Silage key to long-term future

Silage key to farm’s long-term future

FOR THE 1000-cow Glenbank Farm outside Tocumwal, silage is a must.

The boom or bust water allocations NSW farmers have come to know mean dairy farmers need to be ready to go big — or survive on nothing — at the drop of a hat.

Kristen Clark and her sister Donna run their mother’s dairy farm together.

“When water is available we have to grow as much fodder as we can so then we’ve got this year’s and next year’s in storage for the drought times,” Kristen Clark said.

“We would like to have two years in reserve. In the drought we’d drawn right down on it and now we’re building up again. We did well with the corn last year and hopefully we can do it again this year.”

Last year the Clarks produced 4500 tonnes of fodder off their farm — 2500 of that corn and 2000 dryland cereals.

“When there is water we do a bit of grass silage, otherwise it’s other crops,” Ms Clark said.

For more than a decade the farm has been steadily adopting a barn-style, intensive approach to dairy farming as the sisters plan for the effects of climate change.

Their sheltered feedpad was constructed in 2005 and continues to hold up against daily use in winter and near-constant use in summer.

The feeding-out becomes more intensive in summer when the pasture is taking a hit from the heat and lack of rain.

“We’ve got a feed-out guy who is pretty much full-time feeding cows,” Ms Clark said.

“At the moment we are still grazing so he’s not so hard-pressed, but in the summer he needs to be ready to go as soon as the cows are being milked.”

The Clarks use contractors to harvest their fodder, with practically everything going into pits.

Pit silage is then pulled out with a grab head on a JCB telehandler and taken to the feedpad in a silage mixer wagon on the back of a truck.

Ms Clark said the farm was evolving towards the barn system more and more as time went on, which meant more and more silage.

“By having the shed it helps with animal welfare. The shed is a response to climate change and those hot summers,” she said.

Recently the farm was awarded a grant from Coles to construct loafing barns adjoining the feedpad.

The loafing areas will help the farm turn the herd’s bedding and waste into compost, while also giving the herd better facilities in summer.

Glenbank Farm became a Coles supplier in 2020.

A hard lesson the Clarks have learned over the years is to not relax when it comes to quality.

“You need to keep on top of quality. All of it, but particularly at harvesting,” Ms Clark said.

“Harvesting it at the right stage is the easiest way to get best quality.

“It is easier to make up a mix if you’ve got good ingredients to start with.

“If you start with ordinary ingredients you struggle to make a mix the cows will eat from. Then you have to add in extra and it becomes an expensive way to do it.”

Kristen Clark and her two sons, Isaac (7) and Xavier (5) Crighton in Glenbank Farm’s covered feedpad. The area can hold the farm’s entire milking herd, which fluctuates between 900 and 1000 cows. Glenbank Farm runs a 1000-head Holstein-Jersey mix dairy herd.

“Make it quick, easy, & safe & staff will happily do hooves.”

New directors for Genetics Australia

GENETICS AUSTRALIA has strengthened its corporate governance with the appointment of two specialist non-member directors.

Genetics Australia has the capacity to make such appointment in order to bring specifi c skills and experience to the board.

Mike Carroll and John Duffi eld have taken on the roles, bringing experience in fi nance, project management, board governance and agribusiness.

Mr Duffi eld and Mr Carroll replace Stuart Horsburgh as specialist non-member director.

An accountant by trade, Mr Duffi eld is set to retire at the end of the year from his role as senior project manager at Saputo Dairy in Allansford.

He was formerly fi nancial controller of Saputo’s predecessor Warrnambool Cheese and Butter Company and brings fi nance, strategy and planning experience to the board.

While this is Mr Duffi eld’s fi rst board appointment, he has held positions in several sporting clubs and community organisations.

He says the opportunity to join the board was timely.

“I’m at the stage in my life where I’m ready for retirement but I don’t want to retire totally,” he said.

“I’ve led a busy life through my work so would like to spend more time with my wife but I want to stay connected to the community and believe I have some skills that could be helpful to Genetics Australia in fi nance, strategy and planning.”

Mr Duffi eld’s work has given him a strong association with people from a dairy background.

“I have a fairly good understanding of agriculture and the dairy industry and I’m a community-minded person,” he said.

“I look forward to contributing. Being a board member is not necessarily agreeing with everything but about working with the team to row the boat in the same direction.”

During the past 15 years since leaving NAB where he established and led its agribusiness division, Mr Carroll has served as a non-executive director on more than 15 diff erent boards, all in the food and agribusiness area.

“I have a deep-seated interest in the food and agribusiness sector and the board roles gave me an opportunity to get a deeper understanding of how companies work in those fi elds,” he said.

He grew up on a family farm, studied ag-science and runs a Derrinallum-based performance-recorded Angus enterprise.

Along with a life-long interest in animal genetics, his experience as a non-executive director covers private and publicly listed companies, investment fi rms, government boards and notfor-profi ts, including Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, Meat and Livestock Australia, Paraway Pastoral Company and The Gardiner Foundation.

He says genetics is an exciting area that continues to develop.

“The systems involved in identifying superior genetics have continued to progress a long way and the whole fi eld of genomics is very exciting and allows us to improve the accuracy of assessing genetic merit at a much earlier age and gives us an ability to assess the merit of animals in hard-to-measure traits. Artifi cial breeding programs have also been refi ned and are easier to use and the success rates higher. Genetics Australia has a very important role to play in that.”

Genetics Australia chief executive offi cer Anthony Shelly said the new directors would bring great expertise and experience to the board.

John Duffi eld. Mike Carroll.

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Bacchus Marsh “bull farm” sells for

$3million Genetics Australia has sold Parwan Park to neighbours Boratto Farms.

A PROPERTY at Bacchus Marsh that has been the cornerstone of Australia’s artificial breeding industry for more than 60 years has been sold for $3 million.

Genetics Australia has sold Parwan Park to neighbours Boratto Farms, which will use the land to expand their vegetable production.

The sale follows Genetics Australia’s purchase of Total Livestock Genetics and its decision to relocate its bull management, semen management and semen collection and production services from Bacchus Marsh to the TLG site near Camperdown.

Genetics Australia chief executive officer Anthony Shelly said the sale of the property known locally as the “bull farm” was part of GA’s acquisition of TLG and long-term plans for consolidation in south-west Victoria.

“We’re very happy with the sale as it allows our plans to continue as the money will be used to invest in TLG,” Mr Shelly said.

Genetics Australia will continue to have a presence on the Bacchus Marsh site.

“The other positive is that we have been offered at least a two-year lease to retain access to the office complex,” Mr Shelly said.

In 2014, Boratto Farms acquired 60 ha of river flats that were part of the original Parwan Park farm, and in 2017 GA sold Parwan Park South.

“This was Genetics Australia’s last landholding in the Bacchus Marsh area,” Mr Shelly said.

“Since the land was acquired more than 60 years ago, it has been the cornerstone of the Australian artificial breeding industry so it is a significant move. However, we’re doing it with a really strong plan about how we want to go forward based around the TLG acquisition.”

The changes are already reaping rewards.

“Each month since the acquisition in January we have been building our semen production volumes, and June was another record month,” Mr Shelly said.

There are now more than 250 bulls on licensed semen production at the Camperdown and Glenormiston facilities, the largest number ever in Australia, including third party bulls managed for other customers.

“The increase reflects the volume of bulls and demand for Australian beef and dairy genetics,” Mr Shelly said.

“Both dairy and beef markets are very strong, with continuing high demand for sexed semen.”

Settlement on the Bacchus Marsh property at 144 Woolpack Rd is due in September.

Boratto Farms plan to develop as much of the arable land as possible and continue to expand their vegetable growing operation.

The feedback period on the Dairy Code of Conduct is open until August 15.

Help review industry code

DAIRY AUSTRALIA is encouraging farmers to take part in a review of the Dairy Industry Code, formerly known as the Dairy Industry Code of Conduct, which came into effect on January 1, 2020.

The code regulates the conduct required in the commercial relationships between farmers and milk processors. It aims to improve the clarity and transparency of trading arrangements between dairy farmers and those buying their milk, and in doing so create greater market transparency and competition.

The Federal Government has established a dairy code review reference group to support the review process, which is now under way.

The government is inviting feedback on the code from farmers, processors, industry representative bodies, government agencies, and consumer organisations until August 15.

The review will assess the role, impact and operation of the code, and determine whether it is operating as intended and delivering improved outcomes for the dairy industry.

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Establishment of the Dairy Industry Code was a recommendation of the Australian Competition and Consumer Corporation inquiry into the dairy industry in 2018.

The inquiry found imbalances in bargaining power at each level of the dairy supply chain.

Some of the key elements of the code included: ■ Requiring processors to publicly release standard forms of agreement by June 1 each year; ■ Requiring all agreements to be in plain

English (or contain a plain English overview) and consist of a single document; ■ Requiring all agreements to set out minimum prices; ■ Requiring a cooling off period of 14 days for farmers after signing a contract; ■ Prohibiting retrospective step-downs in all circumstances; ■ Prohibiting unilateral prospective step-downs except in limited exceptional circumstances; ■ Establishing a dispute resolution process; and ■ Restricting unilateral changes to the terms and conditions in agreements.

The ACCC published initial observations on the operation of the code in December 2020, which indicated the code was making a difference to market transparency in the industry.

The Federal Government’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment is managing the review process on behalf of the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia.

The minister will provide a review report to the Treasurer by December 31, 2021.

The review report will include recommendations regarding the future role and operation of the code (if required), following consideration of the feedback.

To provide feedback on the code, visit haveyoursay.awe.gov.au/ dairy-code-of-conductreview

FARM SAFETY UP CLOSE

A Gippsland farmer features in a new podcast released by AgVic.

The podcast includes Jess Knight, a young dairy farmer from Stratford in central Gippsland.

Ms Knight discusses her unconventional pathway into farming and how a passion for agriculture and a can-do attitude have resulted in her transformation into a confident young farm business manager and community leader.

This season’s podcasts turns its focus to the many voices shaping the resilient agricultural industry, including native foods entrepreneurs, rural women and young and immigrant farmers.

In the first episode, Young Farmers Advisory Council chair and Purnim farmer Dr Sarah McLean discusses how a near-miss while working alone was the catalyst that encouraged her family to recognise that their own health and safety was their most important business asset. ”We’re always conscious of safety with everything we do, but we’ve had to think outside the box to make things safer for ourselves and our kids,” Dr McLean said.

“That’s the key message, safety improvements don’t have to be expensive.”

For the podcasts, go to: agriculture. vic.gov.au/agvictalk