The official voice of the Australian dairyfarmer – free to all dairyfarmers
Proudly supported by
Fodder beet fills winter feed gap
Clean calf equipment critical
Addressing dairy skills shortage
New robotic rotary released
airyfarmerThe Australian SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER2015
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 3
airyfarmerThe Australian
NEWSVic planning advisory body welcomed 13Clearing the bu� er bind 13Beston ASX debut success 15Nominees announced for Dairy Australia board roles 17
ON FARMBuilding a career in dairy 25Calling the cows home 27Top Billing for award winners 28E� ec� ve fer� liser use cri� cal 42Maximising home-grown fodder 46African Black Beetles are spreading 48Seed treatments improve crop success 51Strategy aims to drive down feed costs 53Feed costs hit margins 54New robo� c rotary released 56
ATTRACTING AND DEVELOPING PEOPLESafer farms more produc� ve 21Is this share-farming arrangement legal? 22A Masterclass in dairy leadership 24
PROMOTING & PROTECTING DAIRYAustralia and China dairy � es for� � ed 34Interna� onal scholarship program rates highly 36Legendairy breakfast comes to Canberra 37Dairy separated in nutri� on pyramid 38Paying tribute to dairy science legend 40Job kick starts dairy sign collec� on 40
FOCUS ON BREEDINGTalent shines at Victorian Winter Fair 61Luck of the Irish in heifer sale 64Elmar Goldwyn Jessica 4 wins new BPI show award 66Australian Breeding Values August 2015 release 71Agri-Gene highlights in ABV release 77Gene� cs suppliers to collaborate 77Cairnborne shows type creden� als 79Honours for Semex manager 79Two new GA appointments 80Viking reds dominate ABVs 80
FODDER CROPSFodder beet � lls winter gaps 82Care needed when feeding fodder beets 83Growing fodder beets in Tasmania 85Forage security for summer dry 86Australian Seed Federa� on Guide 88
SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO PREVIEWExpo one-stop shop for dairyfarmers 92Range of exhibitors at expo 95DeLaval automa� c feeding solu� on 98Gippsland farmers happy with robots 99
IMPROVED CALF REARINGClean calf equipment to avoid disease 100High-milk diet li� le impact on growth 105New insights into colostrum feeding 107Breeding top Jerseys starts with calves 109Keeping calves free of an� bio� cs 111
INCREASING FARM PROFITABILITYDairyBase gets thumbs up from farmer 116Informa� on needed to create a DairyBase report 116Discussion groups get DairyBase funding 117Beasley path for increased fer� lity 118For� � ed milk may boost heifers 119Spring silage: quan� ty or quality? 120Murray Dairy welcomes new extension co-ordinator 121
COLUMNSAt my desk 5Milk Ma� ers 6Dairy Australia Roundup 11NHIA News Roundup 18Update from the Gardiner Founda� on 32Australian dairy market 58Interna� onal dairy market 59What’s On 112Think Again — the Ryan Report 113Snippets and Titbits 114ADHIS 115 Regional Development Programs/Extension co-ordinators 122
Vol 30, No. 5 September-October 2015
OUR COVERDespite some early issues, fodder beet has proved a winner for South Australian dairyfarmers Ma� hew and Tracey Cowie. Read about their success on page 82.
The official voice of the Australian dairyfarmer – free to all dairyfarmers
Proudly supported by
Fodder beet fills winter feed gap
Clean calf equipment critical
Addressing dairy skills shortage
New robotic rotary released
airyfarmerThe Australian SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER2015
CONTENTS
61
FALLING prices on global dairy commodity markets have started to test the resolve of corporate
investors in the sector.Two high profi le projects an-
nounced last year have either been abandoned or delayed in recent months as the harsh reality of vola-tile global markets has led to cold feet from some of those interested in in-vesting in the industry.
Gina Rinehart’s proposed Queens-land dairy development has been put on hold. She had initially proposed a $500 million dairy project that in-cluded developing a factory specialis-ing in infant nutrition powders in the Mary Valley and milking up to 10,000 cows.
Her company Hope Dairies has now decided to develop a Wagyu cattle en-terprise. Director David Garcia said analysis of the potential for the dairy project “has identifi ed several mate-rial and challenging aspects and risks to the project”.
Meanwhile the proposed huge Line-ar Capital development in south-west Victoria continues to be delayed. Lin-ear Capital announced last September it wanted to buy up to 70 properties, set up two processing factories and establish a training facility at the old Glenormiston College.
Initially the properties were to have been bought before Christmas, with owners then appointed as managers to run the farms for a period. Offers are still being made to buy properties but some of the contracts have now expired. Linear is still chasing inves-tors for the project.
It appears that dairy, which was the darling of the investment sector two years ago as the battle for War-rnambool Cheese and Butter ignited city-based stock market interest, is no longer as prized.
Global milk oversupply and the downturn in the Chinese economy
have seen prices fall on international markets.
The volatility would be no sur-prise to the vast majority of Austral-ian dairy farms that are operated as family-run businesses. It’s something they have been accustomed to deal-ing with for a long time.
Family farms have a unique per-spective that allows them to more readily deal with the volatility. Family farms take a long-term view of their investment.
Of course, they want a decent re-turn for their hard work and the dollars and time invested in their business. But they see returns more broadly than the fi nancial returns a corporate investor seeks.
For some family farms, part of the return is being able to bring the next generation onto the land and to con-tinue the family involvement. For some improving the land and leaving a light environmental footprint is also important. For others, part of the re-turn is being able to raise children in an environment that offers freedom and a connection with the land.
This perspective means those fami-ly farms are prepared to bunker down when prices fall and to make deci-sions to ensure the long-term survival of the business.
The need for a long-term perspec-tive in farming is one the challenges for corporate investment in the sec-tor. It is going to be an interesting space to watch. D
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 5
AT MY DESK
Associate editor
Corporate cold feet
@DowieDairyEd
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The Australian Dairyfarmer is published on the 15th of every second month, in July, September, November, January, March and May, for the Australian Dairy Farmers,Level 2, Swan House, 22 William Street, Melbourne, Victoria, 3000.
EDITORIALEditor: ALASTAIR DOWIEAssociate editor: CARLENE DOWIEPO Box 59, Carisbrook, Vic, 3464
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The need for a long-term perspec� ve in farming is one the challenges for corporate investment in the sector.
Dairy fares well in ag White Paper
Posi� ve outlook essen� al
By Noel CampbellpresidentAustralian Dairy Farmers
THE Australian dairy industry has historically managed price vola-tility, global supply-and-demand
issues and the fl uctuations of the Aus-tralian dollar to an acceptable degree, maintaining international competitive-ness, innovation and resilience to mar-ket volatility.
While we’re in volatile times, there is a lot more to be factored into the market in the next few months. We need to en-sure we are prepared for the short-term diffi culties facing us and remember that the long-term outlook for dairy is posi-tive, despite current market volatility.
Industry needs to work to its strengths as a cost-effi cient milk pro-
ducer of quality products to face the expected challenges from other dairy supplier. Within the industry there are considerable resources and work being applied to help dairyfarmers confront the volatility challenge.
Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) is working in partnership across the industry and with government to un-dertake work and analysis to support Australian dairyfarmers in their deci-sion-making.
It is reasonable to ask why up until now the Australian dairy industry has not been affected to the same degree as New Zealand. Unlike New Zealand Australia has more the 50% of its pro-duction consumed domestically. This provides a dampening effect on the downward trend of international mar-kets on farmgate pricing. Our product mix has also allowed for the pricing trends to be less severe. However, there is no doubt that this internation-al pricing impact is placing downward pressure on expected farmgate pricing that was not even seen two to three months ago.
Those farmers who supply proces-sors that are uncontracted and ex-posed to world export pricing should treat the 2015/16 season with a signifi -cant amount of caution, understanding their underlying costs and being aware of input costs that will affect profi tabil-ity.
Whether you’re a farmer, state organ-isation or peak body, we are all striving for the same outcome — a healthy and sustainable dairy industry. Indus-try projects such as the Sustainability Framework and the Australian Dairy Vi-sion help provide a strategy for ADF’s efforts. On this note, it is with great pleasure that I welcome Benjamin Sta-pley as incoming chief executive offi cer (CEO) of ADF. With a strong background in member advocacy, stakeholder en-gagement, policy development and media management, Mr Stapley comes into the role after two years as director of policy and regulation at the Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association (PACIA).
I look forward to the fresh perspec-tive and expertise that Mr Stapley brings to the role and along with my fellow directors, national council and staff look forward to working with him to continually improve the sus-tainability and profi tability of farm-ers across all dairying regions. I hope you will all join me in welcoming Mr Stapley to our dynamic industry. He started with us on September 1. D
6 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
MILK MATTERSprovided by Australian Dairy Farmers Ltd
✔ Farmers need to prepare for short-term di� cul� es
✔ Australia less exposed to world market
✔ Export markets vital for future growthKe
y po
ints
New Zealand has a di� erent product mix to Australia and exports the majority of its product...
THE Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) has welcomed positive initiatives provided in
the Federal Government’s release of the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, which will assist Aus-tralian dairy to sustainably grow and prosper.
The long-awaited White Paper, which outlines the government’s over-arching policy and vision for the agri-culture sector’s future, was launched
on Australian Dairy Farmer (ADF) na-tional councillor Roma Britnell’s dairy farm in South West Victoria. ADIC chair Noel Campbell said it was now time to set the plan in motion.
“We are pleased to see that key points of the ADIC’s recommenda-tions to the Green Paper have been taken on board,” Mr Campbell said.
“In particular, the provision of $11.4 million over four years toward boost-ing ACCC engagement with agricul-
ture, including an ACCC Agriculture Commissioner, will aid in fostering a more competitive environment throughout the supply chain.”
Another signifi cant investment for dairy was delivered in the decision to enable farmers to double their Farm Management Deposits (FMDs) to $800,000. Farmers will also be able to use FMDs as a loan offset to reduce interest costs.
“According to the Australian Bureau
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 7
MILK MATTERS
of Agricultural and Resource Econom-ics and Sciences (ABARES), if all FMD holdings are used to offset loans, the benefi t to the farm sector in interest savings could amount to $150 million a year,” Mr Campbell said.
The decision to provide $30.8 mil-lion to break down technical barri-ers to trade, including increasing the number of agricultural counsellors in key overseas markets was also wel-comed by the ADIC as a positive fi rst step toward addressing this issue. The next step according to the ADIC is to ensure that these counsellors are supported by technical experts em-bedded within government agencies at home.
“The ADIC has been a strong ad-vocate for increased resources to-ward overcoming technical barriers to trade in overseas markets and we
are pleased to see the government’s acknowledgement of this issue,” Mr Campbell said.
“The extent to which our industry is able to seize opportunities deliv-ered through recently completed trade agreements will depend upon addressing non-tariff barriers to trade. These counsellors will improve our competitiveness in international markets greatly.”
Another positive is the govern-ment’s enhanced commitment to re-search, development and extension projects with a focus on innovation and risk management — $100 million to extend the Rural R&D for Profi t pro-gram.
Mr Campbell said the commitment of $200 million to improve biosecurity surveillance and analysis nationally would also play an essential role in
creating a more durable, profi table and competitive dairy industry.
Additionally, ADIC welcomed the government’s proposal that water ef-fi ciency projects combined with im-proving existing water infrastructure and developing new infrastructure be implemented. Increased support for these initiatives was a key recommen-dation in the ADIC’s submission to the Green Paper.
“The ADIC is committed to working with government to see swift imple-mentation of the initiatives delivered in the White Paper, to ensure they translate into real outcomes for the dairy industry,” Mr Campbell said.
To see the ADIC’s submission to the Agriculture Competitiveness White Paper go to website <http://www.australiandairyfarmers.com.au/submissions>. D
•�Increase the deposit limit for Farm Management Deposits (FMDs) to $800,000.•�Allowing FMD accounts to be used as a farm business loan o� set (banks can al-low farmers to use FMDs as a loan o� set reducing their interest costs).•�$11.4 million across four years to boost Australian Compe� � on and Consumer Commission (ACCC) engagement with the agriculture sector including a new com-missioner dedicated to agriculture.•�$30.8 million to break down technical barriers to trade, including the appoint-ment of � ve new agriculture counsellors in key markets.•�$100 million to extend the Rural R&D for Pro� t program from 2018-19 to 2021-22.
•�$12.4 million to modernise Australia’s traceability systems, to verify produce integrity and secure access to overseas markets.•�$200 million to improve biosecurity surveillance and analysis to be� er tar-get cri� cal biosecurity risks, including in northern Australia.•�$20.4 million to streamline approval of agvet chemicals.•�$13.8 million for a two-year pilot pro-gram to provide farmers with knowledge and materials on co-opera� ves, collec� ve bargaining and innova� ve business mod-els.•�A more simpli� ed accelerated depre-cia� on regime for fencing.•�A number of drought-related measures
covering both in-drought support and drought preparedness, including:1. Immediate tax deduc� on for new wa-ter facili� es and deprecia� on of capital expenditure on fodder storage assets across three years.2. Up to $250 million a year in-drought concessional loans for 11 years; and3. $20 million for addi� onal mental health and community support services for rural communi� es in drought-a� ected areas.•�Separately announced policy meas-ures to address workforce issues includ-ing expansion of the Seasonal Workers Programme to the broader agriculture sector (including dairy) on an ongoing basis. This is in line with industry policy objec� ves.
White Paper highlights for dairy
Swi� implementa� on of the White Paper’s ini� a� ves is required to ensure tangible bene� ts for dairy.
Calving induc� on to be phased out
AFTER extensive consultation with dairyfarmers, industry and veterinary experts, Australian
Dairy Farmers (ADF) has agreed to adopt a new policy, which will see the phase out of calving induction nation-ally.
Earlier this year, more than 35 indus-try stakeholders, the majority of whom were dairyfarmers as well as veteri-narians, met to discuss and develop a national policy recommendation re-garding calving induction. Following the industry forum the ADF National Council met and agreed to modify ADF’s policy position to the following:
“ADF does not support routine calving induction and will work to phase it out through improved herd improvement practices, tools and technologies.”
Chair of the ADF animal health and welfare policy advisory group David Basham said industry was working with farmers, veterinarians, state
dairyfarmer organisations and other stakeholders to ensure the phase out worked for both animals and farmers.
“Caring for cows has always been a key priority for Australian dairy farm-ers — we are dedicated to providing a high standard of care for our animals, and are constantly reviewing our prac-tices to ensure the best outcomes for our livestock,” Mr Basham said.
“The dairy industry is also aware of the community concerns around the use of this practice. We are committed to working with farmers to help phase it out.”
The dairy industry’s breeding pro-grams such as InCalf and the improve-ment of fertility by genetic selection are making a difference and the use of calving induction is reducing. In 2014, fewer than 2% of the national herd were induced (about 24,000 cows) and
the industry is now working to reduce the need to use this management tool even further.
A steering group, including dairy-farmers, representatives from the Australian Cattle Veterinarians, Dairy Australia and ADF, was established to develop an action plan. The Steering Group has met twice; developing com-munications and data collection mate-rials that have been distributed to cat-tle veterinarians to help progress the phasing-out process.
“The industry is liaising with coun-terparts in New Zealand to under-stand and learn from their approach; in particular the setting of annual limits with certain exemptions,” Mr Basham said.
A particular concern raised at the industry forum was the use of late calving induction. ADF is aware that several veterinary practices no longer conduct late calving inductions, as they provide no reproductive benefi t and should not be performed.
ADF will continue to consult with industry and farmers and is commit-ted to ensuring that the timing, proc-ess and outcomes are right for all in-volved. D
8 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
✔ Na� onal policy to phase out calving induc� on
✔ Improved breeding programs li� fer� lity
✔ Learning from NZ approach to phase outKe
y po
ints
Caring for cows has always been a key priority for Australian dairyfarmers.
The dairy industry has commi� ed to phasing out calving induc� on.
MILK MATTERS
Template to address skills shortage
UNDER the Dairy Industry Tem-plate Labour Agreement, fi nal-ised with the Department of
Immigration and Border Protection on 17 July 2015, dairyfarmers are now able to recruit senior farmhands as well as farm managers from overseas on 457 visas.
Eligibility for the 457 visa was pre-viously restricted to farm managers, which the Australian and New Zea-land Standard Classifi cation of Occu-pations (ANZSCO) recognises as skill level. Feedback indicated, however, that many farm employers were seek-ing workers with qualifi cations one level under management — capable of organising day-to-day operations but not necessarily making major de-cisions.
The Australian dairy industry is in a position to grow substantially in the next decade to meet the burgeoning demand across Asia for high quality, safe dairy products. Yet the indus-try’s capacity to increase production
is fundamentally constrained by a chronic shortage of skilled labour in the Australian pool.
Recognising this, in 2014 Dairy Aus-tralia, in collaboration with Austral-ian Dairy Farmers (ADF), approached the Department of Immigration with the Dairy Industry Labour Agreement Template. The agreement is designed to give farmers more options when seeking labour by expanding the eligi-bility criteria for 457 visas.
Chair of ADF people and human capacity policy advisory group John Versteden said the agreement pro-vided another option for farmers to fi ll the short-term skills gap for farm-hands in Australian dairy.
“The dairy industry’s most valuable asset is the people who work in it, which is why it is important to com-mit to attracting, retaining and de-veloping the most skilled labour,” Mr Versteden said. “While our preference is always to hire Australian workers, there are not enough experienced, available farmhands to meet the de-mand in a growing industry.”
The industry has invested heavily in training and upskilling its workforce, including via certifi cate and diploma courses offered through the National Dairy Education Centre (NCDE) since 2006. Although student numbers are steadily growing, it is still not enough to meet dairy’s growing demand as production scales up to meet growing export demand.
Senior farmhands recruited under the labour agreement must have Cer-tifi cate III or equivalent qualifi cations in addition to at least three years of recent and relevant experience, or alternatively fi ve years of recent and relevant experience.
Find our further information on the Dairy Industry Template Labour Agreement at website <http://www.thepeopleindairy.org.au/engagement-reward/contracts-and-agreements.htm>. D
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 9
✔ Senior farmhands can be recruited on 457 visas
✔ Chronic shortage of skilled labour in dairy
✔ Industry has invested in training to increase skillsKe
y po
ints
‘The dairy industry’s most valuable asset is the people who work in it, which is why it is important to commit to a� rac� ng, retaining and developing the most skilled labour.’
Under the newly agreed Dairy Industry Template Labour Agreement employers can now hire senior farmhands.
MILK MATTERS
Legendairy Capital � nalists announced
THE Legendairy spirit is alive and well as Legendairy pride gripped towns across the country follow-
ing the announcement of the eight Leg-endairy Capital fi nalists.
The announcement is part of Dairy Australia’s inaugural search for Aus-tralia’s Legendairy Capital, which cel-ebrates Australia’s vibrant regional communities. The successful towns for each dairy region are: • Meeniyan, Gippsland;• Peterborough, Western Victoria;• Stanhope, Murray region;• Comboyne, New South Wales;• Monto, Subtropical;• Port Elliot, South Australia;• Smithton, Tasmania; and• Northcliffe, Western Australia.
The national winner will be an-nounced in mid-September.
Dairy Australia program manager Suzi O’Dell said selecting the Legen-dairy Capital fi nalists was no mean feat for the panel, who were overwhelmed by the outstanding and passionate nominations.
“We knew Australia was home to plenty of proud, innovative dairy com-munities but we’ve been astounded by the quality of nominations and the stories of personal contributions dairy-farmers have made to the social fabric of their towns,” she said.
“To be associated with such resilient and vibrant communities is an honour, and all the nominated towns should be incredibly proud of their community and their contribution to the dairy in-dustry. We don’t hear enough about the community spirit that is such an integral part of Australia’s dairy sector. Celebrating towns that have endured and thrived throughout the years sits at the heart of the program.”
As part of the search, Dairy Austral-ia, in association with the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), called on people across the country to nominate their town by sharing stories about what makes their town Legen-dairy.
More than 100 nominations were as-sessed by an independent panel of rep-resentatives, who selected those towns that best addressed the program’s cri-
teria. The eight successful towns will receive a $2500 grant to invest in a community project of their choice.
One of those eight Legendairy Capi-tal fi nalists will then go on to secure the title of Australia’s Legendairy Capi-tal 2015 and receive a further $7500 to invest in their community project.
“The outstanding community projects will make a vital contribution to these towns, fostering positive com-munity spirit, social capacity and con-nectedness,” Ms O’Dell said.
2015 Australian Milk Quality AwardsThe dairy industry is again celebrating the success of top performing dairy-farmers producing high quality milk while boosting their on-farm profi tabil-ity.
The Australian Milk Quality Awards recognises farms that have the achieved the best milk quality in Aus-tralia based on annual average bulk milk cell count (BMCC) across Austral-ia’s milk-processing companies.
Dairy Australia program develop-ment manager Erika Oakes said the on-farm management of milk quality was key to ensuring the competitiveness of Australian dairy in the marketplace.
“Every year the Australian Milk Qual-ity Awards celebrates the great job be-ing done by dairyfarmers up and down the country to keep milk quality at a consistently high standard,” Ms Oakes said. “A low cell count is an indicator that mastitis is well controlled in the herd, improving milk production, cow
health and welfare. Farmers achieving a low cell count are also fi nancially re-warded with a premium for their milk and signifi cant cost savings on mastitis treatments and labour.
“For example, analysis shows that a farmer milking 300 cows who lowers their BMCC from 300,000 to 200,000 stands to save $35,700 per year.”
Ms Oakes said one way for farmers to improve their milk quality results was to get involved in Dairy Australia’s Countdown 2020 program.
“Countdown has lots of informa-tion and strategies to reduce mastitis, which improves cow comfort and wel-fare and saves farmers time at milking and considerable money in terms of lost milk production and animal treat-ments,” she said.
Ms Oakes said the program had re-cently produced a world-leading mobile app and new Countdown Shed Guides, which levy-paying farmers could ac-cess for free at <www.dairyaustralia.com.au/shedguides>.
Dairy Australia Award for Craig Yaxley An expert judging panel recently awarded Fonterra production team leader Craig Yaxley a Dairy Australia award — comprising $1000 and a cer-tifi cate for education excellence — as most outstanding student when he completed GoTafe’s Diploma of Food Science and Technology (Dairy).
Supported by Dairy Australia and the National Centre for Dairy Educa-tion, Mr Yaxley’s employer, Fonterra, encouraged his development. He tran-sitioned to the role of team leader at the cheese plant in Wynyard, Tasma-nia. “I have a lot of new knowledge be-cause of the course,” he said. “It wasn’t until I was back in the workplace that I realised how much I’d gained and that I could apply the skills I’d learned.”
His open and humble approach is refreshing and he made it clear that the skills and relationships he’d taken away from the course were continuing. “I was extremely surprised to receive the award,” he said. “I didn’t expect it at all. In my mind there were many oth-ers entitled to it.” D
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 11
Stanhope, Vic, primary school children show their pride at their town being selected as one of the eight Legendairy Capital � nalsits.
NEWS
Vic planning advisory body welcomedBy Andrew Miller
VICTORIAN councils, planners and the state’s peak farming group have welcomed a State
Government decision to set up an advisory committee to look into the state’s planning laws.
Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford said the new Animal Industries Advi-sory Committee would report on how the planning system could support the establishment and expansion of pro-ductive, competitive and market-re-sponsive animal industries in Victoria.
She said the new committee would report on changing farming practices and efforts to boost production, while looking at ways the planning system could be updated
Eminent town planning expert RMIT’s Professor of Environment and Planning Michael Buxton said
the establishment of the committee was a positive step. It would allow the issues to be considered at a state government level. “It allows proper consideration of issues, across both planning and agricultural portfolios,” Professor Buxton said.
He said it was likely RMIT would put in a submission to the committee to consider broader planning concerns it had examined in its research.
Victorian Farmers Federation presi-dent Peter Touhey said determining defi nitions of what was intensive and extensive agriculture was a good step forward. “We need to get that sorted, so people can get on with their busi-ness,” Mr Touhey said. “We have the opportunity to talk to the committee and get our viewpoint across.
The decision to set up the com-mittee was made in conjunction with plans to ‘call in’ the intensive farming
permit for David Blackmore’s Alexan-dra, Vic, Wagyu beef farm.
Planning Minister Richard Wynne will now make a decision on the inten-sive farming permit, rejected by Mur-rindindi Shire Council.
Mr Blackmore said the decision was a “huge relief” — but the decision on the permit would not be made un-til the advisory committee reported back to the Minister, in early Decem-ber. He said he changed his farming methods about fi ve years ago, with grazing supplemented by mixed feed rations brought in from outside.
The review also came as the Bass Council rejected an application by Chinese company Yo You for a 1000-head dairy barn and milk processing plant, at Kernot. In refusing the pro-posal, council said the development did not sit comfortably within the natural landscape of the area. D
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 13
By Carla Wiese-Smith
INCREASING unrest between landhold-ers of compe� ng land use in South
Australia has spurred SA parliamentarian Stephan Knoll to consult with industry to develop a low-cost, informal media� on process to handle such disputes.
Mr Knoll said the interface between agricultural, hor� cultural and residen� al land uses had become more complex with increased instances of hor� cultural crops grown alongside broadacre prop-er� es, new chemicals and their required bu� er distances, and the increasing need to have exible weed and pest manage-
ment plans to address growing resistance to certain chemical groups.
He cited a recent vineyard approval neighbouring a Moculta dairy, which saw the two par� es eventually nego� ate and develop their own bu� er.
But the di� culty was that such nego-� a� ons only worked on new approvals, Mr Knoll said. Currently, disputes regard-ing new planning applica� ons were taken before the Environment Resources and Development Court.
“I don’t want to impose a system where there are very strict rules, because I think where farmers work together, they should be allowed to do that,” Mr Knoll
said. “But where there is a dispute, there should be some sort of low-cost mecha-nism where you’ve got people who have some exper� se who are able to mediate, put in some sort of management plan with some enforceable rights, and if that breaks down then there should be an es-cala� on mechanism.”
When Treasury Wine Estates bought land across from Moculta dairyfarmer Murray Klemm’s night paddock, the Klemms were concerned about the poten-� al for vineyard spray dri� to their pastures as well as hay and silage stored in that area. The two par� es ul� mately came to a mu-tual agreement of a 50-metre bu� er.
Clearing the bu� er bind
14 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
NEWS
Beston ASX debut success
By Andrew Marshall
BESTON Global Foods Company (BGFC) has completed its pub-lic fl oat capital raising and listed
on the Australian Securities Exchange with an initial market capitalisation of more than $127 million.
The fl oat was successful despite a number of challenges, including the Greek fi nancial crisis, the China stock market melt-down and increasingly negative sentiment about the perform-ance of the Australian economy, BGFC chairman Dr Roger Sexton said. The BGFC offering had found strong appeal among Asian institutional investors as well as retail investors in Australia.
Beston’s relatively short ancestry began with a modest organic dairy in-vestment in South Australia and a stake in the lucrative southern rock lobster export trade earlier this year.
In recent months it has expanded to include beef processing ties in Vic-toria, two mainstream dairy factories and several dairy farms and buying into a specialist food ingredients and research business in Sydney.
The company’s board includes some high profi le agribusiness names — GrainCorp chairman, Don Taylor, former Elders and Santos chairman
and Flinders University chancellor Stephen Gerlach, and investment bank-er, wine company boss and IOOF Hold-ings chairman, Dr Sexton.
Dr Sexton, a one-time Australian Bu-reau of Agricultural Economics econo-mist and director of the Industries Assistance Commission, has led a two-year push to establish the company, drawing on his own trade relationships in Asia and the investment experience of his Beston Pacifi c Asset Manage-ment company.
Beston Global fi rst tested inves-tors’ appetites in February, seeking and receiving $22.4 million in a private capital raising, which funded its 26.5% holding in the Paris Creek biodynamic
dairy farm processing business in the Adelaide Hills, plus a 35% purchase of Ferguson Australia’s lobster and sea-food harvesting and processing busi-ness, and the $2.1 million purchase of a 170-hectare dairy farm, milking 347 cows at Wellington, south east of Ad-elaide.
Its next step is to use up to $130 mil-lion raised in its fl oat to further diversi-fy its food footprint with a $3.5 million, or 40%, stake in the Paterson family’s meat processing and food services business Scorpio Foods.
Scorpio produces frozen and cooked red meat, pork and poultry products for the domestic and export market from Victorian plants at Colac and
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 15
✔ Beston lists on Australian Stock Exchange
✔ Buys former UDP plants ✔ Also invests in farms for organic produc� onKe
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Beston chief execu� ve o� cer Sean Ebert says the company’s model is to try to build produc� vity on its dairy farms.
16 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
NEWS
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 17
Shepparton, including burger patties, Italian sausages and 95% of the meat used in Australian baby foods.
Beston’s dairy activities will also ramp up considerably following its agreement to buy the United Dairy Power (UDP) processing plants at Mur-ray Bridge and Jervois for just $4.5 mil-lion once the ASX listing is completed.
The mothballed sites, originally part of the Dairy Farmers group, were key assets in a $70 million UDP sale to Hong Kong’s Five Star United Food early last year, but were soon back on the market after the new Chinese owners went into receivership in Australia in November.
Beston chief executive offi cer Sean Ebert said his company had already or-ganised with suppliers and the former UDP management committee to have the Murray Bridge plant back produc-ing cheddar by early September and a return to whey powder production from the Jervois site.
Murray Bridge will also produce spe-
cialist Italian cheeses and retail dessert packs pitched at markets in Korea and Japan when Victorian processor Aus-tralian Provincial Cheese relocates to SA to service new contracts, including Costco in Asia.
Whey output at Jervois would go towards producing lactoferrin protein used in infant formula and a key ingre-dient for Beston’s Sydney-based health food partner Neptune Bio-Innovations.
Neptune, another partner company set to receive a capital injection after the fl oat, has research and processing connections in Brunei from where it will be involved in exporting branded
halal food products to Muslim coun-tries.
Back in SA at Mount Gambier, Be-ston is also in the throes of buying one of the state’s largest dairy farms, the 1230ha Pedra Branca aggregation worth $19.2 million, which runs more than 1500 cows and will be leased back to its former owners, the Doman family.
Also around Mount Gambier, Beston is paying $4.26 million for a 270ha, 340-cow dairy farm and $7.2 million for a 314ha 650-cow dairy farm.
Mr Ebert said 25 million litres of milk from the three district farms would be redirected to the newly acquired Mur-ray Bridge factory, while the overall dairy agenda was to lift productivity at all its farms and begin a conversion to organic status at the 260ha and 314ha farms.
“Our model is to try to build pro-ductivity. We want to fund opportuni-ties for them to grow their milk pro-duction and value,” he said. D
DAIRY Australia has announced nomi-nees to stand for elec� on to its board
as non-execu� ve directors at the annual general mee� ng in November.
There are three vacancies this year, one for a director with agribusiness and strat-egy skills, one for a director with dairy manufacturing and processing skills and one for a director with milk producer skills.
James Mann, dairyfarmer and chair of DairySA, and David Mallinson, execu� ve general manager — business opera� ons for Murray Goulburn are standing for elec-� on for the � rst � me.
Mr Mann is the owner of Donovan’s Dairying at Wye, SA , which is one of the na� on’s leading dairy businesses, devel-oped by him and his team from a green-� elds site in 1998. The business has pio-neered innova� ve grazing and produc� on
systems for dairy in southern Australia and con� nues to explore leading-edge op-portuni� es for business sustainability. Mr Mann has been the chair of DairySA since 2002 and has also performed other dairy industry leadership roles.
Mr Mallinson has had a range of roles across Murray Goulburn and other proc-essors (Fonterra, Bonlac Foods, Cadbury Schweppes) and has extensive opera� onal experience (including his current responsi-bility for Murray Goulburn’s manufacturing sites [including China] with more than 1600 employees). He is also a non-execu� ve di-rector on the board of Snapsil Corpora� on.
John McKillop, who was � rst appointed to the Dairy Australia board in 2012, has also been nominated for re-elec� on as a director, to � ll the agribusiness and strat-egy vacancy.
Dairy Australia invited applica� ons for the vacancies earlier this year. An industry selec� on commi� ee conducted the formal process leading to the recommenda� on of the three candidates to the Dairy Australia board.
The candidates selected align with the board skills matrix, which iden� � es the necessary skills and experience required for the board as a whole.
“As Australia’s dairy industry grows, it demands broad exper� se and I am de-lighted the selec� on commi� ee has se-lected individuals who bring extensive experience in dairy and the wider business world,” Dairy Australia board selec� on commi� ee chair Geo� Akers said.
All candidates will require more than 50% of the votes cast at the Dairy Australia 2015 AGM to be elected.
Nominees announced for Dairy Australia board roles
We want to fund opportuni� es for them to grow their milk produc� on and value.
18 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
What’s new in herd recording?
www.nhia.org.au
By Carol Millar
THE International Committee for Animal Recording (ICAR) recent-ly held its annual conference in
Krakow, Poland. ICAR is the global body that oversees how performance is recorded in a number of species (particularly herd test in dairy) as well as downstream activities such as genetic evaluation and Interbull cal-culations.
The theme of this year’s conference was ‘Performance Recording in a Gen-otyped World’.
There were a number of topics that generated interest from an Austral-ian view-point. The main one being that service providers around the world have made substantial efforts in trying to maximise the amount of information from the milk sample col-lected through herd testing.
As an example, in the past few years Australian dairyfarmers have seen the immense benefi t and convenience from the IDEXX pregnancy-testing service from milk samples collected via herd testing.
Cow health paramountThe most noticeable trend in herd re-cording now is all about health traits. Today’s dairy cow is expected to pro-duce more milk and to achieve this, it needs to be in the best of health.
In Europe and North America it is now reasonably common for herd test centres to have sophisticated
infra-red milk analyser equipment that can test for ketosis and acido-sis in addition to the normal fat, pro-tein and cell count. Diseases such as Johnes can be tested through milk samples as can various mastitis-caus-ing pathogens.
The conference heard of an interest-ing research project in France meas-uring Milk Amyloid A — a biomarker of the infl ammation of the mammary gland. Using a test developed from milk samples, scientists are able to predict whether antibiotic treatments at dry-off are necessary.
The results of this study showed that 29% of antibiotic dry cow treat-ments could have been avoided — po-tentially a signifi cant cost saving for farmers.
Big dataAs well as the increasingly sophisti-cated analysis of herd test milk sam-ples for health traits, the other notice-able trend was in the way that huge data sets are being interrogated to provide farmers with valuable infor-mation about managing their herds.
An example of this is the Transition Cow Index developed by AgSource in the USA. This index is designed to evaluate the effectiveness of a herd’s transition cow program during the
most critical part of a cow’s lactation. TCI is a comprehensive and objective measurement of transition cow man-agement, which is the foundation to the next lactation.
It is important that Australia devel-ops similar tools in this area.
More data neededIt is a mistake to think that genotyp-ing DNA samples from dairy animals means that we can stop herd testing. In fact, the opposite is the case. In or-der for the scientists and statisticians to be able to accurately calculate the equations needed for sire evaluations, the more data they have from herd tested animals, the better.
New directorAs part of the normal governance process, two members of the Nation-al Herd Improvement Association of Australia (NHIA) board of directors are up for re-election every year and nominations are called for within the membership. There were fi ve nomina-tions for the two board positions and a postal ballot of members was car-ried out.
Graeme Gillan was re-elected to his position as a director and after the annual general meeting was also re-elected as chairman of NHIA by his fellow directors.
The general manager of Genetics Australia, Jayne Senior, was elected to the second director position.
The board and members of NHIA would like to congratulate both on their election and look forward to their contributions to the matters of the association for the three years of their terms. D
✔ Maximising amount of data extracted from herd test sample
✔ Iden� � ying herd health issues ✔ Data sets used to give farmers informa� onKe
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The most no� ceable trend in herd recording now is all about health traits.
1/112 SYNOTT STREET WERRIBEE VIC 3030 PHONE (03) 9742 7244 FAX (03) 9742 7696 NO. 174
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Safer farms more produc� ve
WE want everyone to come home safe. This message was a focus at Farm Safety
week recently where the theme ‘Safe farms, better productivity’ was on dis-play.
With a mission to change the way farmers and dairyfarmers think about safety, Dairy Australia is helping to drive change as it develops practi-cal tools and new programs to assist dairyfarmers live and work in a safer environment.
Although the number of on-farm incidents is decreasing, farm-related deaths and injuries are still high. Fig-ures released by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety are a chilling reminder of the importance of safety within agriculture and across the dairy industry. An analysis of me-dia reports in the fi rst six months of this year indicates that 24 people tragically lost their lives in on-farm in-cidents across all of agriculture, and a further 50 were involved in non-fatal incidents that were serious enough to be reported.
“These fi gures are similar to the same time last year, however, the fi gures are only a minor part of the issue, as behind every one of these cases there is an individual, a family and a community that has to manage the unnecessary loss of a loved one or friend,” centre director Dr Tony Lower said.
Key areas of concern are quad bikes and tractors.
“While we strongly encourage farm-ers to use other safer vehicles, if con-tinuing to use a quad, then ensure a crush protection device is fi tted, wear a helmet and follow basic vehicle
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 21
If using a quad, then ensure a crush protec� on device is � � ed, wear a helmet and follow basic vehicle maintenance and riding safety prac� ces.
We want to make the place we live and work the best it can be...
✔ High number of farm-related deaths and injuries
✔ Quad bikes and tractor key areas of concern
✔ Need to change way farmersview safetyKe
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maintenance and riding safety prac-tices, including keeping children and passengers off all quads,” Dr Lower said.
Tractors have also featured in fatal
incidents with eight cases across agri-culture this year. “While we have seen major reductions in tractor incidents, we need to remain focused on the safety of all farm equipment and this is especially true for children with two quad and one tractor incident in 2015,” he said.
Changing the way farmers and dairyfarmers think about safety was critical. “We want to make the place we live and work the best it can be and this means encouraging farmers to use safer vehicles and to avoid inci-dents,” Dr Lower said.
A copy of the fi nal report is availa-ble from the Australian Centre for Ag-ricultural Health and Safety website at <www.aghealth.org.au>. A guide to the Safe Use of Quads and Side By Sides on Australian Farms is avail-able at <http://www.farmsafe.org.au/content/quad-and-vehicle-safety>. D
Is this share-farming agreement legal?
ABOUT one in fi ve of Australia’s dairy farm businesses oper-ate under some form of share-
farming arrangement — with lots of variation around how these arrange-ments are structured. This allows each arrangement to best suit the farm and the people involved but it is also important that the agreement is legal.
A true share-farming agreement is not an employment contract but a form of independent contracting so it must satisfy the tests that show it is not just employment ‘under an-other name’. The nature of the re-lationship between the parties to a contract will always be determined by the law and not by the label the parties choose to put on it.
Agreements that are not legal leave the farm owner and share farmer open to business risks. For example the appropriate tax may not have been paid (by either party), employment and superannuation entitlements may be outstanding or WorkCover inadequate. These can cause large payments to be required many years later.
What do Australian workplace laws say about share farming?Australian workplace laws are made up of statutes (eg the Fair Work Act), awards (eg the Pastoral Award 2010) and common law (cases decided by Commissioners and judges in the courts).
These workplace laws make a clear distinction between independ-ent contracting and employment but there is no statute law nor any signifi cant case law that provides a comprehensive defi nition of what constitutes a share farmer.
Independent contracting has been found by the courts to centre around:
• that the person is running their own business and therefore brings some assets to use; • has control over the work which is performed and when and how it is performed; • takes some fi nancial risk in the business; and • has the opportunity to build wealth over and above what they would have received as wages.
Employment laws centre around the worker doing the work required by the employer for the employer’s
business in the manner and at the time the employer requires the work to be performed.
Over time the courts have devel-oped a number of questions that can be used to help determine whether the legal status is one of employ-ment or independent contracting.
How can you ‘test’ the likely legal status of a share-farming arrangement? No single factor determines wheth-er an arrangement is in fact a true share-farming arrangement. Howev-er, on balance the following needs to be considered:i) Does the share farmer bring sig-nifi cant assets to the business such as livestock, mobile plant and equip-ment and potentially land? ii) In relation to the work undertaken on the farm, does the share farmer have the ability to:• make relevant management deci-sions;• decide how some or all of the work will be performed and when;• be able to delegate or employ oth-ers to do some or all of the work; and• be responsible for their mistakes and be required to rectify them.iii) Is the share farmer responsible for a fair proportion of the costs as-
22 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
One of the ques� ons asked to test if someone is a share farmer or independent contractor is are they able to delegate or employ others to do some or all of the work.
✔ Share-farming must meet contractor standard
✔ Several key requirements ✔ New Share Dairy Farming Model Code of Prac� ce provides test guideKe
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THE Fair Work Act prevents employ-ers from engaging employees as
independent contractors to avoid pay-ing employee en� tlements. These are called ‘sham contracts’.
The following are prohibited and sig-ni� cant penal� es apply: •�dismissing an employee for the sole or main purpose of engaging them as an independent contractor; •�represen� ng an employment rela-� onship as independent contrac� ng; or •�making a false statement for the pur-pose of in uencing or persuading an in-dividual to enter into an independent contract.
Sham contrac� ng
sociated with the operation of the business, relative to his or her in-come?iv) Does the share farmer have the ability to increase wealth as a result of the work performed under the share-farming arrangement?
Dairy Australia has developed a new Share Dairy Farming Model Code of Practice, endorsed by the dairy in-dustry, with a Legal Test Guide to as-sist in determining if an arrangement that is already in place, or is being pro-posed, is a share-farming arrangement or if under Australian law it is actually some other form of engagement.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 23
Dairy Australia has developed a new Share Dairy Farming Model Code of Prac� ce, endorsed by the dairy industry.
IT is important that the share-farm-ing agreement is in writing. Memo-
ries fade with time and if a dispute arises both parties will almost cer-tainly have differing views as to what was agreed.
Courts have great difficulty de-termining cases where there is no written record. The new Share Dairy Farming Model Code of Practice also has a checklist and a model agree-ment that can be used to make a writ-ten agreement straightforward.
Wri� en agreements vital
The Legal Test Guide provides an overall score of the arrangement de-rived from:1. An assets test and score.2. A control test and score.3. A fi nancial risk test and score.4. A wealth test and score.
It is recommended that the par-
ties setting up or reviewing their ar-rangement work through these steps with a dairy adviser. D
The Share Dairy Farming Model Code of Practice and Legal Test Guide can be downloaded from website <www.thepeopleindairy.org.au/sharefarming>.
SHARE DAIRYFARMING IN AUSTRALIAModel Code of Prac� ceThe industry-agreed approach to building successful share dairyfarming arrangements
➥Is the arrangement fair and a� ordable?Tool 1 Calculator
➥Is it share farming from a legal perspec� ve?Tool 2 Test Guide
➥What should the par� es discuss?Tool 3 Checklist
➥ What should be in the wri� en agreementTool 4 Agreement
A Masterclass in dairy leadership
AFTER several years of running the Developing Dairy Leaders Program (DDLP), the dairy in-
dustry’s fl agship leadership program, the dairy industry has established an alumni of its more than 60 graduates.
Alumni events will be held to pro-vide opportunities for DDLP graduates to maintain access to ongoing profes-sional development and to maintain the currency of their leadership knowl-edge, increasing the benefi t of the levy investment long after the DDLP pro-gram ends.
The fi rst alumni event, a leadership Masterclass, was held in late June in Canberra. The three-day event was timed to coincide with the annual Legendairy Industry Breakfast at Par-liament House, where the eight par-ticipants met their local members of parliament and gave their fi rst-hand accounts of the opportunities and con-tribution of the dairy industry.
Other elements of the Masterclass included an all-day seminar conducted by author and speaker Margie War-rell, excursions to explore leadership themes at the Australian War Memorial
and the Australian Institute of Sport, a question-and-answer session with Dairy Australia managing director Ian Halliday and an industry leadership dinner with a stirring keynote address delivered by former Queensland Pre-mier Anna Bligh.
“The fact that we had the opportu-nity to engage with other farmers out of area was brilliant — and the guest speakers were really uplifting,” one of the dairyfarmers selected to attend, western Victorian Leighton Hart said. “What occurred to me in Canberra was that it’s easy to get bogged down at the farmgate but not realise that you’re do-ing a good job so I really enjoyed (shar-ing) that.”
Another dairyfarmer and active community participant who attended, northern Victorian Di Bowles said: “I really want to promote the industry because it’s great. I was so proud.
“I had more of a confi rmation of what I was thinking was right. What I
saw is that if you take the time to speak with the right politicians, dairy has a high credibility in government.”
Kim Foss, an educator who is also a graduate of DDLP, has been appointed co-ordinator of the DDLP alumni and will also be the education leader of DDLP and the new tier one dairy in-dustry leadership program, Emerging Dairy Leaders Program (EDLP), which starts next year.
These programs are part of the dairy industry’s three-tier leadership program framework that is part of a strategy and broader work by Dairy Australia, on behalf of the Australian dairy industry, to attract, retain and develop the people needed to drive the industry.
DDLP is being redesigned to better meet the needs of the dairy industry and dairy communities and instead of being run each year will now run every two years and alternate with the Can-berra leadership Masterclass event.
From next year DDLP graduates will earn an Advanced Diploma in Agribusi-ness from the National Centre for Dairy Education (NCDE) and EDLP graduates will earn a Diploma of Agribusiness from the NCDE. Applications for the 2016 DDLP will open later this year and information about EDLP, which will run in each dairy region in the next few years, will be on the Dairy Australia website soon. D
24 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Guest speaker Anna Bligh, DA chair Geo� Akers and Australian Dairy Farmers director Simone Jolli� e with Developing Dairy Leaders Program par� cipants Andrew Beale, Cororooke, Vic, (at le� ) and Aubrey Pellet, Hill End, Vic, (second from right) at the dinner in Canberra.
What I saw is that if you take the � me to speak with the right poli� cians, dairy has a high credibility in government.
✔ Events for leadership program graduates
✔ Program helps a� ract, retain and develop leaders
✔ New program for emerging leadersKe
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BUILDING DAIRY
Building a career in dairy
By Annabelle Beale
WHEN overseas demand plum-meted for Australian dairy products in 2008, Will Ryan’s
family dairy farm suffered a huge blow. Profi ts for the South Gippsland operation fell by 44%.
The volatile market coincided with the family’s acquisition of a property, which was bought the year before, and began one of the most challeng-ing periods for the family’s dairy op-eration.
“At such time all indicators of the dairy industry looked excellent with the pricing of milk solids fi rm so farm-ers were optimistic for the future of the industry — then in one night this all changed,” he said.
“Our family business, like many oth-ers in industry, lost hundreds of thou-sands of dollars. This was my fi rst
introduction to how the volatility of free markets can impact an industry, a community and a family.”
Challenging seasons such as this that can see young people turned off the land in favour of a nine-to-fi ve job with a reliable income.
But not for Will Ryan — the pitfalls were his motivation to understand how businesses could mitigate fi -nancial risks and to start a career in agribusiness. He turned to upskilling himself so he could understand all as-
pects of industry, from soil health to global trade.
In 2008, Will began his Certifi cate IV in Agriculture, coinciding with a Cer-tifi cate III with the National Centre of Dairy Education Australia (NCDEA).
The following year he started a Di-ploma of Agriculture at the NCDEA before taking a gap year to work in Essex, England, as heavy machinery operator during the harvest. “We worked among old World War II ma-chine gun pillboxes and giant bomber
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 25
✔ Family faces vola� le � mes ✔ Skill development vital ✔ Sees bright future for agricultureKe
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Will Ryan sees a great future in agriculture.
‘Some� mes we have to endure such challenging events before we can realise the extent of our limits.’
BUILDING DAIRY
26 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
hangars, stacking 70,000 bales on an old airfi eld that stretched one kilome-tre,” he said.
It was after this time he decided to continue studying and signed-up for an undergraduate degree in agricul-ture at the age of 22.
In his second year of uni, Will’s fa-ther Peter was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
While his dad underwent treatment, Will returned to managing the family property — forgoing an opportunity with Rimfi re Resources to look at the Indonesian agriculture sector.
For the next 12 months he managed the family dairy operation four days a week, while working on full-time stud-ies.
After seven months of treatment and being declared in remission, Pe-ter lost his battle cancer.
“Sometimes we have to endure such challenging events before we can realise the extent of our limits,” Will said.
“Whether it be myself and family going through such circ*mstances, or the 2011 banning of live exports which nearly decimated the beef sec-tor throughout Australia, sometimes to understand the true capacity or
resilience of an individual or industry, you have to be exposed to such test-ing times and situations.”
What pushed him to the edge of his studies was a research thesis with the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning in his third year of uni, examining the extraction meth-ods for sampling soil microbial DNA in Gippsland dairy soils.
This research attracted him the at-tention as an emerging leader with the Gardiner Foundation. As a result, last
year he joined a delegation from the Victorian Government to look at op-portunities for the Australian dairy industry in China.
The accolades continued, and Will was later selected for the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria tour of New Zealand.
He now works as an industry de-velopment offi cer with the Australian Fodder Industry Association (AFIA).
Through his research and overseas scholarships, Will said it was an excit-ing period to be a part of the Austral-ian protein industry.
“With the average person in China consuming in 0.4 kilograms of dairy products annually versus 35kg/per-son for someone in a western culture, the potential for protein is huge,” he said.
“As the Chinese people begin to change their diets towards more of a western style, more and more protein is looking to be sourced.
“Every year the equivalent popu-lation of Australia, about 23 million people, move into the middle class in China — which the ability to spend more money on good quality food and fi bre. We have selected the right ca-reer path.” D
In 2014, Will was awarded an emerging leader � tle with the Gardiner founda� on and as a result joined a delega� on from the State Government to look at opportuni� es for the Australian dairy industry in China.
DAIRY INNOVATION
Calling the cows home
FUTUREDAIRY researchers have discovered that cows can be trained to respond to sound,
opening up possibilities for teaching cows to come to the dairy in response to a particular call. Researcher Dr Cameron Clark said that while there was plenty of anecdotal evidence from farmers that cows could be called to the dairy, this study paved the way for farmers to use cow calling as a powerful management tool.
“It’s given us the confi dence for fur-ther research on the best way to train cows and to look at the potential to train individual cows to respond to their own unique sound,” he said. “It has potential application on farms with both conventional milking sys-tems and robots.
“Dairyfarmers can spend more than seven hours a week herding the cows up to the dairy for morning and evening milking sessions. The use of automatic gates and calling sounds could eliminate this daily task.”
The concept has even greater po-tential application in voluntary milk-ing systems where cows move by themselves from the paddock to a ro-botic dairy and back to the paddock.
One of the challenges with voluntary milking systems is that there is always a small group of cows less motivated to move around the farm. These cows need to be ‘fetched’ from the paddock for milking. Although it is a small task, it must be built into the routine to avoid these unmotivated cows having milking intervals that extend beyond about 16 hours. Left any longer, these cows are at risk of reduced production and mastitis.
The ‘cow calling’ study was the fi rst step in understanding how cows re-spond to sound. To test the concept, student Alexandra Green designed a maze in a paddock using electric fenc-ing, following similar principles that researchers use with studies of rats or mice in mazes. The t-shaped maze had feed bins at both sides of the T.
The three-week study involved six dairy heifers aged about 20 months. Recognising that young heifers are shy, the team started with a few days
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 27
training to familiarise the animals with the maze. “We used the Pavlov’s dog principle to teach the cows to as-sociate the sound with a feed reward,” Ms Green said.
“Initially we played a sound when the heifers put their head in a feed bin. Eventually we put the sound only with the feed bin that had feed in it. We start-ed playing the sound as soon as each
cow entered the maze to see if we could teach them to follow the noise instead of going to the side they preferred.”
The team was amazed at how quick-ly the heifers picked up the signals. “Initially the cows guessed their way through the maze but they quickly started to turn their heads to where the sound was; they would really think about it,” she said.
“One of the heifers was hilarious. She got every single test correct from day two onwards. She’d kick up her heels in what looked like sheer delight as though she knew she’d chosen the right way.”
Four of the six heifers got a perfect score four times a day for four days in a row. The other two got it right 75% of the time.
A follow-up study is underway with cows wearing a collar that generates a sound. D
Contact: FutureDairy Associ-ate Professor Kendra Kerrisk, mo-bile 0428 101 372, email <[emailprotected]>.
University of Sydney student Alexandra Green trained heifers to respond to sound, opening up possibili� es for teaching cows to come to the dairy in response to a par� cular call.
✔ Heifers trained to respond to sound
✔ Poten� al to a� ract cows for milking
✔ Further trials plannedKey
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Top Billing for award winners
MARK and Sam Billing already have a high profi le in the dairy industry with their
farm straddling the busy Princes High-way near Colac, Vic. Farmers passing by tend to look over the fence to see well-maintained cows, trials taking place in the paddocks, students being hosted on farm visits, and new tech-nologies being tried.
Now the Billings have boosted their profi le even further by being named as the inaugural Legendairy Farmers at the Great South West Dairy Awards. It’s a responsibility and honour they take seriously.
Mr Billing admits they were “hon-oured but a bit shocked” by the award after earlier being named as the Farm Business Managers and the Employ-ers of the Year. Now they are deter-mined to live up to the title.
“There’s a bit of responsibility that goes with winning that and we’re right on the highway west of Colac so we
try to farm best practice and set a good example,” Mr Billing said.
“We don’t farm for what people think; we farm for what suits the way we want to farm, but people drive past and can be critical or otherwise,” he said. Luckily the feedback is positive and the Billing family has successfully farmed the land for four generations, with no plans to sever the ties that date back to the 1920s.
“Dairying is in our blood,” Mr Bill-ing said.
The Billings, parents of four chil-dren aged under nine, work as a partnership called Craiglands — an ancestral family name — along with one full-time, two part-time and one casual employee.
The farm has grown from small be-ginnings 90 years ago to milking 452 Holstein cows off about 240 hectares.
So what makes a Legendairy farm-er? That’s one question that stumps Mr Billing said. “I’m not really sure,” he said. “Both Sam and I have an in-terest in the industry but we’re also interested in giving back to the indus-try.”
They like looking beyond the farm-gate. Mr Billing is heavily involved in the Dairy Australia Future Dairy
project and as chairman of the Fonter-ra Supply Forum in Australia and di-rector of the Bonlac Supply Company. “We like looking at the bigger picture,” he said.
The farm is regularly used for pas-ture trials and hosting research sci-entists. They will also give more than 200 Melbourne school students a taste of life on a dairy farm this year. “I love that. It’s warts and all; whatever is going on at the time they watch and participate,” Mr Billing said.
The Billing farm embraces new technology. All cows have activ-ity monitoring and about 100 of the herd have eating behaviour monitors. A differential feeding system is used to feed taking into account produc-tion, body condition and state of lac-tation.
“We’ve set up a robust system to ensure the farm gets the best returns and remains profi table, no matter what the weather or farm prices might throw at us,” “Mr Billing said.
Like all farms, Craiglands has been through tough times, including the prolonged dry spell of 2012-13, but having a clear goal and fl exible business plan has seen it ride the bumps.
BUILDING DAIRY
28 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
✔ Legendairy award winners in south-west Victoria
✔ Heavily involved in research programs
✔ Developing farm business for next genera� onKe
y po
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Mark Billing with one of the cows in the herd. All cows have collars to monitor ac� vity.
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30 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
2015 Great South West Dairy Award winners and runners upLegendairy Farmers of the year: Mark and Sam BillingDairy Australia Farm Business Managers: Mark and Sam BillingGardiner Founda� on Employers of the Year: Mark and Sam Billing.Employee of the Year sponsored by Devondale Murray Goulburn: Elsi Neave.Glenelg Hopkins and Corangamite Catchment Management Authori� es’ Natural Resource and Sustainability Manager Award: Daniel Cro� .Young Farm Leader sponsored by Moyne Shire: Michael Hawker.Dairy Farm Photo: Terry Kavenagh
They have also developed an envi-able reputation for being a good em-ployer where staff become “part of the family” and are supported to under-take training to further their careers.
While dairying was in Mr Billing’s genes, Mrs Billing came from inner-city Richmond. She completed an Agricul-tural Science Degree at Dookie Agri-cultural College and was working as a sheep offi cer at Hamilton with the De-partment of Agriculture before she met Mr Billing and converted to the dairy lifestyle. Mrs Billing also has a Masters in Agribusiness.
They both have an eye on the future and make sure the farm is in good shape for another generation. “I grew up here and now our four kids are growing up here,” Mr Billing said. “Every now and then I stop and think I’m farming the area my great grandfather farmed. That’s got some signifi cance for me as I’m getting older. Now we’ve got it in the back of our minds to make sure it’s in shape if our kids want to continue.”
Mr Billing hopes they can live up to the Legendairy title and support the communication initiative to raise the profi le and reputation of the industry.
“I love the variety of farming,” he
said. “Today I’m sitting on a tractor putting out some fertiliser; tonight I’ll be sitting in front of a computer analys-ing some data.
“I’m biased now but even before I thought Legendairy was a great cam-paign, not only to inform the broader community but to inspire existing farmers.
“Legendairy makes it that little bit easier to be positive about what’s go-ing on in our industry. It’s important for Victoria and Australia as a business that’s bringing money into the country with our exports. It’s sustained four generations of our family.”
WestVic Dairy executive offi cer Paula Doran congratulated all winners of the Great South West Awards and com-mended their dedication to the indus-try. “The quality of this year’s entries was not only exceptionally high, but a true refl ection of the dedication and passion of the entire western Victorian region, she said. “What an incredible group of leaders we had on stage.”
Ms Doran said the calibre of entrants were so high that it made it diffi cult for the judges. “All the judges commented on how close the applicants were and how hard it was to pick a winner,” she said. “I think this shows how commit-ted local dairy farmers are to improv-ing the dairy industry.” D
The farm of Mark and Sam Billing is regularly used for pasture trials and hos� ng research scien� sts.
‘I love the variety of farming.’
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 31
Building dairy capacity globally
By Alexandra de Blas
ZITA Ritchie is passionate about the role of smallholder farmers in food security, and a Gardiner
Dairy Foundation scholarship has given her exposure to world-leading researchers, networks and opportuni-ties in this fi eld.
Ms Ritchie has worked for the Vic-torian Government as a dairy exten-sion offi cer for almost six years, but has always had a keen interest in international development. A year spent volunteering as an agricultural offi cer in Kenya with AusAID only in-creased her desire to combine dairy
work with international development. She has also just completed a Mas-ter of International Development at Deakin University.
With that background, it’s easy to
see why Ms Ritchie was keen to at-tend the Crawford Fund Parliamen-tary Conference in 2014, titled ‘Ethics, Effi ciency and Food Security: Feeding the 9 Billion, Well’.
“Being able to attend the conference was a great opportunity to hear from a range of speakers, both in Australia and internationally, to understand the kind of work and research going on in the development space,” she said.
“It was also really valuable linking in with networks that were working on similar projects. So being able to share experiences and hear from more experienced people who have been working in the fi eld — the kind of training programs they’ve run, how they have done extension in develop-ing countries, and what’s worked and what hasn’t.”
Gardiner Dairy Foundation strategi-cally invests in people in the Victorian
32 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
UPDATE FROM THE GARDINER FOUNDATION
‘The average herd size would be about � ve to eight cows per farmer, very li� le machinery, so it’s predominantly milking by hand, and because of the lack of cold chain storage, there are o� en milk quality issues.’
✔ Gardiner invests in professional and leadership development
✔ Crawford Fund opportuni� es in development and food security
✔ UDV NZ Study Tour promotes leadership at homeKe
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Dairy adviser training in Lembang, West Java, with Zita Ritchie and John Moran from Victoria.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 33
UPDATE FROM THE GARDINER FOUNDATION
dairy industry, fi lling skill gaps and supporting upcoming dairy leaders in their professional development. The scholarship covered the cost of Ms Ritchie’s conference fees, fl ights and accommodation.
Being a scholar of the Crawford Fund/Gardiner program also led to an opportunity for Ms Ritchie to deliver extension training to dairy advisers and smallholder farmers in the Indo-nesian province of West Java in April.
The fi ve-day program designed to increase knowledge and uptake of better farming practices was a joint project of the Victorian Government, the Crawford Fund, and the West Java-nese provincial government.
“They’re dealing with completely different issues to what we’re deal-ing with in Victoria,” Ms Ritchie said. “The average herd size would be about fi ve to eight cows per farmer,
very little machinery, so it’s predomi-nantly milking by hand, and because of the lack of cold chain storage, there are often milk quality issues.”
Improving the capability of farmers to reduce contamination issues was a key component of the work.
Ms Ritchie is now the Victorian rep-resentative of the Australian-based
Researchers in Agriculture for Inter-national Development network, which brings together early-to-mid-career scientists with an interest in agricul-tural research in developing coun-tries.
The opportunity offered by Gar-diner Dairy Foundation to attend the Crawford Fund conference led not only to an informative experience for Ms Ritchie, but a professionally trans-formative one. She would highly rec-ommend it to others with an interest in agriculture in developing countries.
Gardiner supported a further two scholars to attend the 2015 Confer-ence in August: Mary Abdelsayed, from Holstein Australia, and Martin Foerster, from Monash University. D
To fi nd out more visit web-site <http://www.crawfordfund.org/awards/conference-travel -scholarships>.
EACH year, as part of its commitment to helping ensure a steady stream of
bright young leaders in the dairy industry, the Gardiner Dairy Founda� on, in part-nership with the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV), supports six industry pro-fessionals to undertake a study tour of the New Zealand dairy industry.
“The eight-day tour takes these vibrant young people out of their comfort zone and exposes them to best prac� ce in produc� on systems and business in New Zealand — giving them a deeper layer of experience, which they can draw on in their work and community,” Gardiner Dairy Founda� on chief execu� ve Mary Harney said.
UDV president Adam Jenkins said the organisa� on was passionate about young people and exposing them to the wider industry “as we are now part of the global dairy network”.
“The 2015 group were unique,” he said. “They gelled really well and already some of them are star� ng to give back to the industry. They were highly mo� vated, would challenge the status quo, bounce o� each other and really learn.”
Since returning from the tour of nine dairy farms, processing facili� es and re-search sites, the learnings have proved valuable to the par� cipants.
Scholar Kerrilyn Basse� , a farm worker and student from Kyabram Vic, has since been awarded Outstanding Student of
the Year with the Na� onal Centre for Dairy Educa� on and has been nominated for Victorian Trainee of the Year.
“I got a lot out of the tour,” Ms Basse� said. She greatly appreciated the oppor-tunity to discuss ideas with “young like-minded people” and to compare the Aus-tralian and New Zealand industries.
Taking part opened up new career pathways. “I’d never thought of share-farming before but now I know more about it,” she said. “It’s an op� on for me”.
It also gave Ms Basse� the con� dence to begin mentoring students in the year below her at TAFE.
Aaron Thomas, a sharefarmer from Binginwarri in South Gippsland, said go-ing to New Zealand was always on his to-do list.
“But one of the biggest things I got out of it was mateship,” he said.
Since returning, the group has kept in contact and organised tours in their own regions, crea� ng new connec� ons in dif-ferent parts of the state.
Mr Thomas, who has a personal inter-est in the poli� cal side of the industry, said the other key bene� ts were the “con-tacts and networking”. The opportunity to a� end the UDV conference and speak with dairy leaders in Melbourne was “very rewarding”.
“We are dead-set serious that we want a stronger industry moving forward,” Mr Thomas said. Since returning he and fel-low scholar Hayden Hanra� y have “� red up” the Yarram branch of the UDV, which had been in recess for the past six years. Likewise, 2015 par� cipant Jason Ber-mingham and 2014 scholar Brad Missen have reinvigorated the Macalister branch. All have taken on o� ce bearer roles.
The 2016 New Zealand study tour will be adver� sed in September. To � nd out more visit website <h� p://udvdairytour.com>.
Contact: website <www.gardinerfounda� on.com.au> or phone (03) 8621 2900.
— Alexandra de Blas
NZ study tour scholars give back to industry
Par� cipants on the New Zealand Study Tour: Kerrilyn Basset, Sarah Saxton, Hayden Hanra� y, tour leader Gordon Nicholas, Aaron Thomas, Jason Birmingham, James Goulding from the Na� onal Centre for Dairy Educ� on and William Ryan.
Zita Ritchie and group of dairy advisers designing extension programs to help farmers improve milk quality.
Australia and China dairy � es for� � ed
THE strong association between the Australian and Chinese dairy industries was further
consolidated at a special reception at the Australian Ambassador to Chi-na’s residence and the annual China Dairy Industry Association (CDIA) conference in Beijing on August 9.
China is Australia’s fastest growing dairy export market and is now the largest export market for Australia. In the past eight years (2007-2014), exports increased by more than 300% from 28,000 tonnes to 117,000 tonnes. Value added and premium products such as cheese, milk (mostly UHT) and powders make up the bulk of shipments.
The special reception was organ-ised at the residence of the Austral-ian Ambassador to the People’s Re-public of China, Frances Adamson, to celebrate Dairy Australia’s Greater China Scholarship Program, which has been running since 1999.
Dairy Australia chairman Geoff Ak-ers said the program, involving more than 240 participants so far, had been
a key to developing and maintaining long-term relationships with numer-ous companies and government of-fi cials.
“The program has been an out-standing success in terms of the long-term relationships we’ve estab-lished and we’re very proud of that,” Mr Akers said.
“Many participants are now in sen-ior positions in companies in China and have a very strong affi nity with Australia having completed the pro-gram. We are also very happy to see a number of new commercial business relationships emerging from the pro-gram over the years.”
The annual, two-week program is designed to give senior and middle level managers from major Chinese dairy manufacturers a better un-derstanding of the Australian dairy industry — from the farm to the fac-tory.
It covers everything from Austral-ian dairy food safety systems and liquid milk processing to cheese mak-
ing, functionality and applications. Participants visit various dairy facto-ries and dairy farms and meet with key company export contacts.
“We keep active communication with all participants and we’re very happy to see great support from the Australian Government and the Am-bassador for our programs,” Mr Ak-ers said.
Speaking at the CDIA conference, he said China was an important, growing and long-term market for the Australian dairy industry.
“The Australian dairy industry has enjoyed a long and mutually benefi cial relationship with the Chi-nese dairy industry through a range of programs conducted in the mar-ket, including the scholarship and alumni program, by working closely together with China Dairy Industry Association (CDIA), and the CDIA An-nual Conference and Dairy Expo, and annual series of workshops and semi-nars in the market,” he said.
“We are committed to both the Chi-na market and the CDIA for the long term. With the signing of the China Australian FTA, we expect the long-term relationship between the two industries to be further enhanced not only in trade but also in invest-ment.”
Mr Akers said the strong demand for Australian products in China was
34 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Australian Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China HE Ms Frances Adamson (front centre) and Dairy Australia chairman Geo� Akers celebra� ng 16 years of Dairy Australia’s Greater China Scholarship Program with some of the par� cipants from each year.
✔ Special dairy recep� on held in Beijing
✔ Celebrates Greater China Scholarship Program
✔ Program gives Chinese manufacturers exposure to Australian dairy
Key
poin
ts
We’ve learned that our Chinese customers like to have their op� ons open for sourcing products.
36 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
DAIRY Australia’s interna� onal mar-ke� ng scholarship program con-
� nues to remain popular across Asia, a� rac� ng high praise from the latest Chi-nese par� cipants.
The most recent program involved 16 delegates from China Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, represen� ng major dairy and food manufacturers such as COFCO, Sanyuan, Maxim’s, I-Mei and Uni President, Yili and New Hope.
The scholarship program provides par-� cipants the opportunity to see how eve-rything comes together from the farm to the factory. It covers Australian dairy food safety systems and food standards, liquid milk processing, dairy product tas� ng, cheese making, func� onality and applica� ons. Par� cipants visit vari-ous dairy factories and dairy farms and meet with key company export contacts.
Last month, the latest group visited nine dairy factories and three dairy farms — one of which featured a robo� c dairy in ac� on. Dairy Australia interna� onal market manager Sarah Xu co-ordinated the visit and said the delegates were im-pressed with the content of the program and how much they learned about the
Australian industry. “An important as-pect of the scholarship is the opportuni-ty it gives our interna� onal customers to meet the suppliers of the product they buy, and the delegates were very keen to develop deeper rela� onships with the Australian dairy companies in future,” Ms Xu said.
Annie Chan from Maxim’s Group, Hong Kong, was apprecia� ve of the op-portunity and experience provided by Dairy Australia.
“It’s very good that we can experience the factory visit to see the real prac� cal way of processing the cheese and the raw milk tes� ngs,” Ms Chan said.
Tsung-Cheng Lee from Uni President, Taiwan, said the program schedule ar-ranged by Dairy Australia was terri� c.
“During the visit I have learned so much more than I expected and have seen so many di� erent aspects of the industry,” he said. “The best part of the program is our visits to processing facto-ries and farms. They opened their arms for our tour and visit.”
Chen Huifeng, from Sanyuan Foods in Beijing, said a large number of dairy in-dustry representa� ves had been trained
throughout the history of the program.“The communica� on between the
two industries has enabled the Chinese par� cipants in processing, management and now trading sectors get a good understanding of the Australian dairy industry,” he said. “I think this is very bene� cial for Australian products being exported to China in future.”
One of the factories included in the program is Burra Foods in Gippsland. Burra’s general manager commercial Dale O’Neill said the scholarship pro-gram was a terri� c opportunity to bring some of Greater China’s key industry leaders to see the Australian industry at work.
Tasmanian dairyfarmer Garry Carpen-ter hosted the group on his farm and showcased his robo� c dairy in ac� on. He said the program was extremely impor-tant for the whole Australian industry.
“We’ve got to let people in Asian mar-kets know that what we’re doing here is really good and clean and we want to do it to the best of our abili� es,” Mr Car-penter said. “And it’s great to see they’re coming across and realising where it’s actually coming from.”
Interna� onal scholarship program rates highly
continuing to grow as the Asian pal-ate became more accustomed to dairy.
“We’ve learned that our Chinese customers like to have their options open for sourcing products and are keen to diversify where they source
their products and ingredients to lim-it their exposure,” he said.
“Food safety, quality and consisten-cy is more important and Australia is in a very good position to satisfy this.”
Aside from supplying cheese, milk and powders, Australia has also
moved to focus more on supplying branded products for food service, bakery and retail sectors in China. D
To learn more about the schol-arship program, visit <www.da i r yaus t ra l i a . com.au/ch ina -scholarship> to watch a short video.
FOR Queensland dairyfarmer Luke Stock, representing the dairy in-dustry at the second Legendairy
Breakfast in Canberra on June 25, was an important and rare opportunity.
Not only did he get to meet and talk to dozens of Federal members of parliament, including a sprinkling of ministers such as the Minister for the Environment Greg Hunt, he also spoke with their advisers and media staffers, which made him realise his potential audience at the breakfast was “...that much greater”.
“As farmers, we may have the chance to consult with our local member on issues that concern our industry, but to be at an event like the Legendairy Breakfast with politicians from across the nation should not be taken for granted,” he said.
While the breakfast is great chance to advocate to the nation’s leaders about all good things dairy, such as the huge and growing scale of the sec-tor or the 43,000 Australians directly employed on farms and in processing, it also gives farmers a chance to talk about some of the challenges they face.
“I spoke about where dairy prod-ucts sit on the proposed health-star rating system and how high feed costs in Queensland are having a negative
impact on the profi t of our farms,” Mr Stock said.
But it’s the long-term results of the Legendairy Breakfast he is anticipat-ing most.
“The contacts I’ve been able to make from the breakfast have been unique,” Mr Stock said. “I have been impressed by follow-up phone calls and emails from members of parlia-ment just wanting clarity and informa-tion on different topics.
“If I can give them relevant and cor-rect information they can have a bet-ter understanding of our industry. It’s a good sign that members of parlia-ment are wanting to hear what’s hap-pening on our farms from those of us inside the farmgate.”
Mr Stock was part of the dairy in-dustry’s Developing Dairy Leaders Program (DDLP) Masterclass in Can-berra, which brought together previ-ous participants, some of whom had met the pollies at last year’s breakfast
DA’s policy strategy manager and co-ordinator of the event Claire Miller said: “If the dairy industry is to be taken seriously, we have to take our message directly to the politicians in Canberra.
“What better way to do that than to show up and give them a taste of what we do best while talking with moti-vated farmers from our leadership programs?”
More than 60 upper house senators and members of parliament, and their staff, attended the Legendairy Break-fast including Mr Hunt, who gave an offi cial opening speech. Other nota-bles included Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Tanya Plibersek, Clive Palmer and great dairy supporters Dan Tehan, from western Victoria, and Nola Marino, from Western Aus-tralia. D
Legendairy breakfast comes to Canberra
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 37
✔ Legendairy breakfast held in Canberra
✔ Opportunity for farmers to mingle with poli� cians, media and advisers
✔ Creates long-term connec� onsKey
poin
ts
‘If I can give them relevant and correct informa� on they can have a be� er understanding of our industry.’
Luke Stock with his Federal member of parliament, Sco� Buchholz.
Dairy separated in nutri� on pyramid
By Emma Glassenburyaccredited prac� sing die� � anDairy Australia
WELCOME to Dairy Australia’s column designed to keep you up to date on some of
the latest happenings in the world of nutrition and health science.
This is where you’ll fi nd some new talking points about the benefi ts of dairy and also some of the recent work Dairy Australia has under way to ensure dairy is well represented at the national level.
New Healthy Ea� ng Pyramid launchedThe well regarded Healthy Eating Pyramid has been revamped to refl ect the latest nutrition science and was launched in May by Nutrition Aus-tralia.
It’s the fi rst upgrade in 15 years and it’s good news for milk, cheese and
yoghurt, which have been singled out from other protein sources and given their own separate category as a food group that should be enjoyed daily.
Previously, dairy foods were lumped into a general protein catego-ry together with meat and other alter-natives such as eggs and fi sh.
This move reinforces the impor-tance of core dairy foods and their ability to provide a unique package of
nutrients including calcium — which has recently been outed as the nutri-ent most lacking in Australians’ diets.
In fact, the analysis of the Austral-ian Nutrition Survey, released earlier this year, also shows that many peo-ple could do with upping their intake of a range of important nutrients, such as vitamin A, ribofl avin, vitamin B6, iodine and magnesium.
Many girls also need more phos-
38 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
‘With dairy and alterna� ves now standing alone on the new pyramid, we have a terri� c pla� orm to help us focus on the package of nutrients naturally contained in milk, cheese and yoghurt.’
✔ Healthy Ea� ng Pyramid updated ✔ Dairy foods now have own sec� on ✔ Good basis for promo� ng nutri� onal bene� tsKe
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Nutri� on Australia’s Healthy Ea� ng Pyramid has been updated.
40 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
phorus, men need more zinc and older men (over 71 years) need more protein.
Increased dairy consumption equals increased intake of all these nutrients.
With dairy and alternatives now standing alone on the new pyramid, we have a terrifi c platform to help us focus on the package of nutrients naturally contained in milk, cheese and yoghurt.
Another important upgrade to the new pyramid is the removal of junk foods altogether.
We know that people are now hav-ing too many junk foods. In fact, more than 30% of total energy from foods is coming from these discretionary foods.
The nutrition world is working hard to turn this around and the focus is on encouraging people to eat from the core food groups — fruit, vegetables, grains, dairy foods, meat and alterna-tives.
The pyramid, which refl ects the Australian Dietary Guidelines, is a
handy educational tool, pictorially depicting the types and proportions of foods people should consume each day for good health.
In addition to the core foods, the new-look pyramid also encourages drinking water, enjoying herbs and spices, and limiting salt and added sugars.
And, in a sign of the times it em-braces on-trend foods such as soba noodles, bok choy and quinoa.
So, we now have a thoroughly mod-ernised food pyramid that is ready to educate a whole new generation about the types and proportions of foods people should consume every day for good health. D
GETTING a job selling parts to the dairy industry in 1966 was a sign
of good things to come for Colac’s Chris Knight. Not only did Mr Knight go on to forge a long and successful career supply-ing milk-extrac� ng equipment to dairy-farmers around the western Victorian town, the job also marked the start of his collec� ng hobby.
Today he’s living on the farm land he grew up on just east of Colac with his dairy machine sign collec� on taking pride of place around the home and sheds.
Mr Knight likes to collect a lot of things but nothing beats his assortment of milk machine signs.
“They’re special to me because they were from my industry,” he said. “They’re unique and beau� ful in their own right.”
The signs vary in size, colour and rarity, but most have a special place in his life.
Having grown up on a farm, Mr Knight was keen to con� nue working in the in-dustry and he’s become a strong sup-porter of the Legendairy communica� ons ini� a� ve to raise the pro� le and reputa-� on of Australian dairy.
There’s a small but dedicated market for collec� ng dairy signs. Mr Knight re-calls one person travelling from Western Australia to the Flowerdale auc� on for a
rare sign that eventually cost him more than $11,000.
Mr Knight has displayed some of his collec� on at the Colac Heritage Fes� val and likes to see the reac� ons when peo-ple visit his home.
“When you don’t know what they are you tend to stand there gaping at them,” he said. His wife, Lorraine, supports his hobby,
although she’s pleased it doesn’t take up too much room. “Once she was in an an-� que shop in Queenscli� and saw a Simplex milking machine sign,” Mr Knight said. “She thought she’d never seen one before, so she bought it and gave it to me for Christ-mas. I was on top of the world for days.”
To read more Legendairy stories, head to website <legendairy.com.au>.
Job kick starts dairy sign collec� on
Chris Knight with one of his cherished signs.
IT is the end of an era for dairy nutri-� on science in Australia, with the recent
passing of Dr Peter Parodi at the age of 81. Dr Parodi was an interna� onal authority on dairy nutri� on and the person who dis-covered and named rumenic acid.
Through an extraordinary 63 years of service to the dairy industry, he made important discoveries that had signifi-cant impacts on both human health and the dairy industry in Australia and overseas.
His work brought a new understand-ing to nutrition and he was instru-
mental in changing the way the world thinks about milk. Dr Parodi worked closely with Dairy Australia’s nutri� on science team for decades and his work had a direct impact on changing a -tudes to dairy fat. He was wri� ng reviews and commen� ng on research proposals un� l six days before his death.
Two key papers remain un� nished and, as a � nal tribute to a remarkable man, Dairy Australia’s nutri� on science manager Anita Lawrence is working di-rectly with interna� onal journals to bring the papers to publica� on.
Paying tribute to dairy science legend
By Andrew Miller
THE AUSTRALIAN dairy industry is at a signifi cant advantage to its United Kingdom counterparts
when it comes to use of fertilisers, ac-cording to a Tasmanian farm manager. Peter Jones ran a dairy in Nottingham-shire, UK, before coming to Australia, with his wife, Jo, and young family.
“The rules and regulations aren’t so stringent over here — yet — as they are in the UK,” Mr Jones said. “I think it will come and people have to plan around that.”
European Union directives meant UK farmers where required to work under strict nitrogen vulnerable zones (NVZs).
“There are set nitrate levels and you are only allowed to put certain amounts on at certain times of the year; stocking rates all go hand-in-hand with that, it’s a pretty stringent way of farming,” he said.
Mr Jones said he expected similar rules to eventually apply in Australia,
but it would be better if they were in-troduced voluntarily and slowly.
“That was one of the things in the UK, it suddenly went from nothing to ‘you have to follow this rule’ and there was no real stepping stone,” Mr Jones said. “People had to put in ef-fl uent systems overnight, and a lot of farms I know went out of business be-cause they said they were not going to spend that sort of money.”
Tasmanian farmOn his Tasmanian farm, Limberlost, at Kayena, the nitrogen regime is 280 kilograms a hectare a year.
The farm has signed up to the Fert$mart Program to assist with ef-fective fertiliser use.
All perennial pastures are run on the property, with 10.3 tonnes of dry matter/hectare harvested each year.
No forage crops are grown. Hay, si-lage, grain and pellets are bought with cows fed 1.2 tonnes of grain and 1.4 tonnes dry matter (DM) of silage each year.
Each milker consumes fi ve kg DM/pasture, six kg DM/pellets, three kg DM/maize silage, one kg DM brewers grain and fi ve kg DM/pasture silage each day.
The herd is milked twice daily, tak-ing three hours to complete, at peak
milk fl ow.The farm has a 50-unit rotary dairy
with cup removers, a teat-wand auto sprayer, cow identifi cation, auto draft-ing and feed metering.
The herd is New Zealand genetics supplied by LIC and comprises pure breed Friesian and crossbred cows.
More recently, embryo transfer has been introduced to encourage more rapid progress.
“The key traits are based on milk components and calving ease, and bulls were chosen for ease of calving, locomotion and milk solids,” Mr Jones said.
Calves are born in February and March. There is a low cull rate of 3%.
Mr Jones said Limberlost was try-ing a nine-week joining regime this year compared with a previous pro-gram of fi ve weeks of artifi cial insemi-nation and fi ve weeks of bulls.
The property puts 18% of fi rst-calf heifers, back into the herd, each year.
Mr Jones said he spent eight months in New Zealand in 2000, before making the move to the southern hemisphere permanently three years ago.
“I probably always had a yearning to come to the southern hemisphere, because of the price of land, the ease of farming and the lifestyle makes it a different proposition,” he said
E� ec� ve fer� liser use cri� cal
FARM BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
42 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
✔ Equity partnership owned Tas Focus Farm
✔ Fer� liser lessons from UK experience
✔ Salinity management iden� � ed as major issueKe
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Peter Jones came from the UK with his young family to manage Limberlost, Kayena, Tas.
FARM BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
44 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
There were some similarities and differences between systems in the UK and Australia.
“They are grass focused in the UK, the system is very similar but irriga-tion wasn’t something that was used in the UK,” Mr Jones said.
“Even though we were in a very dry area, you don’t get evaporation like you do here, so that was something we had to learn when we got here.”
The main difference was in prices, with a lower cost of production in Australia and potential for three-to-fi ve-year contracts.
“You know where you are but in the UK they house cows and you really have to produce milk at the lowest cost possible,” Mr Jones said.
“Supermarkets rule over there, that is one of the down sides of it.”
DairyTas extension co-ordinator Liz Mann said Limberlost was one of the organisation’s major projects Dairy Focus Farms.
“This farm is about showcasing real decisions on real farms in real circum-stances,” Ms Mann said.
“People will be able to follow Peter and Jo’s journey during the next two years through regular updates.”
Salinity had been identifi ed as a ma-jor issue, as the farm was close to the Tamar River.
“To reduce the salinity drainage is being improved,” Ms Mann said. “Good drainage will allow water to fl ow through the system and reduce the salt in the soil profi le.
“A main drain has been installed around the boundary of the property and another main drain is being in-stalled through the most saline part of the property in order to remove water quickly and effi ciently,” she said.
A fi eld day was held at the farm earlier this year, the fi rst of three scheduled for the life of the Focus
Farm project. Since starting with the project late last year, the Joneses have been meeting regularly with a small consulting team consisting of Andrew Wright from Intelact Aus-tralia, as lead consultant, and Sandra Bennett from Serve-Ag as mentee consultant.
In these meetings they had exam-ined the farm’s physical and fi nancial performances to ensure the business was performing at its best. In addition to the consulting team there was a fo-
cus farm support group that met reg-ularly, to discuss business decisions that needed to be made.
“The fi eld day was about letting people see the farm, learn about where it is at and what decisions Pe-ter and Jo are facing going forwards,” Mr Wright said.
Mr Jones said being a focus farmer helped ensure he and Jo were doing the best they could for the business. “We are in a situation where we are managing for an equity partnership that converted the farm to dairy in 2007,” Mr Jones said.
“The business expanded rapidly, but has stabilised now and I think with being a focus farmer we can show that conversions and equity partnerships, if done correctly, can work.” D
Contact: DairyTas website <www.dairytas.com.au> and click on the Focus Farm Project link. The farm can also be followed on Facebook at <www.facebook.com/TasFocusFarm> or Twitter, search for #tasfocusfarm.
‘I probably always had a yearning to come to the southern hemisphere, because of the price of land, the ease of farming and the lifestyle makes it a di� erent proposi� on.’
The property has a 50-unit rotary with cup removers, a teat-wand auto sprayer, cow iden� � ca� on and auto dra� ing.
Salinity has been iden� � ed as an issue at Limberlost, which is under the Fert$mart regime
The herd is New Zealand gene� cs supplied by LIC, with a combina� on of pure Holstein and crossbreeds.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 45
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
Maximising home-grown fodder
WATCHING grass grow may not be too interesting, but learn-ing how and why it grows has
been an eye opener for many Gippsland farmers.
Participants in Gippsland Grows Green Grass, which is funded by The Wil-liam Buckland Foundation, have been learning how to maximise home-grown feed through a greater understanding of the methods used in successful pasture production.
A Gippsland Grows Green Grass dis-cussion group at Trafalgar, Vic, recently saw the feeding methods of Simon Fid-delaers and Clint Morello put under the microscope.
Mr Morello, who manages the farm for Mr Fiddelaers, said the discussion group had changed the way he looked at his farming methods. “It’s actually interest-ing learning how grass grows — what you need to do and the preparation for it all,” he said.
Making the most of pasture to feed 180 milkers on a leased block has had Mr Morello thinking hard about strat-egies to maximise growth in the pad-docks. Learning the fundamentals
46 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
John and Vanessa Sharman, Shady Creek, Vic, and son Saxon at the Gippsland Grows Green Grass session at Trafalgar, Vic.
✔ Program focuses on how to grow grass
✔ Maximising home-grown fodder to maximise pro� tability
✔ Measure, monitor, manage is mantraKe
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— and a fair bit beyond — of grass- growing methodology has helped him turn theory into practical outcomes for the farm business.
“It’s more like a science,” he said. “I can look now and actually work out if the cows can stay a week in the pad-dock and if they will have enough feed.
“I never used to know that sort of thing. I would just put them in for a cou-ple of days and take them out again.”
Ag Challenge’s Glenn Marriott, who is facilitating the program, said Gipps-land Grows Greens Grass aimed to put knowledge in the hands of farmers so they could make better decisions about their pasture production.
“It’s about engaging people and im-proving productivity by improving pas-ture utilisation,” Mr Marriott said. “It’s about maximising home-grown fodder to maximise profi tability.”
Mr Marriott said Gippsland Grows
Green Grass was not about preaching to the converted, but introducing new ideas to people who might not other-wise have been connected with the wider industry.
With a mantra of ‘measure, monitor, manage’, Mr Marriott said the mes-sage of refi ning pasture production was starting to spread through the industry via Gippsland Grows Green Grass.
“The feedback we are getting from within the group is that they are now measuring pasture and tracking how much the cows are consuming,” he said. “People tend to measure hay and measure grain but they don’t measure pasture. It surprises me how much pas-ture is still not measured.”
Two Gippsland Grows Grass groups meet across the Gippsland region, dis-cussing tips for sowing success; soils and nutrients; fertiliser regimes; whole farm nutrient management plans; pas-ture estimation and dry matter avail-ability; feed plans and using comple-mentary feeds; pasture benchmarking and calculating total pasture dry mat-ter consumed per hectare per year and pests and weeds. Two new groups are planned. D
Contact: GippsDairy, phone (03) 5624 3900.
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 47
People tend to measure hay and measure grain but they don’t measure pasture.
Trafalgar, Vic, dairyfarmer Simon Fiddelaers, who hosted the Gippsland Grows Green Grass session, with program facilitator Glenn Marrio� and GippsDairy projects and events co-ordinator Karen Romano.
Kevin Perry, Trafalgar, Vic, with farm manager Clint Morello, who said he had learned about the fundamentals of growing grass through the GippsDairy program.
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
African Black Beetles are spreading
By Frank MickanPasture and fodder conserva� on specialistDepartment of EconomicDevelopment, Jobs,Transport and ResourcesEllinbank Centre
JUST what farmers need, another bloody pest attacking pastures when farmers they least afford it. Coming to a nearby paddock soon could be a little known pest, the
African Black Beetle (Heteronychus arator). This mongrel combines the pasture-reducing habits of the Black-headed co*ckchafer (Aphodius tasmaniae) and the Red-headed co*ck-chafer (Adoryphorus couloni).
The African Black Beetle in its adult stage (see Figure 1) chews the stems just above and just below the ground surface (see Figure 2), often killing the growing points. The C-shaped grub (larval stage) consumes the roots and other organic matter below ground.
The African Black Beetle is usually found in south-west-ern Western Australia, South Australia and from the coastal south-eastern mainland (East Gippsland) up to South East Queensland. It is also a major pest pastures in the north of New Zealand’s North Island.
Farmers in East Gippsland have been living with the beetle for many years but now it has been appearing in some areas of West Gippsland (Jindivick, Labertouche, Drouin South, Warragul North) and Victoria’s North East valleys, and from the sightings reported, it seems to be spreading.
48 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Figure 1: The African Black Beetle can be a signi� cant pasture pest. Source: Museum Victoria.
✔ Signi� cant pest in many areas is spreading ✔ Limited op� ons for insec� cide control ✔ Pastures with endophytes reducenumbers
Key
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GROWING BETTER PASTURES
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 49
Growth stagesThe beetle lay eggs from spring to early summer to depths of 10 millimetres and these hatch about late spring/sum-mer, i.e. about six weeks later. The larvae go through three instars. The small instars feed on decaying soil organic mat-ter and chew plant roots as they mature. An instar is the development stage between moults, until the insect reaches maturity. The fi nal larval instars burrow down and pupate at about 100mm depth.
Young larvae do not tolerate high soil moisture, so mortal-ity can be high in wet winters and springs. This is why they are a problem on the lighter soils such as sands, peats and loams.
Most fl ight activity of the previous generation occurs in late summer to autumn, which coincides with the emer-gence of the new generation adults, which, in turn, overwin-ter in free draining soils. They feed in spring, mate and lay single eggs at about 10mm depth.
The adults are usually dead by mid-summer after laying eggs about three months earlier. The beetle survives best and is most active in temperatures above 20 degrees Celsius and become lethargic like snakes at 100C to 150C.
Some fl ight activity also occurs in spring, when adults mate and lay eggs. In spring, beetles crawl on the soil or pasture surface at night at a greater level than fl ight. Unlike the Red-header co*ckchafer, the African Black Beetle has one generation per year although there may be 20% overlap in generations from “late starters”.
Periods of ac� vityTable 1 (see next page) shows the periods of activity of the various growth stages of the African Black Beetle. As can be seen, the beetle is a pest to varying degrees over many months of the year although they do not tolerate wet soils.
How to tell the di� erence between African Black Beetles and Red-headed co*ckchafersThe African Black Beetles adults and grubs look similar to those of the Red-headed co*ckchafer and a magnifying glass (Downloadable from App store) is needed to pick most dif-ferences between them. Differences may be more diffi cult to discern in the younger instars, particularly head colour. Table 2 (see next page) shows the main differences between the grub and adult stages. Black-headed co*ckchafer infor-mation is also included in case these are also present in the same pastures.
Control of African black beetleSimilarly to the Red-headed co*ckchafer, both the African
Figure 2: African black beetles ea� ng grass roots.
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
50 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Growth stage
Winter Spring Summer Autumn
Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May
Eggs
Larvae
Pupae
Adults
Source: Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment 2010
Source: Department of Environment and Primary Industries, GippsDairy, Dairy Australia and Gardiner Founda� on, 2013
Table 1: Periods of main and minor ac� vity of African Black Beetle larvae and adults
Table 2: Di� erences between African Black Beetle and Red and Black Headed co*ckchafers
Main periods of ac� vity Main periods of ac� vity
Growth Stage African Black Beetle Red-headed co*ckchafer Black-headed co*ckchafer
Grub (larva)
Head Colour Light brown -- orange Dark red -- brown Dark brown -- black
Head Smooth Pi� ed Smooth, o� en wider than body
Rear end Anal slit horizontal, bordered by bare areas, dis� nc� ve hair pa� ern above and below slit
Anal slit horizontal, hair fringe on lower lip and triangular shape
”Y”shaped anal slit, oval shaped hair pa� ern
Beetle (adult)
Body Shape Oval Rounded Elongated
Colour Glossy black -- very dark brown
Dark brown -- black Light brown -- black
Head Tapered, � ne ridge across the middle
Rounded, shoulders lightly pi� ed Wide and at
Back markings/stria� ons Minimal pi ng Obvious pi ng Deep pi ng
Head/Thorax juncture Gap not so obvious Gap not so obvious Obvious gap
Black Beetle adult beetle and grub spend most of their time below ground level so not at all controlled by insecticides.
Chemical control: Given that the beetle does chew the base of stems sometimes above ground, chemicals have been used to varying degrees of success but due to the presence of or-gano-phosphates in these, they may soon to be banned from use. New Zealand experience has found that if chemicals are used, this is best done against the early summer populations.
Seed Treatments: Seed treatments containing the latest insecticide for autumn-sown pastures will confer some pro-tection for the initial three to four weeks after germination, thereby reducing the number of beetles overwintering, but this is it for chemical intervention.
Endopyhtes: Pasture seed containing the AR37endophyte seems to have a signifi cant effect on reducing beetle num-bers but only to similar levels to that exhibited by pastures that contain the standard or natural endophyte. Still, this is better than a completely failed pasture sowings. However,
during African Black Beetle outbreaks as against background populations, even the best selected endophytes may be in-suffi cient to prevent damaging populations of larvae from building up or new infestations due to massed adult beetle migration in late autumn or spring.
It would seem that treating seed and using pastures con-taining viable AR37 endophyte would be the best way to ap-proach this problem in the near future. Keep an eye on both the endophyte and insec ticidefi elds of work, as there are continuing advances each year. D
‘It would seem that trea� ng seed and using pastures containing viable AR37 endophyte would be the best way to approach this problem...’
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
Seed treatments improve crop success
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 51
By Pat Bloyedairy extension o� cerDepartment of EconomicDevelopment, Jobs,Transport and ResourcesWarrnambool, Victoria
PROFITABLE grazing systems re-quire prolifi c plant growth. How-ever, numerous facets in grazing
systems restrict these plants from re-alising their potential.
Forage planning and seed selection can be a complicated process given the modern seed technologies availa-ble, such as the ever-growing range of cultivars, novel endophytes and seed treatments (also referred to as seed coatings). One of the biggest drivers of a highly producing forage is quick and healthy germination.
All of the above mentioned seed characteristics will play a role in the success, production and profi tability of the forage, however this article will focus on seed treatments.
Understanding the role of specifi c seed treatments and determining whether they are necessary for a particular situation could mean the difference between successful or un-successful establishment of a pasture or crop. Being more informed means farmers can ask the right questions of their local agronomist/seed supplier.
So what are seed treatments, what are the different types of seed treat-ments and more importantly, what can they offer? Broadly speaking, seed treatments involve coating the individual seed with a specifi c chemi-cal, bacteria or nutrient to provide the seed with a competitive advan-tage over the untreated (bare seed).
Seed treatments can be broken down into four main categories, based on their functions. Treatments may provide:• inoculant (bacteria);• insecticide/fungicide;• micronutrients; or • improvements to mechanical han-dling properties (ballistic properties).
It is well documented leguminous species, such as clovers, lucerne and
vetch, have the ability to fi x atmos-pheric nitrogen (N2) into plant-availa-ble forms such as nitrate (NO3-) and ammonium (NH4+).
However this is dependent on spe-cialised bacteria, known as Rhizo-bium spp. forming root nodules on legumes. Note that legumes are not guaranteed to naturally form nod-ules.
In a pasture sward containing 12-15% clover, fully functioning Rhizo-bium root nodules can provide up to 100-150 kilograms nitrogen per hectare, per year. However, clovers with poor nodule formation fi x little (if any) atmospheric nitrogen into the soil. Seed suppliers can apply specifi c seed treatments to inoculate the leg-ume seed with Rhizobium spp. to in-crease the plant’s ability to form this valuable association. There are specif-ic inoculants for the range of legumes sown.
Pasture plants benefi t from oth-er forms of seed treatment. Insect pests such as Red-Legged Earth Mite
✔ Variety of seed treatments available
✔ Some protect plant from pests and diseases
✔ Some provide essen� al nutrientsKey
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Figure 1: Treated maize seed. Many seed treatments incorporate a colour or dye, which can be a good guide to the eveness and completeness of the treatment.
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
52 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
(RLEM), Blue Oat Mite and aphids can cause signifi cant damage to emerg-ing seedlings, potentially completely destroying a forage crop. Insecticide treatments (a common seed treat-ment) are suitable for many seeds and offer protection against these damag-ing pests during germination, acting for 3-4 weeks post-sowing.
As plants are at their most vulner-able stage during emergence, before substantial root development and establishment, insect pests can have major implications on overall plant density and survival.
For forage cereals, insecticide treat-ments can also protect against the spread of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus. If insect pest populations are high post emergence, speak with a local agrono-mist and consider additional insec-ticide applications the next time the seed is planted.
For maize crops in particular, fungal damage can be common and severe. Seed treatments containing fungi-cides are almost standard for maize seed and can reduce the severity of seed rot and root rot caused by vari-ous soil-borne fungi, including Fusari-um spp. and Pythium spp. These can be extremely prolifi c during the es-tablishment and early growth period, causing seed decay/seedling blight. In pastures, fungal damage is generally not a common occurrence at estab-lishment.
Some seed treatments also provide essential nutrients for plant germina-tion and development. These treat-
ments include balanced proportions of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, sulphur, along with trace elements such as magnesium, iron, manganese, copper, zinc, boron, molybdenum and cobalt. These essential plant micro-nutrients enhance the plant’s ability to germinate quickly, developing a strong established root system.
The nutrients in seed treatments provide a unique opportunity to sup-ply each individual seedling with a controlled quantity of nutrient. In contrast to broadcasting fertiliser, seed-coated nutrients will be quickly available to the sown species and less available to any neighbouring weed species.
From a practical perspective, work-ability or ‘ballistic properties’ of seed is important to achieve uniform plant density in a pasture or crop. Seeds of uniform size and shape with suffi cient
weight are easily separated, and fl ow readily through seedboxes and drop tubes without clumping together. Some seed treatments will incorpo-rate a coating or dusting to achieve many of these features and are most applicable for light, ‘fl uffy’, or irregu-lar shaped seeds.
Things to keep in mind• Seed treatments are not mutually exclusive, i.e. there are treatments that can be used in conjunction with each other.• Specifi c seed treatments will in-crease the weight of an individual seed. In some situations, a seed coating ratio will be provided. For example, a ratio of 1:1.6 indicates a 60% weight gain, i.e. one kilogram of untreated seed is equivalent to 1.6 kilograms of treated seed. Often, in-oculating legume seeds will generate the greatest weight gain, although insecticide/fungicide treatments may also increase seed weight signifi cantly depending on coating methods.• It is extremely important to know the weight gain ratio of treated versus untreated seed to adjust sowing rate for coated seed to maintain seed sow-ing density (i.e. seeds per square me-tre). Hence, treated seed may some-times appear cheaper per kilogram than bare seed, given there is less actual seed.• As not all seed treatments will be provided with a weight:gain ratio on the label, it is important to speak to an agronomist/seed supplier to know the weight gain and adjust sowing rates accordingly.• Note that not all seed treatments will increase seed weight.
Remember, the quicker and deeper the roots can get into the ground and become established, the more likely the plant is to survive and perform to its potential. Seed treatments have the ability to minimise the negative impacts caused by insect and fungal attack, and can increase plant growth and production through the addition of nutrients and inoculants. Like all areas of forage planning, the message remains consistent — no shortcuts.
To help farmers learn more about forage management and develop their own forage plans, Forage Planning for Dairy Farms programs will be starting in January/February 2016 in all dairy regions of Victoria. D
To fi nd out more or book a spot, contact Pat Bloye, mobile 0437 761 256 or email <[emailprotected]>.
Figure 2: Maize seed bag label outlining the seed treatments. In this case, the seed has been treated with Actellic, Vitavax and Gaucho.
Seed treatments have the ability to minimise the nega� ve impacts caused by insect and fungal a� ack, and can increase plant growth and produc� on through the addi� on of nutrients and inoculants.
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
Strategy aims to drive down feed costs
By Shan Goodwin
DRIVING down feed costs via permanent pasture matched strategically to the needs of
a crossbred herd is the backbone of a plan to make a success of pasture-based dairying in a traditional mixed rations stronghold for fi rst-generation farmers Paul and Jo Judge.
Against a backdrop of historically low net cash fl ow on Queensland dairy farms courtesy of high purchased feed costs, the couple are putting in place a system underpinned by home-grown feed and the production of high-component milk. The idea is to lift profi t margins by focusing on qual-ity, and by lowering costs of produc-tion, rather than increasing volumes.
Having managed dairy farms in the Northern Rivers and Southern High-lands under pasture-based systems, Mr Judge made the step into run-ning his own show last year, leasing a 90-hectare former partial mixed ra-tions (PMR) operation at Gowrie Junc-tion, near Toowoomba, Qld.
He will milk 140 cows year round off 60 hectares of fertile, black clay soil irrigated fl ats, with the aim of sending about 1.2 million litres per annum to Brisbane-based processor Parmalat.
Where the industry average feed-related cost for the region is 32 cents a litre, Mr Judge believes he can oper-
ate at under 20 cents/litre and already, one year into the project, is sitting at 24 cents/litre.
Extensive paddock improvement was the fi rst step, and ryegrass and oats in winter, followed by summer sorghum, millet and legumes have been planted.
As paddocks are cleaned up, the Judges move to lucerne and fescue, conserving feed in spring.
“The aim is to decrease feed costs with permanent pasture and to mini-mise the feed gaps in April-May and in October-November,” Mr Judge said.
“With a focus on feed budgets, we will use pasture meters and analyse what we are growing to pinpoint areas that aren’t doing what they should be and to allocate appropriately to pre-vent underfeeding or wasting.”
Once paddocks are working as planned, grain will need only be fed at 4 to 4.5 kilograms per cow per day.
“Our feed costs per cow will be less than half what they would be under a TMR (total mixed ration) and that
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 53
✔ Pasture improvement program to li� dry ma� er produc� on
✔ Summer cropping program to � ll gap
✔ Aim to cut feed costs to 20 cents/litreKe
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Our feed costs per cow will be less than half what they would be under a TMR (total mixed ra� on)...
GROWING BETTER PASTURES
54 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
provides enormous benefi t in terms of profi t margin,” Mr Judge said.
“High feed costs mean so many dair-ies here are hanging on by a thread.
“We’re meeting our commitments, paying off cows and machinery, by reducing our costs of production. It’s also a system we can do as a family unit.”
A key component is milking a crossbred herd, which currently has some Brown Swiss content but they are moving towards being a Jersey-Holstein cross to suit the pasture system.
“The idea is to keep size down but litres and components up and breed a low-maintenance cow,” Mr Judge said.
“We have honed in on quality since we arrived. We are not pushing out huge litres so we need to keep com-ponents and quality up in order to be profi table.
“We want to keep the cell count under 200,000 to attract the premium pay rate and we have just gone 12 months achieving that.
“A big part of that is running a smaller cow and keeping her under less stress.”
Yearly component averages are sit-ting at 3.6% protein and 4.5% butter-fat.
At the moment, the farm is averag-ing 4000 litres per cow per lactation but the Judges believe that can be lifted to 5500 litres.
“As new milkers come on and we fi ne-tune our calving patterns so we have cows calving every 360 days, that will fall into place,” Mr Judge said. D
See our feature starting on page 82 for more stories about growing fod-der crops.
INCREASES in the cost of buying feed is s� ll outweighing milk price li� s on
Queensland dairy farms, according to the latest farm � nancial analysis.
Es� mated Queensland Dairy Account-ing Scheme results for 2014-15 show a 1.1 cent per litre increase in cash costs and a 0.9 cents/litre increase in cash receipts.
Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries senior scien� st farm business management Ray Murphy said cash costs were es� mated to be 60 cents/litre and receipts 60.2 cents/litre, resul� ng in a net cash ow result of 0.2 cents/litre, which was worse than the 0.4 cents/litre record-ed last � nancial year.
Milk receipts, net of pick-up charges and levies, were at 56.3 cents/litre.
The major contributor to the increase in costs was purchased feed, especially felt by farms feeding a total mixed ra� on whose reserves of home-grown silage had
run out. Increased stored feed, thanks to summer storms resul� ng in be� er summer crops, added to the increased costs but also meant farmers had an increase in feed inventories.
Summer storms have resulted in many farmers having be� er summer crops than in 2013-14 and a� er Christmas they were able to increase the amount of fodder they had in storage.
Some farmers also took the opportunity to buy in silage, increasing their reserves, as it became available.
Good autumn rain has further increased expenditure on home-grown feed as farm-ers plant winter crops in an e� ort to in-crease their stored fodder.
This increase in stored feed has in-creased cash costs but it is also recorded as a 2.7 cents/litre increase in feed invento-ries. As a result, Queensland dairyfarmers are cash poor but achieved a slight pro� t
a� er accoun� ng for increased feed and livestock inventories. Return on assets is es� mated to increase from 1.3% in 2013-14 to 3.2% in 2014-15.
All Queensland dairyfarmers are invited to take part in QDAS, which provides � nan-cial analysis of individual farm businesses and allows farmers to compare their per-formance with regional averages and other farms within their regional produc� on sys-tem. QDAS reports can be found at website <www.dairyinfo.biz>.
QDAS is free, independent and con� -den� al. Individual farm data is securely stored and farms are never iden� � ed when compared with others in their regional pro-duc� on system.
Contact: Queensland farmers wish-ing to take part in QDAS should call Ray Murphy at the Department of Agricul-ture and Fisheries Toowoomba, phone (07) 4688 1094.
Feed costs hit margins
Milk producer Paul Judge and son Clem, 3, in brassica and oats pasture at their Darling Downs, Queensland, farm.
New robo� c rotary dairy released
By Wilfried Wesselink
A NEW milking robot that can be used on rotary dair-ies or as a mono-box unit was shown by GEA at the Automation Day 4.0 seminar at Teichröda, Germany,
earlier this year. The mono-box robot is designed for small-er farms and uses the same equipment as the DairyProQ rotary robot.
The GEA robot rotary consists of a series of individual robot modules. Each stall of the rotary dairy has its own module. In fact it looks like a circle of individual milking robots. On the German farm about 400 mainly black-and-white Holstein Friesian cows are milked three times a day in the 40-stall robot rotary parlour.
At milking time, cows walk from the waiting room to the parlour platform and go into an individual stall, like in a regular rotary parlour. However, in this rotary the milking units are not applied by a human but by an individual ro-bot module specifi c to each stall. The robot arm with cam-era and the milking cluster is hidden, so that it is be pro-tected, beside the cow, in the stainless steel stall dividers.
The module has four teat cups. The robot attaches the teat cups, using the cups cleans the teats with lukewarm water and then the pulsation controlled stimulating phase starts. Colour and conductivity sensors analyse the qual-ity of the fi rst milk. This fi rst milk is drained away, just like the water that is used to clean the teats. When everything is all right, the real milking process starts.
During milking, the robot arm stays under the cow. Milk-ing is done per quarter. If a quarter is completed, then the vacuum decreases but the teat cup remains on the teat un-til milking of all quarters is completed. After milking, the
teats are dipped, and then the teat cups are removed and when the rotary platform has reached the exit, the cow leaves the stall.
Pre-dipBetween milkings, the inside of the teat cups are rinsed with water and then disinfected with per-acetic acid and the outside is cleaned with water. After cleaning the teat before milking, the robot is able to pre-dip the teat. But, in Europe it is not allowed to do this with the same teat cup that is used for milking unless it is cleaned between the processes. This would take much time, so was not being done on the German farm.
Without pre-dipping one revolution with 40 cows takes 12 minutes; milking the 400 cows takes two hours.
Co-ordinatesThe initial intention was for the robots to operate only with the aid of a time-of-fl ight (TOF) camera to locate the teats, but the current robot modules also used historically known co-ordinates of the teats.
The individual robots of each milking stall are control-led by a central computer system. The milking process of all individual cows can be followed on a central display. Data from the cows and the milk, for example milk yield, conductivity, solids, somatic cell count, are recorded and can be transferred to a computer, a smartphone or other device.
Supervisor Each milking stall module handles every step of the milk-ing process fully automatically, but each individual milking stall module can also be switched to a manual mode to attach the teat cups by hand, for example when a cow has a bad udder shape.
If one of the robots breaks down, the dairy can still op-
DAIRY INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
56 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
GEA’s DairyProQ robot rotary milks cows three � mes a day on this German farm. Each individual milking stall module can also be switched to a manual mode, for example, to a� ach the teat cups by hand (see person in right of photo).
✔ Separate robot for each stall on rotary dairy ✔ Can milk up to 400 cows per hour ✔ Robot also con� gured for mono-box units
Key
poin
ts
DAIRY INNOVATION
erate as cows can be milked automatically by the other robots and stalls. A broken module can be removed with a winch to be repaired.
Though the dairy is working autonomously, on this farm two people are around the robot. One is supervising the process and can interfere when needed, while the other person brings cows from the free-stall barn into the wait-ing room.
Karl-Heinz Dorgeist, of GEA, said the DairyProQ parlour would be marketed with 28 to 80 stalls. “With the size of the parlour the capacity varies from around 120 to 400 cows per hour, depending on the cows their milk produc-tion, problems during milking et cetera,” he said.
Mr Dorgeist said three DairyProQ robot rotaries, rang-ing 28 to 40 stalls, are in operation on three German dairy farms. More systems with sizes of 28 to 60 stalls are sold in Germany and in Canada. Germany, the Netherlands, Canada and the United States are the focus for GEA for the introduction of the DairyProQ, with the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand to follow.
GEA would not release a general indication for either the purchase price or investment costs. “Price and costs of the DairyProQ are fully depending on individual farm situ-ations,” Mr Dorgeist said.
New mono-boxAt the same event, GEA also released a mono-box robot for smaller farms of up to 70 cows. It uses the same equipment as the DairyProQ rotary robot.
The mono-box will complement GEA’s MI-one multi-box system, which is aimed at farms with more than 70 cows.
With the DPQ mono-box, just like in the rotary robot, pre-and-post-treatment of the teat happens with the teat cup that is also used for milking. GEA calls this Inline Eve-rything. The current prototype is a left version. A cow en-ters the DPQ mono-box on the left side and leaves the box at the front after the trough has moved to the right and a small gate has opened. A right version will be made avail-able later. D
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 57
The DPQ mono-box will be introduced on to the market later this year.
‘With the size of the parlour the capacity varies from around 120 to 400 cows per hour.’
AUSTRALIAN DAIRY MARKET
By Amy BellhouseAnalystDairy Australia
FULL-YEAR milk production fi n-ished the 2014/15 season up 3.8% on prior year at more than 9.7 bil-
lion litres. Production growth was not spread evenly across the regions, with seasonal conditions playing a large role in determining where major changes occurred.
Favourable conditions and competi-tion among processors for milk supply helped to lift Tasmanian and Western Australian production by 10.1%, and 6.9% respectively. Recovering from a drought last season, New South Wales increased 5% in 2014/15. While north-ern and south-western Victoria were hampered by dry weather, improved conditions in the east of the state enabled an increase of 3.6% overall. Drought across large parts of Queens-land played a signifi cant role in produc-tion falling 6.1%, while dry conditions also made things diffi cult in South Aus-tralia, with production remaining rela-tively steady (+0.1%).
Higher milk production has been re-fl ected in increased product manufac-turing, with the combined total output of butter, butteroil, milk/whey powders, and cheese up 4.3% for the fi nancial year to April. The fi gures also reveal signifi cant changes to product mix as manufacturers seek to maximise in-come in a challenging global market. Production of butteroil (+19.5% year to date [YTD]), skim milk powder (SMP) (+15.3%) and cheese (+11.7%) is up signifi cantly, while whole milk powder (WMP) production has fallen by 24.8%. Butter milk production production is also up (+4.5%), whey powder down (-6.3%) and butter remains relatively stable at -0.1%.
On the retail front, packaged milk sales within Australia for the fi nancial year-to-May show the total market up marginally at +0.7%. By sub-segment, full-cream milk sales are up +3.9%, while reduced fat (-4.5% YTD) and no fat product sales (-6.4% YTD) are declin-ing. At the supermarket level (accord-ing to IRI-Aztec scan data), total sales of dairy spreads grew 5.4% in volume terms; with butter as a sub-category growing 7.2%.
Australian dairy exports increased 3.2% in volume during the 2014/15 fi -nancial year, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data. This included substantial increases in ex-ports of liquid milk (+25.2%), butter oil (+25.4%) and SMP (+30.4%), while strong domestic demand and reduced production respectively resulted in re-duced exports of butter (-23.5%) and WMP (-27.0%). Depressed global dairy commodity prices saw the total value of exports down 10.1%, despite increased volumes and the weaker Australian dol-lar.
Continued lacklustre demand from China saw volumes shipped to Austral-ia’s single largest export market down 4%, with falls in not only milk powders, but also more ‘luxurious’ products such as cheese, ice cream, and yoghurt. Ex-ports of liquid milk to China continued to grow strongly, however (+117.7%), with butter and whey powder also lift-ing. Japan (Australia’s second largest dairy export market) has demonstrated the strongest demand growth in years
— pushing Australian exports to the country up 16.6%. This included strong growth for our main dairy export to Japan — cheese (+16.6%) — and also for SMP (+159.4%), butter (+41.8%) and butter blends (+174.8%).
Remaining on the export front, heif-er sales have become an increasingly important source of income for many farms in recent years. ABS fi gures show that during 2014/15, total exports of dairy cattle fell by 20.6% (compared with 2013/14) to 73,343 head. This is largely due to a signifi cant reduction in exports to China (down more than 16,000 head), where a signifi cant fall in domestic milk prices has dampened de-mand for heifers.
While reduced demand has seen low-er prices for exported dairy cattle, an extremely strong US market for manu-facturing beef has continued to sup-port cull cow values: the average per kilogram price was up 23% in 2014/15. Slaughter rates rose 37% (at 75,154 head), suggesting that margin consid-erations are pushing less productive cows out of herds.
However, it’s also likely that produc-ers have been taking the opportunity to trade (now relatively cheap) heifers for older and less productive cows. An appetite for this kind of rebalancing is supported by ABS statistics, which show an increase in the proportion of the herd made up of heifers between 2012/13 and 2013/14. D
Contact: Amy Bellhouse, email <[emailprotected]>.
Milk produc� on increases 3.8%
58 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
✔ Milk produc� on up 3.8% for 2014/15 season
✔ Manufactured dairy products up 4.3%
✔ Exports of dairy product up 3.2% in volumeKe
y po
ints
Figure 1: Australian Milk Production by Month
200
400
600
800
1000
12002014/152013/14
JunMayAprMarFebJanDecNovOctSepAugJul
Million litres
+1.9%
+3.2%
+5.5
+7.4%+4.3%
-0.3%
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+7.6% +5.9%+4.0%+2.7% +1.4%
Cau� on needed on global price rise
By John DroppertAnalystDairy Australia
AFTER 10 successive declines, the GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) auc-tion platform produced some
welcome news for sellers at its August 18 event. The 14.8% increase in the headline GDT Price Index injected op-timism into what has been a subdued market, and could form the basis for a turnaround in sentiment that drives a broader recovery. Although any in-crease is a positive sign for Australia’s dairy exporters, the physical situation in the broader market suggests a signifi -cant dose of caution should be applied.
Many buyers remain in relatively comfortable stock positions and until recently have been dictating terms, us-ing falling (GDT) prices as the basis for bids outside the platform. Stocks are slowly being eroded in many import markets, especially China, where low milk prices are reportedly beginning to impact local production.
Instead, stocks are building in ex-porting countries, as milk produc-tion continues to outweigh product demand. The most noticeable stock build-up is in the European Union, where around 100,000 tonnes of cheese, 40,000 tonnes of skim milk powder (SMP) and 75,000 tonnes of butter in the Private Storage Aid (PSA) subsidised storage scheme have been joined by 66,000 tonnes of SMP so far sold into public intervention. Private-ly held stocks are also growing in the United States, and comparative analy-sis of exports against milk production suggests that inventory levels in New Zealand are higher than usual.
Milk production is not slowing down particularly quickly, despite the bear-ish market being refl ected in sharp farmgate price cuts. Protests and warn-
ings of a ‘dairy crisis’ have been seen in parts of Europe, but preliminary data suggests milk production increased 3% during June — continuing the post-quo-ta growth spurt that is only expected to moderate towards the end of the calendar year. Low-cost producers in countries such as Ireland and the Neth-erlands have been pushing ahead with growth plans, with milk output expand-ing by about 10% in each country, ac-cording to the latest month’s data. This is despite milk prices being about 20% lower on average than year-ago levels.
New Zealand farmers are coming under severe cash-fl ow pressure as payout forecasts (and advance rates) are cut further, with Fonterra prun-ing its farmgate milk price forecast to NZ$3.85/kg milk solids (about $3.80/kg MS in Australian terms) in August. The effect on milk production is most likely to come later in the season as feed be-comes limiting, but the cash-fl ow pres-sure is being acutely felt now.
The United States has remained
something of an outlier in recent months, with booming production largely soaked up by a strong domestic market for butter and cheese. Cheese plants (mainly in the Midwest and north-eastern states) have been run-ning at full capacity through the spring and summer, with most sellers able to readily move everything they produce.
Milk fat is the component attract-ing most value, with skimmed milk dumped in paddocks at times through the spring and summer due to logistical constraints, or exported as SMP or Non-fat Dry Milk (NDM). Unlike other major dairy regions, margins are still comfort-ably profi table for most US farmers, though they are tightening. The US market may provide a short-term op-portunity for other dairy exporters in the next few months as a destination for butterfat exports while the price disparity between it and world markets persists.
So recent market movements, while encouraging, should be interpreted with a signifi cant degree of caution. Developments in the physical market for dairy products don’t suggest a pe-riod of product shortage is imminent. Although sentiment can be a powerful driver of pricing, the likely delay of any supply-side adjustment until after the southern hemisphere peak suggests ex-porters are not out of the woods yet. D
Contact: John Droppert, email <[emailprotected]>.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 59
INTERNATIONAL DAIRY MARKET
✔ Posi� ve moves on dairy markets ✔ Fundamentals suggest prices to remain weak in short term
✔ Disparity between sen� ment and physical market requires cau� onKe
y po
ints
‘... margins are s� ll comfortably pro� table for most US farmers, though they are � ghtening.’
1200
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CheddarWMPSMPButter
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Figure 1: Global dairy commodity prices
US
$/to
nne
FO
B
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FOCUS ON BREEDING
Talent shines at Victorian Winter FairBy Carlene Dowie
FINLEY, NSW, stud Woodlawn Hol-steins took the supreme senior exhibit award at the Victorian
Winter Fair at Bendigo, Vic, with a cow that was the interbreed cham-pion at the Sydney Royal Show earlier this year. Nick Flanagan said he was thrilled with the win by the seven-year-old Mooramba Talent Randell.
“It was a big win competing against all the top cows from International Dairy Week,” he said.
The Flanagans bought the cow two years ago in Shane and Julie Flynn’s Mooramba Holsteins, Toolamba, Vic, dispersal sale.
Mr Flanagan said she was a terrifi c cow in the herd. “She’s so aggressive and powerful, the way you need them to be,” he said.
The Flanagans will again breed the cow, now in its fi fth lactation, with the aim of bringing it back to the fair next year to defend its title.
Judge Perry Phend, from Wiscon-sin, United States, said the winner was an “amazing, amazing cow”. “It’s great to see a cow that old, with all the parts and hardly anything wrong with her,” he said. The cow also took the supreme best udder award.
The reserve champion was Blue-chip Genetics’ fi ve-year-old cow Blue-chip Goldwyn Paradise. The reserve
fi nished off a good day for Bluechip, which was named premier breeder and exhibitor at the show.
The Red senior champion cow was Pardee Contender Perfection-Red shown by the Lucas family, while the reserve was Rusty Red Advent Dinah, shown by Judson Jennings.
Ezra con� nues winning streakA young cow continued its streak of wins at major championships, taking the supreme intermediate award at
the fair.Three-year-old Paringa Windstorm
Ezra backed up from winning the in-termediate award at last year’s inau-gural Victorian Winter Fair and the intermediate championship at Inter-national Dairy Week earlier this year. The cow, owned by Bluechip Genetics and Phil Malcolm, had been bought as a heifer at a sale at Shepparton, Vic, in 2013 from Phil Malcolm’s daughter Kellie.
Bluechip principal Phil’s son Dean said the cow had exceeded their ex-pectations. “She’s a great cow,” he said. “She gives lots of milk, she’s a trouble-free cow and seems to do eve-rything we want of her.”
He said he was pleased with the back-to-back win, as these were never guaranteed.
The Malcolms hope to show the cow at International Dairy Week next year and have it back in milk for next year’s winter fair.
Judge Perry Phend, from Wiscon-sin, United States, said the cow was “wide all the way through and showed a great combination of dairyness and strength”.
The cow had a beautiful frame and walked on a good set of feet and legs.
Bluechip Genetics was also suc-cessful in the red-and-white show, tak-ing the Red Intermediate Champion with Ryanna Contender Blackrose-Red, jointly owned by Next Genera-tion Holsteins.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 61
The supreme senior champion and supreme udder winner Mooramba Talent Randell with owner Nick Flanagan and judges Perry Phend and Lachlan Fry.
Owners Debbie Palmer and Peter Hurley with the supreme junior champion at the 2015 Victorian Winter Fair Bluechip Finalcut Marion, led by breeder Dean Malcolm.
FOCUS ON BREEDING
64 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
THE Northern Ireland Breeders Group bought the $15,000 top-priced heif-
er at the Australian Holstein Showcase Sale, held as part of the Victorian Winter Fair.
The � ve-month-old heifer, Glomar Su-persire Lady, will remain on the Sale, Vic, farm of the vendors, the Johnston family, where it will be ushed and the embryos exported to Northern Ireland, one of the owners Jus� n Johnston said.
Mr Johnston said the price was recog-ni� on that the calf was from Australia’s number one Australian Selec� on Index cow Glomar Roumare Lady.
The second top price was $13,700 for rising one-year-old heifer Adlejama Atley Perfec� on 3039, o� ered by AL and JM Hogg, Biggara, Vic, and bought by Rengaw
Holsteins, Derby, Tas. Mul� ple buyers in-cluded G and C Peatling, Moonshay Park, Katunga, Vic, and Green Glory Holsteins, Broadmarsh, Tas.
The Peatlings bought lot one of the night Sweet Atwood Mary for $11,500. This
joined heifer was backed by several gener-a� ons of Sydney and Brisbane Royal Cham-pions and sold by Wenham, Cochrane & Allen, Singleton, NSW.
These breeders also bought the heif-er Datumvale Absolute Favourite, sold by M & J Young, Ridgley, Tasmania, for $8200.
Green Glory Holsteins selected the deep pedigree heifers Strongbark Reginald Can-dy from Jim Strong of NSW, for $11,000 and Oxley Vale Braxy Fussy, from D & Z Pol-son, Oxley Vale, NSW, for $10,000.
Kaarmona Holsteins of G & R Sprunt paid $9000 for Manna Farm Atley Deo, sold by Willco*cks Pastoral Co, Yankilla, South Australia.
Forty Holstein females sold to a gross of $236,350 and averaged $5908.
Luck of the Irish in heifer sale
The $15,000 top-priced heifer with owner Jus� n Johnston and leader Ella Young, Tasmania.
Double delightIt was a case of double delight for friends Peter Hurley and Debbie Palmer when their heifer was named supreme junior exhibit for the second year in a row at the fair.
The investment in the heifer Blue-chip Finalcut Marion has paid divi-
dends for the pair, who bought it last June at the Bluechip Genetics Blue Ribbon sale from Dean and Dianna Malcolm.
“We were under a lot of pressure for her to prove herself as defending champion,” Mr Hurley said. “We were thrilled when she won her class and
now we’re absolutely over the moon she’s the champion.”
Ms Palmer said the heifer had been fl ushed and fi ve of its calves were now on the way. The friends have also ex-panded their investment in dairy ge-netics buying in partnership with oth-ers the calf’s mother.
FOCUS ON BREEDING
66 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
THE much-awarded Holstein cow, El-mar Goldwyn Jessica 4 (Ex-92-3E), re-
ceived a new award at the 2015 Victorian Winter Fair.
Bred and owned by the Hore family at Leitchville, Vic, Jessica 4 took out the inaugural Balanced Performance Index (BPI) Highest Female Award, which was presented by the Australian Dairy Im-provement Scheme (ADHIS) in collabora-� on with Holstein Australia and the Victo-rian Winter Fair Commi� ee.
Of all females animals entered in the Winter Fair, Jessica 4 had the top BPI cal-culated in April 2015 release of Australian Breeding Values (ABVs).
With a BPI of 255, Jessica 4 is well above the breed average of 0; in fact she ranks number 188 out of all Australian herd-recorded Holstein cows, pu ng her in the top 2% for gene� c merit for pro� t.
Michelle Axford from ADHIS said Jessi-ca 4 was the sort of cow that many dairy-farmers aspired to breed. “It’s special to � nd a dream cow that produces milk prof-itably, exhibits strong conforma� on char-acteris� cs and has the genes to produce the next genera� on of great cows. Jessica 4 has done just that,” Mrs Axford said.
This year, for the � rst � me, cows re-
ceive three breeding indices — pro� t (BPI), health (HWI) and type (TWI).
Jessica 4 has impressive ra� ngs in each of these indices. With a Type Weighted Index of 303, it ranks number 25 in the
country. Its Health Weighted Index is 203, ranking it 106th in the country.
Contact: Michelle Axford, phone (03) 8621 4240, email <[emailprotected]>.
Elmar Goldwyn Jessica 4 wins new BPI show award
Best Balanced Performance Index (BPI) cow in show: Elmar Goldwyn Jessica 4 ET, with owner Steve Hore, general manager, Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme Daniel Abernethy and Jenny Grey, from Holstein Australia.
Judge Perry Phend, from Wisconsin, United States, said the judging “was over as soon as the heifer walked into the ring”.
It was a fi ne, feminine heifer, he said.
The reserve junior champion Blue-chip Windbrook Noni, owned by Blue-chip Genetics, Zeerust, Vic, also re-peated last year’s performance.
The junior red champion was Mur-ribrook Acme Starlet-Red, owned by Murray Sowter, Murribrook Holsteins, Moss Vale, NSW. Reserve was Blue-chip MrApple Pala-Red, owned by Bluechip Genetics.
The youth show junior champion was Dornbrae Windbook California Imp ET, shown by Rus and Ruth Rob-bins, and the reserve was Coomboona Elijah Maudie ET, shown by AA Arena, Coomboona, Vic.
Young peopleThe fair aims to develop the interest of young people in showing, being held during the Victorian school holi-days, and featuring a junior handling event.
April Wishart, 11, from Rowlands Park, Cohuna, Vic, took out the the Junior Handlers Under 12 years of age event. Judge Perry Phend, from Wisconsin, United States, praised
FOCUS ON BREEDING
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 69
the young handler for having her eyes on the heifer all the time.
The Intermediate Handlers 12-15 years age was won by Georgia Sie-ben, Brindabella Holsteins, Torrum-barry, Vic. Mr Perry said it was ob-vious that it was not the fi rst time Ms Sieben had led the heifer as it responded well to her commands.
The winner of the Senior Handlers, over 16 years of age, was Brady Hore, Elmar Holsteins, Leitchville, Vic. The judge said the heifer shown by Mr Hore was outstanding. D
Michelle Bra� y, from Na� onal Herd Development, with the Paringa Windstorm Ezra, and owners Dean and Phil Malcolm.
Emily Robbins with the youth show junior champion Dornbrae Windbook California Imp ET and Holstein Australia representa� ve Toria Pa� en, Lardner, Vic.
April Wishart won the Junior Handlers under 12 years of age class.
Georgia Sieben won the intermediate handlers, 12-15 years of age, class.
AUSTRALIAN BREEDING VALUES — AUGUST 2015 RELEASE
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 71
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209
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159
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589
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AUSTRALIAN BREEDING VALUES — AUGUST 2015 RELEASE
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 73
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ore
info
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on
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one:
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178
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106
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177
7215
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311
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772
102
103
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7110
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176
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322
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122
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299
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102
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296
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from
pre
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AUSTRALIAN BREEDING VALUES — AUGUST 2015 RELEASE
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 75
For m
ore
info
rma�
on
cont
act A
DHIS
Ph
one:
(03)
862
1 42
40
emai
l: <d
aber
neth
y@ad
his.
com
.au>
web
site:
<w
ww
.adh
is.co
m.a
u>
Sour
ce o
f Bul
lsAB
S A
BS A
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alia
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339
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422
290
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570
107
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114
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284
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271
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188
6916
522
176
7942
1710
558
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109
6310
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172
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176
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8778
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464
108
106
6610
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5220
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621
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543
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289
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630
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590
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280
5619
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419
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108
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278
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104
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G
FOCUS ON BREEDING
Agri-Gene highlights in ABV release
AGRI-GENE had a number of high-lights in the August Australian Breeding Values release.
French Planet son Edelweiss had a signifi cant increase in all three new Australian indexes and is a Balanced Performance Index (BPI) leader that is a component improver with good all-round type and health traits.
Double Dutch continues to im-press and its early Australian milking daughters are showing the strength and consistency that it has shown all through Europe where it is a perma-nent fi xture among the top index sires in many countries.
Galaxy received its fi rst full Type and Production Index (TPI) daughter proof in the United States, which saw a huge increase for its type traits in Australia: up from +100 to +112 for overall type and from +103 to +113 for udders.
Galaxy has all the excellent health traits of its sire but is a better all-round type package and is also now available as sexed ultra sem*n.
The release of the Jersey proofs has seen A2/A2 Valerian son Nowell Viper (Vipor) debut at number fi ve on the BPI list, number two for Health Weighted Index (HWI) and number six for Type Weighted Index (TWI). It of-fers good type with fantastic udders, is a positive component bull and is a farmer favourite with great workabili-ties. Vipor hails from the much ad-mired Nowell Sandy cow family and is a full brother to number two BPI sire Raceway.
Agri-Gene is excited by the release of two new Australian A2/A2 top 10 genomic BPI Jersey sires, including Dalbora Brax 5097 Brownlow, which sits at number two on the genomic BPI list. It is sired by the number three ge-nomic BPI sire CRVBrax from a Tbone daughter that goes back to the highly regarded Babe cow family at Kaar-mona. Brownlow offers good type and udders with positive components and will improve farmer workabilities.
Cairnbrae Bontino is an exciting new Valentino son, which hails from an EX93 Tbone cow that goes back to one of the most elite and sought-after cow families in Australia, the Estelles. This cow family is renowned for pro-ducing high ranking artifi cial insemi-nation sires, Australian production award winners, on-farm challenge winners, top-priced sale progeny and
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 77
show winners. Bontino debuts on the genomic BPI list at number 10 and of-fers more than 700 litres of milk, posi-tive components with good type and udders. It will also improve all-round farmer workabilities. D
Article supplied by Agri-Gene, phone (03) 5722 2666, website <www.agrigene.com.au>.
Gene� cs suppliers to collaborate
TWO international herd improve-ment organisations are collabo-rating in Australia to provide the
country’s dairyfarmers with access to a wider range of genetics products. LIC, which supplies pasture-based dairy genetics from New Zealand, has entered an exclusive distribution agreement with Dutch-based dairy genetics supplier, CRV. LIC’s Austral-ian subsidiary business will distrib-ute CRV’s global genetics products to Australian farmers alongside its own genetics offering.
LIC chief executive Wayne McNee said the agreement would strengthen LIC’s proposition in Australia. “LIC has
been supplying Australian dairyfarm-ers with New Zealand genetics for more than 15 years, but the inclusion of ge-netics from CRV will allow us to cater to a wider range of farmers and grow the business in Australia,” he said.
CRV Oceania managing director An-gus Haslett said the agreement would provide Australian dairyfarmers with a range of genetics solutions while maintaining CRV’s strong reputation in the country. “We see it as a very posi-tive move for Australia’s dairyfarmers who are as much in need of quality genetics at competitive prices as any other country in the world,” he said.
Mr McNee said about 90% of Aus-tralia’s 6700 dairy farms operated some degree of a grass-based sys-tem, but the popularity of the larger, North American and European-style Holstein-Friesian cow had limited LIC’s ability to provide genetics to a larger proportion of Australian dairy-farmers. “Inclusion of genetics from CRV, combined with our portfolio of grazing genetics, will strengthen our proposition to Australian dairyfarm-ers less focused on grass-based farm-ing systems,” he said. D
Article supplied by LIC, website <www.lic.co.nz>.
78 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
FOCUS ON BREEDING
Cairnborne shows type creden� als
THE latest round of Australian Breeding Values (ABVs) have been released with genetic out-
liers confi rming their transmitting ability, as well as new emerging stars starting to shine for Alta Genetics.
Cairnbone (Tbone X Alf x Lester) added daughters for production and type and is now the number one choice for type improvement for Jer-sey breeders in Australia. Its overall type ABV of 113 is the highest of all publishable Jersey sires, and with a linear profi le displaying only posi-tive fi gures, it is easy to see why. It also has the number one mantle for udders at 120. Cairnbone has lifted for all three ranking systems and is now the number three Balanced Per-formance Index (BPI) sire at 326 (72% reliability), the number fi ve Health Weighted Index (HWI) sire at 249 (65% reliability) and the number one Type Weighted Index (TWI) sire at 392 (71% reliability).
Cairnbone offers great improve-ment for somatic cell and daughter fertility and to round out its complete proof, is also the number one sem*n fertility sire for all breeds at +5.31%.
Canbee added nearly a third more daughters to its production proof and still remains the number one protein sire in the breed at 42 kilograms and the number one Australian Selection Index (ASI) sire at 255. Now with 187 milking daughters Canbee offers an unbelievable production profi le of 1236 litres milk, 51kg fat (-0.02) and 42kg protein (+0.15 92% reliability). Canbee is also the highest ranked BPI sire for 80%+ reliable bulls and still holds a position in the top 5 TWI bulls.
Canbee also boasts great milking speed and temperament ratings and is a high survival sire.
The new emerging star is Barcardi. This Tbone son made great gains for production this August.
Barcardi increased daughter num-bers since April and increased by more than 400 litres of milk to 510 li-tres and 9kg protein to 24kg (+0.14%).
It also increased for all ranking systems and now has a BPI 256 (64% reliability), HWI 179 (57% reliability) and TWI 284 (64% reliability). It still requires additional herds to reach a publishable reliability, but Barcardi is clearly a star on the rise. Gains were also made for survival while type re-mained virtually unchanged with the
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 79
addition of more daughters and is now 107 overall type and 106 mam-mary with 12 daughters in four herds. Barcardi still leads the breed for work-ability ratings and is equal number one for likability on its fi rst 13 daugh-ters. D
Article supplied by Alta Genet-ics, phone (03) 9330 3444, website <www.altagenetics.com/australia>.
Honours for Semex manager
AUSTRALIAN dairy artifi cial breeding stalwart Jim Conroy has been awarded a Medal of
the Order of Australia (OAM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours. Mr Con-roy, from Bacchus Marsh, Vic, is gen-eral manager of Semex Australia and was recognised for his contribution to the cattle breeding industry in Aus-tralia and to polo.
He said he was taken aback when fi rst told he was to receive the hon-our. “I didn’t think it came to people like me,” he said.
“But there’s nothing more gratifying than being recognised for something
like that by your industry peers.”Mr Conroy has been involved in the
dairy breeding industry for 45 years.He has been a keen advocate for in-
volving young people in the dairy in-dustry, founding the Australia-Canada Youth Fellowship in 1995 and spon-soring the National All Breeds Dairy Youth Camp.
He also founded the Semex/Hol-stein Australia On-Farm Competition and has been a long-time supporter of shows, including the Royal Mel-bourne Show, as chair of the Royal Ag-ricultural Societies of Victoria Dairy Cattle Committee, and International Dairy Week.
He has also been a member of the advisory and type assessment com-mittees of the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme.
Mr Conroy said he was proud to have been involved in bringing the best dairy genetics to Australia’s dairy-farmers. “My focus has always been on getting it right for customers,” he said.
It was important for the dairy in-dustry to be recognised through awards such as this. “Dairy produce is Victoria’s largest export earner and the genetics industry is an important part of that,” he said. D
FOCUS ON BREEDING
Two new GA appointments
LEADING artifi cial breeding organi-sation Genetics Australia has an-nounced the appointment of Mike
Huth to the newly created position of fi eld sales manager.
Operating from Cobden in Western Victoria, Mr Huth will have responsi-bility for managing and co-ordinating the co-operative’s fi eld sales team, which includes a number of full-time sales staff and commissioned agents.
Genetics Australia general manager Jayne Senior said this important role would include mentoring the sales team to provide expert breeding ad-vice and supporting technology to dairy and beef farmers, and genetics re-sellers throughout Australia.
“Mike will also directly represent Genetics Australia in Western Victoria and South Australia, as well as acting as a breeding specialist for the Genet-ics Australia Jersey Program,” she said. “Mike is very well known to many Australian dairyfarmers, having more than 20 years’ experience in the genet-ics industry, mostly recently as the general manager for CRV Australia.”
Genetics Australia has also an-nounced the appointment of Brett Sweetnam as its new sales representa-tive for Northern NSW and Queens-land. “Brett is also well known to many dairyfarmers, having previously worked with World Wide Sires Aus-tralia in Western Victoria, as well as running his own genetics business,” Ms Senior said.
“He has an in-depth knowledge of dairy and beef genetics, particularly international genetics marketed by Genetics Australia, as well as the Aus-tralian ABV (Australian Breeding Val-ues) system.” D
Article supplied by Genetics Aus-tralia, phone (03) 5367 3888, website <www.genaust.com.au>.
Viking reds dominate ABVs
VIKING Genetics is more than sat-isfi ed with the latest Australian Breeding Values (ABV) release.
The Viking Reds have had a strong infl uence on the Australian red gene pool now for more than 25 years and have really come to the fore of the lat-
80 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
est ABV release. In the Red breeds, Vi-king Reds hold eight of the top 10 po-sitions on the Balanced Performance Index (BPI) index, seven out of 10 on the Health Weighted Index (HWI) in-dex and night out of 10 on the Type Weighted Index (TWI). This shows that the Nordic Total Merit (NTM) system of breeding works extremely well under Australian conditions and management systems.
Last year there was a lot of talk among red breeders as to how well their V Foske daughters were per-forming. The latest ABV release con-fi rms the dominance of this sire. V Foske has achieved number one sta-tus across all three new indexes.
VikVFoske is set to become the greatest red sire Australia has ever seen, being 117 BPI points clear of its nearest rival, G Edbo. V Foske has good daughter numbers as well for a red sire with 158 daughters in 19 herds in its Australian proof. V Foske has been a wonderful sire in the Vi-king population and now has 8356 daughters in its proof and is being used all over the world. Its scores for daughter fertility and longevity still has it among the elite sires in Viking.
Viking Genetics Holstein sire D Sol has received an ABV with 292 daugh-ters in 26 herds. It transmits moder-ate production with positive compo-nents and fantastic health traits to its daughters. D Sol has more than 12,000 daughters in his proof in Scandinavia.
Viking has only been marketing the Holstein and Jersey breeds in Australia for fi ve years but the feed-back has been extremely positive for these breeds as well. Easy calvings, improved fertility and somatic cell count while still increasing produc-tion has been noted on Viking’s fi rst lactation Holsteins. Calf vitality (good doers) has also been a strong feature of Viking calves, which is attributed to the focus on the strong health profi le of the sires.
A strong list of extra selection cri-teria has the Viking sires not only scrutinised for daughter fertility and calving ease, but all other health and fi tness problems that affect the profi t margins of modern dairy cows such as mastitis treatments, early and late reproductive disorders, meta-bolic diseases, feet and leg problems, claw health and calf growth rates and young stock survival just to name a few. D
Article supplied by Viking Genet-ics, phone (02) 6071 3007, website www.vikinggenetics.com.au>.
Fleckvieh from Bayem Genetik for Fertility, Longevity and Lifetime production
LondonPhoto taken at 12 years
old with 10 calvingsAve milk production:
9.983 L4.65% F3.82% P
ICP 348 days
Fleckvieh, proven under Australian conditions to
Boost: Conception ratesFertilityFat and ProteinAnimal health and well beingBeef value of crossbred calves and cows
Lower: Intercalving period and somatic cell counts
For more information contact George Cassar on 02 6550 7661or your Semex representative.
Email: karovafl [emailprotected] www.fl eckvieh.deFacebook: Bayern Genetik - Australia
A2 and
sexed sem*n
available
VR
2205
185
FODDER CROPS
Fodder beet � lls winter gap
By Elizabeth Anderson
DESPITE some early issues, fod-der beet has proved a winner for South Australian dairy-
farmers Matthew and Tracey Cowie. The Cowies milk 430 New Zealand crossbreeds on a spring-calving, pasture-based system at Oamaru Farm, Kongorong, SA.
They dry off their cows over win-ter, ahead of a spring calving, and looked to fodder beet as a crop on which to winter the stock.
The Cowies are the fi rst dairyfarm-ers in the south-east South Australia to trial fodder beets, something they looked at as they were aware of the crop having been used in New Zealand for several years for wintering stock.
Mr Cowie said the 4.5ha of fodder beets were planted in the fi rst week of November with the milking cows turned onto the crop in April.
This allowed the Cowies to hold off on feed grain and stretched out the conventional pastures for longer.
“It also helps keep the milking cows going longer,” he said. “There is no loss of production at that stage of lactation and we’re saving pas-tures for later in winter, ready for spring calving.”
Mr Cowie said the fodder beets also resulted in cost savings. They had been feeding the cows three kilograms of grain, but were able to reduce this to 1kg, while water use was also reduced. The crop required a total irrigation of 3.5 megalitres a hectare.
The Cowies said there were some teething problems with the fi rst crop, but they will be more confi -dent using the crop in future.
Mrs Cowie said one of the fi rst problems they faced was in trying to fi nd a way to plant the crop. In the end they repurposed a carrot plant-er, adjusting it slightly to get it to the right seeding rates. “That was one of the hardest things to work out,” Mrs Cowie said.
Mr Cowie said the planter turned
out to worked well, so they would most likely use it again next year.
Weed competition was the other big concern.
Elders Mount Gambier agrono-mist Jim Burford said farmers really needed to be on top of weed control. “You’ve got 10-12 weeks until canopy closure so until then you can have weed issues,” he said.
“You can be limited in what chemi-cals you can use, which can be ex-pensive. Start planning well ahead of germination and pre-emergence.”
Mr Burford said the crop could be tricky to grow for the fi rst time. “You can read literature and see you’ve got to do this, got to do that, and you think it’s a bit pedantic,” he said.
Mr Cowie said being pedantic was critical.
Another issue was in keeping the
water up to the plant. “The leaves felt the problem with water and wilt-ed but they were pretty resilient and recovered well,” Mr Cowie said. “We didn’t get quite as much growth.”
He said they had worked on esti-mations of 25-30 tonnes of dry mat-ter per hectare, which made it cost-effective.
However he said he was positive they could achieve the higher yields that next year.
The fodder beets were also used as a pasture renovation tool
The Cowies were cautious when introducing the fodder beet into the cows’ diet.
“You’ve got to keep cows fully fed with a gradual introduction,” Mr Cowie said. “There can be problems with potential blow up, so you’ve got to be careful. We only offered 2kg per cow per day.”
Given the crop’s large bulb, the cows also had to learn how to ap-proach the plant.
The Cowies began by chopping up the plant and putting it in the cows’ paddock.
The cows quickly adjusted and were then enthusiastic about the feed, with a hot wire allowing them access to a section of the crop each day. “Cows love it as the bulb is re-ally sweet,” Mrs Cowie said. D
82 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
❁ Fodder beets help reduce grain feeding
❁ Require careful a� en� on to detail
❁ Take care when introducing to cowsKe
y po
ints
‘There is no loss of produc� on at that stage of lacta� on and we’re saving pastures for later in winter, ready for spring calving.’
South Australian dairyfarmers Ma� hew and Tracey Cowie in a crop of fodder beet they are using to help � ll a winter feed gap.
FODDER CROPS
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 83
DAIRYNZ scien� sts are urging farm-ers to take care when feeding fod-
der beet to their dairy herds. The cau� on comes as vets report increased issues with cows becoming ill or even dying as a result of problems experienced on fodder beet crops.
Beets have become increasingly popu-lar in New Zealand in the past two years because they are high yielding and are suitable as a supplement for dairy herds. They are par� cularly popular in Southland and Canterbury, but are now being grown in both the North and South islands.
Despite the fact that they are an ex-cellent source of metabolisable energy, there is concern that some cows are be-ing o� ered too much of the high sugar crop in their daily feed intake or are not ge ng su� cient � me to adapt to fodder beet being part of their winter diet.
“We have had reports of farmers of-fering cows unlimited access to fodder beet,” DairyNZ nutri� onist Dr Jane Kay said. “Because of its high concentra-� on of sugars, fodder beet is a feed that should not be o� ered in this way.”
DairyNZ senior scien� st Dr Garry Wag-horn said fodder beet’s high sugar com-ponent meant that excessive intake of beets could lead to lac� c acid produc� on in the cow’s rumen, which could cause acidosis.
The transi� oning stage for fodder beet becoming part of the cows’ winter diet was cri� cal to ensuring that cow health and the nutri� onal value of fodder beet were op� mised.
Dr Waghorn and his associates at Dairy-NZ have conducted trials on the impact
of fodder beet feeding. They have found that even following the recommended transi� oning program across 14-21 days some cows could not cope with high lev-els (more than 70%) of fodder beet in the diet.
“Cows vary in the rate that they adapt to a new feed type and in the amount that they can eat,” Dr Waghorn said. “Move too quickly or feed them too much and you will kill some of them.”
The DairyNZ trial work found that cows need to be transi� oned carefully onto the crop across a 14-to-21-day period.
A typical transi� on would involve ram-ping up the fodder beet input by an ad-di� onal 1 kilogram dry ma� er (DM) per cow every second day, from a star� ng base of 2kg DM per cow a day.
DairyNZ trials at Lincoln transi� oned cows at an average of 0.5kg DM per cow per day, taking 17 days to get them up to their 8kg DM per cow per day alloca� on.
Dr Waghorn said it was cri� cal to en-sure that cows were also o� ered su� -cient silage, hay or straw before feeding
the fodder beet, to slow down their in-take of fodder beet.
Once transi� oned it was also vital that farmers con� nued to pay a� en� on to the propor� on of fodder beet in the diet.
“At one stage in our trials we had cows ea� ng 85% fodder beet and 15% straw,” Dr Waghorn said. “Half of these cows be-came sick, required treatment and had to be taken o� the diet.”
This was in a very controlled environ-ment, and he emphasised the importance of o� ering enough supplement to a herd to ensure all cows achieved adequate in-takes to avoid acidosis.
“This trial work has shown that the herd should not be o� ered more than 70% of their diet as fodder beet,” he said. “The remainder of the diet should be a long � bre source, such as silage, hay, or straw, and the cows should be fed this be-fore their beet.”
This is about 8kg DM per cow per day in beets and 4-5kg DM per cow per day of the other feed(s).
Good prac� ce in managing a herd on fodder beet also means that farmers need to accurately measure the crop yield.
This includes knowing the percentage dry ma� er o� ered in each break, and remembering that this could vary within and between paddocks.
It was important that the cows grazed a “mix” of the roots and tops, and care was needed to ensure cows were ea� ng the en� re break o� ered, and uneaten beets were not accumula� ng behind them.
“Full a� en� on to the crop and the cow is required to manage this feed success-fully,” Dr Waghorn said.
Care needed when feeding fodder beets
The cows like the sweet taste of the fodder beet.
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99
FODDER CROPS
Growing fodder beets in Tasmania
FODDER beets are a high-yielding forage crop that provides forage to fi ll late autumn and winter
feed gaps. Fodder beets, while similar in appearance, are not related to for-age brassicas, but are related to sugar beets, beetroots and silver beets.
Successful production of fodder beets requires careful planning and execution of all steps in the crop pro-duction process.
Fodder beet cultivars can be sepa-rated into two types: harvesting or grazing types. For harvesting types the majority of the bulb grows below ground. This makes them more suited to mechanically harvesting with spe-cialised beet harvesters and stockpil-ing or ensiling for later use.
In contrast, grazing types produce the majority of the bulb above the soil surface, which enables utilisation by direct grazing. Grazing types often have bulbs that are softer, making them easier for stock to eat.
Optimising the number of plants established is critical to growing a successful fodder beet crop. On-farm research has shown that under Tas-manian conditions the crop cannot compensate lower than optimal plant densities. Maximum yields are at-tained at plant densities between six and eight plants per square metre.
Depending on the degree of seed-bed preparation and soil type, attain-ing these plant densities may require sowing at rates up to 120,000 seeds/ha. A row spacing of about 50 centi-metres is recommended.
Fodder beets require a fully pre-pared, fi ne, weed-free seedbed. Pre-vious crops or pastures should be sprayed with a broad-spectrum herbi-cide. This should be followed by sev-eral cultivations.
While beet crops grown in other regions of the world are sown using specialised beet planters or preci-sion drills, research in Tasmania has shown that if the crop is intended for direct grazing, there is no benefi t of using a precision drill over other high quality drills (e.g. Airseeders).
The crop should be sown in mid to late spring when soil temperatures are greater than fi ve degrees Celsius and after the last frosts. Waiting until soil temperatures are greater than 100C be-fore sowing will ensure a more even ger-mination and improve seedling vigour.
Fer� liser requirementsFertiliser decisions should be based on a soil test. As a guide, to reach its maximum yield, the crop will require 70kg/ha of phosphorus, 200kg/ha of potassium and 170kg/ha of nitrogen.
Phosphorus fertiliser should be ap-plied before planting while nitrogen and potassium applications should be split between an application just before planting and a side dressing at canopy closure.
Fodder beets have a high require-ment for boron and magnesium. As beet species evolved in saline areas of the Mediterranean they also require the application of salt (50-100 kg/ha) when grown on non-saline soils.
Irrigation may be required over summer to prevent moisture stress. However, the crop is susceptible to water-logging so overwatering should be avoided. Irrigation should be scheduled based on estimated crop evapotranspiration or by the use of soil moisture monitoring equipment.
While one of the advantages of fod-der beets is its resistance to the ma-jor pests of forage brassicas (e.g. Dia-mondback moth), there are a number of pests which fodder beets are sus-ceptible to during establishment (e.g.
red-legged earth mite and cutworm).Careful monitoring and the use of
appropriate chemical controls will minimise the impact of these pests on crop yields.
Fodder beets are slow to establish and consequently are susceptible to competition from weeds. Ensuring that the seed bed is weed-free before planting and having a plan to mini-mise weed pressure post planting is critical to the success of the crop.
Typical forage quality of fodder beets grown in Tasmanian is 12% dry matter, 13% crude protein, 23% neutral detergent fi bre, 12% acid detergent fi -bre, 27% water soluble carbohydrates and 11 megajoules of metabolisable energy per kg dry matter. Leaves are higher in crude protein than bulbs but have lower energy content.
The crop should be striped grazed with a fresh break being provided to cattle on a daily basis. Cattle may not initially take to eating the bulbs due to their size. Breaking bulbs into smaller pieces in the fi rst few days of grazing will encourage cattle to eat them.
Beet leaves can have low levels of oxalates, which can cause scouring, and immature crops can have a high nitrate content. Similar to forage brassicas, when feed to milking cows the propor-tion of fodder beets should not exceed one-third of the cow’s daily diet. D
This article is an edited version of a fact sheet prepared by Keith Pembleton and Richard Rawnsley, Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture Dairy Centre.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 85
Dr Keith Pembleton with a fodder beet, which can be a useful crop for dairyfarmers to grow.
❁ Op� mising number of plants cri� cal to successful crop
❁ High requirement for boron and magnesium
❁ Base irriga� on on evapotranspira� on es� matesKe
y po
ints
FODDER CROPS
Forage security for summer dry
By Jeane� e Severs
FOR Marian Macdonald, growing forage crops in summer is secu-rity against potential rising grain
and fodder prices and lack of rainfall.The South Gippsland, Victoria,
dairyfarmer is growing more forage crops this year, in expectation against a forecast tough summer.
Ms Macdonald is part of a Forage Planning for Dairy Farms discussion group, a project in Gippsland linking local agronomists with dairyfarmers to plan and sow high quality home-grown forage, aimed at fi lling feed gaps due to climatic variability.
Ms Macdonald runs a 200-hectare dairy farm with a 260-cow Friesian milking herd calving in May and pro-ducing an average annual 520 kilo-grams milk solids.
Annual fodder harvest produces 100 rolls of hay and 600-800 rolls of silage, off the mostly ryegrass pad-docks.
The farm is traditionally dryland farm, but from September Ms Mac-donald will be utilising a 50-megalitre irrigation licence to spray effl uent and fresh water on the paddocks.
Like many dairy farms, effl uent is collected and sprayed onto pasture — in recent years by hiring a contractor using a Slurry Kat.
Ms Macdonald chose the process because the operator can monitor the nitrogen and phosphorous in the ef-fl uent, providing more intelligent ap-plication.
“I can choose how much is applied per hectare, paddocks furthest away from the pond get sprayed and we re-duce the likelihood of leaching exces-sive nutrients into the environment,” Ms Macdonald said.
Supplying her milk to Fonterra, this year she has secured her income be-tween set parameters as part of risk management.
“I’m certainly relieved to have locked in a bottom to the price we are paid for 70% of the farm’s milk,” Ms Macdonald said. “If the milk price collapses, we’ll go backwards at a rate
of knots but will still be farming next year.”
The uncontrollable rainfall pattern is also part of her risk management.
South Gippsland recorded 295.9 millimetres of rain by the end of July, more than 100mm lower than aver-age, and it was scattered throughout the year.
Planning was needed for an expect-ed strengthening El Niño, coupled with Bureau of Meteorology predic-tions of only average rainfall for South Gippsland between August and Octo-ber.
“It means we’re likely to have less surplus grass in spring to conserve as hay and silage,” Ms Macdonald said.
“It’s a double whammy because the El Niño suggests we’re likely to need more fodder than normal over sum-mer and autumn. It means we’ll need more conserved feed than normal and, very likely, at a time when we’ll be starved of cash fl ow to pay for ex-tra loads to be delivered.
“Invariably, when your local area is starved of fodder, you have to get it from far-fl ung places, where they are having a good season. So there’ll be additional transport costs.”
Her risk management plan included selling off less productive cows at the end of July.
“Thankfully, cattle prices are high right now and the sale of those 13 cows will feed the rest of the herd for three weeks,” Ms Macdonald said.
A meeting with her agronomist
86 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
❁ Forage crops to help mi� gate climate risk
❁ Helps make use of e� uent
❁ Provides good quality feed in dry part of season
Key
poin
ts
Cows grazing a fodder crop on Marian Macdonald’s Gippsland farm.
Marian Macdonald is planning for an expected dry summer by plan� ng more forage crops.
FODDER CROPS
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 87
We’re drama� cally increasing our forage crops because we’re concerned fodder will be scarce and una� ordable.
Slurry is applied by a contractor who monitors the phosphorous and nitrogen being applied.
helped formulate a plan for extra on-farm cropping with the cows grazing brassicas in summer. Past summer crop programs have included for-age sorghum, millet, rape, turnip and chicory.
“I use it as a substitute for other forms of expensive and high quality feed,” Ms Macdonald said.
This year she is extending the amount of acreage committed to brassicas — 31.1ha of 161ha useable land will be sown to summer forage crops. This is a signifi cant increase of nearly 400% on past years and is assisted by the newly acquired irriga-tion licence.
“We’re dramatically increasing our forage crops because we’re con-cerned fodder will be scarce and unaf-fordable,” Ms Macdonald said.
In September, 4.1ha of marco tur-nips and 4.38ha of barkant turnips will be sown, for an expected yield of eight tonnes of dry matter (DM) from each crop.
The marco turnips will be grazed from late November to early Decem-ber with the barkant turnips grazed from late December to early January.
“Turnips are a quick, very high qual-ity bulk feed and we put them in not only to feed the cows but to minimise pest infestation,” Ms Macdonald said.
In October, 5.62ha of pure millet will be sown for grazing from Novem-ber to autumn. Expected yield is eight tonnes DM, under light irrigation.
Chicory and millet crops will also be sown in October, into 17ha, to graze from November to autumn, with an expected yield of eight tonnes DM, also under light irrigation.
“We sow millet into low-lying areas and graze it as if it was grass,” Ms Macdonald said. “The chicory adds some extra forage and allows us to ex-tend grazing in those paddocks.”
While grazing crops has not made a measurable difference to milk pro-duction, it has proved a cost-effective measure to ensure cows are receiving high quality feed at a time of lower pasture availability and minimising stress on the farm budget and opera-tor. D
AUSTRALIAN SEED FEDERATION GUIDE <www.asf.asn.au>
88 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Agronomic Selection Criteria Market Information Intellectual Property Status
BackgroundInformation
TypeSpecies
Winter activity or fl owering activity
Brand Name Variety * Australian Marketer PBR** TM*** Plant Breeder
LUCERNEHighly winter active
11 SF Force 11 ✔ Seed Force Forage Genetics, USA
10 SARDI Ten ✔ Heritage Seeds Y SARDI10 SARDI Ten Series 2 ✔ Heritage Seeds P SARDI10 SF Force 10 ✔ Seed Force Forage Genetics, USA9 Australis ✔ Seed Genetics International Y Seed Genetics International9 Blue Ace ✔ Seed Genetics International Y Seed Genetics International9 CUF 101 Many9 Hallmark ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y QLD DPI9 L91 Seed Distributors Y Pasture Genetics9 L92 P Seed Distributors P NSW DPI9 Multileaf ML99 ✔ Seed Distributors Y Pasture Genetics9 Pegasis ✔ Heritage Seeds Y NSW DPI9 Sequel Many9 Sequel HR ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y QLD DPI9 Silverado ✔ Upper Murray Seeds Y Ian Kaehne9 Siriver Many9 SuperCharge ✔ Seed Genetics International Y Seed Genetics International9 SuperNova ✔ Seed Genetics International P Seed Genetics International9 SuperSonic ✔ Seed Genetics International Y Seed Genetics International9 SuperStar ✔ Seed Genetics International Y Seed Genetics International9 Titan 9 ✔ AusWest Seeds, Stephen
Pasture SeedsUniversity of Queensland
9 WL 925HQ ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y Forage Genetics, USA8 Magna 801FQ ✔ Valley Seeds Dairylands USA8 Magna 804 ✔ Valley Seeds Dairylands USA
Winter active 7 Flairdale ✔ Alfa*green Y Lehmann EE & MR7 Genesis II P Heritage Seeds P NSWDPI7 Haymaster 7 ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Genetics, USA7 L70 P Seed Distributors P Y Pasture Genetics7 L71 P Seed Distributors P Y NSW DPI7 Q75 ✔ Seed Distributors Y Pioneer, USA7 SARDI Seven series 2 ✔ Heritage Seeds P SARDI7 SARDI Seven ✔ Heritage Seeds Y SARDI7 SF 714QL ✔ Seed Force Forage Genetics, USA7 SF Force 7 ✔ Seed Force Calwest, USA7 Silverosa GT P Upper Murray Seeds P Y Ian Kaehne7 Titan 7 ✔ AusWest Seeds, Stephen
Pasture SeedsUniversity of Queensland
7 Trifecta Many7 UQL 1 ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y QLD DPI6 Aurora Many6 Hunterfi eld Many6 Icon ✔ Seed Genetics International Y Seed Genetics International6 SARDI-Grazer ✔ Heritage Seeds P SARDI6 Stamina GT6 ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y Calwest, USA
Semi dormant 5 Hunter River Many5 L56 Seed Distributors Y Pioneer, USA5 SARDI Five ✔ Heritage Seeds Y SARDI5 Seed Force 5 ✔ Seed Force Calwest, USA5 Stamina 5(STM) ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y Y Calwest, USA5 Venus ✔ Heritage Seeds Y NSW DPI
Winter dormant 3 Q31 Seed Distributors Y Pasture Genetics
FORAGE BRASSICAForage Rape Goliath (Swift Utility) ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y Forage Innovations Ltd.
Hobson ✔ Valley Seeds Advanta
<www.asf.asn.au> AUSTRALIAN SEED FEDERATION GUIDE
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 89
Agronomic Selection Criteria Market Information Intellectual Property Status
BackgroundInformation
TypeSpecies
Winter activity or fl owering activity
Brand Name Variety * Australian Marketer PBR** TM*** Plant Breeder
Interval ✔ Heritage Seeds AdvantaSF Evergreen ✔ Seed Force Joordens, NEDSF Greenland ✔ Seed Force Joordens, NEDStego / Leafmore ✔ Heritage Seeds Joordens, NEDSubzero Seed Distributors Y Pasture GeneticsTitan ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.Winfred ✔ Agricom Joordens, NED
Kale Caledonian Heritage Seeds SCRIColeor ✔ Cropmark Seeds Y Agri ObtentionGruner PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.Kestrel PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.SF Voltage ✔ Seed Force Oseva Uni, CzechSovereign ✔ Agricom Forage Innovations Ltd.
Leafy turnip (hybrid)
Appin PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.
Bouncer Seed Distributors Y Pasture GeneticsHunter Agricom Forage Innovations Ltd.Pasja ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Van Dyke Semo, NEDPasja II ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.SF Pacer ✔ Seed Force P Vandyjke, NED
Swede Aparima Gold PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.Dominion Agricom Forage Innovations Ltd.Highlander ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.Invitation Heritage Seeds SCRIMajor Plus ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Forage Innovations Ltd.
Turnip APT Agricom Forage Innovations Ltd.Barkant ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Barenbrug, NEDDynamo Heritage Seeds SCRIMarco ✔ Cropmark Seeds Y Eurograss Holland, NEDPolybra ✔ Valley Seeds AdvantaRival Agricom Forage Innovations Ltd.SF Envy ✔ Seed Force Joordens, NEDSF G2 ✔ Seed Force ILVO, Belgium
HERBSChicory Short term Commander Heritage Seeds Suba & Unico, Italy
Short term Grouse ✔ Agricom Grasslands Innovations LtdPerennial Balance Seed Distributors Y Pasture GeneticsPerennial Chico Cropmark Seeds Y Suba & Unico, ItalyPerennial Choice ✔ Agricom Y Grasslands Innovations LtdPerennial Le Lacerta ✔ Valley Seeds Y FadisolPerennial Puna ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Grasslands Innovations LtdPerennial Puna II ✔ PGG Wrightson Seeds Y Grasslands Innovations LtdPerennial SF Punter Seed Force P Suba & Unico, Italy
Plantain Perennial Ranger Seed Distributors Y Pasture GeneticsPerennial SF Boston Seed ForcePerennial SF Endurance Seed ForcePerennial Tonic ✔ Agricom Y Grasslands Innovations Ltd
This Pasture Variety Database is sourced from the Australian Seeds Federation and its members and is intended for information purposes only. * Variety Confi rmation: Confi rms if a brand of a species qualifi es for the use of the term ‘variety’ by way of meeting one or more of the defi nitions for a ‘variety’ as nominated by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development or Plant Breeders Rights.**PBR: Australian Plant Breeders Rights Granted ***TM Registered Trade Mark® Granted
90 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 91
THE Strzelecki Lions Club is hosting the South Gippsland Dairy Expo in Korumburra on Wednesday, Sep-
tember 23, and Thursday, September 24, started each day at 9am.
The South Gippsland Dairy Expo provides an opportunity for members of the dairying fraternity to be able to showcase the latest in dairy innova-tion and technology. South Gippsland is lucky to be the home of some ex-ceptional dairy enterprises that form a signifi cant part of the rural community.
The Dairy Expo would not be the success it is without tremendous sup-port and help from its community vol-unteers. Once again, the Korumburra Rotary Club will be in charge of the Kids Activity Pavilion, and the Poow-ong Kindergarten will be co-ordinating the food for the patrons of the event.
In addition to these organisations, the Strzelecki Lions Club has various other community volunteers who assist with the event each year.
The Dairy Expo started 16 years ago with the committee having a core ob-
jective to deliver a ‘one-stop shop’ to local dairyfarmers, so that if farmers were busy, they could visit, do their business and leave, having spent a val-uable couple of hours. Today the event still has the same focus.
SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO
Expo one-stop shop for dairyfarmers
92 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
✔ What: South Gippsland Dairy Expo ✔ Where: Korumburra Showgrounds, Korumburra, Vic
✔ When: Wednesday, September 23, and Thursday, September 24, 2015Ke
y po
ints
Peter, Craig and Jenny McCormack, dairyfarmers at Ranceby, Vic, with Graham Wood of Graham Wood Machinery, Grantville, and one of his silage feeders at last year’s expo. Picture by Jeane� e Severs
SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 93
This year Holstein Australia has or-ganised Phil Hentschke to deliver a presentation titled ‘The Type of Ani-mals you Own Equals Profi t for your Business’. The presentation will take place on Wednesday at 1pm and Thurs-day 11.30am.
Well-regarded consultant Matt Harms will be hosting a session on Wednesday at 11am.
The Strzelecki Lions Club has a Dairy Expo committee, who are all volun-teers and some of whom are dairyfarm-ers. Many of these people have been on the committee since it started and collectively have raised and disbursed over $340,000 back into the local com-munity.
The South Gippsland Dairy Expo could not happen without the loyal sup-port of the major and gold sponsors. Devondale Murray Goulburn & MG Trading has been the major sponsor of the Dairy Expo for 15 years and once again will have a hospitality marquee at the expo so be sure to call in and have a chat to their enthusiastic team.
As always, the expo has a terrifi c group of gold sponsors, many of who support the Dairy Expo each year. Soak up the atmosphere in their mar-quee and be sure to support those who support the industry: ADF Milking, Ra-bobank, Reid Stockfeeds, South Gipps-land Shire Council, GippsDairy and Dairy Australia.
The Udder Truth Showbag, spon-sored by South East Organic Fertiliser is back, after a successful introduction to the Dairy Expo last year. Our partici-pating exhibitors are extremely excited for expo visitors to be participate. Buy a $2 showbag at the gate, listen to the simple steps and hopefully come away $3000 richer. D
Contact: Dairy Expo secretary, Deanne Kennedy, phone (03) 5659 4219 or email <[emailprotected]>.
Terry Allan, of Wastenot Hayfeeders & Stockfeeders, Maryborough, VIc, is a regular par� cipant at the South Gippsland dairy expo. Last year he met Bre� and Zoe Allan (no rela� on) and their son, Jordan (8 months) who are part of a family dairy farm near Leongatha. Picture by Jeane� e Severs
AD
F11
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SEE ANDREW ON SITE 62AT THE DAIRY EXPO
VR
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Apr 2012tawb0412.pdf [emailprotected]
Ph. (03) 6452 - 1002
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[emailprotected]. (03) 6452 - 1002
Robbins Dairy
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Springvale64 Maloney’s RdParkham
[emailprotected]
Cradle Coast Manager
email.com
Name Mob 04
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June 2013
spmp0613.pdfwww.farmmappingservices.com.au
[emailprotected]
Ph. (03) 6452 - 1002
Boundary 371.5 HaBetter pastue 227.5 HaRough pasture 28 HaShelter 44 HaE nitens plantation 30 HaDams 19 HaCowlanes 6 Km
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3.8
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10
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12
13
14
15
16
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18 19
2021
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35
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5152
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54
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5758
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6061
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SEE US ATSITE 14
SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO
94 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO
Range of exhibitors at expoAr� � cial Breeding, Breeding & Herd ImprovementSemex Pty Ltd .............................................................................. 8HotCow Australia ....................................................................... 51G & S Farm Supplies .................................................................. 78
BootsBargain Boots ............................................................................ 76
Childrens Entertainment/Expo Ac� vi� esKorumburra Rotary Club Kids Ac� vity Pavilion Sponsored ..................... Burra Founda� on Show PavilionLadies Interest Pavilion ........................................ Sanders Pavilion
Computer Systems/So� wareJantec Systems ........................................................................... 28Easy Dairy Automa� on Systems ................................................ 69
Dairy Grooving/Rubber Ma� ngCore’n Saw ................................................................................. 20Surefoot (RPS Industries) ........................................................... 23Concrete Texturing Services — Concut Vic Pty Ltd .................... 48High� elds Industries .................................................................. 55Congroove Dairy Grooving ........................................................ 56
Dairy Plant & MachineryADF Milking ................................................................................. 7Milka-ware (Western Valley Dairy Systems) .............................. 33Lely Center Traf and Ma� ra (Trafalgar Tractor & Machinery) ................................................ 34DeLaval Pty Ltd .......................................................................... 38Graham Wood Machinery ......................................................... 44Dairy Management Solu� ons .................................................... 70Cu ng Edge Electrical & Eli Innova� on ..................................... 77
Educa� on/ExtensionNCDE / GOTAFE ........................................................................ 67aDepartment of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport & Resources ............................................................ 67bRural Financial Counselling Service Victoria - Gippsland ..........67c
E uent ControlMuck Runner Pty Ltd ................................................................. 36
ElectricalGenOne ................................................................................... 64a
Employment ServicesGlobal Skilled Employment Services .......................................... 30
Energy SuppliesThermal Recovery Systems (Aust) Pty Ltd ................................. 12Best Value Solar Pty Ltd ............................................................. 50EcoHub ...................................................................................... 64Eco Dairy Solu� ons .................................................................... 73Snap Chill Aust Pty Ltd ............................................................... 83
Erosion ControlGEOHEX ....................................................................................... 4
Farm Machinery & EquipmentBerwick Tractors & GOWEIL Bale Wrappers .............................. 11TerraTrencher .......................................................................... 11aLely Center Traf and Ma� ra (Traf Tractors & Machinery) .......... 34Cervus Equipment ..................................................................... 39Tow & Farm ...........................................................................71-72Gendore Tractors & Machinery Pty Ltd ..................................... 82
Feed Systems/Feed Op� onsJantec Systems ........................................................................... 28‘Waste-Not’ Stockfeeders Pty Ltd .............................................. 45Easy Dairy Automa� on Systems ................................................ 69Weweld Steelworx/Bale Up Hayfeeders .................................... 81
Fencing EquipmentTerra Trencher ......................................................................... 11aAG Revolu� on ............................................................................ 53
Fer� lisersBrowns Fer� lisers ........................................................................ 5Korumburra Lime & Spreading .................................................. 31Aussie Compost Company ......................................................... 43South East Organic Fer� lizer .........................Udder Truth Sponsor
Fuel & OilJohn Du� & Co Pty Ltd ................................................................. 6
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 95
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SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO
96 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Financial ServicesRabobank ..................................................................................... 2Na� onal Australia Bank ............................................................. 74Rural Finance ............................................................................. 80
Herd Health Services/Herd Health Nutri� onProviCo .................................................................................... 12aPhibro Animal Health ................................................................ 16Coopers Animal Health .............................................................. 18Zoe� s ......................................................................................... 21Alltech ........................................................................................ 22WOPA Australia Pty Ltd .............................................................. 37Maxum Animal Nutri� on ........................................................... 52Performance Feeds .................................................................... 24Enduro Tags Pty Ltd & Steinfort AgVet Pty Ltd ........................... 75Tarwin Veterinary Group ........................................................... 84
Mapping ServicesFarm Mapping Services ............................................................. 14
Motorbike Dealerships & Power EquipmentWonthaggi Motorcycles and Power Equipment ........................ 41Marrio� s Motorcycles and Power Equipment .......................... 66
MediaThe Warragul Gaze� e .........................................................MobileThe Gippsland Farmer ........................................................MobileSouth Gippsland Sen� nel Times .........................................MobileThe Australian Dairyfarmer ................................................MobileThe Great Southern Star .....................................................Mobile
Milk CompaniesDevondale Murray Goulburn & MG Trading ......................3 & 11bOrganic Dairy Farmers of Australia ............................................ 17Burra Foods ............................................................................... 65
Nursery & PlantsDream-� me Nursery .................................................................. 61
Pasture SeedsNotman Pasture Seeds/Notman Agricultural Services ............ 10aStephen Pasture Seeds .............................................................. 13Graham’s Seeds ......................................................................... 79
Pumps & Irriga� on EquipmentDumac Pumps ............................................................................ 62
Refrigera� on ServicesDairy-Tech Refrigera� on/Packo Milk Tanks ................................. 9
Safety Wear & ProductsBelpard Australia Pty Ltd ........................................................... 57J & M Brain Safety Wear ............................................................ 58
Silos, Sheds & SheltersTotalspan Warragul .................................................................... 15Vic Engineering & Silos Pty Ltd .................................................. 42Bairnsdale Engineering .............................................................. 47Eureka Garages .....................................................................59-60Weweld Steelworx/Bale Up Hayfeeders .................................... 81
Stockfeeds & SuppliesIrwin Stockfeeds .......................................................................... 1Browns Stockfeed Pty Ltd .......................................................... 10Ridley ......................................................................................... 32Vic Feeds .................................................................................... 46CopRice Stockfeeds ................................................................... 63Reid Stockfeeds Pty Ltd ............................................................. 68
SoilsSoil Management Systems ......................................................... 54
Support GroupsCa� e Alfresco .......................................................................Co� eeDepartment of Human Services ................................................ 49South Gippsland Shire Council ........ Ma� Harms/Ameni� es RoomPoowong Kindergarten .....................................................CateringGippsDairy/Dairy Australia ........................................................ 67Phil Hentschke - Holstein Australia .......................................59-60
TanksOPS Country Tanks ..................................................................... 29Traralgon Concrete Products ..................................................... 35Tankformers ............................................................................... 40
Tools and ChemicalsWurth Australia ......................................................................... 25
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SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO
DeLaval automa� c feeding solu� on
FEEDING is often the biggest ex-pense on any dairy farm. The labour costs related to and the
feed itself amount to up to 70% of any farms’ production costs. Making feeding methods more effi cient does not just save costs, it increases milk yields. DeLaval is updating its solu-tions to fi t those requirements and the latest inclusion of Optimat to its feed-ing solutions is contributing to this.
Automatic feeding solutions allow farmers to provide the exact measure-ments ensuring every cow gets the right quality of fresh feed frequently throughout the day, resulting in less stressed cows, fed at the right amount and producing more milk as a result.
“We have farms with 60 cows and others with 600 cows using our au-tomatic feeding system, Optimat,” DeLaval feeding systems assortment
98 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
manager Beata Kruba-Wroblewska said. “They all see benefi ts in feeding effi ciency.”
One such farm is Karl Fredik Okken-haug’s in Norway. His herd of 70 cows is now fed eight times a day. Cow traf-fi c has improved and milk produc-tion is up. “Since implementing the new feeding system, milk production has increased by about fi ve litres per cow,” Mr Okkenhaug said.
Farms using automatic feeding can give their herd feed more frequently during the day. If the feed is fresh, the cow is more likely to eat it abundantly. This results in higher milk yields but also in less waste on the feed table. In fact, using a system like Optimat can reduce feed wastage by 50% and more.
Systems like Optimat also allow for providing exactly the right amount of feed to each group of cows no matter their lactation cycle. Optimat can be integrated with DeLaval DelPro Farm Manager where individual cows can be fed according to their needs with the help of concentrate feed stations making sure that each single cow gets the right feed. This will avoid under-feeding the high producing early lac-tation cows as well as over feeding of the low producing cows at the end of lactation.
Feeding is one of the most time-con-suming tasks on a farm, which is why so many dairyfarmers feed just twice a day, even if more frequent feeding would help increase milk yields. Farm-ers using Optimat have been able to considerably decrease the number of hours spent on feeding. Typically they go from 21 hours a week spent on feeding to just four hours a week on a 300-cow size farm. In addition, the work can be scheduled more ef-fi ciently, allowing more time for other activities on the farm. D
See Delaval at site 38 at the South Gippsland Dairy Expo.
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SOUTH GIPPSLAND DAIRY EXPO
Gippsland farmers happy with robots
WEST Gippsland dairyfarmers, Darryl and Trudi Hammond, installed six Lely Astronaut
A4 milking robots in March. The Ham-monds are one of the growing number of Australian dairyfarming families who have undertaken the installation of a Lely robotic milking system, se-curing a future for the next generation on their farm. Their farm is located at Buln Buln, just out of Warragul and has been in Trudi’s family for 46 years and milks 450 to 500 cows at peak.
The Hammonds were previously milking through an automated 20 unit double-up herringbone, which need-ed replacing, so they looked through the available options of installing a ro-tary compared with a robotic system.
“We had a look at all brands of ro-botic dairy farms and not only were the Lely farmers happy, but the cows were also walking around leisurely,” Mr Hammond said. “I love a good challenge, and the concept of hav-ing more time to get other jobs done around the farm was a win-win.
“We chose Lely because of their
whole package; they had the ideas, the skills and they were hands on. We already had a relationship with Mur-ray and Daniel from Traf Tractors & Machinery, who are also the local Lely Center Trafalgar.
“The Lely Center have really taken ownership for us, they are involved and passionate. The technicians are always positive and happy.”
The system is voluntary and feed
driven, therefore removing cow stress.
The Lely Astronaut A4 automati-cally cleans the milk lines and the ro-bots three times a day, and automati-cally washes the vat after the milk is removed.
“Milking cows is a mundane job, and most farmers spend too much time in the dairy and not enough time out-side,” Mr Hammond said. “This system is a business that makes money and gives us the lifestyle we need. Family is pivotal for us, and we now have more time to spend with the family, also in-volving our kids in the process.”
The improved well-being of the cow is achieved with the Lely Astronaut through using the ABC grazing system - where fresh grass is available twice or a possibly three times in a 24-hour period to reward the cows with fresh pasture post milking. A Lely Graze-way is used to automatically draft the cows to the new pasture area. D
See Lely Center Traf and Maffra (Trafalgar Tractor & Machinery) at site 34 at the South Gippsland Dairy Expo.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 99
Trudi and Darryl Hammond with son Finn are happy with the installa� on of robo� c milking for their 450-500 cow herd.
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IMPROVED CALF REARING
Clean calf equipment to avoid disease
By Jeane� e Fisher*
LATELY I have been doing quite a bit of work in America and while I was working recently it occurred to me
that no matter what the calf-raising system, the same problems recur all around the world. One problem I see regularly is milk-feeding equipment that has not been cleaned well enough.
Neonatal calves are vulnerable to disease. If calves are to survive to the stage where they become productive members of the milking string, they need to have the best care in the fi rst few weeks of life.
“The best care” means good passive transfer, adequate nutrition, a clean, low stress environment and protec-tion from the elements. Adequate sanitation of milk-feeding equipment is part of a clean environment and yet it is interesting that even on dair-ies where one could eat one’s dinner off the fl oor, calf-feeding equipment is not always cleaned to a high enough standard.
The fi nancial consequences of hav-ing dirty milk feeding equipment are just as high as having a dirty milk vat. It is known that:• calves that face immune system challenge do not grow as fast as those reared in a clean environment;• calves that fail to double their birth-weight by eight weeks of age are less effi cient producers of milk than calves that do;
• calves that have poor early life growth rates have a reduced feed con-version effi ciency for their entire life, meaning that they have higher feed costs per litre of milk produced; and • calves that are treated for scours are 2.5 times more likely to be prema-turely culled than their healthy peers.
Calves that are fed from dirty equipment have to divert nutrients away from growth and into fi ghting the microbial challenge. The conse-quences of this nutrient diversion will be calves whose feed conversion effi ciency drops, resulting in poor growth rates, calves that become ill and calves that die.
Even on calf-feeding equipment that appears to be clean, there can be an invisible threat that can contami-nate calf milk and cause disease. This threat is called biofi lm.
Biofi lms are matrices comprised of milk residues, bacteria and polysac-charides (complex carbohydrates) that the bacteria excrete to protect them and to help cement them to surfaces. The cement-like substance makes removal of biofi lm diffi cult and forms an insulating fi lm that protects the bacteria within it from desiccation and also from the actions of cleaners and disinfectants.
Bacteria use tiny appendages (fl ag-ellae, fi mbrae, pili) to attach them-selves onto almost any surface in a dairy, including stainless steel, alu-minium, rubber, and the type of poly plastics used to make test buckets.
Biofi lm can contain many different bacteria such as Staphylococcus and Streptococcus but one of the most signifi cant bacteria in biofi lm on calf-feeding equipment is Escherichia coli (E. coli), because it is endemic in the dairy environment.
Whatever the type of bacteria, they glue themselves to the milk residues and then excrete the polysaccharides to form a protective matrix. Once the initial bacterial settlement has been formed, other bacteria move in and build on to the original settlement forming matrices, which resemble bacterial “ghettos”. The more the ma-trices develop, the more milk residues stick. The more milk residues there are, the more bacteria are attracted to the food source and so on.
The presence of biofi lm is an indi-cator of inadequate sanitation. If poor
100 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
✔ Bacteria can accumulate on calf-feeding equipment
✔ Can cause serious illness and death
✔ Need detailed cleaning protocolKey
poin
ts
It is essen� al that all calf-feeding equipment is clean.
VR2206493
IMPROVED CALF REARING
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 101
sanitation practices continue, the pre-viously invisible biofi lm may become visible as a light brownish and possi-bly roughened fi lm.
The more scratched, pitted, corrod-ed or cracked surfaces are, the harder they are to clean and so they become ideal environments for biofi lms to es-tablish. Once a “ghetto” is established it becomes bacterial heaven, with milk residues providing a constant food source and the polysaccharides forming a protective barrier against disinfectants. Common disinfectants, even household bleaches are ineffec-tive against the bacteria, which are protected by the matrix. Even pro-longed soaking in a strong bleach solution is not able to lower bacte-rial populations enough to reduce calf scour rates.
Biofi lm can incorporate many dif-ferent bacterial species but particu-larly important from a calf health per-spective are coliform bacteria. Some members of this group of bacteria pose a particular threat to calves from birth to 14 days because of the sheer numbers that can exist in the calves’ birth environment. They can cause gastro-intestinal disease, which is the number one killer of calves. Some types of E. coli secrete toxins, which alter the fl uid secretion mechanisms
in the gut, thus causing profuse diar-rhoea. Other types cause damage to the gut itself as well as altering the ion (“body salt”) transport in the gut. If the calf does not die of dehydration fi rst, this type of infection can lead to bacterial septicaemia, which can be diffi cult to treat.
Once the bacteria emerge from the biofi lm into the milk (or colostrum), they start to multiply and so long as the milk remains warm, the bacte-ria will continue to grow rapidly in number. At 37 degrees Celsius, colif-orm bacteria can double their num-bers every 20 minutes, which can quickly lead to coliform counts of more than one million colony-forming units (cfu) per millilitre. When fed to calves, this will certainly cause them to become ill and possibly die.
Cleaning protocolThe best way to prevent the forma-tion of biofi lm on calf-feeding equip-ment is to draw up and follow an ef-fective cleaning protocol.
Following the protocol below will minimise the formation of biofi lm.1. Rinse with lukewarm, not hot, water to remove any dirt and milk residue.2. Wash using hot water and a chlo-rinated detergent. Keep water above 490C (too hot to hold hands in) at all times.3. Scrub inside and out to remove re-maining dirt and milk residues. 4. Rinse with warm water and an acid rinse or Virkon. Leave the rinse on the equipment and allow to dry.5. Dry by allowing equipment to air dry, preferably on a rack. Do not stack buckets or feeders inside each other.
Do not sit buckets upside down on a concrete fl oor.
Common cleaning errors are:• not cleaning at all;• rinsing equipment with cold water only;• rinsing equipment and not turning it upside down to dry;• rinsing with water that is too hot as this causes overheated protein, which bonds to surfaces and can be diffi cult to remove;• wash water may be too cool, which causes particles of fat and/or protein to fall out of suspension and stick to surfaces;• no scrubbing; elbow grease might be a pain but it is effective at remov-ing dirt;• no detergent or disinfectant. Deter-gents disperse and remove accumu-lated organic matter from surfaces, allowing disinfectants to reach and destroy microbes. Disinfectants (so-dium hypochlorite, which is house-hold bleach, is cheap and effective) destroy or inactivate bacteria and some viruses.
Figure 1: Diagram of E coli bacteria showing agellum
‘They can cause gastro-intes� nal disease, which is the number one killer of calves.’
102 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
IMPROVED CALF REARING
The effectiveness of any cleaning program needs to be monitored, rath-er than just waiting for a spike in sick calf numbers to indicate a breakdown in procedures. A good monitoring sys-tem would consist of: 1. Keeping a daily dairy detailing which person has fed the calves and cleaned the equipment.2. Printing and laminating standard operating procedures (SOPs) and placing them near the wash area.3. Training staff members to follow the SOPs every time milk-feeding equipment is used.
4. Regular sampling and culturing of calf milk to track levels of contamina-tion.
5. Keeping and evaluating accurate records of the number of sick calves and the number of dead calves and the cause of sickness or death.
Formulating and adhering to an effective management plan for milk feeding calves will ensure that they have the best chance of achieving high growth rates and surviving to become cows that produce milk as ef-fi ciently as possible. D
*Jeanette Fisher operates a dairy heifer advisory business, Heifermax, and can be contacted through her web-site, <www.heifermax.com.au>.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 103
Formula� ng and adhering to an e� ec� ve management plan for milk feeding calves will ensure that they have the best chance of achieving high growth rates.
Even on calf-feeding equipment that appears to be clean, there can be an invisible threat that can contaminate calf milk and cause disease.
IMPROVED CALF REARING
High-milk diet li� le impact on growth
By DS Cardoso, RE Hickson, RA Laven, LW Coleman, and PJ BackIns� tute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical SciencesMassey University, New Zealand
REARING replacement dairy heifers is an important part of the dairy system because well-
grown cows have better fertility and milk production, and last longer in the herd. However, calf-rearing is labour intensive and expensive, particularly during the pre-weaning period.
An experiment was conducted at Dairy 1, Massey University in New Zealand, to evaluate growth rates of heifer calves fed different volumes of milk in the pre-weaning period. The study included 60 heifer calves. Tar-get weaning weights were 100 kilo-
grams for Friesian, 90kg for Friesian-Jersey and 80kg for Jersey calves.
Calves were fed two litres of stored colostrum twice daily until 15-21 days old. Then, they were moved onto fresh pasture with ad libitum access to calf starter meal (20% crude protein [CP],
14 megajoules of metabolisable ener-gy [MJ ME]) in two treatments: • low milk: four litres/day; and • high milk: a gradually increasing ra-tion up to eight litres/day from four weeks.
Once calves were within 10kg of the
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 105
✔ Calves feed di� erent amounts of milk
✔ Ad-lib access to pasture and starter meal
✔ Li� le advantage in higher milk diet
Key
poin
ts
The grazing system for the calves involved frequent shi� s to fresh spring pasture.
IMPROVED CALF REARING
target weaning weight, they were fed four litres of milk daily until weaning, with free access to calf meal (16% CP, 12.3 MJ ME). The grazing system for the calves involved frequent shifts to fresh spring pasture. Calves were of-fered ad libitum pasture and moved to a new paddock every 2-3 days.
Feeding a greater amount of milk (531 vs 366 litres) did not signifi cantly affect the average daily growth rate of calves (0.78 vs 0.72 kilograms/day) but did allow the calves to be weaned six days earlier (84.8 vs 90.6 days).
Calves in the low-milk treatment consumed 24.1kg meal/calf compared with 16.4 kg meal/calf in the high milk treatment (or 0.27 vs 0.19 kg/calf/day respectively).
Contrary to expectation, there was no advantage in growth rate from in-creasing milk ration from four litres/day to eight litres/day for these calves. The calves in the low milk treatment had a small increase in meal intake, but both groups ate a relatively small amount of meal. The early access to high quality pasture may have result-ed in a preference for eating pasture
over meal, in comparison to confi ned calves that usually consume much higher volumes of meal.
The high milk feeding system in-curred increased cost for little benefi t in terms of pre-weaning growth. The consequences after weaning in terms of fertility and milk production will be
monitored during the following sea-sons. D
Contact: For full details of ex-periment see website <http://www.nzsap.org/proceedings/2015/brief-communication-do-high-milk-diets-af fect-growth-rate-heifers-prior -weaning>.
106 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Table 1: Growth rates of heifer calves fed di� erent volumes of milk in the pre-weaning period
Low High
n 30 30
Birth weight (kg) 30.4 31.9
Weaning weight (kg) 95.6 96.7
Average daily gain (kg/day) 0.72 0.78
Milk consumed (litres) 366a 531b
Days to weaning 90.6b 84.8a
abValues with di� erent le� ers are signi� cantly di� erent
The experiment evaluated growth rates of heifer calves fed di� erent volumes of milk in the pre-weaning period.
Contrary to expecta� on, there was no advantage in growth rate from increasing milk ra� on from four litres/day to eight litres per day for these calves.
IMPROVED CALF REARING
New insights into colostrum feeding
By LW Coleman, RE Hickson, J Amoore, RA Laven and PJ BackIns� tute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical SciencesMassey University, New Zealand
FEEDING newborn calves an ad-equate volume of colostrum is of well-recognised importance.
Calves are born with a naive immune system because maternal immu-noglobulins (predominantly IgG) are not passed through the placenta.
Maternal colostrum is needed for the calf to establish its immune sys-tem. IgG concentration varies among cows and decreases with increasing time since calving. Pooling colostrum from freshly calved cows is common practice on New Zealand dairy farms
to minimise the effect of individual cows with low IgG concentrations.
An experiment was conducted at Dairy 1, Massey University in New Zealand, to characterise the relation-ship between IgG concentration in the fi rst-milking colostrum from dairy cows and calf blood within 48 hours of birth. The experiment also evalu-ated a digital refractometer for esti-mating quality of colostrum in terms of IgG concentration.
The study included 204 cows and 63 heifer calves. The cows were fi rst-calving and mixed-aged Friesian, Jer-sey or Friesian-Jersey crossbreds in a pasture-based system milked once a day.
The experiment showed that co-lostral concentration of IgG was ad-equate (greater than 3000 milligrams per deciliter) in 70% of samples from individual cows and in 80% of sam-ples from pooled colostrum. Mean IgG
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 107
✔ Colostrum quality not impacted by breed or age of cow
✔ Time of colostrum feeding cri� cal to calf IgG levels
✔ Digital refractometers show promiseKe
y po
ints
Digital refractometers are an inexpensive means of instantly ge� ng informa� on about the IgG concentra� on in a sample.
IMPROVED CALF REARING
concentration was 3600-4300 mg/dl, which was lower than values reported for overseas cows.
Interestingly, there were no differ-ences in the colostral IgG concentra-tions among cows of different breeds or different parity (number of calv-ings). The length of time until the fi rst milking (up to 24 hours due to the once-a-day system) may be one of the variables that contributed to the low IgG concentrations.
All calves in this study were re-moved from their dams within 24 hours of birth (sometimes before suckling from their mothers), offered two litres of colostrum morning and afternoon for the fi rst day in the calf shed (between 0-32 hours old), and a blood sample was collected the fol-lowing morning (at about 24-48 hours of age).
Serum samples from 83% of calves in the study had adequate IgG con-centrations (more than 1600 mg/dl). However, there was no relationship between IgG concentration in the dam or pooled colostrum available to the
calf and the IgG concentration in calf serum.
It is likely that the time that colos-trum was fed to the calves infl uenced how much IgG was transferred.
This highlights how critical is that the colostrum is fed to the calves as early as possible, within the fi rst 6-12 hours after birth to enable adequate uptake of IgG from colostrum.
Digital refractometers are an inex-pensive means of instantly getting information about the IgG concentra-tion in a sample (expressed as Brix percentage).
The refractometer used in the exper-iment was an OPTi digital hand-held refractometer (Brix 54, Bellingham +
Stanley, Thermo Fisher Scientifi c) cali-brated with distilled water.
The correlation between IgG and Brix percentage was 87% for individu-al colostrum samples, 81% for pooled colostrum samples and 64% for calf blood. While these correlations show promise, the appropriate Brix per-centage threshold to use on-farm for identifi cation of adequate versus in-adequate IgG in colostrum is the sub-ject of ongoing research at Dairy 1. D
Contact: For full details of experi-ment see website <http://www.nzsap.org/proceedings/2015/colostral-immunoglobulin-g-predictor-serum-immunoglobulin-g-concentration-dairy>.
108 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
New research from New Zealand suggests feeding colostrum as early as possible a� er a calf is born is cri� cal to ensuring adequate immunoglobulin transfer.
This highlights how cri� cal is that the colostrum is fed to the calves as early as possible, within the � rst 6-12 hours a� er birth to enable adequate uptake of IgG from colostrum.
IMPROVED CALF REARING
Breeding top Jerseys starts with calves
TREVOR and Anthea Saunders at Shady Creek, north-east of War-ragul, Victoria, are dedicated Jer-
sey breeders. “Our aim is to be in the top 2% of Jersey herds in Australia,” said Mr Saunders, who is a former president of Jersey Australia.
“Currently we are just out of that. We are genomic testing our heifers and we are enjoying that project. The more we use the genomic testing, the greater the improvement of the ge-netic base of our herd. We have the number one heifer in Australia at the moment.”
The Saunders have been at Shady Creek for 11 years this November and have developed the farm, with its lighter sandy soils, to suit the man-agement style they wanted to grow their stud.
The property covers 150 hectares for the milking cows and with another 60ha used to run young stock, under the Johne’s Disease Calf Accreditation Program (JDCAP). JDCAP is an au-dited calf-rearing program that aims to reduce the risk of calves being in-fected by minimising their contact with manure and dairy effl uent from adult cattle and reducing exposure to potentially contaminated milk.
They milk on a 44-unit rotary with automatic cluster removers and au-tomated feeding, controlled through the National Livestock Identifi ca-tion Scheme (NLIS) tags, which they say takes the problems out of their
feeding management. Milking is all year round, with about 50% calving in March and the fi rst two weeks of April, then the rest in June and July. Herd numbers peak at 400.
The Saunders look after the cow management and employ some part-time milkers. They utilise contrac-tors to look after the farm production tasks such as hay, silage, cultivation and fencing.
Mrs Saunders takes control of calf rearing and is determined to give calves the best possible start. So the optimum feeding procedure becomes a major consideration. They use Ur-ban automatic calf feeders installed in three bays of the calf shed where the different groups, each of 24 calves, are treated individually as sensors read their ear tags.
The calves receive the fi rst eight hours of colostrum through the moth-ers, and are then taken off onto a manual feeder where they receive co-lostrum only.
“They are strong enough to be tak-
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 109
✔ Calf management cri� cal part of gene� c improvement
✔ Aim to breed top Jerseys ✔ Quality calf milk replacer essen� al
Key
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We aim to grow our calves out properly so that they can achieve their gene� c poten� al later on as milkers.
IMPROVED CALF REARING
en off after 24 hours,” Mrs Saunders said.
The calf milk replacer to be used in the automatic feeder is critical and the Saunders worked with local vet Grant Nielsen from the West Gipps-land Vet service, who manages their calf management program. They pre-viously had problems with salmonella and Escherichia coli.
“When we were looking at the calf milk replacers, we wanted animal-derived components, not vegetable-sourced ones as the calf’s digestive system works better to get the best possible out of them,” Mrs Saunders said. “Plus probiotics are important. They are fed milk at the right temper-ature at the right time, 1.5 litres at a time.
“We chose the MaxCare Ultimate formulation purely on its specifi ca-tions — particularly the high protein and fat percentages. The calves make a better curd and it optimises the nu-trient consumption and extraction from the feed.”
Milk powder manufacturer Maxum Animal Nutrition has three different formulas in its MaxCare Calf Milk Re-placer range. The top-of-the-range formulation Ultimate contains the highest nutrient density available in the Australian market with 28% pro-tein and 22% fat as well as probiotics, amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
“Calves are fed ad lib up to 10 li-tres a day for the fi rst two weeks,” she said. “The feeder allows them 1.2 litres per feed every two hours until they reach their quota for the day. From two to 10 weeks they are on six litres a day and then the milk allow-
ance is ramped down to two litres at three months of age.
“Our calves look better than they ever did on whole milk. This formu-lation mixes really well for the auto-matic feeders.
“Our calves are our future, so there is no point is skimping — we need to get the best growth that we can. I’ve reared calves for 30 years and I can tell how well they are doing. It’s im-portant for one person to do that.
“We aim to grow our calves out properly so that they can achieve their genetic potential later on as milkers.”
They get a feeding history for each
calf through the auto feeding system computer.
The calves are on ad lib grain and water from birth, but no hay. “We be-lieve the ‘scratch factor’ is more sig-nifi cant with grain feeding than hay,” Mrs Saunders said. “Later on they get about two kilograms a day day of grain from six weeks to weaning.
“From the six litres per day they are getting at two months and two weeks, it is dropped down to two litres at weaning at three months.”
Araluen Park has a target of 150 calves per year but the Saunders admit they have had a bad run with getting heifers this year so they have about 56 heifers at the moment.
The Saunders said ultimately they wanted to enjoy looking at their cows every day.
“We are achieving over 1700 kilo-grams of milk solids per hectare, and as this property is not irrigated we are really excited about that,” Mr Saun-ders said. “We’ll come down from 440 head to 350 to milk in October. We’re not aiming at building numbers; we are selling more than we are buying. We are sourcing high-profi le good cows that will add value to the herd and we have top cow families from the United States. You have to be excited about it and we are really lucky that we like cows and our genetics. People come from all over the world to see our cows.” D
Article supplied by Maxum Animal Nutrition, email <[emailprotected]>, website <www.maxumanimal.com.au> or contact Tom Newton, mobile 0439 773 145.
110 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
The calves are the future of Araluen Park, so Trevor and Anthea Saunders say there is no point is skimping.
IMPROVED CALF REARING
Keeping calves free of an� bio� cs
IT is important that everyone caring for calves on a farm understands how antibiotic residues may hap-
pen and ensures that all calves sent for slaughter are free from antibiotic residues.
Any antibiotic residues in calves sent for slaughter are a major con-cern for the Australian dairy industry. Calves are frequently tested at abat-toirs for the presence of antibiotics. Detection of antibiotic residues could result in loss of this valuable outlet for calves.
For the past two years Dairy Aus-tralia has run a program to help dairy-farmers reduce the risk of antibiotic residues in their calves. The following advice is based on the fi ndings of its investigations on farms where antibi-otic residues have occurred.
Take these 10 simple steps to keep your calves residue-free:
1. Prevent disease — develop a plan for colostrum management, pre-vention and treatment of calf diseases — ask a vet for advice if unsure what to include.
2. Training — make sure that every-one who cares for calves understands and follows the management plan.
3. Separate housing — keep calves destined for sale separated from the calves to be reared.
4. Dedicated equipment — feed sale calves with separate equipment that is clearly marked and used only for this purpose.
5. Fluid therapy — use electrolytes as the fi rst option for treating sick calves. Remember many common causes of calf scours do not respond to antibiotics.
6. Follow directions — use antibiot-ics carefully and only after discussing the treatment options with the vet. Al-ways read the label and observe the meat withhold period. Don’t feed sale calves with waste milk from antibiotic treated cows.
7. Manage treatments — treat calves individually, preferably by in-jection to minimise cross contamina-tion. It is risky and ineffective to mix oral antibiotics with milk.
8. Identify treated calves — make sure any treated calves are highly vis-ible and kept away from other calves until the drug withhold period has elapsed.
9. Keep records — record every treatment, for every calf, every time.
10. Avoid contamination — buck-ets, feeders, drench guns and syringes that have been in contact with antibi-otics are common sources of contami-nation. Mark them clearly and do not use them for feeding or dosing sale calves. D
For detailed advice on managing antibiotic residues, refer to chapter 6 of the Dairy Australia publication Rearing Healthy Calves — how to raise calves that thrive. This is avail-able online at <www.dairyaustralia.com.au/healthycalves>. To order a hard copy or for more information about residues, contact Dairy Austral-ia manager animal health Kathryn Davis, phone (03) 9694 3723 or email <[emailprotected]>.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 111
✔ Program to reduce risk of an� bio� c residues in calves
✔ Ensure everyone who handles calves understands plan
✔ Keep accurate records of all calf treatmentsKe
y po
ints
It is risky and ine� ec� ve to mix oral an� bio� cs with milk.
Keep calves des� ned for sale separated from the calves to be reared.
WHAT’S ON
September 24: Royal Melbourne Dairy ProgramMelbourne, Vic Victoria’s show for young stock and young peopleContact: Phone (03) 9281 7416 , fax (03) 9281 7592, website <www.rasv.com.au/dairy>
September 28-30: Associa� on for the Advancement of Animal Breeding and Gene� cs interna� onal conferenceLorne, Vic Livestock gene� cs industry event focusing on on breeding objec� ves, economics, applica� on of new tools and industry toursContact: Website <www.aaabg2015.org>
September 20-24: Interna� onal Dairy Federa� on World Dairy Summit Vilnius, Lithuania One of the premier events on the interna� onal dairy calendar. Contact: Website <h� p://www.idfwds2015.com>
September 23-24: South Gippsland Dairy ExpoKorumburra, Vic Featuring seminars, ac� vi� es and exhibits for dairyfarmers.Contact: Phone (03) 5659 4219, email <[emailprotected]>, website <www.dairyexpo.org.au>
October 5: InCalf Reproduc� on Symposium 2015Melbourne, Vic Tools for be� er herd fer� lityContact: Jess Delon at Dairy Australia, email <[emailprotected]>
October 6: Countdown Mas� � s Symposium 2015 Melbourne, Vic New science for mas� � s controlContact: Jess Delon at Dairy Australia, email <[emailprotected]>
October 6-8: Elmore and District Machinery Field DaysElmore, Vic General farming � eld days for northern VictoriaContact: Phone (03) 5432 6176, email <info@elmore� elddays.com.au>, website <www.elmore� elddays.com.au>
October 23-24: North Coast Na� onal Dairy SpectacularLismore, NSW Dairy industry exhibi� onContact: Phone (02) 6621 5916, email <secretary@northcoastna� onal.com.au>
November 16-18: TropAg2015Brisbane Tropical agriculture, research, produc� vity, sustainabilityContact: phone (07) 3255 1002, website <h� p://tropagconference.com.au/>
November 22-25: Interna� onal Conference on Lameness in RuminantsValdivia, Chile Conference tackling one of big issues for dairy farmsContact: Website <h� p://lamenessinruminants2015.com/>
November 27: Dairy Australia’s 2015 annual general mee� ngMelbourne, Vic: The AGM for Australia’s peak dairy organisa� onContact: Dairy Australia, phone (03) 9694 3777, website <www.dairyaustralia.com.au>
Diary dates To have dates for a major event included in the diary, send informa� on to Carlene and Alastair Dowie. Phone/fax (03) 5464 1542, email <[emailprotected]>
112 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
By Kerry Ryan
I’VE recently been working on a number of projects that have rein-forced my view that developing a
high trust team culture relies heavily on proactive evaluation of individual performance and team relationships. The risk from taking perceived har-mony for granted must be eliminated to maintain the highest levels of moti-vation and morale. This is especially important given the challenges of volatile milk prices and pressures of a new farming season.
There is a high return for embrac-ing this as a major contributor to smoothing management pathways. Top leaders know the damage unre-solved issues can cause. They also know people and team issues are so much easier to deal with as they arise rather than letting them fester.
Adopting this approach ensures leadership time is spent more on pre-venting rather than solving problems. It eliminates “dramas” and the stress of emotionally charged conversations otherwise needed to get the team or individual back on track.
Effectiveness means quality con-versations that realistically evaluate team dynamics. Like any successful sports team there should be constant focus on making sure everyone knows their job, is doing their job, and that there is a high trust environment that ensures people are open to challenge about their role and relationships without feeling threatened.
This is not about looking for trou-ble. It is all about fi nding the parts of the management and operations machine that will benefi t from some maintenance. It’s also about acknowl-edging that sometimes what looks like harmony may in fact be lack of leadership driven by familiarity and complacency — two key contributors
to eventual relationship breakdowns.Experience has taught me the rela-
tionships of most concern are those where there appears to be a natural fi t.
This is especially common in fam-ily businesses where family mem-bers balance working as day-to-day colleagues with the complexities of maintaining personal and family re-lationships. Their well-meaning but misguided approach may be to simply avoid confronting disappointments.
Going below the surface to ensure robust collaboration and collegial-ity will identify areas to work on for continuous improvement. It will also produce evidence that things are tracking by ensuring everyone has a regular opportunity to have their say about how well relationships are func-tioning.
Dysfunction and breakdowns are usually obvious. Identifying their causes to justify early intervention is not so easy. This requires the courage to question and challenge along with the wisdom to know when to act. Get-
ting this combination right helps man-agers be ahead of the game.
There are three key cornerstones to fostering a high trust environment.
First is a clearly defi ned and agreed vision for business and team values. This involves consultation to get agreement about what the business wants to be recognised for and then making sure team behaviours align with that vision. Team values com-monly include commitment to trust, respect, reliability, loyalty, support for teammates , and being focused on identifying solutions — not just prob-lems.
The second is to ensure those val-ues are regularly acknowledged in conversations and plans so expec-tations are communicated and rein-forced. This ranges from strategic plans and management meetings to job descriptions and performance re-views. Throughout the business there needs to be reference expectations that deliver more than just operation-al outcomes. This means evaluating both what was achieved and how it was achieved.
Finally, there should be frequent opportunity for the team to check in on the quality of their relationships and the resulting culture. Agendas for management and operations meet-ings must go beyond a functional focus. Time should be allocated for the “heart talk” that encourages dis-cussions about how well the team is working together. Delving into this area can be challenging at fi rst but making these types of conversations routine gets everyone comfortable with talking at a deeper level. It’s great practice for when genuinely coura-geous conversations are needed.
There are ideas on how to achieve this on my website, including an ex-ample agenda for staff meetings for illustration.
Taking responsibility for the qual-ity of relationships is a high payback initiative. This means you are really working “on the business” by chal-lenging the people to grow, promoting resilience, and ensuring your busi-ness is in the best shape to thrive in these challenging times. D
*Kerry Ryan is a New Zealand based agribusiness consultant available for face-to-face or online for advice and ideas. Contact him at website <www.kerryryan.co.nz>.
THINK AGAIN — THE RYAN REPORT
Developing high trust team leadership
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 113
✔ Team culture vital for high performance
✔ Big challenge in family businesses ✔ Courageous conversa� ons essen� alKe
y po
ints
It’s also about acknowledging that some� mes what looks like harmony may in fact be lack of leadership driven by familiarity and complacency ...
1 CLEARLY de� ned and agreed vision for business and team values
2 COMMUNICATE values regularly in conversa� ons and plans
3 PROVIDE frequent opportunity for team to check quality of
rela� onships
Fostering a high trust environment
114 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
By Sherri Jaques*
AS discussed last issue Lept-ospirosis can be a signifi cant zoonotic disease within a dairy
herd. The bacteria is found in the en-vironment and comes from the urine of infected cattle, pigs, rodents and wildlife, in mud and pasture and is contracted through mucus mem-branes of the eyes, nose and mouth or through cuts in the skin. Heat and dry weather prevent it from surviving well in the environment. In wet damp conditions, however, it survives well. Flooding or wet weather can spread the infection onto a farm.
Leptospirosis can affect young calves and adult cows. It causes out-breaks of disease in herds that have low levels of protecting antibodies, but usually only sporadic signs in herds with higher levels of protection. The two main serovars seen in cattle are L. hardjobovis and L. pomona.
There are three classic ‘signs’ of Leptospirosis infection in dairy herds: • abortion storms (also has many other causes);• ’slack udder’ (can be confused with mastitis); and • ’redwater’ (also has many other causes).
Both strains can cause abortion storms on unprotected properties in cattle from mid-to-late lactation. L. Hardjobovis can cause abortion from fi ve months of pregnancy, usually about 12 weeks after infection, and with L. Pomona normally a little later in pregnancy and about six weeks after infection. Sometimes weak, but still alive, calves are born.
Both strains can cause a sud-den drop in milk production that is known as ‘slack udder’. The drop in milk production is marked and will last for 10 to 14 days. In cows in late lactation the drop in milk production can result in early drying off. There is often a yellow change to the milk with L. Hardjbovis while red or brown milk changes are more common with L. Pomona. These can look similar to mastitis, however, the udder will not be hard or swollen.
L. pomona is particularly prevalent in pigs, and effl uent from piggeries is of particular risk and should be avoided. It is this strain that also pro-duces the other ‘common’ sign for Leptospirosis — redwater. ‘Redwater’ is red or brown urine and is more commonly associated with L. Pomona infection in calves, but can be seen in adult cattle as well.
Affected calves are usually anae-mic, have a fever, can be jaundiced (yellow in the whites of the eyes) and may die if not treated. It can spread easily and quickly through a calf shed.
Clinical cases can be treated with specifi c antibiotics, and farmers should seek the advice of their vet-
erinarian if they suspect Leptospirosis within their calves or herd.
Infected animals make antibod-ies better for L. pomona than for L. hardjobovis. Antibody levels are often used as part of diagnosis as the bac-teria is diffi cult to grow in the labora-tory. Diagnosis can also be made from the aborted tissues, and from all the farms clinical signs put together.
Many affected cattle show no clini-cal signs of disease and produce the bacteria in their urine without form-ing antibodies in their blood, so false negative tests can occur. This also means there could be cows urinating bacteria that appear perfectly healthy and they are a signifi cant infection risk to other cattle and people.
There are many other possible causes for abortion including Neospo-ra, Bovine Viral Diarrhoea (BVD), fun-gal toxins, heat stress, fever, Listeria, and Infectious Bovine Rhinotracheitis (IBR). Red urine can also be caused by phosphorus defi ciency, kale or canola poisoning, clostridial bladder infection, tick fever (Babesia), and copper poisoning. The milk changes can easily be mistaken for mastitis.
Prevention consists of avoiding ef-fl uent run off, hygiene (in the dairy shed, calf shed and feed storage ar-eas), controlling rodents, and vacci-nation. The vaccination protocol for calves and adults was discussed last issue. Although usually given annu-ally after two initial doses six weeks apart, it is sometimes used every six months in high-incidence areas. Calves may also receive an earlier vaccination at four weeks during out-breaks, followed by two injections six weeks apart between four and six months of age.
Veterinary involvement with a Lept-ospirosis prevention plan or if a Lept-ospirosis problem is suspected on the farm is highly recommended.
Until next time, happy milking. D*Sherri Jaques is a practising veteri-
narian and reproduction adviser in the West Gippsland region of Victoria.
All comments and information dis-cussed in this article are intended to be of a general nature only. Please consult a veterinarian for herd health advice, protocols and/or treatments that are tailored to a herd’s particular needs.
Lepto: ‘redwater’ and ‘slack udder’
‘Redwater’ is red or brown urine and is more commonly associated with L. Pomona infec� on in calves, but can be seen in adult ca� le as well.
SNIPPETS AND TITBITS
✔ Abor� on storms, slack udder and redwater signs of lepto
✔ Many animals show no clinical signs
✔ Vaccina� on program helps prevent disease
Key
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The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 115
HAVING all of his young stock genotyped has completely changed the way Rob Cooper
manages the breeding program of his 1300+ split-calving Holstein herd.
Mr Cooper dairies in partnership with three investors at Manilla, north- west of Tamworth, NSW.
“We rear about 600 heifer calves a year and will soon reach our target herd size of 1600,” he said. “We will soon have a signifi cant number of sur-plus replacements.”
Mr Cooper said the combination of surplus replacements, sexed sem*n and genotyping would allow him to place more selection pressure on the herd to increase its Health Weighted Index and to use better genetics over the top group of heifers.
Last year he sent his fi rst batch of tail hair samples from heifer calves to be genotyped through the Clarifi de service offered by Zoetis. “We’ve got the fi rst set of results and I’m wait-ing on the results from another two batches sent off from more recent calvings,” he said.
Mr Cooper said the results had opened up new management ap-proaches that weren’t previously pos-sible.
“The top 50% of heifers will be synchronised and inseminated with sexed sem*n to maximise the number of heifer calves we get from our very best heifers.
“The next 25% of heifers will enter the dairy herd but each year will be joined to a beef bull and their progeny will be sold.
“This will allow us to maintain our herd size but we will only be breeding replacements from the top half of the herd.”
The bottom 25% of heifers will be sold, possibly as young at four months of age.
Mr Cooper’s breeding objective is to improve functional type (udders, capacity, rump and feet and legs), fer-tility, mastitis, protein and fat.
He uses the Balanced Perform-
ance Index (BPI) to select sires. How-ever, when it comes to reviewing the heifers’ genomic results, he said he was most interested in their Health Weighted Index (HWI) because it was a better refl ection of their genetic po-tential for fertility and mastitis resist-ance.
He said the genomic results were summarised with a graph showing the whole herd with results for individu-al cows supplied in a sortable Excel spreadsheet.
“The graph was very useful; we could immediately see the distribu-tion of the herd,” he said. “The top and bottom 25% were very clear.”
The Excel fi le ranked individual cows by each of the three new indi-ces. Mr Cooper also re-sorted the list by fertility.
“I am keen to improve herd fertility so I was curious to see how they re-ranked on that,” he said.
Having only seen one set of results so far, Mr Cooper said his system was still a work in progress. “We’ve not had this sort of information before so I am still discovering different ways to use it,” he said.
Mr Cooper said he thought genomic results would be particularly useful to large herds.
“With 1300+ cows, the sheer vol-ume of information means it’s quite a complex process to make breeding decisions, especially for heifers,” he said. “We have heaps of information about their mothers’ performance from herd recording, health and other
farm records. But it’s not so easy to put that all together with a large herd.
“Geontyping gives us powerful in-formation from a very young age.”
Michelle Axford from ADHIS said that genomic breeding values for heif-ers were equivalent to those based on seven lactations of herd-recording data. “Obviously it is a lot more use-ful to have that information at an early age than waiting nine years,” she said.
“In North America — where geno-typing services have been available for longer than here — there’s been a rapid increase in the number of fe-males genotyped, especially young stock,” she said.
Farmers have found a variety of ways to use the results to improve ge-netic gain in their herds.
“Some, like Rob are using genomic results to increase selection pressure on their herd,” she said. “Others, es-pecially breeders of elite genetics are using genomic results for embryo transfer; to identify elite heifers for fl ushing and inferior animals to use as recipients. It is becoming more com-mon to have whole cohorts of heifers tested to inform mating and culling decisions.”
Zoetis, Holstein Australia or Jer-sey Australia have more information about sending hair tail samples for genotyping. D
Contact: ADHIS extension and education manager, Michelle Ax-ford, phone 0427 573 330, email <[emailprotected]> or website <www.adhis.com.au>.
Health index � cks the boxes ✔ Genotyping heifers using tail hair samples
✔ Ranking heifers on Health Weighted Index
✔ Using sexed sem*n in top 50%
Key
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Rob Cooper is changing the way he breeds from his heifers as a result of having them genotyped.
116 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
DAIRYBASE is a quick, easy and essential tool for farm business-es pushing for profi t, according
to northern New South Wales dairy-farmer David Binney.
Developed by Dairy Australia, Dairy-Base is a secure, web-based tool that enables dairyfarmers to measure and compare their farm business. Farm-ers can sign-up at website <www.dairybase.com.au>.
After entering their farm data, farm-ers can then create confi dential and comprehensive farm reports to help them understand the overall fi nancial and phsycial performance of their farm.
Mr Binney milks 350 cows on 100 hectares at Kyogle. He said DairyBase enabled farmers to quickly assess all the aspects of their businesses so they could start making decisions to help their bottom line.
“It took me 45 minutes to an hour to input all the information,” he said. “All I needed was the yearly fi nancials from the accountant and a 12-month summary from my processor and
then you are provided instantly with the analysis on your farm.
“I have done other fi nancial analy-sis programs before but what I liked about DairyBase was how easy it was to input the data and then get the analysis.”
Mr Binney said DairyBase calculat-ed all the key performance indicators that were essential for decision mak-ing, such as those around feedbase, labour and the herd. “It very quickly captures that key information to give you areas that you need to focus on and you can then make changes if you wish to do so,” he said.
Mr Binney said he had compared the results of his low-cost pasture based farm with others in his region through DairyBase and was happy with how he stacked up. “It shows we are heading in the right direction and that gives us confi dence in our deci-sion-making,” he said.
What is DairyBase? Released in May, DairyBase is of great benefi t to dairyfarmers who want to understand how the physical and fi -nancial aspects of their business are related to improve business perform-ance. All individual farm data remains confi dential to the farm business owner.
After entering their farm data, farm-ers can then create confi dential and comprehensive farm reports to help them understand the overall fi nancial performance of their farm. DairyBase will be of great benefi t to dairyfarm-ers who want to reduce on-farm costs, boost profi tability and formulate an-nual business plans.
DairyBase helps farmers to:• compare their own farm business over time;• identify opportunities to drive prof-it and reduce risk;• make more informed business deci-sions;• generate comparisons according to
DairyBase gets thumbs up from farmer ✔ Tool helps farmers analyse business performance
✔ Quick and easy to enter data ✔ Allows comparison with other farms
Key
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FILLING in a farm’s DairyBase details can be done quickly and easily if the
user has the right informa� on. Here is what it is recommended farmers have to get their analysis completed:
Land: Farm map or other documents that provide details of land areas, includ-ing owned, leased, usable, unusable, milking, support, irrigated and dryland.
Livestock: Opening and closing live-stock numbers for all age groups. Graz-ing records to calculate the � me spent by each livestock class on the milking area, support area or agistment.
Milk Produc� on: Milk produc� on de-tails for milk supplied to the factory for the � nancial year.
Feed: Opening and closing feed quan-
� � es for all feed types. Quan� � es of supplements made on the milking area and on the support area. Quan� � es of supplements bought o� farm and their purchase price. Quan� � es of each feed fed on the milking area and quan� ty fed on the support area.
Fer� liser (this is op� onal in Dairy-Base): Quan� � es of fer� liser types used including a breakdown of the quan� ty applied to the milking area.
Rainfall and Irriga� on: Annual aver-age rainfall for the farm and the meas-ured rainfall for the year. Megalitres of water applied for irrigated farms.
Labour: Number of paid part-� me and full-� me sta� and the hours they worked. Number of unpaid sta� (family)
and the hours they worked.Financial statements: including pro� t
and loss (income and expenses), balance sheet (assets and liabili� es) and live-stock trading account (opening and clos-ing livestock plus sales and purchases). The pro� t and loss (GST exclusive) from the farm’s own accoun� ng program may be required to provide further detail on the breakdown of income and expenses. The milk income statement from the milk processor is required to ensure all payments, including any step-ups that match the produc� on for the � nancial year are included. An es� mate of the market value of land, water, vehicles and plant and equipment assets is also needed.
Informa� on needed to create a DairyBase report
David Binney says DairyBase calculates all the key performance indicators.
farm size, region and production sys-tem; and• create annual reports and fore-casts.
Visit the website <dairybase.com.au> to register for DairyBase and to fi nd supporting resources, case stud-ies and news. D
For further support phone 1800 548 073 or email <[emailprotected]>. For informa-tion about farm business manage-ment and DairyBase activities and resources, contact the local Regional Development Program (contact de-tails are listed on page 112).
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 117
Discussion groups get DairyBase funding I have done other � nancial analysis programs before but what I liked about DairyBase was how easy it was to input the data and then get the analysis.
FARMER groups can now access Dairy-Base informa� on and training via
Dairy Australia funding support.Through Dairy Australia’s network of
Regional Development Programs (RDPs) farmer groups can learn more about DairyBase and how it can be used to measure and analyse the performance of their farms.
The support builds on that provided by Dairy Australia to discussion groups, which are also eligible for DairyBase sup-port.
Dairy Australia’s farm business man-agement program manager, Neil Lane, said DairyBase would be a great tool for groups to use to compare farm perform-ance.
“I can see groups using it to share data about their farms, and compare per-formance within the group or against the high quality performance data in Dairy-Base” Mr Lane said.
“We see more and more groups see-ing value in sharing farm data and, in
most cases, that transla� ng into the farmers within the group be� er under-standing their business and being more con� dent in their decision making”.
Ini� ally there are two levels of oppor-tunity for groups of farmers to be intro-duced to the use of DairyBase that will meet the needs of most groups.
Op� on 1 — Introduc� on to DairyBase,es� mated to take 1-2 hours.
Op� on 2 — Introduc� on to Farm Per-formance Analysis, es� mated to take 2-4 hours
Both op� ons have the exibility to be adapted to meet the requirements of groups. For Op� on 2 groups can elect to use generic farm data from DairyBase or real data from the group.
For further informa� on about how a farmer or a group can access DairyBase support and resources contact the lo-cal Regional Development Program. Contact details can be found inside the back page of this edi� on of the Austral-ian Dairyfarmer.
118 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
EXCELLENT nutrition combined with crossbreeding, aggres-sive non-cycling treatments and
strict culling of later-calving cows has given Victorian dairyfarmers Trevor and Carolyn Beasley an inherently fertile herd.
The Beasleys run a 260-cow dairy farm near Port Fairy in Western Victo-ria on a milking area of 170 hectares.
The herd structure is predominant-ly Holstein, but with a small number of crossbreds and Jersey cows. Aver-age annual production for the herd is typically about 530 kilograms milk solids per cow.
The seasonal calving herd has an artifi cial insemination (AI) joining pe-riod of about six weeks followed by a natural mating period using Jersey bulls for a further 12 weeks. They only calve for 12 weeks as the later-calving pregnant cows are sold. Most cows calve in the fi rst six weeks.
The Beasleys have owned their farm for the past 12 years and have never undertaken early calving induction.
Although cows calve across 12 weeks, the six-week in-calf rate is high at 67% and is driven by the following factors:• a good AI conception rate, which has been more than 50% for the past three years;• a tight calving pattern for their heif-ers: 90% of the heifers calve by six weeks into the calving period; and• high submission rates of more
than 75% in the past three years. A young herd with good fertility allows for a culling policy that is driven by mastitis, cell count and pregnancy status. The Beasleys’ herd has a bulk milk cell count consistently below 100,000.
Calving starts in April and 60% of their cows calve in the fi rst three weeks. They sell late-calving cows (due to calve after June 30) as replace-ment cows for other herds with later calving patterns and this practice has provided a signifi cant revenue stream.
Between 30 and 40 cows are sold as replacements each year, and another 20 to 30 cows sold as culls for infer-tility, mastitis or high cell count and occasionally temperament and lame-ness.
A feature of the herd is the high re-tention rate of young cattle, with two-year-old and three-year-old animals making up nearly 50% of herd num-bers. In this herd two-to-fi ve-year-old cows have exceptional reproductive performance, with six-week in-calf rates averaging above 75% in the past three years.
As well as being clinical when cull-ing cows for fertility, the Beasleys keep only calves out of cows that calve during the AI period. Because the cows calve quickly, there are
enough replacement heifers available so that calves from the fi rst-calvers and calves from later-calving cows are not required as replacements.
The Beasleys have never deliberate-ly selected for production but for me-dium-sized cows with good tempera-ment. They have steered away from high-producing bulls and focused on calving ease and daughter fertility.
The Beasleys had a bad experience on a farm they previously managed where cows were bought without hav-ing good pregnancy testing records and the owners decided to induce them. When they bought their own farm, they decided that they would prefer to farm without inducing cows.
By not inducing cows and by selling late calvers, they keep only replace-ments from cows with proven fertility.
Getting cows back into calf quickly relies on having healthy cows that are well fed. Because they don’t rely on staff to manage the herd, all the cows’ histories are known to the Beasleys.
The Beasleys consider there are no disadvantages to operating a season-al calving herd without calving induc-tions. The high fertility of their herd and the way breeding is managed re-sults in enough replacements for the herd, as well as providing a handy in-come stream from cows that do not fi t into the calving pattern of their herd.
The Beasleys are happy with the per-formance of their herd. Longer term they aim to pay off debt and extend the dairy to make life a little easier.
The ultimate aim is to milk fewer cows, but to have a better quality herd. The focus on fertility will have to be maintained as the Beasleys would eventually like to fi nish calving each year after 10 weeks. D
Beasley path for increased fer� lity ✔ Tight calving pa� ern with high concep� on rates
✔ Late calving cows sold to other farms
✔ Plenty of replacements available
Key
poin
ts
THE Beasleys believe that the secrets to their success include:
•�keeping me� culous records; •�having knowledge of each cow’s history (which they maintain is helped by hav-ing only the two of them involved in herd management); •�good heat detec� on e� ciency; •�keeping the herd as well fed as possible
at all stages of lacta� on. Dry cows are kept well fed by rota� ng them around the pad-docks. Springers are selected 2-3 weeks before calving to be brought onto the transi� on diet of high quality export qual-ity oaten hay and a small amount of grass. Once calved, cows go onto available grass, irriga� on and 4-5 kilograms of grain.•�trea� ng pre-joining cows with uterine
infec� ons with an� bio� cs; •�trea� ng non-cycling cows. Any cows that haven’t been observed cycling a� er three weeks of joining are treated with prostaglandin, and any cows that fail to respond to this treatment are exam-ined by a vet, and then synchronised with a Controlled Internal Drug Release (CIDR) program.
How do the Beasleys achieve good reproduc� ve performance?
By not inducing cows and by selling late calvers, they keep only replacements from cows with proven fer� lity.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 119
A DAIRY Australia study has found that feeding fortifi ed milk increases the pre-weaning
growth rates of calves.To better understand the benefi ts
and risks of feeding fortifi ed milk on health and growth of dairy heifers, Dairy Australia recently funded a study on four farms in western Victo-ria. A total of 213 group housed, dairy breed calves were randomly allocated into two diets:1. Fortifi ed milk diet (two litres of whole milk supplemented with 150 grams high quality 25/20 milk replacer fed twice daily); or 2. Control milk diet (two litres of whole milk fed twice daily).
Although there was signifi cant vari-ation between farms, calves on the fortifi ed milk were almost fi ve kilo-grams heavier and two centimetres taller by the end of the trial period.
Due to low incidence of calf disease observed in this trial, no signifi cant differences in calf health were ob-served between the treatment groups. Another trial conducted in winter/spring calving herds may be required to show the full benefi ts of acceler-ated calf nutrition in these conditions.
The estimated average total cost, excluding the cost of waste milk, to rear a calf to eight weeks of age in the control group was $33.97 while the cost to rear a calf to eight weeks of age in the fortifi ed group was $93.27.
Despite the increased cost of rear-ing calves on fortifi ed milk, the poten-tial benefi ts of this feeding system ex-tend well beyond calfhood. Overseas research suggests that an increased growth rate from birth to 12 weeks has a positive impact on mammary gland development, which translates into increased milk production over the life of the cow.
Strategic use of enhanced calf feed-ing may also offer an opportunity to enhance the growth rates of later-born calves on seasonal calving farms. Calves born in the second half of the calving period may be able to achieve
increased growth rates during the pre-weaning period and thus mature more quickly, and reach breeding age in line with earlier born calves.
BackgroundAnimal scientists have known for some time that dairy heifers reared on conventional restricted milk feed-ing programs do not achieve their full genetic potential for growth. More re-cently, overseas studies have shown improvements in calf health, growth rates and feed conversion effi ciency when calves are fed greater volumes of milk or milk replacer during the pre-weaning period.
Enhanced early nutrition increas-es pre-weaning average daily gain (ADG), and may confer several pro-duction benefi ts on heifers including increased weaning and fi rst calving weights, earlier onset of puberty and fi rst calving and increased fi rst lacta-tion milk production.
The conventional systems for rear-ing dairy calves in Australia are based on feeding about 8-10% of bodyweight as milk or milk replacer, fed over one or two feeds, with ad libitum calf starter from the fi rst week of life. This restricted milk feeding only allows for the calf’s maintenance require-ments plus around 0.25kg/day aver-age growth, provided the ambient temperature is suitable for the calf (not too hot or too cold). The box story illustrates the many differences between this calf-rearing system and that of calves feeding naturally from their dams.
The restricted liquid feeding sys-tem has defi nite economic advantag-es as the solid feed is far cheaper on an energy and protein basis of solid than whole milk or milk replacer. Sec-ondly, there is considerable labour required to feed liquid milk/milk re-placer as well as signifi cant amount of time required to clean utensils post milk feeding. As a result the major-
ity of dairyfarmers have traditionally fed their calves once or twice daily in non-automated systems.
There is now growing interest in accelerated calf growth systems. The underlying concept of an accelerated or enhanced nutrition program is to allow calves to develop according to their genetic potential. This means feeding about 7-8 litres per day of milk, compared with 3-4 litres per day in the conventional systems. The vol-umes of milk or milk replacer fed in these enhanced nutrition systems are more aligned with the natural feeding that would occur if the calf were to suckle their dam over a 24-hour pe-riod.
However, there has been reluctance to feed high volumes of milk to young calves, due to farmer concerns about increasing the incidence of diarrhoea in calves. An alternative to feeding large volumes of whole milk to young calves is to fortify the whole milk with a high quality milk replacer powder to increase the overall nutrient value of their liquid diet without increasing the volume of liquid feed. D
For further information about this feeding trial or general advice on calf nutrition and health contact Dairy Aus-tralia program manager, animal health and fertility Kathryn Davis, email <[emailprotected]>.
For� � ed milk may boost heifers ✔ 213 calves in for� � ed milk trial ✔ Achieved higher growth rates ✔ Bene� ts outweight addi� onal costsKe
y po
ints
•�Calf nurses 6-8 � mes daily for 5-10 minutes at a � me•�Consumes 16-24% body weight of milk•�Enough energy is supplied to grow at 0.7kg to more than 1.4kg per day•�Dam’s milk is 25-26% protein and 30% fat on a dry solids basis•�Feeding method: Teat•�First solid feeds: Lush fresh grass (sugars, fructans, non-ligni� ed cell walls — lead to high butyrate fermen-ta� on)•�Weaning gradually occurs at 3-9 months
Feeding behaviour of dairy calves suckling dams
‘Calves on the for� � ed milk were almost � ve kilograms heavier...
120 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
By Frank MickanPasture and fodder conserva� on specialistDepartment of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and ResourcesEllinbank Centre
FARMERS in most dairying areas will be needing to restock their silage storages and hay sheds
this year after a dry autumn in some areas. Indications are that another El Niño will develop in late spring so this means farmer need to make the most of any good spring growth this year.
However, farmers will now be faced with another quandary. Do they make a bulk amount of silage of poorer qual-ity or less silage of higher quality and/or do they buy in hay? There are no right/wrong answers to these ques-tions but think about some of these considerations.
Many farmers will chase high-yield-ing crops to rebuild silage storages, as has always been the case following a long dry period or drought. This is fi ne if looking to stick away silage of medium to low nutritive value.
Medium to low quality silage will test under 10 megajoules of metabo-lisable energy per kilogram dry mat-ter (MJ ME/kg DM or ME), under 10-12% crude protein (% CP) and above about 55% neutral detergent fi bre (% NDF). This silage has a limited role due to its lower feed value. It can only be fed in relatively small amounts without affecting milk production, so other higher quality feeds need to make up the bulk of the diet if milk production and cow condition are to be looked after. It is suitable for late lactation, low-producing cows and dries.
Some farmers, having made lower yielding, high quality silage, have been surprised at how well the cows have milked and will lift production if
fed enough of this type of silage. This is not surprising because this silage is at or near grazing height pasture and can test more than 11 ME, more than 16% CP, and below 55% NDF. The earlier the pasture is cut, the more leaf and less reproductive tillers it will have compared with heavier cuts usually shut up for much longer or pushed too far with nitrogen.
Feedtest has analysed silages in recent years that have been as low as 7 ME, 4.5% CP and as high as 77% NDF — not good enough for even dry cows without a supplement to lift its quality. On the other extreme, in good silage-making conditions, pasture si-lages can be attained with more than 12 ME, more than 25% CP and about 35% NDF.
There are some other important factors when deciding to go bulk or quality. Look at the paddocks after the heavy crops come off. They will be yellow, have a lot of bare ground between plants and take a long time to regrow.
This is because a major guideline for maintaining a dense high quality pasture has been broken. The pasture has grown well past three green living leaves and sunlight has not reached the base of the sward. The result is new leaves cannot reach sunlight, no new tillers are generated, exist-
ing daughter tillers are weakened or died off, aerial tillering meaning tillers are hung out to dry — all leading to the yellow pasture picture described above that will take several rotations to thicken up again.
Pasture harvested at or just before canopy closure will be about half the yield of traditionally harvested silage. This silage will be as high a quality as possible from ryegrass and may have just over two or just under three green leaves, depending on cultivar, nitrogen use and moisture. Contrac-tors hate harvesting these lower yields for obvious reasons but the farmer is paying the money for a high quality product. However, to be fair, contractors are equally entitled to charge slightly more due to the costs involved to cover the ground with mowers, tedders, rakes, and farmers should still be ahead cost-wise given the potential income from this silage.
Spring silage: quan� ty or quality? ✔ High quality silage produces more milk
✔ Cu ng earlier allows pastures to regrow be� er
✔ A� en� on to detail can produce big returnsKe
y po
ints
Figure 1. High quality pasture for silage.
Figure 2. Pastures past canopy closure.
It is still possible to put away the same total tonnes of silage from high quality forages as achieved by heavy yielding paddocks. This is done by harvesting a larger area at four weeks compared with half the area at eight weeks.
This maintains grazing pressure, which maintains pasture quality, results in higher quality silage and usually results in more total spring growth. A win:win situation.
Look at short lockup paddocks once silage is removed. They should look a similar colour, or only slightly a lighter green colour, compared with a timely and well grazed paddock. Re-growth will be dense, quick and more area available since most clumps will
come back as high quality and most will be grazed next rotation.
Need more encouragement to go for quality ahead of quantity? Table 1 shows the impact of quality and loss-es (fermentation, storage and feeding out) on silage for milk production.
Let’s say the farm normally chases heavy cuts of silage (350 tonnes dry matter) and now tries for lighter yields but a similar total amount of silage made this year. Let’s work on 8 ME to produce one litre of milk (ME/li-tre) and milk price is $0.40/litre. The 8 ME is well above 5.5 ME/L often used but this allows for some cow condi-tion gain, walking, substitution, so is a conservative value.
Based on the fi gures provided, if a target quality of 11 MJ/kg DM and losses of 10% are achieved there is an increase in milk income of $48,560 compared with producing forage of 9.5 ME/kg DM with 25% losses.
Think about the fi gures in the table. How much extra effort is required to improve quality? Earlier cutting, fast wilt and harvesting albeit lower yield-ing will pay dividends in milk yield. Much of the losses can be saved pure-ly by sealing the stack airtight, not just covering it, as mostly happens, and sealing holes when fi rst noticed in bales and stacks. D
For more information and factsheets about silage and hay visit the Dairy Australia website: <http://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/Pastures-and-Feeding/Pastures-forages-and-crops/Silage-and-hay.aspx>.
The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015 121
MURRAY Dairy has appointed Ross Read from Toolamba West as an ex-
tension co-ordinator within the organisa-� on.
Murray Dairy chairman Malcolm Holm said Mr Read was a welcome addi� on to the organisa� on.
“Ross has previously served as a com-mi� ee member on the Central Goulburn Water Services and held the deputy chair posi� on of that commi� ee in 2013 along with being one of Murray Dairy’s � rst Fo-cus Farms,” Mr Holm said.
Mr Read said he was pleased to join the Murray Dairy team and he was looking forward to taking on this extension role, which enabled him to facilitate growth within the dairy industry from grassroots family farms right through to large corpo-rate dairy businesses.
“I would like to see others within the industry succeed and take advantage of the development opportuni� es available
through Dairy Australia, Murray Dairy and other ins� tu� ons within the industry, as I have,” Mr Read said.
The extension co-ordinator role facili-tates the development and co-ordina� on of extension ac� vi� es that meet the pri-ority needs of dairyfarmers within the region.
The role enables clear communica-� on ow between farmers and key dairy service providers ensuring regional dairy extension services are func� oning at an op� mal level.
Mr Read brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the role a� er opera� ng his own dairy business for 25 years as well as most recently working for hay and grain company, Feed Central Pty Ltd, as a supply manager.
Mr Holm said: “Ross’s understanding of farmer needs will ensure he can success-fully co-ordinate extension ac� vi� es in the region and make it easier for farmers to access the services available to them that will help drive farm pro� tability.”
Contact: Ross Read, mobile 0438 906 613 or email <RRead@murray dairy.com.au>. Contacts for all Regional Development Programs and extension co-ordinators can be found on the inside back page of this edi� on of the Australian Dairyfarmer.
Murray Dairy welcomes new extension co-ordinator
Ross Read is the new extension co-ordinator for Murray Dairy.
It is s� ll possible to put away the same total tonnes of silage from high quality forages as achieved by heavy yielding paddocks.
Losses (%)
Silage Quality (ME/kg DM)
9.5 10 10.5 11
25 0 $6560 $13,125 $19,690
10 $24,940 $32,800 $40,680 $48,560
Table 1: Impact of improvements in silage quality and reduced losses on addi� onal value of milk produced from 350 tonnes DM of silage.
122 The Australian Dairyfarmer September-October 2015
Hunter regionSheena [emailprotected] 434 412
Lower Hunter & Mid-North CoastJosh [emailprotected] 277 133
CentralNerida [emailprotected] 825 938
Northern NSWKatina [emailprotected] 916 650
Vivienne [emailprotected] 460 380
Ian [emailprotected] 814 579
WestVic DairyPh: 03 55571000www.westvicdairy.com.au
Murray DairyPh: 03 5833 5312www.murraydairy.com.au
Tony [emailprotected] 440 339
Ross [emailprotected] 906 613
GippsDairyPh: 03 5624 3900www.gippsdairy.com.au
South Coast regionGreg [emailprotected] 044 047
Dairy NSWPh: 0412 825 466www.dairynsw.com.au
Central: SE QLDBelinda [emailprotected] 003 638
DairySAPh: 08 8766 0127www.dairysa.com.au
Subtropical DairyPh: 07 3396 6229www.dairyinfo.biz
Rob La [emailprotected] 939 344
Western DairyPh: 08 9525 9222www.westerndairy.com.au
Liz [emailprotected] 121 655
DairyTasPh: 03 6432 2233www.dairytas.com.au
