Australian dairy farmers have steadily increased their use of grains and concentrates since the early 1980s. Last year the dairy industry spent more than $500 million on them and became the single biggest user of feed grain of all the animal industries.

With unpredictable changes in climate affecting pasture growth and water use, dairy farmers were likely to increasingly turn to grains and concentrates as a way of building more resilience into their farming systems to cope with drought, Dairy Australia program consultant Ray King said.

He said the $1.7 million Grains2Milk program aimed to help farmers reduce their costs through more efficient use and purchase of grains and concentrates.

“The recent drought, and the resulting lack of pasture, saw farmers spend 43 per cent more on feed in 2006/07 compared to the previous year. Given the potential for dramatic changes in price and availability of grains and concentrates, it’s more important than ever we find the most cost-effective way to use them.

“This program will support the competitive positioning of the Australian dairy industry by helping it maintain a stable milk supply in the coming years,” Dr King said.

Project leader Steve Little said the three-year Dairy Australia program was organised into two complementary projects. The first, Feed2Milk, will investigate the efficiency of feed grain and concentrate used by cows on-farm and its conversion into milk.

He said case study farms, which would be used in the research phase of the program, were being established. New information and decision support tools would then be developed for farmers and advisors to help them get the most from their grain and concentrate inputs, integrated with forages, as part of their total feeding system. 

“The other project, Grains2Feed, will provide dairy farmers with systems for rapidly assessing grain availability, price and quality.  It will also help them develop strategies for efficient grain purchase, storage, delivery and use on-farm,” Dr Little said.

Dr King said the Grains2Milk program had come about after extensive consultation within the industry.

“We are confident it will provide real and ongoing value to farmers. An issue has been that research in dairy nutrition over the past 10-20 years has focussed on optimising management of pasture and conserved forages, with very little investment to better understand responses to grains and concentrates and their role with pasture-based feeding systems. The Grains2Milk program will redress this,” he said.

ENDS

For further information contact Sid Pickering on 03 9694 3894, or 0418 175 611, or email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it