A seminar and field days introducing farmers to four examples of feedpads and barns in more intensive farm operations was held in northern Victoria in May.
Dairy Australia identified four progressive farms, which all happen to be within the same district, for the farm tours — part of DA’s ‘Raise the Roof’ conference in Echuca.
The Quinn family near Leitchville told guests about their transition from grazing to a total mixed ration operation; Jade and Belinda Clymo from Calivil showed guests their free-stall barn with sand bedding; Dehne and Sarah Viddiicombe from Jarklin described their free-stall barn with composted manure; and Don and Meg Stewart from Calivil showed guests around their dairy dry-lot and maternity barn.
At the start of the conference, farmers heard from engineer and dairy barn designer Jake Martin from the United States, who took them through a step-by-step approach to decision making on barn developments.
He suggested anyone considering the move to a more intensive system should first define the problem and the drivers behind the decision.
“Barns will solve some problems and create a new set of problems,” Mr Martin said.
He said one prime reason was to enhance cow comfort and hence cow production.
But he warned that managing cows in a barn required a different management philosophy.
Rochester farmer Tom Acocks said he had travelled and consulted extensively before they had made their major decisions in developing a more intensive system incorporating a barn and home-grown feed.
Mr Acocks recommended farmers do their homework before committing to a new system, and spend time with others who have gone through the process.
Farm business economist with Agriculture Victoria, Claire Waterman, presented an analysis on systems transitioning towards zero grazing.
She said total mixed ration farms could be profitable.
An analysis of seven TMR farms found they had higher profit than the average northern Victorian farm in the Dairy Farm Monitor program in most years.
However, compared to the top 25 per cent of Dairy Farm Monitor farms, the TMR farms had lower profit — mainly due to their higher feed and overhead costs.
Having home-grown feed production can limit exposure to high feed costs.
The 200 farmers attending the two-day ‘Raise the Roof’ conference included 25 people from South Australia.