Western Dairy delivers the full suite of Dairy Australia programs, workshops and training packages alongside specific projects for the WA region.

• Copy Link Dairy Farm Monitor Program

  The WA Dairy Farm Monitor Program is an insightful process that collects farm data from up to 30 participating farms each year to benchmark the financial and physical performance of the WA industry. The data is independently verified and collated in a manner that provides a unique snapshot of the performance of our region.

  DFMP Annual Report FY - 2017-2018

  DFMP Annual Report FY - 2016-2017

  DFMP Annual Report FY - 2015-2016

  DFMP Annual Report FY - 2014-2015

• Copy Link Irrigation Projects

  Western Dairy participated in the national Smarter Irrigation for Profit project that ran from 2016 to 2018. The project targeted 3,000 irrigators from the cotton, sugar and dairy industries. In Western Australia baseline data was collected from two dairy farms.

  In the 2018/19 Summer, under Western Dairy funding, a second project was established, where the focus is on measuring the production potential of kikuyu pastures in irrigated systems. Trials are currently underway on four farms in the South West.  

  To keep up to date with Western Dairy Irrigation projects and see the latest results head to  Irrigation Projects

• Copy Link Dairy Care Program

  Western Dairy is extremely proud of its DairyCare project which supports farmers to review and upgrade their dairy effluent systems. We will respond to any dairy farmer wishing to have their effluent system reviewed by our team (Dan Parnell and Sam Taylor) and farms in qualifying catchments may be eligible to have a plan funded and qualify for funding to support capital works upgrades. We are responsible for allocating tax payer funds to dairy farms and so the process must abide by strict guidelines and codes of conduct. But well worth it in the interests of accessing support that may be as high as $60,000.

  The project is made possible through the State Government's $2.4 million Regional Estuaries Initiative and Revitalising Geography Waterways fund. It is designed to support farmers to design, install and maintain fully enclosed effluent systems in order to reduce nutrient loss off dairy farms and improve water quality of regional estuaries.

  There are many questions that come with DairyCare and the series of fact sheets below may help answer them. If not, please email Sam Taylor at sam@agvivo.com.au.

  Information Sheets

  WA Dairy Shed Effluent Management Guidelines (PDF, 2.5 MB)

  WA Water Minimisation Guidelines (PDF, 185 KB)

  Best Practice Environmental Management

  These farm management guidelines are downloadable in the 11 key areas of on-farm environmental management.

  Western Dairy together with project partners DAFWA and Geocatch developed these farm management guidelines based on best environmental practice on WA dairy farms.

  Dairy Farm Environmental Best Practice Management Guidelines

  1. Farm Planning
  2. Soil Management
  3. Fertiliser Management
  4. Water Management
  5. Efficient Irrigation
  6. Effluent Management
  7. Management of Native Vegetation
  8. Waste Management
  9. Weed and Pest Management
  10. Chemical Management
  11. Managing Silage Leachate 
      

• Copy Link Pasture Trials and Demonstrations

  The Western Dairy Pasture Trials are an initiative of Western Dairy, incorporating individual trials and demonstrations. These include The WA Seed Performance Trial (WASP), Grazing Management demonstrations and Seed Mix Trial. They offer an independent analysis of pasture varieties and management tailored specifically to the WA dairy industry and environment.  

  For the latest Pasture trials results and reports visit: Pasture Trials and Demonstrations Results.

  About WASP

  The trials are run in accordance with best industry practice protocols, as developed by the Pasture Trial Network (PTN) system.

  • Data integrity and confidentiality is assured with the independent Western Dairy running the trial.
  • Seed for the trial is purchased from the rural retail network, and germ tested at the time, to ensure that it is suitable for inclusion in the trial.
  • The trial is intended to run every year for three years, to build a solid data set spanning multiple years and seasons, with the ability to capture new products as they enter the market.
  • WASP may also contain pasture seed retailed in WA that does not meet criteria for entry into the PTN system.

• Copy Link Western Dairy funded Honours Projects

  Every year Western Dairy calls for expressions of interest from university students completing their honours year or undertaking a PHD with a dairy focus, to consider a project that will contribute to the knowledge bank of WA dairy research.

  In 2018/2019 we have funded two students:

  Shilja Shaji

  Western Dairy has awarded a scholarship to support UWA student Shilja Shaji complete her PhD exploring ways to identify dairy cows that are more likely to suffer from heat stress.

  Heat stress is known to have high impact on dairy businesses, ranging from loss in milk production and income; reduced in-calf rates, reduce milk and fat tests and a higher rate of health problems associated with this.

  The Australian dairy industry released its new breeding value for heat tolerance earlier this year and the research being undertaken through the UWA study will add another piece to the heat tolerance jigsaw.

  Shilja will be exploring the capacity for Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to detect heat stress in lactating dairy cattle, using samples from milk, saliva and blood. NIRS technology is a proven method of estimating milk components in herd testing laboratories and so the research work hopes to capitalise on this technology opportunity.
  
  Teanna Cahill

  Western Dairy has awarded an honours scholarship to Murdoch University student Teanna Cahill, to explore the risk factors associated with sub-clinical mastitis and antimicrobial usage in WA dairy herds.

  The results of this research will allow WA farmers to implement specific, relevant improvements to decrease their Somatic Cell Count and increase milk quality and reduce treatment costs, whilst providing some resilience in a changing market.