The Business of Dairy

We are now entering milk pricing season in the Australian dairy industry, which means there will be plenty of headline news as we head into milk processors announcing prices on the 1st June as required under the mandatory Dairy Code of Conduct.

Joanne Bills, Director of the Global Insights team with Ever.Ag (Freshagenda) outlines their forecast around milk pricing with particular reference to the NSW industry and we also discuss som...

Over 170 dairy farms across SE QLD and the North Coast of NSW were impacted by severe flooding and wet conditions as a result of Tropical Cyclone Alfred in early March this year, 2025. This resulted in losses of power, pasture and crop and other feed losses, for some farms a period of time where milk was unable to be picked up and infrastructure damage on farm and off farm such as land slips impacting road access to farms. 

Herd hea...

Too hot, too dry, too wet - seasonal conditions can be challenging to manage for those on the land. Forecasting for the season ahead can be difficult but is important when planning what you will do now or in the coming months. The NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development’s Climate team have some excellent freely available resources including a recently released Drought Forecasting tool. Kel Langfield and Jen Wu...

Are you a farmer or interested party looking to undertake a development on your dairy farm? Planning farm developments is complex and involves planning and assessment requirements which can be tricky to navigate. This month my colleague Zita Ritchie discusses the recent release of the NSW Dairy Development Guidelines with Clare Fitzpatrick who is a renowned and respected planning consultant within the dairy industry. 

The guideline...

The 13th year of the Dairy Farm Monitor Project in NSW was one in which strong milk prices managed to hold gross farm incomes relatively stable. Increases in operating costs reduced average Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) relative to the previous year, with the most noticeable impact coming from purchased feed costs.

On average, profits for the 36 NSW Dairy Farm Monitor Project (DFMP) participants remained strong at $2.12/kg...

Very hot – that is the forecast for the summer ahead. Heat has immediate impacts on the performance of our dairy herd and pastures, but it also impacts other industries we rely on such as the broadacre cropping industry. Extensive work has been undertaken by the NSW Department of Primary Industries Climate Vulnerability Assessment program and also our own Dairy Unit through the Storm and Flood Industry Recovery Program to understan...

Feed costs are the highest operational costs in a dairy business, so it is vital that we manage these well in order to enhance our farm’s profitability. We are currently well into a somewhat m­ild spring here, in most regions of New South Wales, so thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit some earlier podcast episodes on key aspects of profitable pasture management and silage making.

The extracts come from a couple of very ...

Late in 2023, a group of dairy farmers from across NSW were interviewed about their experiences, decisions made, support networks and lessons learnt following a number of recent natural disaster events, including the 2021-2022 floods. Tori Alexander (DPIRD) and Nikki Reichelt (University of Melbourne) share some of the findings from these interviews and the key challenges and successes observed.  

For further information on the inte...

NSW dairy farmer Brad Winzer shares his journey, moving their well-established family farm from Northern Victoria to the Mid Coast of New South Wales – the reasons why, the differences between farms and the challenges they faced. He outlines the key support people he uses in the business, how he manages and monitors the performance of the business, and the things he focusses on to drive a profitable farm performance.

This podcast is...

This month’s episode focuses on a project looking at intensive dairy systems in Inland NSW and Northern Victoria over the last 7 years. This has provided the industry with quality foundational information on the profitability, cost structures and risks of these systems. Claire Waterman from Agriculture Victoria and Sheena Carter (NSW DPI) led the project for their respective regions and were recently interviewed for a Rural Bank po...

Feed costs are typically the largest component of operational costs in a dairy business, typically making up 50 – 60% of total costs, depending on feeding system, seasons and conditions. Hence it is vital that what is being fed to the cows results in good milk production. David Barber, DairyNEXT nutritionist joins us this month to discuss the important topic of feed conversion efficiency. He outlines what it is, how to measure it, ...

The use of a structured approach within a NSW dairying business to assist with decision making and risk management, is discussed this month with Kay Smith from Bulahdelah. The Smiths have been operating a family dairy business for over 40 years and 5 years ago, faced with a number of challenges, were weighing up their future options. One of these involved a significant change to the business requiring a lot of capital investment an...

This episode follows on from episode 35 “Successfully navigating farm loans” but focusses specifically on financing for large infrastructure projects such as cow housing facilities. This topic was addressed by my guest, Greg Kuchel, Senior Insights Manager at Rural Bank at the 2nd Raising the Roof conference in Hunter Valley of NSW earlier this year. Greg also touches on the evolving area of farm Carbon Plans and their place in see...

My guest for this episode is Greg Kuchel, Senior Insights Manager at Rural Bank who spoke recently at the “Raising the Roof” conference in Hunter Valley of NSW about farm loans in particular for infrastructure loans related to cow housing facilities. Greg and I had such a good discussion that we have turned this into a two-part series. This first episode covers the general principles and considerations when approaching banks for fi...

What were some of the features of the Top 25% of NSW Dairy Farm Monitor farms in the 2023 financial year? This month’s podcast provides insights into some of the physical and financial metrics associated with their productivity and profitability compared to that of the remaining 75% of farms in the project.

Links to useful resources related to this podcast:

NSW DFMP Annual Report

DairyBase

Link to January 2024 podcast: Highs and Lows ...

With a national focus on reducing dairy GHG emission intensity by 30% by 2030, farm greenhouse gas emissions are currently getting a lot of attention. This month we take a look at what has been happening with emissions on NSW dairy farms through the lens of our Dairy Farm Monitor Project.  

Links to useful resources related to this podcast:

NSW DFMP Annual Report (pg. 35-36)

Dairy Farm Emissions (Dairy Australia)

Dairying for Tomorrow...

The 2023 financial year saw the highest average profit for the Dairy Farm Monitor participants in the 12 years of the project in NSW. Jess Bell hosts this month’s episode as she teases out what the main drivers were behind this performance with Sheena Carter. It was yet another very challenging year with more floods which had a big impact on the majority of farms across the state. 

Links to useful resources related to this...

Rearing heifers well is an extremely important aspect of herd management. Selecting the right heifers and ensuring they reach target weights in a specified time period is integral to the future production of your herd. 

However rearing heifers is a costly exercise so thought and planning is important to ensure you get it right. Carrying too many heifers can be expensive and tie up farm resources. This is particularly so in dry times...

With much of the State of NSW currently experiencing very dry conditions NSW DPI reached out to Tim Ford, Director at Feed Central to provide an update for the industry on the current situation and outlook for fodder supply. Tim presented this information at our recent Dairy Breakfast webinar in conjunction with a presentation from the DPI Climate team on the seasonal conditions and tools available to farmers to help monitor the cu...