Autumn calving is well under way at the Suares farm, with the usual business and extra workload that entails.
Thinking back over the years, and the excitement another heifer calf born onto the farm always provided, it occurs to me how rapidly things have changed.
These days, we just assume every Holstein calf is a heifer and are somewhat perplexed when that doesn’t happen.
During March we attended the Herd23 Conference in Bendigo, and I was invited to facilitate the Ginfo Forum which runs immediately preceding the conference for farms involved in the Ginfo Project — a great chance to catch up with other like-minded, data driven farmers.
Discussed at the forum, and since implemented by Datagene, farmers can now add their dairy/beef cross calves to their herd recording software program, thanks to the addition of 200 beef bulls to the National AI Sire Identification System.
This will be an important step in improving traceability and return on investment in the dairy/beef market, as we grapple with solutions to the bobby calf issue and sustainability.
I’ve entered our first beef calf for the year into our Mistro program, and it worked.
After doing some fabulous work in the workforce attraction space, we are delighted that Sam Andrews has taken on the new Farm Engagement lead role.
WestVic welcomes Jacinta Langdon to the team as our new Workforce Attraction staff member.
Jacinta is well known in the region and comes with a wealth of experience in the agri sector — and we sincerely hope she enjoys her new role.
We have been using many opportunities and platforms to garner feedback for the next strategic plan, which will be finalised before the next AGM.
The inevitable and ultimate flow-on of falling milk production will be reductions to the budgets of all RDPs.
The WestVic Board is focused on ensuring the delivery of programs that best meet the needs of this region’s farmers and ensuring the programs are those you have indicated are most valued.
Thank you to those who have contributed to the conversation in this area.
In April, while our milking numbers were low and before the mayhem of calving began, we took a road-trip up to the Southern Highlands region of NSW, an area we had never visited and can highly recommend.
On our way home we swung through Canberra so that I could attend the ‘Celebration of Australian Dairy’ function at Parliament House, representing WestVic Dairy.
There were a number of farmers from the Western District in attendance representing various industry bodies and it was a great opportunity to showcase the dairy industry, highlight the importance of dairy to regional areas and the national economy — and an opportunity to drive home important messages to politicians and their advisors.
Housing, workforce, sustainability, biosecurity — the list goes on — but it was a wonderful example of industry working proactively and constructively together for the greater good.
Jacqui Suares
WestVic Dairy chair