A new dairy-backed information initiative is helping dairy farmers set up for the season.

The initiative draws on a variety of dairy industry experts to provide information designed to support farmers’ decision making processes.

This year, the conditions surrounding spring are largely unprecedented – particularly in the cropping and irrigation regions of southern Australia.

Australian Dairy Farmers president Allan Burgess said experience over the past five years has shown that decisions were best made early in the season when the positive consequences of those decisions had a longer timeframe to play out.

“Australian dairy farmers were among the best in the world but many were dealing with another tough season,” he said.

“The dairy industry has a duty to support farmers’ decisions by providing the best information possible.

“Hay, grain, water price and availability are all important for sound decision making. Information about prospective milk prices for the year is also critical,” Mr Burgess said.

Dairy Australia farm productivity and delivery manager Steve Coats said the industry had created Season Set Up in order to point to key information sources and to support this important, early season, decision making.

“While the information provided is most applicable for southern Australia, we plan to provide relevant information in other regions as soon as the need becomes clearer,” Mr Coats said.

He said that while the current situation was very difficult on many farms, there was a positive outlook with technology and milk pricing opportunities that would be available in the next 5-10 years.

“Milk prices are at historical highs and most of the evidence available indicates these prices are sustainable in the short to medium term,” Mr Coats said.

Mr Burgess said the industry will do all it can to support decision making but planning at farm level is most important and he urged farmers to seek out the information and advice to plan for their business.

Season Set Up builds on the resources produced through the Feed.FIBRE.Future program and the industry’s drought response in the past few years.

For further information contact Kathy Pullman on 03 9694 3766, or 0408 548 119, or email This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it