Scott McDonald talked the audience through on-farm infrastructure.
Photo by
Djembe Archibald
Intensive systems are on the rise in the dairy industry, producing a fifth of the nation’s milk, but the movement is facing challenges.
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This was one of the topics discussed when about 100 people attended the Pioneer Seed’s Appetite for Success event in Shepparton on Thursday, May 15.
Farmers, dairy consultants, agronomists, nutritionists, resellers and contractors were invited to hear from keynote speaker, Pioneer Global nutritional sciences manager Bill Mahanna.
Agriculture Victoria program manager and dairy development specialist Scott McDonald joined Dr Mahanna for the Shepparton seminar.
Mr McDonald began his presentation by talking about the current dairy landscape.
“The Australian dairy industry is a grazing one,” he said.
“Most Australian dairy farmers graze and will continue to graze, but in the last 10 or so years there’s been a transition to what we call intensification, a word that the industry hasn’t particularly liked over the years.
“People often ask what percentage of the industry is going to be intensive ... at this stage I would say six per cent of Australian dairy farms are farming an intensive system.”
Agronomists Jono Nicoll and Luke Allison were part of the crowd.
Photo by
Djembe Archibald
Mr McDonald said these intensive farms, where there is no grazing, were producing 20 per cent of Australian milk.
The challenge with intensive farms is intensive farming structures require permits with council approval.
He talked about a dairy farm in Gippsland that was bought by a foreign investor with the plan to expand, but when the permit application was lodged, it received 460 objectors with 600 complaints.
“The council lost $66,000 processing a failed application and one dairy farm disappeared. They couldn’t farm the area, so they lost a dairy farm.”
Of those concerns, the most common was the impact of effluent on local water systems.
Mr McDonald said the management of manure is a top priority for Agriculture Victoria, which is actively seeking solutions.
“We had a a national manure summit three months ago and 40 people around Australia who specialise in manure, we put in a room and said these are our challenges coming forward, how do we re-engineer our future design?”
Another challenge is the line between a factory farm and an intensive farm is a grey area when it comes to safety requirements.
Mr McDonald spoke about a robotic dairy farm, that had the milking plant in the shed with the animals, which sparked conversation about the fire system.
“The fire system [for a factory] is a $250,000 plus system in case the the concrete, the manure, the shed, steel, catches fire, but with common sense, a bit of planning ... it was decided this is not a factory, it’s actually a farm.
“The fire system [for a farm] is a $20,000 tank so being a pioneer was good because he [the farmer] sort of blazes the trails.”
Pioneer Seeds also hosted the seminars in Sale, Inverloch and Warrnambool.
Maize silage was on the menu at Shepparton’s Appetite for Success workshop. See next week’s Country News for more stories.
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