Subtropical Dairy Regional Groups

Regional Groups and Small Grants Program

Subtropical Dairy's Regional Groups are located across the subtropical dairying regions of Queensland and northern New South Wales. These Regional Groups work on projects that support their region's dairy farmers.

Regional Groups

The size and spread of the Subtropical Dairy area has led to the establishment of the Regional Groups. Each group focuses on issues specific to their own region and farming systems.

There are active groups in the following regions:

Darling Downs/Burnett
South East Queensland
Central Queensland
Far North Queensland
Far North Coast of NSW
Mid North Coast of NSW
Sunshine Coast

Regional Group contacts

Region	Name	Position	Contact
Far North Qld	Annalissa Daley	Chair	annaliisa.geraghty@gmail.com
	Jo Srhoj	Secretary	jo@subtropicaldairy.com.au
Central Qld	Brad Silver	Chair	brad.silver@au.lactalis.com
	Arlene Rutherford	Secretary	arlene@subtropicaldairy.com.au
South East Qld	Luke Stock	Chair	lukestock@live.com
	Belinda Haddow	Secretary	belinda@subtropicaldairy.com.au
Darling Downs	Kylie Wick	Chair	chelmonte@bigpond.com
	Belinda Haddow	Secretary	belinda@subtropicaldairy.com.au
Far North Coast NSW	Terry Toohey	Chair	tjtoohey@bigpond.com
	Alana Connolly	Secretary	alana@subtropicaldairy.com.au
Mid North Coast NSW	Heath Cook	Chair	hnjcook@bigpond.com
	Alana Connolly	Secretary	alana@subtropicaldairy.com.au
Sunshine Coast	Elke Watson	Chair	elke@scorpex.com.au
	Arlene Rutherford	Secretary	arlene@subtropicaldairy.com.au

Small grants

Subtropical Dairy provides funds for small project grants each year. Grants are available for projects and activities that support the industry's strategic priorities and provide an industry benefit throughout Subtropical Dairy or help solve a local problem.

Recent projects supported by Subtropical Dairy include:

An automated heat detection system
Legume/kikuyu swards
Biological alternatives for mastitis treatment
Calibrating pasture meters
First aid training
Evaluation of ammonium-based fertilisers
Financial benchmarking
Precision fertiliser application

Each Regional Group has an annual budget of $5,000 to invest in local research, development and extension projects. These are funded through submissions to the Subtropical Dairy Board Projects Committee and must be endorsed by the regional group prior to the project being submitted.

To discuss small grants project ideas and obtain a copy of the application form, contact Subtropical Dairy Executive Officer Dr Brad Granzin on 0431 197 479.

Queensland Government assistance

The Queensland Government provides drought assistance for primary producers such as dairy farmers, for more information visit Drought assistance for primary producers.