What is the Grains2Milk program?
Grains2Milk was established by Dairy Australia in January 2007 to help Australian dairy farmers:
- Take greater control of their purchasing of feed grains / concentrates, and
- Improve their use of feed grains / concentrates on farm to produce milk, within their chosen feeding system.
The use of feed grains and concentrates has become fundamental to dairy production over the past twenty five years or so, with over 25 per cent of all milk solids produced now derived from feed grains / concentrates. This is likely to increase in order to maintain milk production and provide more resilience against the adverse effects of climate variability on water availability and pasture growth.
To help farmers improve their use of feed grains / concentrates, the Grains2Milk program is progressing projects to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of feed grains / concentrate used by cows on farm and its conversion into milk. New information and decision support tools will be developed for farmers and their advisers to help them get the most from their grain and concentrate inputs.
To help farmers take greater control of their purchasing of feed grains / concentrates, Grains2Milk has put together a ½ day workshop and information pack. The Buying Feed Workshops are being delivered with funding from Dairy Australia, the Gardiner Foundation and the Australian government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). Taking more control of feed purchasing and sleeping better at night is all about managing the risks associated with the quality, supply and price of purchased grain, concentrates, fodder and other feeds. Farmers will go home from the workshop with new skills, strategies and knowledge to help them do this.
What benefits will Grains2Milk deliver?
Grains2Milk will increase farmers’ productivity and profits as well as enhance the competitive positioning of the Australian dairy industry in the coming years. This will be achieved by:
- Enabling more effective and efficient procurement of feed grains
- Using feed grains and concentrates more effectively and efficiently on farm to produce milk.
Feedgrain R&D Partnership
Dairy Australia is part of the Feedgrain R&D Partnership. The Grains2Milk program will develop collaborative R&D projects with other Research and Development Corporations through the Feedgrain R&D Partnership. The Partnership was formed to bring together the organisations with involvements in the Australian feedgrain industry to identify common issues that require R&D to benefit the livestock and feed grain industries. For more information click here.
While progressing these important projects, the Grains2Milk program has also been responding to dairy farmers' more immediate needs, supporting their decision making as they cope with drought conditions through feed.FIBRE.future.
In winter, 2007, feed.FIBRE.future provided dairy farmers across Australia with timely and important information and advice on dealing with reduced fodder and water availability that dominated the winter feeding decisions of their businesses. This project was supported with funding from the Australian government Dept. of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
In Spring, 2007, again under the feed.FIBRE.future banner, the Grains2Milk program provided dairy farmers in Northern Victoria / southern NSW suffering a failed spring with timely and important information and advice on flexible feeding systems that are more resilient to shocks of climate and season affecting pasture / forage availability. This project was supported with funding from the Gardiner Foundation.
For more information about the Grains2Milk program email the project leader
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
.
|
Farm 
