Focus Farm gives food for thought
Dairy farmers are invited to a focus farm open day at Jindivick to share in the ups and downs of a big year for focus farmers Brenton Ziero and Steve Ronalds.
The open day will give farmers the chance to have a close look at how share farmer Brenton and farm owner Steve have managed their business through a challenging 12 months.
A big discussion point for the open day is likely to be a change in feeding tactics that has resulted from decisions made in response to the seasonal conditions, milk price and input costs to take advantage of opportunities in the 2016/17 season.
“We’ve probably been a bit more cautious about spending on grain and changed a lot of our grazing management,” Brenton said.
“We’ve been making the cows go harder on eating the grass and lengthened the rotation out when we needed to. I’ve really changed my management skills towards feeding cows.”
“We’ve got a lot more milk out of cows, the cows are milking a lot better this year than they were in previous years. A few people on the support group knew the cows and knew that they could be pushed a bit harder.” The open day program will include: A short introduction to the farm, people, system and infrastructure;
A review of the 2016-2017 season, what was done and why, what was the season like;
How the Focus Farm is progressing towards its goals;
The 2016-2017 physicals and financials using Dairy Base and budgets (feed and financial); Labour efficiency and organisation goal; Young stock review; and, Outlook for 2017-2018 GippsDairy regional extension officer Karen Romano said this was a great opportunity for the focus farmer and the support group to contribute to and gain information from the focus farm experience.
“Brenton and Steve have really made the most of their first year as focus farmers and, by using the knowledge and skills of the support group, have made significant improvements to the farm business,” she said.
“Anyone interested in how to make the most out of their herd in terms of profitable milk solids, should definitely come along to the open day.”
The Focus Farm program is jointly supported by GippsDairy and Dairy Australia. The program gives farmers and agribusiness professionals on the Support Group the opportunity to participate in the decision-making processes of a dairy farm business.
Each focus farm provides an ongoing demonstration of the value of goal setting within a dairy business and the processes required to achieve these goals.
Presented by Focus Farm facilitator Matt Hall, the open day will be held on Friday, September 22 from 10.15am to 2.30pm at 335 Main Jindivick Rd, Jindivick.
Lunch is provided, so GippsDairy on 5624 info@gippsdairy.com.au
Market report for 30th and 31st August 2017 Wednesday Fat Sale 266 head. Thursday Bull and Cow Sale, 19 bulls, 296 cows
An increase in numbers this Wednesday saw 266 head penned of which 90% were vealers. Prices as expected remained firm to slightly stronger, as the yard average lifted 11 cents to 291.9. Only 2 bullocks and 2 heifers sold and were steady. 23 steers topped at 325 and averaged 268.9. Veal made to 351.2, to average 299.
A few less head yarded on Thursday. 19 bulls sold to stronger demand topping at 268.6, with the bull average up 5 cents to 242.2. Also penned were 296 cows which made to a top of 265, up 7 cents on last week. A few secondary pens pulled the average back 4 cents to 199.4. Overall the yard average eased 4 cents to 203.
6 Char P Schroen, Bunyip 2 R/Ang R&V Munn, Traralgon 3 Hfd P Norrie, Darnum 1 Lim N Renshaw, Lillico 1 Lim J Rigano, Ferndale 35 Lim M Dobson, Trafalgar Sth 1 Char N&M Baillie, Boolarra 1 Lim N Parke, Lardner Bullocks 2 B/B Steers 1 HfdX 6 Hfd 1 Ang 6 Frn Heifer
1 HfdX R Foster, Glengarry Export Cows and Heifers 3 Ang Piano Hill Farms, D/West 1 Ang G&H Ferguson, Shady Ck 1 Sim M&L Burgess, Yinnar 1 Ang J Mildenhall, Jindivick Dairy Cows 1 Frn Stanvale Farms, Neerim Sth 1 Frn A&Z Gaul, Bona Vista 1 Frn X Riverslea Past, Maffra 5 Frn Topiram Park, Poowong 2 Frn S&L Finger, Yannathan 1 Frn G&K Fankhauser, Drouin 1 Frn W Sargeant, Darnum Bulls 1 Ang 1 Ang 1 Frn R Swenson, Yarragon
R Foster, Glengarry P Dent, Shady Creek R Sandy, Cloverlea P O’Toole, Yarragon Blackwood Grazing, T/gar R&M Hylkema, Drouin Sth K&J Lawrence, Jindivick
Elders, 4. Gibbon, 5. Landmark. register 3900
449 180 282 500 300 380 290 285
550
470 453 495 539
375
458 700 685 505
745 680 645 667 642 640 680 with or
351.2 1576 350.6 631 349.2 985 343.2 1716 340.0 1020 337.0 1280 334.2 969 332.0 947
272.6 1500
325.0 1527 307.2 1391 264.6 1309 254.2 1370
290.0 1087
265.0 1214 250.0 1750 236.0 1616 235.0 1186
222.0 1653 222.0 1509 216.6 1397 215.0 1434 215.0 1380 215.0 1376 215.0 1462
840 268.6 2256 815 264.6 2156 765 253.2 1936 1. Scotts, 2. SEJ, 3.