Prime Dairy has achieved a significant milestone, surpassing 10,000 milking cows across its dairy farms in north-west Tasmania and south-west Victoria.
Prime Dairy’s herd is on track to produce more than 50 million litres of milk and four million kilograms of milk solids for the year.
Prime Dairy is the dairy arm of Melbourne-based fund manager Prime Value Asset Management, which also manages agriculture, equities, income securities, direct property and other alternative investments.
Prime Dairy’s senior investment analyst, Harrison Stewart, said the milestone places Prime Dairy as one of the leading commercial dairy producers, with the group building towards this milestone for several years following the purchase of 11 dairy farms at Circular Head in north-west Tasmania during 2021.
“Developing a herd of this size was always the goal to deliver operational efficiencies, and it has taken considerable investment to build this capacity,” Harrison said.
“The focus now is on optimising the farms to ensure we can continue to deliver under varied farming conditions for the future and continuing our positive production trajectory.”
Most of Prime Dairy’s milking cows are based in north-west Tasmania, meaning the group has managed to avoid the worst of the drought and floods affecting other dairy-producing parts of the country.
“Currently around 85 per cent of our milking cows are in Tasmania, where annual average rainfall of 1100mm supports a grass-based production system,” Harrison said.
“Whilst our dairy land in north-west Tasmania experienced low rainfall at the start of 2025, heavy rain from May has set the stage for a good start to the next season.”
Prime Value Asset Management was founded in 1998 and is part of an investment group including Shakespeare Property Group, managing $3 billion in equities, income securities, direct property and alternative assets.