South Central and West Gippsland
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ALL ABOUT SOIL
JULY, 2013
PAGE 4
SEEDS OF SUCCESS
486 Whitehorse Road, Surrey Hills, 3127
AUSTRALIAN SHEEP AND WOOL SHOW PAGES 6-7
12 PAGE LIFT-OUT INSIDE
Chance to milk rise Dairy industry aiming for recovery after challenging past 12 months By DAVID PALMER WITH some opening milk prices up substantially on last year, dairy farmers are welcoming the improvement as a chance to recover from a climatically and economically challenging year just past. Australian Dairy Farmers Cooperative set an opening milk price of $6.20 a kilogram of milk soils towards the end of last month and topped prices from all other companies by quite a substantial amount. United Dairy Power’s season opening of $6.05/kgMS was the next nearest, while earlier announcements by Murray Goulburn, Fonterra and Warrnambool Cheese and Butter were $5.60/kgMS or slightly more. UDP managing director Tony Esposito predicted a season average between $6.30 and $6.40 and, like ADFC, made the point that because his company was focused on the domestic market, the fall in the value of the Australian dollar was not a factor in UDP’s higher predicted returns. ADFC recently signed a contract with a fresh milk processor for 20m litres. Ellinbank dairy farmer Ron Paynter said he was not getting overly excited by the higher prices because any extra money would go towards recovering from a very tough year. “A lot of farms have put off purchasing new equipment and are even looking closely at what pasture renovation they can afford,� he said.
HAY THERE FISH Creek farmer Paul Crock checks the hay ration he is feeding to his cattle. Mr Crock is part of a group which is seeking to improve interaction in relation to ethical, paddock to plate practices. The Gippsland beef producers formed a cooperative in 1999 and are seeking more rewards for better cuts.
“We have put off a lot of repairs and maintenance, even though our farm tracks are badly degraded and we are just strategically using a bit of nitrogen to boost pasture production rather than do major work. “We may be through the worst, but the higher prices are essential just to getting farms back on track; there won’t be any spend, spend, spend for the next year or so.â€? United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president and dairy farmer, Kerry Callow, said the modest opening prices from the export oriented companies – Fonterra, Murray Goulburn and Warrnambool Cheese and Butter – were useful, but much more was needed. She said farmers she knew who had been dairying for 40 years or more, said last year was the worst they had experienced, both climatically and ďŹ nancially. But higher opening prices and recent useful and widespread rains in Victoria had changed that to a great extent. However, a continuing downside and an important factor in farm viability was the loss of farm equity because the value of farmland had dropped. Ms Callow said competition in the land market had suffered because the timber companies and New Zealand dairy farmers were no longer buying. “The timber companies have gone bust and the high dollar meant New Zealand farmers who were once able to sell their farms over there and set themselves up well here, no longer found that possible,â€? she said.
„ See full feature story on pages 8-9
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