Dairy UP

Dairy UP’s work has recently been under the spotlight with an article ‘The hidden losses of pasture utilisation’ published in The Australian Farmer. The article features project P1a Remote pasture monitoring. It’s great to see the Dairy UP project profiled in the broader agricultural sector. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gecz7xVs

2025 Dairy Symposium The Dairy Research Foundation will join forces with key organisations including Dairy Australia, DairyNSW, NSW DPIRD, Local Land Services and Scibus for an amazing Dairy Symposium in Wollongong, NSW in 2025! The Symposium will include: * a visit to one of the best dairy farms in NSW, Phil and Craig Tate’s recently upgraded farm in the urban growth setting in Albion Park * lots of updates from Dairy UP * top international speakers * the traditional ‘Emerging Scientist’ competition. Please pencil in November 24 and 25 for what is going to be an unmissable event for the NSW dairy industry!

Podcast: Profit and risks of intensive dairying husbandry Listen to insights from Sheena Carter and Claire Waterman on the profitability and risks of intensive dairying. Sheena was one of the key researchers for the completed Dairy UP project: P3: Economics of Intensification. In this podcast they report on further findings of the economic analysis of the NSW TMR farms which has continued since the completion of P3. This has been through a follow-on project: Economics of Contained Housing funded by Dairy Australia and Agriculture Victoria with support from NSW DPI. This has enabled the NSW TMR data to be combined with the Northern Victorian TR farm data and analysed. Listen to the podcast (or search your favourite podcasting app for ‘The Business of Dairy – Intensive Dairying – Profitability and Risk Insights'). https://lnkd.in/gQFn_WjW https://lnkd.in/gFmbXRUN

Calf Husbandry Improving calf care reduces antimicrobial use, lowers mortality rate, improves dairy business profitability and helps maintain social licence. There are two elements to Dairy Up’s P2e Calf Husbandry project: automated calf rearing and rearing Holstein steers for dairy beef. Read more here: https://bit.ly/4hk73zn

Calf Pathways As per the plan, P10 (Calf Pathways) was completed last year. The final reports for the two P10 projects are now available on the Dairy UP website. Read them here: Final Report P10a NSW Calf Pathways Consultation: https://bit.ly/3Ycx8I0 Final Report P10b Calf Pathways Economics: https://bit.ly/48k2UaC Click here for information on the follow up project Growing beef from dairy: https://bit.ly/3UmKf8g

Congratulations to Dr Sarah Legge on her recent PhD graduation. The research Sarah did for her thesis “The lasting impact of calf performance” made a major contribution to Dairy UP’s P2e Calf Husbandry project. Sarah used data from automatic calf feeders for thousand of calves and found that milk consumption and behavioural data, as early as day 5 into the feeders, can be a strong indicator of performance at weaning and production in the cow’s lifetime!

TAKE the TIME ⏰ to attend the DFR Symposium on the 25th and 26th November 2025 The Dairy Research Foundation Symposium will be back on 25th and 26th November 2025 joining forces with industry and government organisations including Dairy Australia, Dairy NSW, NSW DPIRD and Local Land Services. The theme revolves around one of the most precious (and limited) asset for a dairy farmer: T.I.M.E.!, standing also for Technology (driver), Investment (need), Management (key) and Environment (future). Dairy farmers, industry reps, service and commercial providers and all interested: please pencil in dates in your diaries! More details soon!

Resources for resilient farming People issues are one of the top three challenges reported by Australian dairy farmers. These issues include training, managing and retaining staff, ensuring practices are complaint with regulations such as OH&S and people are paid according to the appropriate awards. DA’s People in Dairy Portfolio includes many tools and resources to take the hard work out of addressing these issues. https://lnkd.in/g-pgs9sy Here are some to get you started: Dairy Australia’s Farmer Capability Guide: https://lnkd.in/g-pgs9sy Dairy Australia Employment Basics training package: https://lnkd.in/gRnXDdB2 Dairy Australia Managing People training package: https://lnkd.in/g-VVeGZW

Resources for resilient farming The Nicholson family from Jones Island in the Manning Valley have been a partner farm for Dairy UP’s P1a Remote Monitoring project since late 2021. Their farm was inundated in February/March of both 2021 and 2022. Josh Hack from Ag Farming Systems supported them in their flood recovery and they have since worked with Local Land Services to prepare for future floods. Read more: https://bit.ly/3WFhPqB Watch a video: https://lnkd.in/gTdQf3WW

Resources for resilience Dairy Australia’s website features some great farmer case studies that came out Dairy UP’s P3: Economics of intensification project and related work funded by DA. Here’s the links to some of the case studies (video and written formats): Loose housing Finding efficiencies: Redgrove family, NSW. Written case study - https://bit.ly/3MhFs3L Planning for animal welfare and business flexibility: David Christie, NVic. Video - https://lnkd.in/gExsuPMF Written case study - https://bit.ly/3TrVMD5 Driving productivity and cow comfort: Victoria Mulcahy, NVic. Video - https://lnkd.in/ganDCMFG Written case study - https://bit.ly/4fYPYu6 Freestalls Bringing consistency for daily farm management: Mark Walpole, Riverina Video - https://lnkd.in/gBsRz69c Written case study - https://bit.ly/4fYPYu6