General

Three on-farm workshops early in June will help south-west Victorian dairy farmers to grow more grass in winter for their cows.  The free sessions at Yeo, Ellerslie and Brucknell on June 4-6 are part of the WestVic Dairy Profitable Feeding Systems campaign.  Profitable Feeding Systems Project Manager for WestVic Dairy, Tim Huggins, said the sessions would cover topics designed to help farmers to boost their winter growth.  “It has been a tough season to feed cows because of the long, dry summer. A lot of farms are running out of home-grown feed and buying in stocks is very expensive and often difficult to source,” Mr Huggins said.

“Anything they can grow at home will be a bonus,” he added.

Dairy farmers are being advised to take separate soil tests at the front and at the rear of their paddocks and to intensify their soil testing strategies.

Reducing Soil Acidification through Nutrient Management project field days at Grassmere and Macarthur have been told that farmers should change the way they look at testing their soil nutrient levels to ensure they are getting best value from their inputs and to maximise productivity.

Three hundred dairy farmers in Western Victoria are taking stock of their situation in a new program helping them to plan and manage business costs.

Forty four farmers have already registered for the Tactics for Tight Times Taking Stock sessions program funded by Dairy Australia and administered through WestVic Dairy.

More farmers are being encouraged to join the Taking Stock program which delivers a free one-on-one consultation and support to assist dairy farmers to identify issues and make important decisions.

A campaign to help dairy farmers increase profitability by improving their home-grown feed options is being rolled out across Western Victoria.The Profitable Feeding Systems will be launched on February 26-28 with on-farm field days at Yeo, Ellerslie and Camperdown.Pasture expert and dairy farmer Peter Notman, who will be guest speaker at each of the field days, said all farmers should be acting now to ensure they have enough home-grown feed.“The Western District has gone from too wet to too dry quite quickly. Feed is a bit more expensive this year and local farmers have reasonable silage but not large amounts. In this climate they have no choice but to take positive action to grow feed,” Mr Notman said.

WestVic Dairy is launching a campaign to motivate farmers to boost their profitability by improving their feedbase management. The Profitable Feeding Systems (PFS) project is considering innovative new ways to connect with farmers, including podcasts, webinars and the possible development of Apps to guide daily feed and pasture management. The campaign will also include a series of on-farm field days led by successful dairy farmers, workshops, building a database of resources and tools, and In Charge programs. PFS aims to help farmers to manage their feedbase to optimise milk production and maximise profitability.

Nearly 200 dairy farms in Western Victoria will benefit from energy assessments which could bring them substantial financial and environmental savings. The assessments will be carried out on 195 dairy farms across the WestVic Dairy region as part of a new $1 million national program.  Dairy Australia secured Federal Government funding for the Smarter Energy Use on Australian Dairy Farms project which will see 900 farm energy assessments carried out on dairy farms across the country.
Project leader for WestVic Dairy, Karen Wales, said it was expected that the project would supply farmers with real practical solutions that would lead to significant savings in carbon emissions and energy costs on farm.   “It will deliver recommendations for dairy farmers to use energy in the smartest, most efficient and cost effective way,” she said.

A group of Ballarat district dairy farmers has been given an insight into the prime movers of dairy research and development in south-west Victoria.  The farmers, who are involved in the WestVic Dairy Focus Farm group in the Ballarat region, toured DemoDAIRY and WestVic Dairy at Terang on September 4.  The 12 farmers from the Ballarat group inspected several research and development trials at DemoDAIRY and also heard about the latest projects being undertaken by Dairy Australia’s local regional development arm, WestVic Dairy.

WestVic Dairy Chairman John Dalton announced today that Executive Officer Mike Weise has decided to resign. Mr Weise will stay with the dairy development agency until the end of the financial year.Mr Dalton said: “The WestVic Dairy Board understands Mike’s decision and thanks him for helping the new Board to move in a new direction over the past 18 months. “We wish Mike well and thank him for his leadership and dedication to the region’s farmers over the past six and a half years.”