Dairy Australia’s role in the drought response was acknowledged by industry groups, companies and dairy farmers as being valuable and better positioning industry resources. The benefits identified included: o Increased certainty about the situation on-farm and the external environment, which improved decision making; o Provision of informed and trusted support, often in a one-on-one format, to support decision making; o All key stakeholders in the industry having access to concise and up-to-date information; o Co-ordination of networks across Australia that enabled effective creation and sharing of information and ideas; and o Maximising dairy farmers’ ability to access and participate in available government support initiatives. Dairy farmers Graeme and Fleur Nurse say attending the free one-on-one consultation through the feed.FIBRE.future program was the best thing they have done since they began dairying six years ago. Based in Stanhope, northern Victoria, the Nurse farm was hit hard by the drought. But being committed to dairying in the long-term, their drought strategy was to maintain the size of their 500-cow, splitcarving herd. The couple invested heavily in purchased feed, mainly grain and palm kernel extract (PKE) meal. Last spring they harvested silage on a leased property, but the volume was slightly less than they would have got in a normal season. The autumn-calving herd were dried off about a month early in a bid to maintain body condition when pasture availability became severely limited. Later in the season, the spring-calving herd were dried off about eight weeks early. During the autumn, Graeme had oversown 120ha of pasture that was grazed twice by the end of June. However, by then, the Nurses were feeling a little nervous about getting through the winter. “We had some silage and straw on hand that we thought should get us through, but it was going to be close, so we were considering other options too,” Graeme said. About that time, Graeme and Fleur were offered a free one-on-one consultation through feed.FIBRE.future. “We’d never used a consultant before, so we weren’t sure what to expect,” Graeme said. As it turned out, the format of the consultation was flexible, allowing the discussion to focus on whatever issues were most important to the Nurses. Fleur and Graeme’s session with consultant Brian Crockart focused on feeding the herd between June and mid-August. Brian worked through a feed budget with the Nurses based on their herd’s requirements, fodder reserves and what their budget could stretch to for purchased feed. “Between us, we came up with a feasible strategy. We were fortunate to have enough fibre sources on hand, but we needed to buy extra grain and more PKE,” Graeme said. Brian also suggested buying lick blocks to feed the young stock to make up for the lack of protein in their current diet. “It’s a cheap input that will give us much better value from our poor quality feed,” Graeme said. The Nurses went home with a clear plan, confident they could feed the herd through the winter. “We came away feeling more positive about our ability to get through the winter. Discussing our situation with an outsider gave us much more focus. Brian helped us work out what ideas to run with and which ones to shelve,” Graeme said.
Go to top
