A cross-sector partnership project between the dairy and grain industries is working to identify region-specific, best winter cropping practices across southern NSW and northern Victoria to assist communities within the southern Murray-Darling Basin adapt to a water-limited future.
Murray Dairy has partnered with six local organisations to deliver the Fodder for the Future Project.
The two-year, $1.6 million collaboration — funded by the Federal Government under the Murray-Darling Basin Economic Development Program — is designed to support the development of complementary farming systems that optimise the use of both irrigated and dryland resources across the region.
As part of the project, trial and demonstration sites are currently being undertaken by Agriculture Victoria at Tatura, Birchip Cropping Group at Mitiamo, the Irrigated Cropping Council at Kerang, University of Melbourne at Dookie, Southern Growers at Finley and Riverine Plains near Rutherglen, with a year one results update recently published.
Each trial site demonstrates a range of crop varieties and management strategies to increase yield and quality of hay and silage specifically for use in dairy cow diets.
Sites are targeted at dairy farmers who conserve their own fodder as well as grain and hay producers that supply fodder into the dairy market.
A key part of the project is also to develop long-term relationships between the hay and dairy industries.
Communication and information sharing helps both ends of the feed supply chain increase risk management, diversify income and increase resilience in business management, as well as produce quality feed and milk.
The results from this project are looking to vindicate anecdotal knowledge from the local dairy community.
For example, there have been claims made that smaller cereal stem diameter is conducive to better quality. However, year one trials indicate that this may not be the case.
While these results are only preliminary and need to be replicated over varying seasons for validity, findings like this may encourage farmers to spend more time, energy and —potentially — resources on other techniques, that will in fact increase feed quality (or yield) rather than those that won’t.
In 2022, the trial protocols have been refined and more data gathered to validate initial learning.
The final results from the project will be made available in 2023.
This project is part of a broader focus by Murray Dairy to increase locally developed and regionally relevant information to support farmers and service providers develop production systems specifically suited to growing conditions within the southern Murray-Darling Basin.