DPI PROJECTS

C4 Milk Project

C4 Milk aims to increase operating profit margin through the development of management strategies that increase milk production from forage and reduce overall feed related costs through:

    1. Increased on-farm trialling and adoption of forage and nutrition management strategies, technologies and systems through development activities;
    2. Development of forage and nutrition management strategies that increase the quality of tropical forages and diets to increase milk from forage;
    3. Increased engagement of subtropical dairy farmers and service providers through the use of e-Extension technologies in conjunction with existing extension activities to demonstrate and deliver forage and nutrition management strategies;

Improving the operating profit of northern dairy farms through the development of a tropical forage system that decreases feed related costs is a key priority of the northern dairy industry. The reliance on high cost purchased concentrates has increased in the subtropical region over the past 10 years, and with volatile grain and protein meal costs, operating profit margin has decreased by ~8.8 c/L (QDAS, 2013). There is the potential to develop ‘high milk from forage’ production systems in northern Australia that maintain or improve milk yield while increasing the proportion of forage used in dairy cow diets, thereby reducing feed related costs.

The C4Milk project delivers an integrated approach to development, research and extension across the Subtropical dairy region to assist dairy farmers to reduce feed related costs through increased production of milk from forage. Research and development activities at University of Queensland Gatton Campus and within sub-regions will test and regionalise forage and nutrition based management strategies to increase the uptake and adoption of profitable feedbase management options.

Extension activities are based on existing discussion groups and demonstration activities supported by innovative approaches, such as e-Extension, to address the dispersed nature of the subtropical dairy industry. Extension of knowledge and skills around subtropical forage and nutrition management will lead to a greater confidence of dairy farmers to adopt feedbase management practices that decrease feed related costs and increase profitability.

QDAS Project

The objectives of the QDAS project are:

    1. To supply Dairy Australia with Queensland dairy farm data to be used in DairyBase by 15 November each year of the project.
    2. To provide dairy industry stakeholders with reports on the current financial performance of dairy farms in Queensland as well monitoring performance over time by 15 December each year of the project.
    3. To improve the understanding of financial performance and management of farmers who take part in QDAS data collection and extension activities.

This project collects and supplies data from Queensland dairy farms to the DairyBase farm financial database, using the Queensland Dairy Accounting Scheme according to nationally agreed KPIs and timelines.

Each year 50 Queensland dairy farms will undertake a financial survey. All farmers who supply data will receive a feedback report on their farm performance over time and comparatively with other farms in their regional production system. All data, in an anonymous form, will be supplied to Dairy Australia to be added to DairyBase. A report will be published showing the cash and profit performance of regional production systems. Seven report back meetings will be held for farmers supplying data to discuss results, trends and implications in a group environment. There will be ongoing work with Dairy Australia and other state agencies to map KPIs to those in DairyBase.

Link through to QDAS reports