DAIRY INNOVATION DAY PROGRAM

Friday, May 7, 2010

at brad & Kathy Boley’s farm

Scott River Road, ScottRiver

The theme of Dairy Innovation Day 2010 is HEALTH. Farm health, farmer health, cow health, soil health, pasture health – all of which of course impacts bank account health! Today you should view every presentation – as diverse as they are – with a view to become or remain healthy – on all counts! And so, we encourage you to take advantage of the health check, as the most important contributor to a healthy dairy farm, is a healthy dairy farming family!

8.30“How’s your health” booth opens with the visiting health team from the National Centre for Farmer Health on hand to take a snapshot of WA dairy farmers’ health. To participate farmers are asked to fast prior to arrival – and then after their health assessment, enjoy the complimentary Landmark welcome breakfast.

9.00Trade exhibits open for inspection and an opportunity to have soil tests analysed (farmers are encouraged to bring latest soil test results for this purpose).

Session 1

9.45Welcomeand overview

10.00The Boley operation: Our hosts Brad and Kathy Boley give us an overview of their story – the purchase, the expansion, the risk - and the opportunity.

10.15Herd Health:Queensland veterinarian Carl Hockey is completing a PhD on fertility - which has raised a number of questions around improving reproductive performance. Today he asks a few pertinent questions to get you thinking about the opportunity for greater returns.

10.20Pasture Health: The Greener Pasture research project chief scientist Dr Martin Staines highlights his team’s findings from this project so far.

10.25Fodder Health:Santiago Fariñafrom Camden’s FutureDairy project, won the 2010 DAFF Young Scientists Communication award recently. He’s here to talk about gains with less grain and incorporating home grown alternative forages - all very well as long as they offer a net gain to your bottom line! Santiago provides a snapshot of this approach.

10.30Grains 2 Milk: One of Dairy Australia’s flagship programs is Grains 2 Milk and the recognition that effective buying of feed grain requires savvy, a certain strength of character and an element of risk. Grains industry consultant Dennis Wise joins with Dairy Australia’s Dr Steve Little to test the grain buying mettle of the average dairy farmer:When is the feed grain price right? And, how to take the gamble out of your farm’s biggest input cost

10.50Farm Energy:Is it costing too much & what can you do about it? Energy consultant Nick Bullock has recently completed 200 energy audits on NSW dairy farms. By way of example, the Boley Farm has just also been subjected to one of Nick’s interrogations and today Nick offers a snapshot of how simple changes can offer you savings before you spend up on that new beaut system.

11.05Fertiliser Health - Getting the most from what you spend with new simple ways to help you get most best bang for your fertiliser buck: Minister for Agriculture the Hon Terry Redman launches a new campaign so farmers can benefit from best-practise fertiliser management.

11.15What’s the health status of the Australian farmer? A healthy farm is one thing, but will you be around to enjoy it? Cate Mercer-Grant from the National Centre for Farmer Health delivers the good news and the bad.

11.20The next big steps: Dairy Australia’s Managing Director Ian Halliday is charged with responsibility for ensuring the dairy industry’s R&D investment results in profitable gains on farm. We ask Ian to explore what are the key strategies that will provide the next big steps forward for WA dairy farmers.

Session 2 – Platform Presentations

Commencing at 12 noon, delegates will be able to choose to attend five of the following xx platform presentations. Each presentation runs for 20 minutes with five minutes for rotation:

# 1 Fertiliser Know-how: Agronomist Sam Taylor with the Department of Agriculture’s fertiliser guru Mike Bolland on hand, explores the opportunities to gain extra dollars through smart fertiliser use. A great session with a few surprises in terms of Sam’s findings around the true costs and opportunities of fertiliser. Farmers are encouraged to bring soil test results to the day for discussion and analysis

#2 The hidden cost of late calving heifers: Join veterinarian Dr Pete Rosher in the yards with a selection of heifers, a set of scales and a thought-provoking look at the costs and problems with late calving heifers. How much profit can you gain by doing this better?

#3Automated heat detection – is it worth it? Queensland veterinarian and researcher Dr Carl Hockeyjoins with dairy farmer Ed Cox to discuss the advantages and limitations of adopting automated technology into your reproductive management, while drawing on some of the findings from his research into cow activity meters.

#4 Purchasing Grain the smart way: Grain industry consultant Dennis Wise teams up with Broomehill grain grower,former grain marketer and now grain farmer Linda Hewson and local consultant Dario Nandapi to explore feed grain trading options for dairy farmers.

#5Energy Audit: Spend a session with energy consultant Nick Bullock and look just how and where farmers can save money in and around the dairy

#6Dairy inspection: The Boley dairy goes not quite 24/7 but almost. It cranks up at 12.30 and this is the opportunity to spend a session with Westfalia Surge CEO Peter Maguire to look at the latest in milk harvesting techniques

# 7 What are the dollar advantages of alternative fodders? Santiago Fariña has been at the coalface of alternative fodder research with the Future Dairy project at the Camden research farmin NSW. Today he teams up with Boyanup farmer Vic Rodwell, who reckons he’s finally got a handle on growing maize in WA, to explore the true net benefit and identify what alternative fodders may be a path for your farm.

#8 Feed Conversion Efficiency:What is it; and what’s in it for you? Dairy Australia’s Dr Steve Little talks aboutconverting the cost of feed into bigger profits and challenges WA dairy farmers to lift the bar.

# 9If my leaf is bigger than your leaf, am I better off? Greener Pastures’ chief scientist Dr Martin Staines presents his team’s latest work on 3-leaf versus 2-leaf for annuals and the opportunities this presents.

#10Calf Rearing: The Boley calf rearing facility is one of the best around. We ask Busselton vet Dr Paul Repton to take us through the facility and highlight the five key things we don’t do and should to rear good heifers

Session 3 – Back to the Marquee

2.15Just how healthy are we? Cate Mercer Grant provides the average health scores of every visitor to her stand – to give us a snapshot of dairy farmer health

2.30Stuart Diver: Thredbo landslide disaster’s sole survivor Stuart Diver travels to the ScottRiver to share his remarkable story of survival, grief and recovery. With it, he explores the issue of resilience in our own lives and the lives of those around us. Stuart says the ability to be resilient and overcome adversity quicklyis bevitally importantin makingour rapidly changing world a better place for us to live and be.

3.00Event wind-up.

Western Dairy Incorporated

C/- Esther PricePromotions Box 341, MundijongWA 6123

T: 08 9525 9222; M: 0418 931 938; F: 9525 5008;