Dairy News Australia - October 2017

Fonterra bids for Murray Goulburn PAGE 5

TASTE TEST

Will Holstein beef stack up?

PAGE 4

CUT AND CATCH

New balers heading to Australia PAGE 30

OCTOBER, 2017 ISSUE 85 // www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

NEWS // 3

Gas shortfall to cause power price rise STEPHEN COOKE

LIMITED DOMESTIC gas supplies next year are causing significant price rises, which will hurt the dairy farmer through rising electricity costs and potentially reduced farmgate prices through processors.

The shortfall is caused by liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers chasing more money overseas by selling to international spot markets.

The Australia Government has released the ACCC’s first interim report into the supply of, and demand for, wholesale gas in Australia.

The Government directed the ACCC to conduct an inquiry into the supply and demand of wholesale gas in Australia, with interim reports to be delivered every six months.

“The interim report projects a supply shortfall in the east coast gas market of up to 55 petajoules (PJ) in 2018, which could be as high as 108 PJ if domestic demand is higher than expected,” ACCC Chairman Rod Sims said.

“One PJ is enough gas to supply the residential needs of Warrnambool, or a large industrial user for a full year.

“Gas and gas-powered generators are also an important part of electricity generation, so higher gas prices feed in to higher electricity prices, leading to a double hit for many.”

The ACCC said for many commercial and

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industrial (C&I) users, gas is an irreplaceable source of energy. These companies can’t pass on costs as products they make are often supplied on international markets.

The ACCC says Queensland LNG projects have caused a significant disruption to the market and the supply-demand balance. In 2018, the LNG projects will together produce over 70 per cent of the east coast’s gas and account for two-thirds of the east coast’s gas demand.

“The expected shortfall could be reduced to a significant extent if the expected sales on international LNG spot markets were instead redirected to the domestic market,” Mr Sims said.

Mr Sims said prices in southern Australia are caused by lack of supply and lack of competition between southern gas suppliers.

The ACCC has determined appropriate benchmark prices against which to assess current domestic prices and prices being offered to C&I users.

These benchmark prices, based on international LNG spot prices, are $5.87/GJ in Queensland and up to $7.77/GJ in the rest of the east coast.

“On the east coast, particularly the southern states, users generally have only one supplier, and price offers in 2017 have generally been in the range of $10–16/GJ. “The situation in the east coast gas market is

serious and options to address the problems in the immediate term are limited,” Mr Sims said.

The Australian Government has recently implemented the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM), which allows for the restriction of LNG exports in an expected shortfall year, with the aim of directing those supplies to meet domestic demand.

“Export controls may go some way to addressing this shortage in the short term. However, further steps are needed to address the underlying problems of lack of gas supply and lack of diversity of suppliers in the east coast gas market,” Mr Sims said.

In a submission to the ACCC earlier this year, Saputo’s Warrnambool Cheese and Butter warned that the cost of gas for its Allansford plant will increase by 50 per cent from 2018 due to “(Victorian) government policy restricting gas exploration”.

Earlier this year, Australian Dairy Farmers said the gas crisis could drive processor costs up 50–100 per cent or more over the next two years.

“The gas price rises will have a flow on effect and will be felt by dairy farmers through their processors,” interim CEO John McQueen said.

Unlike electricity, which can be produced by alternatives such as solar and wind, processors have no choice but to use gas to pasteurise and dry milk in manufacturing.

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Around 80 third-year Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Agriculture students from the University of Melbourne recently visited the research farm and facilities at Ellinbank to meet with Agriculture Victoria researchers, and discuss dairy farm systems, cow feeding strategies and pasture management.

The visit was hosted by Dr Martin Auldist of Agriculture Victoria and the students were accompanied by Dr Bob Farquharson and Dr Ian Bland of the University of Melbourne.

Agriculture Victoria researcher Meaghan Douglas is pictured discussing her research with the students.

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4 // NEWS

Export fees go to vote

Charles Sturt Uni student Veronika Vicic and CSU lecturer Michael Campbell with a plate of tasty Holstein steaks.

Holstein beef put to the taste test IT’S NOT five star dining but Charles Sturt

University (CSU) scientists are putting their research into beef eating quality to the taste test to explore a potential opportunity for dairy farmers.

Researchers from the Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation are running consumer sensory analysis sessions, or taste testing, of beef products in Wagga Wagga.

CSU lecturer in farming systems, Michael Campbell said, the Graham Centre has various projects investigating how different management, feeding regimes, breed and meat storage affects the eating quality of beef.

“While some factors affecting eating quality can be measured in the laboratory we need consumers to be part of the next phase of our

research, to taste some of these beef products.”

One of the things being put to the taste test is research examining the eating quality of Holstein meat.

CSU Bachelor of Animal Science (Honours) student Veronika Vicic’s research will compare the carcass performance and eating quality of meat from Holstein steers with British breed beef steers fed a common diet.

“The Australian dairy industry slaughters more than 500 000 male calves per year, most are marketed as veal with carcasses ranging between 50 to 150 kilograms, and they are generally regarded as a low-value product,” Ms Vicic said.

“There’s potential to grow these steers out to higher weights, providing an opportunity

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for dairy farmers to expand and integrate their enterprise into the beef market.

“Commercial feedlot data from America indicates that Holstein steers consume less feed and can exceed performance and grading of traditional beef breeds, although their dressing percentage is lower. There’s also limited information about what consumers think about the meat and my research aims to provide some baseline data.”

Ms Vicic’s research has been approved by CSU’s Human Ethics Research Committee and is supported by a Graham Centre Honours research scholarship.

One consumer sensory analysis session has already been run in September with more planned for October.

A VOTE on a compulsory $6 levy per head for live dairy exports is expected to be held at the Australian Livestock Exporters’ Council (ALEC) AGM in November.

Australian livestock exporters currently pay statutory export charges on exported beef cattle, sheep and goats.

In 2006 livestock exporters chose to initiate a voluntary charge on exported dairy cattle, introduced to enable funding for sector-specific RD&E and marketing at a rate of $3 per head.

ALEC members voted to increase the voluntary charge to $6 per head in 2014.

ALEC CEO Simon Westaway said the existing voluntary dairy cattle export charge is significantly under-collected.

“It is not sufficient to meet the RD&E and marketing needs of our dairy cattle export sector which is worth $127 million FOB (FY 2016–17),” Mr Westaway said.

A consultation period began in May 2017 and this has been extended until October 13.

“We’ve had encouraging engagement with producer groups and we’re grateful for the support of the likes of the Australian Dairy Farmers, the National Farmers’ Federation and NSW Farmers,” Mr Westaway said.

“We want to maximise the opportunities for further consultation and engagement with livestock exporters and relevant industry bodies.”

Following the consultation period, Australian Government licenced livestock exporters will vote on the establishment of the statutory charge. ALEC is overseeing this process in accordance with the Australian Government’s Levy Principles and Guidelines.

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NEWS // 5

Local rivals keen to bid for Murray Goulburn TROUBLED DAIRY processor Murray Goul-

burn has confirmed it has had approaches from a number of suitors interested in either buying some assets or taking over the whole co-operative.

"These proposals have ranged from the sale of certain assets to whole-of-company transactions," Murray Goulburn has said in a statement.

Fonterra has confirmed in an interview with ABC Radio that it has put forward a proposal.

"It’s non-binding and indicative and at this point we are going to sit tight and give the MG board the respect they deserve to consider all proposals," Fonterra Australia MD Rene Dedoncker said last month.

"When they [the Murray Goulburn board] are ready to talk we will be there and at some point when the boards are aligned there may be news."

Murray Goulburn said it and financial adviser Deutsche Bank are "engaging with a number of parties to assess their proposals".

But the company said it was too early to comment on valuation or implementation, and there is no certainty that any transaction would eventuate.

Media reports that an was made for the units in the co- operative’s listed investment vehicle, the MG Unit Trust, for $1.20 per unit were false, according to the co-op.

Parties that have been reported to be interested in Murray Goulburn’s assets include Fonterra, Parmalat, Saputo, Goodman Fielder, Bega, Lion and A2 Milk.

Murray Goulburn said in August that it had received unsolicited indicative proposals for all or part of its business and that it would start "corralling" that interest so that it can consider it in a structured fashion compared to the ad hoc nature in which it had come through.

In August, Murray Goulburn reported a $370.8 million loss for the year to June 30 amid plummeting milk supplies.

It is currently reviewing its operations, corporate structure and capital structure in a bid to restore strength.

No guarantees for remaining factories VIVIENNE DUCK

THE FATE of further Murray Goulburn factories closing is up in the air as the company tries to optimise factory efficiencies in the face of an exodus of milk suppliers.

The company reported a 21 per cent reduction in milk intake last financial year.

In a prepared statement, following supplier meetings at key areas including Rochester, the company said they haven’t made any decisions.

“We haven’t made any decisions, or come to any conclusions, regarding any of our factories,” the statement said.

“We do not intend to mothball assets for the

sake of it and will be looking at everything on a commercial basis.”

Following the announcement of the closure of the sites at Rochester, Edith Creek and Kiewa, the co-op’s performance has remained “below expectations”.

“We are undertaking a strategic review of MG’s strategy and corporate structure as a fundamental next step to strengthen the business for the future,” the statement said.

“In addition to the intended closure of three processing sites, we have a business improvement program under way to optimise efficiency across MG’s cost base relative to milk intake.

“Despite the loss of milk, MG remains one of Australia’s largest dairy processors and has a lead-

Fonterra wants more milk Fonterra Australia has announced it is planning to grow its Australian milk supply and processing capacity.

Fonterra Australia managing director René Dedoncker said the business was generating sustainable returns and was now looking to grow to meet higher demand for dairy.

“We have a clear strategy which is delivering and we have the right assets and product mix on the ground,” Mr Dedoncker said.

“With our plants full we will be accelerating our capital investments in regional Victoria and Tasmania, playing to our strengths in cheese, whey and nutritionals.”

Fonterra has posted an 11 per cent decline in full-year profit as margins fell across its ingredients and consumer and food service divisions.

The NZ co-operative last month announced a profit of $745 million in the 12 months ended July 31, from $834 million a year earlier.

Sales rose to $19.2 billion from $17.2 billion while cost of sales climbed to about $16 billion from $13.6 billion.

Rising prices offset a three per cent decline in volumes at 22.9 billion litres of milk equivalent.

The final cash payout was $6.52 for the 2016–17 season, for a 100 per cent share-backed farmer.

The results include an impairment loss of $35 million on Fonterra’s investment in Beingmate, its distribution partner in China, reducing the carrying value to $617 million.

Rene Dedoncker.

ing dairy foods business with good market share in key dairy categories both domestically and in a number of international markets.

“Scale is not an end in itself — there are numerous small processors which are very profitable.”

The company said they are not focused on the size of MG, but their efficiency and viability.

“You can be a small, efficient processor and you can deliver very good farm gate milk prices to your suppliers, you can also be large and inefficient,” the statement said.

“We are working with our commercial partners to minimise the impact of lower milk intake.

“MG will discontinue a number of low returning product lines as a result of the intended staged closure of three processing sites.”

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

6 // NEWS

Inner city dairy riding high OFF THE SHELF MADELEINEBRENNAN

IN AN era of rationalisation, squeezed retail margins and increased automation, a family-owned micro dairy based Melbourne’s inner north is selling fresh milk, and batch-churned butter and yoghurt to a growing number of customers in both wholesale and retail markets.

Tucked away in the hipster heartland of Fitzroy, St David Dairy is the brainchild of fourth generation Koroit dairy worker Ben Evans, who four years ago saw a gap in the market for a single origin, locally-processed milk which could be sold to the area’s buzzing café and restaurant scene.

“Moving to Melbourne from country Victoria I noticed there was another sort of food movement which was more concerned with where food was from and how it was produced,” Mr Evans told Off The Shelf.

“Both consumers and business owners were forging new ground in terms of wanting direct relationships with producers,” he said “You could see the menus changing in cafes.

It didn’t just say bacon and eggs anymore, it said where it was from.”

Initially hoping to start a cheese making business, the trained food technologist realised there was an opportunity to start a micro dairy with less capital and minimal equipment but a strong focus on quality.

“We couldn’t afford to buy a standardisation

system, and a separator which would pull milk apart, put it back together and take stuff out. It didn’t interest us anyway and it turned out as a positive.”

Customers are alerted to any seasonal variation in the composition of the milk through direct conversations, email inquiries or via the company’s newsletter.

A 9 m x 5 m square area processes up to 10 000 litres of milk per day, five days a week, sourced from Glenn and Rose Atherton’s primarily Friesian herd in Drouin. Gippsland cream is sourced separately from a local cheese factory.

“All the cream ends up in our milk, which is why we needed an additional supplier for our butter and cream,” Mr Evans said.

Mr Evans says his customers are prepared to pay the estimated 5c a cup extra for quality milk.

“A lot of the cafes say that it’s so important to get the coffee right and once they do, the extra charge for milk pays for itself in more coffees sold per day.”

The rich, full flavor of the milk has already received high praise from the industry, taking out the RASV Fine Food Awards — Best In Class Trophy for its non-homogenised full cream milk last year and achieving a Gold Award for its homogenised milk at this year’s Dairy Industry Association of Australia Awards.

The yoghurt is made simply, without thickeners, gums or stabilizers, and sold in natural, organic panela (unrefined cane sugar) or vanilla and panela flavours.

“We are on trend and we popped up at the right time when the trend was getting back to basics.”

Ninety percent of St David Dairy product is sold within 9 km of the factory to restaurants, cafes and Iocal IGAs and specialty grocers. The company is exploring options for distribution in regional Victoria.

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Mr Evans says the size of the site means they probably have room to grow production by another 20 per cent before he would have to start thinking about alternative sites or bigger plans, but he says he’s not getting ahead of himself.

“It’s about managing growth so you don’t lose the thing that people went to you in the first place.

We’re very conscious of that.”

He’s also fully supportive of other boutique brands finding their place in the market.

“If we could get back to where there’s 100 strong local brands in Australia, it just gives everyone more options and value adds across the chain.”

Ben Evans pictured with a mural of his grandfather Tom Finnigan, who was a dairy farmer from Toolong in South-West Victoria.

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

NEWS - SOUTH AUSTRALIA // 7

SA turns to generators RICK BAYNE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN dairyfarmers are turning to diesel generators and power price brokers as they batten down against more crippling increases in energy costs.

Dairy farmers across Australia are being crushed under the weight of power prices, with climbing power bills impacting their ability to stay competitive.

The rising cost of electricity has hit farmers hard, with Australian Dairy Council figures claiming that Australian dairy farmers spend between $35 and $75/day on electricity to power their dairies, compared to between $20 and $45/ day seven years ago.

Already paying the country’s highest power bills, South Australian farmers fear they won’t cope with another massive slug on their expenses.

“There’s not much more the farmgate can absorb,” she said.

There were 80 000 South Australian cows affected by blackouts last year, prompting SADA to make arrangements with SA power networks to get dairies back on as a priority as an animal welfare issue.

New measures are in place to ease the black-

out threat this summer but farmers are not convinced and fear more price hikes.

“We’re lobbying very hard but every government passes the buck,” Mrs Joppich said. “It’s an absolute joke.”

“There are no incentives to go to solar or wind and how does it change the renewable target when people are going back to diesel

generators?”

Mount Torrens farmer and SADA board member Rick Gladigau said farmers were preparing for “pumped up prices”.

Mr Gladigau has organised his power through a broker and has had only one bill for comparison, but he’s not hopeful.

Continued page 8 >

It costs 40 per cent more to run a dairy in South Australia than across the border in Victoria Many farmers have brought diesel generators as back-up after last year’s power blackouts, but, flying in the face of the state’s renewables ambitions, they now might need them as cheaper alternatives to regular power supplies.

Farmer and SA Dairyfarmers’ Association (SADA) board member Sharon Joppich from Kalangadoo north of Mt Gambier, said the state’s power prices and problems were “a joke”.

“We haven’t had the first round of bills but I did some rough maths and worked out it would add about $700 a quarter to our dairy power alone. We’re already paying up to $5000 a quarter just to run the dairy.”

Mrs Joppich said the farm had bought a diesel generator because the state’s power supply was so unreliable. “We’re doing the sums at the moment and it might be cheaper to run our dairy on a diesel generator,” she added.

“Depending on which report you read and we won’t really know until we get our accounts, they’re predicting we’ll be paying between 20 and 40 per cent more,” Mrs Joppich said.

“The biggest concern is that we’re going to pay twice; we’ll pay our own accounts and then through the massive costs the milk processors are going to pass on to farmers.

“We cannot continue to absorb more costs; dairy farmers are pretty much already working for nothing as it is.”

Mrs Joppich said a SADA analysis shows it costs 40 per cent more to run a dairy in South Australia than across the border in Victoria.

Sharon Joppich

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8 // NEWS - WESTERN AUSTRALIA

New approach to effluent systems RICK BAYNE

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN dairy farmers will have new-look effluent systems — and a new attitude towards using them — if a four-year project has its way.

The project, DairyCare, aims to fund upgrades and change attitudes towards dairy effluent and is starting to make its mark.

Farmers can access funding through the Royalties for Regions’ regional estuaries initiative to co-invest in new or upgraded effluent systems. The project is a partnership between Western Dairy, Department of Water and catchment groups.

Daniel Parnell from Agsure Consulting is managing the project for Western Dairy and says current effluent systems are “a mixed bag”.

“We probably haven’t had the investment in

< Continued from page 7

“The government says the price will come down with everything they’re doing, but I don’t believe that,” he said. “The talk is that the price will go up further before it comes down and it’s already the most expensive place in the world.”

“We can’t pass on the price and the concern is that processors’ power bills are going up and they’ll pass it on to the farmer.”

dairy effluent systems that some places do and so some systems are okay while some are probably not ideal,” Mr Parnell said.

“Hopefully this project is an incentive to coinvest and there will be a better result at the end of it.”

In its first year DairyCare has reviewed about 25 farm effluent systems. Mr Parnell said that while farmers were well intended, there was room for improvement in developing more complete effluent systems.

“Generally water use efficiency is not too bad and there is reasonable solids separation with the use of traps,” he said.

“However, we’re probably not so good at having appropriate storage. A lot of effluent ponds were put in with good intentions but may not be appropriately lined or big enough.

“Generally herds have become bigger which means the ponds might be too small.”

SADA has worked with the government on reliability and is hopeful this summer will be better than 2016–17, with measures such as back-up generators and interstate connections in place.

“The concern has eased a bit but last year was just a disaster,” Mr Gladigau said. “I’ve had my farm 25 years and been on my parents’ farm before that and I’ve never had a year like it. I bought a generator because I’d had a gutful.

Another identified weakness is farmers’ application systems.

“There are a few good ones but we need to have complete systems,” Mr Parnell said.

“We have partial systems with a trap and pond but not an effective application system for recycling those nutrients back on to the paddocks.”

Mr Parnell said part of the challenge was convincing farmers of the long-term value of re-using their effluent.

“A lot of farmers don’t see it as an investment; they see it as a black hole. It’s hard to measure the benefits of the investment and their time. Ideally we’d like effluent trials to demonstrate a business case to farmers.

“We’ve got to change the mindset to show how they can grow grass from it; it’s there and you wouldn’t let fertiliser sit in the shed or pour it down the creek; you tap into it and use it.

“We used to get power out for 12 hours and you’d manage; when it’s out for a few days and I’ve got cows that aren’t getting milked I’m not a happy chappy.”

“It’s crazy. We keep talking of being a clean, green energy state and yet people are out buying diesel generators.”

DairySA has been running energy forums to help farmers understand energy costs and to outline potential on-farm savings.

“It’s a lot of money to invest and farmers want to demonstrate a return.”

Mr Parnell said he was confident WA farmers could meet industry guidelines for effluent use.

About 10 farmers in the GeoCatch area are in line for upgrades this year and others in the Hardy and Leschenault catchments will look to improve their on-farm nutrient management over the coming years.

Mr Parnell said some farmers were already keen to go ahead with the work while others weren’t yet ready to make the co-investment.

“Hopefully the funding catches all those sitting on the fence,” he added. “As an industry we have to do the right thing.”

State Government funding for the project is designed to improve water quality. An independent Project Reference Group will assess applications to determine which farms receive funding support for upgrades.

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10 // NEWS - QUEENSLAND

New book aims to bridge city-country divide TWO DAIRY farms in the Scenic Rim in south-

ern Queensland have closed in the past few weeks and dairy farmer and author, Greg Dennis, blames consumer preference for cheap milk.

A year on from the highly publicised boycott of

supermarket milk, spurred on by an impassioned plea by Waleed Aly on The Project, farmers are closing their gates.

Queensland farmer Greg Dennis of 4 Real Milk near Beaudesert in southern Queensland said

Sarah and Joseph Huntley with 7 month old daughter, Matilda, and Greg Dennis at the launch of his book, Holy Cow.

farms near his property in the Scenic Rim have been forced to close with one farm last month selling off its herd of 250 milking cows.

Mr Dennis drove a tractor 2000 km from his farm to the Atherton Tableland (northern Queensland) last year to raise awareness of the damage $1/litre milk was doing to the local industry.

“I did it just to keep the conversion going,” Mr Dennis said.

With farms dying around him, he has written a new book, Holy Cow, to try to educate consumers about the importance of spending an extra dollar or two to support farmers.

“People were boycotting dollar milk and they did it for a month, two months, then slipped back to exactly what they were doing,” he said.

“If you are spending less than $2 per litre for milk you are helping to financially break a farmer somewhere in Australia,” he said.

In the past decade, nearly half of all the operational dairy farms in Beaudesert and Logan regions have closed.

“We need consumers to know the truth,” Mr Dennis said.

“They are back buying cheap milk and we’re back in crisis. We’re back to where we were before the milk war started last year.”

Greg Dennis.

During the peak of the cheap milk boycott last year, Mr Dennis said milk sales soared by 75 per cent. The spike didn’t last, plummeting just a fortnight later.

He opened his farm to the public last month to launch his book and give the public a better understanding of farm life.

In his book, he writes: “the choice of locallyproduced milk will disappear if we don’t support our local dairy farmers and this is already happening”.

A fifth generation dairy farmer, Holy Cow also shares what it is really like to live on the land and the daily battles just to survive.

“My really big passion today is to reconnect city with country so consumers understand there is a cost to their decision.”

“Quality milk has real value to our health and our local economies,” he said.

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NEWS - TASMANIA // 11

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TASMANIAN LOGO WOULD BOOST SALES The Tasmanian brand is more significant for dairy producers than regional or company brands and should be used more widely, a Legislative Council inquiry investigating branding Tasmania’s dairy industry has been told.

The inquiry also heard that lack of a certified logo or stamp to guarantee place of origin was holding back investment.

“Everyone knows Tasmania, the brand of Tasmania has more recognition globally,” Legerwood dairy farmer John Williams said.

Former Tasmanian Brand Council member, Kim Seagram, told the inquiry a powerful Tasmanian dairy brand could lead to new opportunities.

Ms Seagram said: "The Tasmanian brand has never been stronger.”

But the Managing Director of Tasmania Invest, Sarah Hirst, told a later hearing that she had two clients who wanted to invest $800 million to process milk sourced from Tasmanian dairy farms.

She said they were being held back by the lack of a certified Tasmanian dairy brand.

"We don’t have a logo or a stamp that guarantees [the product is] Tasmanian,” Ms Hirst said.

Tasmania Invest has asked for State funding to develop a certification scheme for Tasmanian products, similar to 100 per cent Pure NZ.

“The scheme would be self funding," Ms Hirst said. "Producers have indicated they would be willing to pay”.

The Executive Director of Brand Tasmania, Robert Heazlewood, said: “It’s a good thing and it should happen, but the truth is it’s already under consideration. We are already researching the value and cost benefit of a Tasmanian trademark and a certified mark.”

He said Brand Tasmania had been speaking with copyright and trademark lawyers for more than a year. It would take another year to introduce certification if it was approved.

The Chairman of the committee, Western Tiers MLC Greg Hall said Ms Hirst’s submission had been impressive.

“A clean, sustainable brand [for Tasmania] has some merit,” Mr Hall said.

The inquiry heard discussion about regional brands, such as Duck River, and their effectiveness in international markets.

“The Tasmanian brand as a whole is much more significant than these regional ones,” Andrew Lester of the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association said.

The dairy inquiry held public hearings in Launceston and Burnie during February and March and plans to present its findings in the spring session of state parliament.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

12 // NEWS - NSW

Dairy Connect wants free milk for students NSW DAIRY lobby, Dairy Connect, and food

relief organisation, Foodbank NSW & ACT (FBNA), want the NSW Government to fund free daily breakfasts, including milk, for primary school students.

On World School Milk Day last month, Dairy Connect CEO Shaughn Morgan and Foodbank NSW/ACT head John Robertson said there were around 700 disadvantaged schools in NSW and the ACT. Mr Robertson said 1 in 6 students were arriving at school hungry and the government had a critical role to play in supporting them.

He said Foodbank could roll out a school breakfast program immediately if the Govern-

ment provided a commitment to fund the fresh milk to pour over the cereal.

“The kids aren’t that keen on dry corn flakes in our experience,” he said.

The Victorian Government funds a School Breakfast Club program for around 500 schools.

Fresh milk is sourced from the Victorian dairy industry and costs the Government around $14 million a year.

The program — managed by Foodbank Victoria — serves up around 400 000 litres of fresh milk each year.

“Such a program in NSW, with support from Government and the NSW dairy industry, would provide a nutritious beginning for our children

each school day in metropolitan, regional and rural areas,” Mr Robertson said.

Mr Morgan said dairy farmers and nutritionists backed a call by Senator Nick Xenophon last year for a federally-funded free milk program feasibility study in primary schools.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation encouraged countries around the world to celebrate the health benefits of school milk programs on the last Wednesday in September.

In a statement, the international body said: “A free cereal and milk breakfast program for primary schools would deliver much-needed access to affordable, nutrient-rich dairy which would help underpin healthy growth and development

in little humans.”

“Access to the basic building blocks of sustainable diets would leverage a reduction in numerous health risks, including obesity, for children and adults.

“Milk is the ultimate food source for calcium, potassium and vitamin D, three of the four nutrients of public health concern that many children most lacked in their diets.

“Since more than 90 per cent of the population falls short of the recommended three daily servings of milk and milk products, making free fresh drinking milk available at primary schools would play a vital role in health and well-being through adulthood.”

SOUTH COAST DAIRY BRAND RECEIVES BOOST WITH GRANT “I hope the funding will see us grow our product portfolio even more, grow our business and employ more people, while supporting the people who support us every day when they make the choice to buy a multi-award-winning, locally produced milk.”

Formed in 1911, the co-op last year installed processing equipment, and is now handling 2.5 m litres milk/year, assuring a fair farmgate price for

The Berry co-op, based in Shoalhaven, in southern NSW, and selling milk under the South Coast Dairy brand, has received Government funding of $131 000 under the Farming Together program.

The funding will be used to develop strategic, business and succession planning, as well as marketing.

General Manager Kara Duncan said the funding would help consolidate the co-op.

its six suppliers.

Its South Coast Dairy branded fullcream, light and skim milk is sold across the South Coast NSW, and as far afield as Orange, Wyong and Sydney.

Ms Duncan said the enterprise employs a total of 92 people on the co-op’s farms, processing lines and logistics.

The Farming Together program is a two-year, $13.8 m initiative from the Australian Government designed to help

agricultural groups value-add, secure premium pricing, scale-up production, attract capital investment, earn new markets or secure lower input costs.

The program recently launched a free online co-op builder for groups considering forming themselves into these tax-effective structures.

The DIY template is available at www.farmingtogether.com.au

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

14 // NEWS - VICTORIA

Opening up on the stress of the job WHEN IT comes to dairy farmer stress, Ash Horsburgh has been there, done that.

Having worked in the industry since he was 15, Ash has suffered depression that he partly attributes to the pressure that comes with running a dairy business.

Now, as Latrobe Regional Hospital’s Community Development Co-ordinator of Dairy Farmer Mental Health, he is trying to link dairy farmers with the mental health services that are available throughout Gippsland.

“It’s talking about their stress and finding an avenue where they feel comfortable to access services,” Mr Horsburgh said.

“My job is to help people who are struggling, by trying to educate them about the pathways to care and what services are out there.”

Mr Horsburgh’s history in the industry — he was an employee, sharefarmer, farm owner and is still involved with the family’s 420 cow dairy farm at Nyora — means he can understand the pressures that farmers are under.

The isolation that comes with running a dairy farm, as well as the constant strain of milk price

worries and climatic conditions means dairy farmers are often well down the path of stress related illness before they seek help.

He sees his role as helping to identify when farmers are not coping and helping to find them a suitable avenue for assistance.

“Getting farmers to put their hand up and talk to someone is critical,” he said.

“Just going to the footy club and having a chat to someone about how things are going can be a start.

“I had my own personal battle with depression when I was milking cows.”

“I know they can be frightened about opening up and the stigma around mental health, but it’s very, very common and you will find the majority of farmers you talk to have a high level of stress at the moment.”

Mr Horsburgh said his own experience with depression had given him an insight into the

dark places that mental illness can take people and strategies that can be used to find a way back to the light.

“I had my own personal battle with depression when I was milking cows, which helps me understand the problems that farmers are having and also how they can find a path through their stress by starting to talk about it,” he said.

“Sometimes when under stress you dwell on negative aspects and forget the positive things about yourself, positive things in the past, positive things you are doing at the moment and positive things you can do in the future.

“You come out the other end and you come out quite well. You learn coping strategies, so the next time you go down a pathway of isolation or not talking about things, you can identify it and do something about it.”

Mr Horsburgh said now would be a good time for farmers to have a yearly health check-up with their GP, but when making an appointment, inform the receptionist that you wish to have a double appointment to talk about your stress.

A double appointment gives the GP enough

Ash Horsburgh.

time to do a Mental Health Plan that allows a rebate under Medicare to access psychology and counselling.

Mr Horsburgh can be contacted on 0436 188 656 or by email at Ahorsburgh@lrh.com.au

Rochester student wins RASV travel scholarship ROCHESTER COMMERCE student and Hol-

Semex Australia GM Jim Conroy, scholarship winner Michaela Thompson and RASV CEO Mark O’Sullivan.

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stein stud owner, Michaela Thompson, has been awarded the Dairy Youth Travel Scholarship at the 2017 Royal Melbourne Show.

Ms Thompson receives a $10 000 travel bursary to visit dairy regions in Asia, New Zealand or the USA, courtesty of the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV).

The scholarship application process includes pre-Show elements of an essay and panel interview, as well as competing in either the All Breeds Elite Dairy Heifer Show or the Dairy Youth Handlers Classic.

Michaela is currently completing a commerce degree at Federation University and has a small stud, Sunrise Holsteins, of which the

cows are run on a dairy farm her father manages at Rochester.

Michaela started showing dairy cattle when she was five and started Sunrise Holsteins 11 years ago.

RASV CEO Mark O’Sullivan said the scholarship gives an emerging dairy industry leader the opportunity to gain insight into global agricultural and food industries.

In the All Breeds Elite Dairy Heifer Show, Justin Johnston’s Glomar McCutchen Annecy 5506 was presented Supreme Champion Heifer and Most Successful Holstein Heifer, with Most Successful Guernsey Heifer awarded to N & M Wilkie for Crookslea Showtime Doreen.

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

NEWS // 15

Digital tech barriers affecting farm profit on profit gains available from digital agricultural technologies because of limited availability of on-farm telecommunications to link devices.

The information was discovered through a recent CSIRO survey across all major agricultural industries.

Three quarters of digital agricultural technology users reported ongoing problems with the reliability of mobile telecommunications, indicating that poor connectivity across farms is a key barrier to adoption.

Twenty-five percent of all producers surveyed were using on-farm telecommunications to link and analyse data, with usage highest amongst cotton growers (60 per cent) and lowest amongst sheep and wool farmers (18 per cent).

The survey also found that while Australian cotton growers are the biggest adopters of digital agriculture technologies to improve productivity, they are also the least satisfied with current options for connecting and analysing digital information.

The survey suggested that there is currently limited use of farm analytical software platforms in Australia. While 89 per cent of survey partici-

pants collect at least one type of farm data, only 19 per cent said they used specialist farm software to manage it.

The survey also revealed that knowledge and trust barriers could impede data sharing in the future, reducing Australia’s ability to make the most of digital farming opportunities and remain competitive in a global market.

“Two-thirds of producers said they knew nothing at all, or very little, about on-farm telecommunications options and nearly half had no plans to install infrastructure in the next five years,” said Mick Keogh, Chair of the Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture Project (P2D).

“Three quarters of producers were not aware of the terms and conditions in their existing agreements with service providers, which makes them uncomfortable.

“They’re also more willing to share data with other producers than with service providers, because of trust issues around privacy and onsharing.”

Mr Keogh said the survey results were concerning, given the potential for significant profit gain through the widespread application of

digital agricultural practices.

“We’re still pulling together the results of our research overseas about the potential benefits available from digital agricultural technologies, but I think the current forecast of 10 to 15 per cent productivity gains for some Australian industries could be conservative.

“The clear message emerging from this project is that we need to work together — and quickly — to make adoption easier for producers and create a vibrant marketplace for technology providers.

I think the current forecast of 10 to 15 per cent productivity gains for some Australian industries could be conservative.

“We’ll be releasing our findings, including recommendations for industry and government and practical tools and outputs for farmers, at the end of the year,” Mr Keogh said.

Dr Emma Jakku, a CSIRO researcher involved

in the survey said: “We also need to have the right governance and processes in place and provide tools like plain language information guides, training and support to help producers increase their digital literacy and overcome their concerns.”

“Our agriculture industries are at different stages of adoption making targeted strategies important, but there are a lot of shared challenges that can be more effectively addressed by joining forces.”

The CSIRO survey was funded through the Accelerating Precision Agriculture to Decision Agriculture project (P2D), which is led by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation and jointly funded by the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources Rural R&D For Profit Program and all 15 Rural Development Corporations.

It involves research support from three universities, CSIRO Data 61, the Australian Farm Institute and the Data to Decisions CRC. The survey canvassed 1000 producers across 17 industries. The full results can be found on the P2D project website — www.farminstitute.org. au/P2Dproject

PO Box 7538 • Shepparton • 3632 Victoria Phone (03) 5831 5559 • Fax (03) 5822 0005 info@wwsaustralia.com • www.wwsires.com

AUSTRALIAN FARMERS are missing out

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

16 // OPINION RUMINATING

EDITORIAL

Energy plan desperately required

MILKING IT...

Rain dance

Money in milk

It’s extremely dry in Tasmania’s Southern Midlands and on the east coast, so the timing of the Coal River Producers Association’s 50th anniversary dinner was going to enable farmers to catch up.

Worried faces turned to outright smiles during the night when it started to rain. Not a drizzle, but the first real rain for months.

Our man on the spot said “the sky literally opened up during the dinner, people were ecstatic”.

“One individual, suit and all, went out into the rain to do a jig”.

Now that’s relief!

Clearly there’s money to be made from milk, with Fonterra CEO Theo Spierings paid $8 million last year.

No sooner was the news announced than the NZ Co-op was immediately defending it.

Chairman John Wilson said Spierings hit “farreaching and demanding targets” set by the board and that his pay was benchmarked using “independent advisors”.

“Clearly these numbers are high from a New Zealand perspective and we absolutely respect and understand that; but from an Australasian and global perspective we are still well within the bands of what those global executives earn.”

We reckon it’s pretty high from an Australian perspective, too.

Breakfast of champions Dairy News Australia editor, Stephen Cooke, was thrilled to see his Cats knock off the Swans in an elimination final in the AFL last month, but couldn’t believe it when the roving camera caught star defender Harry Taylor swigging from a litre bottle of milk.

Taylor went on to tell Channel 7 he loves a bottle of milk after each game and that it was important for his recovery.

Taylor was one of the best players on the night, so it was a perfect advertisement for kids and parents watching the game.

Ironically, a Vitasoy advertisement played soon after, saying “we’re growing milk”. Somehow we can’t see professional athletes drinking their plant juice unprompted.

Advertising Brett Matthews

Organic claims hard to swallow We applaud all methods of farming and innovation in business. Organic farming is a hard and sometimes expensive slog, and organic farmers earn their premiums.

However, we do find claims from some in the organic sector a little hard to swallow.

So we were interested to read recently that ‘going organic can solve our waste problem’.

In a nutshell, the Centre for Organic Research and Education tells us that each Australian generates two tonnes of waste each year but this could be reduced if people bought organic food because organic farmers use compost. (We know a few ‘conventional’ farmers that use compost too.)

No doubt there are good stories to promote in the organic industry, making dubious claims doesn’t help the cause.

0417 440 009

brettm@dairynewsaustralia.com.au Editor Stephen Cooke

0427 124 437

If only farmgate milk prices would rise as quickly as energy prices.

A report from the consumer watchdog has confirmed gas prices will continue to rise as Australian companies preference international spot markets.

Australian farmers, seeing modest increases in farmgate prices at best, will cop a double hit from this price surge, as gas is required to produce electricity; and processors will seek to recover rising gas prices through lower farmgate prices.

The ACCC has described the situation as serious and that options to address the problems in the immediate term are limited.

The Federal Government has implemented the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM), which allows for the restriction of LNG exports in an expected shortfall year, with the aim of directing those supplies to meet domestic demand.

However, more needs to be done to find a longterm solution.

State governments on our east coast can help.

There are five gas suppliers in Western Australia, and prices are competitive as a result.

The ACCC’s call that more suppliers are needed in the southern states, and that blanket moratoria should be removed, mirrors that made by Saputo earlier this year.

In a submission to the ACCC, Saputo warned that the cost of gas for its Allansford plant will increase by 50 per cent from 2018 due to “government policy restricting gas exploration”.

The Victorian Government has placed a moratorium on conventional gas exploration until 2020.

This should be immediately reviewed as conventional gas exploration does not have the same concerns as unconventional gas, also known as hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The same urgency is required in South Australia — where farmers are returning to diesel generators to avoid power blackouts and rein in costs.

The SA Government is in a muddle — rising power costs but no incentives for farmers to transition to solar or wind.

Federal and State governments need to produce clear energy policies devoid of political point scoring to get Australia out of this mess. Unfortunately, we’re not confident they will until it’s too late.

Publisher

Shepparton Newspapers Pty Ltd

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Newsprinters Pty Ltd

Production

Stacey Taylor

editor@dairynewsaustralia.com.au Dairy News Australia is published by Shepparton Newspapers Pty Ltd. All editorial copy and photographs are subject to copyright and may not be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher. Opinions or comments expressed within this publication are not necessarily those of the staff, management or directors of Shepparton Newspapers Pty Ltd.

Regional editor Geoff Adams

news@dairynewsaustralia.com.au

WWW.DAIRYNEWSAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

Head Office 7940 Goulburn Valley Highway Shepparton, VIC 3630 Phone (03) 5831 2312 Postal address PO Box 204 Shepparton, Victoria 3632 Australia

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

MARKETS // 17

Supply chain revolution poses more questions than answers THE SOUTHERN Australian dairy industry is in the midst of a ‘supply chain revolution’, with unprecedented change to the way milk is procured, priced and processed, according to a justreleased industry report.

The Australian dairy supply chain — the great reset, a report by agribusiness banking specialist Rabobank, says these transformative changes have been instigated by a number of major events, which have caused significant tension right along the dairy supply chain.

The report says three key events have been primarily responsible for driving this change — a drop in national milk production to a 20-year low, the internal challenges facing Australia’s largest dairy cooperative and the reset in farmgate milk prices to better align with global markets.

“To have so many changes in such a short time frame is unprecedented and there is no doubt Australia’s dairy supply chain will emerge from all of this looking vastly different and almost unrecognisable,” says report author and Rabobank senior dairy analyst Michael Harvey.

While this sector transformation is leading to short-term uncertainty and potential business disruption for dairy farmers, Mr Harvey says, it will present opportunities for some dairy farm businesses — particularly around choice to supply new markets and more commercially attractive supply contracts.

However, the report cautions, farmers need to thoroughly assess these opportunities, and associated risks, before taking action.

Finding a better product-mix “As market conditions have started to improve in recent months, there has been an acceleration in processing investments, with at least 700 million litres of new primary processing capacity coming online across southern Australia this season,”

Mr Harvey says.

“Much of this investment has been concentrated on increasing production capacity for export-orientated cheese production to tap into market opportunities — particularly in Asia with growing demand in both the retail and foodservice channels.”

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Changes to milk procurement The report says the fall in milk production, along with the anticipated slow rebuild, is set to see competition for milk amongst processors remain fierce — changing the way milk is procured in Australia’s southern dairy region.

“While milk supply is down across all dairy regions and is at its lowest level in two decades, northern Victoria has experienced the most significant drop, accounting for 50 per cent of this decline,” Mr Harvey says.

Mr Harvey says Rabobank is forecasting a small bounce in Australian milk supply in the 2017–18 season, in the vicinity of 2.5 per cent.

And in the medium-term, milk supply is expected to grow by a modest 1.8 per cent per annum.

“Based on this forecast, and assuming no major market or atypical climatic disruptions, national milk production is not expected to surpass the 10 billion litre mark again until 2020– 21,” he says.

Reset in milk-price leadership Mr Harvey says Australia’s largest processor, Murray Goulburn, has faced the most significant contraction in milk supply, challenging the role of the cooperative as the lead for price discovery and benchmarking in southern Australia.

“While Murray Goulburn is on a journey to turnaround its business, and a successful turnaround could see the return of ‘cooperative principles’ as the benchmark for setting milk prices — the reality is that this is years away and a new method of price discovery will need to emerge.”

This is an issue for the entire dairy industry, Mr Harvey says, because if Murray Goulburn isn’t setting the price, than who is?

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

18 // MARKETS

Australian milk production shows modest growth ort demand remains strong Dairy NewS aUSTraLia june, 2012

agribusiness // 17

A market-driven acceleration in output is now umes is expected in southern regions.

In domestic-focused regions, uncertainty and underway in both cases, and the US — where production never really slowed — is once again pessimism surrounding the direction of farmgate cents/litre in March (AUD 41c/L) to 28 a few incremental change milk production (year-on-year) remains a feature, and recent weather eyeing international markets in as the solution to milk prices Euro cents/litre (AUD 36c/L) in April. now conditions have generated extra challenges. a growing domestic surplus.

Profit margins are under pressure in the armOngoing financial and confidence impacts Dairy demand has shown welcome growth and in NZ Fonterra has announced ming a constrained and remains supportive overall, with total vol- from previous years, together with US, theinput final cost payout for the 2011/12 season used umes for the year to the end of June up by 4.1 herd and the potential for weather and setbacks are likely dampeners to growth. per cent, whilst value grew 7.1 per cent in US has been cut from NZ$6.75-$6.85/kg MS ncorGLOBAL IMPACT gLobaL impacT Dairy Australia’s forecast for to 2017–18 milk dollar terms as commodity prices recovered JOHN DROPPERT NZ$6.45-$6.55/kg MS (AUD$4.96d ‘tier JohN DropperT production remains a growth range of between through the period. $5.04). rmer 9.01 bil- global dairy markets are Whilst the rate of buying has been adequate 2 and 3 per cent on the 2016–17 total of Effectively, For total of Lower prices will both DAIRY AUSTRALIA’S latest Situation and to support prices in the current environment, lion litres. This implies a forecast rebalancing. nted Shifts in private label contracts and proOutlook report was released on October 11, a key concern amongst exporters remains the around 9.2 billion litres for 2017–18. slow production growth and stimulate ve to cessor rationalisation have seen milk Whilst rumours continue to swirl in the during what’s shaping up as a period of recovery ability of the market to soak up additional voldemand, and as this occurs we will ulticompanies adjust their intake requireo the corporate sphere, most farmers will be getting Flavoured milk sales continue to grow for the Australian dairy industry amidst a noisy umes of milk as they appear. mately see a price recovery. Key factors ments and pricing to meet the changeems corporate This season’s Oceania spring peak is an object on with the task of shoring up their businesses strongly in Australia. and policy environment. to watch on the global scene will be the demands of a highly pressured retail term ing draining Milk production is beginning to show modest of particularly keen interest, coinciding with out following a financially and emotionally rate at which milk production overseas marketplace.

Lower contract prices and mand growth as farmers make the most of slightly of season supply pressure from the northern period. slows in response to lower prices, the will most likely be a lack of alternative supply opportunimilk production, Though not without challenges, both the ultimately higher farmgate prices, reasonable weather, and hemisphere. impact of the current financial worries Asia and Middlemarket 2012Australian milk production inmarket the US hasthose ties present challenges in a market with flows. The tlook generally outweighed by the many lower profile idiosyninternational and thethe domestic are delivdomestic deliv-in south-east contained input costs. crasies currently at playofin all of these markets. ering consistently opportunitieshigher at theecotop line, input confidence, on and consumer the path ered some4% surprises, with supermarket milk maintain around on 2011 fortotal the year to East None ofmanufacturing these factors are universally betteris up capacity.

Despite ces – limited prices have kept that some of the pressure off costs. sales volumes growing by whilst 2.5 per early cent overnomic the 12 growth productionthe regions, but thedomesoverall pic-April China’s economic growth, and the value rates support (leap year adjusted), theseallchallenges, underlying 2: Sit- across In theconsumption. current season, Howthe importance of the • John to September, outpaced by a 4.6 per cent one ofisincremental improvement, of the Australian dollar.Droppert is senior industry analyst with increased dairy suggests EU-27 milk production ticismarket stable, with steady per-cap-tem-datamonths or an ture investment headlines to farm profi tability and Dairy Australia. boost in value on robust sales of branded milk. pered by risk aversion and fi nancial limitations Demand for exported dairy prod40/kg ita dairy consumption and a growing finished the March 2012 quota year up ever, the surge in supply has outpaced Such growth in the that will take longer to overcome. ucts remains a positive and will conange population providing a degree of cer- 2.3% on the previous year. New Zealand demand growth in the market.

The broader market remains supportive of sales volume and value of Global commodity tinue to grow withprices the middle class in This situation has seen the scalesdairy beyond the current adjustments. production is widely expected to finish The tainty a gradual recovery. Internationally, dairy com- the fresh milk category In the seasons following the 2008 this season up 10% on last year - a huge tip in favour of buyers in dairy mar- large emerging markets such as China, t picmodity prices reflect a relatively balanced supply/ in a well-established and ctors financial crisis and subsequent com- market influence given 95% of NZ milk kets, with commodity prices retreat- with changes in diet and with increasing demand equilibrium, changing little over the past mature market like Australia is also enjoy- ing steadily over recent months. Butter urbanisation - and also in conjunction recovery, nt sit- fewmodity is unusual,Argentina given the ongomonths price as business tricklesfarmers along. in is exported. ing solid production growth, regions have seen solid n the export-oriented Butter prices remain near record levels, whilst ing decline in sales seen inbut a sig- prices are down some 30% from their with global population growth. Locally, supplymarkets gap in such Brazil global chart) - withto benificant comparable as prevents 2011 peaks, whilst powder prices have the domestic market is supported by a skim milksupply powdergrowth (SMP)(see values continue this additional higher-cost competitors in the Northd on suppressed theofUnited States andmilk manyfrom leav- lost more than 20%. Farm gate prices growing population and stable perby the large volumes held in Euro-much have subsequently been reduced in capita consumption. Whilst the dairy South America. ernpublic Hemisphere mers pean countries. storage.amongst those expand- ing European Flavoured sales uncer- most exporting regions. The average market is currently a challenging place Most otheras products are somewhere closer Despite widermilk economic output their margins increased. form ing continue to grow strongly, resilient basic farm gate price for milk in France to be a seller, all signs indicate that bal‘average’, and favourable the combination of reasonable demand has remained season, weather con- tainty, racts to This whilst dairy spreads volume demand and re-emergent supply suggest they are as importing countries like China and for example, dropped 12% from 32 Euro ance will ultimately return. ditions have further enhanced milk pply. growth moderated, in part likely to remain so.

International market balance has been main- due to retail price increases tained by slow growth in milk production across reflecting earlier moves in commodity markets. a number of key exporters.

Based on the combinaIn particular, European production remained below expectations due to sub-optimal weather tion of contained input costs through the northern spring and summer, and and a modest improvement the post-downturn recovery in New Zealand has in farmgate milk prices, AN-Australia-New modest growth in milk volonly recently begun to gather pace.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

20 // MARKETS

While the industry makes headlines, the market turns

BY THE time this column gets into the hands of readers, we’ll be getting close to the peak of the production season in southern Australia, in one of the most tumultuous periods in the recent history of the industry.

In the past 18 months, an unprecedented volume of milk has moved between major dairy companies in a short space of time, and most likely has some way to go yet, as the aftershocks of the major step-down in milk prices towards the end of the 2015–16 season continue to reverberate.

There is plenty yet to unfold. We’re just at the beginning of resolving the future of the once-dominant processor, as a number of players (realistically fewer in play than the financial media would have you believe) fathom the available “prize” and work out how to make the shell of MG work in their hands — milk, plants, capabilities and brands.

Still, there is a significant sell-job — beyond anything yet seen from the PR gurus at Freshwater Place to date — to clear the 90 per cent shareholder approval requirement.

The deep downward global market spiral that

sparked the local horror story bottomed around the time of the MG and Fonterra step-downs.

Since then we’ve seen a gradual but strong improvement in dairy commodity prices as the market re-tightened — helped by a massive purchase of surplus milk powder by European governments.

While a lot of attention here has been given to the re-allocation of half of MG’s milk amongst its rivals, and whether the season delivers enough to help rebuild farmer confidence and balance sheets, in the background the global dairy market peaked and is weakening again.

Although many who were preoccupied with local industry machinations, the commodity value of milk (in our currency) spent a short period at giddy heights seen rarely in the past. You could be forgiven for not noticing the cycle has made a turn.

Why? Well, once again — inevitably — the issue comes from the supply side as higher prices have done their work.

Milk production is now growing in all major

production regions, with both Europe and New Zealand heading for a stronger lift in output compared to a year ago, which will convert into larger supplies of exportable surpluses.

The global dairy market has peaked and is weakening again.

The demand side remains patchy with the Middle East, Russia and South America importing far less, while China’s recent surge seems fragile. Better prospects for oil prices may help demand a little.

At this stage it would seem that the risks of surpluses are mostly in cheese and — unsurprisingly — skim milk powder (SMP), which is, for a while yet, the offal of the dairy industry.

After locking up a major stockpile of SMP last year at a cost of more than €600 million, a tighter European market forced processors to keep their

While a lot of attention here has been given to the re-allocation of half of MG’s milk amongst its rivals, in the background the global dairy market peaked and is weakening again.

FRESH AGENDA STEVE SPENCER

precious cheese markets in a neat balance.

This levered up farmgate prices which have been north of €0.33/litre since late last year.

They’re still inching higher and there are few risks of tractors rolling into Brussels.

While the EU Commission is sitting on a mountain of SMP it seems no closer to a solution as to what it will ultimately do with the stocks, and certainly in no hurry to get rid of them.

While the policy has made SMP unattractive to produce, it has turned butter fat into gold. This has made a mess of a lot of the hard work done by the industry to build a broader market in dairy fats, as higher prices have burnt off some demand.

With government buying now closed until next March, SMP prices have slid further. This is because the floor in the market — the government buying price — has been pulled for 5 months.

Sounds like the wool industry a while back, and we all remember how well that turned out The high butter prices should melt with more milk in Europe and NZ arriving in the coming months — but if milk powder gets too ugly for manufacturers, there is also a good argument to say that butter may remain chronically short into the middle of 2018.

Do the EU politicians care about the collateral market damage from their support policy?

Nope. The priority is peace in dairy agri-politics — assured for a while given improved milk prices and dairy farm margins.

Speaking of our friends across the ditch, while they are expected to rebound strongly with good milk prices, more bought-in feed and an intact dairy herd, the spring deluge may limit the growth in milk.

It’s dangerous to “call the season” on the first few months — although it may not stop some using that theme to talk up prices.

Unless the predicted warm weather starts to push grass out of the ground a bit faster, the downside risk in the market outlook will be gentler.

But we’re not seeing any clear reason for panic.

Things remains fairly balanced in the big picture and a slide rather than tumble in prices lies ahead.

Another cycle has come and gone.

• Steve Spencer is a Director of www.freshagenda.com.au

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

22 // MANAGEMENT

MacDonald takes to the skies RICK BAYNE

TASMANIAN FARMER Duncan MacDonald has taken to the skies and the clouds — both literally and figuratively — in pursuit of innovation.

Mr MacDonald, the winner of a Nuffield Australia 2017 Scholarship, spoke at WestVic Dairy’s 2017 innovation day about how technology is making the farm more profitable.

He’s done traditional updates, such as cup removers, automatic teat spraying and autodrafting to save on labour, but he’s also introduced drones to monitor pastures and online record keeping.

“I’ve always had an interest in technology and what it can do for our farm,” he said.

The MacDonald farm in north-west Tasmania, about 20 km inland from Burnie, has two 500-cow herds each on about 200 hectares, along with a run-off block.

Drones measuring pasture biomass have had some success, but Mr MacDonald admits their value will only get better as technology develops.

“We’ve had reasonably good indications of pasture biomass but there are some issues with consistency and total accuracy,” he said.

“It depends a bit on where you’re coming from; if you’re not measuring at all and have no

Mike Waite, LIC, and Matt Aikenhead, ABS, at the WestVic Dairy Innovation Day.

information you’re going to be better off. I’ve got no doubt the technology will improve and could be really useful going forward.”

Adopting online centralised farm record keeping has helped to streamline processes.

“Getting everything in one spot has been helpful. We have multiple sources of information from cow and pasture information to OH&S record keeping and have developed our own system using an online form-based service,” Mr MacDonald said.

“We have custom forms to suit everything we want to record on our farm and then we feed them into a Google calendar set-up to track it.”

Mr MacDonald said the changes were helping. “It works for our system because I have control over it and I have interest to play with

Duncan MacDonald.

it and make it work. It has taken a lot of onus off paper-based records, which were difficult to content with.”

It’s too early to tell if these changes have made the farm more profitable. “The bottom line from the things we’ve been implementing is difficult to assess,” Mr MacDonald said.

“Things like cup removers and automatic teat spraying to get it down to a one-person unit; I can see a clear labour saving on. Some things like health and safety record keeping I might not see the day-to-day financial benefit

but it’s protecting our business from potential liabilities and hopefully minimising risk.”

“We want to see how we can use that data on farm to action and make decisions on.”

Mr MacDonald is continuing research as part of his Nuffield Scholarship, which has already taken him to Brazil, America, Europe, Africa and Ireland.

“It’s been really good to see how Australia sits in the context of world-wide agriculture. I think we’re pretty well placed to have low-cost production and high food-security systems.”

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

24 // MANAGEMENT

Changing feed base after taking stock WHO:

Stock family WHERE:

Glenore Grove via Gatton WHAT:

Change to pasture

STEPHEN COOKE

A DESIRE to think outside the square and investigate new options has seen the Stock family move from a PMR system to predominantly grazing on their Queensland farm.

Alan and Dolores Stock purchased the 72 hectare farm at Glenore Grove in the Lockyer Valley in 2002. They now farm it with their son and daughter-in-law, Luke and Rebekah.

Alan grew up on a family dairy farm at Killarney on the Queensland border before leaving dairying. Luke said the break allowed Alan to gain a fresh perspective.

The Stocks milk between 110–120 Jersey cows on 72 hectares, and have established the Daloram Jersey stud.

Luke said the farm was running well below its potential when they purchased it, and they ran a partial mixed ration (PMR) system as a result.

“We initially went into a mixer wagon/silage as we lacked the infrastructure to grow more pasture, which forced us into a PMR system,” he said.

“The PMR system is a good risk management tool on our farm but we became too reliant on it.”

It was on a trip to Victoria for the Australian Dairy Conference, and a second trip to Tasmania the following year, that the seed to move to a full grazing system was planted.

“Victorian farmers kept saying to concentrate on growing good quality grass and I was thinking, why can’t we do it?”

It turns out they could, but it required further investment in irrigation infrastructure.

They invested in a low pressure boom irrigator, which cut labour, improved water use efficiency and saved energy costs. This has seen

Jersey cows on the farm.

Luke and Rebekah Stock on their Glenore Grove farm.

them double the amount of pasture previously grown.

“We are working towards our goal to be a full grazing herd targeting 10kg pasture per cow each day. The advantage of farming in the sub-tropics is our ability to grow large quantities of feed.”

With better irrigation, and high water reliability, the Stocks now have to maximise pasture quality, which can have its challenges. Severe floods swept through and then settled on the farm in 2011 and 2013, washing away the top soil.

As a result, their pasture base is kikuyu, which has a low NDF but helps stabilise the soil.

They plant a mix of rye (20 kg/ha) and kikuyu (5 kg/ha) in late April/early May, which allows the kikuyu to establish. They also plant Lucerne, chicory, clover and legumes into the sward in a bid to increase energy intake.

The Stocks host trial work with the Department of Agriculture, which has a facility down the road at the Gatton Research Dairy.

When renovating paddocks and improving pasture, high quality rye grass (Aston) is planted into cultivation, to provide a strong start.

Tetila rye grass is planted into kikuyu to provide early feed, before it finishes mid-October,

allowing the kikuyu to come away.

Lab lab is planted in summer, with 12 hectares to be planted this year.

Production dropped half a litre per cow since the changes but the Stocks have significantly reduced costs as they were previously purchasing brewer grain ($65 ooo a year) and corn silage ($60 000 a year).

Cows receive 3/kg of barley a day and this is forward purchased and cracked at home through a disc mill.

“When we were PMR, we grew 60–70 per cent of our grain and could get 2 or 2.1t/acre, same as on the Downs, but we just couldn’t get the same quality.”

The decision to change management systems has paid off for the Stocks and Luke and Rebekah are positive about the future in a State that has been battered due to $1/litre milk.

“Whatever we put in, we will hopefully reap the rewards,” he said.

Alan Stock at work in the dairy.

Luke Stock in the family dairy.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

26 // ANIMAL HEALTH

What’s in a drench?

LAST MONTH we discussed the common gastrointestinal worms and how they can affect dairy heifers. This month we focus on how gastrointestinal worms can be managed through chemical control.

The term ‘drench’ refers to the anti-parasitic group of chemicals called anthelmintics. It is quite an inaccurate term as it implies either thoroughly wetting the animal or giving something orally.

In the past this could have reflected the oral and pour-on methods of applying the anthelmintic but now they are available in injectable forms, the term seems a little out-dated. Flukicides are a separate group of anti-parasitic and are specifically designed for the control of liver fluke The majority of anthelmintics registered for use in dairy cattle are considered broad-spectrum, meaning they are effective against a wide

range of gastrointestinal worms and at different stages of their lifecycles. There are three classes of anthelmintic available for use:

1. Benzimidazoles (the ‘white’ drenches) First discovered in the 1960s, the white drenches were highly effective against adult and immature gastrointestinal worms.

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APIAM ANIMAL HEALTH GEMMA CHUCK Unfortunately, their overuse has led to a resistance of gastrointestinal worms on up to 50 per cent of properties in some countries. The species of worms relevant to this problem in dairy cattle include Ostertagia spp., Cooperia spp., Haemonchus spp. and Trichostrongylus spp.

They are generally administered orally and have little to no residual effect. This means that a single treatment will kill the parasites present in the animal at the time of treatment, but it will not protect the animal against re-infestations.

More recently, the benzimidazoles have been used in combination drenches. An example of a white drench registered for use in dairy cattle is fenbendazole (Panacur®, Coopers Animal Health).

2. Levamisole (the ‘clear’ drenches) Levamisole has been used for the control of gastrointestinal worms in dairy cattle for approximately five decades. It is effective against mature worms and larval stages of some species, although is ineffective against the arrested stage of Ostergia ostertagii which limits its sole use in certain regions of Australia during at-risk periods.

Like the white drenches, resistance is common particularly from Ostertagia spp. but also Trichostrongylus spp. Levamisole is generally available as an oral drench or a pour-on.

Pour-on products containing levamisole should be used with caution in hot weather as toxicity can develop due to rapid absorption.

Levamisole has minimal residual effect but is frequently used in combination drenches.

3. Macrocyclic Lactones (the ‘mectin’ drenches) In the 1980s the first macrocyclic lactone, ivermectin, was introduced and it revolutionised the control of veterinary parasites in livestock, horses and pets. They are highly effective against a broad-spectrum of gastrointestinal worms but are also classed as endectocides, meaning they are effective against ectoparasites as well (lice, mites, ticks).

However, they are ineffective against flukes (trematodes) or tapeworms (cestodes). Unfortunately, resistance of gastrointestinal worms to the macrocyclic lactones has been found in many species, including cattle.

In Australia, the worm species that have shown resistance include Cooperia spp, Ostertagia spp, Trichostrongylus spp and Haemonchus spp. The ‘mectin drenches’ can be administered orally, by injection or as a pour-on. They have a much longer residual activity than the other classes of anthelmintic, meaning they offer a period of protection after a single treatment.

This is due to them being stored in the body fat after administration and then released back into the blood over several weeks or months.

Examples of macrocyclic lactones registered for use in dairy cattle include doramectin (Dectomax®, Zoetis), moxidectin (Cydectin®, Virbac) and eprinomectin (Ivomec® Eprinex®, Merial).

Combination drenches In the past few years, the macrocyclic lactones have been used in combination drenches with the benzimidazoles and/or levamisole.

Research has shown that using effective combinations of two or more classes of anthelmintic at the same time helps prevent and slow the development of resistance.

Coninued page 27>

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

ANIMAL HEALTH // 27

Are your milking practices “normal”?

ROD DYSON

RECENT MILKING time visits to a number of different dairy sheds have reminded me that “normal” means different things to different people.

Cup removal is always an interesting part of the milking routine to observe — in both manual and automatic systems.

Automatic cup removers (ACRs) are a wonderful aid to milking, but because they are “automatic”, when they do something wrong, they “automatically” do it wrong all the time!

We have watched ACRs remove cups so forcefully that the cluster becomes a swinging projectile, making cup removal almost a life threatening experience.

On one farm, the force of cup removal was so severe that the noise of the cluster hitting the steelwork was almost deafening in the closed

confines of the dairy shed.

Often the cows will be a great indicator of when something is not right, or no longer what they think is “normal”.

The cows in another dairy appeared to be getting agitated close to the point of cup removal, and we observed the ACRs to be removing cups in a fashion that seemed to drag heavily on the teats.

The cows’ discomfort was quite obvious to us, and we quickly found that most of the air admission holes were blocked, meaning that cups were being removed whilst still under vacuum.

The other sign of blocked air admission holes is that the claw fills with milk during milking, as the introduction of air is needed to move the milk away from the claw. The full claw bowls in these clusters during milking had also not been noticed.

The reaction of the cows at cups-on can also be interesting.

Watching a cups-on person move close to

the bridge on a rotary platform, now being in a position before the point at which the feed drop occurs, usually elicits a change in behaviour of the cows because cups will be going on before milk let-down has occurred.

This commonly results in cows being a little more agitated, often shuffling their feet, or even kicking as cups are applied.

My personal experience is of sometimes becoming annoyed at the first couple of cows on the herringbone platform “playing up”, only to realise that it was me who had forgotten to turn the feeders on!

Interestingly, it always took a couple of cows before I recognised that this wasn’t “normal”.

At one dairy, milking staff left the pit after every side of the herringbone finished, to chase the next batch of cows into the dairy.

These staff members considered this to be normal for this dairy, and it certainly appeared that the cows agreed, because they looked to be standing in the yard, just waiting for the “chaser”!

This had become the new “normal”, for both cows and people, which is an interesting concept.

While these are quite dramatic changes, more subtle changes frequently occur.

I was recently reminded of this in our family home when I was asked to move the pile of magazines from the kitchen bench, and my immediate thought response was “What magazines?”

Pondering this a little further, I realised that having left the magazines there for a few

days, their presence on the bench had become “normal” for me.

I no longer recognised that their presence on the bench was “abnormal” — in fact, they had become the new normal.

Both people and cows will “normalise” things that we see, hear or do regularly.

Once this has occurred, things are unlikely to change unless someone else recognises and reports the abnormality.

The sooner we recognise this change, and act to address it, the quicker it is to re-train cows.

Entrenched behaviour in both cows and people is much more difficult and takes longer to change.

Farmers and their milking staff rarely spend a milking in another dairy, and rarely have someone else observe a milking in their own dairy.

Yet most farms are likely to significantly benefit from a set of outside eyes observing the milking process and routine — this could be another farmer, or could it be an adviser — looking for both obvious and more subtle changes from “normal”.

Countdown trained advisers have a set of tools to assess milking routines in terms of what is normal or abnormal, and also the likely risks to milk quality.

Quite simply, at the end of the day, “normal” is whatever you make it!

• Rod Dyson is a veterinary surgeon and mastitis adviser at www.dairyfocus.com.au

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the withholding period is. Some products are registered for use in dairy heifers and dry cows, but not for lactating animals.

As discussed, gastrointestinal parasites have shown resistance to all classes of anthelmintic on a global scale.

Whilst the use of combination drenches will help slow this process, we need to look at alternative methods to prevent the unnecessary use of drenches. Next month we will discuss non-chemical gastrointestinal parasite control in dairy cattle.

V R I

By the concurrent administration of multiple anthelmintics, gastrointestinal parasites that have shown resistance to one of the classes of anthelmintic can still be targeted.

The best time to use a combination drench is before resistance has developed and while the effectiveness of the individual active ingredients is still high. Combination drenches registered for use in dairy cattle include Eclipse® (Merial) and Trifecta® (Coopers Animal Health).

Ensure your choice of anthelmintic is registered for use in dairy cattle and observe when and how the product should be administered and what

API0503

< Continued from page 26

R I N A V

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

28 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Eli expands reach into six countries IT HAS been an exciting few months for Eli Inno-

vation whose motivation to expand their market overseas has seen their latest delivery shipped to Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates, ready for installation in December 2017.

This international installation exhibits Eli’s Automatic Cup Removers and Milk Meters in a prominent Middle Eastern family’s walk-through dairy parlour, in partnership with Daviesway.

Dairy farms in Abu Dhabi can milk up to three to four times a day, with some dairies milking up to 8000 cows.

Eli first attained an international market base in 2006, installing their equipment in dairy parlours in Indonesia, closely followed by another installation in India in 2007.

Since then, Eli has ventured further into the international market, carrying out installations in China and New Zealand.

Situated in Gippsland, Eli Innovation has developed automatic cup removers which are fully pluggable, allowing the farmer to maintain and service the equipment without calling out a technician.

Eli has installed about 10 000 products in dairy parlours throughout Victoria, Tasmania, Queensland and NSW. Eli’s Milk Meter has seen consistent interest and instalments due to their unique design.

Their milk meters can be affixed into existing dairy equipment to record the volume, duration

and conductivity of each milking session.

This allows farmers to keep their existing investment in place with a low-cost upgrade into twice-daily production data.

Eli is the only Australian manufacturer of automatic cup removers and milk meters, which are developed in collaboration with local farmers.

For more information visit www.eli-innovation.com.au

DELAVAL UNVEILS NEW ROTARY MILKING SYSTEM DeLaval released its new rotary milking system to Australian farmers at the Elmore field days this month.

The DeLaval Rotary E100 is the result of a multi-million dollar development program to create a rotary to suit for farming conditions in Australia and New Zealand.

“We’ve applied everything we’ve learned over the last 130 years designing and installing dairy systems around the world, to create a rotary that meets the unique challenges of the varied input systems and pasture-based dairy farming

Eli Innovation’s milk meters will be installed in Abu Dhabi in December.

common in Australia and New Zealand,” DeLaval’s Justin Thompson said.

The DeLaval Rotary E100 was launched in New Zealand in June, following extensive testing on two local test farms.

“For the last three years we’ve had key members of the global engineering team focused on creating a new benchmark for rotary systems that directly addresses the needs of Australian and New Zealand farmers,” Mr Thompson said.

“Throughout this whole process, we have kept asking ourselves, what sort of rotary will measurably improve animal welfare, farm profitability, worker efficiency and milk quality?”

Mr Thompson said there had been good early interest in the system from Australian farmers.

This followed good outcomes on the NZ test farm where a 500-cow herd was the first to put the DeLaval Rotary E100 through its paces over the 2016–2017 season.

“For us, cow comfort comes first and I’ve never seen animals so calm in a cowshed,” farm owner Jack Scheres said.

“It identifies the cow as she comes in, it tells me milk production or milk loss, and it will automatically draft any cow based on parameters I set,” sharemilker Chap Zweirs said.

“Any cowshed will do the basic job, so the inbuilt technology was the deciding factor for us to purchase the E100.”

The DeLaval Rotary E100 is the first phase in a global rotary development program planned by the DeLaval over the next two years.

COLAC AG FARM MACHINERY IMPORTERS

Balers • 365 HTC • 365HTR • 265LTI • Mondiale Pro 120

• Mower • Rake • Tree Saw

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FROM

FROM

$6,160

$38,500

INC. GST

For illustration purposes only.

Check out our equipment demos on YouTube

• • • •

Harrows Tipping trailers Rubber scraper Bale clamp

INC. GST

• Wrappers • Hay rakes • Rock picker

For illustration purposes only.

• Cut and carry

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Muck Spreaders Slurry Tanks Dump Trailers Transport Trailers

400 Princes Hwy, Colac West

Find your local dealer www.colacag.com.au or call (03) 5231 6999

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

MACHINERY & PRODUCTS // 29

Innovative ute bale lifter A UTE hay bale lifter designed to make feeding out round bales on the farm easier may not have won the recent Henty Field days Agri Innovators Award but it has certainly started people talking.

Daysdale sheep producer Peter Mills came up with the idea of adapting a lifting frame to the tilt

tray of his farm ute, and operating it remotely.

“I don’t know how many stubbies and hours have been spent on it — it’s been through five stages of development,” Mr Mills said.

The Agri-Innovators Award is designed for farm inventors, backyard tinkerers and students.

The swing-arm frame is adjustable to cater for different sized round bales.

The entries must meet the criteria of having a practical on-farm application, be based on an original idea of the entrant and not be in full-scale production at the time of entry.

Eighteen months ago Mr Mills suffered a serious spinal injury in a road accident. After rehabilitation, he had a tilt tray fitted to his new ute to make chores easier around the farm.

“When it was fitted I noticed it had a two-way hydraulic ram so thought I could use it for lifting,” he said.

A trip to the Henty field days last year gave him ideas about how to construct the lifting frame.

“I have been working on this prototype since Christmas with the help of Focus Engineering at Corowa,” he said.

Mr Mills said the ute bale lifter was ideal for quickly feeding out hay without the need for a frontend loader or a tractor fitted with forks. Once the tailgate is removed, a swing-arm frame is bolted on, together with a support frame secured with a spring pin, and two pick-up arms on the rear of the tray.

The support frame drops down behind the round bale to secure it.

The swing-arm frame is adjust-

able to cater for different sized round bales. The ute is positioned close to the round bale and the support frame is secured around it. The bale is then hydraulically lifted onto the ute in a matter of 20 seconds using a hand held remote.

Mr Mills said the lifter frame took just minutes to assemble.

“Thirty years ago there was not a machine on this property that was dead standard for more than six months.”

“There are plenty of people with three or four properties keen on the concept as often the frontend loader is tied up doing jobs when needed for feeding out,” he said.

“I can’t find anything else similar to this on the market.”

The lifter fits either a 2.13 m or 2.43 m ute tray and will be fitted to a Falcon ute for display at Henty. It can be also used for loading wool bales or 44-gallon drums.

Although this was Mr Mills’ first entry in the Agri-Innovators Award, he has spent a lifetime modifying farm machinery.

“Everything got altered straight away. Dad always said if there was something which could be bettered, we should better it.”

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2017

30 // MACHINERY & PRODUCTS

Rounding up a new baler series WITH THE introduction of the 0 Series Round

John Deere will release a new series of balers and accumulator attachments in Australia for the 2018 hay season.

Balers for the 2018 haying season, John Deere is offering its first North American-built round baler pre-cutter and the industry’s first 1.5 m (5 ft.) pre-cutter baler.

The four models that comprise the new

0 Series Round Balers build upon the popular 9 Series Balers and include several new features that improve hay pickup and overall baling speed and productivity in the field.

"The new 0 Series Round Balers expand our portfolio of hay and silage, and now pre-cutter balers," John Deere’s Nick Weinrich said.

"In fact, the 0 Series Baler line includes the highest capacity Class II and III precutter round balers on the market today, and we’ll offer customers the first Class IV 1.52 m x 1.82 m (5 x 6-foot) precutter round baler available."

The four new 0 Series Balers include: 460M and 560M with dry hay, silage or precutter options;

■■

■■

460R and 560R, two premium models with dry hay or precutter options.

A new feature is the MegaWide HC2 feed system that delivers faster hay intake and processing, which increases bale-making capacity per hour compared to previous and competitive models.

It also helps operators handle a wide variety of forage material and swath sizes with ease by offering a 2.2 m pickup on both 1.21 m and 1.52 m bale models, allowing them to cover more hectares per day.

In addition, the MegaWide HC2 feed system has a larger diameter roller baffle system; twinrotor feed system for more uniform hay intake and processing; a self-cleaning drop floor that allows the operator to remove plugs from the cab; and a third drive roll that eliminates belt slippage when baling heavy, wet silage bales and reduces premature wear on belts and drive rolls.

"The 0 Series Round Balers are engineered and built to produce consistently dense hay throughout the bale and provide greater uptime in the field,” Mr Weinrich said.

“Tests have shown a significant increase in bale density and precut bales can greatly reduce or eliminate mixer/grinder time when making feed rations.

"Like the 9 Series before, these new balers will set the standard for durability, field performance and hay quality."

New bale accumulators

Be in to win with every 4 qualifying rolls of netwrap you purchase in a single order.* Save time, hay, money and maybe $70,000 when you purchase in a ™ ™ single order any 4 rolls of John Deere B-Wrap, CoverEdge 3800m, ™ XtraNet 2800m or XtraNet 4200m netwrap.

* Starts 09h00 AEST 18/9/2017. Ends 16h00 AEST 28/2/2018. Open to Australian & New Zealand residents 18+ who fulfil the entry/eligibility requirements.

Prize is a John Deere 469 Silage Special Round Baler valued at AUD$71,844.00 incl. GST/NZD$80,368.00 incl. GST. Prize draw 11h00 AEST 16/3/2018 at Level 2, 608 Harris Street, Ultimo, NSW 2007, Australia. Winner will be notified via post, email and/or phone within 2 business days of the draw and published on our website, JohnDeere.com.au/netwrapoffer and JohnDeere.co.nz/netwrapoffer. Promoter is John Deere Limited, 166 – 170 Magnesium Drive, Crestmead, Qld, Australia 4132.

See your local participating John Deere dealer for full terms and conditions or refer to www.JohnDeere.com.au/Netwrapoffer. Authorised under NSW Permit No. LTPS/17/16540; SA Permit No T17/1434; ACT Permit No. TP 17/01516.

JND59379-NETAU-DNA

Speak to your local John Deere dealer to find out more or visit JohnDeere.com.au/NetwrapOffer

In addition to the new 0 Series Round Balers, John Deere is introducing two models of round bale accumulators to give customers the ability to carry up to two round bales behind the baler while making a third bale in the chamber.

The new John Deere A520R and A420R Plus2 Accumulators are fully integrated into the design of the balers and can be used with 1.8 m diameter John Deere 8, 9 and 0 Series Round Balers.

These machines will allow the operator to strategically place the bales where it is the most efficient for bale removal, while dramatically reducing the damage to crop regrowth from excessive field travel. One or two bales can be dumped from the cart at the operator’s preferred location while the machine is baling.

"The use of round bale accumulators has shown to reduce bale retrieval time by up to 50 per cent while significantly reducing crop damage, soil compaction, fuel consumption, and labour and operator fatigue associated with collecting individual bales scattered across the field," Mr Weinrich said

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