The core business of dairy farmers is to produce fresh milk, but what are the other opportunities?
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Agri-tourism is one such opportunity. Building appropriate infrastructure or using existing housing to enable families to stay on a working dairy farm provides a number of advantages.
In addition to receiving revenue for people staying on the farm, it also provides a platform for education as to dairy farmers being strong environmental managers and that they care for their cows.
Maintaining a social licence within the community is vital to long term sustainability.
Another opportunity would be the growing of dairy beef, especially into the domestic and overseas markets.
Studies have shown that quality of dairy beef is of a standard equal to traditional beef.
In a study released by MLA and Dairy Australia in February, live dairy exports delivered $180 million to Aussie dairy farmers in 2020/2021.
Since deregulation, the number of dairy cows exported has risen from 20,000 cows to over 90,000 cows in 2021. Currently, the bulk of cows exported are primarily from Victoria, with Queensland providing only 1 per cent of dairy cow exports.
However, dairy opportunities need to be found and this could be such a program.
Earlier this year, Fonterra New Zealand announced it was introducing a 'no kill' policy for calves.
Fonterra said that the calves should be raised and sold for veal to meat processors or to petfood processors.
While such a policy is not in Australia, the sale of calves for veal should be further examined and recommendations made as to whether this is a viable option for dairy farmers in the northern states.
To facilitate this opportunity, the board of eastAUSmilk has established a calf management committee, chaired by board member Kay Tommerup.
In recent days, meetings have occurred with representatives of Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries to progress ways in which to grow this as a viable market.
Qld DAF and eastAUSmilk will continue these positive discussions on ways in which veal and dairy beef can be sold into overseas markets from Queensland.
If you might like to be a part of the deliberations and would like to join the calf management committee, contact the eastAUSmilk office.
