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Dairy Decisions Field days Feb 2011

Change is always happening in farm business but how do you  know the right way to go? Making better decisions about change in dairy farm  businesses was the focus of these field days where participants explored the  following:

  • Should I buy more cows? 
  • Should I increase farm size? 
  • Can I afford the change and service the debt? 
  • Will it make my business more profitable? 
  • Is it a good investment?   
  • Will it grow my wealth? 
  • What about the risks?

Participants heard exciting new results from DPI's Dairy  Directions project team, exploring a diverse range of practical scenarios using local data to help answer these questions.

Key Messages from the Day

  • Cash, profit and wealth are the key to assessing the economic performance of your dairy farm business.
  • More cows do not always mean more profit. In some circumstances extensifying (less cows with more or same land) can improve farm performance more than intensifying (more cows with same or less land).
  • There is no single 'right' stocking rate, farm size or milk production per cow that all farmers should aim for.
  • Consider the impact of change on the whole farm system.  Measures of partial productivity e.g. stocking rate per hectare, kg protein and fat per cow, annual average feed conversion efficiency etc, do not tell you the best changes to make to the whole farm system to achieve goals to do with profit, cash, wealth and risk.
  • There are as many systems as there are farmers. Many different types of dairy farm systems are successful.
  • Economies of size beyond a medium to large size are hard to find because the major components of costs in a dairy business are variable (eg. feed and labour) and these increase directly with herd size.
  • It is critical to consider risk when thinking about changes to your system.
  • Work through a range of possible scenarios with your advisor/s before you make a decision.

Further Information & Resources Available

Dairy Directions project information
http://www.westvicdairy.com.au/?id=farmmodelling

This website hosts project  information and updates and technical bulletins including:

  • Feasibility of automatic cluster removers in the  dairy
  • Once a day milking 2009-10 season
  • Once a day milking - 2009 milk price drop
  • Automated irrigation
  • Sub surface drip irrigation for grazed pasture production
  • Sub surface drip irrigation for lucerne production

These documents can also be  obtained by contacting:
Janna Heard, 03 55 730 946, or  Clare Leddin, 03 55 619 939

Dairy Farm Monitor project
Farm level data relating to  profitability and productivity performance of dairy farm businesses in Victoria. Information is collected annually from around  70 farms across three regions of Victoria:  Northern Victoria, South West Victoria and Gippsland and compiled into an annual report.

Pasture consumption and feed conversion efficiency calculator
A robust, scientifically sound  method of calculating on-farm annual pasture removal (t DM/ha) and estimated  annual feed conversion efficiency of the milking herd

Feedout checkout tool
A Decision Support Tool to assist  in making investment decisions on feed pads and feeding machinery.

WestVic Dairy Irrigation Scenario Decision Assistance Model  (WISDAM)
A discounted cash flow model used  to assess the financial viability of various irrigation scenarios on a dairy  farm.  Contact Michele Ryan (DPI  Warrnambool) on 55 61 9 914 for further information)
http://www.westvicdairy.com.au/?id=wisdam

Many thanks to our supporting  partners; Dairy Australia, DPI, The University of Melbourne, Westvic Dairy, Gippsdairy and Murray Dairy.