Healthy cows drive quality results at Fossil Park

“Healthy cows are what we strive for,” Jamie says.

“It is good to be recognised, it shows that we are getting to where we want to be.”

Jamie has been a part of the dairy industry all his life.

With the help of his wife Jan and small team of two full-time farm hands, one part-time milker and four casuals, Jamie runs 770 spring calving Friesian cows across two dairy operations.

This year his dairy, Fossil Park, in Tasmania’s Meander Valley was recognised with a Gold award in the Dairy Australia Milk Quality Awards.

The award recognises the nation’s highest-quality milk producers through their bulk milk cell count (BMCC). BMCC records the daily amount of mastitis found in the milk, with the lowest quantities equating to the highest quality.

Jamie was in the top 100 producers in the last financial year, and he says the award gives him an indication of how his herd is going.

“I think cow health has got a lot to do with bulk milk cell count,” he says.

“If you’ve got healthy cows they will give you a better bulk milk cell count.”

Jamie says it’s attention to detail that keeps his 550 strong herd healthy.

“We’re very hands on, we know our cows,” he says.

“It’s being able to notice certain changes in the herd.

“If a cow is at the back of the herd that isn’t normally, if a cow is getting more agitated, frigidity or kicking the cups off, alarm bells go off because generally there is a reason.”

Tasmanian dairy farmers made up more than 10 per cent of the gold winners in this year’s Milk Quality Awards. 

Dairy Australia’s National Milk Quality and Biosecurity Lead, Dr Zoe Vogels, says this year’s results were particularly strong.

“Since the awards were introduced 24 years ago, they have improved significantly. The result is that Australian dairy farmers are ensuring better cow health and higher productivity and farm profitability,” Dr Vogels says. 

For Jamie this is not the first time his milk has been recognised, in 2023 he also won a Gold award.

“As dairy farmers we are just trying to get better and better each year,” he says.

“We try and feed the cows as healthily as possible and as much as we can, we try to keep them out of the mud.

“We really just want to take any stress out of the cows and that’s what we have noticed makes the biggest difference to Bulk Milk Cell Count.”

For more information on milk quality management, including the annual Milk Quality Awards, visit Milk Quality and Mastitis