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Irrigation Analysis Tool - Find the best irrigation system for you (WISDAM)
Farm Management Tools (Free Downloads)
Farm Management
Farm Management Daily Task Planner The Daily Task planner is a single A4 sheet designed to be easy, simple and clear to understand. Simply fill in the date and list tasks (ie Feeding Calves, fencing etc) you would like completed that day. All that is required is to assign a priority and employee to the task. The task planner will give you a record of what is done each day and the person who completed the job. [Download here] [Read]
Preventing Mastitis
Mixing teat disinfectant isn’t rocket science, but if you want to kill the bacteria that cause mastitis, the water quality used is critical. Alkalinity, hardness, organic matter and chlorine content, all alter bacterial killing power. How do these factors make a difference? Alkalinity greater than 500 parts per million reduces the concentration of available iodine. So alkalinity is an issue, if your disinfectant is iodine-based. Hard water causes chlorhexidine to form insoluble salts. The disinfectant will start losing its effectiveness at 20 parts per million and [Read]
Hay and Grain Prices
Monitoring current grain and hay prices and planning your stock feed requirements early is the key to making the most of the opportunities ahead. Dairy Australia has an excellent website available with up to date grain and hay reports (www.dairyaustralia.com.au). The Dairy Extension Centre also has downloads available from recently held forums on seasonal outlooks for hay, grain and fertiliser prices (www.dairyextension.com.au). Rainfall over the next couple of weeks will greatly affect silage, hay and fodder crop yields in the South West. It will also impact the amount of cereal hay and [Read]
Fertiliser Prices
High fertiliser prices have focused the thinking on fertiliser options more than ever. While the price has changed, plants still require the same nutrients. Too little limits growth, and too much can reduce profit and impact on the environment. As we move into summer, the fertiliser-decision pressure will ease, unless you have irrigation but it will become an issue once again when autumn arrives. There are many so-called ‘fertilisers’ with more promise than the Melbourne Cup favourite. Unfortunately, they don’t often have any form (independent research results to back them up). So [Read]
Dairy Sludge
Dairy Sludge - An effective and valuable fertiliserBy Graeme WardFuture Farming Systems ResearchDPI, Warrnambool.Dairy sludge, the semi-solid sediment that forms on the bottom of dairy effluent treatment ponds, is usually regarded as an undesirable and inconvenient waste product. If not routinely desludged, the treatment ponds become overloaded. They then stop working, become a pollution risk and can be very expensive to clean out. This sludge however does contain large amounts of increasingly valuable plant nutrients that can be recycled back onto the farm. In a local project currently underway, dairy sludge has been found to be a very effective source of nutrients [Read]
Business performance of dairy farms in Victoria
The first annual Dairy Farm Monitor Project (DFMP) report has just been published, providing farmers and industry stakeholders with current economic, social and environmental data which will enable Victoria’s dairy industry to monitor changes in productivity and profitability over time. Information collected has been analysed to identify the key drivers of farm profitability and will assist industry in understanding some of the significant issues that have affected dairy farming families.Twenty farms were surveyed across the region and data collected on a range of farm business performance criteria. A range of herd sizes were included in the survey as well as [Read]
Most effecient use of your fertiliser
Increased prices and uncertain availability means that you should be looking to make the best use of your fertiliser this year. There are some simple, yet practical ways to maximise production by strategically applying your fertiliser.Take some soil tests: For around $80 per test, you can establish your current soil nutrient levels. This then allows you to determine more precisely what you need to apply to make sure your soil nutrient levels are optimal for pasture growth. Also remember any outpaddocks or run-off areas you use, as their nutrient status needs to be regularly monitored to ensure you are optimising [Read]
Forage Planning for 2008
The roller coaster ride of farming conditions we have experienced during the last year or two seems to have resulted in some changes in the way we think about feed planning.Home-grown feed is still a key to profitable dairying, and purchased supplements continue to play an important role. This isn’t new, but there seems to be a change in the approach to both the home-grown feed and the use of supplements.There is more of a “farming for the season” approach to feeding; taking each year on its merits rather than having a fixedplan, year in year out. There is greater [Read]
Dairy employment for the future
Farming has increased in scale and complexity. Most product today is produced by farms that have grown beyond the scale of a traditional family farm. On these farms, employees usually provide between one-third to two-thirds of all labour on the farm. As farms grow larger so does the demand for outside labour. In the past, the small family farm was the incubator of farming skills. Today, family farms no longer fill this role. Farmers must look outside their front gates and compete with other industries for labour. When they do they find it hard to recruit and retain labour.There are [Read]
Effective Dairy Effluent Managment
To enable dairy farmers to confidently design, construct and manage dairy effluent systems which meet their business needs, regulatory obligations and environmental duty of careDownload the complete Report (PDF) [Read]
