The Business of Dairy

Oct 31 2024 42 ep. 30 mins 11
The Business of Dairy Podcast artwork

The Business of Dairy podcast will look at aspects of management of dairy businesses from both within the farm gate and outside the farm gate, speaking to farmers and service providers with skills, information and knowledge of value to you and your business. We will bring to you monthly discussions on topics that will grow your knowledge and understanding of management areas that will drive strong farm business performance into the future. This series is brought to you by the NSW DPI Dairy Business Advisory Unit with funding and support from the Hunter Local Land Services.

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Revisiting profitable pasture management and silage production

Oct 31 2024 26 mins  
Feed costs are the highest operational costs in a dairy business, so it is vital that we manage these well in order to enhance our farm’s profitability. We are currently well into a somewhat m­ild spring here, in most regions of New South Wales, so thought it would be a good opportunity to revisit some earlier podcast episodes on key aspects of profitable pasture management and

Responses and Decision Making in Natural Disasters

Sep 30 2024 27 mins  
Late in 2023, a group of dairy farmers from across NSW were interviewed about their experiences, decisions made, support networks and lessons learnt following a number of recent natural disaster events, including the 2021-2022 floods. Tori Alexander (DPIRD) and Nikki Reichelt (University of Melbourne) share some of the findings from these interviews and the key challenges and succe

Moving and Managing our Dairy Business

Aug 31 2024 21 mins  
NSW dairy farmer Brad Winzer shares his journey, moving their well-established family farm from Northern Victoria to the Mid Coast of New South Wales – the reasons why, the differences between farms and the challenges they faced. He outlines the key support people he uses in the business, how he manages and monitors the performance of the business, and the things he focusses on t

Intensive Dairying - Profitability and Risk Insights

Jul 31 2024 25 mins  
This month’s episode focuses on a project looking at intensive dairy systems in Inland NSW and Northern Victoria over the last 7 years. This has provided the industry with quality foundational information on the profitability, cost structures and risks of these systems. Claire Waterman from Agriculture Victoria and Sheena Carter (NSW DPI) led the project for their respective regi

Feed Conversion Efficiency – at What Cost?

Jun 30 2024 32 mins  
Feed costs are typically the largest component of operational costs in a dairy business, typically making up 50 – 60% of total costs, depending on feeding system, seasons and conditions. Hence it is vital that what is being fed to the cows results in good milk production. David Barber, DairyNEXT nutritionist joins us this month to discuss the important topic of feed conversion ef

Decision Making and Risk Management with a Family Board

May 31 2024 35 mins  
The use of a structured approach within a NSW dairying business to assist with decision making and risk management, is discussed this month with Kay Smith from Bulahdelah. The Smiths have been operating a family dairy business for over 40 years and 5 years ago, faced with a number of challenges, were weighing up their future options. One of these involved a significant change to th

Financing Dairy Farm Infrastructure

Apr 30 2024 22 mins  
This episode follows on from episode 35 “Successfully navigating farm loans” but focusses specifically on financing for large infrastructure projects such as cow housing facilities. This topic was addressed by my guest, Greg Kuchel, Senior Insights Manager at Rural Bank at the 2nd Raising the Roof conference in Hunter Valley of NSW earlier this year. Greg also touches on the ev

Successfully Navigating Farm Loans

Mar 31 2024 25 mins  
My guest for this episode is Greg Kuchel, Senior Insights Manager at Rural Bank who spoke recently at the “Raising the Roof” conference in Hunter Valley of NSW about farm loans in particular for infrastructure loans related to cow housing facilities. Greg and I had such a good discussion that we have turned this into a two-part series. This first episode covers the general prin

Features of the Most Profitable NSW Farms in 2023

Feb 29 2024 25 mins  
What were some of the features of the Top 25% of NSW Dairy Farm Monitor farms in the 2023 financial year? This month’s podcast provides insights into some of the physical and financial metrics associated with their productivity and profitability compared to that of the remaining 75% of farms in the project. Links to useful resources related to this podcast:NSW DFMP Annual ReportD

Lifting the Lid on NSW GHG Emissions

Jan 31 2024 25 mins  
With a national focus on reducing dairy GHG emission intensity by 30% by 2030, farm greenhouse gas emissions are currently getting a lot of attention. This month we take a look at what has been happening with emissions on NSW dairy farms through the lens of our Dairy Farm Monitor Project. Links to useful resources related to this podcast:NSW DFMP Annual Report (pg. 35-36)Dairy Farm