Farm Fitness Checklist targets improved dairy farm business performance

Dairy Australia has launched an online self-assessment tool that helps dairy farmers evaluate their farm business performance.

The new ‘Farm Fitness Checklist’ is part of Dairy Australia’s flagship farm business management initiative Our Farm, Our Plan, which uses a simple ‘now, where, how’ planning cycle to assist dairy farms to identify and achieve long term goals. It also adds to the range of resources already available through its farm performance analysis platform DairyBase.

Dairy Australia’s Farm Performance Lead Neil Webster said:
“Our online ‘Farm Fitness Checklist’ is a new tool for farmers to assess themselves where they are at now and to identify opportunities for improvement. It is designed to be used on any device, including mobile phones, and provides a great way get started on the Our Farm, Our Plan journey any time, anywhere.

“The checklist prompts thinking and discussion about all aspects of the dairy farm business, including the people involved. It automatically saves all your answers in one spot and allows you to share the results with the right people like your partner, farm team or trusted advisor. Support is available from our regional teams, online or farmers can contact us on 1800 548 073.”

Dairy Australia Managing Director David Nation said action to build farm business skills and improve profitability was a key commitment of the Australian Dairy Plan.

“Our aim is for all dairy farms to have a long term business plan in place within the next five years. Our Farm, Our Plan provides a straightforward process for farms to identify and document long term goals, as well as better manage risk. It includes a one-on-one follow up for farmers participating in the program over 24 months to support them to embed and implement their plans,” commented Dr Nation.

Dairy farmer and Dairy Australia Director Tania Luckin said the new farm business management tools could make a big difference to farm profitability alongside achieving lifestyle objectives.

“The Our Farm, Our Plan goal planning process helps to distil what farm businesses are trying to achieve and over what period of time, so farmers are in control of the direction of the business as well as the things they would like to achieve off the farm. If our goals are a destination, then the plan on a page we create in Our Farm, Our Plan is the roadmap that will help us to get there,” Ms Luckin said.

Information on the ‘Farm Fitness Checklist’ and Our Farm, Our Plan is available via www.dairyaustralia.com.au/OFOP 

Since its launch in 2015, DairyBase has gained 2,500 users and generated over 12,000 data sets, providing Australian dairy farmers with a unique opportunity to analyse and benchmark their farm performance by region and farm type. A new DairyBase Budgeting feature enables farmers to estimate annual operating cash surplus using milk income, fodder and water costs, and livestock numbers. For more information visit www.dairyaustralia.com.au/dairybase