Western Dairy Board

Peter farms at Jindong with son Grant, milking 850 cows in a split-calving herd on 488 hectares. He is a passionate dairy industry advocate, having been Western Dairy Chair from 2005 to 2007, WAFarmers Dairy Section President from 2007 to 2012 and Australian Dairy Farmers vice-chair from 2011–2012.

Peter aims to maintain Western Dairy’s effectiveness during this challenging period for the Western Australian dairy industry. He intends to increase industry awareness of the Board and its role and help instill a culture of continuous improvement in WA dairy.

Robin runs a 650-cow dairy in Busselton in partnership with his son Wesley. Aside from his long family history of dairying, Robin and his wife Betty have several business interests including previously owning and operating Bunbury Freight Service for 17 years.

Robin believes that industry best practice will lead to the best returns and considers Dairy Australia leadership and extension in grass-driven production systems vitally important to the WA industry.

Andrew farms with wife Claire at Denmark. He was co-opted to the board of Western Dairy in 2017 and moved to an appointed position in 2018. Andrew has a keen interest in business management, pasture production and genetics, and contributes a valuable combination of skills and experience to the Western Dairy Board.

Nick is a director and owner of Bunbury-based FarmWest, WA’s only herd improvement data processing and distribution centre. He has a life-long passion for the dairy industry and through his role at FarmWest is focused on helping WA dairy farmers to become more profitable via astute use of genetics, data and new technologies.

As a specialist director, Nick makes valuable technical and strategic contributions to the Western Dairy board.

Scott and wife Sharon share-farm at Hithergreen milking a split calving herd of about 235 cows. Born in New Zealand, Scott came to Western Australia in 1986 and has farmed on the current property of O’Neill Partners since 2003.

Scott has a Bachelor of Agricultural Science from Massey University and a Master of Science Degree from Murdoch University. He aims to advocate for business sustainability and promote education within the WA dairy industry.

Bonnie and husband Ken are dairy farmers in WA’s Great Southern region. Bonnie believes dairy farming is both challenging and rewarding, and it is critical Dairy Australia’s different physical, financial and environmental resources are used to enhance farm businesses and the industry as a whole.

 

With a career background in rural lending, Bonnie has developed skills in business financial management,  procedural systems analysis and succession planning.