Dairy News Australia Murray Region October 2022

TEACHING KIDS ABOUT COWS

Dairy farmer Kristy Grant, pictured with daughters Phoebe, Charlotte and Sophie, is using her 420-head milking herd in Tongala to educate Echuca kids about farm life and the importance of a balanced diet. More, page 6

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Murray Valley HWY, Echuca 3564

Chair’s message

brings good

WELL, SPRING has arrived. I don’t know about you, but this time of year is exciting, with cows producing to potential and crops and pasture hitting peak growth rates — it is a time of year to enjoy.

I also find it a great time to remind ourselves of why we are so passionate about our great industry.

While the wet weather appears to be holding on, I’d encourage farmers to access Dairy Australia’s range of informative resources around managing wet conditions, available at dairyaustralia.com.au / land-water-and-climate

Recently the dedication and passion dairy farmers have for the agriculture sector has once more been in the spotlight, with two enthusiastic and hard-working women from the Murray Dairy region being recognised for their contributions to the industry.

Congratulations to Undera dairy farmer Sarah Parker and Kergunyah South dairy farmer and mental health counsellor Sarah Crosthwaite, on being awarded 2022 Rural Community Leader of the Year and a Nuffield Scholarship, respectively.

Sarah Parker is deeply passionate about advocating agriculture as a rewarding career for young people and providing a voice for women living in rural, remote and regional Australia. Her recognition at the 2022 Australian Farmer of the Year Awards is very fitting.

Newly appointed 2023 Nuffield Scholar

Sarah Crosthwaite will use her win to explore how different agricultural sectors worldwide support their producers’ mental health during the adversity of climate change (read more on page 5).

Another example of enthusiasm and commitment to the industry is also exemplified with the recent milestone reached by Murray Dairy strategic projects manager Amy Fay.

Amy recently celebrated 10 years working for Dairy Australia, with seven of those years being with Murray Dairy. In that time, she has been involved in many projects including Accelerating Change and Fodder for the Future.

Amy’s current role involves the management of strategic projects across change management and future directions for the dairy industry in northern Victoria. Congratulations on 10 years, Amy (read more about her journey on page 3).

On Thursday, October 20 the Murray Dairy annual general meeting will take place at Echuca.

On behalf of the board, I encourage farmers and the wider dairying community to attend this event and gain an overview of the year’s achievements, status update on upcoming and ongoing projects, and presentation of the Murray Dairy Trends Report.

The board will also acknowledge outgoing board member and current treasurer Andrew Mann.

Andrew has been pivotal to the financial operations of the board over his seven-year tenure. I thank him for his hard work and dedication over that time and am sure his future endeavours will be equally as successful.

Murray Dairy and Dairy Australia continue to identify workforce shortages as an ongoing issue for the industry.

To address this, a national marketing campaign has been launched, focused on promoting the benefits of working in dairy to a targeted audience.

The campaign, which will run for eight weeks, features dairy ambassador Jonathan Brown and seven dairy farmers. Messaging will be delivered across TV, YouTube, radio, social media and local newspapers to encourage jobseekers to seek out more information.

Content has been tailored to reach a particular audience by highlighting factors that have shown to motivate people to explore a job in dairy.

These include working with animals, working outdoors, career progression, job variety and training, job security and the contribution Australian dairy makes to the community through production of a highly nutritious food.

More information and employment resources can be accessed by visiting: dairyaustralia. com.au/people

Andrew Tyler Murray Dairy chair

Celebrating a decade of dairy

MURRAY DAIRY strategic project manager Amy Fay recently celebrated an exciting milestone — her 10th year with Dairy Australia.

Murray Dairy communications adviser Maddie Langley sat down with Amy to reminisce on an impressive decade of delivering better dairy outcomes to the industry at a local and national level, seven of those years spent with Murray Dairy.

Take us back to the first days of your career with Dairy Australia?

My first job at Dairy Australia was as program development manager — natural resources at Southbank. I had spent a couple of years prior working at GRDC and the Federal Department of Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry and I was really keen to move back to Victoria where I am from, but also continue to work on programs that had national reach.

I really enjoyed that role as at the time the portfolio had an extensive network of NRM consultants. The projects I worked on included Fert$mart, DairySAT and a lot on energy efficiency.

One of my most memorable times was going to King Island with some electricians to check on the installation of solar hot water systems on dairies over there. It is one of the most beautiful and hospitable places of the world.

Reflecting on your 10 years, can you recount any particular highlights?

My work in the Murray region is what I am most proud of.

Managing the Accelerating Change project came at a really critical time for the industry. It was about looking at ways that we could improve the productivity and profitability of dairy farms in the region primarily focusing on feedbase and irrigation.

But it turned into a much bigger piece of work, tracking changes occurring in the industry and how farmers were adapting on-farm.

There was a lot of challenges both in the project and more broadly to put it lightly. It came as the same time as high water price, the milk price crash and that absolutely horrible wet winter. It was a gruelling period for everyone.

But both the learnings from that project and the relationships I made during it have been absolutely critical to everything that I do now.

The outcomes have been really important to underpinning the work Murray Dairy and Dairy Australia do in our region and the project has influenced a lot of farmers, service providers and other stakeholders as well and helped us all understand some of the factors that it takes to successfully dairy in our region.

How do you think the industry is fairing compared to say, 10 years ago, when you first started with Dairy Australia?

I think the Murray Dairy region has demonstrated one of the biggest structural changes in an Australian agriculture industry ever since I’ve been here.

The ability of this region to adapt and look forward year on year, to try new things and to keep solving problems at a farm level is one of my favourite things about this region.

I just love the diversity of businesses and people, and the fact that no year or season is the same. This definitely brings up challenges and businesses and people have really gone through some difficult years.

We are also dealing with a whole range of new issues post-COVID with labour and health.

I know a lot of farmers hate the word resilience, but I do think that there is a significant level of it built into dairy farm businesses in our region and that, combined with really good recent seasonal conditions, there is a lot of optimism around and for good reason.

Are there any moments/mentors that have stuck with you over the past 10 years?

I’ve had the privilege of working with a fantastic team at Murray Dairy over the years, which I’ve always really enjoyed their friendship as well as professional support.

I learnt a significant amount from the late Kev Kelly, an AgVic agronomy researcher who I was lucky enough to work closely with on the Accelerating Change project and taught me a lot about agronomy and irrigation.

Some of the most memorable moments have definitely occurred when you get a group of farmers, service providers and others together and talk about the issues most important to them.

We’ve done this many places, in the paddock, at the pub and even on cotton farms in Griffith and for me it’s when a lot of light bulb moments have happened as well as some of the more hairy moments to facilitate as well.

Amy Fay says during her decade with Dairy Australia some of her most memorable moments have occurred when farmers, service providers and others get together in an informal way and talk about the issues most important to them.

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MURRAY REGION // 3 DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA OCTOBER 2022 ALL THINGS RURAL ...That’s what we do better! Swan Hill Wangaratta Warragul

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MURRAY DAIRY regional extension officer and dairy farmer, Ross Read, is partnering with mental health charity Beyond Blue to host a Big Blue Table in October to raise much-needed funds towards improving mental health resources and social awareness.

Ross is one of a number of Australians across the country who are throwing their support behind the initiative, and it is one that is close to his heart.

“I had my own mental health journey following childhood trauma. This then manifested as depression and anxiety,” Ross said.

“I waited until later in life to seek help — my first port of call was my GP and then a counsellor. From there, it was learning to deal with my mental illness.

“I then felt that I wanted to help the community and Beyond Blue was the right fit for me.”

In recent years, Ross has partnered with Beyond Blue on multiple awareness projects, including the You’re Not Alone podcast series that deals with the effects of childhood trauma on family and relationships.

“They provide great support for those living in rural, regional and remote areas through their online and phone services for suicide prevention and those suffering anxiety and depression,” Ross said.

“These services are good for those wishing for anonymity in close knit communities.”

On Saturday, October 8, Ross will be sitting at the head of a Big Blue Table at the Toolamba pub, ready to welcome anyone and everyone to his table for an evening of connection and

meaningful conversations — while raising funds to help Australians facing anxiety and depression.

“Events like this are important to give community level peer support,” Ross said.

“They help to break down stigma and the stereotypes of mental illness.

“It is a great opportunity for a social event off-farm, especially with the ongoing pressures of things such as drought, fires and flood.

“Adult men often struggle with talking about their problems.

“I want to be a role model to family and friends to show that vulnerability is not a

weakness — and that it shows strength and courage in seeking help.”

For more information about this event, visit: https://bit.ly/BigBlueTable

If you or anyone you know needs help, contact Lifeline on 131 114; Beyond Blue on 1300 224 636; or Headspace on 1800 650 890.

Ross Read is partnering with mental health charity Beyond Blue to host a Big Blue Table.

Teaching kids about cows

BY DANEKA HILL

A RECENT survey of Australian primary school students revealed four in five children have no idea how milk is produced.

CQUniversity found most primary and secondary students had ‘outdated’ ideas about where food came from and the majority still thought cows were milked by hand.

Dairy farmer Kristy Grant is using her 420-head milking herd in Tongala to educate Echuca kids about farm life and the importance of a balanced diet.

“I teach at Echuca East Primary three days a week and about six years ago we started bringing the year ones and twos out to the farm as part of the unit of work called ‘Paddock to Plate’,” Kristy said.

“It teaches the importance of students understanding where their food originates from and how it ends up in their homes.

“I’d organise educational products and goodies such as yoghurts for them to bring back to school and home. This allowed the students to start the conversations at home about the importance of consuming dairy foods.”

Kristy said despite the kids living in a regional town and being surrounded by dairy farmland, they still didn’t have a good idea about where milk comes from, and the importance of including it in their diet.

“I think a lot of education (about food systems) needs to start at a young age,” she said.

“So I was doing this and about eight months ago I contacted Dairy Australia to see if they wanted to help out and assist in providing some educational resources for the kids. They ended up signing me on as a farmer ambassador.”

While on the farm, students get to see the whole operation including the calves and learning about the rearing system and why it happens, touring the massive herringbone dairy, understanding how farmers sow and grow the pastures for the cows, visiting the cows in the paddocks and learning how the family farm runs each day.

“We talk about the tanker and how it comes to pick up the milk to take it to the factory,” Kristy said.

“Still, years later kids will come up to me and say ‘I remember when I came to your farm’.”

Kristy’s farm is on its third generation, and the fourth generation is already running around in gumboots.

“What I’m trying to do is support the education of people in how important the dairy industry is and what an amazing industry it is to work in.

“We love dairy because our whole family is a part of it. I love it because I get to work with my kids every single day.”

Being a Dairy Australia farmer ambassador means Kristy is an honorary representative of the entire dairy industry for at least a 12-month period.

“As an ambassador I have a voice in sharing information to the public and have input into

Three generations of the Grant family, all living on the same Tongala farm. Second generation farmer Garry Grant (back), third generation Ryan (fluro orange) and Kristy. On the fence is the fourth generation: Charlotte (8), Phoebe (6) and Sophie (6).

sharing the understanding of on-farm operations with DA staff,” Kristy said.

“DA will choose different things they think an ambassador is suited to. We are used as a voice.

“You can be involved in many ways such as case studies, guest speakers at events or ads on television — there is a lot of different opportunities for different farmer ambassadors.”

One of these opportunities is talking to curious journalists.

Recently Kristy was invited to attend a gala dinner at Parliament House in Canberra for the 2022 Rural Women’s Award.

“Four Victorian farmer ambassadors were invited to Canberra. It was quite inspirational listening to the amazing women who are making a difference in rural Australia,” she said.

The farmer ambassador program was started after DA found more education about the dairy industry was desperately needed in Australia.

Call

how

today

business into the future.

Cows licking up grain in the bails — one tries to sneak under the rail to steal from her neighbour. Simple things like the fact cows willingly walk themselves up to the bails and voluntarily line up for milking aren’t understood by the public.

can help boost

farm

beyond, Krone’s

season ahead.

Krone