milk volumes in 2025-26 is expected to be lower than in 2022-23, given weaker consumer confidence

in overseas markets and lower expected global prices.

The farm gate milk price has been revised up from the 68¢/litre in the June 2025 Agricultural Commodities Report following the announcements of milk prices and step-ups in June and July.

The ABARES report said global export prices are expected to fall in 2025-26 as trade uncertainties and macroeconomic pressures weigh on global demand.

Low domestic consumption from China, driven by constrained economic growth, is expected to reduce demand for imported dairy.

In addition, global supply, driven by production in New Zealand and the United States, is expected to rise.

Butter prices are expected to fall only marginally, supported by robust demand for milk fat relative to other milk solids, and continued effects of biosecurity incidents in the Northern Hemisphere, reducing exportable milk supply.

Get inspired at symposium

DELEGATES AT this year’s Dairy Research Foundation Symposium will hear from Tasmanian dairy farmer, Troy Ainslie, about his life-changing experience with virtual fencing.

The technology was introduced in June 2023 on the 540-cow herd that Troy manages at Woodrising Dairies, near Launceston.

While pasture utilisation has improved, the impact has been far-reaching, including increased production and a six-week in-calf rate, savings in fuel and machinery costs and greater team wellbeing.

Registrations are now open for the symposium, which will be held from November 26 to 27 at WIN Stadium in Wollongong.

Symposium organiser Professor Yani Garcia said the event was designed to bring together leading researchers, dairy farmers, and industry innovators under the theme of IT’S TIME: To connect, learn, and be inspired

Day one features a diverse line-up of speakers who will challenge thinking and spark ideas.

Sessions will explore topics such as harnessing the power of the cow, the genetic future of dairy, and uncovering what is both holding the dairy industry back and driving it forward.

The program also includes the always popular Emerging Scientist Awards and an important focus on redefining grazing in a changing climate.

Day two will open with Dairy Australia’s Annual General Meeting at WIN Stadium, followed by the Dairy Innovation Farm Tour.

Delegates will see innovation in practice at Philip and Craig Tate’s progressive Albion Park dairy farm, a showcase of forward-thinking management and technology.

For more information and the full program, go to: https://drfsymposium.com.au/

To register to attend, go to: https://www. trybooking.com/DCWIF

VIRTUAL FENCING A STEP CLOSER, SAYS EASTAUSMILK

EASTAUSMILK RECENTLY co-hosted with Halter a farmer delegation to the NSW Parliament to support the introduction of virtual fencing.

In April, NSW Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty committed to legalising virtual fencing technology in her state.

EastAUSmilk government relations manager Denise Spinks told members that in an appearance before a parliamentary committee, the minister again stated the government’s support and her aim to have the regulation before the parliament within two months.

“The Animal Justice Party is still pushing back on the changes, but there remains strong support from the Shooters and Fishers Party and the National Party — their support of the Labor Party change is important to ensure the regulation gets through parliament,”

Denise said.

“EAM will continue to monitor these parliamentary processes on behalf of farmers.

“Once the regulation passes, the collar providers will apply for necessary licences — speaking with Halter representatives it is thought the best-case timing scenario is that

all going well, collars could be rolled out early in the new year.”

The EAM delegation included James Neale, Scott Hurrell, Andrew Farr and Denise.

The delegation also included NSW beef industry representatives and a Tasmanian farmer who has been using the herding technology on his farm.

The farmers spoke with the minister’s chief of staff and an adviser directly about the opportunities this technology will bring to their operations.

“We also took the opportunity to follow

up other matters, including disaster recovery assistance and on-farm development processes,” Denise said.

“In response to farmer concerns raised by EAM recently, the minister intervened to double the department resources processing disaster relief claims — hopefully this will make a real difference.

“Farmers also got to speak with Halter about their particular product and associated costs.

“It was interesting to hear from the Halter team that they are getting an increased uptake in Queensland where the technology is legal.”

Groups slam safety shake-up

BY DJEMBE ARCHIBALD

THE VICTORIAN Government’s plan to dismantle Dairy Food Safety Victoria and replace it with a broader food safety regulator has ignited strong backlash from the dairy industry.

Safe Food Victoria is a new statutory authority that will merge several food regulators under one body by 2026.

Victorian Agriculture Minister Ros Spence and Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas said the move would “cut red tape” and streamline a system currently governed by four separate laws and multiple regulators.

The United Dairyfarmers of Victoriaand Australian Dairy Farmers have condemned the decision, warning it risks compromising safety and increasing costs.

UDV president Bernie Free said Dairy Food Safety Victoria underpinned Victoria’s $2.5 billion dairy industry and 73 per cent share of national dairy exports.

“Replacing a proven, cost-neutral, specialist regulator with a one-size-fits-all bureaucracy just won’t work,” Mr Free said.

“Safety must not be compromised, and costs must not be increased.”

ADF president Ben Bennett echoed the concerns, describing the government’s consultation process as “tokenistic” and the reform as a “solution in search of a problem”.

He said dismantling DFSV could undermine technical expertise developed in Victoria, home to most of Australia’s milk production.

“Given we’ve not seen a business case for the transition to Food Safety Victoria, and nobody can outline any grounds for improvement at DFSV, we see this as a clear and blatant cash grab by the debt-stricken Victorian Government,” Mr Bennett said.

“DFSV doesn’t cost taxpayers anything — it’s funded by farmers.”

The government has rejected claims the reforms will erode standards.

It said all staff, expertise and cost-recovery models would transfer to Safe Food Victoria, ensuring no redundancies or loss of specialist knowledge.

Officials argue that a consolidated regulator will give businesses simpler processes, more consistency and faster approvals, while still maintaining high safety standards.

“This consultation phase seeks the views and ideas of Victorians to inform the new regulator’s focus and operating approach,” Ms Spence said.

SPC TO PROCESS DAIRY FOR FONTERRA

BY GEOFF ADAMS

FRUIT AND drink processor, SPC Global, has entered into an agreement with major dairy processor Fonterra.

The deal was disclosed in SPC’s annual financial report, in which it announced a $30 million EBITDA profit.

Under the arrangement, Nature One — a division of SPC Global — will manufacture Fonterra’s branded products sold overseas

The Nature One Carrum Downs site will be producing the Fonterra-branded products.

Fonterra recently announced it had sold its Australian assets to major French dairy company, Lactalis.

Asked about the impact of the sale on the SPC deal, SPC managing director Robert Iervasi said he had a good working relationship with the two companies and there would be no impact on the arrangement.

Earlier this year SPC Global’s new dairy division scored a multi-million dollar deal for distribution in China.

Nature One Dairy, will export milk powder

“Most states and our close neighbours, such as New Zealand, successfully operate under similar consolidated models.”

ɋ Victorians are being invited to contribute to the consultation process via engage.vic.gov. au/foodsafety

“Safe Food Victoria will provide simpler processes and greater consistency for Victorian food businesses, while maintaining the excellent standards and expertise from existing regulators.

products made in Australia, to a company which has outlets in the special administrative regions of Macau and Hong Kong.

The product, made at the Carrum Downs factory, includes infant milk formula and powders aimed at a range of ages and needs.

SPC’s main factory, with its fruit processing facilities, is in Shepparton in northern Victoria.

Imagine

Because

Always looking to the future

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

THE STORY of Mt Lyall Dairies is one of innovation, risk and improving the business for the next generation.

As Chris Lancey said to Dairy News Australia, the latest innovation — building a 100-bail rotary dairy on a greenfield site for $5 million — was about investing in a new platform for the next generation to inherit.

He didn’t want to give them a new dairy sitting on an old concrete base. Instead, the business invested in an entirely new build from the ground up.

The new build also invested in new technology for the business, at Nyora and Loch in South Gippsland, Victoria.

The Lancey family has created four generations of innovation and expansion, with three generations currently involved in the dairy business — Graeme, Chris and his wife Leanne, son Callum, and son-in-law David Lewis with their daughter Maddy.

Although in a wheelchair, Graeme is still involved in the business, especially in making decisions about which bulls and semen are used for breeding.

“Dad loves breeding and has done it forever. He chooses the bulls with great care for genetics,” Chris said.

“We breed a medium-stature Friesian cow, with good teat alignment and feet, quiet temperament, and producing high components. Annual milk production averages 8000 litres/cow.”

The business is a Saputo supplier.

The origin of Mt Lyall Dairies

Patricia and Graeme Lancey started dairy farming at Poowong North in 1968.

Between 1977 and 1981, they ran two dairy farms, milking 130 cows on the home farm, and then Graeme would drive three miles to their second farm and milk 70 cows.

In 1981, they sold both those farms and bought a 400-acre farm at Nyora, milking 200 Friesian cows in a five-a-side herringbone dairy. Chris said they walked the herd the 6km distance to the new farm.

That farm became the genesis of Mt Lyall Dairies, and Graeme and Patricia used it to build their business for successive generations, a passion inherited by Chris.

“I started working full-time with them when I left school at 15 years old,” Chris said.

“We stretched the herringbone dairy to 11-a-side. In 1988, we were milking 350 cows and changed the herringbone for a 42-bail rotary, so we could grow the herd again.”

By 2001, they had grown the herd to 700 cows and installed a 70-bail rotary.

“We wanted to grow the herd again,” Chris said.

“The year we put the 70-unit in, we bought the property next door which was 200 acres.

“We already had another 200 acres behind

us, so we were up to 800 acres from the original 400.”

The home farm continued to expand from the original 400 acres to its now about 2000 acres.

As additional land has been acquired, Chris has overseen extensive work on fencing, laneways and reticulated stock water systems to improve productivity.

The basic business model has been followed throughout the decades — milking the split-calving herd twice-a-day and growing their own pasture and fodder on a dryland farm in a, normally, reliable rainfall pattern.

“Buying additional land is about building the size of the herd, being able to keep developing pastures and basically being self-sufficient,”

Chris said.

The farm supports a considerable workforce, including Australian, Irish and Philippine workers among the 15 employees.

Taking risks

Chris said he was keen on continuous expansion of the farm business, and his willingness to take risks included using debt to grow the business, rather than remaining debt-free with a smaller operation.

“I reckon being willing to take risks is the only way to get ahead,” he said.

In 2016, Chris and Leanne purchased a second farm nearby, of 650 acres, which was milking 200 cows in a herringbone dairy.

They installed a 50-unit rotary dairy, which they bought secondhand from a farm near Bendigo, dis-assembled it and reassembled it on the farm.

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Purchasing this dairy farm replaced a leased 450-acre farm at Yannathan where Chris milked 450 cows. He also leased 350 acres at Nyora for 10 years where he milked 300 cows, until 2015.

He still leases 300 acres at Nyora for growing out young stock and to produce silage.

The entire land footprint ensures the business is largely self-sufficient, growing their own pasture and fodder.

“We usually cut 1000 to 1200 acres of bulk silage and make 1000 round bails,” Chris said.

They also supplementary feed the herd on the feedpad, mixing silage with celery and leeks from a large-scale vegetable producer at Tarwin.

“About 10 to 15 per cent of the cow’s diet is made up of these vegetable products. Over a year, I reckon we would average about three to four kilograms of dry matter per cow per day,” Chris said.

Sheds and more sheds

A unique aspect about the home farm at Nyora is the number of sheds.

As well as the loafing barn and feedpad, hay is stored undercover, there is a calf rearing shed, the springers are undercover, the entire platform for the new dairy is undercover, and there are numerous large sheds housing trucks, machinery and equipment, fodder, and bedding.

Chris compares the cost of buying fodder for lean years and shedding it, against the cost and availability of buying nearby land to increase the grazing rotation.

Chris’s resourceful approach to

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infrastructure development is repaid — he said he now receives inquiries about if he wants to buy a shed that is being deconstructed.

On Boxing Day, 2022, he and Callum purchased the shed and concrete walls of the old Warragul saleyards, which became an 8000 square metre covered loafing barn and another 2000 square metres over the feedpad alongside it.

“We’ve had the feedpad since 2009, and we extended it to 4000 square metres in 2020, and now half of it is under the roof,” Chris said. Callum said that even at that size, there is still a considerable amount of steel left over for another project.

The barn has been in use since January 26, 2023, and allows them to keep cows off pastures during wet winter conditions, and provides shelter for the herd during hot summer nights.

“It doubles our rotation to 60 days in winter,” Chris said.

“In summer the cows have the option of walking to the paddock and some just walk to the barn and loaf. In autumn, it’s great for holding cattle off the paddocks as pastures shoot.”

The concrete walls surround the barn, providing a perimeter that also helps keep the bedding material in the barn, which they turn daily.

“In winter, we top up the bedding probably every two weeks — about 200 cubic metres every two weeks,” Chris said.

Eventually, the bedding is used as compost, probably incorporated into the soil to grow a corn crop, he said.

Dairy News Australia welcomes contributions from stakeholders in the dairy industry, and particularly from organisations wishing to advance the industry.

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Always looking to the future

Continued from page 6

A games factory at Dandenong was bought, deconstructed and reconstructed to house silage and woodchips for the calf shed. The springers wait to calve in their own undercover expanse.

“We keep about 750 to 800 heifers a year as replacements, which has been good while we’ve been growing the herd, but now we’re not growing the herd so much, it’s plenty,” Chris said.

The business also sold heifers to the export market, while it was a financially worthwhile proposition. Now Chris is rethinking his heifer breeding strategy.

“We have a strict culling policy on the milking herd. Some cows only last one season, some last six seasons,” he said.

“Normally, you need 20 to 25 per cent replacements, but when you have 750 heifers for our herd size, that’s more than 35 per cent. We’ve just sold 60 heifers, to lighten the load.”

Four years ago, they built a new calf shed — 88m by 20m, with pens and outdoor areas — to raise 450 calves each season.

Calf rearing in their split-calving system, with the size of the herd, takes nine months of the year.

“We have a full-time calf rearer, with Callum and other people backing up,” Chris said.

“The calves start in individual pens, then progress to groups of two, groups of five, and then two groups of 60.”

Chris has innovated feeding, making a long stainless steel trough with 66 teats that is used by the calves from when they are three weeks old.

“Depending on how active they are, calves are weaned at 12 to14 weeks.”

They then go to contract rearers and return to the farm one month before calving.

Building a 100-bail dairy

Building a new 100-bail dairy will enable the business to grow the milking herd by about 100 cows, but it will also improve operator and cow welfare.

It is the first dairy unit with auto-drafting that Chris has installed. He also added posiarms [position arms], which drop the cups down under the platform, lifts them up, and positions the cups right behind the cow so they’re ready for the operator to put them on to her teats.

In early 2024, Chris, Leanne, Callum and David started talking about building a new dairy. They were beginning to consolidate their wish-list when they attended the Raising the Roof conference in the Hunter Valley in March 2024.

“At that stage, we might still have been considering a 94-bail rather than 100,” Chris said.

“We mainly went to the Raising the Roof conference to get ideas about how we can better use the loafing barn.”

That led them to Western Australia and Victoria’s Western District, to look at dairies.

Callum also went to the United States to look at some large rotary dairies and barns.

“We pretty well knew what we wanted once we’d been to Western Australia,” Callum said.

“We settled on the 100-bail and decided on the auto-drafting and posi-arms.”

At the same time as these decisions and plans were being made, the herd began wearing cow collars.

“We started using them in 2024 for heat detection at milking,” Chris said.

“We didn’t have the auto-draft technology

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when we started using them, so they weren’t being used to their potential.

“That all changed with this new rotary, as they’re drafted automatically when they go through the draft and race.”

Construction on the new dairy shed began on November 28, 2024.

“I wanted to have the footings in by December 18,” Chris said.

Two thousand square metres of concrete was poured.

“The first part of the shed went up in January. It was flat out every day since,” Chris said.

Milking in the new dairy began on July 2.

“The cows have been performing exceptional throughout the build and in the transition,” Chris said.

While the new dairy is built on a greenfield site, it is connected to the sheds of the previous two dairies on the farm.

“We built one shed and new dairy, then we built the next one beside that,” Callum said.

“This new dairy shed is built alongside the second shed. So they’re all connected, and all we’ve done is remove the hardware.

“With each build, we’ve converted the previous dairy space to undercover cow yards.

“Where the cows are coming in now, that’s where our three dairy sheds have been built side-by-side, from 1981 to 2001 to 2025.”

Chris wanted to set up the new 100-bail rotary dairy on a new concrete platform — he said it was important to ensure everything was a new build for the next generation, rather than using one of the old bases.

As the cows come into the dairy for milking, they progress along a large concrete yard, incorporated under the old shed roofs, with a forcing gate used to gently move them towards the bails.

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Walkways have been incorporated above and below a concrete funnel which the cows traverse across to enter the rotary bails.

What’s next

“I want to get the farm all set up pretty well so I can take off in a caravan at a later stage, and let these blokes [Callum and David] have a go at it,” Chris said.

Planning for succession with David and Callum and a successful transition to the next generation is also on the to-do list for Chris and Leanne.

“We haven’t really started having those conversations with the next generation, but we will,” Chris said. “I don’t know how we’ll do it, but down the track we will work it out.”

The Lancey family opened their new dairy to public scrutiny during the South Gippsland Dairy Expo in September. More than 300 people attended the two-hour event and toured the dairy, which was led by Chris and Callum Lancey.

ɋ Find an extended version of this story and more photos at: www.dairynewsaustralia. com.au

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Get to know the mycotoxin Zearalenone

As reported in a previous article in Dairy Farmer, results from the long running dsm-firmenich Global Mycotoxin Survey consistently identified that the three major mycotoxins of economic importance in feedstuffs for ruminants in Australia are deoxynivalenol (DON), fumon-isins (FUM) and zearalenone (ZEN), with aflatoxin and ergot alkaloids making regular appearances. Looking into data for the last three years with a focus on ruminants, fumonisins were the most frequently detected mycotoxin class (70% of samples had FUM). ZEN was detected in 54% of samples with an average contamination level of 574 ppb, which is deemed to be a high risk for ruminants. The majority of the very high detections of ZEN came from silage samples. ZEN was also detected in grains and by-products. As mentioned in previous articles, the presence of two or more mycotoxins, often from different feedstuffs, can have a much more significant impact on the animal than the level of a single mycotoxin.

In simple terms, ZEN is chemically very similar to the female hormone oestrogen and will bind to the oestrogen binding sites in breeding animals therefore inhibiting the proper action of oestrogen, effectively putting heifers and cows on a ‘contraceptive pill’. Oestrogen receptors are found in the uterus, mammary gland and parts of the brain thus the effects of ZEN can have wide ranging impacts and include premature udder enlargement, false oestrus, unsuccessful insemination and in some cases abortions. While ZEN

is typically considered a female hormone, the effect on bulls can also be quite marked with ZEN intake known to influence testicular atrophy and poor semen quality.

Like many of the mycotoxins, ZEN has a chemical structure that does not permit it to be easily bound by simple binders. Some microbes in the rumen can degrade ZEN, however they result in compounds which can be up to 60 times more oestrogenic than ZEN itself. Therefore, the most effective way of reducing the impacts ZEN have in the breeding herd is to have ZEN enzymatically cleaved in the rumen into non-oestrogenic products before it is absorbed. Irreversible deactivation of ZEN is achieved through the use of Mycofix® Plus, as shown in Figure 1. As seen in the previous article, Mycofix® Plus is also proven to deactivate DON and other mycotoxins, further reducing the impacts that can occur from multiple mycotoxin contamination.

Figure 1: Schematic of the enzymic deactivation of zearalenone by Mycofix® Plus to non-toxic forms

Sale celebrates a century

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

A CENTURY of breeding and milking was celebrated at the recent Warwick Farm and Progressive Holsteins on-farm sale, at Greendale, NSW.

The sale was held on September 17, on the family farm in the Bega Valley, owned by generations of the Pearce family.

This year, the Pearce family is celebrating a century of breeding dairy cows at Warwick Farm. The current ownership is a three-way partnership between Norm and Narelle Pearce and their son, Tom, who is also the herd manager.

Warwick Farm Holsteins brought artificial insemination into their breeding management in 1980, and have been registering cows with this prefix and the Progressive Holsteins prefix since 1988.

Now their entire dairy herd is registered. In 2019, the family began genomic testing their cattle.

With many young cattle coming into the 250-head registered milking herd this season, the Pearce family decided to sell a run of twoyear-old Holstein cows and heifers.

The on-farm sale was an opportunity for other farmers to buy fresh young cows and in-calf heifers, to boost the supply curve of spring milking and increase their herd numbers after a couple of challenging years in the dairy industry.

Tom Pearce said there was also a surplus of their well-bred heifers available after the collapse of the export market.

“Like a lot of people, we’ve lost our export heifer market and we had really geared our business for that. We got pretty good at breeding quality heifers for that market,” Tom said.

“We thought about our options for selling, whether to sell privately or do something else.

“Brian Leslie from Dairy Livestock Services was in the district and I contacted him to discuss the logistics of going down the live auction path.

“Given the pedigrees behind the cattle, we decided that was a good option. It all came together really quickly.”

Tom was pleased with the sale result.

“There were a lot of people at the farm, and there were 130 people watching online, with 31 bidders registered online,” he said.

“I think 60 per cent of the lots were bid for online, and 32 lots were actually sold to online bidders.

“The top-priced cow sold to an online bidder.”

Brad Fraser, of Denman in the Hunter Valley, NSW, bid the highest to take home lot 38, Warwick Farm Caffeine Sweet, born 16/3/2023 and calved 10/7/2025, paying $7100.

Her sire was Warwick Farm Unstoppabull Caffeine and she had grand-dams bred from the Blondin family.

Brad also purchased lot 4, paying $3750 for Warwick Farm Hano Georgetta, born 17/4/2023 and calved 6/7/2025.

“She isn’t a big cow, but she stood out with a nice udder,” Tom said.

A volume buyer was the Watts family from Pyree, near Nowra in NSW.

“They bought a nice group of cows,” Tom said.

“Those four lots were some of the nicer cows in the sale.”

The sale’s highest price paid was $7100, for an average of $3385, with 72 lots sold.

The average was held up with many cattle selling between $3000 and $4000.

Lot 21, Progressive Hano Fussy, born 27/5/2023 and calved 17/8/2025, sold at $4750.

Lot 54, Warwick Farm Mirand Rain, a heifer pregnancy-tested-in-calf to Siemens Parbo and due on 10/10/2025, sold at $4750.

“I was really happy with how the heifers came together in the group,” Tom said.

“There were some fairly high square heifers with good udders underneath, that looked good on paper.

“I chose the line-up of heifers on paper, because I knew if I went out to look at them in the paddock, I’d second-guess myself.”

Lot 15, Warwick Farm Mirand Luster-po, born 10/4/2022 and calved 9/7/2024, and due 13/2/2025 PTIC to Walnutlawn PG Brantley,

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sold at $4500.

Lot 39, Warwick Farm Woodman Licorice, born 11/9/2022, calved 17/2/2025, sold at $4400. Lot 17, Warwick Farm Unix Marigold, born 29/3/2023 and calved on 17/7/2025, sold at $4250.

Lot 72 rounded out the sale, sold at $4200. Warwick Farm Mirand Grace-po, born 22/8/2022 and calved 4/3/2025, she was sold PTIC to Siemers Halliant-p (sexed and due on 17/3/2026.

There were also several straws of semen that went up for auction.

Eight straws of Braedale Goldwyn sold at $900 each, against very keen bidding. The sale was facilitated by Dairy Livestock Services, and integrated online with Stocklive.

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Hoofing it for healthy feet

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

UP TO 20 per cent of a milking herd is lame, and it’s important to identify these cows early and treat or manage them.

That’s been the message at hoof care workshops in Gippsland, in southern Victoria, held over the past year.

Dean Rowley, of Gippsland Hoof Care, has been demonstrating hoof care for cows in workshops on dairy farms on behalf of GippsDairy.

He has been demonstrating cleaning the hoof to investigate its health, trimming, identifying and treating lesions, and how to apply a block.

Dean recommends drying-off as the ideal time for annual hoof care for cows, when the follow-up care post-trimming includes rest in the paddock.

“We’re always going to have lame cows in the herd,” he said.

“A 600kg cow with 40 litres of milk under her is at risk of foot problems.

“During lactation, 15 to 20 per cent of your herd will be lame.”

Dean said modern dairy farm production systems set cows up for foot problems, irrespective of their breeding. Farms are bigger, cows are standing longer in the dairy yard, but there are ways of managing that to minimise the impact on a cow of moving and standing.

“A healthy hoof grows four millimetres in a month and we’re making cows walk kilometres a day — and they’re not designed for that. Cows should only walk 100 metres a day.

“We’re pushing cows for maximum production and their feet are getting minimal attention. So you need to manage her feet accordingly.

“Good hoof care means the cow is better with management.

“It’s important to identify lame cows early, identify the extent of lesions, and minimise their impact early.

“Lactating cows need to be able to rely on the maximum weight bearing surface of their feet, for production.”

Dean said it was important to take pressure off the surface under the foot, to reduce the risk of tendon rupture.

“Blue metal is a hard stone, and it’s traditionally been used in dairy yards,” he said.

“And steps and up and down ramps in the dairy yard add pressure to cows hoofs and legs.”

An alternate is rubber matting in the dairy yard — for the comfort of cows and workers.

“On 90 per cent of farms I visit, I see loose stones sitting on concrete in the yards,” Dean said.

He recommends ensuring every loose stone is pressure washed out of the dairy and yard, before the cows arrive for milking.

“The dorsal wall is the thickest wall and we’re looking at not compromising the sole cushion.

“When we see bruising, it’s an indication of bleeding around the capsule, when the sole is haemorrhaging.”

Woodchips are also an issue. Dean has seen woodchips penetrate the hoof and create footrot — which requires more intense care and anti-inflammatories for the cow.

Doing the demonstration workshops on dairy farms means Dean has been able to choose cows for the audience that enable him to discuss and demonstrate identifying and treating basic lesions.

“The number one lesion in Australia is the white line. This leads to cracks, puncture in the sole, splits the horn, and you will see a pus discharge,” Dean said.

“If you notice swelling around the back of the dew claw, something has split the skin. Consider the condition of your laneways and tracks — your cow might have picked up a stone.

“I make a lot of money from stones.”

Management includes investigating what has caused the lameness, treating with a possible pain block, rest in a paddock to reduce how much the cow walks, and penicillin only if necessary.

“Farmers waste a lot of money on penicillin when they don’t have to,” Dean said.

“Clean up the hoof, put a block on it to relieve the pressure of the cow’s weight, and potentially use some anti-inflammatories or penicillin depending on the farm policy.

“Weight bearing on the block takes 70 per

cent of the pressure off the toe.

“And 60 per cent of the cow’s weight is carried on the front feet.

“Structurally, we want to keep the foot sound and retain stability in the cow.

“I believe the blocks save cows lives. It’s a minimum cost for maximum reward.”

One of the more common issues he deals with is trimming the lateral claw to balance against the medial claw.

Another common problem is identifying internal haemorrhage of the pedal bone, and reducing the risk of an ulcerating sole.

Genetics can also make a difference, and the farmer may choose to cull for genetic selection the cows with repeat or severe lameness.

Dean said before starting any work, it was important to ensure the cow was balanced at the time she needs hoof trimming.

He has been demonstrating a range of ways to ensure the cow is balanced and her weight

is supported. That includes how ropes and belly slings or supporting harnesses and pulley systems are used, as well as purpose-built cow lifters and cattle crushes.

“Minimise the impact on the cow by doing little things right first,” Dean said.

“We want to put the cow back out in the paddock in better condition than she comes in to the crush.”

Other management impacts include using a footbath. Dean spoke about some cows in certain climates and conditions that do not lay down thickness in their sole, and a footbath can be used to address risk around this.

“It’s all one percenters that help the cow get through lactation.”

Digital dermatitis is very contagious and the farm policy should be to cull these animals. ɋ For more photos from the hoof care workshops, find this story at: www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au

Footy’s favourite farmer

DAIRY FARMER and football netball club president Royston Nettleton has added another win to his record of service on and off the field. From Orbost in south-eastern Victoria, Royston has been named WorkSafe Victoria’s 2025 Footy’s Favourite Farmer.

Known in the Snowy River community as ‘Doc’, the mental health advocate and 2024 Orbost Citizen of the Year recently played a major role in donating 17 truckloads of hay and silage to drought-stricken farmers in southwest Victoria.

As Footy’s Favourite Farmer, the 500-game legend has won $10,000 worth of safety improvements tailored to his business, and a further $10,000 to spend on safety upgrades for the Orbost Snowy Rovers Football Netball Club, where he has been president since 2012. The annual competition, in collaboration with AFL Victoria and Netball Victoria, celebrates the unsung heroes and unique role of sport in farming communities.

Royston has spent his life on the land with workplace safety as a priority, but he said mental wellbeing became a focus more recently, since facing the burden of drought on top of the milk price crashing in 2016.

“I went to the doctor and I told him my problems, and pretty much his answer was going on a holiday, go and enjoy yourself,” he said.

“It was so important for me to keep playing footy — it was an outlet, off the farm.

“It’s just a great place to be, and it’s so

important, not just for my family, but for everybody to have a good footy netball club to be able to come and hang out at.”

SAPUTO HELPS CLUB GET ON THE SCOREBOARD

SAPUTO DAIRY Australia has give $10,000 to the Orbost Snowy Rovers Football Netball Club to support the installation of a new electronic scoreboard at the Lochiel St Reserve netball courts.

Just minutes from SDA’s AG Warehouse store and in the heart of eastern Victoria’s dairying region, this investment will help modernise the club’s facilities and significantly enhance the game-day experience for both players and spectators by improving visibility and engagement.

This funding was made possible through Saputo’s Legacy Program, which supports the improvement of local sport and health facilities to build a lasting legacy in the communities where we operate.

Orbost Snowy Rovers Football Netball Club president and SDA supplier Royston Nettleton said the new scoreboard was a fantastic asset — not just for the netball club and visiting teams, but for the wider community as well.

“From the young players in our

weekly NetSetGo program to students at Orbost Community College, this upgrade will enhance the experience for everyone involved,” Royston said.

“We’re incredibly thankful to Saputo for their generous support and for investing in the future of our club and community.”

The Orbost Snowy Rovers Football Netball Club is a cornerstone of the local community, with many AG Warehouse customers, Saputo suppliers and their families actively involved in the club.

SDA’s milk supply and planning director Kate Ryan said the scoreboard reflected Saputo’s continued support for grassroots sport and community wellbeing through its legacy program.

“We’re proud to contribute to the club’s future and are pleased to play a part in this exciting new addition,” Kate said.

ɋ For more information, visit: https://www. saputodairyaustralia.com.au/en/our-promise/local-community-partnerships

WorkSafe chief executive officer Ash West said Royston’s experience as a farmer and footballer gave him first-hand insight into the benefits of good mental health and physical wellbeing.

“Volunteers like Doc make a huge difference to the vitality of country football and netball clubs, helping them thrive in rural and regional communities,” he said.

“As Footy’s Favourite Farmer for 2025, Doc is a great champion for WorkSafe’s message — that we can all do our bit to create a safer workplace, which benefits everyone in our circle.”

Royston, who supplies Saputo, said he was honoured to be named Footy’s Favourite Farmer to help raise awareness for mental health, as well as safety at both the farm and sporting clubs.

“I’m fully aware that accidents can happen at home and you have to be extra cautious,” he said.

“With the footy netball club, we’re badly in need of some improved wheelchair access for our social rooms.”

The competition received more than 200 nominations with Royston chosen from three finalists, who all received a farm safety pack valued at almost $2000, an independent OHS Essentials workplace safety consultation, along with footballs and netballs for their club.

0–3 mths

Veanavite® No.1

3–12 mths

Veanavite® No.2

Veanavite® pellets have been the products of choice for Australian farmers for over 35 years. Each product provides a highly palatable blend of readily fermentable carbohydrates and high quality proteins to support optimal growth, development and immune system function at each growth stage. Contact your local reseller or go to www.veanavite.com.au to find out more.

12–23 mths

Veanavite® No.3

Young winner credits his dad

THE AGRICULTURAL Shows Australia

national championships at the Royal Adelaide Show saw the sashing of the country’s top young dairy judge — Luke Gardiner.

Twenty-year-old Luke is studying agriculture at the University of Melbourne and grew up on a stud dairy farm at Nar Nar Goon, where his interest in breeding and showing cattle began.

He has developed a strong interest in judging, inspired by his father John Gardiner.

“Dad taught me everything I know and Mum jumped on a plane at the last minute to be here. It’s a blessing I was able to come,” Luke said.

“I started competing because I love judging and aspire to judge major shows across Australia and the world.”

Runner-up was awarded to William Dudfield, 22, from Somerset in Tasmania.

William has been around the show ring since he was three years old, and joined parader competitions at just nine.

Growing up on a dairy farm sparked his love for cattle, and even though he now works in civil construction, showing remains a big part of his life.

“I’m pretty pleased with myself, and might sneak back to the cattle sheds now to have a cold one with the cattle donors,” William said after the competition was complete.

Third place was awarded to Chris Thompson, 19, of Urrbrae in South Australia.

Chris grew up on a small family property, started showing dairy cattle while still at school and soon developed an interest that led him to establish his own Holstein and Jersey stud.

Throughout high school, Chris gained hands-on experience working on farms, and now in his first year at the University of Adelaide, he continues to show cattle at most South Australian events and some in Victoria. His involvement in young judges competitions began at smaller country shows and quickly progressed — placing third at the South Australian final one year and taking out the top spot the next, before placing third nationally in

Open to competitors aged 15 to 25, the national championships showcase the best from each state, with entry earned through success at regional and state agricultural shows.

Agricultural Shows Australia chair Jacqueline Wilson-Smith said the championships showcase agricultural excellence, boost the industry and shine a light on outstanding achievements.

“These young competitors are the future of agricultural show competitions, which are so important to the growth of Australia’s food and fibre industries,” she said.

“The nationals are a fantastic opportunity for them to develop their skills, gain valuable experience, and go head-to-head with the best in the country.”

The national competition is sponsored by global livestock company Vytelle.

Parading into first place

SIENNA ROSS, from Katamatite in Victoria, was crowned champion young dairy parader at the the Agricultural Shows Australia national championships in Adelaide.

Sienna, 17, is a proud first-generation dairy farm kid growing up milking cows, rearing calves and driving tractors.

Now in Year 12 and school captain at Sacred Heart College Yarrawonga, Sienna hopes to one day become a qualified embryo technician. She also competed last year, where she was awarded runner-up.

“My family definitely are the main reason I now have such a love for showing dairy,” she said.

“I have Dad’s love of cows, Mum’s support and her determination for me to succeed, my brother’s skills building all my new gear, and my sister by my side at all the shows to learn new things.

“I grew up on a dairy farm and started with American cattle with my family, which we run together.”

When asked about winning, Sienna said, “I’m pretty stoked, not many words I can say.”

She received a halter from Goulburn-based store The Cattle Shop.

Runner-up was William Phillpot from Murray Bridge representing South Australia at the show competition on September 3.

Showing dairy cows has been a big part of William’s life since he was 12, when he attended the SA Dairy Youth Camp and met mentor Bridget Liebelt.

Today, William regularly shows top-quality stock alongside Bridget at local and interstate events, and works at Daish Irrigation and Fodder in his home town.

“I can’t believe it,” William said after the competition was run.

“I never thought I would make it this far and I guess if you keep trying and keep practising you can make it to achieve your goals.

"I started competing with dairy cattle at a young age, with what started as a small hobby, quickly grew into a lifelong passion and skill.

“My dedication and willingness to learn

helped me progress my talent and skills into the show ring.

“I have had so many amazing opportunities to compete in handlers’ classes, with much success along the way.”

Third place was awarded to Patrick English, 20, from Malanda representing Queensland. Patrick has been hands-on with the preparation and presentation of his family’s large show teams from a young age.

He works full-time at the Mareeba Saleyards and part-time on the family’s dairy farm.

A standout moment in his show career was the Royal Queensland Show when his family claimed both Supreme Intermediate Female and Supreme Champion Cow in 2019.

“My family are multi-generational dairy farmers and have exhibited dairy cows at every Malanda Show since 1916,” he said.

“Our family has always been competitive — with six siblings there is always competition — and I have enjoyed parading animals since I could walk.”

Top tips for productive spring pastures

Dairy farmers looking to maximise spring pasture growth can adopt proven strategies for nutrient and fertiliser management to ensure effective pasture production

Trace elements in pastures – molybdenum (Mo), copper (Cu), boron (B) and zinc (Zn) –help maintain productive pasture systems and livestock productivity.

Understanding and diagnosing deficiencies is critical for effective nutrient management.

Test before you invest by using a plant tissue test to clarify exactly how much of each nutrient a plant is accessing in the soil, and whether the levels are sufficient, or limiting to production.

Plant tissue tests provide a more accurate reflection of nutrient uptake than soil tests alone, and this is particularly important for Mo, as tissue testing is the only way to determine sufficiency.

Spring is the perfect time to do a plant tissue test, as pastures are actively growing and it’s easy to select a good representative sample. In pasture systems, plant tissue testing offers insights into animal nutrition and wellbeing.

Deficiencies in Cu, for example, can impact ruminant health, while Mo plays a key role in nitrogen (N) fixation for legumes and can influence nitrate accumulation in grasses.

Incitec Pivot Fertilisers’ (IPF) Nutrient Advantage ® Laboratory offers a complete pasture tissue testing service.

Once you know the nutrient status of your pasture, use an NPKS fertiliser blend such as an IPF Boosta, or a Greentop blend to help meet nutrient requirements in a single pass. Green Urea NV®, from IPF’s Smart range of enhanced efficiency fertilisers can protect up to 25% of applied N from loss.

Green Urea NV® slows the conversion of urea to ammonia, keeping more N in the soil.

Remember that rounding out nutrient budgets with plant tissue testing is a sound strategy to help correct deficiencies this season while also providing a head start in planning for next season’s fertiliser program. For more information please visit https://www.incitecpivotfertilisers.com.au/ productivity-pays-in-spring-pastures

On a progressive journey to

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

WILCO DROPPERT and Sandra Jefford are feeling over-exposed in the dairy industry, but it is for good reasons.

They are the principals of Wilandra Farms and they have been taking risks to improve the viability of their farm, as they work towards becoming a carbon neutral business.

In the process, they have been hosting multiple field days and attending speaking engagements, to explain their business model.

Wilco and Sandra were dairy farming in another region of Victoria’s Gippsland, where rainfall was plentiful and regular; when they decided they wanted a bigger challenge.

They bought a dryland dairy farm at Clydebank, and over several years they have converted a substantial percentage of the property to irrigation, and adopted technology to considerably improve their efficiency and reduce their emissions footprint.

It is a progressive journey that is challenging and rewarding, and they are embracing it.

Since 2011, Wilco and Sandra have implemented significant renewable energy solutions and technology on their farm.

The farm is 370 hectares of sandy loam over clay soils on flat to slight undulating country, across eight titles.

They milk 380 cows year-round, an increase of 30 head in recent years as more irrigation country is developed and re-pastured.

Wilco and Sandra began farming organically as soon as possible after purchase, and their farm has been certified organic since 2020.

“We’ve been certified organic milk producers for five years, but because we farmed organically prior to certification, no synthetic fertiliser is used on the farm,” Sandra said.

In recent years, they have invested in four wind turbines and a considerable number of solar panels to harness renewable energy, which enables them to power pumps to irrigate paddocks during the daytime.

This change alone has improved their wellbeing; with no irrigation at night they have excluded occupational risk around operating machinery in the dark.

They now identify and resolve irrigation problems during the day. Operating costs are cheaper than grid power. The couple also sleep better.

“We irrigate 185ha with pivots, and we were using K-line sprinklers on other paddocks, but now we’ve converted to permanent sprayers,” Wilco said.

Water is directed from the nearby Avon River and two bores, into storage dams, and

pumps and management control systems use renewable energy to irrigate their pastures and crops.

As more water storage points are built, Wilco and Sandra add more renewable energy to enable more irrigation to occur.

They have 249 kilowatts of solar panels and 20kW of wind turbines.

Their journey in using renewable energy began with the first installation of 29kW of solar panels, in 2017, on their dairy shed roof. They installed a CO2 heat pump to replace a conventional hot water service, and use solar power during the middle of the day — the alignment of the panels enables solar power generation in the middle of the day.

Both changes achieved about a 40 per cent energy reduction.

Sandra said, in hindsight, they may have been better off installing more solar panels, improved the orientation for energy generation, and continue to use a conventional hot water service.

Other modifications included replacing old vacuum pumps with a low vacuum pump in the dairy.

What Wilco and Sandra didn’t know, was how much irrigation cost them in real terms.

“In 2017, a very dry year, we used approximately 500,000 kW hours of electricity and 23,000 litres of diesel for irrigation,” Sandra said.

“This resulted in massive greenhouse gas emissions and huge energy bills.”

Wilco and Sandra realised they wanted to change the way they were farming, and to invest in technology that would reduce their energy bills and their farm’s emissions and carbon footprint.

There are further complications because each of their eight titles has its own electricity meter, which means they are paying multiple times for the right to use grid power. It also prevents them from balancing the use of renewable energy on one title against grid power on another title.

A farm-scale change needed to occur.

“In 2018, we conducted an energy audit and received recommendations about reducing energy use in the dairy,” Sandra said.

These recommendations included changing their submersible pump to one that would more efficiently work in their system, producing greater flow capacity; and they installed wider piping, again to improve efficiency. Those changes reduced their energy use by 38 per cent, and the return on investment was final within 4.5 years.

Wilco said some of the inefficiencies were

their carbon-neutral future

around friction loss through irrigation pipe that was the wrong diameter and using the wrong pumps.

“Once we changed to a submersible pump, the power used went down to 25 per cent of what we were originally using per megalitre,” he said.

They also replaced a diesel pump with two electric pumps and, because these were powered by solar panels, utilised daytime hours to move water around their property.

“Under the audit, it was estimated we would save about $18,000 a year, with a payback period of 2.4 years,” Sandra said.

“Before we even look at solar, we saved so much money. When we did that energy audit, we had a 55 kW bore pump in one bore, which is more suited to a 37 kW pump,” Wilco said.

“We learned to look at the efficiency point at each pump and then basically figure out what we want.

“We want to be most efficient when we’re using the most amount of power, when all the sprinklers are working; and turn off all those pumps that operate at lower speeds when there’s only one bay running.

“So we spent a bit of time just figuring out what pump we were going with to make sure we got the right pump for the job, and use it as efficient as we can.”

Wilco and Sandra successfully applied for funding through Agriculture Victoria’s Agriculture Energy Investment Plan, to help them to upgrade their infrastructure and install 200kW of solar panels and 20kW of wind turbines along with an energy management system that automatically controls water pumping based on the available renewable energy.

Their bank provided them with a loan package that recognised how their investment in technology improved the carbon footprint of their agribusiness.

Through on-farm experimentation and trial, Wilco and Sandra have realised solar power is the energy source with the most valuable return on investment.

Irrigation costs dropped from $80,000 in 2021, to about $1200 in 2022. They also put power back into the grid, so their cost per kW hour has reduced from 24 cents to -3 cents.

They have also saved themselves time — about 15 hours a week — and are considerably less hands-on with their irrigation system, especially since installing fixed sprinklers in paddocks where a K-line system was used.

At a field day hosted by Wilandra Farms, Wilco discussed a project to utilise surplus power they were generating from a bank of solar panels, to change the K-line system to a

fixed sprinkler system across 20ha of paddocks, at a cost of close to $6000/acre.

The project received 10 per cent funding from the West Gippsland Catchment Management Service, which Wilco said justified he and Sandra’s intent to proceed with their plans.

These paddocks had been problematic, with insufficient water flow to justify laser graded irrigation. The K-line sprinkler pods required significant labour and were often left to flow while other work took priority elsewhere on the farm.

“At this bore we have 50kW of solar panels and we wanted to mop up some of that surplus power — which was going into the grid — and use it to pump water for fixed sprinklers on this part of the farm,” Sandra said.

As a result of their water audit, the couple had already increased the diameter of the pipeline that was moving the water from the bore to a dam.

A major infrastructure change saw Wilco build a bigger storage dam to support the new irrigation system. At its centre, the dam is five metres deep.

To maximise efficiency, Wilco decided to float the pump on the dam. He said this decision minimised energy requirements to the pump, because it was so close to the water source.

A new pump house was built beside the dam, which is all close by the already-installed solar panels.

“With using solar energy, it’s just a different thought process because you don’t have constant power generation,” Wilco said.

The irrigation system is designed to maximise how much solar power is available.

The management system divides sprinklers into banks; and on a good solar day, enough power is generated to run multiple banks of sprinklers and pump water from the bore into the holding dam.

The system is programmed to prioritise filling the dam, then with sufficient power generation the sprinklers are activated.

“In the morning, the irrigation pump is running at 14 to 15 kW, and we’ll have a valve open and one bank of sprinklers are spraying,” Wilco said.

“Then after about an hour, the bore pump comes on at around 15 kW, when there’s enough excess solar here; and the second lot of sprinklers come on.

“During the middle of the day, we’ll have three valves open, and the system will keep running the rest of the day to absorb all of the solar energy.”

There was no intention to use these paddocks for silage, which complemented the grid of fixed sprinklers. These paddocks are close to the dairy and ideal for grazing.

The fixed sprinklers are laid out in a rectangular pattern, at 35-metre spacing.

“Clydebank bore water is pretty harsh, so we also wanted the spacing to make sure we didn’t coat the sprinklers with the harsh water and reduce the risk of corrosion,” Wilco said.

“So we’ve actually spread the distance between sprinklers out an extra metre to try and look after the infrastructure.”

Wilco chose to use large diameter pipes to reduce the pressure requirements in the new system. Water from the dam initially travels along 200mm diameter pipes that split into six-inch and then 100mm pipes near the sprinkler valves. Each sprinkler rig is designed to use five litres/second of water.

The sprinklers work to ensure at least two and up to eight millimetres of water is sprayed across the paddocks on each shift.

“When I look at the pasture I can’t see any difference from one spot to another, and I think that’s good enough for me,” Wilco said.

He now intends to apply the same principles to another area of the farm that Wilco and Sandra want to bring on with irrigation.

“This system has to be low maintenance, we’ve got to get away from the labour component of irrigating the farm,” Wilco said.

Wilco said that in considering what to do on this part of the farm, choosing a fixed sprinkler system over a mobile lateral spray also enabled

them to include 12 rows of trees, incorporating 10 ha of the farm.

Wilco and Sandra support renewable energy production and expanding irrigation with a philosophy based around regenerative farming techniques, that includes revegetation.

“We plant trees to provide cattle with shelter and shade, and to support biodiversity on the farm,” Sandra said.

A forestry consultant has guided them to achieve successfully planting 11,000 trees, including 9000 agroforestry plantings using a mix of yellow stringybark, red ironbark, spotted gum, coastal grey box, sheoak and sugar gum.

They have committed to planting 20,000 trees by 2030, to provide shade, create windbreaks and sequester carbon.

Wilco and Sandra are actively managing their land to increase soil carbon — they have learned as much as they can about soil biology and planting for biodiversity. They have also started a registered soil carbon project.

“We can see a lot of future benefits in planting the trees the way we’re doing it now,” Wilco said.

“We’ll get shelter and shade for the cows, biodiversity for birds on the farm – we’ve got 98 species of birds here now, so we expect to get more.

“And it’s a more pleasant place to work.

“Having the sprinklers has enabled us to integrate more trees and that’s just going to be an ongoing thing for us.”

ɋ Find more photos with this story online at: www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au

Fonterra posts billion-dollar profit

THE NEW Zealand-based Fonterra Co-operative group has reported a financial year profit of NZ$1.7 billion, up from NZ$1.5 billion the previous year.

The after tax profit was NZ$1.1 billion, equivalent to earnings per share of 65¢.

The group, which includes its Australian business, reported revenue of NZ$26 billion and delivered NZ$16.2 billion in total cash returns to shareholders.

The final farm gate milk price for the 2024-25 season was $NZ10.16/kg MS,

equating to NZ$15.3 billion in milk payments to New Zealand farmers, up NZ$3.8 billion on last year.

The group also announced a full year dividend of 57¢ fully imputed, and at the upper end of its dividend policy, equating to NZ$916 million of cash to shareholders and unit holders. This is comprised of a 22¢ interim dividend and 35¢ final dividend.

Chief executive officer Miles Hurrell said FY25 was one of the co-op’s strongest years yet in terms of shareholder returns.

“We continue to see good demand from global customers for our high-quality products made from New Zealand farmers’ milk and this is driving returns through both the farm gate milk price and dividends,” Mr Hurrell said.

“Our vision is to be the source of the world’s most valued dairy.

“Our strategy is designed to grow end-toend value for farmers by focusing on being a B2B dairy nutrition provider, working closely with customers through our high-performing Ingredients and Foodservice channels.

“During the year, we’ve taken important steps towards this goal, including running a robust divestment process for global Consumer and associated businesses.

“This resulted in an agreement to sell the businesses to Lactalis for NZ$4.22 billion, subject to approvals.

“We’re also positioning the co-op to deliver further value through our Foodservice and Ingredients businesses, including continuing to invest in new manufacturing capability to meet growing customer demand for our high-value products.

“We have a pipeline of potential growth investments we’re assessing, with plans to invest up to NZ$1 billion over the next three to four years in projects to generate further value and drive operational cost efficiencies.”

Mr Hurrell said in line with its strategy to focus on its Ingredients and Foodservice businesses, during the financial year, Fonterra undertook a dual-track divestment process for its global Consumer and associated businesses.

The company is selling the Oceania division, which includes Australian operations, to Lactalis.

PASTURE SMARTER, NOT HARDER

AGRONOMIC ADVICE and insights were supplied in spades at the 2025 Valley Seeds Field Day in north-eastern Victoria.

Held at Yarck on September 3, attendees had a hands-on look at demonstration and trial pasture plots that showcased products from across the pasture industry, and also their research and development efforts in driving data-based advice and products.

Led by agronomist Adam Meusburger, the trials demonstrated how sowing rates influence both yield and feed quality.

“We’re testing a variety of Persian clover x Italian ryegrass sowing rates,” Adam said.

“The aim is to gather empirical data to support pasture decision-making for dairy farmers by comparing feed quality to yield at different sowing rates.

“Our research and development teams work closely with us to ensure we provide pastures that deliver high feed quality — not just empty bulk feed.”

The trials will empower agronomists to create data-driven tailored pasture solutions for different dairy operations.

Adam said ensuring bulk feed does not come at the expense of quality is essential.

Quality feed is high in protein, energy-rich, and easily digestible, supplying animals with the nutrition needed to maintain growth and milk production even when paddocks brown off in summer,“ he said.

“It’s about giving farmers the right feed, at the right time, for their system. More digestible feed means higher intake, faster growth in heifers, and improved milk yields.”

Valley Seeds also showcased its VSeries Hay & Silage Blends – Early and Late.

Adam said these blends provide balanced energy and protein and are versatile for both grazing and silage production, offering farmers

a reliable, high-quality, high-yield feedbase throughout the season.

Key takeaways for dairy farmers from the field day:

ɋ Sowing rate matters: Talk to your agronomist about the best sowing rate for your farm operation goals.

ɋ Quality feed counts: High-yielding pastures don’t always mean high-quality feed. Understand the balance of quality versus yield.

ɋ Tailor to your system: Use sowing rates to match herd size and operational goals — one size doesn’t fit all.

MURRAY REGION

GREEN THUMB

Ruth Robins has turned a calf paddock into a nursery on her Cohuna dairy farm. Page 6.

Chair’s message

Trials prove valuable

BY RACHAEL NAPIER

10 years, and events like this show how important that research still is.

SPRING IS well and truly under way.

Irrigation has started on time in our irrigation districts, helping to make up for a lower-than-average winter rainfall, and the season is holding firm for most of us.

The north-east, however, is still battling tough conditions and we’re hoping for a damp ending to spring everywhere.

It’s a reminder that our ability to grow and store quality fodder really sets us apart when there’s very little in storage elsewhere.

In the July issue I mentioned that Murray Dairy was running a C4Milk Roadshow and dinner in Moama in early August. It turned out to be a great success.

More than 50 farmers came along to take part in the day, sharing ideas and having strong discussions about how to grow better crops suited to dairy, and not just cropping like our cropping neighbours (let’s face it, apart from NDFs, I’m not sure my cropping neighbour knows that 4.30 comes around twice a day).

There was a lot of interest around the C4Milk trial sites.

These are test plots that look at the role of break crops in continuous forage systems and the message was clear: local research really matters, and it is important that we are solving questions that farmers and their advisers are asking.

Murray Dairy has been running forage research projects for our region for more than

Meeting efficiency goals with low-cost energy

Burra Foods, a leading dairy producer, now sources renewable energy through a 10-year partnership with Flow Power and Ararat Wind Farm This sustainable solution supports its high-demand operations, cuts costs, and contributes to a cleaner energy future.

The C4Milk Roadshow reinforced that past projects like Fodder for the Future are still relevant and important, so we are now working on new ways to share those results too so that more farmers can learn from them.

Related to this, Dairy Australia recently asked for new ideas on forage research.

After speaking extensively to dairy farmers and their advisers, Murray Dairy put in two proposals.

They included one to continue the C4Milk trials for more years so we can better understand break crops over time.

We don’t know the outcome of the submissions yet, but we are excited by what we heard during our conversations.

We have also been having a lot of chats with discussion groups and Dairy Business Network Groups to understand how Murray Dairy can support them, what is important to them, and how we can work together on regional dairy leadership development.

Murray Dairy believes that peer-to-peer networks are very important for ensuring that farmers have a strong support network, as well as access to information and knowledge sharing.

This has been my personal experience in the Southern Riverina and my partners with their DBN.

More widely, the farmers we have been speaking with have shared lots of great ideas for their groups, including ways some need or

want to do things differently.

The great thing about peer-to-peer networks is that they are not all the same, and they shouldn’t be.

Lastly, I’d like to thank Fiona Elgin for her outstanding contribution to the Murray Dairy Board.

Fiona has been with us for about 10 months while Amy Fay has been on maternity leave. Fiona’s skills and experience have helped the board finalise transitioning to new ways of working with Dairy Australia, and I've lost count of the number of farmers and advisers she has spoken to, in our quest for better outcomes for our farmers.

I speak on behalf of the Murray Dairy Board when I say that Fiona has left us all better directors. We wish her all the best.

Rachael Napier is the Murray Dairy chair.

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Top Holsteins sell at auction

BY GEOFF ADAMS

YOUNG HOLSTEIN dairy cows from a top-rated northern Victorian herd sold up to $13,000 in Shepparton on September 11.

The cattle were from the Kaarmona herd of the Sprunt family at Bunbartha, which holds the number two-rated herd under the rating, genomic Balanced Performance Index, across Australia. Kaarmona holds master breeder status for both its Holstein and Jersey herds.

The Sprunts offered up 55 spring-calved Holsteins, which were promptly snapped up by a number of breeders in person and online. All sold.

Dairy Livestock Services auctioneer Brian Leslie said the outstanding offering was purchased by buyers from every part of the Victorian dairy industry for an average of $4315.

More than 50 per cent of the sales went to online buyers.

The top-selling Destiny cow boasted a butterfat test of 5.0 in her first lactation and sold for $13,000 to the Shannons at Katunga, in spirited bidding.

Second highest-selling lot was Kaarmona Dynasty Holly 5, which, despite being offered at the end of the catalogue, sold for $10,000.

Meyview dispersal sale

In an earlier Dairy Livestock Services sale, the Meyview commercial Holstein dispersal sale topped $7250, and averaged $3840.

A large crowd attended the second stage dispersal of the Meyview Commercial Holstein herd of the Waaia Meyland Family on August 29.

The offering was currently averaging 42 litres with a cell count of just 59.

The sale top of $7250 was for a third lactation AltaDateline daughter milking 60 litres.

The top-selling milking heifer was a twoyear-old daughter of Dreambig milking 51 litres and selling for $6400.

The top-selling second lactation cow made $6300 for a three-year-old daughter of Hancock.

Other sales included a Supernatural twoyear-old milking 49 litres at $5600, a six-yearold Altaspring daughter milking 58 litres also at $5600, a four-year-old GGIGermanboy daughter milking 54 litres at $5200 and a four-year-old AltaGopro milking 60 litres at $5000.

The 166 Holsteins grossed $637,350 with an average of $3840.

Buyers were from all parts of Victoria and Southern NSW.

PREPARING FOR SPRING AND SUMMER

SPRING BRINGS fresh growth and opportunity across Murray dairy farms.

While some are managing through drier conditions, there are still practical steps to make the most of the season ahead.

By preparing early, farmers can protect herd health, optimise feed resources, and ensure pastures deliver as much as possible.

Dairy Australia has developed a suite of resources to support decision-making and help farm businesses stay on track through spring and summer.

Well-managed transition cows and dry cows are the foundation of herd performance.

Tools like the Checklist for Transition Cow Management and Feeding Early Dry Cows Well show how nutrition at this stage directly influences future production and fertility.

Complementary resources such as Feed Value Varies in Different Feeds and Impacts of Your Feeding Decisions provide guidance on

weighing up feed options, while Observing and Quantifying Cow Signs supports daily herd monitoring to ensure timely adjustments. For many, water and feed availability remain tight. Summer cropping can provide flexibility,

and Dairy Australia’s guides on chicory, millet, sorghum and turnips offer insights into establishment, feed value and risk management.

Farmers already mapping out summer rotations will find these resources valuable in

fine-tuning decisions to suit local conditions.

Maximising what spring delivers is equally important.

Fact sheets such as Making the Most of Spring Pasture and Managing Pasture Paddocks in Dry Conditions outline grazing strategies to sustain productivity.

Maximising Spring Feed with Nitrogen steps through targeted fertiliser use, helping farmers stretch limited feed and maintain herd performance through a dry season.

All resources, including fact sheets, videos and decision-support tools, are available via Dairy Australia’s Spring Preparation in Drought hub at:dairyaustralia.com.au/murray Farmers are also encouraged to call the Dairy Australia Murray team on (03) 4811 6008 for a chat. Our team is here to meet on-farm or over the phone to help you prepare, adapt and focus forward this spring and summer.

A TEAM BUILT FOR CONNECTION

STRONG CONNECTIONS are at the heart of a strong dairy industry.

In the Murray region, Dairy Australia’s extension team — Ross Read, Lauren Mackey and Natasha (Tasha) King — provide the vital link between research and real-world application on-farm.

Their role is to ensure the latest science, resources and tools translate into practical improvements that deliver results for farm businesses.

Working alongside farmers every day, Ross, Lauren and Tasha connect knowledge with action.

They share evidence-based information that supports herd health decisions, guides feedbase planning, and addresses complex business challenges, helping farmers navigate pressures as well as opportunities.

The Murray team does not work in isolation. It partners with education and training providers, local organisations, industry groups, research and development corporations, and government to deliver a broad range of programs and services.

These collaborations will continue to evolve so that farmers across the Murray region have access to support that is relevant, practical and timely.

Dairy Australia’s resources span key areas including animal health, feedbase management, animal nutrition, agribusiness, natural resource management and career development.

Workshops, events and online tools are designed to build farm business capability, boost resilience and help businesses stay ahead of industry change.

Upcoming events and workshops in the Murray region cover everything from calf rearing to carbon, and effluent to employment.

The team adjusts and adapts dynamically to seasonal and regional needs, ensuring that sessions are practical and locally relevant.

Every event provides farmers with the opportunity to learn, ask questions and connect with experts and peers.

To see what’s coming up near you, visit the events calendar atdairyaustralia.com.au/ murrayor contact the Murray extension team on (03) 4811 6008.

Taking time out to catch up

BY SOPHIE BALDWIN

DAIRYING CAN be a tough and stressful industry at times.

Around 20 dairy farming women from across the Alpine Valley recently met up in Corryong for a morning tea to touch base and check in on their mates.

The morning tea was sponsored by Alpine Valleys Dairy.

Organiser Meaghan Daly said it was a great couple of hours.

“This is the second event we have held and it was great with lots of positive feedback,” Meaghan said.

She said women on dairy farms often wear many hats — working as a labour unit, running the books and taking care of the family and organising kids.

“The dairy industry can be tough one and women are very supportive — it is important to take some time out and check in.”

Meaghan said this had become even more apparent with some tragic losses experienced in the region, including the recent suicide of a local dairy farmer.

“We have a great ability to talk to and support each other. We understand floods, fires, sudden deaths and we do get around and support each other when times are tough.”

Meaghan has been farming at Jingellic for 14 years.

She now works full-time on the family farm and is a first responder with Ambulance Victoria.

“Mental health is a big part of our role there, too.”

She said Alpine Valley farmers are looking forward to a good season after a tough 2024-25.

“We have got grass ready to silage and we are just waiting for a window of opportunity. We have used up our fodder reserves and need to build them back up again.”

The family invested in a 20-a-side swingover dairy 12 years ago, and moved away from flood irrigation to the use of pivots.

They have figured out what works best for their own management, which includes keeping herd numbers around 200.

“We milk mainly Friesians and some Jersey and Jersey-crosses for extra butterfat,” Meaghan said.

“We received a milk quality award this year which makes getting up early in the morning worth it.”

The milking platform consists of 127ha out of the 607ha.

Meaghan is expecting her three adult sons to come home over the next five years.

“We want to keep going for the next generation,” she said.

Maree Colbert also attended the morning tea.

She agrees that it is important to keep in touch.

“We are always on the front foot picking up the pieces and we don’t always find the time to catch up, which is part of good mental health,” Maree said.

She said the region has been through some particularly tough times including the tragic fires of 2019.

“That was a horrific time which exhausted many, and farmers are still grappling with all of that.”

Maree said she lost property at Tintaldra but luckily their young stock took shelter in the dam and were saved.

She said her neighbours were not so lucky.

“Their cows are now buried on our place.”

Maree said said everything happened so quickly but the memory of having to euthanise cattle lives on in many people.

Both Meaghan and Maree recently attended the 2025 National Bale Up Conference, which was held in Kingscliff, NSW.

“It is great to get away and meet up with other women who understanding and deal with the same issues,” Maree said.

“The morning tea was a great platform to update others on Bale Up as well.”

Maree came home to the family farm in 2003 after purchasing her brother’s share.

Their operation now milks up to 240 split-calving cows.

“Our herd is predominantly Friesian with 20 to 30 Jerseys now giving it a nice bit of colour,” she said.

Rose Turner said the morning tea provided a lovely relaxing chat and a chance to talk about what has been happening on the farm among other things.

“I try to attend as many of these events as I can,” Rose said.

“My partner moved back to his family farm five years ago and I was travelling back to Wodonga — now that I have moved here permanently I am looking to get more involved and it has been a great way to meet new people.”

If this story has raised any personal issues for you, call Lifeline on 131 114.

Farmers are daring to dairy

BY SOPHIE BALDWIN

DAIRY FARMERS from the Upper Murray, Tallangatta, Kiewa, Mitta Mitta, Ovens, King and Upper Broken valleys were recently treated to two events to help celebrate community, resilience and the future of the industry.

An initiative of Alpine Valleys Dairy (AVD), the Dare to Dairy Dinner saw two successful regional dinners held in Milawa and Corryong, which brought together more than 220 passionate members of the dairy community.

AVD chair Ebony Mull said the dinners followed on from a very successful and well-attended event resurrected last year.

The Milawa Dare to Dairy Dinner was held in the heart of Victoria’s gourmet region and welcomed more than 100 attendees, predominantly farming families and their staff.

The evening featured comedy act the Nelson Twins and was an opportunity for farmers to step away from the farm and catch up with friends, and network with other farmers from across the region.

“Last season was a particularly tough one for so many — prioritising a night out and having some fun was very much needed,” Ebony said.

Following the Milawa event, the Corryong event drew an even larger crowd, with more than 120 people in attendance.

The Corryong gathering reinforced the strong sense of community within the Upper Murray and surrounding valleys.

Farmer and sub-committee lead Laura Thompson said the Dare to Dairy dinners were more than just a meal.

“They are about bringing together local farmers, industry partners, and supporters to celebrate, connect, and help shape a strong future for our dairy industry,” Laura said.

“We are proud to see such strong turnouts at this year’s regional events, and it’s inspiring to witness the continued enthusiasm for the future of dairy in our region.

“It was especially heartening to see the room filled with laughter and joy in communities that have weathered both seasonal and personal challenges in recent times.”

Dairy farmer Meaghan Daly from Jingellic attended the Corryong event.

She said it was just fabulous.

“Over 120 farmers from Corryong and Tallangatta were there and it was a great opportunity to connect with other farmers, catch up on what has been happening and enjoy a bit of comedy from the Nelson Twins,” Meaghan said.

“Every second year is a low-key event and this was just fantastic and a real credit to Alpine Valleys Dairy.”

Ebony said the events were only made possible due to the support from generous sponsors including Wangaratta Veterinary Clinic, who was the gold sponsor.

“Silver sponsors were AgriGene, JBS (formerly Rivalea), Leading Dairy Services, Mountain Milk, Country Life Law.

“Bronze sponsors were Ag Warehouse, Flanigan Contracting, Shine at AgriBusiness, Genetics Australia, Kyvalley Dairy, AlfaGen Seeds, Tallangatta Farm services and Walwa Veterinary Practice.”

Support was also received from the National Centre for Farmer Health with the Look Over the Farm Gate Community Grant, and support from North East Catchment Management Authority

“AVD continues to play a vital role in

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She said AVD will continue to support the dairy industry via education, innovation, collaboration and positive promotion.

“We are building up momentum and we are all looking forward to a better season ahead — recent rains have put us in a far better position than where we were this time last year.”

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Flexing their green thumbs

BY SOPHIE BALDWIN

THE CALF paddock on the dairy farm of Ruth and Russ Robins at Cohuna has had quite the makeover, after the family decided to take the plunge and follow a long-held dream to establish a nursery and country garden.

Up until September last year, the site was still used as their main calf paddock.

“I was helping Russ with his contracting driving tractors and my daughter Emily asked me ‘what do you really to do Mum’ and I said I just want to garden all day,” Ruth said.

“Cohuna no longer had a place to buy plants after the Elm Tree Nursery closed and I thought that’s what I want to do — run a nursery from our farm.”

So with encouragement from their two girls, the couple decided to get their hands dirty, give it a go and establish their nursery ‘Robins Nest’.

They lasered the calf paddock and the first plants were in the garden beds by the end of September 2024.

And then with the establishment of a shade house, they were up and running.

Ruth said Emily has a background in marketing and she encouraged Ruth to host an open day on Mother’s Day this year.

“We weren’t really expecting too many people to turn up but the car park was full and people just kept driving in — it was amazing,” she said.

“We had so much support and positive feedback from so many lovely gardeners who really liked our space and said what a good job we had done.”

Ruth said so many people lamented the fact they didn’t have a nursery in their town and they loved that she was giving it a go.

Like all new business operators, the couple have some pretty big plans for their future.

“Money is a limiting factor at the moment because we are just getting started but down the track we have plans to build a big barn style shed to house other lines including garden furniture, pots and of course more plants,” Ruth said.

Currently they stock fruit trees, citrus, ornamentals, natives, roses and lots of cottage plants including salvias, fuchsias, penstemons and other perennials.

Ruth also has a personal interest in medicinal herbs.

“We are trying to get in the stock people are asking for and we have just started stocking potting mix and a few other lines including some organic fertilisers.

“Of course we have plans to grow all our lines in the future, Christine (former Elm Tree Nursery owner) has been so supportive.”

The couple intend to make their nursery a destination garden as well.

“We know people who love gardens love to travel and have a wander and that will be our target audience — we want to eventually attract people from across the state as well as locals,” Ruth said.

They are also in the process of building a post-and-rail fence around the nursery with timber they harvested from their property.

“The previous owner of the farm established a timber plantation on an area where he couldn’t grow any feed,” Ruth said.

“We were able to harvest some of that timber ourselves with the help of a contractor and use it to build our fence — there is still plenty of timber left behind and it is still like a forest down there.”

Ruth and Russ purchased their dairy farm in 2009.

“We are trying to get in the stock people are asking for and we have just started stocking potting mix and a few other lines including some organic fertilisers,” Ruth Robins says.

Over the years they built stock numbers up and transitioned the 180-head, year-round-calving Holstein herd to A2.

They currently supply ACM.

“We aren’t quitting the industry. Our two girls are still very keen on the dairying side of things — we are just diversifying,” Ruth said.

“The girls will eventually take over the running of the farm and Ruth and I will just run the nursery,” Russ said.

Fresh focus is paying o

BY SOPHIE BALDWIN

KATANDRA WEST dairy farmers Gayle and Laurie Clark have redirected their focus when it comes to employing staff.

The couple has chosen to focus on young staff and it’s paying off.

“We had a young guy from New Zealand come to work with us in the summer of 2023 and he enjoyed it so much he came back to work for us permanently,” Gayle said.

“We now have four non-family members employed; they are all young and they all do an amazing job.

“They all live together in the one house so different maturities wouldn’t work.”

The young team brings a whole lot of energy and enthusiasm to the job, which also inspires Gayle and Laurie.

They work on a rotating roster with four on (two early and two late) in the dairy and two days off.

“We also try to find the niche of what they like to do and balance that alongside the jobs that have to be done,” Gayle said.

Providing an environment where their young workers can grow has also been rewarding for the couple.

“We get a lot of enjoyment watching the kids gain skills, confidence and knowledge and reach the potential they are capable of.”

She said young people are inspired by nature and agriculture, and animal

husbandry is proving to be a popular career choice.

“We always get a good number of prospects when we advertise.”

Gayle said one of the keys to their success has been finding an advertising platform which works well for their business.

“We have redirected our focus to training a more permanent workforce rather than using backpackers and we acknowledge there is always going to be some sort of training involved.

“We would rather put that energy into permanent staff than someone who moves on in three months’ time, and we have to start the process all over again.”

After purchasing their water requirements for spring, the season ahead is looking positive and the business is focused on maximising home-grown feed.

The Clarks have just finished their third calving for the year. They have one more in November and then it is a nice easy cruise into Christmas and the new year.

Herd numbers will hit 450 and there is a large number of young stock surplus to their needs ready to come through over coming seasons.

Sexed semen is used on the high-grade cows with Wagyu used on the lesser-quality cows.

This year they put Angus over the heifers and Gayle said she has been surprised by the calving ease.

This has meant they have had to be on the ball when it comes to tagging because they certainly haven’t had to spend as much time watching heifers calve, and Waygu and Angus both produce black calves.

“We need to make sure the calves make it to their right destination,” Gayle said.

Gayle is also trialling running donkeys with the calves after purchasing two jennyies privately.

“This idea has been in the back of my mind for a couple years and when the opportunity came I decided to go for it — we do get foxes from time to time.”

Gayle did look at other options.

“I had to train a Maremma and feed it independently, an alpaca needed to be shorn and I thought donkeys have a simple diet and could just run with the calves.

“We just have to make sure they don’t have any additives for ruminants like Rumensin or Bovatec.

“Donkeys have good mothering instincts and in the presence of an intruder like a fox they will bray.”

Donkeys are very social and require the company of another animal, so Gayle couldn’t just purchase one — she got two and they do have the potential to live up to 50 years old.

“We are trying something new and in the future we may even breed from them.

“Our two will come up for carrots but they were rescues from Queensland originally

and it would be great to have really friendly donkeys.

“Having pets around a farm is great for everyone’s mental health.”

Just add water, and boom

BY SOPHIE BALDWIN

IT HAS been a couple of years since Jodie and Col Hay established two wetlands on their Cohuna dairy farm, but the results have left them amazed.

After purchasing a neighbouring property to increase the cropping side of their operation, the couple was also keen to start rehabilitating the degraded remnant wetlands that came with the purchase.

This has resulted in preservation of two wetlands — Papps, a 5ha site, and the 4ha Hornsby Rd site — both were disconnected from the irrigation system by the previous corporate owners and were degraded and salty.

“We got in contact with the Murray-Darling Working Wetland Group and in 2023 we entered a partnership to set about restoring these areas,” Jodie said.

She said working with Jane White, they were able to identify suitable ephemeral wetlands for rehydration and they also spent a lot of time looking at the pre-European vegetation community map so they could begin revegetation.

They also fenced off both wetlands to exclude stock.

“The MDWWG were very excited about Papps, which was basically just a large depression in the ground.

“We knew it was a low area, but it was very degraded and salt-affected, but they believed with some low revegetation work and water, the area would make a perfect habitat for the brolga.”

And low and behold, after putting water in the wetland for the first time in autumn, five brolgas turned up and spent a month on the property.

“Col has lived here for 57 years and had never seen a brolga before, it was just amazing, and we couldn’t believe it,” Jodie said.

“Once the water went in, it just boomed.”

She said ducks, spoonbills, swans, stilts and dotterels have all called the wetland home along with vegetation including nardoo, sedges and trefoil among others.

She said one thing they have had to keep on top of is feral animals.

“Foxes have moved into the area as well, but we have some people who come in regularly and help keep their numbers under control.”

Jodie said the Hornsby Rd site had also been a great success.

In fact, that particular site holds has the highest documented bird diversity across all of the MDWWG wetlands.

“This wetland is different to Papps, but it has also boomed with the application of environmental water.”

The couple planted 300 trees and they have taken off.

“Field and game came out and installed some hen houses on the wetland and some parrot boxes in the neighbouring trees and they are going to monitor them down the track.”

She said this site was a little more salty and could make the perfect home for some small bodied fish like the Murray hardy head.

“Our wetlands do give us a lot of joy, especially when we are working in that area or driving past.”

The Hornsby Rd site is on a public road and they often get people stopping by.

“It has become a place of interest for the extended community, and we have had some people come in and photograph it and host bird surveys.”

Eventually, the couple hopes to have around 40ha set aside for wetland protection.

“Our family has farmed in this area since 1967,” Jodie said.

“We have planted a large number of trees around fences and along roadsides to establish habitat and wildlife corridors and shade for our stock.

“The network of irrigation channels, drains and pasture also play a role in our on-farm ecosystem and we are balancing staple food

production alongside environmental outcomes, and it is so rewarding.”

She said the original purpose of purchasing the neighbouring property was to increase their home-grown fodder capacity and build up a feed bank to navigate an uncertain water market, the impact of buybacks and dry seasons.

After buying the property it flooded in 2022, a freak tornado took out their wheat crop in 2023 and despite a summer flood in the same year, they finally got a harvest in 2023.

“The biodiversity we have on our farm highlights how primary production and native species can coexist,” Jodie said.

“Through drought and dry conditions irrigation provides a refuge and a safety net – not just for staple food production, but also for

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Bull honours a great mate

GIPPSLAND FARMER Daryl Hoey has had numerous bulls go into the AI system, but his latest addition is something special.

GT, which is joining the Genetics Australia Jersey portfolio this spring, has been named in honour of Daryl’s great mate, Greg Tiller.

While it’s a bittersweet moment, it also gives Daryl great pride to recognise the contribution Greg made to his Beulah Jerseys herd and to the cattle breeding industry in general.

Greg died suddenly on August 20, 2023, after a 20-year career as a Genetics Australia field sales representative based at Rochester in northern Victoria.

Daryl now farms at Wonthaggi but met Greg not long after he bought his previous farm at Katunga in 2002.

“Greg started at GA a few months after we bought the farm and he became one of my best friends,” Daryl said.

“We spent plenty of hours on the phone or at the kitchen table discussing genetics.

“My enjoyment out of breeding cows and breeding bulls has never been the same since the loss of Greg.

“I’ve lost someone that I spent so much time discussing and debating genetics with. His death left a massive hole in my life — I just don’t have those same conversations with anyone else.”

The connections Greg made with farmers went well beyond genetics.

“Apart from just calling on farms to make sales, Greg would talk about farming and life and making sure people were okay,” Daryl said.

“Greg was always there if you needed those conversations. He was always conscious of

other people’s circumstances and always checked in on people and made sure everyone was okay.”

Despite Daryl’s loss, GT the bull is set to do GT the man proud.

While Daryl has had plenty of bulls in AI, GT is special not only for the emotional connection but for his outstanding potential.

“I don’t necessarily strive to put a bull into AI,” he said.

“With over 80 per cent of semen used being sexed, breeding bulls is not a focus. I just strive to breed better genetics in my herd and then sometimes the genetics come together to produce something special.

“If you have consistent cow families and high-indexing animals then the chances of that happening is greater. The high genomic animals keep coming to the top if you keep breeding your better lines to good bulls.”

GT comes from a long line of cows stemming back to south-west Victorian farmers Rosemary and Pat Roache’s Fairy cow family, which produced the bull Outinfront that Genetics Australia bought more than 20 years ago.

This led to the Fairy family in Daryl’s Beulah Jerseys, one of his strongest cow families.

GT’s mother Dougg T Fairy was the number one genomics heifer in Australia, and is still ranked ninth, and his grandmother Triple N Fairy was one of the top genomic animals in her year group.

“The cow family for four or five generations has always been high on genomics for the year level and GT seems to have picked up a lot of his sire’s attributes,” Daryl said.

“He’s got strong mammary and fertility, which are some of the key areas that I’m focusing on at the moment.

“Fertility is something the breed seems to have forgotten about. He’s a really solid bull, not necessarily outstanding in one particular area but solid across the board.”

Dougg T Fairy was sent to Genetics Australia’s TLG centre at Camperdown to be flushed and when they got two heifers and two bulls, Daryl was determined to make sure a bull was named in recognition of Greg.

“We didn’t always agree but he never told you that you were wrong,” Daryl said.

“Greg always let you decide yourself but he challenged you and threw different options on the table. He always kept the communication lines open.”

Daryl now milks about 300 cows, 95 per cent Jersey, on 177 hectares near Wonthaggi.

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Taking stock of feed gaps

BY LEIGHTON HART AND GREG MORRIS

DAIRY FARMERS across Australia are reflecting on a tough 18 to 24 months marked by erratic weather, depleted feed reserves and soaring input costs.

In regions like south-west Victoria and southeast South Australia, droughts, floods and shortened growing seasons have forced many to rely heavily on purchased feed, often at record prices.

Spring presents a valuable window to establish forage crops that can bridge feed gaps through summer and autumn. These crops offer rapid growth, high digestibility and flexibility in grazing or conservation.

Brassicas — such as turnips, forage rape and leafy turnips — are fast-growing and highly digestible, making them ideal for summer grazing and bridging feed gaps.

Regrowth varieties allow multiple grazings.

Chicory, with its deep roots and drought tolerance, provides high energy and protein, suitable for grazing from late spring to autumn.

Annual or Italian ryegrass offers cheap sowing costs, quick establishment and options for grazing and silage or hay, with minimal paddock disturbance.

Sorghum is known for its rapid dry matter accumulation in warm conditions, water efficiency and low insect pressure, making it suitable for summer grazing or silage.

Maize, a high-yielding silage crop with excellent energy density, provides high yield

potential and is best suited to irrigated systems or high-input dryland farms.

To make home-grown feed work, it is essential to plan early, matching crop choice to soil type, rainfall and stock needs.

Using diverse blends can offer balanced nutrition and soil health benefits. Monitoring soil temperature ensures optimal germination conditions, and managing grazing rotations helps maintain feed quality.

For purchased feed, accurate forecasting of needs using feed budgeting tools is crucial.

Securing supply early by locking in contracts before peak demand periods can prevent shortages. Testing feed quality and allocating

high-value supplements strategically can optimise feed use.

The past two years have highlighted the vulnerability of dairy systems to external pressures but also the opportunity to build resilience through smart feed base management.

Spring forage crops offer a cost-effective, high-quality feed source that can reduce reliance on purchased inputs and improve farm profitability.

As we plan ahead, it’s important to remember that you don’t have to do it alone.

It’s also a good time to engage with your financial adviser or bank to review cashflow and plan for future investment in feed strategies.

And just as importantly, if the past couple of years have taken a toll on your wellbeing, reach out to your GP or a rural support service.

These have been tough times, and it’s okay to ask for help.

Building resilience isn’t just about feed, it’s about looking after yourself, your team and your business for the long haul.

Lean on your trusted advisers, whether that’s your agronomist, nutritionist or farm consultants. They are experts in this field and can help you make informed decisions about cropping, feed budgeting, and risk management.

Leighton Hart and Greg Morris are dairy specialists for Pioneer Seeds.

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Fuel theft is worrying

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

REPORTING FARM crime to Victoria Police has helped build a profile of criminal activity in local police districts within each of the state’s four police regions.

VH Stens

equipment to a fixed object. Install a locking mechanism on trailers, and when vehicles are not being used they should be disabled — remove the battery, spark plugs or distributor cap.”

Items could also be marked or engraved with a unique number, code or symbol, to ensure their traceability if stolen.

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Senior Constable Troy Bryan, Leongatha police officer, and Leading Senior Constable Nick Carlson, from Wonthaggi’s Active Policing Unit, are both farm crime liaison officers in the Gippsland region and had a display at the recent South Gippsland Dairy Expo.

“Also, keeping records of serial and model numbers, and photographs of equipment and tools, and invoices, helps us identify your tools and equipment when we find them,” Troy said.

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Troy said they received a lot of inquiries at the expo about local crime trends, which included a lot of theft of diesel from vehicles.

In a 2024 report, more than 20 per cent of crime reported by Australian farmers was for fuel-related theft.

Construction and agriculture businesses reported losses of $95 million from fuel-related theft each year.

Locking fuel caps on vehicles are a basic defence against thieves. The next best option is to use anti-siphoning caps, made to prevent siphoning of fuel from the vehicle.

Vehicles and fuel storage tanks should also be stored in well-lit areas. Keys should be stored elsewhere, rather than left in vehicles and close by fuel storage tanks.

A fuel storage tank should have a lockable cut-off valve, rather than the simpler nozzle and hose of traditional use. If there is an electrically controlled pump on the storage tank, the control switch should be located in a locked building, and the electricity turned off when the fuel tank is not in use.

Locating fuel storage tanks behind silos or sheds provides thieves with cover for their criminal activities.

Troy said there were opportunistic thefts of quad bikes and chainsaws occurring, and encouraged people to lock away chainsaws and remove ignition keys from quad bikes.

“Make sure your tools and equipment are secured,” he said.

“If possible, chain or secure tools and

According to the Victorian Government’s Crime Statistics Agency, vehicle theft from farms was the biggest single criminal offence reported consistently year-on-year for the past 10 years — followed by criminal damage of property, theft from a vehicle and a separate offence of theft of diesel fuel.

The Crime Statistics Agency records indicated incidences of farm crime continued to rise.

Nick said they were also talking to people about firearm safety and storage.

“A lot of people are still unsure about how to safely store their firearms, ensuring they are in an appropriate lockable storage area,” he said.

“They also need to store their ammunition in a separate lockable storage area.”

Nick said a lot of people didn’t know the regulations around safely transporting their firearms.

Information is on the Victoria Police website, at: https://www.police.vic.gov.au/ firearm-storage Loddon, Campaspe, Bendigo, East Gippsland, Greater Geelong, Pyrenees, Strathbogie and Murrindindi police districts recorded some of the highest incidences of reported farm crimes. More than half of reported crimes (61 per cent) were theft from farms. Victoria Police, Neighbourhood Watch and RACV Victoria have launched an online tool for farmers to self-assess ‘How safe is my farm’ at: https://howsafeismyplace.com.au/farm/ The online quiz enables farmers to conduct an audit of their farm to identify their farm’s vulnerabilities and how to prevent potential criminal activity on their property.

Kikuyu trials are winners

THREE NEW strains of kikuyu grass have been identified as having commercial potential for dairy pastures — a potential game-changer for farmers battling tougher climatic conditions.

Initial findings by Dairy UP researchers indicate that all three lines have promising dry matter production, genetic diversity, disease resistance and nutritional value.

For farmers whose pasture lands are increasingly subject to moisture stress and warmer temperatures, new climate-ready kikuyu grasses could provide greater flexibility.

Dairy UP researchers in collaboration with Hatton’s Turf Research are now conducting further trials on the candidate varieties.

Project lead Professor Richard Trethowan from the University of Sydney said only two new kikuyu cultivars had been released for grazing since the launch of the initial grasses more than 50 years ago.

Prof Trethowan said compared to the varieties currently used on NSW dairy farms, the new lines potentially have better disease resistance, good biomass production, tolerance to salinity and drought, and represent significant new diversity for nutritional factors.

“Current kikuyu pasture cultivars are limited in adaptation, nutritional quality and scope,” he said.

The University of Sydney in collaboration with Hatton’s Turf Research has been breeding improved kikuyu grasses for more than 15 years.

Thirteen kikuyu genotypes developed by the university and owned by Hatton’s were evaluated in small, replicated plots at the Plant Breeding Institute at Cobbitty during 2021-22, leading to the three lines being identified as candidates with potential commercial value for dairy pastures.

These three lines were further assessed in 2024-25 through replicated strip trials on three dairy farms in southern NSW at Bega, Berry and Camden.

The trials ran from November to May with the strips managed as closely as possible to the farm’s practices.

Dry matter produced at on-farm trials varied between 8 tonnes/ha and 14 tonnes/ha, but the unusually wet season meant there wasn’t an opportunity to observe differences in ability to tolerate dry conditions and subsequent impact on yield, Prof Trethowan said.

The lines were assessed for disease resistance, with all three appearing more resistant than current varieties.

Further field trials will be conducted over the 2025-26 summer to better understand the performance of the lines under different seasonal conditions.

Compared to the varieties currently used on NSW dairy farms, the new lines potentially have better disease resistance, good biomass production, tolerance to salinity and drought, and represent significant new diversity for nutritional factors.

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Robotics transform farming

ACROSS AUSTRALIA, more and more farmers are embracing robotic milking systems to enhance efficiency, improve cow health and achieve a better work-life balance.

Evan and Sheriden Williams, from Yannathan in Gippsland, have been using four GEA Monobox robots to milk 280 to 300 cows.

“We wanted to ease back, and our daughter and son-in-law have children, so the decision to build a robot, or voluntary automatic milking system, is about giving them better lifestyle opportunities,” they said.

“We were tiring of the old system; it was outdated when we bought the property, so it needed replacing.”

Willows Pastoral, at Murrabit in northern Victoria, has been operating under an automatic dairy milking system for nearly two years.

The McNeil family — Wayne, his son Nigel and daughter-in-law Jess — now milk their 200 cows with four GEA DairyRobot R9500s.

“The compact design of the DairyRobot R9500 can be easily integrated into our current facility,” Nigel said.

“This automatic milking system offers up to 19 per cent energy savings, reduced water consumption, and shorter milking times, making it both economical and environmentally friendly.”

Gary Zweck hosted an open day for GEA at his family’s Donava Holsteins in South Australia earlier this year.

“The labour requirements in farming can be quite intense and time-consuming,” Gary said.

“With GEA’s automatic milking system, we’ve gained more flexibility and a better worklife balance. The cows are also much happier and healthier.”

At Three Bridges Dairy in South Australia,

the Krichauff family has been at the forefront of innovation.

Michael Krichauff — who took over the farm from his father, Peter— decided to upgrade to an automatic milking system with four GEA DairyRobot R9500s.

He said traditionally, the day started at around 5am for the morning milking and didn’t finish until around 7.30pm.

“Now, nobody starts work before eight in the morning, and everybody’s going home by 4.30, five o’clock in the afternoon,” Michael said.

“It’s enabled us to shift the labour from putting cups on cows to focusing on better pasture management, maintaining fences, and using the labour more efficiently.”

Chloe Krichauff, representing the fourth generation, is keen on leveraging these innovations to further enhance the farm’s operations.

“Overall farm management has improved. We are able to manage the cows with more detail due to the different data that is presented to us through this system,” Chloe said.

“The GEA robots have the ability to individually divert milk from specific quarters due to the sensors and cameras the milk passes through in the robot.

“This gives us a conductivity reading which can then be compared to the cell count data to determine which quarters are high. This way we are diverting specific quarters rather than the whole milk bag.

“We use this for catching extra milk for calves which in return lowers our cell count.

“One thing we didn’t realise this would do is save money on drugs at dry-off as you can treat specific quarters due to the data not the whole milk bag,” she said.

“These robots also have the option to have

a pit behind them. We have designed our dairy with this option. Having the pit is a massive positive for us.

“If you have a cow that has failed or a heifer that keeps kicking the cups off, you have the option to take over and put them on yourselves like you would in a conventional dairy.

“The robots also have an adjustable door/ grain bin which can be set depending on the size of the cow. This comes in handy when we are training heifers as we can adjust the box one size smaller to stop them from moving back and forth and kicking the cups off.”

The Vagg family, of Bonnay Jersey Dairy in Victoria, began milking more than 600 Jersey cows using eight GEA DairyRobot R9500 units in April 2025, citing increased cow and human comfort as key benefits.

“It’s been a game-changer,” Benjamin Vagg said.

“The cows come in whenever they want — and that freedom has allowed me to spend more time with our young animals, because they’re the future of our herd.”

By embracing innovation, the Williams, Krichauff, Zweck, McNeil and Vagg families have improved their operations, work-life balance and cow welfare.

But they have also ensured a sustainable and efficient future for their farms.

“It’s a great industry to be in. I couldn’t handle sitting in a city office,” said Gary Zweck’s son, Justin, who is actively involved in the farm’s operations.

“The technology we’ve adopted has not only improved our farm’s efficiency but also allowed us to spend more time with our family.”

Chloe Krichauff also sees her future in dairy.

“I believe technology in this industry will

attract more people from the next generation as the work-life balance becomes more appealing,” she said.

“In the future I would like to expand the business into other areas where we can use our milk to produce products such as ice-cream and butter.”

ɋ Find more photos with this story online at: www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au

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HAY COULD PAY FOR NORTHERN NSW FARMERS

FARMERS ACROSS northern NSW are encouraged to enter the hay market by harnessing unused farmland and diverse seeds.

Following erratic wet and dry seasons, farmers can find efficiencies both in their paddocks and in the crop they grow, said Paul Sippel, sales agronomist at DLF Seeds.

“Many farmers don’t realise it, but recent generations of hay seeds with lucerne deliver outstanding performance and quality for hay growing, not just grazing,” he said.

“This is particularly exciting if you’ve downsized and have underutilised farm space — now is the time to get ahead of the upcoming market season for hay.”

It can be overwhelming to chose between a summer- or winter-active lucerne variety, or how to play the dormant season depending on quality versus yield.

For Kim Sizer, a hay grower based in Tamworth, it was a struggle to find a balance in lucerne variety to support her hay-focused operation.

Kim supplies both horse and cattle markets, which have significantly different demands in the type of hay required.

In her case, the sweet spot for the ideal variety was DLF Seeds’ Stamina GT5.

producers from irrigated flats to broadacre country, helping them get the most out of their lucerne.

Paul’s advice for growers is simple: align cutting cycles with the variety’s dormancy.

Both Paul and Kim agree that leaf retention is the central ingredient that makes lucerne in hay so valuable.

“Lucerne is incredibly resilient, shown by DLF Seeds varieties,” Kim said.

“It can be pushed, waterlogged or exposed to disease and it still comes back. Matching the right variety to your system is what unlocks real quality.”

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Tertiary funding expands

GARDINER FOUNDATION has launched an expanded Tertiary Scholarship Program for 2026, offering new opportunities for talented students to pursue fields of study critical to the future of Victoria’s dairy industry and regional communities.

Research shows that students who study in regional areas are more likely to remain there, with place of origin and regional placements shaping long-term career pathways.

The enhanced scholarships are designed to retain talent and skills within dairy communities by strengthening pathways into study and work.

The new scholarships include:

ɋ Priority Tertiary Scholarships: Up to $90,000 over four years, inclusive of a $10,000 post-graduate incentive. Up to five available. Eligible degrees are Agriculture, Agribusiness, Food Science & Nutrition, Engineering, Medicine and Veterinary Science.

ɋ Regional Tertiary Scholarships : Up to $30,000 to $40,000 over three to four years. Up to three available. Eligible study at regional universities or colleges in Agriculture, Animal Science, Business, Engineering, Food Science & Nutrition, and Health.

ɋ TAFE Scholarships: Up to three of these scholarships will be delivered in partnership with industry and available exclusively through industry channels.

The scholarships are named in honour of dairy leaders Neil Black, Shirley Harlock, Jakob Malmo, Bill Pyle and Doug Weir, whose dedication and leadership helped shape the industry.

Since 2008, Gardiner has invested more than $1.9 million in 82 scholarships, with over 70 per cent of past scholars choosing to remain in, and contribute to, dairy communities.

“These scholarships encourage students to study, work and build their lives in dairy regions,” Gardiner chief executive Allan Cameron said.

“Linking support to regional study and placements helps strengthen local capacity in areas such as health care, engineering, veterinary science, food technology and agribusiness.

“With the involvement of TAFEs, universities and industry partners, these new scholarships aim to create clearer pathways into meaningful regional careers.”

NEWS IN BRIEF

Tasmanian

Young Farmer of the Year

Andrew Marshall has been named the 2025 Tasmanian Young Farmer of the Year.

Andrew has been the farm manager of the Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture’s Dairy Research Facility at Elliott since early 2024.

As well as managing the day-to-day operations of a commercial dairy farm, he also plays a key role in supporting cutting-edge research projects and welcoming school groups, industry visitors and the wider community onto the farm.

The TIA said the award was well-deserved recognition of Andrew’s skill, dedication and passion for showcasing the future of dairy farming.

Entries open for dairy produce show

The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW is encouraging dairy producers nationwide to enter the 2026 Sydney Royal Cheese & Dairy Produce Show.

The competition provides producers an opportunity to benchmark their products and gain independent industry feedback, while showcasing quality to consumers through champion, gold, silver or bronze medals.

The competition offers more than 90 classes, from butter and ice-cream to camel milk and buffalo cheese, including a research and development class for innovative products.

Products are judged on a 20-point scale for presentation, flavour and aroma, and texture and body.

Entries close on October 22, with judging in February 2026 at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park.

For more information or to enter, visit: www.rasnsw.com.au/cheesedairy

Farmer confidence surveyed

Sentiment in Australia’s agricultural sector has softened over the winter months, the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey has found.

Farmers reported feeling mostly positive about seasonal conditions and commodity prices, although producers in Victoria and South Australia remained concerned about weather.

High input costs, as well as concerns about government policies and intervention, were the main causes for pessimism.

Dairy farmer confidence edged higher this quarter (to seven per cent, up from five per cent) with a third now expecting conditions to improve.

“Dairy farmers are cautiously positive, driv en by strong commodity prices and seasonal expectations, but they are still managing the pressures of flooding in eastern states, ongo ing dry in the south, and high input costs,” Rabobank’s Marcel van Doremaele said.

“Australian milk production is trending low er, with this reduced supply boding well for stronger farm gate prices, supporting improved income expectations across most regions.”

Yogo gets a high-protein glow-up

Brownes Dairy has launched its new, innova tive ProGo high-protein dessert, an evolution of its beloved Yogo brand.

Brownes Dairy’s Nicole Ohm said the new Brownes ProGo was a game-changer in chilled desserts, packing 17 grams of dairy protein into every serve while also featuring no added sug ar, all-natural colours and flavours, and a glu ten-free formulation.

“The growing demand for convenient ways to boost protein intake has brought peo ple back to dairy, so we developed our new high-protein ProGo to deliver in the desserts space,” Nicole said.

“Brownes is here to do dairy better,” she said.

“By taking an iconic brand like Yogo and

reformulating it to be both highly functional and delicious, we’re aiming to attract health-focused millennials and Gen Z to the category.”

Brownes Dairy is Australia’s oldest dairy company, established in 1886.

Collecting about 110 million litres of milk each year from more than 45 dairy farms in Western Australia’s south-west, Brownes Dairy has a diverse portfolio of dairy including milk, cream, yoghurt, flavoured milk, juice and desserts.

Calling all dairy innovators

Have a great innovation or project that can

make a difference to the Australian dairy industry?

The ADC Innovator Award, sponsored by Gardiner Foundation, is seeking fresh and emerging dairy innovations and projects that have the greatest potential to impact the Australian dairy industry.

This is an opportunity to profile and highlight your research, innovation, on-farm trial or scientific exploration in front of the national industry at the next Australian Dairy Conference in Melbourne from February 11 to 13, 2026.

ɋ For more information and to enter, go to: australiandairyconference.com.au

NEVER MISS A THING

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Stay ahead of the herd with CowManager’s accurate and timely heat and health alerts.

Win the battle against ies

BY DR ROBERT BONANNO

AS THE warmer months return, so too does one of the dairy farmer’s most persistent challenges: flies.

More than just a nuisance, flies directly affect cow comfort, reduce production and spread disease.

Effective fly control is never about a single product or tactic. Instead, it requires a wholefarm approach that integrates hygiene, monitoring and carefully timed interventions.

Dairy cattle are particularly vulnerable to fly pressure, and the most problematic species are buffalo flies, stable flies and houseflies.

Stable flies reduce milk yield by irritating cattle, leading to bunching, stomping, tail flicking and reduced feeding time.

Buffalo flies and houseflies are important vectors of disease and can spread pinkeye (infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis) and mastitis pathogens.

Beyond animal health, flies create stress for farm workers, reduce the quality of the working environment, and damage the farm’s public image when numbers become obvious.

The cornerstone of any fly-control program is sanitation, because flies require moist, decaying organic matter to reproduce. Manure, wet feed, silage spills, and damp bedding are the most common breeding sites.

Breaking the cycle means regular scraping and removal of manure from lanes, feedpads and, where applicable, barns and sheds. Once removed, manure should be spread or composted quickly to reduce its suitability as a breeding site.

Spilled feed should not be left to accumulate, and silage faces need to be kept tight and well covered.

Managing drainage around troughs and laneways is also important, because even small patches of standing water mixed with organic matter can support large numbers of flies.

Monitoring is another vital part of fly control.

Sticky traps, baited traps, or simple counts of flies on cattle legs or backs give a useful indication of pressure. More than 10 stable flies per cow leg or obvious behavioural changes linked with fly worry should trigger action.

Regular monitoring also helps assess whether control measures are working and provides an opportunity to rotate strategies before resistance builds.

Timing matters, too. Beginning treatments early in the season, such as October, ensures cows are protected before peak fly pressure develops. Waiting until flies are abundant usually means that large populations of eggs, larvae and pupae are already established, making control much more difficult.

A wide range of tools is available, and the best choice depends on the farm system.

Biological control using parasitic wasps and beetles can reduce fly larvae in manure. These

MORE THAN JUST NUMBERS

AFTER FOUR generations of dairy farming in the Netherlands, CowManager founder Gerard Griffioen saw a need — a way to measure health, fertility, heat stress and transition issues before they become real problems.

In 2004 he introduced the first ever ear sensors for cows. Built on years of university research and on-farm trials, it’s been continuously upgraded ever since.

Today, for the dairy farmers in more than 40 countries that use CowManager, it’s about more than data. It’s a smarter way of farming.

Full control

CowManager ear sensors give farmers insights, early alerts and real herd advantage.

It tracks ear temperature alongside rumination, eating, activity, inactivity and high-active behaviour.

The system shows each cow’s ear temperature compared to the herd average so you can spot those that stray well outside the norm.

South-west Victorian dairy farmer Lachlan Fry says: “It’s been so beneficial to be able to pick up on non-cycling cows, cystic cows, overnight heats and general health issues before we do. CowManager picks them all up.”

Ahead of the herd

Receiving those early alerts means better-timed action.

That can mean fewer days of illness,

improved fertility numbers, fewer surprises around calving, more productive cows, an increased milk yield and a smoother transition period.

“It’s an easier way of doing things and it allows us to pay more attention to the care of individual cows,” dairy farmer Trevor Shanahan says.

“We have better control with CowManager. We can keep an eye on them, and nothing slips through the cracks.”

The system is also a time-saver.

Victorian dairy farmer Brett Membrey says: “We were spending six to seven hours a day heat detecting, instead of 10 minutes a day with CowManager. And now we’re getting it right.” For more information, go to:www.cowmanager.com/australia

Physical and environmental strategies are also valuable. Flies dislike air movement, so fans in dairies and sheds not only assist with cow cooling but also reduce fly worry.

Walk-through traps, fly barrels, sticky boards and bait stations can all help to lower fly numbers when used consistently.

No single approach is perfect, and the best results come from combining methods in a thoughtful and strategic way.

Fly control should be considered part of the wider herd health plan rather than a standalone task.

Reducing fly pressure lowers stress, improves feed intake and cuts down on the spread of infectious diseases. This translates directly into better production, fewer treatments and improved animal welfare.

Talking with your veterinarian about fly control during herd health reviews ensures strategies are tailored to your farm, taking into account herd size, grazing patterns and regional fly pressure.

Flies are a yearly challenge for dairy farms, but with a proactive and integrated approach they can be kept under control.

work best when combined with good hygiene, as they cannot manage heavy infestations alone.

Chemical options such as insecticide sprays, pour-ons, ear tags and dust bags are widely used to reduce adult fly numbers, but rotation of chemical classes is essential to avoid resistance.

Hygiene, monitoring and a balanced combination of biological, chemical and physical management tools are the foundation. Farms that stay ahead of the fly season not only protect cow comfort and health but also reap the benefits of higher productivity and a better working environment.

Dr Rob Bonanno is regional lead veterinarian for ProDairy and is based in Gippsland.

ProDairy can assist you with the development of a tailored

• On-farm visit by a ProDairy

• Review of the current biosecurity principles, the major risks and actions taken to reduce those risks.

• Development of a customised biosecurity plan.

Visit prodairy.com.au for more information.

Control is in farmers’ hands

THE KUHN configurator has proven its value in the field with Victorian farmer Jock Buttigieg.

With a mission to simplify machinery customisation and ordering for Australian farmers, KUHN’s configurator aims to build customer confidence during the purchasing process.

Designed for today’s agtech landscape, the configurator puts the power of customisation directly into the hands of farmers, making the process faster, smarter and tailored to individual operational needs.

Jock Buttigieg runs a mixed farming operation spanning Colac, Shepparton and Yambuna,

and recently purchased and customised a KUHN VBP 7160 round baler using KUHN’s online configurator tool.

With previous experience using KUHN implements like power harrows and prototype mowers, Jock was familiar with KUHN’s reputation for high quality implements, but the configurator brought a new level of confidence and control to the purchasing process.

“KUHN’s baler product specialist Julien Ballu pushed the configurator pretty hard, and I’m glad he did,” Jock said.

“It was good to see what options were going to cost in real time. We could spec the machine

how we wanted it. It eliminated any confusion about what we did and didn’t want.”

Despite considering other brands, and in need of a new baler quickly, Jock took advantage of an open build slot with KUHN and placed his order through the configurator.

“It was very easy, the process took just 15 minutes,” he said.

“We submitted the order, sent it to our dealer, and within four days we had a deposit down and the machine was booked in.”

The platform allows users to select their desired KUHN machine and personalise it with a wide range of features and accessories,

offering real-time pricing and a direct link to their local dealer to finalise the order.

The configurator not only streamlined the ordering process but also bridged the gap between the customer, dealer and KUHN’s product team.

KUHN says the configurator represents a shift toward more farmer-led decision-making in machinery selection.

By offering transparency, flexibility and direct access to expert support, it encourages farmers to take the reins and explore equipment options with clarity and confidence.

PRODUCT A ‘GAME-CHANGER’

FARMERS ARE always on the look-out for solutions to boost business efficiency and productivity, and now CNH has launched a new product that promises to be a ‘game-changer’ for many farming operations.

CNH has launched RS1, a powerful highspeed steering system, designed to be fitted to earlier model Case IH and New Holland machinery to allow for the latest technology around positioning, speed and performance.

For CNH, RS1 is a result of the acquisition of Raven Industries in 2021, which allowed it to leverage Raven’s 50 years of innovation in the precision agriculture technology space to enhance its machinery offering to Case IH and New Holland customers.

CNH’s Jeremy Duniam said RS1 is an intuitive, easy-to-use unit, with exceptional precision at both high and low speeds, improving efficiency and giving the operator the opportunity to cover more ground in a day.

“RS1 is helping modernise the legacy fleet

as we go further down the road of increasing automation,” Jeremy said.

“This latest technology paves the way for customers to accelerate a lot of this automation around steering, implement control, agronomic data sharing via our FieldOps platform — it’s equipping their older machines with current levels of technology.

“Equipped with the industry’s most accurate steering system, the receiver enables rapid line acquisition and smooth operation at both high and low speeds.

“It’s an ideal solution for all farming applications.”

With a receiver that fits to the roof of the machine, and a state-of-the-art 12-inch wide, high-resolution screen, RS1 has been described as a ‘game-changer’.

“The new screen and receiver will give our existing customers greater flexibility and speed around the tasks they’re completing,” Jeremy said.

Helping farmers get ripped

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

DEEP RIPPING equipment manufactured in the Czech Republic is boosting productivity on farms in Australia.

The Bednar Omega OO 6000L seed drill and Bednar Terraland TN 3000 HD7R ripper were imported by TTMI Maffra and purchased by Greg Peddle, a farmer in Gippsland.

The unit was on display in March at Farm World agricultural field days at Lardner Park, and at a demonstration day at Maffra at the end of May.

Other Bednar Omega seed drills were demonstrated at Warrnambool and Colac in late May.

TTMI’s Shane Marshall said the new Gippsland owner of the Bednar machinery was generous to provide the unit for display and practical demonstration.

“Bednar is a family owned business in the Czech Republic, and their machinery is European-built,” Shane said.

“Bednar products have been in use in Western Australia for about 15 years and we started importing them to the east coast about 18 months ago.

“Australia is the biggest seller worldwide of the Terraland rippers.

“In WA, growers using the ripper are measuring tripled crop yields within 12 months.”

Ripping brings up higher production clay typically from 30 to 1000mm below the soil surface, to be incorporated into topsoil.

“Ripping brings nutrients up from underneath the clay pan, and raises soil fertility,” Shane said.

“Where we used it at Giffard, we were breaking through compacted soil and bringing manganese up from underneath the clay pan.

“So the manganese was then available to the plant. Utilising those nutrients and trace elements increases your crop yield.

“This machine will dig down 650mm, and because the mixing tines overlap, every bit of ground is actually being disturbed.

“The depth of ripping is set off the hydraulics of the roller.

“Then a double packer roller at the back with crumbler teeth finishes the surface.

“The two rollers make it a one-pass solution machine.”

Shane said the method improves yield and the soil moisture profile. That was especially beneficial for plants to longer roots, seeking moisture at deeper levels.

“What we’re finding is by bringing up the claypan, paddocks that otherwise stayed wet are drying faster,” he said.

“The moisture is getting away down into the soil where it’s needed.”

A fail-safe also ensured safety if an underground stump got in the way.

“This machine has an hydraulic breakaway, so if you do hook it onto a red gum stump or something like that underground, it’ll just fall back,” Shane said.

“The spring is adjustable to how much pressure you want on that breakaway.”

The Bednar Omega OO 6000L seed drill can be used for conventional, minimum till, direct drilling or pasture over-seeding.

It incorporates precise seed placement, a robust disc working section and adjustable inter-row spacings of 12.5 or 16.7cm.

Shane said more growers across the east coast were buying the Terraland rippers, with increasing sales in northern NSW and southeast Queensland.

The TTMI Maffra team has established a pasture trial to compare the AFS Connect Pum 260 and Bednar Terraland TN 3000 HD7R rippers. A paddock was ripped and seeded using both machines in mid-May.

INTEGRATION WITHOUT THE RUNNING COSTS