Feed security and recovery priorities for the Mid Coast

Hopefully, farmers will be in a position to make the most from this change with both grazing and silage opportunities arising as kikuyu and other summer pastures kick into gear, and the rain provides some valuable relief to moisture-stressed summer crops.

Now is the time to review fertiliser, grazing and silage strategies to make the most of the recent rain. It is also important that maize and sorghum growers are vigilant and are checking crops for fall armyworm activity – and doing this twice weekly.  Good control of early season fall armyworm activity has occurred in most areas with early spraying, however, the return to wetter conditions may stimulate more activity again as crops start to mature.

Favourable winter and spring conditions in inland areas have resulted in good supplies of wheat and barley and it appears likely that the prices of these will remain supportive for complementary feeding over coming months. International and domestic factors are feeding into generally subdued grain pricing and this in turn should feed into reduced pricing of byproduct feeds. Hopefully it will also temper maize-grain prices as we move into summer harvest after March. 

With milk prices for most of the state moving into higher price bands, the interplay between milk and supplementary feeding prices should strongly support margins over feed cost for herds achieving good feed conversion efficiency.

The hay situation is evolving and prices are generally well back on last year, notwithstanding unrelenting freight prices. Supply has generally been good for mid-quality cereal hay lines with some very good lines also being available at slightly higher prices. Protein hays such as lucerne and vetch have perhaps been relatively overpriced and in lesser supply. Feed test information is critical when looking to source significant lines of any hay and buyers should be very mindful in particular of the drop in legume hay digestibility as neutral detergent fibre (NDF) levels rise.

The severe fire situation in Victoria may stimulate increased hay buying activity by charities and farms putting put upward pressure on hay prices. There is value in assessing fodder plans now and securing hay requirements early with expectations of rising prices compounded by low stores of spring fodder on most farms and increased demand on existing fodder inventories over the last six weeks. In addition, the possibility of drier conditions returning next spring, as suggested by some longer-term climate models, means prudent planning would be wise.

With respect to herd management, strong cull-cow prices continue to support use of herd data to manage underperforming cows. There may be merit in some farms looking at options to replace some of these with younger, more productive cows if available and sourced from herds with appropriate attention to regional biosecurity challenges such as Theleria and three day sickness - which has been relatively quiet to date but may become more active following recent widespread coastal rain.

With fodder in shorter supply, it is also important that dairy farmers are being strategic with the number of replacements being retained and mindful of the risks of accumulating excess heifers or beef crosses and steers if these are not part of well designed feed and marketing plans.

Unfortunately, we are still seeing some challenges with longer term financial recovery on some farms from the extreme wet conditions of 2025 with many coastal farms then rapidly moving back into extreme dry conditions and increased hand feeding in the spring and early summer. 

Farm businesses experiencing difficulty are urged to reach out to their advisory networks and potentially take advantage of services from Rural Financial and other support counsellors or some of the preparedness-support that may be still available through RAA climate-resilience loans.

With the Christmas season winding up, it is a great time to take stock of your current situation and revise your plans for 2026. While dairy farmers continue to be presented with climate challenges, positive feed, milk and cull-cow prices can create opportunities.