This information pack of practical, easy-to-read fact sheets is used during the Buying Feed Workshop, produced by the Grains2Milk program with funding support from Dairy Australia, the Gardiner Foundation and the Australian government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). It is designed to help dairy farmers make better decisions at every step of the feed buying process.

1. 3 steps to better feed buying decisions
An overview of the feed buying process: Plan well - Buy right - Feed carefully.

2. Plan for profit - Feed budgeting
Feed budgeting to ensure you know what quantities of each feed you need to buy. The devil is in the detail.

3. Plan for profit - What can you afford to pay?
Thinking through what you can afford to pay for the feed you need to buy - your target feed price.

4. Don't gamble with feed quality
With physical assessment and some quick calculations you can look beyond the sticker price and be confident you are buying good quality and good value feed.

5. Feed value varies
Some feeds vary more than others in key nutrients. The wider the variation, the more important it is to calculate value per unit energy and protein, based on feed lab analysis.

6. Feed testing - getting a good sample
Feed testing is useful to confirm or compare feeds for nutritional value, but only if the feed lab gets a truly representative sample of the feed you plan to buy. Suggested sampling methods.

7. Feeding testing - understanding results
It's essential when using lab results to understand the reasons why results vary.

8. Buying grain - it's a world market
How the global grain market operates and where you fit in as an Australian grain user. Keeping an eye on the world grain calendar.

9. Buying fodder - it's a domestic market
How the domestic fodder market operates, and how hay prices are set each year. How big is your on-farm fodder buffer against lean forage growing seasons in future years?

10. Feed contracts - it's all about security
Feed contracts are not a legal minefield and unnecessary administration - they provide certainty and simplicity. A simple proforma contract you can use for all feed purchases.

11. Buying feed direct, farm to farm
The pros and cons of buying feed direct rather than through a stockfeed company, merchant or agent. Feed storage facilities - build your own or pay someone else?

12. From price taker to price maker
Buying on the ‘spot' price is easy but also risky. The principles behind using forward contracts and rise and fall contracts to control your business's feed price.

13. Using futures contracts and other derivatives
Using futures, swaps or options contracts as more advanced pricing tools to offset the price paid for physical feed deliveries and manage your feed price risk.

14. Feed- don't waste
The feed buying process isn't complete until the feed bought has actually been eaten by your cows. Feeding systems: the trade-offs between feed wastage and capital cost.