WA dairy farmers looking ahead with confidence after great season and milk price increases

The State’s dairy industry is looking ahead with confidence as a good season and competition for milk supply buoys farmers’ spirits to strengthen the industry moving forward. There are hopes it will encourage the next generation to participate and become involved. Off the back of the wettest season many farmers have seen in decades — if not, ever — and an increase in milk prices, farmers are enjoying a promising start to the 2022 season. It comes after a turbulent couple of decades for the $190 million sector, with herd sizes shrinking and farmers exiting the industry amid pricing battles and low returns. Perhaps a reflection of the tides turning, Western Dairy’s outgoing chair Peter Evans said 21 students had recently completed the research and development body’s certificate 3 and 4 programs. He said it was their biggest cohort to date and was grateful to dairy training officer Rob La Grange — who is stepping down once a replacement is found — for his tireless work. “Western Dairy and the industry are indebted to Rob for his insights, wisdom, passion and perhaps most of all, his Innovation Day poetry,” Mr Evans said. Western Dairy has also farewelled its regional extension officer of seven years Jess Andony, who Mr Evans said played a “significant role” in advancements of cattle production, genetics and pasture management. Mr Evans himself at Western Dairy’s Annual Spring Forum and AGM on October 30 finished up his three-year term as chair. The Jindong farmer — who milks 850 cows in a split-calving herd with his son Grant — was replaced by former vice chair and Busselton farmer Robin Lammie. Denmark farmer Andrew Jenkins was elected to the vice-chair role. Mr Lammie — who was appointed to the board in 2019 and served as vice chair in 2021 — said it was “rewarding” to work with such a great group of people. The Busselton farmer and former trucking company owner — who runs a 650-cow dairy in Busselton with son Wesley — said he would look to build on the good work Western Dairy had been undertaking for levy payers. “I think where we’re focusing is on soil health and agronomy and keeping up with the carbon and methane (conversations),” Mr Lammie said. “And all of the good things we’ve offered through Dairy Australia, we’ll keep trying to ramp them up.” Mr Jenkins — who hails from Scott River but now milks 700 cows with his wife Claire on a Denmark property they purchased in 2008 — said he was looking forward to helping farmers through his position on the board. “In general, it’s about identifying the areas we can help deliver research and development extension to farmers to try and improve different aspects of their business,” he said. He said they would look to ensure they were focused on the right areas to deliver growers value for their levy and have a hand in leveraging the levy’s value to secure government support in the right areas. Mr Jenkins said he was also passionate about the potential of the regenerative agriculture space, improving soil health and the conversation around carbon. WA is home to 132 dairy farms, spread through the South West and Great Southern, predominantly in Harvey, Margaret River and Denmark, with the average herd 373-head and milk production 2.5 million litres. While the outlook is promising and production is up one per cent on 2009 levels, Mr Evans said the sector had faced a major challenge finding labour. He said the board had sought to replace Ms Andony as a “first priority,” to help farmers attract and retain staff, with Jim Medew recently employed to the role. “In a year dominated by a global pandemic, initially we were thankful that we were producers of food as other industries were heavily impacted with shutdowns,” Mr Evans said. “However the greatest impact on-farm appears to be the acute shortage of available staff to the detriment of farmers, existing farm staff and farm productivity.” Among projects undertaken during the year were the four-year DairyCare project, a thorough review of the Code of Practice for Dairy Farm Effluent Management WA and a two-year trial compiling data from numerous farms through its Dairy Farm Monitor Project. Western Dairy also entered a four-year partnership with the Department of Water and Environmental Regulation under the Healthy Estuaries WA initiative to provide dairy effluent reviews and management plans for farmers needing them. The levy-funded organisation is also involved in an industry working group with all major processors, WAFarmers, Dairy Australia, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and retailers to develop a five-year plan for the industry in WA. Despite the challenges and changes, Mr Evans was confident in a strong future for the industry. “With many changes and a pandemic to cope with, it has not been an easy year at Western Dairy but we look forward to a strong future with a refreshed team delivering value to WA’s dairy farmers from their levy.”