Dairy News Australia October 2012

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tAsmAniAn tiPsCouple’s margin calls PAGE 22

FrEsh milk ExPortsIs the idea a flight of fantasy? PAGES 4-5

october, 2012 issuE 30 // www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au

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Dai ry NewS aUSTraLia october, 2012

nEws // 3

Queensland’s Kunde family believe previous changes to their farm system will help them cope with market realities. PG.20

Western Australian farmer Adrian Bond is wrapt with his new McHale V660 round baler. PG.28

Changes to Victorian farmer John Watson’s dairy have cut milking and improved herd health. PG.24

nEws ��3-13

AGribusinEss �� 14-15

oPinion �� 16-17

brEEdinG ��18-19

mAnAGEmEnt �� 20-23

AnimAl hEAlth ��24-27

mAchinEry &

Products ��28-30

trActors & dAiry

EquiPmEnt �� 31-33

ProPErty ��34

thE FEdErAl Government has given an ambitious plan to signifi-cantly boost Tasmanian milk pro-duction a lukewarm response.

The collaborative project, Filling the Factories, aims to lift production by 40% - or 350 million litres - over the next three to five years.

To achieve this growth, state and federal governments have been asked to contribute $1.1 million to fund a strategic growth strategy based on farming systems, including building herd numbers and labour, and increasing dairy conversions.

The strategy will encompass image and public perception, gov-ernment regulations, environmental stewardship and social responsibil-ity.

Dairy Australia, DairyTas, Fon-terra, Cadburys and Tasmanian Dairy Products have already made in-prin-ciple commitments of $400,000.

Fonterra, Cadburys, TDP and Lion have all recently invested sig-nificantly in processing upgrades in Tasmania. The proposed strat-egy would help fill processing facili-ties by discovering ways to lift cows numbers, facilitate access to skilled dairy immigrants, provide business management and seek further invest-ment, among others.

However, Federal Member for Braddon, Sid Sidebottom, has said while the strategy is important, and negotiations for funding are under-way, the dairy industry must sustain itself.

“It’s important that the industry invests in itself,” Sidebottom told

ABC Radio.However, State member Greg

Hall, an independent, has introduced a motion for debate supporting a call for funding to support the strategy.

Hall has said the dairy industry in Tasmania is the shining light of the economy and must be supported.

“The industry have put something like $400,000 odd in there they’ve committed themselves already, so they’ve shown they’re willing, and I think it’s up to both state and federal government, which between the two, in the whole scheme of things, is not a whole lot of money,” Hall said.

The new Tasmanian Dairy Prod-ucts (TDP) processing facility, of

which Murray Goulburn is a major stakeholder, began operation last month but has only reached just over half its capacity.

TDP chief executive Tony Cat-ania said its success would depend on the success of the Filling the Fac-tories scheme launched in order to meet their supply demands.

“It’s an extremely important ini-tiative. We’re very keen to maximise the milk going into our factory here,” Catania said.

DairyTas executive officer Mark Smith said Filling the Factories is about ramping up the rate of growth so Tasmania can capitalise on eco-nomic opportunities as soon as pos-

sible. “The processors need the milk

now and the Tasmanian economy needs this stimulus now,” he said.

“Increased investment in pro-cessing capacity means more options for farmers in a more competitive market place.

“Farmers will have more choice in where they supply their milk. The overall viability of the process-ing sector is vital for the sustainable future of the industry.

“Increased milk production to meet the Filling the Factories target in 3 to 5 years time will help ensure the sustainability of both farm and factory investments.”

Govt lukewarm on Tasmanian expansion plan

tasmanian dairy farmer Michael Palmer now supplies tasmanian Dairy Products, which opened its facility last month. tDP is behind the new strategy to boost tasmanian dairy production.

wEstErn AustrAliA businesses are dipping their toes in the fresh milk export market.

WA Farmers Dairy Section pres-ident Phil Depiazzi said the biggest issue confronting the state’s attempts to drive an export market was securing enough money and getting extra milk in the system.

“If the price was right and we could access enough milk we would be keen to do it, but it has to be viable,” Mr Depi-azzi said. “We need something to stim-ulate the industry and give farmers the confidence to grow.”

He said the supermarket price war had had a major impact on farmer con-fidence. “We need a strong domestic market base and then we can look to drive exports.”

Depiazzi said there was plenty of air space room for fresh milk and exports would be practical if financially viable.

He said he knew of one Western Australian business, Bannister Downs Farm, which was exporting on a small scale to Asian markets. The company’s website says it has been exporting to Singapore and has three or four other markets open to it.

The long-term future of the Western

Australian dairy industry could lie due north – in Asia, said Depiazzi.

The Dardanup dairy farmer said the WA dairy industry can’t rely on the domestic market to sustain it so WAFarmers will investigate export opportunities to Asia.

Wesfarmers funded the Fresh Opportunities report, released last year, which investigates these options and Depiazzi said he doesn’t want it to “sit on a shelf ”.

The report, prepared by Strategis Partners, said WA’s key competitive advantage is its proximity to Asia. Its future lies in targeting and hitting the premium markets in Asia where dairy consumption is growing strongly, the report said.

WA could become an innovative exporter and overcome the small size of its domestic market – like New Zealand did 30 years ago – with an emphasis on ‘fresh’, it said.

The guiding policy for enlarging the dairy industry in WA, is to increase on-farm production and increase WA’s share of the dairy market in Asia by re-position-ing the WA dairy industry from its pre-dominantly domestic focus and growing its exports of value-added, mainly fresh dairy products into Asia.

This would need a coordinated pro-gram of investment in market devel-

opment and manufacturing, and a re-engineering of the supply chain.

Depiazzi said WAFarmers would start by quantifying returns from Asia and further explore the logistics of ship-ping and air freight to Asia.

A vision for the industry would give farmers confidence to invest in their farm, similar to what the Tasmanian industry is seeing, Depiazzi said.

The report said the WA industry would need to expand production to 777 million litres with around 365 mil-lion litres available for export each year.

The Department of Agriculture is currently investigating opportunities for export markets and WAFarmers would liaise with them, Depiazzi said.

“New opportunities to instil confi-dence and provide long-term sustain-ability are crucial,” he said.

“If we find other markets, proces-sors wouldn’t feel obliged to supply supermarkets at any price.

“The Chinese have bought Raven-hill dairies – there could be opportuni-ties for a joint venture there. They could take all the milk out of the system.”

Phil Depiazzi: We need something to stimulate the industry and give farmers the confidence to grow.

DAi ry NEwS AUSTrALiA october, 2012

4 // nEws: FrEsh milk ExPorts

Asian tastes could determine export successPlAns to export fresh Australian milk to Asia face a significant barrier – most Asians are not used to the taste of fresh milk.

Dairy Australia senior international industry analyst, Norman Repacholi, said consumers haven’t grown up drink-ing fresh milk in much of South East Asia and North Asia.

“They have grown up with a combi-nation of, say, powdered milk and con-densed milk in Indonesia or UHT milk in other parts of Asia,” Repacholi said.

“Fresh milk is something new and they need to get used to it.”

New Zealand Federated Farmers dairy chairman, Willy Leferink, said Fonterra had previously tried to send fresh milk to Singapore.

“It didn’t work because Singapor-

eans didn’t like the taste,” he said.

Despite this barrier, Repacholi said there is further opportunity in fresh milk and fresh dairy products (those under 60 days).

Leferink said the New Zealand dairy industry would look at potential fresh-milk exports to Asia if there was a “buck to be made”.

“There’s always potential where there’s a buck to be made,” Leferink said.

“I have heard there are jumbo jets (in Australia) of fresh milk going to China and they pay a premium for that. But most Chinese are used to the taste of powdered milk.”

Leferink said if Fonterra does embark on fresh milk exports to Asia

“they would proba-bly pick up the milk in Queensland”.

Repacholi said Austra-lia does not necessarily have a greater advantage to New Zealand in fresh products. Fonterra and other dairy companies already ship products around the world.

He said the milk-price wars between Australian supermarkets are behind recent publicity about Dairy Connect NSW looking at shipping fresh milk to Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong.

“It is part of the fight back in the supermarket wars… as part of Dairy Connect’s message of building compe-tition for the local milk: where there is competition there is also competition for the price back at the farmgate.”

Dairy Connect, a new industry body

based in NSW, has made a trial one-day fresh milk shipment to Shanghai and plans more.

Repacholi said there was potential in the fresh milk and dairy product cat-egory “pretty much wherever you look in Asia”.

“’Fresh’ is broadly defined as prod-ucts with a shelf life of not more than 60 days.

“That can be extended shelf-life milk or some UHT, yoghurts... it’s a fairly broad approach.

“With fresh milk specifically you can get some good premiums because it’s pitched at the high disposable-income consumers and they’re focused on freshness or flavour.

“Or it can be pitched to expatriates.”Repacholi said China is a market on

everyone’s radar, with a lot of invest-

ment from all sort of places around the world, not just Australia and New Zea-land.

But neither Australia nor New Zea-land has any specific advantage over the other in fresh milk.

“A lot of it just comes down to the local partners being in the right place giving consumers the opportunity to buy the more expensive milk product and also convincing them.”

Getting fresh milk into Asia was not a “game changer” straight away, he said.

The cold chain is still developing and UHT can be shipped by boat, strapped onto the back of a motorbike and kept in the pantry.

“On average (in China) they are not buying a two or three litre bottle of milk like we would – they would be consum-ing it in smaller increments.”

PAm tiPA

Norman repacholi

WA explores further fresh milk optionsrick bAynE

Fresh Sungold milk in a modified label in china.

AustrAliAn milk vendors are looking to export fresh milk to China and Asian markets to counteract low prices in local supermarkets.

And they say the plan is practical, achievable and likely to result in better returns for dairy farmers.

Dairy farmers, vendors and industry groups around the country are explor-ing ways to make exports happen on a large commercial scale.

While there are still some obstacles, they say it will become a reality and a profitable one for farmers.

Amalgamated Milk Vendors Asso-ciation (AMVA) is working with Dairy Connect and NSW dairy farmers to investigate the best way to export bulk fresh milk to China and Asian markets.

AMVA Business Development Man-ager Steve Waller said the Chinese opportunity emerged as a response to lower prices being paid for milk on the domestic market.

“It’s one way of dealing with the supermarket price war; if farmers can’t make money selling in NSW let’s look at other places to send the milk,” he said.

“Another solution would be if the federal government gave the ACCC appropriate power to assist small busi-ness to compete in the market.

“The price being paid for milk in some supermarkets is not sustainable for the dairy industry to grow and rein-vest for the future. They are using it as a throwaway product to get more cus-tomers into their stores, so we’re look-ing at other options.

“The aim is to get a get a better price for farmers and give them some hope for the future.”

Waller said the concept was in the early stages but held great promise.

“Yes it is possible. It has been done on a small scale and we are exploring the best way to make it happen on a larger scale,” he said.

“We can get it there in a plane. That is quite achievable as long as you make sure the milk doesn’t freeze.

“The biggest issue is moving the milk from the processing plant to the tarmac and onto the planes and then the down time at the end of the trip. We are exploring the best way to get around that. We need to take ownership until it gets to supermarkets. It is not an easy exercise but if we get the politicians on-side it is achievable.”

Waller said the association was “not trying to step on the toes of manufac-turers”.

“The trough is big enough for every-one. If it comes off it will force the price up for farmers and help Australia’s rep-utation as one of the major food bowls for the world.”

Nick Viropoulos, general manager of Nick’s Food-Milk-More, has been work-ing on sending fresh milk to China for the past three years and is confident it will happen and will succeed.

Viropoulos has taken sample prod-ucts to major Chinese markets which are enthusiastic about a deal.

“We have met with high-end retail supermarkets. They want fresh milk, are happy with the price and are very open to taking dairy product out of Austra-lia,” he said.

“We have some obstacles and a few logicistical hiccups to sort through but it’s a great concept and it is going to happen.”

Viropoulos said people wondered how fresh milk could be exported. “Well it’s relatively simple. You simply take a

milk truck and replace it with a jumbo jet,” he said.

“We get 100,000 litres a week from Warrnambool Cheese and Butter in Vic-toria on a B-double which takes about 14 hours to get to Sydney. It is quicker for me to get it out of Avalon Airport and into Shanghai.

“There are some sensitivities in get-ting it off the semi-trailer and loading at the airport and then unloading in China, but we are working with govern-ment officials and the dairy industry to resolve them,” he said.

“We need to be able to clear quaran-tine in a timely manner...we are work-ing on that.”

Dry ice is used in the freight process to ensure proper temperature control when loading and unloading and pass-

ing through customs. Once in the air the plane cargo hold needs to be heated to keep the milk at a safe temperature.

Negotiations have started with Qantas to transport the fresh milk.

Viropoulos said export milk would go through the normal processing plant system. He said he would expect to pay premium prices for fresh milk bound for the export market which could direct milk away from local supermar-kets and put pressure on their cut-price campaigns.

“It would keep the industry strong. It would be fantastic for Australia and for Australian farmers and for China because they would get our high qual-ity milk,” he said.

“It might also make Coles and Wool-worths stop this $1 a litre bullshit.”


nEws // 5

Supermarket standoff fuels Asian market explorationrick bAynE

exploring fresh milk to Asia involves significant logistical challenges.

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thE commonwEAlth and the States risk a big compensation bill for farms, tourism and infrastructure if they pursue a 3200GL water recovery target under the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, according to the Australian Dairy Indus-try Council (ADIC).

The Murray-Darling Basin Authority (MDBA) released modelling earlier this month that focuses on the likely outcomes should 2800GL and 3200GL be returned to the river system, after key constraints in the system – namely limitations on the amount of water that can be released from various water sources, including river channels – have been relaxed.

ADIC president Chris Griffin said the 3200GL scenario involved more fre-quently flooding thousands of hectares of farmland, as well as caravan parks, access roads, prime tourism attractions such as the Tocumwal beaches, and South Austra-lia’s holiday ‘shacks’ on the Murray River.

“The impacts are clearly identified in reports by the SA Government, and the Goulburn Broken and NSW Murray Catch-ment Management Authorities,” Griffin said.

“The inescapable fact is that the Com-monwealth and the States will face a hefty

bill to buy flood easements on affected properties, and compensate caravan park owners and businesses in tourist towns like Tocumwal.

“And that is even before they get the repair bill for fixing access roads and low-lying bridges after each flood has passed through.”

ADIC Basin Response Taskforce Chair Daryl Hoey said there were smarter ways to achieve healthier rivers and wetlands than just stripping ever larger volumes of water out of irrigation communities.

“We know there is widespread politi-cal support for a 2100GL cap on water buy-backs and infrastructure savings, plus at least 650GL in offsets such as environmen-tal works and improved river operations.

“This formula will deliver similar or better environmental outcomes – includ-ing protecting the lower lakes, Coorong and Murray mouth – than just taking 2750GL or 3200GL of water away from irrigators.”


6 // nEws

FontErrA is closing a factory and laying off employees in Australia, saying its 100-year-old plant at Cororooke, south-western Victoria, is no longer viable. The plant, employing 130 people, will shut next year.

Fonterra Ingredients Australia manag-ing director Simon Bromel said supporting staff was now its top priority.

“We wanted to give our people as much notice as possible, and we are working with all employees and their families to support them as we work through a staged closure process over the next year.

“Where possible, Fonterra is keen to help employees who wish to relocate to other sites to identify suitable roles. How-ever, it is unlikely we will be able to relocate all employees and there may be redundan-cies.”

The Cororooke plant makes soft cheeses and cream products. Fonterra says there will be no affect on its farmers in the region. After Corocrooke’s closure all milk from the area will be delivered to Cobdena and Dennington.

Bromel said despite closing one plant, the co-op aimed to keep growing milk supply in the region to support the planned $20 million upgrade at these sites.

“To maintain our market positions, compete effectively on world markets and continue to pay a strong milk price to our farmers, we must ensure our manufacturing sites are efficient and capable of handling the growth we anticipate,” he said.

“We have reconfirmed plans to invest $20 million in site upgrades at Cobden and Dennington over the next three years, but we have also had to make the difficult deci-sion to close Cororooke.

“The Cororooke plant is over 100 years old and needs major upgrades to meet changing environmental and production stan-dards. While our

first preference is always to upgrade and maintain our sites, the challenges we face and the barriers to modernising this partic-ular plant mean the most responsible thing to do is close it.

“This has been a tough decision and not one we have reached lightly. We have explored all alternative options to keep the site open but they were not commer-cially viable.”

Part of the Cobden expansion includes buying a former National Foods site next to Fonterra’s current factory.

After Cororooke closes Fonterra will have nine factories in Australia, handling about 1.7 billion litres this year. Over the past three years, Fonterra has spent at least $100 million in its factories in Victoria.

Fonterra axes factorysudEsh kissun

Flooded farmers, would seek compo

After Cororooke’s closure all milk from the area will be delivered to Cobdena and Dennington.

Government will face a hefty bill to buy flood easements on affected properties.

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murrAy Goulburn has increased its revenue and milk intake but has seen its after-tax profit slashed by 60% due to a series of significant one-off costs.

The cooperative’s underlying net profit after tax for the year ended June 30, 2012 was $37.7 million, an increase of 1.1%, but the reported statutory net profit after tax was $14.5 million, a 60.17% fall from $36.3 million the pre-vious year.

Managing director Gary Helou said the drop in profit was due to a series of one-off expenses, including redundan-cies associated with a cost saving pro-gram.

MG has achieved $50 million in sav-ings, which will be delivered in the 2012-13 milk price, as part of an overall $100 million cost cutting program.

The cooperative declared a full-year dividend of 12% on ordinary shares and a 1-for-10 bonus share issue.

Its milk intake grew by 3.9% to 2.94 billion litres, with supply from northern Victoria and southern Riverina increas-ing by more than 13%.

Total revenue increased by 3.5% to $2.4 billion, including $1.2 billion from export sales.

Sales revenue was up 3.5% and export sales volume up 4%. Total product sales for MG’s retail and food service prod-ucts reached $830 million, up 10%.

Total ingredients sales revenue was $1.3 billion and MG grew its value-add powders category by 51%.

The domestic market accounted for 51% of sales revenue, while 77% of exports went to Asia.

Net sales revenue was at its highest level since the year ending June 2008.

Production output for the year was 740,000 tonnes, 7.1% higher than the previous year.

Helou described the result as a solid performance in a challenging year while a transformation program was imple-

mented against a backdrop of falling dairy commodity prices and a high Australian dollar.

“We delivered a final weighted-average farmgate milk price of $5.44kg/MS – third highest on record – while simultaneously implementing a number of strategic and structural changes across the business,” he said.

Restructure of the senior executive team and recruitment of new team members was establishing a strong foundation to make good on the prom-ise to become a first choice dairy foods company, he added.

The 12% dividend delivered on ordinary shares repre-sented $27.4 million in pay-ments to MG businesses, $1.2 million higher than 2010-11.

Based on average pro-duc tion and shareholding, the dividend adds the equivalent of $0.13kg/MS and takes MG’s total payments to supplier/shareholders to $5.57kg/MS for 2011/12.

Helou said the 1-for-10 bonus share issue reflected the growing value of the cooperative and recognised the loyalty of dairy farmers who had supported Murray Goulburn through some diffi-cult seasons.

“Based on our platforms of opera-tion excellence and innovation we are excited about the co-operative’s growth prospects,” he said.

MG’s total assets increased from $1,530,134,000 to $1,632,228,000 offset

by an increase in liabilities resulting in a slight fall in total equity.

The financial report shows Helou was paid more than $1.48 million from October 2011, including 15.3% that was performance related.

His predecessor, Stephen O’Rourke, who resigned on July 31, 2011, received $2.95 million the previous year and $253,000 in the 2012 financial year.

Payments to executive officers totalled $4.3 million, a reduction from $5.1 million the previous year.

Remuneration to non-executive directors dipped from $1,045,814 to $913,959.


nEws: AnnuAl rEPorts // 7

rick bAynE

Murray Goulburn restructure slashes profits

FontErrA is looking at brand consolidation to arrest a decline in its Australian business.

The co-op’s ANZ business, which includes consumer products in Aus-tralia and New Zealand, was the worst performer during the financial year ending July 31. Normalised earn-ings dropped 20% to $204 million.

While earnings in New Zealand were slightly up, Australia suffered as a result of a downturn in consumer spending and aggressive competi-tion. Fonterra also spent more on trade and promotions to maintain its market share in Australia.

Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings said the result was “not satisfactory”.

“A plan has been approved by the board to improve our portfolio mix. It had to be aligned with increasing profitability and maximising cash flow.”

However, Spierings said a $200m surplus was a good result given the challenging trading conditions in Australia. In 2010-11, the ANZ busi-ness earned $256m. He said the food service and ingredients businesses performed well.

The ANZ business represents fast moving consumer goods in the two countries, exports to Pacific Islands, ingredients, milk collection and man-ufacturing in Australia and food ser-vice sales.

In Australia, Fonterra’s cheese, yoghurts, flavoured milk and dairy desserts portfolio face strong com-petition from other major proces-sors; Lion, which owns National Foods and Dairy Farmers, Murray Goulburn and Warrnambool Butter

and Cheese. Fonterra Shareholders Coun-

cil chairman Ian Brown said it was disappointing the ANZ business once again failed to deliver a healthy return.

“Unfortunately ANZ has not delivered to target. We are aware that market conditions are partic-ularly tough at present and under-stand plans are in place to ensure the business improves.”

Brown said it was encouraging to see that Latin America and Asia/Middle East business units delivered a good result at a local level.

In Asia/Africa, Middle East (Asia/AME) region, normalised earnings increasing 1% to $194m.

Spierings said in constant cur-rency terms, Asia/AME achieved an increase in normalised earnings of 8%. Sales volumes increased by 3% contributing to revenue growth of $62 million, with strong perfor-mance in Sri Lanka, Vietnam Hong Kong, Philippines and Malaysia con-tributing to this result.

Spierings said the “three As” - Anmum, Anlene and Anchor/Fern-leaf, all achieved revenue growth, with Anlene now the established market leader in over 10 countries across Asia, and the Middle East.

In Latin America, normalised earnings increased by 16% per cent on a constant currency basis.

Spierings said sales volumes increased by 2%, driving a constant currency increase in revenue of 4% per cent, with growth achieved in milk powder and beverages.

“Improved product mix, along with product innovation and higher volumes in higher margin products such as mature cheese contributed to the result,” he said.

Fonterra revamps Australian armsudEsh kissun

Gary Helou, managing director Murray Goulburn.

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A studEnt placement at Timboon in south-west Victoria was enough to convince Dr Matt Izzo to give up his ambition to become a cat and dog vet.

Instead he decided to concentrate on the dairy industry and has emerged as one of only four dairy cattle special-ists in Australia and will be the first to be registered in the field in 20 years.

For a Sydneysider who had never been to a dairy farm in his life, it was quite a change of direction.

“I started my course at the Univer-sity of Sydney thinking I would become a dog and cat vet,” Dr Izzo said.

“But I was introduced to cows during the course and developed an interest in the field. I came to Timboon as a stu-dent nine years ago and found that I liked working with dairy farmers as well as with cows, so decided to concentrate on that field.”

Dr Izzo has recently joined The Vet Group and will be working across the group’s clinics in Warrnambool, Allans-ford, Timboon and Simpson.

He chose the south-west Victoria region due to its strong dairy industry.

“I had been working on the south coast of New South Wales for a couple of years but the dairy industry in the area seems to be in decline, largely due to urban sprawl,” he said.

“I think the western district of Victo-ria and north-west Tasmania are the two shining lights for dairy at the moment. There is good rainfall and not so much of a challenge from urban encroach-ment.”

“I aim to do this for the rest of my working life and the dairy industry here is big enough to support me and for me to support it.”

Dr Izzo this year became a fellow of the Australian New Zealand College of Veterinary Scientists and will be reg-istered as a dairy specialist through the Victorian Veterinary Practitioners Board.

After working on the south coast of NSW after graduation, he returned to the university for a residency position where he focused on ruminant animal health.

Associate Professor in Bovine Health, John House, recommended Matt undertake specialist training in dairy cattle.

“There hadn’t been anyone venture down that path for a long time and it appealed to my interests,” Dr Izzo said.

Dr Izzo spent 5 1/2 years training in dairy cattle med-icine in order to undertake the fellowship examination.

He also completed a Masters Degree on neonatal calf diarrhoea and gained a scholarship to spend two months train-ing at the University of Wisconsin in the USA where he worked on some of the most valuable dairy cows in the world, including the cloned cow Apple 2.

“Wisconsin is known as the dairy capital of the world and the University of Wisconsin was built from farmer funds to make sure they get the best

vets, so that was a great opportunity,” he said.

The university includes a cow hospi-tal where animals are brought for diag-nosis and treatment.

“They all have individual stalls, it’s set up like any hospital and is also used for teaching,” Dr Izzo said.

“We’re not big enough to have something like that here and so most of our work is on-farm, but I think the dairy industry is well supported in this region.”

The industry itself in Wisconsin is

huge but also very traditional in many ways.

“The biggest farm I worked on had 2500 cows but the average herd size is actually smaller than Australian herds.

There are a lot of fam-ily-owned 50 to 100 cow farms,” Dr Izzo said.

“We worked with cows worth $1million because of their genetic value. You have to think of their individual value in those cases. They spend more on diagnos-

tics and treatment.”He also attended the World Dairy

Expo “which is like our local shows on steroids”.

Mastitis, reproduction issues and calf health were among the main issues affecting dairy cows in Wisconsin while lameness is the biggest animal health issue in south-west Victoria.

Dr Izzo is impressed with the quality of herds he sees locally and the stock-manship of farmers.

“We have had a relatively good season but lameness is the biggest animal health issue challenging the local industry,” he said.

“A lot of it comes down to environ-mental management, making sure track surfaces are well maintained and cows don’t spend too much time on concrete.

“Most herds I see are well managed to be profitable producing animals.”

Dr Izzo is now the only dairy cattle specialist doing full-time clinical work. He is the first to achieve the accredita-tion since the early 1990s.

He has no regrets about specialising in dairy. “It’s a very rewarding career path. One of the advantages is getting to know farmers and building a working relationship and friendship with them,” he said.

“It is my hobby as well as my job.”


8 // nEws

Dairy’s gain as vet follows callingrick bAynE

“I came to Timboon as a student nine years ago and found that I liked working with dairy farmers as well as with cows, so decided to concentrate on that field.”

Dr Matt Izzo is only the fourth dairy cattle specialist in Australia, and the first to be registered in the field in 20 years.

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nEws // 9

Strong start to NZ spring not good for AustraliaPAsturE Growth is racing away in New Zealand, which doesn’t bode well for Australian prices.

Across New Zealand, production is ahead on both per-day and per-sea-son-to-date bases, but that is likely to even out through the year.

A rise in world prices, which would filter down to Australian farmgate prices, is dependent not only on production falls in the northern hemisphere, but average production in New Zealand.

Dairy markets have started to firm thanks to a drop in US production, caused in part by high feed prices as a result of drought in the northern hemisphere.

Westpac has said demand for southern hemisphere milk will be further fuelled by a recov-ery in China’s economic growth rate next year.

However, Dairy Austra-lia manager, strategy and knowledge, Jo Bills, has said there is still a ques-tion mark around supply and the NZ spring will be critical here.

“If production is as high or higher than last year, it will keep a lid on prices,” Bills said last month.

“If it’s weaker there could be more improve-ment heading into 2013.”

DairyNZ regional teams manager Craig McBeth said pasture growth on averagenationwide was delayed this year but is now going well.

Southland and Manawatu have had par-ticularly good starts to spring, whereas areas such as Waikato and Northland have had significant wet weather with more chal-lenges to pasture manage-ment.

“The sense is that the

grass continues to grow pretty well,” McBeth said.

“As always you will have days and weeks when it is racing and days and weeks when it will slow down.”

In Waikato recent hard frosts slowed growth but warm rain that followed reversed that and the region is growing well.

“As always it will depend on individual farmers and how they managed their first round since calving started when we had quite a bit of wet weather,” he said.

“If they damaged their pasture then regrowth is going to be significantly compromised.

“If they were able to protect their pasture, it should be growing more vigorously now.”

Southland is having a good season, he said.

“They have been a bit dry, but they had good rain just recently so farmers there will be turning their minds to how they main-tain quality with pasture covers increasing across farms.

“That’s a good problem to have. They seem to be monitoring their pasture levels and making good decisions about ensuring they are grazing their paddocks to the right level of residual cover so they maintain quality and ongoing growth while conserving surplus feed as it comes to hand.”

Manawatu has had a pretty good spring, he said.

“They had wet weather but that was on top of good late winter and early spring so farmers are coping ok.”

McBeth said New Zea-land had a great autumn last year but, if farm-ers cast their minds back, spring 2011 was actually pretty tough.

“But on average it has probably been delayed this year compared to last year.”

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10 // nEws

AustrAliAn dAiry farmers are now able to accu-rately identify the parents of any animal in their herd, put-ting an end to ‘mistaken identity’.

Holstein Australia launched a DNA testing service, called parentageplus, which identifies the parents of a dairy cow, calf or bull from a supplied hair sample.

The tool was launched at the Holstein Australia annual meeting late last month.

Holstein CEO, Dr Matt Shaffer, said research con-ducted by the Dairy Futures CRC had found mistaken identity rates of about 8% in herds with very good records; suggesting the rate would be even higher in most herds.

“Identifying the parents of a new calf sounds fairly simple but don’t forget that dairy calves are removed from their dams within 24 hours and are then hand-reared,” Shaffer said.

“Calving is one of the busiest times of the year. “In seasonal herds, where several calves may be born

in a matter of hours, mis-mothering is common, creating confusion about the dam. Mistaken identity can also occur due to lost ID tags or inaccurate recording. Any error is then handed down with every new generation.”

While parentage information is required to register dairy cattle, accurate parentage records are also impor-tant for all dairy farmers because it influences the basic decisions made at joining: which sire to put over which cow to improve genetic gain and avoid inbreeding.

“The service will also be useful for dairy farmers who export heifers, as the agents require a known pedigree for each animal,” he said.

Parentageplus removes the guesswork. Sheffer said it costs $18/head and could appeal to managers of large, seasonal calving herds who have not previously registered their cows due to the logistical challenges of supplying the required pedigree information.

“All that’s required is a hair sample and a date of birth. There’s no need to go through mating records to find the sire,” he said.

Shaffer said parentageplus is based on world-first tech-nology developed collaboratively for the industry by the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme, the Dairy Futures CRC and the Department of Primary Industries Victoria.

Parentageplus creates a genetic map for each animal tested. This map is then cross-matched with all the dams and sires in Holstein Australia’s data base to identify the animal’s parents.

“The service is based on the technology developed to produce genomic Australian Breeding Values. But this is the first time the technology has been adapted to draw on a smaller number of gene samples, or SNPs, to keep the costs down without compromising accuracy of the par-entage information,” Shaffer said.

Mistaken identity a thing of the past

History as Grey appointed to Holstein boardnEw south Wales dairy farmer, Jenny Grey from ‘The Pines Hol-steins’ in Kiama, made history when she was appointed to Hol-stein Australia’s board at the annual general meeting last month.

She is the first woman to serve on the Holstein Australia (HA) board in its 98-year history. Grey has been involved in the dairy industry for more than 25 years and with Holstein Australia at a local, state and federal level.

Grey has extended her keen

interest in improving the produc-tion and conformation of the fam-ily’s herd to showing cattle, judging and officiating at shows through-out Australia and overseas.

“I wish to see our Holstein con-tinue to be the leading breed in the Australian dairy industry and to be competitive on the world market,” she said.

“Holstein Australia has an important role in ensuring we have correct conformation to enable her to be a high producing,

trouble-free cow.”She replaced retiring board

member, Michael Perkins, Calt-horpe, Tasmania who had served on the board for 12 years.

HA reported a loss of $83,245 last financial year compared with a profit of $38,075 during the 2010-11 financial year.

The organisation’s largest costs were for full genomic tests and classification costs, due to a larger number of classifiers and the costs associated with classification such

as flights and accommodation.It also invested significantly in

software such as mating program Mateplus and conformation eval-uation program Traitplus.

It had total assets of $3.65 mil-lion in 2011-12 compared with $3.7 million a year earlier.

Income increased 7% while expenses also rose 7%.

There were also costs associated with projects such as the centenary celebration book and show ethics committee. Jenny Grey

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nEws // 11

Global food price rise could stifle rural growthPAm tiPA

world Food prices are tipped to skyrocket to record highs, up by 15% by mid next year, with meat and dairy the main con-tributors, an international Rabobank report fore-casts.

But a downside of another global period of ‘agflation’ could be a slow-ing of the shift to animal proteins in developing countries, say the report’s authors Nick Higgins and Luke Chandler.

“Agricultural com-modity production has plunged as droughts in the US, South America and Russia have diminished crop prospects and tight-ened already low inven-tory levels.”

The report says crop shortages this time will be

more related to stock feed, rather than in 2008 when core (human) food sta-ples such as wheat and rice were affected.

“Food security remains a highly sensitive issue in many regions, and we expect to see a return of government interventions, which could exacerbate food and commodity price volatility.

“The rally in grain and oilseed prices will have a significant knock-on effect to animal protein indus-tries and other process-ing supply chains, raising prices for meat consum-ers and challenging pro-cessor margins around the globe.”

Food price inflation has been triggered by the worst drought the US has seen in nearly a cen-tury and exacerbated by droughts in South Amer-

ica and Russia, the report says. “The impact of higher grain and oilseed prices will be significant for the animal protein and dairy sectors as they are likely to be squeezed by higher feed costs.”

The long production cycles of the animal pro-tein and dairy industries will have lingering effects on global food prices as herds, especially cattle, take longer to rebuild, maintaining upward pres-sure on food prices.

The full effect of this commodity price rally and the subsequent lower meat and milk output, will be a multiyear rebuilding of herds, which will sus-tain high price levels of these products.

Meat and dairy prices, which comprise 52% of the FAO Food Price Index, are the primary drivers of

Rabobank’s forecast for food price increases.

The price of pork is expected to rally 31% from spot prices by June 30, 2013. Cattle ready for slaughter are expected to increase 6%, initially cre-ating a supply glut, with higher prices following as supplies drop.

Dairy prices are ex-pected to respond more quickly as herd reductions translate into higher milk prices on a shorter scale, although rebuilding dairy herds also has a long cycle, prolonging any shortage created.

Consumers in develop-ing countries are expected

to switch consumption from animal protein back towards staple grains, an option not available in 2007-08 due to severe shortages of wheat and rice.

“Higher prices will stall the long-term trend towards higher animal protein diets in develop-

ing economies. Rabobank expects the develop-ing world – with its high demand elasticity, espe-cially to meat – to ration import demand of grains, oilseeds and meat most heavily, causing consump-tion growth to slow and even recede for a period as prices rise.”

Meat and dairy prices are the primary drivers of rabobank’s forecast for global food price increases.

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12 // world nEws

Cowboy traders riding into sunset

cowboy trAdErs in the China infant for-mula market are a short-term phenomenon, says dairy analyst Tim Morris.

He says Chinese authorities are getting their act together and working towards strin-gent rules similar to those in US and Europe where cowboy traders have no chance of success.

His comments come as infant formula exports to

China face growing scru-tiny. New Zealand’s Minis-try for Primary Industries (MPI) is investigating whether proper proce-dures for such products are being followed. And the marketing tactics of some importers in China are causing concern for authorities and export-ers here.

Morris, director of Auckland firm Corio-lis, believes these issues will play themselves out. China’s fascination for branded infant formula

from overseas, rather than Chinese fomula, has given rise to cowboy traders, he says.

But their success will be limited by Chinese authorities tightening reg-ulations. “You can’t ride into town with infant for-mula and ride off with a bucket of money,” he told Rural News. About 30 firms export New Zea-land-made infant formula; Morris predicts two-thirds of these will be out of busi-ness within five years.

Auckland supermar-kets were caught last year selling baby milk for-mula to Chinese export-ers thousands of cans at a time while rationing them to other shoppers. This bulk trade was unknown to export authorities at the time.

An MPI spokesman told Rural News it has been investigating infant formula exports to China for some time but will not

TIM MORRIS agrees the global infant formula trade is well regulated�

“You can’t make infant formula in your shed and export it to the US or the EU. It’s like making a car in your shed and taking on Toyota.”

Morris says infant formula is a highly defensive market in which the top three producers hold 50% of the world market and the top six control two thirds of global sales. This extreme level of global consolidation is driven in part by the

leaders having huge sales teams urging doctors to push their brands.

The global dairy infant formula trade reached US$34 billion in 2009, from US$21b in 2004. The fastest growing markets in the region are China and Indonesia. The world’s two largest dairy companies Nestle and Danone control 25% and 14% respectively.

“We’re really good at milk powder; it’s the logical next step. New Zealand has a great future ahead in infant formula. “

Doctors push major brands

comment further until the investigations are over.

A premium has attached in China to New Zealand-made dairy prod-ucts since the melamine tainted-milk scandal in 2008, when six children died and nearly 1000 were hospitalised after melamine was added to formula supposedly to increase protein content.

Morris says New Zea-land’s image survived the melamine scandal although it engulfed Fon-terra’s Chinese opera-tions. “The Chinese trust our infant formula and they travel to Hong Kong to buy global brands rather than Chinese brands.” This has led to an increase in some Chinese traders falsely labelling their prod-ucts as ‘NZ made’.

The Infant Nutrition Council, representing most Australian and New Zealand infant formula exporters, knows of wide-

spread concern among members. Chief executive Jan Carey says New Zea-land milk and ‘Brand NZ’ are highly prized by Chi-nese consumers.

“The New Zealand brand is trusted and con-sidered best quality. Some Chinese marketers will use any marketing trick to promote their ‘Brand NZ’ whether genuine or not. This is a widespread prob-lem. The Infant Nutrition Council, the New Zea-

land Government and the Chinese Government are aware of this.”

Carey says it is help-ing in MPI’s investigation.

Though infant formula trade from New Zealand is properly regulated, “some middlemen are getting around the regulations”.

The Sanlu tainted milk scandal in 2008 has put off Chinese con-sumers from local infant formula, opening new opportunities for New Zealand sourced baby powder.

sudEsh kissun

NZ government investigates baby formula exports

nEw ZEAlAnd infant formula exports to China face growing scrutiny.

The country’s Minis-try for Primary Industries (MPI) is investigating whether proper proce-dures for such products are being followed. And the marketing tactics of some importers in China are causing concern for authorities and export-ers here.

Auckland supermar-

kets were caught last year selling baby milk for-mula to Chinese export-ers thousands of cans at a time while rationing them to other shoppers. This bulk trade was unknown to export authorities at the time.

An MPI spokesman told Dairy News it has been investigating infant formula exports to China for some time but will not comment further until the investigations are over.

A premium has attached in China to New

Zealand-made dairy prod-ucts since the melamine tainted-milk scandal in 2008, when six children died and nearly 1000 were hospitalised after melamine was added to formula supposedly to increase protein content.

A growing number of New Zealand compa-nies export own-brand formula to China but the product is sourced from only a few processors here. GMP Pharmaceuti-cals, Auckland, recently opened a factory supply-

sudEsh kissuning about 20 exporters.

One GMP customer, Cowala, used a picture of Prime Minister John Key to advertise its product. The picture was taken at GMP’s factory opening.

Another exporter, Abid, used a picture of the Prime Minister, mispel-ling his name as ‘Jhon Key’ next to a quote ‘I Love abid’.

GMP New Zealand manager Minesh Patel says the company is not marketing or selling infant formula. “We have written

to all customers saying do not use any of our plant opening photos without our permission,” he told Dairy News.

The Infant Nutrition Council, representing most Australian and New Zealand infant formula exporters, knows of wide-spread concern among members. Chief executive Jan Carey says New Zea-land milk and ‘brand NZ’ are highly prized by Chi-nese consumers.

“The New Zealand brand is trusted and con-

sidered best quality. Some Chinese marketers will use any marketing trick to promote their ‘NZ brand’ whether genuine or not. This is a widespread prob-lem. The Infant Nutrition Council, the New Zealand government and the Chi-

nese government are all aware of this.”

Carey says it is help-ing in MPI’s investigation. Though infant formula trade from New Zealand is properly regulated, “some middle men are getting around the regulations”.

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world nEws // 13

Auction prices impact Irish markets

“whEn FontErrA sneezes a lot of people [may not] catch a cold but it makes a lot of them shiver,” says David Minnock an Irish dairy farmer from Co Offaly, west of Dublin. He was referring to the fact that when Fonterra auction prices drop, his company is quick to alter its prices as well.

He supplies the Lakeland Dairy Group based in Killeshandra, Co Cavan. The com-pany has 2000 suppliers supplying an aver-age of 33,0000L/supplier from an average herd of 55 cows. The furthest supplier is 160km from the main factory.

Dairy News first interviewed Minnock in 1998 when he worked on a New Zealand dairy farm, then visited him in September 2000 when he worked on his family’s farm with parents Oliver and Geraldine. During a recent visit your reporter discovered he has bought 50ha from his family, added a new dairy, built a new home, married and started a family. And he is extending cow housing. “It does seem it’s all happening around here but we’ve had major setbacks [and face] challenges.”

He was milking 75 cows, aiming long term to milk 100. But three seasons ago his herd was devastated by an outbreak of BVD and Leptospirosis. Worse was to follow. Twelve months ago his cows, and those of five other farmers in the district, were hit by TB. In the initial test he lost 30 maiden heifers and some cows.

“When you are trying to rear as many replacements as possible it’s a setback. The department blamed badgers and did what they could to trap and poison them. While

we’re now clear it will take us a time to get back to where we were and get to my long-term aim of 100 cows.”

He does not intend to buy stock, instead focusing on breeding his way up. His herd is Friesian and he runs pedigree bulls.

To help supplement his income he and his brother Colin have a baling business in the local district and they do contract slurry spreading. He owns a digger for drain cleaning and site preparation work.

The farm is centrally raced with 15 x 1.6ha paddocks. He harvests 16ha of baled silage each year and grows 6ha of kale for winter feed. This is grazed in situ. He uses urea in the spring and all slurry is returned to pasture.

The recent summer – June and July – were the worst in living memory for pro-longed spells of wet weather. There was an occasional sprinkling of snow.

Stock are housed during winter and in bad weather to protect them and to reduce pasture damage. Stock are calved inside on slats with straw bedding with an adjacent area for feeding.

Other than the concrete milking plat-form the cows, stock stand on wide slats built over slurry holding tanks. Small quan-tities of wash-down water from the milking area go to a holding tank.

Housed stock are fed silage straw and dairy ration.

“We have slurry capacity for up to six months and it only takes two days to com-pletely empty all tanks with the use of an agitator and our slurry tank.”

Milkers are teat sprayed all season and sealants are applied at drying off. Minnock monitors copper levels during the season.

tony hoPkinson

Irish farmer David Minnock.

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14 // AGribusinEss

dEsPitE ProducinG record milk last season, Fonter-ra’s New Zealand farmers have had to settle for a lower payout. The high New Zealand dollar and lower dairy prices wiped almost $2 billion from the payout.

Farmers got $6.40/kgMS last season – a milk price of $6.08/kgMS and dividend payout of 32c/share. In the previous year, Fonterra paid out a record $8.25/kgMS – comprising milk payout of $7.60/kgMS and 65c/share div-idend.

Fonterra has retained 10c/share, less than the previous year, to minimise cash flow issues for shareholders.

Releasing the co-op’s annual results, Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden said while a $6.08 payout was manageable he was concerned about farm-ers this season. With a revised forecast payout of $5.25/kgMS, many farmers were feeling the pain now.

This season Fonterra expects milk production to be slightly lower than last season’s record 1.5 billion kgMS.

“We’ve had a very good start to the season,” van der Heyden said. “Grass is growing well and cows are in great condition after calving. Our forecast is milk pro-duction will be slightly lower than last year.”

However, much will depend on the weather.

Van der Heyden said it was also good to see global dairy prices rising but the high dollar remained a worry. Half of the payout drop last season was caused by the high dollar, the other half by lower dairy prices.

Fonterra Shareholders Coun-cil chairman Ian Brown acknowl-edged the volatile market conditions in which Fonterra was forced to work over the past 12 months were largely responsi-ble for the fall in payout.

“The council considers that given the downturn in global markets the board has delivered a reasonable return for farm-ers. The overall decline in milk powder prices on the Global-Dairy Trade platform and the strength of the New Zealand

dollar have served to soften farmer returns and the drop in the farmgate milk price is con-sistent with this. These factors are largely out of Fonterra’s con-trol.”

Federated Farmers Dairy chairman Willy Leferink said despite the lower payout, Fon-terra’s results, in a week of job losses, should remind everyone the exceptional opportunities New Zealand has with food.

“Given trading conditions, these results are a good send-off for Sir Henry van der Heyden and for Theo Spierings’ first anniversary as chief executive.”

NZ dollar, lower prices savage Fonterra payout sudEsh kissun

2011-12 season in numbers ■ Record New Zealand milk flows, up 11% to 1493

million kgMS in the current season�

■ 11% increase in export volumes to 2�32 million tonnes�

■ Sales volumes increased 2% to 3�94 million tonnes�

■ Flat revenues of $19�8 billion�

■ Higher operating cashflows of $1�4 billion, up $206 million�

■ Balance sheet strengthened with economic gearing ratio improving from 41�8% to 39�1%�

FinAnciAl rEPorts are like art: they’re subjective and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So depending on which way you look at it, Fonter-ra’s annual results for 2012 have been mixed at best.

There are strong signs of growth in the company with milk production and milk exports up, an increase in assets and the company’s capital position has strengthened with a slight reduction in debt gearing of 41.8% to 39.1%.

Debt gearing, in a nutshell, reflects the percentage of debt a company has compared to its assets; more about that later.

Whilst these things make the pic-ture look decent for the accountants, the decrease in revenue and a signif-icant reduction in the farmgate milk price to $6.08 from $7.60 in 2011 make the picture far from glamorous for the dairy farmer.

To cut through the jargon I would like to focus on the changes in the fol-lowing areas: total revenue, net profit, net assets and debt gearing; these are the foundations of any financial report and represent a good overall picture of Fonterra’s performance.

Despite a large increase in milk pro-duction, total revenue of the group was down to $19,769 million from $19,871m in 2011 -- not a huge change and this would generally be considered a flat figure in accounting terms. But it makes tough reading for farmers who

have done the hard work by increasing milk production only to see a reduction in overall revenue.

However it must be noted that off-shore commodity prices and the flying kiwi dollar played a large part in the reduction of revenue.

An overall increase in expenses, cost of operations and a large tax credit meant the net profit figure came in weak at $624m, down from $771m in 2011.

All these factors are pointing to an extremely tough business environment as opposed to any shortcoming on the part of the Fonterra group. This shows how the tough business environment is impacting every area of global busi-ness, even areas as strong as dairy pro-duction.

Fonterra’s net assets -- what Fon-terra owns (assets) less how much it owes (liabilities) -- have increased slightly to $6655m from $6541m in 2011. It was a reduction in liabilities as opposed to an increase in assets that helped the bottom increase, neverthe-less it is an increase to the overall asset base of Fonterra so a more positive part of the report.

The debt gearing ratio is a very important part of any financial report

as it is a general term outlining the own-er’s equity (or capital) to borrowed funds.

Gearing is a measure of financial leverage, demonstrating the degree to which an organisation’s activities are funded by owner’s funds versus credi-tors’ funds. A company with high gear-ing (high leverage) is more vulnerable to downturns in the business cycle

because the company must continue to service its debt regardless of how bad sales are.

A greater proportion of equity (lower leverage) provides a cushion and is seen as a measure of financial strength. With this in mind Fonterra has managed to lower this figure to 39.1% from 41.8% in 2011. This figure is positive and is about average for New Zealand com-

panies. However considering the size of Fonterra’s asset base, it’s a touch on the high side. While some debt is neces-sary for growth the cooperative should be focusing on bringing this ratio down even further.• Francis Wolfgram, BA (Economic History) has 15 years’ experience in financial markets, primarily in London and Sydney.

Fonterra results mixed at bestFrAncis wolFGrAm

Fonterra chairman Henry van der Heyden and ceo theo Spierings.

Fonterra should focus on reducing its debt.


AGribusinEss // 15

in A National Dairy Farmer Survey update, conducted in late August, 53% of Australian dairy farmers were positive about the dairy industry’s future. This represented a significant decline (13%) in farmer confidence from the initial survey in Feb-ruary 2012. The drop in confidence was primarily driven by farmers in NSW, Queensland and Tasma-nia, but was also across almost all regions, with milk price was cited as the primary reason.

Farmers in south-ern export regions are facing an 8-10% drop in milk price, while northern domestic producers also face negative price signals in both reduced prices and also lower volume require-ments from processors. Consequently, negativ-

ity has increased across all herd size segments but the fall in the proportion of respondents with larger herds feeling fairly to very positive (from 84% to 64%) is most significant.

In the follow up survey 340 farmers were con-tacted and slightly more than half described their season as “about where they would like it to be”. Production conditions varied between states, but the largest differences actually occurred within Victoria. A total of 81% of Murray Dairy region farm-ers are happy with the pro-duction conditions this season, while just 24% of Gippsland farmers are enjoying favourable con-ditions. Access to water has been a big confidence booster in Murray dairy, but persistently wet condi-

tions have really hampered this season’s progress in Gippsland.

When asked about herd numbers 58% of respon-dents anticipate their herd size for 2012/13 will remain the same as they predicted in February, 28% expect a smaller herd size and 13% a larger herd. Farmers with large herds anticipated a 1.5% increase in herd size despite their reduced con-fidence. The main reasons for milking fewer cows than was planned in Feb-ruary were lower in calf rates (26%) and lower milk prices (24%).

Despite the challenging production environment, Dairy Australia is main-taining its milk production forecast for the 2012/13 season of 2% growth to around 9.65 billion litres. While there’s some upside from improving commod-ity prices, downside risks from input costs remain. The year has commenced on a positive note, with production up 3.5% for July.

High grain prices and the possibility of El Nino creating difficult sea-sonal conditions were the factors most affecting

farmer confidence over the next six months. In last month’s Dairy News Australia column we cov-ered the US drought in more detail, but the key factor has been a recov-ery in global commodity prices that has now started as a consequence of the drought.

Milk powders and fat products have been the first to move as buyers bring forward purchas-ing to try and get ahead of future price increases. On the basis of recovering global commodity prices, Dairy Australia has lifted its forecast farm gate price to around $4.70-$5.00 per kg MS or (34-36 c/L). This is still down 8-10% on the previous season, but an earlier supply correction suggests further upside potential.

While US milk produc-tion has experienced its first dip on the same time last year for the first time in more than 24 months, the biggest challenge to recovering global markets in the short term is the strength of the New Zea-land season. There’s also still potential for another

European economic melt-down undermining global dairy demand. However without significant disrup-tions, average commodity prices should continue to climb into 2013.• Norman Repacholi is a senior international dairy analyst with Dairy Aus-tralia.

High grain prices knock dairy farmer confidence

GLobAL imPAcTNormAN rEPAchoLi

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.

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16 // oPinion

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milk exportsGreens leader Christine Milne has come off the long run opposing foreign investment in the Austra-lian dairy industry�

“We want to make sure that vertical integration from the farm, to the pro-cessor, to the Chinese con-sumer does not constitute ‘out sourcing’ and distort markets for land and dairy products,” she said�

Milne’s barrage was sparked by reports the China Investment Corpo-ration is negotiating for a stake in the Van Diemen’s Land Company – the same Van Diemen’s Land Company that is more than 98% owned by New Zealand interests�

So she’s against foreign ownership of a foreign-owned company� Was she simply unaware of what she was talking about? Surely there couldn’t be more to it�

mG move groundedMurray Goulburn has reneged on an earlier deci-sion to up stumps from its current headquarters in Brunswick, Melbourne, and move to a new complex in Essendon Fields, near the airport�

The original announce-ment was made last July but it is now subletting the entire office space it agreed to lease�

New managing director Gary Helou has already shown he wants to be in the thick of the action with his decision to place permanent staff in new of-fices throughout Asia�

Melbourne-based staff will also be in the thick of the action with a rumoured move closer to the Mel-bourne CBD�

coles pays nFFNow, we may be a teeny bit cynical here, but alarm bells rang when we saw Coles was named as the principal sponsor of the National Farmers Federa-tion’s annual conference, to be held this month�

NFF president Jock Laurie said: “There’s a huge amount of heat in the supermarket debate right now, and lots of anger from Australian farmers� But rather than hide from this, Coles has chosen to step up and face it by becoming the Congress’ principal sponsor�”

Sorry Jock, we don’t agree�

We see it as another step in the supermarket’s recent campaign to posi-tion itself as the farmer’s friend in the eyes of the shopping public in a bid to offset negative percep-tions�

Coles would rather im-prove its image by spend-ing money on PR (and now sponsorship which will result in further press) than paying a fair price to suppliers year round�

yes, Joe, you’re a GodsendOur friends in the red meat industry have again had to defend themselves against opponents of the live export trade, this time after 10,000 sheep were stranded in Pakistan�

Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby “Barn-yard” Joyce went into bat for them, saying Federal Ag Minister Joe Ludwig needed to do more�

“He seems to be ter-rified of doing anything,” Joyce said�

Not so, said Ludwig� In fact: “The live export trade has a bright future because of the actions taken by this Gillard Government�”

We imagine that’s the first time that particular line has been uttered by anybody�

FOREIGN INVESTMENT in agriculture is a polarising topic – even within the farming sector itself.

International governments or companies are either going to pro-vide much needed equity to help Australian businesses expand, or lock up prime agricultural land for the sole use of producing exported goods.

There are both reasoned arguments on the topic, usually by those seeking investment; and hysteria, normally from either side of Par-liament House, wanting to curry favour with the public.

Current headlines have been dominated by the Tasmanian Gov-ernment’s recent talks with the Chinese Investment Corporation, a sovereign wealth fund.

The Tasmanian Premier, Lara Giddings, recently led a trade mis-sion in Asia promoting her State, and in that time sought invest-ment in Tasmania agriculture, especially dairy projects.

It is believed the CIC wants to invest in the Van Diemen’s Land Company, based in the State’s north west, which is in the final stages of raising up to $180 million equity to double milk produc-tion.

The development has the support of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association because it knows it will help expand the state’s dairy industry.

We assume similar investment in any other state, particularly NSW, Queensland or WA who are crying out for more competi-tion, would be similarly welcomed.

Foreign investment has helped build Australian agriculture for 200 years. It will continue to do so.

Murray Goulburn managing director Gary Helou was recently applauded for his vision of growing Australian milk production from nine billion litres a year to 15 billion litres a year.

This would benefit the Australian economy and Australian farm-ers. But it won’t be achieved without investment. If we limit for-eign investment, will the capital come from within our borders? If not, do we close up shop?

Foreign investment also requires local experience to gain the best return. That means local farmers and share farmers.

Every export business in the world is trying to access the one bil-lion citizens of China. Every time the potential is mentioned, Aus-tralian processors and farmers see the export dollars.

Investment helps trade. Significantly, telling countries their money is not welcome here does not help open trade agreements.

It also helps farmers struggling to sell their properties once they want to retire. Not only is the farmer rewarded, that land is kept in production – crucial if the dairy industry is to expand.

We can have foreign investment and a strong dairy industry that benefits all Australian dairy farmers. The two aren’t mutually exclu-sive.

Foreign investment polarises debate

thErE’s A reason the people in the ad used to say ‘not happy, Jan’. I spend a lot of my working week being not happy about things on behalf of farm-ers – prices, input costs, imports, red tape, green tape just to name a few. It’s an occupational hazard.

For balance, on the weekends I try to be calm and serene. Truly.

But it doesn’t always work.Reading a letter to the editor in the

Weekend Australian magazine recently made me choke on my Weetbix.

The correspondent alleged that Australia’s primary producers wallow “in the luxury of taxpayer-funded pro-tectionism” that allows them to “weep over the dashboard of the Range Rover” as they contemplate the pricing policies of Coles and Woolworths, the good guys in the food chain who try to keep prices down for consumers.

I was dismayed to think that some people might really think farmers are like that – when nothing could be further from the truth. That stereotype was more appropriate for our Euro-pean cousins in the early days of the Common Market, or US farmers supported by the iniqui-tous Farm Bills. In both cases, farmers have been subsidised to overproduce - or paid not to produce at all.

Fortunately, before I had stuck the stamp on the envelope on the scath-ing reply I’d dashed off, I came across an article by the Australian Farm Insti-tute’s Mick Keogh. This review of the level of protectionism, or government support, for farmers in OECD countries gave me the facts to back up my heated response.

The study confirms that government support measures for Australian farm-ers are the lowest for any developed nation on earth, when expressed as a

percentage of national GDP. If you include funding for research and development (to which farmers must contribute their own matching dol-lars) and natural disaster assistance, Australia provides the equivalent of a mere 0.16% of GDP as support to agri-culture. This is the lowest percentage of any developed nation.

The study then looked at another measure: the percentage of a farm-er’s income attributable to government support and assistance. This time, Australian farm-ers ranked second lowest in the OECD, just behind our Kiwi mates. The figure here is just 3%; while the

average support in for farmers across the OECD countries is a massive18.8%.

Keogh comments:“No doubt there will be grateful

outpourings of gratitude and support from the Australian community and media for what is effectively for tax-payers the cheapest agriculture sector in the world, providing safe and nutri-tious food and earning 15% of Australia’s export income in the almost complete absence of any government or taxpayer support measures.”

In your dreams.Farmers have to deal with the unrea-

sonable expectation that food prices

will continue to fall, even when input costs are rising exponentially. They face ever-increasing bureaucracy and regula-tion by governments. They have to cope with finger-wagging instant experts the demands of ever-more restrictive standards which are not required of imported competitor products.

Worse still, every day they face dis-missive and derogatory attitudes like those expressed by the writer of that letter to the editor.

Instead of appreciating the work that our farmers do to deliver out-standing food and fibre products, Aus-tralians generally take their food for granted. They’ve never been hungry. They expect to go into a shop any day of the week and be able to purchase any type of food, whether or not it is in season. They expect that produce to be perfect in every way. They never ques-tion that it will be safe to put into their mouths. And, to top it off, they expect that – unlike any other product – their food will continue to decrease in price.

And for years our farmers have deliv-ered all that in spades. But their capac-ity to continue to do this is fast running out. Unless we wake up to ourselves, these pressures will drive them out of business.

Bring on a level playing field – before it is too late.• Jan Davis is the CEO of the Tasmania Farmers and Graziers Association.

ExPortErs And in particu-lar farmers are continuing to watch the Australian to US exchange rate with frustration, as our high dollar seems to continue to defy most other domestic economic indicators.

In recent years, the dollar has been shackled to the fortunes of the mining boom and has risen in line with the likes of iron ore and coal prices.

However, even with what appears to be a softening of the mining boom, the dollar is refusing to budge from its perch above parity.

The impact of this is now caus-ing significant concern, especially as there has been some deteriora-tion in the demand for commodities globally, both ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ com-modities, with the exception of some positive influence from the United States drought.

According to Suncorp in a recent update on the Australian dollar, while several economic indicators are sig-nalling that the dollar should be easing, a structural change could be at play.

The dollar in the past has tracked a similar path to the 10 year bond-yield, but currently the ratio of differ-ence between the two is its greatest in more than 10 years. The bond yield has dropped to the lowest level since about 2002, while the AUD has not followed.

The terms of trade (TOT) have also been dampened with decreas-ing iron ore and coal prices in recent months.

Subsequently, some commen-tators are starting to call the dollar over-valued and we in the farm sector hope that they are right. The bene-fits of the dollar in terms of lessen-ing the cost of expenses such as fuel and machinery are outweighed by the downsides of less value for our exports.

The NFF has estimated that for every 1% appreciation in the AUD, the farm sector loses $210 million from Australian farm incomes.

There is also a risk that the Aus-tralian economy could face further drag from the dollar simply because of our own excellent economic track record.

“The AUD no longer trades com-pletely in proportion to the prof-itability of the resource sector. Nowadays it is also driven by the desires of investors to obtain both safety and yield in a global market that is starved for both,” according to Suncorp.

So basically, despite some sectors of the Australian economy being in a low gear, we continue to appear very favourable on a global scale, which is inflating the AUD and making it harder to budge from its perch.

It is an issue that those at the Reserve Bank would be acutely aware of and must weigh into their consid-erations regarding interest rates in coming months.

The recent decision to cut the cash rate, which came as a shock to many commentators could help alle-viate the dollar and have significant benefit to the farm sector, as well as other parts of the Australian econ-omy. Indeed, it was one of the few levers realistically at our disposal to mitigate the impacts of the high AUD.

And with continued economic uncertainty forecast for the immedi-ate future, the argument for further cuts seems more and more convinc-ing.• Joanne Grainger is the president of the Queensland Farmers Federation.


oPinion // 17

JoAnnE GrAinGEr

Bring on the level playing field

oPiNioNjAN DAviS

Aussie dollar continues to defy history

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18 // brEEdinG

whilE comPutEr-isEd records have many benefits for Alan and Gwen Macqueen’s dairy farm business, one of the most obvious has been the herd’s impressive genetic

gains, particularly over the past eight years.

The Macqueens have been in the top 2% of herds since 2005. Since then they have steadily moved up the ranks from

#70 in 2005 to #16 in 2012. The Macqueens say the

value they get from their detailed herd records far outweighs the effort in collecting and entering the data. They refer to their

records, and the reports generated from their herd management software for making day-to-day deci-sions and for longer term planning.

Alan has maintained a

stock register since 1970 when they established the herd and Gwen took over the responsibility in 1998 when the system was com-puterised. She consid-ers herself the guardian of

Herd recording puts Macqueens in top 2%

the records and is metic-ulous about making sure the information recorded is both accurate and com-plete.

Although Gwen enters most of the information on the computer, and gen-erates the reports, every-one working on the farm has a role in collecting the data and using the reports.

The Macqueen dairy farm is located on the northern edge of Wil-sons Promontory National Park. They milk 230 autumn-calving cows and rear replacement stock on a combined dryland area of 141ha, with a production target of about 600kg milk solids per cow each lacta-tion. The feeding system is pasture-based with milk-ers fed about 2.2 tonnes of pellets per cow per year.

Now in their 70s, the Macqueens describe themselves as ‘semi-retired’. Over the past 12 years they have employed several young, enthusi-astic and skilful manag-ers. Their current manager Rodney Gundrill takes charge of all milk produc-tion, the herd and pas-ture management and the daily operating tasks. He is assisted by Danny Steven-son and Billy Davy.

Staff record informa-tion as they go about their daily activities. Pocket books are used away from the dairy and a white board is used in the dairy for milking alerts such as cows being treated for mastitis. Later, all infor-mation is handwritten into one of six exercise books for: mastitis, other health treatments, paddock treat-ments, mating records, heat observations and AI/calving.

“The direct use of an electronic data cap-ture device for calving, AI

and herd health informa-tion would probably save some time but having hard copies gives us the oppor-tunity to check data for accuracy before and after it goes on the computer,” Gwen said. About once a week, or more often at calving and joining times, Gwen enters the data into the computer.

The on-farm software used by the Macqueens enables herd record-ing data to be transferred automatically. This means most of the herd informa-tion is stored in the one place, on their computer.

“Because we record all our joining details I can print out a report the day before preg testing is due to be done. This assists with accurate preg test-ing results. And at calving time we generate another report that enables us to accurately identify each calf ’s sire.”

The Macqueens’ detailed records are also used for mating and cull-ing decisions.

For breeding deci-sions, the Macqueens work closely with Paul Cocksedge, who was their farm manager from 2000-2005.

“While he worked for us, Paul made major improvements to the genetic advancement of our herd. When he moved to another job, he con-tinued to help with sire selecting on a consultancy basis,” Gwen said.

Bulls are selected mostly for their Australian Profit Ranking (APR) but consideration is also given to udder conformation, particularly udder depth and centre ligament.

“These are the essen-tial traits for high produc-ing and long lasting cows,” she said.

the “semi-retired” Gwen and Alan Macqueen refer to their herd records daily.

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“The Chinese and Rus-sians won’t develop their own genomic databases; they’ll simply adopt the North Amer-ican database. After all, it’s a global industry; the bovine genome is a global entity which we can all use and contribute to.”

mAximisinG rEProduc-tion drives profit through average milk per cow per day and growth in livestock inven-tory, says Charlie Perotti, global director of corporate programs for Alta Genetics.

Advanced synchronisation programs now offer dairy farm-ers the opportunity to create the maximum number of pregnan-cies in a six week joining period.

Farmers adopting these pro-grams could expect a calf rate of at least 70%, according to Char-lie Perotti, global director of cor-porate programs for Alta Genetics.

Perotti, who has been a regular visi-tor to Australia for the past four years, travels the world advising on dairy profitability, genetic devel-opment, personnel development and management, sales and mar-keting, and large progressive dairy project development.

“With advance synchronisa-tion programs, there’s no heat detection, no palpating cows and no need for induction,” Perotti said.

“With three opportunities to get them in calf you should expect a 70%+ in calf rate.

“The first time you run a synch program it seems like hard work but when you’ve done it once you find you’re running the dairy operation differently – more efficiently and more prof-itably.

“If you’re running your dairy as a business you have to have an aggressive reproduction pro-gram with a minimum number of carryover cows. Then you can cull on profitability and select which animals to sell and which to keep on their true per-formance.”

Culling on profitability rather than because a cow is empty ensures the best cows are

retained in the herd and genetic gain is maximised. While genet-ics drive profitability, a carryover cow is an unjustifiable cost.

“By six months a carryover cow is almost 200 days in milk. Her reproductive potential doesn’t get any better the longer she’s left. In fact, the quality of her eggs deteriorates the longer she’s left,” Perotti said. “More peaks, more calves, no carry-overs – that should be our aim. I tell my clients to get serious about reproduction – it drives your profit.”

Selecting, rearing and prog-eny testing bulls is a major business activity for genetics companies and bull fertility and management has been a spe-cial challenge as competition increases and margins become tighter.

Recently, Alta Genetics changed its approach to bull management to meet these new challenges. Using data gathered from a number of core partner herds, the company concluded that bulls that didn’t produce quality semen by 16 months of age were not going to improve.

“In the past we kept a bull on, based on his parentage and our expectations of him, in the belief he would eventually provide good quality semen,” Perotti said. “But what the partner herd data told us quite clearly was that this was not so. If they didn’t per-form by 16 months they weren’t going to improve.”

In his role, Perotti has access to both emerging and estab-lished dairy industries and has witnessed the revolution that is taking place in dairying across the globe.

In Eastern Europe, coun-tries like Ukraine and Kazakh-stan have a growing middle-class demanding quality dairy prod-uct. They are becoming wealth-ier through sales of oil and gas to Western Europe. Russia too has the desire to increase dairy output and India is now look-ing to move away its traditional, low production system to high tech, high productivity dairying systems.

“We are very involved in China where they are build-ing a quality dairy industry,”

he said. “They are hungry for knowl-edge but we have to remember they are really first gen-eration dairymen.

Many of them have come off 10 cow, hand-milking farms so they know little about manag-ing a 5000 cow enterprise. But they do want to learn.”

The fast moving global indus-try that these emerging coun-tries are entering will see them rapidly adopting the technolog-ical improvements developed in the West and adopted over sev-eral generations. These new-comers will adopt genomics, synchronisation, sexed semen and other advances and rapidly reap the rewards of genetic gain and high productivity.

“Genomics is a ‘game changer’,” said Perotti. “The US and Canada started building the bovine genomic database in 2003 and by 2007 there was an unoffi-cial genomic evaluation on bulls which added about 10% to their general reliability.

“Today, just five years later, the general reliability of a young bull using genomics alone is 76-82%. The speed of genomic progress has tripled. Today 50% of joinings in the US are to genomic-only bulls. They don’t want to be left behind.


brEEdinG // 19

sAlEs cAlEndAr

DATE SALE WHERE

Oct 19 McNamara Dairying Special Spring Sale Colac Selling Centre

Oct 23 Almervista Jerseys Dispersal Sale on-property, Drouin Sth, Vic

Nov 1 Spring Spectacular Dairy SaleShepperton Selling Centre, Vic

Nov 20 Lynstar Holsteins on-property sale Gympie, Qld

Nov 22 Southern Milkers Special Sale Historic Tilba Tilba, NSW

Nov 23 Globull Fusions First Edition Holstein & Jersey Sale Berry, NSW

Nov 29 Midway Park Ayrshires Final Sale Tatura, Vic

Nov 30 North West Stars of the Future Sale Echuca, Vic

Farmers can lift in-calf rate in six-week period

“Data has told us if bulls don’t perform by 16 months they aren’t going to improve.”

charlie Perotti, global director of corporate programs for Alta Genetics.

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20 // mAnAGEmEnt

Another test for Downs familywhEn thE Queensland dairy industry deregu-lated, the Kunde family on the Darling Downs took the opportunity to invest in a new farming system to better cope with market realities.

An efficient silage and grain feeding model has produced flat-line milk production which has served them well for the past decade.

Now Chris Kunde is confident they have the resilience to withstand tough new challenges with the twin pressures of falling income and con-straints on production.

While a return to better seasons is wel-come, growth options are severely compromised and the short term focus is on being among the survivors in the industry.

Chris studied busi-ness management while attending Dalby Agricul-

tural College, a skill that has been put to good use since returning home in the mid 1990s after work-ing away for a few years.

He has now taken over the family property Sunnymount at Cam-booya from his parents John and Rita who spent their lives in dairying. His grandparents began farm-ing in the 1920s and were among the first to intro-duce machine milking on the Downs.

Chris said he was com-

mitted to dairying and get-ting through the difficult cycle ahead. When they built a new 25-a-side her-ringbone dairy six years ago it was planned as a long term investment.

After years of endur-ing drought, the effects of the big flood in early 2011 and ongoing wet weather are still being felt with cow numbers back from their peak above 200 and a legacy of herd health issues.

“Our system is really set up for dryer weather. Black soils are not good

in the wet.”With a 9% cut in tier

one quota to processor Lion and the price of tier two milk at just 15 cents a litre, milk production will be cut from about 1.5 mil-lion litres last year to 1.2 million, from 170 milkers.

With quality bonuses, the milk average price received is expected to be just over 50 cents a litre.

“It’s a difficult chal-lenge to cope with these prices and no growth opportunity. We’d cer-tainly like to be able to milk more cows again in the future. The property can handle up to 250 milk-ers,” Chris said.

It was ironic that at a time when farmers were being pressed to scale back production, cows and particularly heifers were in short supply. Years of drought had taken their toll and a lot of cows had been culled from herds.

A lot of heifers were

being exported.With no access to irri-

gation, the family took the opportunity to switch to a more secure production system in 2002, based on silage and grain feeding with opportunity grazing.

Average annual rainfall of around 700 mm made reliance on dryland graz-ing just too unreliable.

A crop of winter oats and lablab in summer pro-vides grazing of about 3kg of dry matter a day with a mixed ration supplying the bulk of feed require-ments.

They grow as much silage as they can, cutting crops of forage sorghum in summer and barley in winter from the 140ha home property and about 150ha in two leased blocks.

Corn silage is also brought in as well as grain and additives to blend feed daily on the property.

“We used to feed wheat for a couple of years, but

have gone back to barley. We also used to bail feed grain, but it is now all incorporated in the mixing wagon,” Chris said.

They typically have a couple of different types of silage being used at any time for a balanced ration with added grain, cotton seed and canola meal and minerals.

The ration is fed out morning and evening in troughs on a concrete feed pad.

A split herd with sepa-rate feed mixes had been operated in the past, but Chris said the labour sav-ings with a single herd outweighed the benefit of higher milk production under the current supply regime.

The herd is producing a rolling average produc-tion of about 25 litres a day with year round calving and it would be achievable to lift this to 27 litres.

Between 50 and 60 replacement heifers are raised each year and intro-duced to the feed ration for about a month before calving for a seamless transition into the milk-ing herd.

“We prepare annual budgets and focus on get-ting our feeding program as efficient as possible,” Chris said.

Forecasts of a dry summer ahead and esca-lating grain prices look set to add another dimension to the family’s challenge.

who: Kunde family whErE: Darling Downs whAT: Feeding system

chris Kunde on the family property at cambooya in Queensland’s Darling Downs.

Gordon colliE

A mixture of homegrown and bought ingredients are blended daily and fed out in troughs on a concrete feed pad.

John and chris Kunde on the family property, Sunnymount, at cambooya.

addition to the compost in an effort to improve pro-duction; however Clay said he was likely to return to lesser amounts.

“More is not necessar-ily better,” he said.

Apart from the cost savings, Clay has also noticed improvements in his soil and cow health.

“It’s a lot kinder on the environment,” he said. “The ground is a lot

softer and there is more activity in the soil. When we first did a visual soil assessment we found 25 worms on a shovel – on the most recent there were 61.”

The farm’s 400 cows are also healthier.

“Our cow health has improved remarkably because they are eating more nutritious feed,” Clay said.

“All the tests are head-ing the right way.”

Tony Evans from Cam-perdown Compost, who helped Clay establish his compost system, spoke about the pros and cons of using compost.

“The main benefit is that composting helps with best practice waste management and helps roots to go down deeper to source more nutrients,” Evans said.

Evans said compost was more costly to spread because it was more bulky

than fertiliser but still resulted in substantial on-farm savings.

The workshop was held as part of the Heytes-bury District Landcare Network’s Caring for our Country Improving Soil Condition and Biodiver-sity project with fund-ing from DAFF and Bega Cheese. The project is also being supported by Demo-DAIRY who are assisting to run the project work-shops.


mAnAGEmEnt // 21

dAiry FArmErs can save money and improve their soil biology by making their own com-post, they were told at a workshop at Tesbury, near Camperdown, in western Victoria last month.

Graham Clay is about to start on his fourth season of composting and making his own compost tea.

He introduced the system in an attempt to save on his fertiliser bill

and is now confident he made the right decision.

“It varies from year to year depending on how much you put on,” Clay said. “We were paying over $150,000 on fertiliser, which was one of the main reasons why we wanted to try something else.

“We needed to make savings because other costs are catching up on the farm.”

Last year the farm’s fer-tiliser bill was cut back to $50,000 however this year the farm increased its inputs to about $90,000 in

Compost slashes fertiliser bills, improves soil healthrick bAynE

inFrArEd (ir) cameras could hold the key to improv-ing heat (or oestrus) detection on dairy farms, according to initial results from a FutureDairy pilot trial.

FutureDairy project leader, Kendra Kerrisk said although the research was in its early days, the technol-ogy was commonly available.

“Infrared cameras detect differences in temperature. For example, during the swine flu outbreak, they were used at airports to identify people with raised temperatures, as an indicator of potential illness,” she said

As the technology has been used for heat detection in pigs, FutureDairy postgraduate student Saranika Taluk-der, set up the pilot trial to see if it could be applied to dairy cows.

She used IR cameras to detect changes in vulvar skin temperature, which can be related to stages of oestrus.

As this was a small pilot trial, the FutureDairy team will undertake further research needed to measure the sensitivity and accuracy of the application of the infrared camera. However the results are encouraging.

“Heat detection is always a challenge. It is time-con-suming and the logistics can be tricky, especially with large herds or automatic milking systems. Many herd managers would welcome an affordable and less subjective tool to assist in heat detection; and the IR camera has the poten-tial to be just that,” said Kerrisk.

“Ultimately we’d like a way to automate the process; perhaps the cameras could be mounted at the dairy or somewhere close to the cows; to automatically measure vulval temperatures at least twice a day.”

“The main benefit is that composting helps with best practice waste management and helps roots to go down deeper to source more nutrients.” – Tony Evans

Infrared cameras could detect heat

the infrared camera has the potential to be an affordable and effective tool for detecting heat in dairy cows.

This is one of the many examples of the dairy service levy at work. For more information on this and other levy investments visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au

Farmers can benefit from research into whole-crop cereal silage through the Dairy Australia-backed 3030 project.

Whole-crop cereal silage can be cut at the flag leaf/boot or vegetative stage or soft dough or grain formation stage of growth. However, making silage in each of the recommended growth stage has its own pros and cons.

Flag leaf/boot stageAt this growth stage the crop will be at its highest nutritive value, but much lower yield than if cut at the soft dough stage.

The standing crop at the flag leaf/boot stage will have dry matter (DM) of about 12% to 22% DM. It will require wilting to about 33% to 40% DM before harvesting as bulk chopped silage, or about 38% to 50% DM as baled silage.

If harvested under the above lower limits, a poorer fermentation will occur resulting in losses of DM and nutritive value, and silage of low palatability.

Cutting at flag leaf/boot stage will mean harvesting early in the season for autumn or winter sown cereals when climatic conditions may not be very conducive to a fast wilt. Using a mower-conditioner with the swath boards set out wide will help increase the wilting rate.

A tyned conditioner adjusted to produce an aggressive conditioning and adjusted to produce a “fluffy” wide windrow is ideal. A roller conditioner set to squash and

crimp the stems, also leaving a wide windrow, will increase the speed of wilting.

Late milk/soft dough stageWhen cut at the soft dough stage, whole-crop silage will be lower in nutritive value but yield will be some 100% to 150% higher than at the vegetative stage. The standing crop will have dried to near its ideal DM content, ie, 38% DM, but can be harvested in the 35% – to 42% DM range as bulk silage or baled at 38% to 45% DM.

The length of time in each phase will vary depending on moisture availability, sunlight hours and temperature. Very broadly speaking, barley is the quickest species to pass through its grain forming stages. It can undergo the soft dough stage in three to five days and dry at approximately 2% DM/day.

The other cereals may do so over seven to 10 days and dry at only about 1% DM/day.

Forage cereals should, ideally, be harvested using a precision chop harvester to produce a very short chop material which can be compacted to exclude air. If the crop is drier than recommended, mowing then raking and harvesting can result in substantial grain loss, reducing its nutritive value.

If whole-crop is baled, a chopper baler is preferable to aid compaction. Using netwrap instead of string is preferable to minimise damage to the plastic wrap and to leave an even surface between the bale and plastic film.

Timing and silage


22 // mAnAGEmEnt

AlthouGh mAny dairy farm-ers in Western Victoria are going through tough times, the long-term outlook isn’t so bleak.

Tactics for Tight Times work-shops hosted by WestVic Dairy in early October at Colac, Timboon, Macarthur and Warrnambool were told that the medium to long-term prospects are fairly positive.

CBA Dairy Business Manager for south west Victoria, Rhonda Henry said dairy was rated as a medium risk industry.

“Don’t panic,” she told nearly 50 dairy farmers and service providers at the Warrnambool workshop. “There is going to be a need for more food for the world and Australian dairy is well positioned to

capitalise on that.”Henry said dairy farmers should

look at all aspects of their busi-ness to focus on profits, including income protection, interest rates, equipment, herd size and cost of production. They should also aim to increase use of home grown fodder.

“Every farm is different. You don’t have to compare or try to keep up with your neighbour,” she said.

“Preparing early cash flow, ensur-ing you compare budget to actual regularly to identify any issues, and maintaining good communication with your bank is important.

“It is better to talk early rather than wait until your top drawer is full of bills.”

The workshop also heard from rural financial counsellor Brian Gardiner who said the cumulative effect of prolonged drought, floods

and the global financial crisis had left many farms with reduced assets and higher levels of debt.

“Many farmers are trying to ser-vice higher levels of debt to rebuild their business but are doing it from a lower income base,” he said.

Gardiner said farm values had dropped by around 20%, milk prices were relatively low and grain prices relatively high. “I don’t see grain prices changing in the near future,” he said.

While admitting it is “not a par-ticularly cheerful scenario”, Gar-diner said help is available and he encouraged struggling farmers to talk to rural financial counsellors.

Dairy Australia has developed the Tactics for Tight Times cam-paign as a levy-funded initiative to support dairy farmers through the milk price downturn.

Farmers told ‘don’t panic’rick bAynE

tAsmAniAn dAiry farmers have revealed how they manage challenging conditions as part of Dairy Australia’s Tactics for Tight Times campaign.

The campaign has been rolled out throughout the country to help farmers manage lower milk prices and rising input costs.

Host farms at Forest, Caveside and Ringarooma were featured as part of the campaign to illustrate cost effective farming methods and manage-ment techniques in a tight season.

At Forest, in Tasma-nia’s north-west, share-farmers Mark Twose and Debbie Townsend milk between 200-220 cows on a 50ha farm converted from a dairy stock block five years ago.

In 2011/12 they pro-duced 120,000kg of milk solids (MS) at 2400 MS/ha.

This season the pair aims to produce 125,600kg of MS and to maintain

their efficient operation despite the lower milk price.

With help of indepen-dent consultant Penny Williams, Mark and Debbie shared with visit-ing farmers some of the keys to their operation including:

■ A focus on pasture production and man-agement including a weekly pasture assess-ment walk

■ Good communica-tion with farm owners including a weekly meeting to discuss farm management and fac-tors affecting the busi-ness

■ Young stock are reared off farm and calves are reared on an automatic calf feeder

■ Knowing their income from projected milk sales and forecast expenses and then ana-lysing and adjusting the business accordingly

■ Talking to farmers to get ideas about what

others are doing in these tight times.At Caveside, Barry and

Deb Chandler focus on similar objectives.

Milking 600 cows through two dairies on a 280ha milking platform they achieved their high-est production to-date of 250,000kg/MS last season.

The platform is made up of two farms, an 80ha home farm and a 200ha lease farm. Operating this way has taken some learn-ing and time to be prof-itable but it has helped the Chandlers achieve their overall goals of debt reduction.

The key to achieving their target of 254,000kg MS this season will be attention to detail includ-ing:

■ Being flexible and adapting to situations as they arise

■ Paying attention to the grass and growing and harvesting as much as profitable.

■ Maximising the number of live heifer calves as possible

■ Attention to calving and having as many quality cows in the herd as possible to provide options with future replacements and export sales

■ Ensuring 80% of the diet of the herd is made up of pasture

■ Maintaining cow con-dition and increasing nutrition prior to the

Tas farmers maintain margins in tight times

mating period ■ Cost control and react-

ing early to changing conditions and cash-flow will minimise potential downside impacts on the busi-ness. Dairy Australia’s

Tactics for Tight Times campaign features monitor farms throughout Australia providing a forum for dairy farmers to discus tactical decisions at a local level with host farmers describing the monitoring systems in place to ensure their businesses remain

profitable. Farmers will be able to

follow issues throughout the season through updates and regular farm

visits to see the financial and physical impacts of decisions made on-farm.

To see the full profile from these and additional

field days and information about upcoming Tactics for Tight Times events go to http://www.dairyaustra-lia.com.au/TightTimes

Farmers discuss how to cope with tough times at the farm of Mark twose and Debbie townsend.

barry and Deb chandler of caveside,tasmania.

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mAnAGEmEnt // 23

Unlocking soil’s potentialnorth wEst Tasma-nian farmers Geoff and Colleen Atkinson decided to think outside the square to improve the fertility and production of their Cuprona dairy farm.

The Atkinsons milk 85 mainly Friesian cows on 40ha at Cuprona, between Burnie and Penguin on the North West Coast.

The couple moved there seven years ago after selling their cropping and livestock property at Stowport, where they grew poppies and potatoes and ran sheep and cattle.

Their property com-prises 10 titles so the

Atkinsons bought it as a nest egg but it wasn’t long before they decided to take advantage of the dairy cows that were sold with the property.

“The cows were on there, and milk prices were good at that time, so we increased the herd and began improving the farm,” Geoff said.

“Of course after invest-ing that money, naturally enough the milk price dropped and fertiliser costs rose.”

Geoff wasn’t getting the response from his pas-tures he wanted through traditional fertilisers and was having trouble with fertility, with up to 25% of his herd failing to get in calf each year.

He got wind of trials of a biological fertiliser called Great Land being con-ducted on farms across the north west by IMP.

Essentially, the fertil-iser, Pasture TE, draws out nutrients locked-up in soils through overuse of nitrogen and phosphorous fertilisers.

Great Land is now being used on about 60 dairy farms from Scotts-dale to Smithton in Tas-mania and a number of

dairy farms and general cropping on mainland Australia.

The Atkinsons volun-teered to test the product, under the eye of independent scientist Reuben Wells, and now apply it across the entire property.

“The farm needed a lot of TLC when we bought it,” Geoff said.

“We have good chocolate soil but we were pouring urea on, like most dairy farmers do,

and it was having minimal effect.

“Our pH levels were good, so there were a lot of nutrients and trace ele-ments locked up in the soil over the years by fertiliser. Phosphorous fertiliser can be locked up in some soils, or converted into forms that plants can’t access.

“We had enough phos-phorous in the soil to last 20 years, and a lot of iron in the soil. The fertiliser had locked the trace ele-ments up.”

The Pasture TE liquid fertiliser contains specially selected bacteria and trace elements, which ‘fix’ nitrogen from the air, ‘unlock’ or ‘release’ phosphorus and potassium from soil, and increase the availability of other nutrients.

Geoff said the application of the liquid fertiliser had a quick effect, restoring bacteria to his soil and improving its fertility. His worm count is up, his plant roots run deeper into his soil and his irrigation time has been reduced.

He now applies the fer-tiliser three times a year, at rates of 40 litres/ha.

“My vet bills have been

who: Geoff and Colleen Atkinson whErE: Cuprona whAT: Soil health

reduced 75% and I don’t have lameness any more now I’ve stopped using urea.

“Paddocks are grow-ing again in winter, when they haven’t before.

“I haven’t used any chemicals for the last two years and my fertiliser bill has been cut in half in that time.”

Bulk milk cell count figures have been reduced and milk production is up, which is timely with current milk prices.

The herd’s rota-tion has also dropped from about 28 days to 14-17 days, with the cows eating the pasture right down and more evenly.

Geoff Atkinson

Geoff and colleen Atkinson’s farm in north west tasmania.

v


24 // AnimAl hEAlth

whEn John and Haylee Watson from Cobram East in north-ern Victoria found it was taking up to three hours for the morning milking, they decided they needed to do something about replacing their clusters.

Last year they milked 550 Holsteins on their 44 unit rotary in a part-nership with keen young dairy farmers, Stewart and Beck Robertson. Stewart says some time ago they had their own 90 cows and were looking for an oppor-tunity to milk them as part of a larger operation.

When they teamed up with the Watsons, he says, “it was the right place at the right time”.

The Robertsons have

big cows, based on US genetics, giving 50 to 60 litres per day in peak times. The Watson’s shed had 24-year-old West-falia clusters which had obviously been perform-ing well over the years but now they found that the bigger cows weren’t milk-ing out and were milking

‘lopsided’. With 500 cows on the go, it was taking three hours at the morn-ing milking and 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon.

“The cows were taking so long to milk out that we were often sending some around for the third time,” said John. So they had a good look around at the available current clus-ter designs.

In February this year Adrian Hayward at Advanced Dairy Systems in Cobram suggested they give the new Westfalia-Surge IQ clusters a trial. Hayward had a lot of con-fidence in these new units; “Try them out, if they’re no good, we’ll take them back out.”

The WestfaliaSurge IQ Cluster from GEA Farm Technologies is designed to move milk from each

Cluster switch helps health

who: John and Haylee Watson; Stewart and Beck Robertson whErE: Cobram East whAT: Herd health

chris dinGlE

quarter with a minimum of turbulence for faster milk out. In addition it has four separate guide cham-bers to prevent teat-to-teat cross contamination.

It has certainly worked out that way for the Wat-sons and the Robertsons. “We are milking 280 cows an hour, without pushing it,” said Stewart. “I can put the cups on three cows in the time that it took to do two.”

He explained they had been culling cows because they weren’t milking out properly; “We had a huge incidence of three-teaters. Since we put in the IQs we’ve not had one.”

John ordered the new IQ Clusters with silicon liners and believed they made a huge difference – in just the three months they have been in use –

with the health of the teats. The increased speed of milking out contributed to that, he said.

The flexible area of the short milk tube on the IQ liner has been almost dou-bled to improve the abil-ity of the cluster to hang properly under virtually any udder size or shape. That better alignment helps to optimise milk flow and reduce liner slips and squawks.

John was pleased to be told the silicone liners have a recommenda-tion of 5000 cow milk-ings before changing: “We were changing liners three times a year,” he said. “Now we should get 12 months use out of these.” Last year John and Haylee moved 210 of their cows about 4km away when they started up a new dairy

on another property. So they are now milking 260 Holsteins out of a total herd of 330, and putting 6000 litres per day into the vat. John adds, “Some days we’ve finished milk-ing in 50 minutes.”

The IQ Cluster has a new vacuum control design to keep contami-nants out of the milk line. A small stainless steel ball located in each guide chamber of the bowl blocks the flow of air when the cups are not attached to the teats, so unwanted material is not sucked into the milk line. Plus if the cups are kicked off during milking the vacuum auto-matically shuts off to prevent contaminants entering the milk supply.

The IQ Clusters are lighter and easier to use. “There is a huge

difference,” said Beck. “They must be one-third the weight of the old clusters. It makes no difference whether you’re at cups-on or cups-off, it is so much easier, particularly with the vacuum shut off lever right underneath the bowl.

“You don’t have to hang on to the bottom of the bowl like we did before.”

Both Stewart and Beck said the easier milking meant they had more time to look at the cows.

With a lot of the worry taken out of the milk-ing, John Watson is look-ing forward to the future; “When we build back up to 350 cows on this farm, we’ll do 200 to 230,000 kgs of milk solids, and we’ll milk in 1 1/2 hours with better health.”

the Watsons and robertsons milked 550 Holsteins on a 44 unit rotary dairy in a partnership last year.

Stewart robertson and John Watson with their new dusters at the dairy.

See our website for more information www.clf.com.au Ph: 1800 333 010 Fax: 1800 024 267 Email: [email protected] David Smyth—Dairy Sales Manager 0409 187 112

Molafos® Dairy Transition is a palatable liquid feed containing anionic salts that can be fed to dry cows up to three weeks prior to calving, assisting against the onset of milk fever. Cows spelled on dry pasture and supplemented with hay often don't have the energy and mineral levels required for the transition of calving, milk production, grain feeding and a major change in environment. Molafos® Dairy Transition can be fed in open troughs or in licker drums in the paddock. When fed at 1kg/head/day, fed out every third day, provides the anionic salts which acidify the blood precipitating the re-lease of calcium to cows due to calf.

.


AnimAl hEAlth // 25

it hAs often been said in recent times that one of the biggest issues facing the dairy industry is the integration of animal wel-fare protocols into routine practices on farms.

Public opinion has strongly turned in favour of increased welfare standards for all our food produced from animals. In the UK and Europe and increasingly North America, higher levels of animal welfare are being used by retailers to distinguish their products from those of competitors, and here in Australia we are already seeing changes to egg and chicken production and pig production driven by concerns for animal welfare.

In some cases, signifi-cant premiums are paid for higher welfare stan-dards, but many would question whether the premium is enough to justify the costs.

When I talk to farm-ers about welfare issues, I find, without excep-tion, dairy farmers are concerned about the wel-fare of the animals in their care. But many are also seriously concerned about the cost pressures of the unrealistic and unsus-tainable pricing from the supermarkets and chal-lenges from world milk prices etc. The challenge facing dairy producers is to constantly strive to improve their welfare standards, which is what the public tells them they want, under price signals that say they are not pre-pared to pay for it.

Faced with this equa-tion, the dairy veterinar-ian is the best resource when considering ways you can make changes to your animal management protocols to improve both welfare outcomes and the bottom line.

For example, dehorn-ing of calves is an area where we can make signif-icant strides in pain man-agement in a cost neutral

or even a cash flow ben-eficial way. Genomic research offers opportu-nities to breed the horns off dairy cattle once and for all, but until geneti-cally superior cattle car-rying the polled gene are commonplace, dehorning at a young age will remain a routine animal manage-ment practice on all dairy farms. Recently published papers from Canada and North America have clearly demonstrated the animal welfare benefits of using a long acting anti-inflammatory drug, Meta-cam, when dehorning.

In the first study out of Ontario (Canada) by Heinrich et al, Meta-cam was used with local anaes-

thetic and showed there was a marked reduction in the measurable indi-cators of pain for up to 44 hours post dehorning. They rested for longer, had lower heart rates and stress hormone levels and showed less behavioural changes associated with pain.

In the study from the University of Iowa by Coetzee et al which used the Metacam without any local anaesthetic, the researchers showed that whilst the signs of acute distress associated with the dehorning were not mitigated, there were long term behavioural, physi-ological and performance effects. The old saying “no pain-no gain” definitely does not apply when we talk about the welfare of calves, in fact the opposite is true.....”no pain- MORE gain!!” Calves in the trial who were treated with the pain relieving medi-cation gained a signifi-cantly higher amount of body weight in the 10 days

Dehorning anaesthetic boosts calf growth rates

following dehorning of nearly 0.7kg/day.

Anti-inflammato-ries have been shown in numerous other stud-ies to reduce side-effects of mastitis (including SCC), reduce culling rates following mastitis and improve daily weight gain following castration,

lameness and respiratory disease.

By adopting the use of anti-inflammatory drugs as part of the treat-ment protocols when-ever we perform a routine management procedure that may cause pain we have the so called “triple bottom line” effect...

better welfare outcomes, better animal perfor-mance and better finan-cial returns. Australian dairy farmers and their veterinarians can get on the front foot with regards to animal welfare and alleviate many of the concerns of consumers regarding routine man-

agement practices and animal diseases knowing that despite the low milk prices it can be done in an economically sustain-able way.

Talk with your dairy vet about making a non steroidal anti-inflammatory drug part of your routine treatment

protocol whenever you treat a cow for lameness, mastitis or respiratory disease.

• Rob Bonanno is the past president of the Australian Cattle Veterinarians Association and a director of the Shepparton Veterinary Clinic.

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Calves treated with pain relief gained 0.7kg more body weight/day after dehorning.


26 // AnimAl hEAlth

■ CASE ONE: A yearling has a red, runny nose and cloudy eyes. She’s been grazing a pad-dock alongside a neighbour’s first-cross ewes. Visit Fast Facts to find out more about the likely causes and realise that the symptoms point to a possible case of malignant catarrhal fever. This alerts you to have the animal checked to rule out the possibility of foot and mouth disease or other serious exotic diseas-es, so you isolate the animal and call your vet without delay.

■ CASE TWO: A calf has red urine and a poor appetite. A quick check of Fast Facts points to possible causes as poisoning by kale or rape, ticks (in northern areas), phosphorus defi-ciency or leptospirosis. You phone the vet and – as an added precaution – check that all farm staff are up-to-date with their lepto shots.

■ CASE THREE: It’s early lactation and you’re seeing several animals that are off their feed and producing bad-smelling diarrhoea. You read up on Fast Facts about the symptoms of acidosis and confirm the diagnosis by tapping their left flanks to hear the tell-tale splash-ing sound. The symptoms are mild and are not getting any worse, so you stomach-tube some magnesium into the affected animals, feed them good-quality hay and keep them off water until tomorrow.

Online advice for sick cowsA nEw online resource is available to help farmers manage sick animals.

Dairy Australia’s animal health Fast Facts will help farm staff decide if an animal needs help from a vet.

The new dairy resource is the first in Australia. It has been developed over 12 months by a team of farmers, veterinary and animal health consul-tants.

Dairy Australia’s animal health manager, Kathryn Davis, said Fast Facts is an online, one-stop shop for information on more than 45 animal health issues.

“It is designed to help farmers recognise when an animal needs quick vet intervention,” she said.

“Unlike technical text books, it’s written in everyday language in a very easy-to-read format.

“There’s nothing to beat a farmer’s powers of observation when it comes

to the health of the herd. They see something wrong with an animal and think ‘that doesn’t look right’. Now they can go online for free help in finding a list of possible causes.

“Fast Facts doesn’t replace the work of the local vet or government animal health services. In fact, it helps the farmer focus on the symptoms and know when to seek help or report a serious problem. The process could see animals treated sooner and possibly mean better survival rates.”

Conditions range from feed-based ailments to contagious diseases, abor-tion and fertility problems to simply knowing when to look for abcesses or for-eign bodies.

“It presents the infor-mation from a farmer’s perspective; how you’d see it out in the paddock,” Dr Davis said.

“Fast Facts provides simple information about

cAsE studiEsthe more important dis-eases and gives basic advice on how to prevent or manage the less-serious conditions.”

While there were some

smaller, state-based infor-mation sites, she said the new Dairy Australia site was the first offering a tool that all Australian dairy farmers can use “because

dairy cattle diseases don’t recognise state boundar-ies”.

Use the tool now at http://www.dairyaustralia.com.au/fastfacts

Dr Kathryn Davis: “there’s nothing to beat a farmer’s powers of observation.”

dAiry AustrAliA has developed a detailed information pack to help Australian dairy farm-ers prepare for upcom-ing changes to the national standards for transporting bobby calves.

New national standards for transporting livestock, including standards and guidelines specifically for bobby calves, are expected to be introduced across Australia this year.

It will be a requirement under the new Austra-lian Animal Wel-fare Standards and Guidelines - Land Trans-port for livestock owners, opera-tors and receiv-ers to comply with the new laws which specify requirements for ‘fit to load’, vehicles and facili-ties, time off water, jour-ney time and more.

The new standards require all those involved in the transportation of livestock including farmers, buyers, agents, saleyard operators, trans-

porters and meat proces-sors to be responsible for the welfare of the animals under their care.

To ensure farmers have the latest information to comply with the new stan-dards relating to bobby calves, Dairy Australia will mail farmers an infor-mation tool kit includ-ing a comprehensive pocket guide, fact sheet

and poster supported by detailed information on the Dairy Australia website www.dairyaustralia.com.au

Under the new stan-dards, farmers must ensure bobby calves trans-ported for sale or slaugh-ter are:

■ At least five days’ old ■ Are fit and healthy ■ Adequately fed within

six hours of pick up Australian Dairy Farm-

ers president, Chris Grif-fin, welcomed the new standards and said they would bring national con-sistency to the way bobby calves are transported and ensure positive animal welfare outcomes.

“As dairy farmers, animal welfare is of para-mount importance in the

way we oper-ate and the new standards will provide consis-tency for our practices across Australia for the first time.”

Griffin said farmers and all those involved in the bobby calf supply chain

need to be aware of their obligations under the new standards and follow best practice guidelines for the management of calves.

For full information on the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Livestock (including cattle) go to www.livestockwelfarestan-dards.net.au

Bobby calf transport standards changing

New national standards for transporting livestock, including standards and guidelines specifically for bobby calves, are expected to be introduced across Australia this year.

IN UDDER WORDS...

Spring is the time to vaccinate calves that will be retained on the property. It is vital that all animals are vaccinated against Leptospirosis to prevent excretion of infective Leptospires in their urine.

Dairy farms provide a high risk environment for transmission of Leptospirosis from cows to humans due to the frequent exposure to urine and urine splashing in and around the dairy.

Leptospirosis can be transmitted to humans and people working closely with infected animals, such as dairy farmers, their families, employees and veterinarians are most at risk.

Human infection occurs when urine containing Leptospires from an infected animal splashes into the eyes, nose or the mouth, or into small cuts on the hands. Handling aborted calves or birth fluids without gloves, and paying poor attention to personal hygiene can increase the risk of becoming infected.

Human Health and Occupational Health and Safety are major reasons for vaccinating your dairy herd against Leptospirosis – management of the disease in cattle helps to prevent human infection.

People with Leptospirosis often have ‘Flu-like’ symptoms – fever, muscular pain, and headache can occur in the early stages. Vomiting and abdominal pain can make the sufferer feel tired and ‘washed-out’ for up to 18 months and in some cases meningitis,

liver failure, and kidney failure can occur.

Coopers® Cattlevax® 7 in 1 is a combined Clostridial and Leptospirosis vaccine that helps to prevent major Clostridial diseases – blackleg, pulpy kidney, tetanus, black disease and malignant oedema – as well as protecting against the two important Leptospirosis strains, Leptospirosis hardjo and pomona.

Urinary shedding of Leptospires only occurs if an animal has, or has had Leptospirosis. Animals already infected with Leptospirosis at the time of vaccination may still shed Leptospires in the urine for some months after vaccination, irrespective of which Leptospirosis vaccine is used.

Prevention of leptospirosis in cattle with Cattlevax 7 in 1 means urinary shedding doesn’t occur and limits the spread of the disease. Vaccination of cows in late gestation helps to prevent leptospirosis in young calves, who then gain protection after their initial vaccination course.

Talk to your local Coopers representative about your herd vaccination program on 1800 885 576 ® Registered Trademark

Vaccinate calves against Leptospirosis


AnimAl hEAlth // 27

A GiPPslAnd vet is conducting a world’s first study into the treatment of downer cows.

Dr Phil Poulton from the Tarwin Veterinary Group in South Gippsland is completing a master’s degree in the nursing of downer dairy cows.

The comprehensive study, which is funded by Dairy Australia, will look at around 250 recum-bent cows and how they respond to differing types of treatment. Dr Poul-ton, who is in his second and final year of the part-time research project, said results so far were tend-ing to confirm the prevail-ing treatment practices. But he said it was impor-tant the industry had this

research to ensure animals were receiving the most appropriate care.

Dr Poulton will look at around 150 downer cows this year, of which 120 will be assessed for the project. He will study the various ailments afflict-ing them and then review which treatments are the most effective. He will also look at how best to assess which cows won’t make a recovery.

“It’s important from the animal welfare aspect that we don’t prolong suf-fering for animals that can’t recover,” he said.

Differences in treat-ment for each breed of dairy cow are also being looked at, with heavier animals having different

needs to lighter animals. “If you have a 650kg Hol-stein, it might need dif-ferent nursing to a young Jersey cow that’s just had her first calf,” he said.

Dr Poulton said farm-ers should heed Dairy Aus-tralia’s recommendations when nursing downer cows. The key rules from Dairy Australia include:

■ Provide clean, dry and soft bedding that offers a non-slip surface when the cow tries to stand

■ Provide a continuous supply of clean water and good feed

■ Move the cow from side to side every three hours to ensure her weight is not always to one side, flexing and extending the hind

limbs each time the cow is moved

■ Regularly hand strip milk from the udder

■ Regularly encourage the cow to rise

■ Never leave cows hang-ing in lifting devices

■ Regularly reassess her progress and diagnosisDr Poulton said it

was vital downer cows received swift and appro-priate treatment once they were on the ground.

Complications arising from extended prone peri-ods include nerve damage, muscle damage, bed sores, mastitis, pneumonia and hip dislocations.

For information on nursing downer cows go to www.dairyaustralia.com.au and search “downer”.

Gippsland vet examines downer cow treatment

Dr Phil Poulton with one of his patients at a Fish creek farm.

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INTERNAL PARASITE DECTOMAX (days of activity)

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Ostertagia ostertagi (Small brown stomach worm)

35 days

Trichostrongylus axei (Stomach hair worm)

35 days

Haemonchus placei (Barber’s pole worm)

35 days

Oesophagostomum radiatum (Nodule worm)

21 days

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28 // mAchinEry & Products

Heaven is a new baler for Timboon couplethE PurchAsE of a new McHale V660 round baler just before the start of last season has proved to be a brilliant move for Timboon farmers, Adrian and Vickie Bond. Previ-ously they had operated two balers, in conjunction with Adrian’s father, Colin, but they reckon they kept them going a season too long.

“They gave us so many headaches, chasing parts and with breakdowns,” says Vickie Bond, “this year was heaven!”

Adrian was born and bred into dairying with his parents, Colin and Vicki, who are still farming not far away on Cooriemungle Rd. Adrian’s wife, Vickie, was also off a dairy farm and the pair had been sharefarming at Scotts Creek and came here to ‘Coorie Ridge Farm’ in 1996, virtually straight from their wedding, almost as the honeymoon.

They started with 40ha, plus a 48ha leased block. The farm has extended to 174ha, all adjoining. There are two run-off blocks, one at Scotts Creek, the other at Cobden. They milk 350 Holsteins on a 24 swing-over shed with automatic cluster removers and stall gates.

Adrian and Vickie had seen the McHale baler at Sungold Field Days and again when they were on a trip to New Zealand.

“In New Zealand, we saw the McHale working

when we stopped by the side of the road and it just about made up our minds to get the McHale. The McHale runs four knives and we wanted to get into chopped silage to better feed the cows.”

“Plus the dealer had a lot to do with it – we have a lot of time for Rhys Evans in Colac and we are confident about their ser-vice and knowledge. The service we’ve had from Rhys Evans over the years was certainly a factor.”

They operate the baler with a 155 hp Case Puma which was deliv-ered by Rhys Evans at the same time in a tractor/baler package. “It’s gen-erally undulating country around here, so you need all of the 155 horsepower, especially if the knives aren’t as sharp as they could be.”

The McHale machine can handle a maximum bale size of 5’6”; “We usually do 4’6” in silage because of the heavier bales,” explained Adrian, “and 5’ in hay bales because they fit neatly on the truck.”

Adrian said that they

made 1000 bales last year before he hit the knives with the sharpener, from then on they are sharp-ened at every 500 rolls. “It’s a pretty easy job; we use a soft wheel on the angle grinder.”

Vickie helps on that job and it only takes 10 min-utes to get them out, “pop out and pop in, half an hour altogether”.

Adrian said the baler is easy to clean, and a real bonus is the drop floor to relieve chokes. “You drop the door, it puts the crop through and away you go. It only choked three times last season.

“It’s been a treat to operate and the moni-tor is easy to use. You can drive with it all day and have no problems. I’ve taken it to places I haven’t been able to get into with other balers and it han-dles damp conditions very well.”

Quite a few neighbours have been in to see the baler at work and a couple of weeks after our visit in mid-September, the team from Rhys Evans were planning to borrow tractor and baler for a local dem-onstration.

This year the Bonds will cut 64ha of either hay or silage, mainly ryegrass

and clover. “We usually only do about 4o acres (16ha) of hay for the dry cows, everything else is silage. It’s ‘Western District dry cow hay’ here, it’s too wet to get good hay.”

The hay is all net wrapped, there is no twine box on the baler. Adri-an’s father, Colin, brings over his Elho twin satel-lite silage film wrapper to wrap the bales.

This year is a con-trast in seasons to last year which dried up pretty quickly, so there was not much hay made. They usually start silage in the first week of October, but Adrian said it is so wet now it will probably be middle to late October.

For mowing, they have two Taarup 2432 eight-disc mower conditioners and they use a Taarup 8055 four-rotor tedder.

The Bonds have two young boys, Max, 11, and Lex is 8. Adrian and Vickie alternate with the milk-ing and have one full-time worker and one part-time. “For years we were full on, now we have every second weekend off ”, comments Vickie.

“Expansion depends on what’s around the corner,’ adds Adrian. “You don’t say no to anything. You take advantage of the opportunities, but if we expand further, we’ll need to look at another dairy.”• Working Clothes will focus on the performance of a new machine each month. Send suggestions to Chris Dingle on 0417 735 001 or email [email protected]

workiNG cLoThESchriS DiNGLE

who: Adrian and Vickie Bond whErE: Timboon whAT: McHale V660 round baler

Adrian bond with his McHale V660 round baler.

Adrian bond operates the McHale baler with a 155hp case Puma.

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mAchinEry & Products // 29

thE clAAs Quad-rant 3300 square baler, which makes bales cut and compacts to 1200mm by 900mm, won the Imported Machine Award at the Elmore Field Days earlier this month. The machine was exhib-ited by Claas Harvest Centre Echuca.

The machine is pro-duced at the Claas head-quarters in Germany but has been modified to suit Australian conditions.

The main features are its extremely high bale density, perfect bale shape and maximum through-put.

The company said the format of Quadrant 3300 is ideally suited to profes-sional straw collection and is also a popular dimen-sion for bale transport in many countries.

The number of bales

per hectare is very low, allowing fields to be cleared more quickly.

The harvested mate-rial is gathered by a 2.35m wide pick-up, which is secured with a cam-type cut-out clutch.

The pow-erful rotor is equipped with dual tines, in order to convey the har-vested material smoothly and rapidly into the pre-chamber. The new pick-up has particularly improved performance in gathering broken straw.

The transfer of har-vested material has also been further optimised, as the rotor turns even faster. This results in improved performance, better forage quality, and less dust in the crop.

The 3300 possesses

Claas baler wins Elmore awarda newly developed pre-chamber system, which is controlled either auto-matically or by the driver. This means you can always achieve optimal results for

the particular swath width.

The packer tines are con-trolled by a cam disc, to achieve optimum move-

ment of the packer tines in the short cycle and even filling of the pre-chamber. The long cycles are con-trolled by means of a cylin-der and a feed rake control shaft.

Using the Claas Com-municator device, it is possible to control pre-chamber filling hydrauli-cally from the tractor cab, with three different levels. This convenient cab-based control option saves time and increases the effi-ciency of the machine.

The 3300 also features the Turbo Fan system, which protects the knot-ter from dirt by means of a 140km/h permanent air-flow.

The high performance of the square baler is also achieved thanks to its rapid 46 piston strokes per

minute and a bale cham-ber pressure of 200 bar.

Finally, six pivoting

Claas high performance knotters with eccentric drives supply twine to the

needle at high speed and make sure that the bale is tied securely.

New Kuhn mowers ready for lift-offkuhn’s lAtEst centrally articulated mounted mower to use the maker’s patented ‘lift control’ facil-ity is on offer for this season.

The GMD 2810 disc mower (2.67m working width) uses Kuhn’s new-generation Optidisc cutter bar, designed to improve quality of cutting, increase pro-tection and durability, and reduce maintenance, the distributor says.

“Central articulation gives this straight mower the advantages of improved ground following and even load distribution, ensuring accurate cutting even at high speeds.

“Lift control is an integrated hydraulic linkage enabling the cutter bar to be lifted out of work on headlands (to a clearance of 400mm) without rais-ing the 3-point linkage. Ground clearance is also con-stant over the whole width of the machine.”

Non-stop break-back control is also included on the GMD 2810, Kuhn says, minimising the risk or inconvenience of damage in the event of hitting an obstacle. The maker’s new Fast-Fit blades system are fitted as standard. Visit www.kuhn.com.au

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30 // mAchinEry & Products

clAimEd by some people as being among the top farmers in New Zealand, Kevin and Linda Davidson run a large enterprise in the Hawke’s Bay of New Zealand. They have been on the farm 12 years.

The farm, t/a Plantation Road Dairies, is a large enterprise of 454 eff/ha for the milking platform and 230 eff/ha of support land, all flat.

With large pivot irriga-tors, 94% of the dairy farm is irrigated and 50% of the support land with water from a river on the farm boundary.

At the peak of the season 1800 Friesian cows

are milked daily through the 60 bale rotary and through the winter there are always at least 1000 cows being milked daily.

The rotary has a fully computerised milking plant with automatic cup removers.

Milking stock is run in three herds and the last paddock is 2.4 km from the dairy shed.

There is 13 full time staff including two mechanic/handymen who also look after fertiliser applications and ground cultivation.

Best production from the farm has been nearly one million kg/MS.

“With my electrician

background our irrigation pumps are all at low pressure, no more than 60 psi so there is less wear and tear on the pumps and the electricity bill is reduced.”

He made other altera-tions so the water drop-lets are larger and spray is reduced so irrigation can be done during windy weather.

The cows receive sup-plementary feeding on feed pads adjacent to the dairy all year round.

He grows 80ha of maize and 72ha of Allcrop for silage as well as a small amount of grass silage.

Added to this is waste from vegetable and fruit

processing plants, and by-products from grain plants.

All these are sourced locally. Other minerals and PKE are added when needed.

Six years ago Davidson changed to a totally biological fertiliser program, after doing trials on his farm with fertilisers and supplementary feeding.

All fertiliser is applied in a slurry form either by helicopter or delivered to the farm and applied by his own tankers complete with scales and agitators.

All mixtures are formu-lated and supplied by Out Grow from their plant in

Milk pump gentle on solids

Dannevirke.Mixes can include

guano, sulphate of ammo-nia, calcium nitrate, fine lime, seaweed extract, sugar in the form of molas-ses, humates and trace minerals to suit.

The result is produc-tion increases from the more palatable pastures and better utilisation of that pasture.

There is more nutrient density in the pasture and Bricks test show that sugar levels have increased by 500% above the conven-tional system.

Davidson in the early spring of the 2011/2012 season installed a Corkill Dairy Systems Lobe milk pump and immediately had an improvement in his Milk Solids test.

The result was in early December 2011 he received a call from Fon-terra to explain that he had had a 7% increase in his Milk Solids test compared with the farm’s test at the same time in the previous season.

The company reported to him that their tests were slightly down due to the increase in volume but Davidson’s were improv-ing.

“I put it down to the installation of the Corkill lobe pump which reduces damage to the milk by not breaking down the protein and butterfat globules,” Davidson said.

Lobe or positive dis-placement pumps are used in a variety of indus-tries including in the food industry where they can handle solids such as olives, without damaging

the products.They create on the inlet

side expanding volume for the milk to enter and be trapped by the lobes as they rotate.

The milk travels around the inside of the casing but not between the lobes and to the outlet port under pressure. There is no chance for the product to be damaged.

Corkill can now supply and fit four different sized capacity lobe pumps suit-able for the dairy indus-try to replace diaphragm or centrifugal pumps or installed directly into new installations.

In 1991 Steve Corkill produced the Milk Flow, a device that could vary the speed of a milk pump depending on milk flow, levelling the flow of milk through the cooler and reducing potential damage to the milk.

The Milk Flow is fitted to the lobe pumps to fur-ther enhance the treat-ment of the milk.

The lobe pumps are also fitted with a patented device that maintains a safe pressure and stops the risk of damage to milk coolers.

“I believe that when farmers replace a cen-trifugal pump with a lobe pump they should get at least a 6% increase in MS test due to reduced damage to the milk,” Corkill sales manager Vern Coxhead said.

Corkill Dairy Systems products are being used in Australia, serviced from New Zealand.www.corkillsystems.co.nz

New Zealand farmer Kevin Davidson installed a corkill Dairy Systems lobe milk pump and immediately had an improvement in milk solids.

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trActors And dAiry EquiPmEnt // 31

Weed wiper halves chemical usageA 6m linkage weed wiper will allow a New Zealand contracting firm to slash chemical costs and take on work it has never done before, says the owner.

Uni Agricultural Spray-ing Ltd owner-opera-tor Mark Harris recently

added the FU600 Roto-wiper 6 metre linkage weed wiper to his Te Anau fleet after seeing it at the National Fieldays.

Already he is impressed by the cost savings he’s achieving. “When you’re spraying thistles with con-ventional boom sprayers the chemical cost is $100/ha compared to $20/ha

with the Rotowiper. I can work an eight-hour day and use only half a 120L tank.”

The machine’s ability to target weeds that grow 33% higher than the pas-ture canopy is the main factor behind chemical savings, Harris says. And this brings further advan-tages. “You can spray for

weeds such as thistles with the chemicals they are most susceptible to, with-out damaging other pas-ture.”

The Rotowiper is great for thistles, rushes, rag-wort, wild turnip and fat hen, amongst other weeds, says Harris, who has jobs booked up for the machine all through spring and

summer. He plans to work pastures and brassica crops. “I’ve got quite a lot of work lined up for it.”

While Harris has known of weed wipers for some time, the FU600 was the first model he bought, especially because it doesn’t leave lines of spray as other weed wipers do.

“Because the Roto-

wiper dispenser rotates, the carpet gets wet enough to be effective without dripping spray and leav-ing lines of dead pasture. Previously I saw [such machines] as not being worth pursuing.”

Though Harris uses a

90hp tractor to operate the machine, he believes it would be just as effec-tive on a 60-70hp trac-tor. “You’re only towing around 120L; it’s not like a boom sprayer which can carry as much as a ton.”www.rotowiper.co.nz

GArEth GillAtt

New Zealand contractor Mike Harris is impressed at the amount of chemical he saves when using the roto-wiper compared with spraying thistles.

Polaris quad sets industry standardsindustry bEnchmArks set repeatedly by Polaris quads in ride qual-ity show these machines to be “getting better and better,” says maker Polaris Industries.

Since the launch of the Sportsman nameplate in 1996, each new model has raised the bar, such as with the new Sportsman XP, the company says.

With a 4-stroke, electronic fuel injected engine, and choice of a 550cc

or 850cc, the Sportsman XP has been engineered for extreme off-road perfor-mance. “We took the engineering know-how of an entire category and turned it upside down,” says Polaris.

“Well, technically, sideways, by rotating the engine 90 degrees. This gives the rider superior ergonomics with 33% wider floorboards and a nar-rower space at the knees and ankles. Besides delivering a sporty, nimble feel,

the positioning reduces leg fatigue and increases rider comfort.”

Polaris says it offers the best elec-tronic power steering (EPS) on the market. It has 30% more power assist than the leading competitor, plus vari-able assist for easier steering effort at lower speeds and more responsiveness at higher speeds, it adds.

“EPS delivers a safer and more enjoyable ride, as it minimises the dis-

traction of bumps, letting you focus more on the terrain. Plus our 2011 styling means you get a 16% larger fuel tank capacity on XP EPS models. EPS is optional on XP550.”

Sportsman XP has the biggest rack capacity at 55kg in the front and 110kg in the rear.

And there’s enough power to haul trailers and sprayers with a 680.4 kg

pulling and towing capacity.www.polariscentral.com.au

Polaris Sportsman XP.

7 Dryden Court WOODEND Victoria 3442

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03 5427 4955 Fax: 03 5427 4977

Triple auger vertical mixerADVANTAGES: Independent High capacity for lower heights Easy to operate Low power consumption Quick mix Simple maintenance

Double auger vertical mixer with side discharge door ADVANTAGES: Independent frame Greater capacity for lower heights Simple operation Low power consumption Quick mix Simple maintenance

New Tatoma Importer. Specialising in their Trailed and Self propelled mixers.They range in size from 10m3 to 45m3 and come with single axel to triple axel with steering for the large machines I Price form $35000 to $140000 for the 45m3 unit

Auger self propelled.

The double self-propelled vertical mixer adds the advantages of a trailed vertical mixer as it is completely autonomous, doing away with the need for a tractor for moving or loading.

The position of the motor on the rear gives the machine better weight distribution and allows greater access to it, facilitating maintenance.

This configuration is ideal for intensive use, as it increases the soundproofing of the cabin and ensures a more comfortable ride.

FFM

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C

www.lockwoodmachinery.com.auDealer enquiries welcomed


32 // trActors And dAiry EquiPmEnt

Vicon mowers make the cutA liGhtEr butterfly mower from Vicon lets hay contractors cut a wider swathe with a lighter tractor, says dis-tributor Power Farming Australia.

The 8.56m Vicon Extra 390 butterfly mower is one of few butterfly mowers sold here equipped with mechanical suspension and no conditioner. This allows it to be powered by lower-

powered tractors. “An 8-9m butterfly mower condi-

tioner would need a 200hp tractor to operate while a butterfly mower only requires a 130hp tractor,” PFG Austra-lia said.

The rear butterfly mower weighs 1600kg compared to 1800-2000kg for triple mower/conditioner models. Thus many contractors could select several tractors from their fleet to cut hay rather than relying on one.

“A lot of contractors I have talked to have just one 200hp tractor but several 130hp tractors. With this mower they will probably be able to cut hay with five machines. They also won’t need the cap-ital outlay required to run a bigger trac-tor, including the extra fuel costs.”

The mower has centre suspended mowing units to better follow the contours of the paddock with the suspension arms having two mounting options to allow for a wider overlap

when working on hilly conditions. This is also the only 8-9m butterfly

mower on the market with Vicon’s three blade system. “You’ve also got a Vicon

cutter bar that comes with a 2 year war-ranty.”Tel. PFG Australia on (03) 936 88 888

GArEth GillAtt

MF7600 series: High power, low weight, versatilemAssEy FErGu-son’s new MF7600 tractor series embodies high power, low weight and versatility, the com-

pany reports. Its tech-nology – award-winning and proven – includes the latest fuel-efficient engines, plus extra opera-

tor comfort and control. The design is low-

weight and versatile, suit-ing tasks ranging from cultivation and crop

establishment to top work and haulage.

The MF7600 series can be specified with either the Dyna-6 Eco semi-pow-ershift transmission or the Dyna-VT continuously variable transmission.

All models are pow-ered by the company’s newest AGCO Sisu Power e3 engines with second-generation selective cata-lytic reduction (185-235hp) as well as power manage-ment which, on Dyna-6 models, boosts engine power by up to 25hp for field and road work – for higher output as con-ditions dictate, taking account of PTO operation, travel speed and load.

Massey Ferguson pio-neered the use of SCR sys-tems in agriculture, AGCO says, a technology “already

proven to significantly reduce fuel consump-tion.” As seen on MF8600 series tractors, the Gen-eration 2 SCR system uses an advanced diesel oxida-tion cataly-ser (DOC), which includes the AdBlue dosing injec-tor nozzle.

Buyers can choose between Agco’s Dyna-6 Eco semipowershift or the Dyna-VT continuously variable transmissions – the latter making for pre-cise control of the forward speed at lowest-possible engine revs, so that the tractor always runs at opti-

mum economy and effi-ciency. Meanwhile the ‘dynamic tractor man-agement’ automatically adjusts the engine speed

according to load.

The Dyna-6 Eco trans-mission is clutch-less via a left-hand ‘power control’ or right-hand ‘command control’ levers in the arm-rest. It has 24

speeds with six Dynashift (powershift) steps in four gears. The Eco feature allows top speed at lower revs, reducing engine noise and fuel consump-tion.

A further refinement –

AutoDrive – is standard, automating more gear changes to increase work rates and cut fuel con-sumption.

A completely rede-signed cab for the MF7600 gives the operator better visibility and interior space and higher levels of comfort. Users can choose from three specification levels and new control options. Controls in the armrest and on the joy-stick are further refined.

New cab suspen-sion choices are between mechanical (coil springs and dampers) and the maker’s hydrau-lic ‘OptiRide Plus’ which enables the operator to adjust the ride comfort level.Visit www.masseyfergu-son.com.au

AutoDrive is standard, automating more gear changes to increase work rates and cut fuel consumption.

Th

e g

en

u i ne w e e d w

i pe

r -

s

ince 1987

JFM

To find out more contact...

Vic., SA & Tasmania – Eastern Spreaders : Tel 03 5450 3077NSW, Queensland – Leigh Stoddard & Co Ltd : Tel 02 6375 1342Western Australia – Bunbury Machinery : Tel 08 9792 3923


trActors And dAiry EquiPmEnt // 33

Astronaut system’s out of this world

thE biGGEst chal-lenge in running a grazed robotic system such as Carr Group’s Stradbroke Farm, New Zealand, is feed management, says the farm’s manager, Jeff Hocking.

“You’ve got free-range cows and you need to encourage cow-flow through the farm and so that not all the cows are in the yard at the same time,” he said.

In early spring he runs a three-break-per-day system, but will step that up to four breaks from the end of this month. The farm is split into 42 pad-docks, divided into quar-ters by straight laneways leading to the central shed and the four Astronaut robotic milkers.

“Every six hours the gates will change so the cows go off in a different direction.”

Typically only a hand-ful of stragglers need to be chased up to move through the shed and onto the next break.

A platemeter is used daily to allocate pasture by weight, and a C-Dax meter comes in once a fortnight to give an overview of covers.

Besides not having the chore of milking, the great thing about the Astronaut is being able to manage cows individually, says Hocking. “There’s all the information on the com-puter telling you exactly what the cow is, or isn’t doing. We feed according to yield with high protein pellets so we know cows are not getting over-fed and we can target our high producers.”

The top cow as of the end of August was already doing 48L/day three weeks after calving. “She’ll do over 60 litres at peak.”

On a rough 8% conversion to milksolids, that’s 5kgMS/day, he notes. Top producers in the herd last season did 850-900kgMS.

“A third are still Jersey-cross but we’re whittling them out. They just don’t produce quite so much milk. We know for a fact the Holstein Freisians pro-duce a lot more and we’re feeding our cows so they reach their full potential here.”

Activity meters on

cows monitor, among other things, cudding fre-quency. If it’s too rapid, it’s an early warning of aci-dosis; too slow and there could be too much fibre in the diet. The meters also signal heats, and cows can be drafted ready for AI accordingly, how-ever Hocking says they’ll also be using Heat Seek-ers (similar to Kamars) this season. “It’s a matter of good observation. If the computer thinks they’re on heat, they can be auto-drafted out, then it’s down to us to see if she is on heat or not.”

Milk from every quar-ter of every cow every milking is monitored for conductivity, giving an early warning of mastitis, or subclinical infections. Late last month somatic cell count was running at about 170,000. “I’d like that down to 140,000-150,000 but we’ve got a lot of older cows in the herd.”

The first thing Hock-ing looks at when he goes into the shed in the morn-ing – about 7am at this time of year and 7.30am later in the season – is the herd overview display. He checks if any cows have missed milkings, which can occasionally happen if a cow “tailgates” one that has already been milked through a drafting gate out of the shed.

Udder health is next on his list, then a check to see if there are any “failed” milkings – cows the Astro-naut hasn’t been able to milk for whatever reason. “They’re separated out anyway.”

Such information is presented on a dash-board display which also includes milk separated from the vat, for example due to penicillin or colos-trum; milkings/cow/day; concentrate used/L milk produced; milk/cow; time milking/cow; feed allo-cated but not used. “For example, if a cow’s meant to have 8kg over three milkings but has only come in for two.”

Clicks on each dis-play allow the user to drill down into the information behind the herd data.

Lely New Zealand’s managing director, Peter Vis stresses the equip-ment, and all the informa-tion it provides, doesn’t necessarily make for a successful operation. “It depends on you as the

Stradbroke Farm manager, Jeff Hocking.

Cow & heifer management 45%

Feeding 15%Admin, PC & data

management 20%

Robot care & cleaning 5%Miscellaneous, inc other maintenance & cleaning 15%

Robot work times

farmer to make it tick.” And impressive as the technology is, he believes “it is the least interesting part. We’ve proven here it works. We’ve proven for 20 years it works.”

Once a manager is up to speed on running a farm with robot milkers, with-out the twice daily chore of milking, work-time is quite different, he points out (see panel).

AndrEw swAllow

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34 // ProPErty

AustrAliA’s lArGEst dairy farm, the Van Diemen’s Land Company, will decide

soon on its choice of investment fund.

The potential choice of the sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corporation, investing in the VDLC is dividing the

Federal Coalition.The Labor Government

has said it welcomes foreign investment while members of the Nationals and the Liberal party are holding a “no foreign

investment” line. VDLC operates 23

farms in northwest Tasmania, producing at least 5.7million kgMS annually. Tasman Farms, a fully-owned subsidiary of

the New Plymouth District Council, holds 98% stake in VDLC.

Australian media reports say the sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation

sudEsh kissun

THE Van Diemen’s Land Company started in 1824 as a wool exporter and moved into beef 60 years later.

In 1992, it turned to dairying which chief executive Michel Guerin says has turned out to be “one of its best agricultural activities.”

Guerin said demand for dairy will continue to outstrip supply and grass-based systems will remain the cheapest in the world.

Northwestern Tasmania has the abil-ity to grow pasture as well as anywhere in Australia.

He says VDLC has enough land to add more dairy farms. It currently runs 25,000 cows.

Depending on the amount of equity raised, VDLC hopes to double milk produc-tion.

The company supplies milk to Fonterra which has two plants in the territory.

dAiry brinGs rEsults

Shareholders to vote on foreign investment

is close to investing A$180 million into VDLC, in return for a stake.

VDLC chief executive Michael Guerin has refused to comment on the Chinese bid.

But he said a shortlist has been drawn up for the shareholders to make the final decision.

Guerin says it began raising capital 12 months ago to expand dairy operations.

The company received responses from investments funds in Australia, New Zealand and overseas, a typical response to an equity raising scheme, he says.

“Australia and New Zealand represent relatively modest part of the global capital pool so our best chance to raise equity to create more jobs is to go further than Australia and New Zealand.”

Potential investors have presented various proposals, including acquiring a stake in the company.

“We will have to choose

what makes the best sense for shareholders,” Guerin says.

The Australian Federal Government says it will consider the national interest before approving any Chinese investment in VDLC.

Treasurer Wayne Swan says foreign investment – whether from the US, the UK, or Europe or China – is welcome because it supports Australian jobs.

“If there were any proposal about investment in dairy or anywhere else, what the Government does is apply our national interest test,” he says.

Tasmanian Liberal senator David Bushby, chairman of the free-market Society of Modest Members group of Coalition MPs, says obviously such investment would have to meet the national-interest criteria under the Foreign Investment Review Board, but subject to that, it would be ‘’good for Tasmania and Australia’’.

EFFLUENT & WATER MANAGEMENT

NEXT ISSUE: NOVEMBER 2012

SPECIAL REPORT

In the face of tighter environmental controls and rising fertiliser costs, it pays dividends to manage effluent and water flows more tightly. The next issue of Dairy News Australia will cover best practice in this area and will profile new developments and equipment designed to turn a problem into potential profit.

For more information about the Schuitemaker range contact your local dealer or AG Machinery Australia.

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Dairy News Australia October 2012