Dairy News Australia Gippsland February 2021

FEBRUARY, 2021 ISSUE 124

GIPPSLAND REGION

FORWARD THINKING

Strategic planning has led to a productivity boost at one Stratford farm. Page 6.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

2 // GIPPSLAND REGION

Chair’s message

Farmers feeling positive I’VE RECENTLY been on a road trip

around Gippsland with Dairy Australia chair James Mann.

Over a couple of days, we tried to catch up with as many dairy farmers as we could.

I was blown away with the ingenuity and success many of those farmers have achieved.

We met some who have built amazing businesses over a long period of time.

We also met relatively new entrants and despite dealing with some major setbacks in recent years, are still incredibly optimistic for our industry’s future and their ability to build wealth over the long term.

The positive, long-term industry sentiment was infectious.

It came as no surprise that at every meeting, the critical importance of attracting and retaining enough great people to maintain a quality

dairy workforce was spoken about.

The comments reinforced the need for Dairy Australia and GippsDairy to remain committed to creating greater awareness among the general public that the dairy industry is an attractive industry to build a business or a career.

We also need to remain committed to developing and promoting dairy career pathways and educational opportunities.

It was also not surprising that every farmer we met was keen to know how their dairy levy was being invested.

Many farmers spoke highly of James’ ability at explaining the value of the dairy levy and said they felt more confident about where it was being spent.

Unfortunately, James can’t meet with every farmer across Australia to do that in person!

It did highlight the need for GippsDairy and

Dairy Australia to continually inform farmers on why and how their levy is being invested.

It also got me thinking that we farmers need to take responsibility to keep seeking that information too.

The D airy Australia website www. dairyaustralia.com.au is a great place to start.

Finally, a quick shout out to the great work Gardiner Foundation does to support the Victorian dairy industry.

Gardiner opens up its applications for grants and scholarships once a year in February.

I encourage everyone to have a look at what is available and if you are interested, apply through: www.gardinerfoundation.com.au The deadline for all applications is March 15.

2 Grant Williams GippsDairy chair

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

GIPPSLAND REGION // 3

No action on farm invasions GEOFF ADAMS

NEW VICTORIAN Agriculture Minister Mary-

Anne Thomas could not offer any hope for action on farm invasion laws.

She was asked if the Victorian Government would act on recommendations contained in a parliamentary report into farm invasions by animal activists.

Ms Thomas said the parliamentary year was disrupted in many ways last year and it had not been possible to implement those recommendations or make the legislative changes that are required.

“At the moment, from advice we have received, we’re not receiving notice of this being a problem right now, but there are other laws in place that can deal with trespass, already,” she said.

The National Party has urged the government to move on new laws.

Laws to impose on-the-spot fines to better protect farmers against farm trespass still haven’t been drafted, six months after the Andrews Government finally agreed to the change, Victorian Nationals deputy leader Steph Ryan said.

A parliamentary inquiry recommended on-the-spot fines be implemented as a solution to stop extreme animal activists breaking into farms, stealing livestock and damaging biosecurity.

Ms Ryan said other states had already put similar laws in place so there was no excuse for Victoria’s delays.

“Farmers deserve to feel safe in their own homes, but the current soft rules embolden extreme activists to break the law instead of deterring them,” she said.

“Victorian farmers were hoping to see the Andrews Labor Government implement onthe-spot fines with the same urgency as NSW, but instead Daniel Andrews has kicked the can down the road.”

Speaking before the inquiry in September 2019, UDV president Paul Mumford said dairy farmers and their families deserved to feel safe.

“Dairy farmers choose to enter the industry because it is the thing they love and it helps them provide for those who they care dearly about -their families,” he told the inquiry.

“They do all this yet are made to feel unsafe in their homes due to the now prevalent threat of invasion and trespass.

“Farming families are made to feel intimidated and unsafe in their homes and places of work due to the persecution by a minority that believe their lawful business is somehow immoral.”

Mr Mumford said while freedom of expression was a fundamental in Australia, so was feeling safe in your own home.

“As the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president, I represent some 3500 farmers and dairy farming families — families that now live in fear because their way of life has been seen as unacceptable to a small minority of people.

“As previously stated, freedom of expression is a fundamental right.

Almost a year has passed since the Victorian inquiry on farm invasions made its report.

“However, invading a farm, trespassing and treating law-abiding families like criminals in their own homes is not right and is in fact illegal.”

Ms Ryan said the impact of farm trespass had taken a heavy emotional toll on farming families.

“These farms are not just a business for the families who live on them, they’re home,” she said.

“The Andrews Labor Government either stands with our farmers or it stands with the

extreme animal activists who want to destroy them.”

Throughout 2018 and 2019, Victoria experienced a series of events where animal rights activists intimidated farmers, stole livestock and disrupted businesses.

In May 2019, the Legislative Council referred this inquiry to the Economy and Infrastructure Committee and in February last year produced a report with 15 recommendations.

Victorian exports hit $2b INTERNATIONAL DEMAND for Victorian

dairy products remained strong in 2019–20, despite disruptions to markets, a Victorian Government report has found.

Released late last year, the Victorian Food and Fibre Export Performance Report 2019–20 found dairy exports were valued at $2.1 billion last financial year, an increase of three per cent on 2018–19.

Milk and cream products were the highest value dairy category, contributing to 48 per cent of Victoria’s dairy exports.

Cheese and whey products were the second highest value category at $869 million, making up 41 per cent of dairy exports, the report found.

China continued to be the highest value export market for Victorian dairy products, making up 27 per cent of dairy export total value.

Japan was the second largest consumer of Victorian dairy products, with a value of $419 million (20 per cent of total dairy exports), decreasing 10 per cent from 2018–19.

“Improved seasonal conditions, particularly in the second half of 2019–20, lifted dairy farm profits and production as compared to the previous year,” the report said.

“Greater pasture availability in regions south of the Great Dividing Range and lower feed prices enabled farmers to source relatively cheap feed.

“Farmers in the north of the state budgeted for high water prices and many chose to purchase fodder instead of irrigating.

Value of Australian dairy exports by state in 2019–20. Source: Victorian Food and Fibre Export Performance Report 2019–20.

“The lower costs along with a 17 per cent improvement in milk price, increased average farm profits threefold to $346,000 before interest and tax ($1.68/kg of milk solids).”

While nearly all surveyed farms experienced positive profits, with consistent performance

Top 10 countries for Victorian dairy exports by value. Source: Victorian Food and Fibre Export Performance Report 2019–20.

reported across the regions, many farms are still not fully recovered from the recent years of drought and challenging conditions, the report found.

The improved conditions and confidence have supported higher milk production.

According to Dairy Australia, Victorian milk production improved by six per cent in 2019– 20 compared to the previous year, accounting for 63 per cent of Australia’s dairy production by volume.

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

4 // GIPPSLAND REGION

Hope springs from adversity JEANETTE SEVERS

THIS SEASON is a huge contrast to the past

few years for Mark Laity, of Wiseleigh in East Gippsland.

Mark is the second generation on the farm and continued to milk through last summer’s bushfires, which destroyed most of his property — after managing to maintain his herd and production during the previous four years of drought.

He milks 165 mixed Friesian and Jersey cows off 163 ha of dryland country, producing 800,000 litres annually in a 10-a-side herringbone dairy.

The self-replacing, autumn and spring calving herd receives artificial insemination on one cycle, using semen from top Australian Index bulls.

Empty cows are either carried-over or joined to a stud-bred Angus mop-up bull.

In spring, Mark sold 10 cows after they recovered from mastitis and replaced them with nine heifers and 10 cows on point-of-calving.

It increased his milking herd by five cows.

Mark sows 6 ha of maize annually on some creek flats, harvested green as chopped feed and the remainder made into silage and stored in a bunker.

“I normally cut all the fodder we need — 300 rolls of silage and 500 rolls of hay,” he said.

Grain is bought in, to feed 1.5 kg to 2 kg/cow in the bail.

The past few years of drought have had a significant impact on production and management.

Even though the very hilly farm has considerable catchment, poor rainfall led to failed crops and pasture, dried-up dams and the need to buy most of the fodder fed to his cattle.

In 2017, he harvested 60 bales of silage; in 2018, he harvested 30 bales of silage — in 2019 he was unable to harvest silage.

“We bought a lot of feed to keep the herd milking,” Mark said.

“In 12 months, I had to buy 500 bales of silage, at approximately $50,000 delivered.

“Probably the worst 12 months was in 2019.

Daily production was down to 10 litres/cow because they were on rations.”

He also focused on retaining heifers and young cows in the herd, bringing numbers down as necessary by selling older cows, taking pressure off the land.

“But I’ve got to milk 160 cows to be viable,” Mark said.

He also received a half-truckload of hay donated by Need for Feed and a $1500 voucher from Buy a Bale paid for freight on other fodder.

Mark accessed a Victorian Government drought funding initiative to buy a mono screw pump and some piping to reticulate water from Deep Creek into troughs. The funding program allowed for a $5000 rebate if the farmer spent at least $10,000 on pre-approved irrigation infrastructure.

He was hoping the drought would break in 2020 — which it did — and his first priority was over-sowing pastures.

Before that happened, the East Gippsland bushfires destroyed most of his fences and burned tanks and the bare ground, running across his farm on the night of December 30, 2019.

Mark had just finished evening milking and feeding the cows when the fire came out of state forest onto his property.

“When the fires hit, I was already feeding fully,” he said.

“The first job on New Year’s Day was building a new fence along the roadside so we could bring the cows from the block across the road to the dairy.

“We cleared away the burnt fence, put the posts in and Nigel [his son] had strung the wires by the time I finished milking.”

Mark and Susan were initially reticent about taking donations of hay and silage, or people offering their help with erecting fences — believing there were other people in worse conditions.

“We were convinced to accept donated hay and silage — it came from South Gippsland, the Colac area and around Warrnambool,” Mark said.

“Fencing wire was also donated from Colac.

It was generous of people to donate feed and fencing.”

With 4 km of the farm boundary connected to state forest, the Victorian Government replaced the burned fences with vermin exclusion fencing.

“We paid for the remaining 1 km boundary,” Mark said.

A $75,000 grant helped fund the clean-up activities — removing burnt posts and fallen trees, and shifting destroyed water tanks.

A neighbour’s brother came from the Latrobe Valley to help and has stayed on into this year.

“Malcolm Answer arrived with a crew of workers and an excavator, and he hasn’t gone home,” Mark said.

“He’s still helping fix things. He dug a big pit and I buried silage this year for the first time.”

Some dairy farmers from Maffra and Dennison donated two days of their time to run wires to erect new fences.

A downpour of 50 mm in one hour in February last year saw his dams fill with silt and ash from the bushfires — so Malcolm and the excavator came in handy to pull down the sides of dams and drain them, before digging out the silt.

As well as repairing fences again.

“We lost the pumphouse on the creek but Nigel was able to save the pump,” Mark said.

“There was debris against the fences and snapped wires. We dug about eight feet of silt out of one of the dams.”

While the drought is not over, it has eased with rainfall at the right time in the past 10 months.

Mark re-sowed 40 ha in autumn last year, with permanent rye-grass and clover. Ongoing rainfall meant he harvested silage in autumn for the first time in his farming career.

“When autumn hit, the kikuyu jumped out of the ground.

“We never get excess pasture to harvest in autumn. I made 200 rolls of silage.”

In spring, he harvested 400 rolls of silage.

“I still had 100 rolls of silage from autumn and some of the donated hay and silage.

“The 400 rolls harvested in October was surplus to our annual needs. I buried it in the new silage pit, and purchased another 100 silage rolls to go in the pit.

“It’s about 12 months’ of feed, for the next drought.”

On New Year’s Day he sowed his summer maize crop on the creek flats and plans to sow another 40 ha of permanent pasture into some of the remaining burnt paddocks this autumn.

Pasture was knee-high 30 days post-grazing in mid-January. The season has turned into one of his best.

“The herd is producing 15 litres/cow at the moment and we’re drying off the autumn calvers.”

Mark Laity has farmed through four years of drought and a bushfire to benefit from this year.

Cows are maintaining production at 15 litres/cow.

Mark Laity and his son, Nigel, spent New Year’s Day and January 2, 2020, building this replacement fence to keep the herd on the farm.

A chicory and red clover summer crop, sown on New Year’s Day and jumping out of the ground.

Rainfall resulted in a good season in 2020. Mark Laity with some of the wrapped silage bales he harvested.

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

GIPPSLAND REGION // 5

Dairy is top of the class

A number of Gippsland schools will receive a masterclass in the dairy industry courtesy of GippsDairy.

SOON SCHOOLS could be waving in dairy

farmers to wow kids with their work stories, uniforms and milk buckets.

Of course, this future vision relies on dairy farmers finding the time to turn up.

GippsDairy careers development co-ordinator Sarah Cornell is currently running a number of projects with Gippsland schools and is on the hunt for local farmer mentors.

Mentors are needed to help secondary school students with their dairy research assessments and are required to meet with students weekly or fortnightly.

Mentoring will also involve helping students find industry contacts and sources of information as they conduct their research into topics such as biosecurity, tail docking and COVID-19’s effect on the industry.

“It has been fantastic working with the students and we’re always on the lookout for more mentors,” Mrs Cornell said.

“We would love to include some farmer mentors in 2021.

“There are so many great opportunities within the dairy industry, and I hope students take up the chance to explore them further.”

This push into schools is part of a threeyear project funded by Dairy Australia, the Victorian Government and the Gardiner Foundation.

Called the New Generation Skills for the Dairy Industry Project, the initiative was developed to raise interest in dairy careers and attract a skilled workforce.

In Gippsland the project was adopted in July 2019 and will run until July 2022.

Other aspects of the project include GippsDairy working with the Careers Education Association of Victoria to advise metropolitan and regional school career advisers on opportunities in the dairy industry.

A competition was also run in September across Victoria’s schools with prizes offered to students who completed an activities worksheet and submitted a project on a dairy career of their choice.

D rouin Secondary College was the school with the highest number of student participants and students Katrina and AJ also won the prize for best presentation for their PowerPoint on the role of an agricultural journalist.

For more information, contact Sarah Cornell at GippsDairy on sarah@gippsdairy.com.au

“It has been fantastic working with the students and we’re always on the lookout for more mentors.”

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

6 // GIPPSLAND REGION

Forward thinking rewarded JEANETTE SEVERS

STRATEGIC PLANNING to increase irriga-

Stephen Knight focuses on growing pasture.

Stephen Knight grows a summer grazing crop of chicory/red clover blend.

An Italian and annual rye-grass mix on the dryland outblock supports hay production.

Focusing their strategy on increasing irrigation, including storage dams, is paying off for Stephen and Jess Knight. They will increase their herd size by 30 per cent this year.

tion and production capacity is paying off for Stephen and Jess Knight, who are growing their herd by 30 per cent this season.

In their first few years, they invested in significant earthworks to increase their pasture capacity from 15 ha of flood irrigation to 41 ha of re-sown pasture under a centre pivot.

They have recently increased that capacity with additional water security. And by the end of summer, more country will be under irrigation using pipes-and-risers.

In addition, some of the irrigation channels have been upgraded and they are in the process of retrofitting solar-powered automatic timers on the new flume gates, using an OnFarm Internet of Things grant from the Victorian Government.

T h e K n i g h t s — w h o f a r m a t S t r a tford, in the Macalister Irrigation District of Gippsland — installed a 250 Ml storage dam a year ago to increase their irrigation potential and extend pasture growth.

It has enabled them to lift their stocking rate from 300 to 330 milkers, and by spring they will be milking 450 Friesian-Jersey cows off 100 ha.

“Installing the 250 Ml storage dam has created greater water security for the farm,” Stephen said.

The dam is filled from the Avon River during winter months. It is additional to a groundwater licence of 250 Ml and a year-round entitlement to 540 Ml of river seasonal flow.

“We probably access about 100 Ml of the groundwater licence. This year the river entitlement has been accessible for the full 12 months,” Stephen said.

Lifting the milking herd numbers has also required strategic decision making.

The first increase this season was from 300 to 330 milkers. When old or injured cows have had to be culled, Stephen and Jess have invested in point-of-calving heifers and young cows.

They will step up from 330 to 450 milkers by the time autumn and spring calving has finished, by bringing in the rising two-year-old heifers.

“We’ve tried to breed as many extra as we can, and bought young cows where we’ve been able to source them,” Stephen said.

Keeping with the three-way cross-breed, the split-calving herd has a tight joining program.

“We rely heavily on synchronising the cows and a tight eight-week AI program, autumn and spring,” Stephen said.

Holstein and beef semen are used in place of traditional mop-up bulls.

“Our main objective is daughter fertility,” Stephen said.

“The others in our top three are stature and components. We want to milk strong, sound, mid-size cows.”

Production in the last two years has been 600 kg of milk solids per cow.

“We’re tracking the same this year, with less grain because of the improved season,” he said.

These results are from the combination of full irrigation entitlement, almost-back-to-normal rainfall after a few years of drought and their investment in the additional 250 Ml storage dam for watering pasture and crops.

Pasture density has been a focus since they bought the farm.

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

GIPPSLAND REGION // 7

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The Knights are investing in pasture.

Jess and Stephen employ a full-time milker pipes-and-risers. This pasture will be available for Monday to Friday shifts and pick up the week- from autumn for grazing. end milking themselves. Employing a full-time It’s all part of their plan to have as much feed milker enables Stephen to devote time during as possible available in autumn, as 70 per cent of the week to pasture renovation and improve- the herd calves down from February. ment, as well as irrigating pasture and crops and It also takes the risk out of a failed spring harvesting silage. and a hot, dry summer affecting pasture growth.

He grows biannual and perennial rye-grass, Stephen and Jess lease a 120 ha dryland and crops 10 per cent of the milking platform outblock to run their heifers, and also use it to in a chicory/red clover blend every summer grow Italian and annual rye-grass for fodder. for grazing.

The additional irrigation to grow extra “This year we harvested about 1.5 tonne/cow pasture has enabled them to drop the grain of silage — double what we would need now component from 2.7 tonne/cow last year, to we’ve got the water security.

1.7 tonne/cow this year.

“We’ve conserved it with the idea that “We’ve been able to fill their gut with homewe’re lifting the herd numbers by 30 per grown feed, which has saved money on buying cent. That’ll reduce the silage fed out to grain and given us a bigger margin,” Stephen said.

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A centre pivot irrigates 41 ha of the farm.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

8 // GIPPSLAND REGION

Rain brings bumper season JEANETTE SEVERS

SOUTH GIPPSLAND dairy farmers are having

a bumper season, with rain falling when it’s needed to keep pasture growing.

It’s a similar story for the Wylie family, who milk a predominantly Aussie Red herd (with only a few Friesian cows) at Jumbunna-Outtrim.

“We’ve had rain falling at the right time. For example, we had three inches over five days,” Linda Wylie said.

“It’s soaking rain, which makes a difference to pasture growth.”

Linda is the third generation of the family to work on the dairy farm, alongside her parents, Don and Dawne. Her brother, Donald Jnr, and partner, John Ashmore, work off-farm but are relief milkers, maintain equipment and help with feeding out.

A local contractor harvests hay and silage off the 283 ha farm; fertiliser is spread by a contractor also. Last spring they used a gibberellic acid and nitrogen foliar spray applied by airplane across the hilly dryland farm in June and October.

“We got phenomenal growth from those two applications,” Linda said.

“We feed our cows well and keep the condition on them. The Aussie Reds hold their condition and they’re an easy mid-size cow for us to look after.

“We don’t eat out our paddocks and we feed silage and hay to support grazing.

“We normally hold our cows at the dairy, so they all go back to the paddock at the same time and have equal opportunity to graze and access the hay.”

The farm produces all the silage and most of the hay fed to the cows. With the use of GA last year, there was surplus growth, so they cut silage earlier, at the end of October.

“We buy in good quality oaten hay all year round for the cows,” Linda said.

“We’re feeding four bales of silage per day at the moment.”

The 280 to 300-cow milking herd calves for 10 months of the year, with the majority of the herd calving in March and April.

“We take advantage of autumn growth to calve down the heifers and young cows,” Linda said.

“We calve the mature cows later in the year.

“That lets us spend time with the young cows, bringing them into the herd and into the dairy quietly, getting them used to the noise and movement in the dairy.

“We also calve everything down in a shed.

We bring the girls into the shed on point-ofcalving, and they’re out of the weather and comfortable.”

The heifers are joined to the Wylie family’s own-bred Aussie Red bulls, and the cows are joined to Aussie Reds using semen and AI. Mop-up bulls are usually Angus and Charolais, and this year they are using a Speckle Park bull.

“We’ve bred a lot of replacement heifers in the past few years — we often have 30 heifers we choose as herd replacements each year,” Linda said.

“We also let the heifers get to 18 months old before we join them to bulls, so they’re over two years old when they calve. We believe that helps them maintain fitness, health and longevity.”

Linda and Don Wylie, who milk Aussie Reds on their farm at Jumbunna-Outtrim.

Production varies across the year because there are always cows drying off or coming into the herd.

“We average 22 litres/cow/day,” Linda said.

The family’s focus on animal welfare extends into the paddocks, where they bring the cows into the dairy quietly, using laneways to direct flow.

On hot days, the herd is moved into shady paddocks with dams as well as troughs, so the cattle can take advantage of cool areas. In windy, cool weather, the herd is parked in paddocks with shelterbelts to protect them.

“Your cows make money for you, so you need to look after them,” Linda said.

“We feed them well, we look after their feet and we manage their water, feed, shade and shelter requirements every day.

“We make sure the environment is good for them.”

On hot days the herd is moved into paddocks with water and shade, so the cows can find cool places.

The Aussie Red herd averages 22 litres/cow/day.

Docility is one of the good temperaments the Wylies like in their milking herd.

Linda Wylie works on the dairy farm alongside her parents, Don and Dawne.

We believe that milk price communications should be fair. We have asked the Supreme Court of Victoria to declare that the May 2016 clawback that reversed months of milk price announcements was unlawful, and to order that Fonterra must repay farmers for the losses suffered as a result.

A class action has been brought seeking compensation for farmers who suffered because of Fonterra’s late season step down. Farmers do not need to contribute any upfront costs to participate (costs will only be deducted on success). If the action is successful, participating farmers are likely to receive financial compensation.

The process is Court supervised for fairness.

Visit fonterraclassaction.com.au to find out more and to register.

Take 30 seconds to register your claim and make a stand.

Registration is free and does not require any commitment. *May 2016

ABDL0001_FonterraClassAction_374x260_FA.indd 1

13/1/21 3:55 pm

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

10 // GIPPSLAND REGION

The Toora factory is 128 years old and a major employer in the small South Gippsland farming town.

Jobs cut at Toora dairy factory DANEKA HILL

ONE OF the most prominent Australian com-

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panies supplying Asia and the Middle East with infant formula has stood down 31 staff after a decline in global trade.

South Gippsland-based ViPlus Dairy employs over 100 people at its Toora facility — making the recent redundancies a big hit on the small farming town of 680.

Chief executive Jon McNaught said the company tried its best to avoid making 25 per cent of their factory workforce redundant.

“We wanted to avoid this, we’ve lost some critical staff. Hopefully business comes back and we can re-hire many of these people,” Mr McNaught said.

“The international sales just haven’t recovered. We’re in 14 different markets and each country hasn’t rebounded from COVID as strongly as Australia.”

ViPlus Dairy makes infant formula, pregnancy formula, instant milk powders, “adult lifestyle” formulas alongside a range of other premium nutritional milk powders aimed at the international market.

Mr McNaught said customers didn’t have the money and weren’t returning to their pre-COVID spending habits.

The company buys milk from Saputo, Fonterra and Burra.

China is ViPlus Dairy’s biggest single market and a lot of effort was spent in the last six years gaining access to the country, including a $10 million factory expansion and upgrades to gain Chinese authority approvals.

The factory is capable of producing over $300 million worth of product for export each year.

In 2017 ViPlus Dairy was the first Australian manufacture with an Australian-made product to receive Chinese CFDA approval under new regulations for infant formula production.

The company was founded in Australia in 1893 and led the industry at the time for its technology to separate cream from milk.

“We wanted to avoid this, we’ve lost some critical staff. Hopefully business comes back and we can re-hire many of these people.”

Clay: South Gippsland 0427 569 677

Brett: West Gippsland 0418 189 027

Liz: East Gipps & MID 0407 688 059

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA FEBRUARY 2021

GIPPSLAND REGION // 11

Grants strengthen communities THE GARDINER Dairy Foundation is

offering grants of up to $5000 to not-for-profit groups to strengthen small Victorian dairy communities across the state, including in Gippsland.

The Gardiner Dairy Foundation’s Working in Dairy Communities Small Grants Program, which is delivered through the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, will provide a total of $120,000 in grant funding in 2021.

Since it began in 2002, more than $2 million has been successfully funded to 445 grants across the Victorian dairy community. On average every dollar invested by Gardiner Dairy Foundation receives additional leverage of $3.05 in cash or in-kind contributions.

Gardiner Dairy Foundation chief executive officer Clive Noble said it was important to support the wellbeing of Victorian dairy communities and their farming families.

“With better seasonal conditions in most regions, morale in dairy communities has improved over the past 12 months,” Dr Noble said.

“People can breathe a little easier and now is a good time for community groups to look at some of the projects they may have deferred.

“I’d like to encourage community leaders to take advantage of these grants, to leverage the money available with other inputs and to continue to improve and enrich their dairy communities.

“Strong and vibrant dairy communities are vital to a strong dairy industry and vice versa.”

In 2020, eight Gippsland community groups received grants, including Anglican Trusts Corporation of the Diocese of Gippsland, BoisdaleBriagolong Football Club Inc, Foster Primary School, Leongatha Community Pre School Centres Inc and Venus Bay Tarwin Lower and District Men’s Shed Inc. Acting Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal chief executive officer Sarah Matthe said that the grants are designed to give dairy communities the boost they may need to make great things happen.

“Last year was tough for most rural communities, and Victorian dairy communities were no exception,” she said.

“We’ve seen from previous grant recipients that a small grant can open doors for further funding, and it will be great to visit some of last year’s grants recipients to see what kind of opportunities have grown from the funding, and how they have used the grants to help address the needs of their communities.

“We know that these communities are determined, inspiring and resilient and full of great ideas.

That’s why the Gardiner grants are deliberately flexible — to allow local leaders to respond to what’s happening, and address the biggest priorities.

“In previous years, that’s been anything from community gardens to festivals, small infrastructure to training. I look forward to seeing what this year’s applications bring.”

Applications for the Working in Dairy Communities Small Grants Program opened on February 1 and close at 5 pm on March 16.

For more information, visit: gardinerfoundation.com.au

Gardiner Dairy Foundation chief executive Clive Noble.

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