Gippsland - How Now Gippy Now - August 2010 Edition
Gardiner Getaway Bus Tour to the North East a winner
In May this year, ten dairy farmers from Orbost, Bairnsdale, Nambrok, Yarram and Woodleigh areas visited dairy farms in North East Victoria to study their forage production systems.
The tour was organised by GippsDairy and the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) with sponsorship from The Gardiner Foundation.
The aim of the tour was to provide an opportunity for participating farmers to see, discuss and learn about forage production systems in North East Victoria and to identify options which may be useful in managing the changing climatic conditions in Gippsland.
In the coming months the group will also help GippsDairy and DPI to spread the learnings from the tour to other farmers in their districts.
The tour was very well received and many suggested that a similar event could be held every two years or so for others to participate in. The tour included visits to three different dairy farming operations. There was a discussion session with farmers and advisers over dinner and plenty of networking opportunities with dairy farmer participants on the bus.
Some of the key messages learnt from the tour, which could have application to dry land dairy farms in the Orbost, Bairnsdale, Yarram and other lower rainfall areas of South and West Gippsland included:
- Getting the cow stocking rate right to better suit the most reliable rainfall periods of the year in your area. This is not necessarily going to be a high stocking rate.
- Better matching of calving to suit the forage production potential of the farm. In the North East, autumn calving was thought to be a more reliable option because rainfall is more reliable from April through to October. Also milk company winter incentives tend to favour this calving spread.
- Being prepared to try annual ryegrass and crops like cereals and brassicas (like rape) to generate early autumn feed for the milkers as late spring, summer and early autumn are generally dry and hot.
- Being aggressive with nitrogen fertiliser use in spring to generate feed surpluses able to be conserved for feeding later. Forage crops can also be used for this purpose.
- Being less reliant on brought-in fodder, growing feed for direct grazing or forage conservation and storing away for later use. This could be more than one year of stored fodder.
- Being prepared to feed high levels of concentrate to achieve high cow efficiency and production while utilising all the pasture/crops being grown for forage.
- Wider use of the Farm Management Deposits (FMDs) facility to better manage the ups and downs of seasons, milk price and other unforeseen events that could impact on the cash flow from year to year.
There were other messages relating to farm ownership, succession planning and whole farm management which may have relevance to many situations. It is intended that the ideas and learnings will be presented in district forums later in the year, providing an opportunity for others to learn from the participating farmer experiences.
All the participants would like to thank The Gardiner Foundation, GippsDairy and DPI for the opportunity to go on the tour. They are now looking forward to being able to adapt some of the ideas seen and being able to use their networks and the planned activities to encourage others to assess the ideas for possible use on their own farms.
For further information on the tour contact GippsDairy on 03 5624 3900 or Dairy Extension Officers at DPI centres Ellinbank on 5624 2222, Leongatha on 5662 9900 or Maffra on 5147 0800.
