Meet the new faces at Murray Dairy

It is always exciting for the farming community when new team members bring their specialised skills to the Murray Dairy team. Murray Dairy has recently welcomed two new team members, Regional Extension Officer - Young Dairy Network (YDN) coordinator Bec Wyper and Regional Extension Officer - Our Farm Our Plan project Russell Holman.

Bec will be known to some of the farming community as having completed a graduate placement with Murray Dairy under the Accelerating Change project a few years ago, then going on to work with Reid Stockfeeds. Being a member of the YDN and steering committee, which will be invaluable to her role as YDN coordinator with Murray Dairy, Bec also has a strong background and interest in nutrition. Some of her personal enjoyments include hitting the gym and exploring the land through hiking, camping or day trips.

Russell grew up on a dairy farm at Bamawm and he and his wife Loretta ran their own dairy farm for 15 years. He has been actively involved in agriculture across the region working with Tatura Milk, Coopers & Merial. For the past four years, Russell has been at Boort looking after the Rodwells store as well as engagement in regional sports, including basketball where he has competed in the last couple of Masters games in Alice Springs and brought home gold. Russell also enjoys the outdoors and packs up to take on the road for trips in the family camping trailer.

Bec said, “I find that the majority of the dairy industry is very welcoming and supportive and happy to help support those around them. They don’t compete against each other as such and are happy to help out where needed.

“I’m looking forward to being able to guide and assist dairy farmers in our industry to strengthen the future for dairy. With evolving technology and challenging seasons, it’s important to keep learning and exploring adoptions for your business,” Bec said.

Russell said, “I am impressed with the way dairy farmers in our region keep evolving and adapting new practices to improve both productivity and lifestyle.

“I can’t wait to continue the roll out of the Our Farm Our Plan project to dairy farmers in the Murray Dairy region. Beginning with the Farm Fitness Checklist, this program equips the key decision makers in each business to prioritise where they will put their effort, clarifies their long term business and personal goals, identifies actions needed to achieve goals, and better manage uncertainty and risk,” Russell said.