Dairy News Australia May 2016

DECISION TIME

WESTERN HIGHWA dairy confident to investPAGE 13

SAFETY PUSHWarning to all farmers PAGE 6

Looking beyond the blame game. PAGE 20

Farmers forced to make tough choices as Murray Goulburn milk price shock ripples through the industry . PAGES 4-5

MAY, 2016 ISSUE 69 // www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au

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NEWS // 3

NEWS ��3-11

AROUND THE REGIONS �� 12-17

OPINION ��18-19

MARKETS �� 20-21

MANAGEMENT ��22-24

ABVs �� 25-29

ANIMAL HEALTH ��30-31

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS �� 32-34

Farm World fun. PG.16-17

Warning on antibiotics use. PG.30

Qld farm eyes three million litres. PG.22-23

FARMERS IN the Murray Darling have received some much needed good news, following the recent meeting of the Murray–Darling Basin Ministerial Council.

“The changes they’ve announced are in line with what industries have been asking for,” chair of Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) Basin Taskforce, Daryl Hoey, said.

“It will give us more breathing space to allow adjustment packages to be better measured and laws to be considered over the 12 months.”

The council reached agreement on key areas that will provide for a second sustainable diversion limit (SDL) adjustment step by June next year, and to consider a range

of projects to improve outcomes.It is expected the agreement

will deliver a significant reduction in the water recovery needed to achieve Basin Plan outcomes.

There are also moves for a wider range of complementary projects, such as carp control, to provide triple bottom line benefits under the Basin Plan.

Projects are expected to be completed over the next eight years, providing a welcome boost to regional economies and the health of the Basin’s rivers and to meet stakeholders’ expectations of the SDL adjustment.

Ministers on the council agreed on the principles that would guide the implementation of the SDL adjustment package

Mr Hoey said the best thing about the announced changes was

the emphasis on socio-economic impacts.

“It shows the socio-economic analysis needs to be done, which we’ve been saying for a long time,” he said.

“We need to look at the affect the plan is having on communities and farmers in the Basin and we finally appear to be getting some traction there.”

Mr Hoey said it was pleasing that authorities were listening and “keeping the politics out of it”.

“They’re trying to find measures and different rules around water and regulations to achieve the goals; a while ago states would have been very parochial saying there’s no need to change and it’s everybody else’s fault.”

The changes are welcomed good news for many dairy farmers across

the Basin who dealt with a long, dry summer.

The changes mean water can be secured by means other than the government going into the market place to purchase it, Mr Hoey said.

“If we can get the same environmental outcome with less water by running the river differently, putting in different regulations or technologies, or changing the rules about how water is used between states and accounted for, then that’s all positive because less water will be taken out of the consumptive pool and farmers will have more water to compete for and use.”

So far only 15 of the 37 nominated supply measures have been modelled, which have an estimated SDL offset of 370 gigalitres.

Breathing space for Murray Darling farmersRICK BAYNE

Green pastures from some early Autumn rains were a welcome sight to visitors at this year’s Dairy Innovation Day at Elgin Dairies in Boyanup, Western Australia on April 28. Owners Darren and Sharon Merritt showed how they are investing with confidence in the future of WA dairy. See page 12-13

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4 // NEWS

IN THE wake of the Murray Goulburn announcement, Gippsland processor Burra Foods confirmed it will hold its base farm gate milk price, but would “likely struggle” to pay the Burra Supply Incentive (BSI).

Poowong farmer and Burra sup-plier Luke Wallace told Dairy News he was disappointed the supply incentive would not be paid, and will cost his busi-ness around $22,000.

He said the dry season has forced him to buy in more hay, the recent bill of which was $12,000.

“What annoys and frustrates me about this is that why do Burra wait until now, after the MG news, to then come out and tell us that they it’s unlikely they will pay the BSI?

“They would already have to know that was going to be the case, so why not come out two, three, four weeks ago?”

“It’s just an excuse to pull their price back, because they only have to compete with them (MG).”

Mr Wallace said it was not just Burra Foods “but all the processors who seem to follow MG on price when they should be acting as independent businesses”.

“Why do they set their price on someone else’s business?” he said.

The news came as Burra Foods told suppliers last week it had sold a major-ity stake of the business to a Chinese company, subject to foreign investment review board approval.

Inner Mongolia Fuyan Farming Co Limited will be the majority shareholder following a 12 month strategic review, the company said.

“While we received a number of quality proposals and comprehensive offers, interestingly none from

an Australian based business, this agreement will best match our key objective of enhancing market access and raising additional capital to fund the continued growth of our Korumburra processing facility,” the company told suppliers.

The majority shareholder in Fuyan is China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd, a dairy manufacturer and distributor listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Burra said the capital injection would help it achieve its long-term growth strategy to increase production from the current 60,000mt to 100,000mt per annum by 2020.

Existing shareholders including Burra Foods’ founder, Grant Croth-ers and Japanese dairy distributor, ITOCHU Corporation have maintained a combined 21% interest in the company with Mr Crothers continuing in his role as managing director/CEO.

“The new shareholder structure will provide Burra Foods with vastly improved access to new high value milk and nutritional powder markets, facil-itating low risk growth up the value chain, and access to additional capital,” Mr Crothers said in a media statement.

“We have always been about max-imising value from the milk solids we collect and process and have taken a very cautious approach to China, appreciating the significant risks that come with the increasing opportuni-ties available.

“There are only winners in this deal as the new structure enhances the future for our loyal milk supply part-ners, provides ongoing employment for our dedicated staff, while ensuring increased and stable supply to our exist-ing customers whether they are located in Australia, Japan, China or other parts of the world,” he said.

MADELEINE BRENNAN

Burra Foods holds price but not incentive

MP calls for heads to rollA SOUTH West Victorian MP says heads should roll from the Murray Goulburn dairy co-operative board.

Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell has called for resigna-tions from the board over what she described as “a budgeting debacle” that has left local farmers furious.

However, Mrs Britnell has stopped short of calling for a total spill and said that continuity was needed to steer the company back on course.

At the same time Mrs Britnell, who is also a dairy farmer and Murray Goulburn supplier at Woolsthorpe, has urged suppliers to stick by the co-operative for the long-term good of the dairy industry.

During a supplier meeting at Cam-perdown, Mrs Britnell made her call for the board to be held accountable for not letting suppliers know earlier about problems in meeting targets.

“It is devastating news two months before the end of the finan-cial year and the buck stops with the board,” she said.

“They should have called it when the international market was plum-meting. The market was telling us it needed to be done but MG was telling us they had the value-added capacity to work through it.

“I’m calling for resignations of board members who have been there long enough to know better and should have acted earlier to alert sup-pliers. They now need to do the right thing and resign.”

Mrs Britnell would not specify names and numbers but did single out non-farmer member Peter Hawkins who has been chairman of the Finance, Risk and Audit Commit-tee since 2009.

“We don’t need to spill the board

and cause chaos,” she said. “We still need steady hands and continuity to steer the ship back on course, but the ones who’ve been through this before need to resign.”

Mrs Britnell said elections would be needed in regions where there are resignations “so the people can decide”.

“The Western Vic-torian election pro-cess might be where everyone vents but I’m not convinced all the members out of Western Victo-ria need to go,” she added.

Mrs Britnell said she had been inun-dated with calls from angry farmers in the past few days.

She said the compa-ny’s value-added strategy was heading in the right direction but MG needed to modernize and grow the capacity of farmers to increase the pool of poten-

tial board members.However, she maintained that

dairy farmers need a co-operative and hoped suppliers would stick with MG.

“Farmer control and working col-lectively to ensure we have market power is very important,” she said.

“We need to remember where and how the milk price is determined. If we continue to have a farmer-owned company we will have input.”

As a farmer, Mrs Britnell said she and her husband Glenn were remain-ing with Murray Goulburn.

“This is a long-term investment despite the short-term pain,” she said.

Two MG board members have aleady resigned since the April 27 announcement.

Gippsland dairy farmer Max Jel-bart has departed due to poor health, while director Kiera Grant, who was

appointed to the board just seven weeks ago and had planned to stand for election at the next annual general meet-ing, announced her exit on May 3.

Managing director Gary Helou and chief financial officer Brad Hingle announced their resignations on the same day as MG cut its milk prices.

MG chairman, Philip Tracy said he believed history would judge Mr Helou as a visionary leader who delivered a strategy that has transformed the industry.

“Gary has made a significant contribution to MG and has been a powerful driving force behind our transition to become a glob-ally recognised, ASX-listed food business.”

Mr Helou said: “While main-taining this price has proven to be dif-ficult in current market conditions, I firmly believe MG has the founda-tions in place to support a strong and successful business in the years ahead.”

MG management and board were facing suppliers across Victoria last week, and will be in Tasmania on Tuesday (May 10).

Meetings in NSW and SA were still to be advised at the time of going to press.

MG chairman Philip Tracy.

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NEWS // 5

GM PASTURE: Processors say no PAGE 4

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MAY 2015

Price shock could signal last strawFARMERS ARE revisiting their books and considering their future after pro-cessor Murray Goulburn’s (MG) shock decision to slash its milk price last month.

Fonterra has also followed in their footsteps, announcing a step down $5kg/MS as Dairy News went to press last Thursday.

The industry is left reeling after MG cut the current season milk price by 15% and told suppliers they would receive a depressed payment for the next three seasons.

MG blames the downgrade on a financial shortfall of up to $200 million caused by the appreciating Australian dollar and weak international demand.

The United Dairyfarmers of Victo-

ria (UDV) estimates the decision will cost the average MG supplier between $127,000 and $150,000 over the next three years if milk prices remain around the current level.

MG supplier from Kerang in Vic-toria’s north, Andrew Leahy , said the decision will see some farmers in the district leave the industry.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we had a 10% shake-out across northern Victo-ria,” he said.

UDV president Adam Jenkins is not prepared to predict the number of farm-ers that will leave the industry, but said it is important that people make deci-sions early.

“It’s a major disappointment and a disruption in the whole dairy industry,” he said.

“People are still coming to terms with what that means for their busi-

ness, for our industry, and with what that means in terms of being able to fill current markets.”

He encouraged farmers to take stock and not to panic.

“Take a step back, take a breath, look clearly at your business … If people choose to leave that’s their choice and we should admire those people that have made the choice sensibly to exit with their head held high.”

Mr Leahy said the timing of the announcement left farmers with few options to mitigate the financial damage.

He estimated it will wipe in excess of $100,000 off his business, sending a predicted break-even season into the red.

“By cutting the price so late in the season we’d already committed to what we are doing, it’s all done,” he said.

“We would have done things a bit differently, maybe sold a few more cows.

“We just bought 100 ML of water, probably wouldn’t have done that.”

Mr Leahy has supplied MG since 1983, prior to that his parents supplied the cooperative.

He said previously loyal MG sup-pliers are now considering looking to other processors.

“I’ll be straight up, I rang one of the other companies to see if they were taking people,” he said.

Mr Jenkins said the movement of

suppliers, the capacity of other processors to accept more milk and the ultimate impact on total milk supply will take months to determine.

“The million dollar question is ‘what sort of ripple effect is this going to have’?”

“If this is a 12 month cycle well and good, but if this takes us into a three year cycle (of depressed milk prices) then you would think there will be a fairly substantial rationalisation in our industry.”

CAMERON WILSONA year ago Murray Goulburn were talking up prospects for a $6.06kg/MS.

Fonterra follows MG leadFONTERRA SUPPLI-ERS are reeling after the company announced the full 2015/16 season price will be reduced from $5.60 to $5 kg/MS.

It has also announced a support loan up to 60c per kg/MS that is repay-able from 2018 onwards, so farmers can receive an equivalent of $5.60 for the challenging current season.

Woolsthorpe supplier Linda Roache said she was bitterly disappointed by the cut but said it was expected.

“If they were going to hold they would have come out last week and said that so this was expected, but we’re still not happy about it,” Mrs Roache said.

“It’s an 11th hour call; we’ve already made all our decisions and spent all our money. It makes every-thing that much harder.”

Mrs Roache said farm-ers would struggle even at $5.50 in the current con-ditions.

“Five dollars will hurt; there’s no doubt about that. It’s a tough year; we’ve had to buy water to wash our dairy because there’s been no rain for our catchment.”

However, Mrs Roache hoped the price drop wouldn’t be backdated. “It

says nothing about being retrospective so it could have been a lot worse, but it’s still bitterly disap-pointing,” she said.

Bonlac Supply Com-pany director and Gippsland farmer Aubrey Pellett said the price reduction was an unfortu-nate commercial reality.

“It’s unfortunate; nobody wanted it to come to this but the milk price now reflects much more closely a return.

Mr Pellett said the price meant farmers would have to do some tough budgeting.

Despite the price drop they will be able to access the cash they were expect-ing this season in the form of a loan.

“Fonterra recognises next year is likely to be tough so as a farmer I’m grateful no repayments are required next year,” Mr

Pellett said.Managing director

Fonterra Oceania Judith Swales said the price change reflected the real-ity of the supply and demand imbalance that is affecting global dairy commodity prices, com-pounded by the recent

strength of the Australian dollar.

“The reduction in the farmgate milk price is the last thing farmers want to hear – however, it is unlikely to come as a sur-prise.

“With around 40% of Australia’s milk exported,

our ongoing message has been that Australia is not immune to the global dairy challenges, that the milk price did not reflect current reality and that farmers need to budget conservatively.”

Bonlac Supply Com-pany (BSC) chairman

Tony Marwood said while the price reduction would be tough for Fonterra’s suppliers, Fonterra has acted responsibly through-out the season.

“We know that Fon-terra has done all it can to send the right price sig-nals and keep suppliers

informed. While today’s news will be difficult, it is good to see that Fonterra is showing its ongoing commitment to its Aus-tralian suppliers with the short term support and, importantly, longer term commitment to paying market returns.”

Tony Marwood

COLIN GRAY is in the kitchen of his Gippsland home when we meet, sitting in the motorised wheelchair he’s been confined to since a farm accident nearly five years ago.

He’s dressed in jeans, a polar fleece and an open neck shirt revealing the tracheostomy tube in his neck.

He ’s wearing a cap with the logo of a local pasture seed company.

“Do you want to shake hands, I can still shake hands,” he says.

Colin is paralysed from the chest down.

It’s taken him three years of daily exercises and regular therapy to develop the grip in his right hand.

“The biggest thing

about my accident was losing my finger use,” he says. “When you look at farming you use your fingers every day, and I lost all that.”

He can now pick up a pen, do the farm bookwork and, significantly, he has the strength to drive his modified car.

With ingenuity and determination he’s also found ways to get through some basic daily tasks.

“For shaving myself I have a bit of milk tubing on the handle and I worked out a way of applying the shaving cream,” he says.

“For feeding myself I have the same thing, a spoon with a bit of milk tubing on it. “But don’t get me wrong, I still need help.”

The kitchen window looks out over the paddocks where his Dad

taught him to farm. It’s the same Warragul

property where he milked cows for 45 years, and the place where he and his wife Jenny raised their two kids.

Prior to the accident, at Jenny’s insistence, the couple were preparing for semi-retirement.

There were plans to travel Australia with a camper trailer, picking up contract work along the way.

The share-farming agreement they had entered into would see Jenny and Colin free to spend more time away from the 220-hectare property and its 275-head milking herd.

Colin doesn’t go into detail about the accident in late September 2011 that dramatically changed those plans.

He reveals that it happened during a quiet time on the farm.

Calving and joining was done and Colin was turning his mind to his daughter Robyn’s

imminent wedding. He also reveals the

accident involved a tractor and machinery.

“I don’t actually know what happened exactly,” he says.

“I’ve looked at the situation about 20,000 times and to this day I still can’t tell you exactly what happened.”

Colin was left laying on his back for almost five hours after the accident, the C5/6 spinal injury meaning he was unable to answer the phone ringing in his pocket with calls from friends and family, worried after he’d failed to come home for lunch.

Later that afternoon Jenny discovered her husband.

He was taken by helicopter to Melbourne, hypothermic, severely injured and close to death.

“I said to my brother, ‘I’m stuffed’ as they loaded me in the chopper,” Colin says.

Three separate stints

in intensive care followed, then 16 months of rehabilitation in hospital.

It was a further 12 months before the couple’s home was modified so they could return.

The emotional and mental recovery took even longer.

“Jenny made me a bit of a diary and it took me two years before I could read it,” Colin says.

“There are cards that I’ve never opened, it’s just one of those

things. It took me three years emotionally and psychologically to accept it.”

For Jenny these are the consequences farmers don’t see, the true costs of a farm accident.

“I think the ordinary people, the ordinary farmer, they don’t understand the implications of a serious

accident,” Jenny says.“In the morning you

just can’t get up and get out of bed, it just doesn’t happen that quick.

“His morning care is about three hours from when he gets up to when he’s sitting in the chair.

“The requirements of each day before you even look at the farm are quite taxing.”

The financial cost is taxing too.

The home modifications, the new bed and hoist, the car

equipped for a wheelchair, plus the host of machinery and technology now needed to keep Colin alive and comfortable in his home cost about $500,000. Around-the-clock care is $300,000 a year.

Those costs are partly covered by insurance and the TAC, a critical financial contribution that

is only available because Colin’s tractor had current registration and insurance.

“I think people need to understand the implications of not spending $70 a year on motorbike registration or $80 a year in tractor registration,” Colin says.

Looking back, Jenny and Colin agree they could have been more diligent with farm safety.

Not that they were careless. The ATVs were fitted with roll over bars, equipment was well

maintained and there were clear rules to keep visitors and workers safe.

They were experienced,

innovative and successful farmers.

“To say I was doing anything stupid, well I wasn’t. I’d just say I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Colin says.

“I think farmers walk around with their heads in the clouds. They are naive to the implications, the cost and the consequence of an accident.”


6 // NEWS

■ Farm Health and Safety Overview Checklist www.thepeopleindairy.org.au Asks 15 yes/no questions to provide a starting point for working out what you need to do to make your farm safer.

■ Safety Protocols Template www.thepeopleindairy.org.au A 5 page list of safety protocols that can be included in an employee induction kit and modified to suit your farm.

■ Farmer Safety Shop www.farmerhealth.org.au/shop A place where you can buy approved safety equipment and personal protective equipment (PPE) from a trusted source at a fair price.

■ Safety of Quad and Side-by-Side Vehicles on Australian Farms www.farmsafe.org.au A practical management guide which includes 10 principles for quad and side-by-side vehicle safety on farms

■ Stress Tool www.farmerhealth.org.au/health-centre/stress-tool Practical tips on managing stress during challenging times.

SOME USEFUL HEALTH AND SAFETY RESOURCES:

CAMERON WILSON

Farmers ‘heads in the clouds’

“I think the ordinary people, the ordinary farmer, they don’t understand the implications of a serious accident.”

Gippsland farmer Colin Gray, pictured with daughter Robyn Mitchard, is paralysed from the chest down following an on-farm accident nearly five years ago. PICTURE: CAMERON WILSON.

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NEWS // 7

THE DAIRY industry must abandon its ‘she’ll be right attitude’ to safety if it is protect its workforce and attract new participants to the industry.

Speaking at the Australian Dairy Industry Council’s annual business breakfast in Melbourne on April 14, chair Simone Jolliffe said with two deaths on dairy farms in 2016 so far, and 39 deaths between 2001 and 2013, a culture shift was desperately needed.

“We cannot go on like this,” she told the audience of farmers, processors and industry representatives.

Research undertaken by the Australian Centre for Agricultural Health and Safety showed there was a serious incident on a dairy farm every day of the year.

“There are about 340 incidents per year, and that’s a very much understated figure,” said Dairy Australia’s program manager for industry workforce planning and action, Bill Youl.

Mr Youl said the injury toll presented a loss of up to $12 million every year, but the real driver for united industry action should be that people, including the children living on farms, were getting injured or killed.

“We are hurting people, we don’t want to do, no-one wants to do that,” he said.

Mrs Jolliffe highlighted the need for more farms to have formal occupational health and safety (OH&S) plans – and for those that do to act on them.

“We must move from the knowing to the doing, assessing risks where appropriate and rectifying the situation.”

Lion’s leader for safety and well-being Josh

Norton said fostering a culture of safety was the responsibility of everyone on staff and started with identifying the worst hazards first.

“An OH&S plan is important but it doesn’t need to be a thesis,” he said. “It needs to focus on the things that are going to cause the greatest harm to your people and then support them to be able to work through fixing those.”

Fonterra field services area manager Robyn Mitchard said it was a liability if farm bosses only had information in their head and not written down.

“You’ve got to be able to extract a lot of the things at an operational level so that someone else in the business knows what’s going on,” she said.

“If you are out of business through an injury, or even worse, a death, someone needs

to be able to continue the operation.”

Mrs Jolliffe said protecting the mental and physical wellbeing of the workforce is a “top priority” for ADIC, working across the supply chain and with external

partners.This was especially

important in difficult seasons when concerns around costs were high.

“Across the board dairy is facing challenging times,” chair of the Australian Dairyfarmers’ people and human capacity policy advisory group John Versteden said.

“Whether it be due to unpredictable weather and drought, or volatile commodity prices, protecting our people and being vigilant about their safety becomes more timely than ever before.”

He said it was not only the right thing to do, but could benefit farm businesses in positive ways.

Call to action on dairy’s high injury and death tollMADELEINE BRENNAN

“It encourages teamwork, a caring environment and ensures that our people are as productive as they possibly can be.”

He said there industry needed to work harder to drive the uptake of health and safety resources, such as those already available through Dairy Australia.

The Dairy Industry’s Sustainability Framework has set a target of 100% of on-farm and manufacturing workers to have completed OH&S training by 2020 and zero workplace fatalities. Mrs Jolliffe said the industry is falling behind on both accounts.– Quad bike helmet review, p.33

Quad bikes continue to be the leading cause of death and serious injury on Australian farms, outranking tractors.

“There are about 340 incidents per year, and that’s a very much understated figure.”

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8 // NEWS

Cow loan scheme to help new entrantsLIKE MANY dairy farmers, Damian Murphy started building his asset base by buying cows.

Now a couple of decades later he’s initiated a United Dairyfarmers of Victoria campaign to make it easier for the young farmers of today to start build-ing their herd.

The 44-year-old Gippsland farmer says he was lucky to have family backing when he made his first investment in cows, but many others don’t have that luxury.

The UDV policy council has developed a new plan to help young farmers wanting to progress in

the indus-try to buy dairy cows and

overcome restrictive lending policies of the banks.Mr Murphy, a member of the council, said buying

lenders would only finance 25-33% of the value of the cow, substantially less than the usual 80-90% for new machinery.

“If a young farmer wanted to buy a $100,000 trac-tor they only have to come up with 10% deposit. If that same young farmer wanted to spend $100,000 on cows they would have to come up with $60,000-$70,000.”

Mr Murphy said banks had traditionally seen cows, currently costing about $1300 a head, as a fairly risky proposal and there was not much com-petition for cow loans.

“This is one of the first things young farmers will go for so banks don’t have a rapport with them,” he said.

The UDV believes its new plan could make a big impact on the next generation of farmers and

encourage more people to enter dairy.It will see established farmers act as an unsecured creditor on a young farmer’s

cow loan.The established farmer would

nominate a cow or cows in their herd as collateral. The cows would

be available in a pool to be accessed for security on a young farmer’s

loan but would

remain on the established farmer’s farm as part of their herd.

If the bank determines the farmer has the cash flow and skills to raise the herd but not the deposit, it could go to the UDV pool and negotiate to access cows in the pool to cover security for a loan.

Mr Murphy said that with assured collateral and necessary risk checks completed, the loan risk would be distributed 50% to the bank, 30% to the next gen-eration farmer and 20% the UDV.

The young farmer would also be assigned a mentor in their region to give advice and assist with making business decisions. They would also make available production data, budgets and cash flow information to their mentor.

If the young farmer defaults on the loan, their assets would be called in first.

“The bank won’t give numbers but the default rates are very low,” Mr Murphy added.

Mr Murphy stressed the cow would stay on the established farmer’s property and only leave if the young farmer defaulted on the loan.

The UDV policy council would initially act as overseers of the scheme but Mr Murphy said the UDV input would be kept to a minimum to reduce administration costs.

The scheme is now moving to the legal stage to establish the trust.

The idea came from Mr Murphy’s own experi-ences and his 2012 Nuffield Scholarship study into young farmer finance schemes.

“I guess it was my spark but it’s been the forward thinking of the UDV policy council that allowed it to progress and be refined to the point where the banks are now really keen on it,” he said.

Mr Murphy started as an employee on his par-ents’ farm near Leongatha and has been on the prop-erty for 16 years.

He says the industry is well placed to welcome newcomers.

“We’re lucky in dairy,” he said. “In the past five years there’s been a resurgence of the industry image and agriculture in general and the amount of young people who’ve become involved. We need to lever-age off that and make the most of it.”

Mr Murphy said other countries had finance and tiered loan systems that better supported young farmers to buy cows.

UDV president Adam Jenkins the scheme would give the next generation of farmers a start while giving more established farmers a chance to give back to the industry.

“It’s a good opportunity and sets up things for the future,” Mr Jenkins said.

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Next gen given better access to UDVTHE UNITED Dairyfarmers of Victo-ria is preparing for the next generation of farmers with a program to introduce newcomers to the industry decision making process.

The UDV will appoint two ‘next gen-eration farmers’ from each district to attend all policy council meetings.

They won’t have voting powers but UDV president Adam Jenkins said they would learn from the experience and help the industry to better understand the needs of emerging farmers.

“We have scholarships and other programs but we need to do better in providing the next generation with an opportunity to be engaged,” Mr Jen-kins said.

“We need to understand what’s important to their business.”

Mr Jenkins said the program would provide a platform for managers, employees and share farmers to be involved in policy debate.

The scheme is believed to be unique within farming organisations.

“I know different boards have associ-ate directors for the younger generation but I don’t know of any in the agricul-tural field,” Mr Jenkins said.

The program is aimed at not only young people but more mature farmers who have recently entered the industry.

“When you’re advocating you want to understand what is affecting people who’ve just entered the industry,” Mr Jenkins said.

“They will have a different outlook to someone who’s been in the industry for 50 years and not far off retiring. It’s good to gauge both ends of the spec-trum.”

There will be no age limit on the program. The policy council meets 8-9 times per year.

Mr Jenkins said under the scheme young farmers who are not official paid members of the UDV could deliver industry issues from and to members and other farmers within their districts.

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NEWS // 9

Young farmers look to the future

YOUNG DAIRY farmers will need to be more busi-ness and technology savvy than their predecessors, and be willing to move around to pursue the best opportunities and partner-ships.

That was the message from a range of speakers at the inaugural young farm-ers conference at Lard-ner Park’s Farm World in Gippsland last month.

The diverse agenda included succession plan-ning, virtual fencing, sup-port networks for career success, the importance of agricultural production to Victoria’s economy and mental health.

Farmer and Univer-sity of New England researcher, Zac Econo-mou, spoke about the pos-sibilities and limitations of virtual fencing, using collars on livestock to remotely graze animals.

While the possibilities were virtually endless, the research had been fairly limited; and global animal welfare activism could limit its adoption.

“Sheep and cattle are fast learners – a couple of hours into the trial, they’ll stop pushing against the boundary with a 100% suc-cess rate. As far as produc-tion benefits, it is the holy grail of rotational or strip grazing.

“But the research has been on small numbers of livestock grazing on small land areas or in barn sys-tems in Europe,” Mr Econ-omou said.

“There needs to be a lot of adaptation for Austra-lian livestock farming sys-tems.

“Overseas, there are significant concerns about the electric charge zap-ping the animals and in Australia legislation varies between states.

“While there’s a per-ception of risk, people will think it is a very risky system to take on.”

In Australia, technol-ogy to support this and other systems was also an issue.

“There’s an over-pro-motion of wireless prod-ucts – it needs to be robust, needs to have

compatibility with hand-held devices and how long the battery in your phone or tablet works for,” Mr Economou said.

“So solar powered charging devices using remote GPS could work; you don’t want to be taking all collars off your cows and hanging them up to charge.

“And, the bottom line, it needs wireless connec-tion to work – which we know is not possible in a lot of rural Australia.”

The future of dairy was larger farms, employing more people in a range of modalities – share farm-ing, joint venture owner-ship, equity investment and direct employment – according to Shane Hell-wege, Dairy Australia.

“By 2025, our growth in milk production will be 11.5 billion litres,” Mr Hell-wege said.

“But the number of dairy farms will be reduced; and the average herd size for farms will be mid-high 400s.

“Whereas in 2015, 35% of farms were owner-oper-ator with 49% employees (including owner-oper-ators), that will grow to 60% employees by 2025. Or, in real numbers, growth from 24,000 now, including owner-opera-tors, to 25,000 employees by 2025, with less owner-operators.”

He said learning needs and skills development would change, with more standardised practices across farms.

This would also make for a more mobile work-force.

“There will also be a growing need for high level technical and busi-ness management skills,” Mr Hellwege said.

Dairy consultant John Mulvaney said the historic concept of normal farm-ing should be “buried and dead” – especially that of owning land in order to build a capital asset.

“Land is so expen-sive. Australians need to become open to variable equity ownership schemes that already work over-seas, in Britain and New Zealand. It’s possible to own a herd and mobile plant in 4-5 years, with-

JEANETTE SEVERSout owning land,” Mr Mul-vaney said.

A panel of young farm-ers offered frank advice on building succession plan-ning into daily operating and business management systems.

Allowing the younger operatives to make mis-takes was a common thread.

Separating each part-ners’ business within the overall strategy also helped.

Damian Murphy, Stuart Jennings, Robert Bayley and Tim Paulet speaking at the conference. Photo: Jeanette Severs

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10 // NEWS

Budget delivers modest wins to develop ag sectorFEDERAL TREASURER Scott Morrison delivered a modest, mostly positive Budget for the Australian agri-cultural sector in last week’s Federal Budget, with small businesses set to reap the rewards, according to WAFarmers president Tony York.

Key agricultural highlights include a tax cut for small business, an increase in the unincorporated small business tax discount, $15.9 million over four years to build an advanced analytics capability to support biosecurity and a new National Water Infrastructure Loan Facility.

“For the most part, we are happy with the modest gains for the agricul-tural sector delivered in the 2016 Fed-eral Budget,” Mr York said.

“Agricultural competitiveness, infra-structure and transport, tax, public finance and small business, and water and natural resource management were all addressed.

“Small businesses in particular are set to reap the rewards – a 2.5 per cent reduction off company tax rates (from 30 per cent to 27.5 per cent) from 1 July this year for companies with an annual turnover of less than $10 million is quite significant.

“Additionally, the increase of the unincorporated small business tax dis-count from five to eight per cent from 1 July 2016 for small businesses with a

turnover of less than $5 million, plus the streamlining of GST reporting for busi-nesses with a turnover of less than $10 million will present greater opportuni-ties for growth.

“We also warmly welcome the Fed-eral Government’s injection of $15.9 million over four years to develop an advance analytics capability aimed at better targeting biosecurity efforts, which will safeguard our valuable agri-cultural resources against threat.”

Mr York said the 2015-2016 Federal Budget saw gains for the agricultural sector with the announcement of the $4 billion Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, and that this year’s gains would build on those.

Though largely pleased with the results, Mr York acknowledged there was a glaring hole in the Budget.

“The Budget did not include any changes to the proposed increase in tax payable by backpackers, despite fierce campaigning from key industry stake-holders, including WAFarmers,” Mr York explained.

“By neglecting to apply recommen-dations from industry to the proposed backpacker tax, we believe the gov-ernment has seriously jeopardised the future of the Australian agricultural sector, among others. It is definitely a failure on their part.”

Tighter ties with VFF on water issuesTHE UDV wants to ensure dairy farmer voices are being heard in decision making about water, voting at its annual conference to actively engage with the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) Water Council.

President Adam Jenkins said northern Victorian dairy farmers use just over half of the available irriga-tion water in the Goulburn Murray Irrigation District and produce about 25% of Australia’s milk.

Water policy issues within the VFF are dealt with by the VFF Water Council and the UDV is bound by VFF

policy positions and needs to reflect those positions in representations with media and other public oppor-tunities. Mr Jenkins said the motion was designed to ensure everyone heard the voice of dairy farmers.

“We want to make sure people understand the value of all our com-modities to the Victoria and Austra-lian economies,” he said.

“Dairy provides a good economic and sustainable business for the region and water is the biggest issue facing the region, along with the vol-atility of the market and milk pricing.”

Mr Jenkins said northern Victoria was like many other parts of the state and facing escalating issues from the lack of rain.

The high cost of purchasing water, around $300 a megalitre, is stressing many farms, particularly younger enterprises that don’t have access to permanent water.

“It is pushing the boundary of eco-nomics but we hope to get connection programs sorted so $300 a megali-tre may go further than before with modernisation of facilities,” Mr Jen-kins said.

Ag fund offers hopeVICTORIAN DAIRYFARMERS want to tap into a $200 million Agriculture Infrastructure and Jobs Fund to upgrade the state’s power supplies.

The United Dairyfarmers of Vic-toria moved a two-pronged motion at its annual conference to call on the State Government to take respon-sibility for funding a comprehensive upgrade of power lines and to advo-cate to Infrastructure Victoria to explore upgrading energy sources in the south west dairy region by tapping into the $200m fund.

The move was prompted by Tyr-endarra farmer Bruce Knowles (as highlighted in last month’s edition of Dairy News).

Mr Knowles, (pictured above), welcomed the support.

“It’s a very good result and I think it gives us a good chance to get some-thing done,” he said.

The UDV wants SWER and single phase lines supplying dairy farms to be converted to three-phase sources.

UDV president Adam Jenkins said inadequate and ailing infrastructure was a widespread problem across the state.

“It’s not just the Tyrendarra area without three phase power; there are patches throughout Victoria,” he said.

“A lot of the infrastructure is get-ting older and there has been a lack of investment in upgrades so we need to advocate now to make sure we’re stay-ing ahead of the curve when it comes to power.”

The motions were put by the Wannon branch which believes the lack of three-phase power is limiting dairy industry development.

Infrastructure Victoria will be tasked with ensuring Victoria’s imme-diate and long-term infrastructure needs are identified and prioritised

based on objective, transparent anal-ysis and evidence.

The State Government $200 mil-lion Agriculture Infrastructure and Jobs Fund is being established from the lease of the Port of Melbourne.

The Fund will support investment in agricultural infrastructure and supply chains to boost productivity, increase exports and reduce costs so farmers, businesses and industries can stay competitive.

The Victorian Farmers Federation is also expected to debate a motion about infrastructure requirements at its annual conference in July.

Mr Knowles said additional sup-port from the VFF and the general community would prove the need for improved infrastructure.

“It’s not just for dairy; it’s for everyone. If we can show community support I’m confident something will happen.”

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NEW ZEALAND researchers are about to begin looking at how to gain the health benefits of drinking raw milk without risking the pitfalls.

Dr Alison Hodgkin-son of AgResearch is part-nering with Maori-owned milk processor Miraka to look at producing ‘Grow-ing Up’ milk for toddlers which retains the natu-ral protection of raw milk against allergies.

She says many epi-demiology studies in Europe show a connection between drinking raw milk and fewer allergies.

“Surveys of thousands of people have found that farming people who drink raw milk have a lower incidence of allergies – all types of allergies,” Dr Hodgkinson explained to Dairy News.

“It’s not just people on farm drinking the raw milk and getting the ben-efit; the city dwellers who get farm milk and drink it have reduced allergy risk.”

She says they don’t advocate people drink raw milk because it con-tains bacteria and has lim-ited shelf life. People who drink it from farms tend to get it fresh every day.

“There are strict rules and regulations about making the milk safe; the trick is to make the milk safe in such a way that it retains some of that ben-efit.”

The project is looking at how to retain immune-type proteins in milk after processing; normally they get damaged during heat-ing.

Under a Primary Growth Partnership for the last three years, Miraka has worked extensively on manipulating the process-ing which will allow them to retain some of this immune activity, she says.

“We are now going to see what benefits retain-ing some of those proteins that are in an active form might have in reducing allergy and seeing if that is what is happening in raw milk,” she says.

The project was suc-cessful in the New Zealand government’s High Value Nutrition funding round late last year.

Dr Hodgkinson told a High Value Nutrition conference in Auckland last month that it is well known that allergy is on the rise and it is a major health issue in many coun-tries – in particular food allergy.

“Two to three percent of infants in their first year of life will develop a cow milk allergy and 5% of chil-dren develop food aller-gies. The majority of these children will grow out of the problem. But persis-tent sensitisation is lead-ing to an increased risk of later allergy.” A propor-tion of infants start with dermatitis and go on to develop food allergy, hay fever and asthma.

“Ideally we would like to reduce the risk of chil-dren developing allergies. There’s good evidence to suggest there are good opportunities for this in the first 1000 days of life – that’s from conception through to two-three years of life.”

However an experi-ment with mice has shown


NEWS // 11

Research bridges gap between raw and processed milkPAM TIPA

that feeding mice differ-ent milks gives a different allergy response.

“Our hypothesis is that a safe milk product using special processing tech-niques to preserve heat sensitive components will retain health bene-

fits associated with unpro-cessed milk.

“Miraka will develop a Growing Up milk prod-uct for toddlers and in our research plan we will develop and validate models that demonstrate this product has protec-

tive effects.”They will identify

potential biomarkers that could be used in clinical trials.

They will also look at the optimal timing and dose to get the best effect from the product. Dr Alison Hogdkinson, AgResearch.

LIVESTOCK SA and the South Australian Dairy-farmers’ Association will welcome a new chief exec-utive officer this month – Andrew Curtis.

The CEO position is a joint role between Live-stock SA and SADA – a first for both advocacy groups in South Australia.

Mr Curtis will replace current Livestock SA CEO Deane Crabb and SADA CEO Ken Lyons. Mr Crabb will step back to a policy officer role within Livestock SA while Mr Lyons is taking on a leadership role with successful South Australian milk brand SADA Fresh.

Livestock SA president Geoff Power said the joint role recognises the common issues faced by producers in both industries and that there is significant syner-gies that can be captured for both organisations.

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12 // AROUND THE REGIONS

WESTERN AUSTRALIAA BUMPER crowd of more than 400 turned up to this year’s Dairy Innovation Day in Boyanup on April 28.

Organised by Western Dairy and hosted this year by Darren and Sharon Merritt of Elgin Dairies, the day was an opportunity for farmers in the region to catch up, see some of the latest technology, products and machinery and tour the Merritt’s farm.

The day was capped off with a three-course dinner and presentation of the WA Young Farmer of the Year Awards.

The event’s auction was a highlight, hosted by local legend ‘Tiny’ Holly, whose colourful auctioneering style helped raise more than $6000 for some of the state’s young dairy farmers to tour New Zealand. PICTURES: MADELEINE BRENNAN

WA Young Farmer of the Year winners Brentin Mathews (left), who works for Peter and Grant Evans and family, Busselton (Employee category) and Lachlan Fry, Bengar (Owner/share farmer category) are pictured with Browne’s managing director Tony Girgis.

Western Dairy regional manager Esther Jones with Darren Merritt, Elgin Dairies.

Western Dairy’s Esther Jones, Kirk Reynolds and Jessica Andony.

Paul Bloom from Coopers Animal Health demonstrates how to orally prescribe the Trifecta triple action drench.

Kahlia Beers and Kirsty Mobila from CSBP, Kwinana.

Brain Armstrong, Northcilffe, with Dean

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WAFarmers Dairy Council

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Leanne at the dinner.

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DARREN MERRITT doesn’t do things by halves.

The third generation farmer, who opened his farm, Elgin Dairies at Boyanup, to visitors as part of Dairy Innovation Day last month, will soon start milking his spit herd of 740 Holsteins in the farm’s new $1.7million dairy.

And with next to no sickness or mortality rates, he’s already reaping the rewards of his newly-built calf shed, which comfortably houses up to 120 calves and is easier to clean.

It’s an operation that puts both the comfort of animals and staff top of mind.

Darren, who runs the business with wife Sharon and their children Natalie, 25, Chad, 23, and Jesse, 17, said with a five year contract secured two years ago with Harvey Fresh, it was time to lift the bar.

“I like to do things well or not at all,” Darren said.

“And as the saying goes, if you keep doing as you’ve always done you’re going to get what you’ve always got.

“So it was time for change, to do things a lot better and get more professional.”

After a couple of trips to the US seeking out ideas, Darren chose a 24-a-side rapid exit herringbone from DeLeval.

He designed the 36m x 22m dairy, which includes a 10 metre lean to on both sides (one for

the milk room and plant and the other for cattle treatment), with a 10m x 32m staff area on the front which includes a kitchen and office.

“I realised I’ve got to build a dairy not for myself but for my staff because it wasn’t me that was going to be milking 700 cows too often, I’d be running the rest of the business.”

He says the parallel herringbone allows for two staff in the dairy at once in a clean and comfortable environment.

“The staff get a real relationship going amongst themselves and so the work is not so tedious and boring.”

Attracting good staff, as well as inspiring his own children to continue to work in dairy, was a key reason for the investment.

“It’s easy to get negative,” he said. “Some older farmers think ‘I’ll just run this old shed out and get out, retire’.

“And while they have that mentality the son is going to look at their father and think ‘well I’m not going to put up with that old tractor, I’m not going to milk in that old dairy’.

“If you’re not making the investment then the next generation are going to think, ‘well I’m not going to step into your boots’.

“But if you make the investment and make the workplace a whole lot more enjoyable and exciting it gives them a different outlook on farming.”

Darren said being in WA and knowing there would always be strong

Darren Merritt in his calf shed.

Elgin shows confidence to investdemand for local milk also helped inspire the decision to invest.

“There’s not going to be oversupply here.”

With recent rain, Darren said they’ve had a good season, with production up this year from 6.3 to 6.5 million

litres, averaging about 8000 litres per cow.

Since buying his brother’s farm in 2008, and then leasing more land from neighbouring cattle properties, it’s clear Darren has had a firm idea of where he wanted to take the business.

“I left school very early, I didn’t complete year 10, but it’s all I’ve ever done and I’ve spent a lot of hours doing it and if you do something that long you become good at it I suppose.

“Plus I just like milking cows and growing grass.”

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SAM NICHOLSON is on a mission to inspire more young people to join the dairy industry.

The recently-appointed DairyNSW Young Dairy Network (YDN) coordinator wants to attract a new generation of farmers to an industry with a bright future.

“There are so many opportunities for a variety of jobs in this industry – you don’t just have to be a milker putting cups on,” he said.

Sam (pictured) hopes Australia can follow the lead of New Zealand where he spent the past year studying agriculture at Massey University, after winning a Dairy Australia Farm Business Management scholarship.

“I was inspired by the amount of involvement young people have in the industry in New Zealand,” Sam said.

“Young people are our future farmers and the ones with new ideas. We need to do everything we can to get them involved.”

Sam, 23, is one of two YDN coordinators in New South Wales and covers the mid-coast and Hunter regions.

The part-time YDN job connects him with the broader farming community and he is still heavily involved in his family’s lease farm with parents, Geoff and Megan, at Lansdowne near Taree.

In his YDN role, Sam promotes the industry’s Legendairy communications initiative via social media networks and organising social and educational events that develop and build the capacity of young dairy farmers by improving their knowledge, skills, confidence and leadership abilities.

“The main objective is to attract and retain young people in the dairy industry,” he said.

“A lot of people just think a dairy farmer gets up at a ridiculous time and milks cows, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Programs like Legendairy and the Young Dairy Network show how attractive the industry is.”

Sam says the capital costs of getting into dairy can scare some

young people but he adds that there are good models, such as share farming and lease farming, which can provide pathways.

“You can start as a relief milker and eventually buy your own cows and build equity. I want to create awareness of these different pathways,” he said.

The YDN job was advertised while Sam was in New Zealand and he was so keen that he flew home for an interview.

“It’s a great personal development opportunity and a great learning curve for me,” he said.

Sam grew up on the 300ha leased family farm and loved the freedom and connection to the land and cows.

“When you’re a dairy farmer you have a sense of being part of a community,” he said. “You get attached to the land around you and you build a relationship with the cows and nurture them from an early age.

“When I was at school I’d help dad after school and on the holidays - something I kept up when I went to boarding school and when I studied Agricultural Business Management at Charles Sturt University in Orange.

“The study helped me to understand more of the science behind the farming system and then put what I learned in the classroom into practice.”

Sam says there’s a confident vibe about dairy in New South Wales, though farmers still have to cope with environmental challenges and price volatility.

“Overall it’s quite positive,” he said.

“The Free Trade Agreements with key export markets, the westernisation of diets and the rising household incomes in many Asian countries will create many opportunities and there are a lot of resources to help farmers to improve their business and their profitability.”

On the home front, things are looking good for the farm which milks a mixed herd of 220 cows.

“We’ve had a good spring and more rain around Christmas has set up a good season. It should progress to an ideal season,” Sam said.

Sam’s ultimate dream is to own a farm, following in his parents’ footsteps but expanding with new ideas and technologies.

“I want to always be open to opportunities,” he said.

Source: Dairy Australia

New South Wales

Sam on a missionWestern Australia

Investing in people worth the effortAS MANY dairy farmers would already know, managing cows is a lot easier than managing people.

But as Steve Stanley from Team Smart told the large crowd at WA’s Dairy Inno-vation Day last month, it is possible to get great performance from your people – pro-vided you are prepared to make it a priority, and perhaps seek out professional advice.

Darren Merritt, from Elgin Dairies, has been working with Steve for the past 8 months.

He has five casual milkers working for him and said setting core values as a team, for everyone to work by, had made a signif-icant difference.

The staff, which includes the couple’s three children, also developed a key motto for the farm: No compromise. No excuses. No exceptions.

“When you’ve got everyone working in the same direction, everything just ticks,” Darren said.

He also no longer hires “the first person that comes down the driveway”.

Nor is he too fussed if that person has dairy experience; fitting into the team and the right attitude mattered most.

“Hire for character train for skills,” Steve said. “It’s a bit of a mantra.”

When it came time to redesign his dairy and calf shed, Darren also kept staff com-fort top of mind.

“If there’s good people to be had out there, we want to be the point of differ-ence and where they end up.”

Local beef farmer Paul O’Meehan said he was six years into a program that changed how he managed staff, and that regular reviews of values, procedures and operations had transformed his business.

“I don’t see myself as the boss, I see myself as the coach of a footy team,“ he said.

He said having an independent medi-ator – such as an HR consultant – had stopped any discussions becoming too per-sonal and had instead created a culture of constructive feedback for everyone in the business.

“Everyone, including me, has a chance to get a grilling, gets put through the ringer a bit,” Paul said.

“We talk about all the things we want the person to stop doing, start doing and continue doing.”

Steve and Darren speaking to the audience at Dairy Innovation Day.

Dai ry News aUsTraLia february 2016

18 // markets

tHe world economy has veered into some difficult and dangerous waters, suggesting 2016 will be a long hard year of slow recovery in prices in global food commodity markets – including dairy.

The perfect storm has struck. Major food and oilseed commodity prices are at low points in the cycle with inventories high. It’s not just food of course, oil and other major metal commodities are at prices not seen for about a decade.

On the demand side, China, the largest growth economy in the world, has the brakes on.

This year started with little change in OPEC’s production stance, and little hope for collaboration given new tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The outlook suggests a sustained petroleum glut, unless there is a strong surge in demand – which I’ll come back to later.

This is playing out like a “game theory” case study. The OPEC cartel started a price war to dominate the global energy market in the third quarter of 2014, signalling their intent to increase production and drive out competing alternate low-cost technologies (such as shale oil) and renewable production using corn and soybeans.

So much for the planet! This is about short-term painful price competition to knock out rivals, and ensure a finite energy resource remains the dominant choice for industry and consumers.

Prices have been driven to levels not seen since 2004, well below

the supposed break-even costs of production of crude oil for most major exporters.

Historically, there has long been a close correlation between crude oil prices and the prices for major food commodities, including dairy ingredients and feed grains.

On the demand side it makes sense – weak economic activity reduces demand for fuel and can weaken some food markets.

While the trends lines move uncannily together, it doesn’t mean oil is behind the changes in dairy and grain prices.

Dairy prices have slumped low due to excessive supply from abundant grass growth, low feed grain prices and the loss of a couple of big buyers from the global market.

Grains and oilseeds markets are well-supplied due to good weather in most major regions – our enemy El Nino tends to be kind to many Northern

Hemisphere producers.Low oil prices can be a friend to dairy

producers. Cheap fuel can lower the costs of

milk production, reducing equipment and energy costs as well as the cost of fertiliser.

Low crude oil prices also make biofuel production less attractive, potentially ensuring more feed supplies which helps support margins, even when dairy prices fall. This has certainly been the case for Northern Hemisphere suppliers.

However, low oil prices have mixed effects on dairy markets.

In the developed EU and US economies, cheap fuel improves household budgets, freeing up a bit more cash for dining out.

We’ve already seen US food service grow strongly in 2015 soaking up more cheese and milk. The question is whether it can keep that growth rate surging in 2016.

Lower fuel costs can improve economic prospects for countries dependent on fuel imports, lowering overall costs of manufacturing and transport, including shipping and improving the affordability of dairy imports.

On the other hand, there are risks for dairy demand, as low oil prices can harm the economies in some major oil-producing regions which are also large dairy importers, such as those in the Middle East, North Africa (together known as MENA), Russia and Venezuela.

Low oil prices have combined with sanctions to weaken the Russian economy, and have made a bad financial situation far worse in Venezuela.

The effect in these dairy markets will be uneven and hard to predict, as the dependence on oil, production costs, government food buying activities and the financial states of oil economies vary significantly.

But the developing world including MENA has a number of large dairy buyers that are also oil importers whose economies should benefit from lower fuel and energy costs.

Weak oil prices meanwhile also ensure low prices for palm oil, used widely as a competitor and substitute for dairy ingredients.

So on balance – what does the future hold for oil prices and the global economy?

One important but odd indicator of economic conditions is the Baltic Dry Index of shipping costs.

The index has long been a forward indicator of the fortunes of the world economy, and is now the lowest since its inception in 1985.

This largely reflects the slowing of trade in and out of China as it transitions to a consumer-led economy from a trade-driven one.

It also reflects the build-up of capacity with the promise that China (and its hunger for two-way trade) would just keep growing.

The index suggests the demand side of the oil market will be sluggish for some time.

This points to a bigger worry, that the world economy will be adversely affected by the slowing of China – more than the economists at the IMF and World Bank are currently suggesting.

Metal commodity prices are low largely because construction activity and industrial output in China have stalled.

Low metal commodity markets can harm several developed and developing economies, weakening investment activity and trickling down to affect household sentiment and discretionary spending.

Post-mining-boom Australia is a good example of this.

The US is another, with analysis suggesting that low oil prices are likely to hurt rather than help that economy if they stay lower longer, despite lower costs of running SUVs and road transport fleets.

So dairy commodities are not alone as bottom-dwellers – most hard and soft commodity prices are at historic lows, for many reasons – including some that are interrelated.

The unwinding of this situation is the same for them as it is for dairy.

Dairy demand will be stimulated with more affordable food and consumer goods.

Low milk prices will eventually discourage production, supply will slow and stockpiles will reduce to normal levels.

The sobering reality for dairy is that these effects may take all of 2016 to develop and then some.

Price slump not unique to dairy

fresh ageNDasTeve speNcer

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New look websiteQUEENSLAND DAIRYFARMERS Organisation has launched its new look website. The site allows members greater accessibility to news and membership content. QDO encourage you to take a look and provide feedback on the content and usability of the site. Visit www.dairypage.com.au

Stepping up or stepping back?DON’T MISS your chance to see the last of the cur-rent round of Stepping Up Stepping Back workshops in the region. These sessions been developed to assist those looking to take the next step in their dairy career, and those who are looking to transition out in an effective way. The one-day workshop is designed to be interactive and inclu-sive. Participants will also receive a resource kit to take away. Thursday 12 May at Tangambalanga Community Centre Time: 10.30am – 3pm Lunch is provided. Contact Sarah at Murray Dairy on (03)5833 5928 or email [email protected] to RSVP.

THE DAIRYSA Innovation Day 2016 will hear from some of the dairy industry’s leading researchers on the latest tools and innovations in managing transition, as well as be inspired in operating and building your business. The session will be

examining transition feeding, temperature control, using technology to manage cows and methods for improving milk production. In the evening, from 6.30pm, don’t miss out on the dinner for a night of guest speakers, networking, a superb

two-course meal and the opportunity to get together with old and new friends. Thursday, June 2 from 9.30am at The Barn Palais, Mount Gambier. Contact Rebecca Hehir on 0418 951 324 or [email protected]

South AustraliaHerd innovation and business inspiration

Murray Dairy Sub-Tropical

Don’t miss a great night outTHINGS ARE gearing up for the 2016 Great South West Dairy Awards. The nominations are finalised with an impressive number of south west farmers, employ-ees and service providers in line for well-deserved com-mendation. The awards, now in their 11th year, recognise the best and brightest in the industry. Nominations have been received in each of the eight major categories which include; Farm Business Manager, Employer, Employee and Sharefarmer of the Year, Young Farm Leader, Natu-ral Resource Management and Sustainability, The Honour Board and Farm Photo of the Year. Event coordinator Liza Fahey was thrilled with the high number of quality nomi-nations. “It is great that we can all come together and cel-ebrate the great work dairy farmers do every day of the year, during the good times and the tough times.” Thurs-day, May 19 at Deakin University Warrnambool. Tickets on sale now through WestVic Dairy Ph: 5557 1000.

Western Vic

Attract the right staff to your dairy businessTHIS TWO-DAY workshop will help people employing and managing staff with recruitment and inducting people into your business. Workshop presenters Penny Williams (dairy consultant) and Sharni Radford (NCDE/TasTAFE AgriBusiness trainer) will provide fantastic information to help you with any staff recruitment questions. Using the ESKi (Employment Starter Kit initiative) and the People in Dairy website, participants will get hands on experi-ence in how to recruit, select, induct and supervise the right person to suit the job. Deloraine May 17 & 31; Scott-sdale May 18 & June 1, 9.30am to 2.30am .Cost $98 (ex GST) phone 6477 7480 or email [email protected]

Tasmania

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Crowds welcome Farm World’s dairy theme

JEANETTE SEVERS

AN INCREASED 14% attendance, to 57,000 people over four days, was attrib-uted to the theme ‘Dairy – an industry on the move’ at this year’s Farm World at Lardner Park, last month.

“It was a very strong theme that pulled together exhibitors, trade stalls, sponsors and events,” said Angela Betheras, chair-man of Lardner Park Events.

A total 750 exhibitors, also an increase, reported good interest in and sales of equipment across the field days.

The crowds were obvious throughout each day and many young families turned out for the event.

The annual women in agriculture lunch kicked off Farm World’s first day.

Guest speakers this year were Janet Moxey, Dr Sinead De Gooyer and Kelly Ward, all involved in the dairy industry.

“The lunch has become an established part of Farm World and Thursday is now known as Ladies Day,” Angela Betheras said.

“About 190 women attended the lunch and heard about joint venture partner-ships, day-to-day management of a dairy farm, health issues including mental health, share farming and using social media to tell stories about dairy in Austra-lia.”

The following day saw technology dis-cussed during breakfast, where investment was compared against return on asset.

“Australian farmers are very innovative and are at the forefront of developing tech-nology,” Angela Betheras said.

“We were asked ‘were we prepared to adopt technology in agriculture?’ and the overall assessment was only if purchase was supported by a valid reason to spend the money.

“Purchasing technology, like any farm asset, had to be balanced against improv-ing production – for example, was it better to invest in more land to plant crops or would investing in new technologies achieve a similar return?

“Farmers are conservative investors in equipment and technology, compared to mining companies.

“The bankers attending this event revealed that, rather than production returns, it is low interest rates causing farmers to borrow money to invest in cap-ital assets like equipment and technolo-gies.”

A new event this year was the young farmers conference.

“Every year we have a new event and this year it was the young farmers confer-ence,” Angela Betheras said.

“We’ll repeat it and I think we’ll extend the succession planning panel session – that generated a lot of discussion and I think we need to give it more time.”

Gippsland

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1. Lardner Park Events board chairman, Angela Betheras.

2. Kylie, Travis and Jetta (20 months) Hamilton, Nar Nar Goon, were looking at tractors at Farm World, including this New Holland T6020.

3. Alice Peillon, Drouin, with Coopers Animal Health, worked at the Brown Wigg stand and tried out a can-am AWD Outlander with 50 litre Goldacres spot spray unit.

4. John O’Reilly thanked Lloyd Missen, Gormandale, for buying the Leicht’s Stockman’s Cattle Crush, manufactured in

Australia and among the range of equipment on show at Farm World.

5. Dairyfarmers’ children, Claire (5), Matthew (7) and Rachael (4) Finger, Yanathan, enjoyed yoghurt at the Burra Foods stand.

6. Stu Mackie, Meeniyan, an ex dairyfarmer, now works with Semex and spoke about their global database of bulls, SemexWorks, to help dairyfarmers select bulls to lower risk and breed out problems in the herd. The software program now contains genomic, proven and sexed semen results.

7. National Party state and national

representatives, Melina Bath and Senator Bridget McKenzie, flew the flag and saw more than 500 people during the four days.

8. Tony Gasperini, a dairyfarmer at Korumburra, admitted his 200 milkers in the herringbone dairy had to contend with manual movers and automatic cup removers; but he was looking at the mini swinging brush at the DeLaval stand, with Patrick Hunt.

9. Tim Clark, Leongatha, and his sons, Owen (15 months) and Rhys (3) looking at a Toro zero-turn mower.

PICTURES: JEANETTE SEVERS

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EDITORIAL

MILKING IT...


18 // OPINION

RUMINATING


Gone bananasTHE LATEST plant product expected to lead a retail revolution in Colorado, US, isn’t green — it’s yellow�

Trying to make up for poor sales of cow and soy milk, WhiteWave-Foods, Denver, is stock-ing its Colorado, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio stores with a devious concoction -- banana milk�

Sir Bananas, the product’s cute moniker, is a blend of 2% milk and banana that boasts 7g of protein per serving� It’s also available in a chocolate banana flavor, for those who prefer milk other than in its natural state�

Print us a milk, mateTRIALS ARE underway to determine if milk can be produced by 3-D printers, according to the American Council on Science and Health�

They reckon it might be useful to astronauts on long journeys (Mars, anyone?), and NASA is looking into it�

Basically, the process involves ‘printing’ sodium caseinate, a main pro-tein found in milk, then adding the required other ingredients to form�� ‘milk’� Along with the milk, the astronauts might also be able to print a pizza — as long as the printers work in zero-gravity conditions�

Hi-tech from PakistanTHE LATEST in wearable technology is being called the ‘fitbit for cows’�

A startup called Cowlar is making a tracking device to be worn by cows and buffaloes, and the creators claim it could help farmers increase their milk yields by as much as 15%�

Cowlar’s website says the product uses motion sensors to track the cow’s activity and core tempera-ture, and relays that data via the cloud in text messages to farmers so they can bet-ter detect disease� It also allows monitoring when the animals are in heat�

Cowlar is based in Pakistan, where outdated agricultural techniques drag on average milk yields compared to more highly-developed countries�

Leaping for joyA VIDEO showing Swiss cows’ delight at being let out to pasture after a long winter has struck a chord worldwide, attracting massive viewing since its posting to Facebook last week�

The Pfister family’s cows in Bözen, Aargau, are shown jumping and leaping as they get to pasture for the first time in five months under sunny spring skies�

“It’s one of the most beautiful moments in a farmer’s year,” the family wrote under the video�

Non-farmers love it too: the video has had 1�2 million views and nearly 22,000 ‘likes’ since last month�

No surprise to farmer Reto Pfister� “We just wanted to amuse our-selves and our friends, nothing more,” he told journalists�

WHERE to begin with the questions for Murray Goulburn?How did you get is so wrong? Has the unit trust experiment

failed? Is it right to saddle your suppliers with a debt burden for the

next three years? How will you even start to repair the broken relationship with once-loyal farmers?

What was the outgoing payment to Gary Helou worth?The list goes on ...As the country’s biggest milk processor MG had industry

responsibilities, not the least of which is setting a benchmark milk price that affects farmers on Australia’s east coast.

MG has let the industry down and let it down badly at a very bad time.

Chairman Philip Tracey has acknowledged the co-op has work to do to rebuild trust amongst suppliers.

That is an understatement.But broader questions for the industry should also be asked.Where to from here? Will our sector recover? How long will it

take? And is the sector working together to ensure the number of dairy farms doesn’t continue to decline?

It’s true the optimism that surrounded MG’s closing milk price of $6.05/MS was met with caution at the time. As the season wore on and global factors failed to shift, reality sunk in and most farmers never anticipated more than $5.60kg/MS.

As MG works to recover farmer and investor confidence, there is a roll for the other processors to pick up the slack. Setting the right farm gate milk price is a tight balancing act where cents are as important as inches.

Cut too low, and processors risk supply and more farmers leaving the industry. Too high, and they risk their own bottom lines plus putting farmer’s budgets in the red with misplaced confidence.

So far, there’s been a mixed response from processors with some holding price, while others following the MG lead.

Processors must take a genuine look at the value of milk and set a fair return for farmers, with due consideration to the very real market challenges that currently exist.

Ultimately there will be no shareholder returns without a viable industry.

We shouldn’t all have to pay for MG’s mistakes.

Big questions but not all for MG

AdvertisingChris Dingle 0417.735.001

[email protected]

EditorMadeleine Brennan 0402.715.577

[email protected] Publisher Brian Hight Production Dave Ferguson

Becky Williams SubEditor Pamela Tipa Web Cameron Wilson Publishedby RNG Publishing Ltd Printedby Newsprinters Pty Ltd

Dairy News Australia is published by RNG

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DROUGHT, FIRES, floods, marine heat-waves – Tasmania has had a tough time this summer.

These events damaged its natural environment, including world heritage forests and alpine areas, and affected homes, businesses and energy security.

In past decades, climate-related warming of Tasmania’s land and ocean environments has seen dozens of marine species moving south, contributed to dieback in several tree species, and encouraged businesses and people from mainland Australia to relocate.

These slow changes don’t generate a lot of attention, but this sum-mer’s events have made people sit up and take notice.

If climate change will produce conditions that we have never seen before, did Tasmania just get a glimpse of this future?Hot summer

After the coldest winter in half a century, Tasmania experienced a warm and very dry spring in 2015, including a record dry October.

During this time there was a strong El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole event, both of which influence Tasmania’s climate.

The dry spring was followed by Tasmania’s warmest summer since records began in 1910, with temperatures 1.78˚ above the long-term aver-age.

Many regions, especially the west coast, stayed dry during the summer – a pattern consistent with climate projections.

The dry spring and summer led to a reduction in available water, including a reduction of inflows into reservoirs.

Is warmer better? Not with fires and floods.

Tourists and locals alike enjoyed the clear, warm days – but these

conditions came at a cost, priming Tasmania for damaging bushfires. Three big lightning storms struck, including one on January 13 that delivered almost 2,000 lightning strikes and sparked many fires, particularly in the state’s northwest.

By the end of February, more than 300 fires had burned more than 120,000 hectares, including more than 1% of Tasmania’s World Heritage Area – alpine areas that had not burnt since the end of the last ice age some 8,000 years ago.

Their fire-sensi-tive cushion plants and endemic pine forests are unlikely to recover, due to the loss of peat and soils.

Meanwhile, the state’s emergency resources were further stretched by heavy rain at the end of January. This caused flash flooding in several east coast towns, some of which received their highest rainfall ever.

Launceston experienced its second-wettest day on record, while Gray recorded 221 mm in one day, and 489 mm over four days.

Flooding and road clo-sures isolated parts of the state for several days, and many businesses (partic-ularly tourism) suffered weeks of disruption.

The extreme rainfall was caused by an intense low-pressure system – the Climate Futures for Tasmania project has predicted that this kind of event will become more frequent in the state’s northeast under a warming climate.Warm seas

This summer, an extended marine heat-wave also developed off eastern Tasmania.

Temperatures were 4.4˚ above average, partly due to the warm East Aus-tralian Current extending southwards.

The heatwave began on December 3, 2015, and was ongoing as of April 17 – the longest such event


OPINION // 19

Was Tasmania’s summer a glimpse of its climate future?ALISTAIR HOBDAY, CSIRO; ERIC OLIVER, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA; JAN MCDONALD, UNIVERSITY OF TASMANIA; MICHAEL GROSE, CSIRO

recorded in Tasmania since satellite records began in 1982.

It began just days after the end of the second-longest marine heatwave on record, from August 31 to November 28, 2015, although that event was

less intense.As well as months of

near-constant heat stress, oyster farms along the east coast were devastated by a new disease, Pacific Oyster Mortality Syndrome, which killed 100% of juvenile oysters at

some farms. The disease, which has

previously affected New South Wales oyster farms, is thought to be linked to unusually warm water temperatures, although this is not yet proven.

Summer fires got close to the Hofings’ farm at Mawbanna, in Tasmania’s central NW region. PICTURE: COURTESY DAIRYTAS.

TO PAGE 21

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20 // MARKETS

THERE HAS been plenty written about the dramatic slump in the earn-ings and milk price outlook for Aus-tralia’s largest farmer-owned dairy company.

I don’t wish to add to the newsprint column space on what, why or how that happened at Murray Goulburn.

It is now fact, it can’t be undone, and there is little merit or therapy gained in maintaining the rage and spending time on recriminations.

What’s more useful is to consider the effect of this sudden downturn in avail-able milk prices from MG on the Aus-tralian dairy sector as a whole, and on individual producers considering the market and industry outlook.

The outcome has implications for almost every dairy farmer in the indus-try, who can expect milk prices in the coming years to be lower than what might have been in prospect if MG had managed to deliver on this year’s fore-casts.

This event has a number impacts – on leverage, confidence and reputation – in that order.

Leverage“Leverage” here refers

to the ability of a large farmer-owned milk buyer to positively influence milk prices paid by its competitors.

In recent years, MG has focused on improving per-formance in milk prices, forcing its competitors to match or better it.

When the major farmer-owned buyer of milk has been weakened, effective leverage at farm-gate can’t be sustained.

Almost every dairy farmer in the eastern seaboard of the industry is adversely affected, in terms of available milk prices, by a weakening of the major

co-operative. In the short-term it

seems that Murray Goul-burn’s competitors will continue to honour milk price estimates for the current 2015-16 season which were made prior to 27 April.

They will do this with some difficulty given the realities of the dairy com-modity markets.

It’s the coming seasons that matter. Despite what will be claimed, with

a 20-30c/kg milk solids finance charge against their largest competitor’s milk pool, Bega, Warrnambool, Fonterra and others will be under significantly less pressure to optimise farmgate prices – other than the need to ensure they can reliably collect enough milk for their business needs.

That was the situation in the indus-try prior to 2013 and that will be the case for the next two sea-sons at least as the effects of this event are unwound.

Confidence Years of research

into what mostly affects the confidence of dairy farmers have shown that a positive belief in the industry’s future depends on the outlook for milk prices.

While MG’s bal-ance sheet will be used

to sustain most of the current season’s promised milk price, the prospects for the next few seasons matter most for producer confidence.

Dairy commodity prices drive the value of milk in the industry – despite lower industry exports than previously

we are still inextricably part of a global market place.

Dairy companies have different business models, product and market mixes – and dif-ferent abilities to flex.

Over time, some will do much better than others in out-performing the price extracted from a com-

modity manufacturing base – “adding-value” as it is unfortunately termed.

By our reckoning, the commodity value of milk is close to $4.50kg/MS in 2015/16.

At present, with spot and forward prices in the market, we have trouble getting our estimate of commodity returns for the 2016/17 season to land above $5kg/MS.

Dairy product prices – on average – will have to rise more than 15% (as a season average) to get there, but by 25% before we can be confident milk is worth more than $5.50 again.

If the A$ falls – as currency punt-ers are suggesting – that farmgate price result will be easier to achieve.

Companies can and will add to this commodity return via their various activities. But it all comes back to what the biggest player can achieve, and how much of the strategy can deliver in addi-tional income.

What are the chances of either of those market outcomes?

On our present outlook, a recovery in dairy prices is gradually underway, but won’t really make any headway until early next year when slower growth in Europe and New Zealand ensures global export supply slips behind import demand.

Right now, those supply and demand totals are running neck and neck cur-rently, but stockpiles of powder and

cheese are still building. Talk of the $A falling into the low

US70c range has been going for ages, but recovering mineral commodity prices may work against that.

There has been an expectation cre-ated in Australia’s production sector that outperformance of the commod-ity value is readily achievable.

In reality, it is hard for a dairy com-pany with a large pool of milk to sus-tain that outperformance over time, but some have been very good at it.

It needs a combination of outstand-ing management execution, high-qual-ity assets and strong market and/or product and process innovation.

Promising outperformance with-out consistently ticking all those boxes leads to disappointment.

What also unsettles confidence is a broken promise or shattered belief. Time and actions to ensure perfor-mance exceeds expectation will be required to fix that in the future.

But what of the confidence of inves-tors – providers of debt and external equity?

Investors in the dairy farm sector are always interested in the capacity for

Australian processors to perform well on milk prices, and despite this latest stumble, comparisons with our neigh-bours over the ditch are still favourable.

ReputationThe news of this event quickly went

across the dairy world.I was in meetings with US and Euro-

pean industry participants in Chicago when news broke, and it quickly became the talking point of the event.

All of a sudden the external percep-tion of the Australian industry was in discussion.

Does this make Australian milk supply any less attractive to interna-tional customers? No.

Does it make them question the sta-bility of milk production over time? Per-haps.

Does it mean we might figure less in their plans for securing a growing pool of high-quality milk supply in future? Maybe.

This aspect of reputation won’t be enhanced in the short-term, but this also comes back to confidence, and whether milk producers can take stock, adapt and press on.

Time will tell.

Looking beyond the blame game

FRESH AGENDASTEVE SPENCER

Almost every dairy farmer in the eastern seaboard is adversely affected by a weakening of the major co-operative.

“..we have trouble getting our estimate of commodity returns for the 2016/17 season to land above $5kg/MS.”

DAIRY AUSTRALIA’S next Situation and Outlook report will be released on June 1, as a challenging season for many farmers approaches its end.

The impacts of a deep and persistent trough in international dairy markets have hit Australian farmers with renewed vigour in recent weeks.

Many farmers in southern, export regions have seen 2015/16 farmgate prices cut, and there is a growing sense that the 2016/17 season will be a difficult one for balancing the books.

Farmers in domestic-

focused regions are also likely to feel some impact, and growth in overall Australian milk production will be a difficult ask.

The same market trough has failed to significantly dent milk supply in most of the world’s major dairy exporters.

Europe and the US continue to power ahead in year-on-year terms, and favourable weather in New Zealand has led to a much smaller decline than many had expected, even after a second season of bruising margins.

With attractive

spot prices and weak comparables, dairy demand has grown in most importing regions over the past 12 months, with overall tonnages up nearly 6%.

Despite an absence of the breakneck growth of recent years, China has been responsible for a large proportion of this;

total exports to Greater China are up 16% in volume terms – though WMP volumes are still down over the period.

Exports to Southeast Asian countries continued to grow, with strong growth in milk powder categories, while exports volumes to the Middle East and Japan have eased

slightly. Supply continues to

outpace demand however, and inventories in many parts of the world (most conspicuously Europe) are building.

A relatively stable domestic market has helped buffer the Australian industry in the face of international headwinds.

Despite some slowing, overall trends for supermarket sales of major dairy categories remain relatively unchanged from February’s S&O report.

Dairy spreads continue to grow strongly, while

cheese volumes increased by 1.7% for the 12 months to March 2016.

Ongoing growth in block and ingredient cheese segments offset falls in sliced and smooth cream cheeses , with specialty/entertaining and deli cheeses also performing well (up 17% and 4.3% respectively).

The value of cheese sales grew by 1.8% in year-on-year terms, with strong growth in the value of deli and specialty cheese sales helping offset price falls in the unit cost of block and ingredient cheese categories.

Sales volumes for fresh

milk are holding steady, while volumes and values for yoghurt and dairy snacks have eased.

Infant formula continues to sell strongly, with growth of over 30% in sales through the supermarket channel, though the balance of Australian consumption and grey market exports is much less clear.

The 2015/16 season has been characterised by challenging seasonal conditions for many farmers.

Rainfall across the country has been variable but generally below

GLOBAL IMPACTJOHN DROPPERT

Dairy NewS aUSTraLia june, 2012

With season 2011/12 only a few weeks from ending, attention is now focused on 2012/13 milk prices as farm-ers consider strategies for the coming year. In some domestically-focused regions, renegotiated contracts incor-porating lower prices and reduced ‘tier one’ access are undermining farmer confidence and supply stability. For many farmers in export-oriented regions, a lower price outlook relative to the current season not only adds to the challenges of doing business, but seems to contradict the positive medium term outlook of Asia-driven dairy demand growth.

Dairy Australia’s indicative outlook for southern farm gate milk prices – published in the recent Dairy 2012: Sit-uation and Outlook report, is for an opening price range of $4.05-$4.40/kg MS and a full year average price range between $4.50 and $4.90/kg MS. The report considers the wider market pic-ture and summarises the many factors at play; the key theme of the current sit-uation being that of re-balancing in the dairy supply chain.

In regions of Australia focused on producing drinking milk, many farmers face a re-balancing market in the form of renegotiation of supply contracts and reduced access to ‘tier one’ supply.

Shifts in private label contracts and pro-cessor rationalisation have seen milk companies adjust their intake require-ments and pricing to meet the chang-ing demands of a highly pressured retail marketplace. Lower contract prices and a lack of alternative supply opportuni-ties present challenges in a market with limited manufacturing capacity. Despite these challenges, the underlying domes-tic market is stable, with steady per-cap-ita dairy consumption and a growing population providing a degree of cer-tainty beyond the current adjustments.

In the seasons following the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent com-modity price recovery, farmers in export-oriented regions have seen solid global supply growth (see chart) - with higher-cost competitors in the North-ern Hemisphere amongst those expand-ing output as their margins increased. This season, favourable weather con-ditions have further enhanced milk

flows. 2012 milk production in the US is up around 4% on 2011 for the year to April (leap year adjusted), whilst early data suggests EU-27 milk production finished the March 2012 quota year up 2.3% on the previous year. New Zealand production is widely expected to finish this season up 10% on last year - a huge market influence given 95% of NZ milk is exported. Argentina is also enjoy-ing solid production growth, but a sig-nificant supply gap in Brazil prevents much of this additional milk from leav-ing South America.

Despite wider economic uncer-tainty, demand has remained resilient as importing countries like China and

those in south-east Asia and the Middle East maintain consistently higher eco-nomic growth rates that support increased dairy consumption. How-ever, the surge in supply has outpaced demand growth in the market.

This situation has seen the scales tip in favour of buyers in dairy mar-kets, with commodity prices retreat-ing steadily over recent months. Butter prices are down some 30% from their 2011 peaks, whilst powder prices have lost more than 20%. Farm gate prices have subsequently been reduced in most exporting regions. The average basic farm gate price for milk in France for example, dropped 12% from 32 Euro

cents/litre in March (AUD 41c/L) to 28 Euro cents/litre (AUD 36c/L) in April. Profit margins are under pressure in the US, and in NZ Fonterra has announced the final payout for the 2011/12 season has been cut from NZ$6.75-$6.85/kg MS to NZ$6.45-$6.55/kg MS (AUD$4.96-$5.04).

Effectively, global dairy markets are rebalancing. Lower prices will both slow production growth and stimulate demand, and as this occurs we will ulti-mately see a price recovery. Key factors to watch on the global scene will be the rate at which milk production overseas slows in response to lower prices, the impact of the current financial worries on consumer confidence, the path of China’s economic growth, and the value of the Australian dollar.

Demand for exported dairy prod-ucts remains a positive and will con-tinue to grow with the middle class in large emerging markets such as China, with changes in diet and with increasing urbanisation - and also in conjunction with global population growth. Locally, the domestic market is supported by a growing population and stable per-capita consumption. Whilst the dairy market is currently a challenging place to be a seller, all signs indicate that bal-ance will ultimately return.

agribusiness // 17

austraLian FooD company Freedom Foods Group Ltd is to build a new milk processing plant to cash in on growing demand in Asia.

The plant, to be built in southeast Australia, will be the first Australian green-fields expansion in UHT in 10 years.

Freedom’s wholly owned subsidiary Pactum Australia will run the plant. Some of its products will be sold in Australia.

The company says given Asian consum-ers’ rising incomes and improving diets, demand there will grow for qual-ity dairy products from low-cost production bases such as Australia, whose milk is well regarded.

The new plant will allow Pactum to meet growing demand for UHT dairy milk, and add to capacity for value-added beverages at its Sydney factory. Pactum is expanding its capabili-ties at the Sydney plant

to provide portion pack (200-330ml) configura-tion for beverage prod-ucts.

The NSW location will provide access to the most sustainable and economic source of milk. Pactum has strong links to the Austra-lian dairy industry and will expand its arrangements with dairy farmers for supply of milk. The new plant will increase scope for Australian milk supply – value-added, sustainable and export focused.

Initially the plant will produce 250ml and 1L UHT packs from a process line capable of 100 mil-lion L. The processing and packaging plant will emit less carbon, use less water, and be more energy-effi-cient than equivalent UHT facilities in Austra-lia and SE Asia. Pactum expects site preparation to begin in October 2012 and start-up by mid-2013.

Pactum makes UHT products for private label and proprietary customers.

Freedom Foods planttargets Asia

Malaysia FTA benefits dairyaustraLian DairY, rice and wine exporters to Malaysia are the biggest winners in a free trade agreement (FTA) signed between the two coun-tries last month.

The deal, signed after seven years of negotia-tions, allows a liberalised licensing arrangement for Australian liquid milk exporters and allows access for higher value retail products.

It guarantees Aus-tralian wine exporters the best tariff treatment Malaysia gives any coun-try. It also allows open access arrangements from 2023 for Australian rice with all tariffs eliminated by 2026.

The National Farmers’ Federation says the trade deal will improve inter-national market access for Australian agricultural goods.

“After seven years of negotiation, the NFF is under no illusion of how challenging it has been to complete this FTA with Malaysia,” NFF vice presi-dent Duncan Fraser says.

The FTA will fill a number of gaps within the

ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA (AANZFTA).

“Protectionist senti-ment over agricultural goods is rife and grow-ing across the globe, so in this context it is pleas-ing Australia has managed to forge an agreement with Malaysia that has dealt with some sensi-tive agricultural issues not effectively covered by AANZFTA,” says Fraser.

“While under the AANZFTA agreement most of Australian agri-culture’s key interests had tariffs bound at zero, dairy and rice are two sec-tors where incremental market access improve-ments have been negoti-ated under the Malaysian FTA.

“This trade deal was also particularly impor-tant for sectors such as dairy that have been facing a competitive dis-advantage in Malaysia compared with New Zea-land which already has a completed FTA with Malaysia in place.”

The FTA also sig-nals some administrative benefits for Austra-lian agricultural export-

ers through streamlining of rules-of-origin dec-laration processes and improved marketing arrangements for certain commodities.

The Malaysian market is worth about A$1 bil-lion in Australia agricul-tural exports – including being its fourth-largest sugar export market and fifth-largest wheat export market. With an annual economic growth at about 5%, Malaysia forms an impor-tant part of the ‘Asian Century’ story and the opportunity this presents for Australian agricultural producers, says Fraser.

Despite the comple-tion of this agreement, much remains to be done for Australia’s farmers to tap into the full potential of the Asian region and beyond.

He says the NFF will now throw its attention towards ensuring agricul-ture remains front and centre in completed FTAs with South Korea, Japan, China and Indonesia as immediate priorities.

“These are all markets with enormous growth opportunities and where significant barriers to trade in agriculture still exist, not only through tariffs that restrict trade

but also through technical or so called ‘behind the border’ restrictions.”

The FTA was signed on May 22 in Kuala Lumpur by Australia’s Trade and Competiveness Minis-ter Craig Emerson and his Malaysian counterpart Mustapa Mohamed.

Emerson says Australia will be as well-positioned in the Malaysian market as Malaysia’s closest trad-ing partners in ASEAN, and in some cases better. The FTA will guarantee tariff-free entry for 97.6% of current goods exports from Australia once it enters into force. This will rise to 99% by 2017.

incremental change in milk production (year-on-year)

Export demand remains strong

Sealing the deal: Malaysian trade minister Mustapha Mohamed with Australian counterpart Craig Emerson after signing the deal.

gLobaL impacTJohN DropperT

016-017.indd 17 6/06/12 1:41 PM

Lean times ahead for Oz dairy

TO PAGE 21

Almost every dairy farmer in the eastern seaboard is adversely affected by a weakening of the major co-operative.


MARKETS // 21

Compounding the damageTasmania is often seen as having a mild cli-

mate that is less vulnerable to damage from climate change.

It has even been portrayed as a “climate refuge”. But if this summer was a taste of things to come, Tas-mania may be less resilient than many have believed.

The spring and summer weather also hit Tasma-nia’s hydroelectric dams, which were already run down during the short-lived carbon price as Tasma-nia sold clean renewable power to the mainland. Dam levels are at an all-time low and continue to fall.

The situation has escalated into a looming energy crisis, because the state’s connection to the national electricity grid – the Basslink cable – has not been operational since late December.

The state faces the prospect of meeting winter energy demand by running 200 leased diesel gen-erators, at a cost of A$43 million and making major carbon emissions that can only exacerbate the cli-mate-related problems that are already stretching the state’s emergency response capability.

Is this summer’s experience a window on the future?

Further study into the causes of climate events, known as “detection and attribution”, can help us untangle the human influence from natural factors.

If we do see the fingerprint of human influence on this summer, Tasmania and every other state and ter-ritory should take in the view and plan accordingly.

The likely concurrence of multiple events in the future – such as Tasmania’s simultaneous fires and floods at either end of the island and a heatwave off-shore – demands that governments and communities devise new strategies and mobilise extra resources.

This will require unprecedented coordination and cooperation between governments at all levels, and between governments, citizens, and community and business groups.

Done well, the island state could show other parts of Australia how to prepare for a future with no prec-edent.• This article first appeared in The Conversation www.theconversation.com

Was Tasmania’s summer a glimpse of its climate future?

FROM PAGE 19

average, and while April was forecast to provide a much needed autumn break, rainfall for the month was lower than predicted.

Constrained pasture growth has coincided with a tight market for hay, while lower international grain prices have taken some time to flow through to the Australian market.

For irrigators, low allocations and high demand have driven temporary water prices to post-drought highs.

Fertiliser remains a

bright spot, and a more favourable rainfall outlook suggests farmers may be better placed to take advantage of an ongoing global oversupply to grow more feed on farm, where cash flow allows it.

Confidence amongst farmers, as measured by the National Dairy Farmer Survey, showed a modest fall on average (down 1%) from 2015 to 2016, based on the annual survey conducted in March.

However, industry developments will significantly impact confidence, as the

Lean times ahead for Oz dairy

challenges that lie ahead influence budgets for the upcoming season.

A global market turnaround remains some way off, though the Australian market remains

stable and some relief from elevated input costs is likely.

There is little doubt however, that 2016/17 will be a difficult season for many.

FROM PAGE 20

Dairy commodity price history. Source: Dairy Australia.

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22 // MANAGEMENT

QUEENSLAND FARMERS Paul and Linda Roderick aim to produce up to a million more litres of milk a year by adopting a partial mixed ration feeding system and splitting their milking herd.

Per cow production is expected to lift from 8000 to 9000 litres and their milking herd is rising from 240 and will be reassessed at 300.

Paul is fifth generation on the property Tredegar Park at Harrisville and after 20 years working with his parents David and Gwen he and his wife are now taking over the family business.

With expansion plans in mind, Michael Sweetnam was this year engaged as herd co-manager to share the increasing feeding and nutrition-focused workload.

Paul is an active participant in industry research programs and is excited about the potential of improving milk yield through genomics.

However, he said there were physical

constraints to production on their 220ha property with summer seasonal conditions particularly challenging.

“We thought we probably reached a production peak at about 8000 litres per cow and to milk more cows we

needed to build a new feed pad,” Paul said.

“But at the same time to maximise profits we need to make the best use of available pastures which will always be our cheapest feed input.”

Their milking herd was split in June last year with the aim of eventually

running one third as fresh milkers and two thirds in the main herd on quite different diets.

They have been growing herd numbers by using sexed semen for the past two years and took the opportunity to buy in 40 crossbred and Friesian heifers.

“We thought we’d sell some excess animals for export, but after a couple of good years season-wise, we decided to keep them,” Paul said.

The property produced 1.9 million litres last financial year, up from 1.7 in the previous 12 months.

“We are aiming to reach 2.5 million, but think 3 million litres could be achievable,” he said.

The fresh milkers are intensively fed for about the first 100 days of lactation, but still get up to 25% of their diet from

grazing in winter and spring.

“We want to get them to peak production more quickly and then hold them at this plateau for longer.”

Paul said there had already been benefits with new heifers settling into a smaller herd quicker

and with reduced early lactation weight loss.

Getting physically well-developed early milkers is expected to provide long term benefits in better body weight which should flow into better reproductive performance.

The early lactation herd will jump from 84 to 98 milkers to fit with their

14-a-side herringbone. The dairy has been

improved with the addition of a roof over the holding yard.

“It provided an immediate benefit during the peak heat last January when we also operated overhead sprinklers,” Paul said.

“We’ve suffered some terrible heat-related

setbacks in the past with production dips of 10 and up to 20%. And it takes time to recover back to normal production.”

The property comprises about 80ha devoted to cropping and pasture production with the balance tropical grasses.

About 90% can be irrigated with a 400

megalitre licence from Moogerah dam.

Depending on seasonal conditions, there is a mix of full cultivation, minimum tillage and zero tillage with kikuyu mulched down and oversown.

By far their best pasture production is annual ryegrass with other paddocks oversown

Eyeing three million litres

Paul Roderick and Michael Sweetnam at the covered feed pad.PICTURES: GORDON COLLIE

GORDON COLLIE

“We’ve suffered some terrible heat-related setbacks in the past with production dips of 10 and up to 20%. And it takes time to recover back to normal production.”

WHO: Paul and Linda Roderick WHERE: Harrisville WHAT: Partial mixed ration

DAIRY NEWS ON THE GO

Available every month just look for the arrow!


CHECK OUT THE LATEST NEWS AND INFORMATION AT


MANAGEMENT // 23

Eyeing three million litres Oversown ryegrass with clover and chicory provide cheapest feed bulk from mid-May to the end of November.PICTURE GORDON COLLIE

ryegrass with clover and chicory which provide cheapest feed bulk from mid-May to the end of November.

The pad feeding system really comes into its own during the summer months when grazing is restricted to a forage crop such as lab lab, kikuyu and lucerne.

“Our feeding program can change almost daily with the mixed ration adjusted to maximise available fresh grazing.

“You can’t fight the seasons and in summer the fresh milkers will get a totally mixed ration with the main herd available pasture and a partial ration.”

They make their own lucerne hay and grow barley and corn for silage production.

Paul said a crop of soybeans made high protein silage which was a good pasture substitute during the summer months.

About 500 tonnes of grain is brought in each year split between bail feeding and the prepared

feed ration with more emphasis now on grain at the feed pad.

The new roofed feed pad is 42m long and 5m wide with 2.4m side aprons designed to feed about 120 cows at a time.

Paul said there were plans to build two 42m by 5m free standing shade structures either side of the feedpad to provide comfortable cow loafing areas out of the hot sun.

The dairy receives a 4 cents a litre incentive payment from February to May with 2 cents in June and July.

“There is also a 10 cents a litre incentive for milk production over and above the previous year and we are looking forward to taking advantage of that while the herd is in expansion phase,” Paul said.

“I think a price somewhere around 60 cents a litre should see Queensland production consolidated with not much growth. Anything below that and the northern industry will continue to decline.”

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24 // MANAGEMENT

WHETHER IN AUS-TRALIA or New Zealand, many dairy farmers might

recently have been look-ing into the night skies for stellar inspiration.

That’s just where one farmer, from North Can-terbury on New Zealand’s

RICHARD COSGROVE

Small herd, big universe

south island, goes to relax after a hard day on the farm.

Oxford dairy farmer Stu Parker has 250 cows on his 95ha property, and he has a backyard observatory where he searches the sky looking for Supernovas.

Stu is a part of BOSS - the Backyard Observatory Supernova Search - and to say he’s good at is an understatement: he’s only the sixth amateur in the world to have discovered a hundred supernovas, and he’s still searching - the current tally exceeds 120.

His wife Lynn describes him as a part-time farmer and a professional astron-omer, but it wasn’t always this way.

Dairy News had origi-nally contacted Stu to get his opinion on a Lincoln University study which found small herd dairy farmers were generally happier with their lot.

Stu had been a large herd farmer in South-land, then he shifted back to North Canterbury to a small herd six years ago.

In Southland the Park-ers milked 700 cows as contract sharemilkers as well as milking 250 cows on their own farm some distance away.

It was full on, Stu rack-ing up 35,000km one year driving between the farms.

At one stage they realised they hadn’t had a day off in three years and Lynn hadn’t left their farm in nine weeks.

After some family members died, the Parkers realised you couldn’t put a price on your sanity and they moved to North Can-terbury.

On bare land near Oxford they started from scratch, rediscovering life.

Saying that he couldn’t go back to a big herd, Stu finds small herd farming more enjoyable, saying you can truly get to know your cows and have a better quality herd; the couple have excelled at pedigree breeding Friesians.

Being a member of Ambreed for 26 years, they were delighted to have a bull accepted by the firm, and they also have a stun-ning line of heifers coming through this year.

Saying that the scale can be difficult, he said: “You can’t do anything about the payout so you have to focus on your farm and your cows; that’s where you can make a dif-ference.”

They recounted that when they were sharemilk-ing the payout was at one stage (NZ)$3/L, of which they were getting only half.

It’s obvious the Park-ers have a bond with their cows: when it’s milking time many of the cows will come over for a scratch or rub while waiting their turn in the shed.

Stu says some farm-ers will think he’s soft, but when recently faced with a dying cow of 16 years standing on the farm, he opted to have a vet eutha-nase the animal and he buried her on the farm.

He asks, ‘what’s the point of sending her off to the works and getting $500 for her when she has given many thousands of dollars to the business over those 16 years?’

The Parkers have done some big farm things like centre pivot irrigation and a winter shed for the 60-odd cows they winter milk.

He describes the shed as necessary for maintain-ing condition in the harsh snowy winters Oxford can experience.

Downsizing has allowed him to have a bit more of a life; Stu says he’ll step back a bit when the downturn comes right.

Not wanting 100% of their focus to be on the farm is how he expanded his astronomy hobby.

Joining the supernova search has given him a new challenge. A supernova is a star at the end of its life, going out in a huge explo-sion whose after-effects are visible from earth.

With the discovery of his first supernova in 2009, he has gone from strength to strength, recently buying a new 16inch tele-scope from Italy.

He now trips overseas to speak at international conferences or to compare notes with other members of the project - impossible if he were still farming a large herd.

Dairy farmer Stu Parker combines his loves of cows with a love for astronomy.

CALF REARINGThe most successful dairy farmers know that future production and therefore profit is made or lost at calf rearing. Young stock are the farm’s future earners. In this special report we focus on the best practice in calf rearing, featuring the latest in techniques, technology, nutrition and animal health.BOOKING DEADLINE: June 1MATERIAL DEADLINE: June 7PUBLISHED: June 14CONTACT: CHRIS DINGLE | T: 0417 735 001 E: [email protected]

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ABVs // 25

IN A unique feat of genetic excellence, two leading dairy studs have each produced the top ranked pair of bulls in the latest Australian Breeding Values (ABVs) for Holsteins and Jerseys.

The latest release ABVs were published by the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme on April 11.

Underlining their depth of quality, both Rengaw Holsteins and Cairnbrae Jerseys have also placed the 8th ranked sire in their respective breeds.

For Rengaw principle George Wagner from Winnaleah in north-east Tasmania, dominance in the latest ABVs is just the latest accolade in a career spanning 50 years.

The production-focused producer has been ranked the number one Holstein herd in Australia and bestowed the Holstein title of Master Breeder.

George has now ceased active dairying with his breeding herd transferred to the property of his daughter and son-in-law Courtney and Jared Ireland near Lockington in northern Victoria.

“I’ve got the last of my young bulls here on agistment, but I still take an active interest in breeding, flushing about 10 cows a year,” George said.

“We have always used the best bulls available with production our main aim and it has reflected in our herd performance over many years.

“Our sires are proven all-rounders with good fertility, components and low cell counts.”

The top ABV Holstein bulls are full brothers with Geemcee (Rengaw Manoman Hummer) ranked number 1 and Wrangler (Rengaw Manoman Wrangler) number 2.

George said the second-placed bull Wrangler was highly ranked on type and was

expected to strongly appeal to Holstein producers.

Both bulls are embryo transfer, sired by a deceased Manoman bull in the US out of a top ranking member from the Janea cow family.

“We lost the dam a couple of years ago, but we’ve still got the bloodlines, flushing a full sister to the top ranked bulls,” George said.

The Janea cow family has had a profound influence and is still strongly represented in the Rengaw stud herd.

The stud was registered in 1968, with real genetic advances, including ABV success coming from the 1990s.

“We’ve been pleased with the acknowledgement of our breeding success and recognition as the top influencing Holstein herd in Australia,” George said.Cairbrae leads the way

THE top ABV Jersey bull Elton (Cairnbrae Jaces Elton) has had a huge influence on the breed.

Cairnbrae stud master Alan Carson from Irrewillipe East in south west Victoria, said the

bull had been in AI since 2009 and had steadily climbed to reach the number 1 ranking as a 12 year old.

“It’s very unusual to have a bull so highly rated

for so long. They usually tend to come and go quite quickly,” Alan said.

The latest ABV scores were aggregated from 4437 daughters across 464 herds, more than 10 times other top ranked sires.

Cscedison (Cairnbrae Tbone Edison) was ranked the second Jersey bull with Cairnbrae Tbone Ensign at number 8.

Ensign is the highest rated udder bull and expected to be extremely popular with Jersey breeders.

All three bulls are closely related sires from the same cow, Cambrae Alfs Estelle, making the deceased dam one of the most influential Jerseys in Australia.

Breeders at the top of their gameGORDON COLLIE

“She was one of our most successful cows. In addition to all the top ABV bulls, she produced 10 daughters which all classified Excellent.

“Her influence will continue through her daughters and we also have a full sister to our two Tbone ranked bulls Edison and Ensign,” Alan said.

Cairnbrae Stud which was founded in 1946 has enjoyed success with Estelle bloodlines over many years with more than 100 members of the

cow family now in their herd.

Alan and his wife Janine have continued the long family tradition of breeding excellence since they took over in 1976.

Top New Zealand bloodlines were an early mainstay and from the 1990s US genetics have been introduced with great success.

Alan has travelled all over Australia for more than 30 years inspecting the best Jerseys as a breed classifier.

“We have used our

knowledge to breed functional dairy cows that suit our environment.

“We have never tried to breed a show cow, but when a good cow comes along we give her the opportunity to compete in the show ring. We’ve bred royal show winners in most states,” Alan said.

VFoske (V Foske) and Arbobama (Beaulands Obama) were in the number 1 and number 2 spots for the Red Breeds.

VFoske’s BPI was $287, significantly ahead of Arbobama at $202.

“Our sires are proven all-rounders with good fertility, components and low cell counts.”

George Wagner pictured with Wrangler (also inset), who ranked number two behind his brother Geemcee.PICTURE: GENETICS AUSTRALIA.

Cairbrae Jerseys have two top sires in the top 8. PICTURE: ELLAWRIGHT.COM

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26 // ABVs

AN AUSTRALIAN geneticist who has won a top American science award for his ground-breaking work on genom-ics says visual appraisal of dairy cows is largely a waste of time.

Melbourne University professor Mike Goddard picked up his US National Academy of Sciences medal in April amid indi-cations that his work on genomic selection in dairy cattle might also lead to benefits for human health.

Prof. Goddard also has advice for those dairy

farmers who may still be relying on visual appraisal only of dairy cattle: it is largely a waste of time, promoting skinny cows with poor fertility.

He wants all breeders to work with the Austra-lian Dairy Herd Informa-tion Service (ADHIS) and urges them to upgrade the

way they upload their data to ADHIS to help progress on fertility.

Prof. Goddard also says the hybrid vigour pro-duced by cross-breeding is the closest thing farm-ers will ever get to a free lunch.

The hybrid off-spring can then be crossed back

with either parent breed, and “you are always ahead”.

Prof. Goddard apolo-gised before he answered a question about the visual appraisals used in classifi-cation and show rings.

“Sorry to be impolite,” he said. “But it’s largely a waste of time. We’ve got

Visual appraisal of cattle ‘a waste of time’MICHAEL PORTEUS

ourselves into a few mis-leading situations.

“For example, a long time ago, before we knew how much milk each cow gave, a cow that was not too fat – in fact positively skinny – was probably giving more milk than a cow that was fat.

“A preference for skinny cows developed. “But when you know how much milk the cow gives, there’s absolutely no ben-efit of selecting for skinny cows.

“But people have con-tinued to select for skinny cows – calling it dairy character or angularity – as well as selecting for milk yield.

“What that has done is decreased fertility, and decreased hardiness. “Because one reason a cow is skinny is that there is something wrong with her.

“Secondly, the cows that are really skinny don’t cycle and don’t get preg-nant.

“This traditional phi-losophy of selecting for dairy character should have been abandoned years ago as soon as we started measuring milk yield.”

Prof. Goddard grew up in Melbourne where he studied to be a vet.

He worked on the genetics of guide dogs and tropical beef cattle before specialising in dairy genet-ics.

He said genomic selec-tion uses DNA markers all over all of the chro-mosomes to identify a trait. Previous practice had looked for a couple of markers you hoped would work.

In 2000, Prof. Goddard began work with Norwe-gian visiting scientist Theo Meuwissen on simulations of an entire dairy cow genome. They published a paper in Genetics in 2001 with another Melbourne scientist Ben Hayes – who now heads the dairy cattle genetics program at the Dairy Futures CRC.

This paper is now seen as the foundation of genomics.

The US National Acad-emy of Science’s says that the principles of genomic

selection come from the landmark paper.“The trio showed that it should be possible to identify indi-viduals with high genetic value by using thousands of molecular genetic mark-ers covering the entire genome,” the academy notes.

“Genomic selection has now been applied to other animal species, such as pigs and poultry, as well as plants, such as cotton, rice, and wheat.

“And the concepts behind genomic selection have even proved useful in the field of human genet-ics and the search for pre-dictors of disease.”

Prof. Goddard says a third of dairy insemina-tions in Australian now use straws from genomi-cally-tested bulls and that most advanced countries have switched dairy breed-ing to genomic selection.

The next stage is push-ing the boundary for how young animals can be used for breeding. “We are working hard to make genomic selection as accu-rate as we can for all of the important traits,” he said.

He believes yield can and must increase: “I think it can get a lot higher. It always seems like you’ve reached the pinnacle, but in fact we always manage to get more still.

“You’ve got to run more cows per person, and you’ve got to get more milk per cow.

“People worry correctly that increasing milk yield puts more stress on the cow. We have to select not only for increased milk, but for all the other things that we want.

“It’s a matter of getting that combination right.You identify the bulls that have got the most profit-able daughters, and whose semen doesn’t cost too much.”

Prof. Goddard

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ABVs // 27

Average increase in reliability (%)

BPI Daughter Fertility Overall TypeYoung genomic bulls

Holstein 5.8 4.5 7.1Jersey 2.5 2.7 2.4

All genotyped bullsHolstein 3.4 2.4 4.2

Jersey 1.2 1.2 1.3

■ At an average of 14% of total assets, the dairy herd is the second largest asset for many dairy farms. Genetics is the main tool farmers use to develop and grow this asset

■ In the past decade genetics has contributed 30% of productivity growth

■ Genetics is permanent and is compounding from generation to generation which means that every breeding decision counts. Poor breeding decisions have a long term impact on herd productivity

■ Younger Holstein cows (born in 2012) are about $100 per

year more profitable than their counterparts born in 2000. This is the result of the breeding decisions farmers and bull companies have made

■ ADHIS uses world’s best practice in genetic evaluation which means a team of highly respected scientists use complicated statistical models to independently evaluate bulls and produce

■ Australian Breeding Values for 40 traits for thousands of bulls. Farmers, on the other hand, need a no-nonsense approach to cutting through the complexities to find

a team of bulls that best improve their herd. This is why ADHIS produces the Good Bulls Guide to help farmers breed better herds by using better bulls in the least confusing way

■ The milk solid yields of herd recorded cows have increased by almost 100 kg/cow/year since 1999

■ Not only do the daughters of higher genetic merit sires produce well, they are just as likely (if not more likely) to last in the herd compared to daughters of lower genetic merit sires

■ Source: ADHIS

DID YOU KNOW?

Genetics keep getting betterWHEN IT comes to finding the best bulls to use over Australian dairy herds, they keep getting better and better, as demonstrated by the April 2016 release of Australian Breeding Values (ABVs).

Daniel Abernethy from the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme (ADHIS) said this release had improvements in reliabilities across all traits, giving dairy farmers even more confidence in their bull choices.

As an example, the reliability of the Balanced Performance Index (BPI) has increased by 5.8% in Holsteins and 2.5% for Jerseys (see table).

“In the world of genetics these numbers represent significant improvements,” Daniel said.

The increases in reliability came from the addition of genotypes for 30,000 females in 100 herds into the reference population, through the GINFO project.

GINFO is a major delivery of the Dairy Futures CRC in its last six months of operation. Ginfo is a

collaboration involving the DairyFutures CRC, ADHIS, Holstein Australia, Jersey Australia and the Victorian Government (DEDJTR).

Genetic gains are making solid improvements across Australia’s dairy herds.

For example, after 20 years of declining dairy cow fertility, the genetic trend has turned around and improved every year since 2011 year. It is now about 5% higher than cows born in 2011, and similar to cows born in 1996.

Michelle Axford, from ADHIS, said this was an example of the gains that can be made through increased emphasis of fertility in Australian selection indices, particularly in the Balanced Performance Index (BPI) and Health Weighted Index (HWI).

“We can expect further gains as the focus on fertility in indices has increased further in the past couple of years,” she said.

“On top of that, bull companies and farmers are paying extra attention to the Daughter Fertility ABV when making their

final bull selections.“We are now seeing

the direct benefits on farm. Cows with higher daughter fertility ABVs get back in calf sooner – that is they have higher 6-week in calf rates.”

Michelle said the simplest way to improve the genetics of herds for fertility was to choose bulls from the Good Bulls Guide or app with a high Daughter Fertility ABV (>104).

She said recent research had given dairy farmers more choice for bulls with better fertility ABVs and more confidence in those bulls.

“The reliability of the Daughter Fertility ABV has improved significantly and there are more bulls with much higher Daughter Fertility ABVs to choose from. This is the outcome of collaborative work between ADHIS and the Dairy Futures CRC,” she said.

To find out more about the changing dynamics of Australian dairy herds, download the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Report 2015 from www.adhis.com.au. (Source: ADHIS)

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ABVs // 29

GOOD BULLS GUIDE FOR RED BREEDS - Balanced Performance Index - Australian Proven Bulls

Breed

INDICES PRODUCTION TRAITS SURVIVAL CONFIRMATION TRAITS WORKABILITYDAUGHTER FERTILITY

FEED SAVED

Rank Bull ID Bull Name BPI$

BPIRel HWI TWI ASI

ASIRel

No.Dtrs

No.Herds Survival Rel

Over Type

Mam Syst

Type Rel

Milk Spd Temp Like Rel

Dtr Fert Rel

Feed Saved Rel Source

1 Vfoske V Foske U 287 88 201 286 206 98 347 40 108 80 106 105 86 101 103 104 92 105 88 -142 40 VIK

2 Arbobama Beaulands Obama U 202 76 151 206 141 92 85 36 106 53 102 100 56 105 100 103 80 102 65 -16 28 GAC

3 Randersdavid R David U 182 87 167 178 41 97 259 49 110 80 100 101 81 100 100 100 88 104 89 -26 38 VIK

4 Arbbonjovi Bosgowan Bon Jovi U 172 90 127 138 118 99 1284 200 102 86 98 100 86 102 100 102 97 104 93 -16 40 GAC

5 Arbdmax Louvic D Max U 164 76 87 79 173 93 96 37 95 56 93 90 64 90 102 98 77 102 59 -68 32 GAC

6 Arblever Louvic Lever U 164 77 160 182 63 92 82 37 103 57 102 106 57 99 96 99 75 104 69 98 28 GAC

7 GEDBO2263 G Edbo U 147 84 153 124 50 96 154 22 104 76 96 101 66 105 102 102 82 101 85 162 34 VIK

GOOD BULLS GUIDE FOR JERSEYS - Balanced Performance Index - Australian Proven BulsINDICES PRODUCTION TRAITS SURVIVAL CONFIRMATION TRAITS WORKABILITY

DAUGHTER FERTILIITY

FEED SAVED

Rank Bull Bull NameBPI

$BPIRel HWI TWI ASI

ASIRel

No.Dtrs


OverType

MamSyst

TypeRel

MilkSpd Temp Like Rel

DtrFert Rel

Feed Saved Rel

Source

1 Elton Cairnbrae Jaces Elton 312 93 225 330 208 99 4437 464 106 96 108 106 97 104 105 104 99 100 98 -118 44 ABS

2 Cscedison Cairnbrae Tbone Edison 296 75 165 304 274 86 82 35 103 63 103 103 71 103 103 102 76 95 69 -242 34 ABS

3 Raceway Aberdeen Valerian Sandown-ET 286 81 214 289 211 91 119 45 104 70 106 111 82 104 104 105 81 100 77 -46 39 GAC

4 Cscambition Riverside Ambition 286 75 242 258 188 86 68 28 103 64 102 106 71 104 101 102 74 103 72 109 34 ABS

5 Navarian Colnarco Navarian 284 75 220 285 195 86 76 36 105 61 106 109 65 102 102 104 75 103 72 -29 32 GAC

6 Strzelecki Araluen Park Strzelecki 273 70 197 198 242 80 55 18 104 60 101 97 73 102 103 105 70 101 59 78 35 GAC

7 7J1038 All Lynns Louie Valentino 271 84 210 350 135 94 186 44 112 76 114 112 85 104 107 107 82 97 85 -175 40 GAC

8 Cairnbone Cairnbrae Tbone Ensign 263 74 191 338 178 85 69 25 104 62 113 120 70 99 100 101 71 100 69 -139 34 ALT

9 Vipor Nowell Viper 263 72 219 267 173 83 53 21 104 61 104 112 69 106 103 103 67 104 72 55 33 AGR

10 Crvmarvarie Wallacedale Marvarie ET 235 72 167 239 189 84 69 21 103 60 110 107 70 103 107 103 71 104 61 -47 34 CRV

GOOD BULLS GUIDE FOR HOLSTEIN - Balanced Performance Index - Australian Proven Bulls

INDICES PRODUCTION TRAITS SURVIVAL CONFIRMATION TRAITS WORKABILITYDAUGHTER FERTILIITY

FEED SAVED

Rank Bull Bull NameBPI

$BPIRel HWI TWI ASI

ASIRel

No.Dtrs


OverType

MamSyst

TypeRel

MilkSpd Temp Like Rel

DtrFert Rel

Feed Saved Rel Source

1 Geemcee Rengaw Manoman Hummer-ET 296 69 191 230 258 77 45 20 102 64 98 101 75 101 103 103 68 104 64 -105 39 GAC

2 Wrangler Rengaw Manoman Wrangler-ET 291 69 201 259 232 77 44 23 106 64 104 102 75 100 102 102 67 105 65 -72 39 GAC

3 Goldcrest Topspeed Goldyn-ET 291 74 234 272 218 84 67 32 104 63 101 102 71 103 100 102 67 97 71 101 38 GAC

4 Homanifold Mainstream Manifold 291 88 221 277 199 97 416 40 107 85 105 103 89 99 99 102 85 108 91 -47 41 SEM

5 Christmas Emu Banks Christmas-ET 278 79 165 289 261 89 100 31 103 68 108 101 81 102 101 101 74 98 75 -158 41 GAC

6 Cogenttwist Cogent Twist 274 88 199 258 175 96 285 48 108 80 106 98 88 100 104 103 89 104 89 -98 43 UVS

7 Trickin Jet Star Manoman Trickin 268 75 198 255 172 84 45 27 106 68 105 101 78 105 101 101 70 107 63 -52 39 GAC

8 Janek Rengaw Jardin Janek 264 77 212 248 184 88 92 28 106 64 104 104 71 101 103 103 74 102 72 48 37 ABS

9 Delsanto Manna Farm Del Santo 248 92 177 266 234 99 2087 287 99 90 106 111 97 100 102 103 98 97 94 26 47 GAC

10 Sholtz St Clair Sholtz-Twin 244 75 167 242 182 85 64 35 106 66 104 102 72 100 104 103 67 99 74 -126 38 ABS

11 7H8081 Ensenada Taboo Planet ET 242 92 209 248 97 99 753 145 110 94 104 109 98 100 103 103 96 102 96 -76 47 GAC

12 Niels Hill Valley Niels 241 73 191 263 148 84 63 31 106 59 105 104 62 97 102 102 70 100 70 -29 33 ABS

13 Buddha Bushlea Perfector Bold-ET 240 91 185 213 157 99 2107 318 104 84 102 101 97 100 102 102 98 103 92 -23 47 GAC

14 Canbee Country Road Roumare Canbee 238 85 154 248 238 95 277 76 102 76 104 103 90 104 103 102 89 95 79 -45 44 ALT

15 29HO12470 Indijks Babylon 237 89 165 210 169 97 503 113 104 84 102 99 89 100 100 101 92 108 88 -114 44 ABS

16 29HO12772 Ballycairn Oman Pello 232 79 187 184 121 88 59 25 106 74 99 97 81 101 101 102 75 110 78 -36 41 ABS

17 YJ Gallrae Tennyson YJ 228 73 170 212 128 83 59 27 106 62 104 101 72 100 100 100 67 110 70 -104 38 ABS

18 Carlana Kaarmona Carlana 227 73 158 219 169 82 52 29 104 64 103 104 75 101 100 101 69 98 71 -95 38 GAC

19 Roufector Bundalong Roufector 225 78 145 256 212 88 87 36 103 69 109 107 77 105 103 104 75 95 76 -64 40 ALT

20 Opaleye Dilee Planet Ollie 958-ET 225 71 185 242 157 82 56 30 105 60 106 111 68 99 101 103 67 102 68 11 36 GAC

Australian Breeding Values April 2016


30 // ANIMAL HEALTH

PERHAPS ONE of the greatest medical breakthroughs of our age was the discovery of penicillin by Alexander Fleming in 1928.

New antibiotics were rapidly discovered which revolutionised the means by which infectious diseases were treated.

Suddenly, common human infections became easily curable and outbreaks of infectious disease were readily controlled.

However, just a few years after the golden age of antibiotics, warning signs of developing resistance were observed.

Just as Fleming had predicted, previously susceptible bacteria were developing drug resistance at an alarming speed.

Although the magnitude of this problem is still unclear, it is proposed that abuse and misuse of antibiotics is largely responsible for the development of resistance.

In an effort to slow this phenomenon, in 1955 penicillin was no longer freely available to the public, in lozenges and creams, and instead became ‘prescription only’.

In less than 100 years after antibiotic discovery, we now face a grim scenario for the generation to come where most antimicrobials might no longer be effective.

Human and veterinary medicine may once again enter an era where common bacterial infections could once again prove lethal.What is antibiotic resistance?

Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a bacteria to survive and multiply in the presence of an antibiotic agent that would normally inhibit or kill this species of bacteria.

Bacterial populations can quickly modify themselves to resist antibiotics and then pass these resistance traits to the next generation of bacteria.

Sharing of resistance genes with other types of bacteria has also been seen.

Antibiotic resistance is just one mechanism by which bacteria have adapted to survive and is nearly as old as the discovery of antibiotics themselves.

A concerning fact in the modern world is the rate at which antibiotic resistance often develops and how quickly it spreads across the globe and amongst different species of bacteria.

Worryingly, more bacteria have also developed multiple drug resistance which severely limits therapeutic options for infections in both animals and people. Antibiotics in food-animals

The use of antibiotics in animals closely parallels their discovery and usage in humans.

In the 1940s, the first antibiotic was introduced into food animal medicine.

Subsequently newer antibiotics were discovered and made available for food animal species and their use became widespread to treat a multitude of infectious diseases.

Antibiotic usage in food animals improves more than just animal well-being but also has economic benefits for food animal producers along with a safer public health sector. However, the unnecessary or wasteful use of antibiotics should be avoided when non-

antibiotic solutions are readily available or when the use of antibiotics for a particular disease condition are clearly not effective.

Antibiotics may be used therapeutically in animals for treating specific bacterial diseases.

They may also be used for non-therapeutic

purposes such as prophylaxis and metaphylaxis.

Veterinarians often prescribe antibiotics to animals that are not currently ill with a particular disease, but are at high risk of acquiring an infection.

For example, an animal may be treated with antibiotics after having undergone surgery (prophylaxis) or herds may be given antibiotics if they are at risk of suffering an outbreak of infectious disease due to high risk of exposure to disease agents (metaphylaxis).

In the dairy industry, mass administration of antibiotics is often practiced during dry-cow therapy to help prevent mastitis or prior to transportation of livestock over large distances to help prevent respiratory disease.

Prophylactic or metaphylactic use of antibiotics can aid in the control and prevention of numerous animal diseases.

However, this use of antibiotics should never be intended to replace the need for good management practices, given that the use of antibiotics will eventually lead to resistance.

How can we slow down antibiotic resistance?

Prudent or judicious use of antibiotics is “the optimal selection of drug, dose and duration of antibiotic treatment”.

In addition to this, inappropriate and excessive treatments should be reduced to help slow the emergence of antimicrobial resistance.

In the dairy industry this means that veterinarians and dairy farmers have dual roles of protecting animals from pain and suffering, while safeguarding the interest of public health.

Guidelines for antibiotic usage on-farm should be developed in conjunction with your veterinarian. Each farm will be different and it is important to review these guidelines frequently.

Good records are essential to help determine the pattern of antibiotic usage from season to season and from year to year.

Record keeping also prevents antibiotic-treated animals from contributing to the human food-chain.

Improvement of farm hygiene

practices and animal husbandry will help reduce the usage of antibiotics on farm and it is important to report periods of increased antibiotic treatments to your veterinarian.

Only use antibiotics in dairy animals for the specific reason for which they have been prescribed, at the specific dose rate and for the specific duration of treatment.

If the effectiveness of an antibiotic has decreased over time, report this to your veterinarian immediately.

A holistic approach to disease prevention is required to create a sustainable farming system that does not rely solely on mass-medication with antibiotics.

This is critical to the future of dairy farming, veterinary and human health.

Note: The author would like to acknowledge the “Get Smart on the Farm” program by Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA.• Gemma Chuck is a vet with The Vet Group, Victoria, Australia.

Antibiotic resistance an emerging global problem

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ANIMAL HEALTH // 31

THE LAST significant in-season drop in the price of milk to suppliers was in 2008, and that doesn’t take a long memory to recall – it is hardly ancient history!

The price drop in 2008 triggered a range of responses, some of which produced significant lessons which shouldn’t be forgotten.

In terms of milk quality and mastitis control there are three lessons that should probably be recalled now to avoid history repeating itself.Dry-off

Many farms which made radical changes to their dry-off routine (mainly in terms of product selection & cow selection) suffered a significant “blow out” in terms of cell counts and cases of mastitis in the following lactation, resulting in costs that were way in excess of the saving made at dry-off.

Many of these farms also had significant longer term effects on their milk quality and mastitis control.

This does not mean it is not possible to cut some costs at dry-off, but the lesson from 2008 is that understanding what effect each compromise has on the risk of mastitis will allow an informed decision to be made, and also give an opportunity to potentially alter other management areas to reduce that risk.

Also consider that whilst every compromise has an effect, some changes have a lesser risk than others, and some changes may have “work-arounds” that will help to manage the change in risk.

If you think you need to make compromises at dry-off, make sure you have a discussion with your advisers about how to minimise the risks, and how to best manage the changes in risk that are likely to result.

Items to consider in that discussion will include product selection (in terms of both cure rates of existing

infections and prevention of new infections), and cow selection (in terms of which cows should be treated and how to choose them).

As an example, if you were considering removing teat sealant from your dry-off treatment protocol, the main effect will be to increase the risk of new infections, especially around calving.

After discussion, you may decide that the increased risk is a risk you do not want to take at all, or you may choose to limit the risk to a certain group of animals (e.g. the heifers), or you may choose to consider a “work-around” in terms of altering your calving management for either the whole herd, or that particular group of animals, in a way that reduces that risk at calving.

Also, if you are considering selective treatment of cows, don’t be surprised if your adviser suggests a different cell count threshold for treatment than you might have expected.Culling

Already many herd managers are talking of reduced numbers for next season.

Selection of cows to cull is always based on many factors, but cell counts and mastitis are always in the mix to be considered.

Countdown has given us good guidelines to use when considering cows for culling.

Firstly, cows that have had three or more clinical cases of mastitis in a lactation should appear on most preferential culling lists.

However, the use of cell counts for culling requires a bit more thought, as just culling the cows with the highest cell counts at the most recent herd test may not give the best outcome.

A number of factors including a cow’s age, production, udder conformation and history of dry cow therapy and clinical cases should also be taken into account.

As an example, an older cow with a history

Lessons from historyROD DYSON, DAIRY FOCUS

of high cell counts after having being treated with dry cow therapy should generally be higher on the preferential cull list than a young cow that has never had dry cow therapy, even though the younger cow’s cell count may be considerably higher.

This is because the

cow that has never had dry cow therapy is likely to have a greater chance of cure with that therapy than a cow that has already failed to cure before.

It is likely that taking a little time to work through your cull list will give you a better outcome.

ReplacementsAnother lesson from

2008 is that some farms that chose to reduce costs and gain extra cash by selling replacement heifers subsequently found it to be a long hard road to rebuild the herd at a later date.

Not only that, but their ability to cull cows

for any reason was also severely compromised for some years afterwards.

In summary, some hard decisions are likely to be needed. Also, there is no single answer to any of these situations or questions, and every farm is different.

However, it is almost

certain that an informed decision with some forward planning to cover any changes in the farm’s milk quality and mastitis risk profile is likely to give a far better outcome.

History has given us some lessons to learn from, and now is the time to heed those lessons.


32 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

IT IS the little “one percenters” that farmers look for to make a difference in their production systems, whether it is dairy or another agricultural industry.

So it is for Fendt, the German manufacturer of one of the top of the range tractors available in the Australian market, which is achieving the highest level of emission control against European standards.

“It’s called ‘AdBlue’ and it neutralises emissions,” said AGCO’s Chris Dalton, who had several of the tractors on show at Farm World in April.

“When too many emissions build up, the injection system will use selective catalyst reduction to neutralise them with ‘AdBlue’.

“Consequently, low level emissions will be produced.”

The additive is a 32.5% solution of urea which converts nitrous oxides into nitrogen and water. ‘AdBlue’ is consumed at an average 7% of the diesel consumption.

The effect is to lower the carbon footprint of the entire enterprise and, possibly, use less diesel which saves money.

Those claims, of course, are also dependent on operator use, quality of fuel, terrain, use of the tractor and such things as maintenance of the machine.

“The tractor is always driven at the lowest engine speed possible – which means automatic efficiency,” Chris said, speaking at last month’s Farm World expo in West Gippsland.

“We’ve had a lot of interest from farmers in

the Fendt 310 Vario.”The latest model

(pictured) – the S4 – used about 50% less ‘AdBlue’ than its predecessor model – the SCR – for better emission control, Chris said.

With the focus on precision agriculture globally as well as in Australia, Fendt has stepped up to the mark, with automated operating sequences.

The VarioGuide is a guidance system accurate to within 2cm and, with all electronic controls united in one terminal for the first time, there is integration across tracking, the camera, auto-steering and documentation systems.

A ball-head joint in the bracket enables the terminal to be pivoted so the operator can view it at all times. There is also night mode, so the display can be dimmed for the operator’s comfort.

Basically, using icons and data packages, the information the operator needs is all there visually in an easy-to-see and assess manner on the terminal.

The operator’s manual is easily accessed by pressing the help button. The multi-function joystick is also pretty easy to work with – basically,

Emissions and automation gains from Fendt 310 Vario JEANETTE SEVERS

Chris Dalton, AGCO, with Fendt 310 tractor.

Not just a good lookerTRACTORS HAVE come a long way in design, as seen if you com-pare today’s machines with yester-year favourites like the MF 135 or the Ford 4000.

Nowadays these workhorses have more exterior curves than Mar-ilyn Monroe, and interior finishes fit to make automobile makers cry.

One such ‘modern’ tractor, the Valtra T234 from the AGCO camp,

recently won a prestigious Red Dot Design Award for 2016 in a compe-tition that drew 5200 entries from 57 countries being judged by 41 design professionals from around the world.

The Valtra T4 series is the result of seven years R&D, and is the first of a new generation of trac-tors where technical innovations and a whole new look are brought

together.The clean exterior lines look

good, and underlying design work has focused on usability, ergonom-ics, safety, durability, serviceability and productivity.

Incidentally, the fourth-genera-tion Valtra have also won interna-tional awards including Machine of The Year 2015.www.valtra.com.au

Valtra T234

you don’t need a high level of learning to know how to use it.

The terminal and joystick are only set up for right-hand use, but operators can utilise

the seat swivel to get a large panoramic view of surrounding terrain, Chris said.

Fendt also claims to be able to integrate all machinery operations

through the one system – useful for corporate or large family farming enterprises.

While Fendt is the top of the range for machinery, with 2% of

the total tractor market, AGCO also manufacture top-end Massey and Valtra tractors and export the three brands worldwide, through a dealer network.

Chris Dalton shows it is a simple way to AdBlue.


MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 33

A quad bike helmet that really works for farmersMARIAN MACDONALD

THIS NEW helmet for quad-bike-riding farmers will save lives because it works.

Not just because it’s tough and protective but because it’s not the sort of helmet you rip off as soon as you’re out of sight of the boss.

Most farmers refuse to wear helmets and I can understand why.

I’ve tried wearing a road bike helmet (in line with official expectations) to bring the cows home on a sweltering Sunday after-noon.

A road bike protects your head all right – that is, for the few minutes before heat exhaustion sets in.

Road bike helmets are made for riding motor bikes on a road, fast.

Not at 2km/hr behind 250 cows, each throwing out the same body heat as a 1500kW hair dryer (I’m not joking, they do).

As a result, we’d decided to wear eques-trian helmets compliant with AS/NZS 3838.

Designed to protect a rider from a nasty fall at speed, they provide more protection than a pushbike helmet and better venti-lation than a motor bike helmet.

Why hadn’t we chosen a helmet rated for agricul-tural quad bike use, you ask?

Because there wasn’t one.

New Zealand has devel-oped such a standard – NZS 8600 All Terrain Vehicle Helmets – but, for reasons I can’t fathom, Australia has not adopted it or chosen to follow suit.

Australian inspectors will still expect you to wear a road bike helmet, unless you can prove you have done a proper risk assessment.

Despite it all, the Quad-bar people have finally designed and made a helmet especially for Aus-tralian farmers, the HQ Stockman 2.

We were sent a compli-

mentary sample helmet to test on the farm.

Suffice to say, Wayne’s old equestrian helmet is gathering dust and we’ll be buying another Stockman.

The helmet is light and comfortable enough to forget you’re wearing it and the ventilation is just as good as the equestrian helmets we’ve been using.

What it has over the equestrian helmets is added protection.

The HQ Stockman 2 meets NZS 8600 standard as recommended by both the Queensland and NSW coroners.

The helmet is so strong, it passes the test used to gauge the protec-tiveness of road bike hel-mets, although only based on one impact, rather than two, as Quadbar’s Dave Robertson explains:

“The ‘Impact energy attenuation test’ is the same test for the Austra-lian motorcycle (and USA DOT motorcycle) stan-dards however the test is repeated a second time on each location on the helmet for motorcycle hel-mets,” Mr Robertson said.

“Helmet expert, Dr Terry Smith from Califor-nia USA, at the Qld cor-oner’s inquest went to a lot of trouble to explain that the second test is to ensure protection in a case where the ‘head strikes twice in the same location’ and must not be inter-preted as providing double the protection.

“The speed impact is the same on both tests and the protection must be below 300g.

“The level of protection of a motorcycle helmet is in the fact that it can with-stand a second impact on the same location on the helmet which is more likely at higher speeds.

“It (motorcycle helmet) is not tested at a higher speed than NZS 8600 however will most likely withstand multiple impacts.”

If you’re riding a quad on the farm without a helmet, get a Stockman.

It’s the sort of helmet you forget to take off and

it might just save your neck.

NOTE: A helmet com-pliant with NZS 8600 called the AgHat came

on the market a couple of years ago but we didn’t adopt it at our farm because it had no venti-lation.

• This column was republished with permission from http://milkmaidmarian.com

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34 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

DURING THIS year’s Agritechnica in Germany, Lely introduced a new series of variable chamber round balers that offer ultimate flexibility.

The versatile Lely Welger RP 160 V baler series guarantees high quality output, well-shaped high density bales and is user friendly.

Lely offers versatile balers

A newly designed and thoroughly tested bale chamber ensures the high performance of this baler series which will replace the well-known Lely Welger RP 415 and RP 445 series balers.

The Lely Welger RP 160 V series consists of two basic models: - The RP 160 V Classic; has a basic setup and is well suited for drier crops. - The RP 160 V; has a heavy duty power split gearbox for the heaviest conditions as a rotor feed non-chopper baler or can be fitted with the Mastercut 13 knife or Xtracut 17 knife chopping systems.

The model configurations available along with the advanced features of the Lely Welger RP 160 V series are sure to meet the demands of both farmers and contractors in all kinds of situations.

The Lely Welger RP 160 V baler range features the 2.25m five-tine-bar high capacity camless pick-up.

The cleverly designed segment plates and the short distance from the pick-up to the rotor ensures excellent crop throughput.

Thanks to the newly designed geometry of the bale chamber, bale formation is enhanced from the start.

Together with the renowned Constant Pressure System (CPS) this baler series delivers exceptionally high density and well-shaped bales.

High and consistent bale density reduces costs and ensures a rapid start of the fermentation process in baled silage, resulting in higher feed quality.

Lely is dedicated to the continuous improvement of user friendliness of its forage machinery range.

The Lely Welger RP 160 V features the Easy net Loading System (ELS) where net rolls are loaded from ground level saving time and effort.

The easily opened guarding doors allow quick access to the second net-roll storage and increased access to the

machine for maintenance and inspection.

Central greasing banks ensure a high level of comfort for daily maintenance.

The Lely Welger RP 160 V range also features automatic chain lubrication system as standard, which ensures all drive chains are constantly lubricated guaranteeing a longer lifetime.

The Lely Welger RP 160 V’s newly designed drawbar is easily adaptable to any type of tractor. The new storage area for the hydraulic hoses ensures quick coupling to the tractor.

New to the Lely Welger RP 160 V Classic is the Lely E-LINK Control unit.

This unit provides the operator with a clear overview of all baler processes on a colour screen.

The clear button controls give the operator direct access to important functions, with all adjustments and settings that can be made from the tractor cab.

The user friendly E-LINK Pro terminal is standard on the RP 160 V rotor feed non-chopper model and also the RP 160 V models with the Mastercut and Xtracut chopping systems.

The bright touch screen display offers a clear overview by having a lot of space for all useful baler information.

The E-LINK Pro terminal has ISOBUS compatibility, so any tractor can be easily connected, allowing you to use its own terminal.

“The exceptional performance of the Lely Welger RP 160 V is due to a unique design that incorporates a larger-capacity variable bale chamber and many options in feeding and chopping,” product manager, balers, Gilles Troff said.

“It has proven not only to create perfect bales across a range of crops and conditions, but is exceptionally user friendly by design.” Source: Lely

Dealers at Lely’s forage conference were shown the new features of the Welger RP 160V round baler by international specialist, Sjors van Deursen.

* Offer available with the purchase of 6D, 6M & 6R tractors with cab only at participating dealers before 31/07/2016. Offer excludes open operator station confi gurations. † Conditions apply. Finance available through John Deere Financial Limited to approved commercial applicants only. Valid on new 6 Family tractors at participating dealers delivered no later than 31/10/2016. Offer is based on 20% deposit, GST back and 36 month term. Fees and charges apply. If not amended or withdrawn earlier, the promotion expires on 31/07/2016. JohnDeere.com.au/Udderly

6D SeriesValue-spec with the right amount of features:

✓ 74.5 – 96 kW (100 – 130 hp) ✓ Open operator station or climate

controlled cab ✓ Transmission options up to 31 km/h

6M SeriesThere’s nothing basic about this versatile workhorse:

✓ 82 – 145 kW (110 – 195 hp) ✓ Open operator station or ComfortCab

with all-around visibility of 310 degrees ✓ Transmission options up to 40 km/h

6R SeriesPremium comfort meets do-it-all performance:

✓ 82 – 156 kW (110 – 210 hp) ✓ ComfortView™ cab with 20%

more room and easy to operate CommandARM™ console

✓ Transmission options up to 50 km/h

We make choosing the right tractor easy, so you can focus on your herd. Our reliable 6 Family tractors have all the features you need to make your farm more effi cient while keeping you comfortable during long days. Right now you can receive $2,000* towards a maintenance plan or extended warranty when you purchase a 6D, 6M or 6R cab tractor. Plus, get a low 1.49% p.a.† fi nance rate on all 6 Family tractors.

Compare models and get a quote from your local dealer today.

Nothing Runs Like a Deere™

There’s nothing basic about

82 – 145 kW (110 – 195 hp)Open operator station or ComfortCab

VERSATILITY

right amount of features:

74.5 – 96 kW (100 – 130 hp)Open operator station or climate

VALUE

82 – 156 kW (110 – 210 hp)ComfortView™ cab with 20%

PREMIUM

Udderly effi cient tractors

6D Series VALUE

QAC FREE

NPE FREE

CONCENTRATEd ACId

AQUAKLENZ HV CONCENTRATE is a low-foaming acid detergent sanitiser, developed specifically for the cleaning of high velocity plants.

Contact one of our Ecolab Territory Managers or call 1.800.022.002 to find out more about the new AQUAKLENZ HV CONCENTRATE product, pricing options and wash programmes.

We work harder so you can work smarter.

THE NExT GENERATION OF FARm dETERGENT HAs ARRIVEd.

Flashmate® Electronic Heat Detector

Want expert eyes, 24/7?Problem solved.

1800 GALLAGHER www.gallagher.com

A new disposable electronic heat alert product that monitors riding activity to identify when a cow is in standing heat

• Easy application – the units are extremely easy to applyand maintain

• Detects multiple heats – will flash red again for the nextdetected heat cycle if AI has failed.

• Improved accuracy - smarter detection, looking forpatterns (length, time, frequency) rather than what couldbe a single event.

• Low experience required - Needs significantly lessunderstanding and skill in correctly identifying heats.

Documents

Dairy News Australia May 2016