Gippsland - How Now Gippy Now - September 2010 Edition
GippsDairy snapshot
Next month farmers will receive the GippsDairy 2009/10 Annual Report in the same envelope as their milk statements. For those who can’t wait, here is a taster!
ROLE
GippsDairy’s role is to enhance dairying in Gippsland. It is an independent organisation that has a strong partnership with Dairy Australia which is the national service body for the dairy industry.
BIG LEVERAGE
Last financial year, GippsDairy received $535,000 from Dairy Australia for extension and research projects. GippsDairy delivered 20 big projects and 5 smaller projects or sponsorships in Gippsland. The total value of the projects was more than $4.9 million giving excellent leverage of $8 for every $1 invested in GippsDairy by Dairy Australia.
GippsDairy leveraged funding from Dairy Australia to secure projects for Gippsland farmers worth more than $4.9 million in 2009/10.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS in 2009/10 included;
- Focus Farms – we started another round involving six farms. Focus Farms generates excellent discussion about farm financials, planning to reach goals, science based technical information and decisions made by the Focus Farm farmers and their families.
- Young Dairy Development Program – with its strong network of 420 young and new dairy people (18 to about 45 years old), YDDP drove the content of over 20 seminars, farm walks and travel tours.
- Green cleaning – a project that is investigating the use of warm water, recycling of chemicals and water. It has enormous potential and could change how milking machines are cleaned across the world.
- Red Headed Cockchafers – secured funding to research how farmers can manage this devastating pest of ryegrass pastures.
- The jazzy GippsDairy website is up and going and worth a visit.
Other highlights for the year were the close collaborations with the Department of Primary Industries, the Macalister Demonstration Farm and the national Dairying for Tomorrow project.
ASKING FARMERS
Understanding the needs of dairy farmers is crucial to GippsDairy doing a good job. Over 200 farmers attended meetings in 2009/10 at which GippsDairy talked about its portfolio of projects, asked for feedback about what is working and what isn’t, and asked for issues that could be developed into projects for Gippsland dairy farmers. All the comments made at these meetings are used at directors’ planning sessions. A good example of GippsDairy acting on farmer feedback is the cockchafer project. Since 2005 when red headed cockchafers came up as a big priority at some farmer meetings, GippsDairy has completed a small project and recently engaged significant brain power and funding to its taskforce which will bring momentum to the challenge of managing the pest on ryegrass pastures.
Another priority raised at our farmer meetings was “where are the next consultants coming from?” In response to this, GippsDairy developed a new aspect to its Focus Farm project. Now the ag consultants working as Focus Farms facilitators are mentoring five young service providers for 50 days over 2 years to further develop their understanding of the complexity of farm systems. This will help improve the skills available within the service sector.
ANNUAL REPORT DETAILS
For an early peek at the Annual Report visit www.gippsdairy.com.au or for more about national levy investments visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au
Contact: Danielle on 5624 3900 or executiveofficer@gippsdairy.com.au
