Sydney Royal Easter Show

The Sydney royal easter show was again a huge event on the Calendar for all people in NSW along with many interstate and overseas visitors. It is an impressive event with the number of people who attend, the facilities and the animals of course. eastAUSmilk representatives Joe Bradley, Sam Nicholson and Eric Danzi attended the show and had the pleasure of speaking to lots of dairy farmers and seeing many impressive cows. 

There were so many eastAUSmilk members at the show and it was a great opportunity for eastAUSmilk to get to know our members better and gain feedback on what our members expect from us. Also, we were able to speak to many potential eastAUSmilk members, and we really appreciated their time and honest feedback.

Our members were very clear about what they expect us to achieve. A special mention to Simon Atkins from Dorrigo who was unequivocal in his expectation that eastAUSmilk would secure disaster assistance for the farmers in NSW who were smashed by cyclone Alfred. We had strong engagement with Minister Saffin and her team about cyclone Alfred. We believe that her strong history of passionate support for northern NSW regional communities will be a big asset for the dairy industry.

There were around 400 cows in the show which was bolstered by the high number of jerseys since the world jersey conference was held in Sydney during the show.

The supreme champion cow was Sorella Gin and Tonic which is an Ayrshire cow of Pat Buckley and April Browne from Camden. It is the first time an Ayrshire has been crowned supreme champion since 1987.

Max, Gavin and Sarah Wake won the best Brown Swiss cow.

Thanks to all the dairy farmers who made this such a special event. I look forward to seeing you all again next year.

Eric Danzi, CEO eastAUSmilk

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred: impacts on the dairy industry

Ex-TC Alfred sat off the coast, undecided of when and where it was going to land in Southeast Queensland. Dairy farms from the Sunshine Coast, Queensland right through to the Mid North Coast, New South Wales were affected by strong winds and rainfall. In the lead up to the event, warnings and alerts were issued across the two states allowing farmers to prepare for the wind and rainfall events that would follow.

 
Preparedness can only support recovery and reduce damages to a degree when regions received over 800mm of rain across the 2-3 days causing localised and riverine flooding. The amount of water received during a short period of time meant severe infrastructural damages, erosion and floodwaters across paddocks and crops. The adverse weather affected and continues to affect animal health with increased cases of mastitis, lameness and 3-day sickness.

 
Milk dumping occurred in many regions, whether it be from accessibility issues to farm or the prioritisation of staff safety from transport companies and processing factories. Most factories prioritised daily collection in the lead up to the predicted impact of Alfred which worked favourably, minimising the total amount of milk dumped.
 
Category B disaster assistance has been made available in both Queensland and New South Wales which includes low interest loans and transport subsidies. We are encouraging farmers to continue to report on-farm damages whether it be minor or major as floodwaters continue to subside and you can access more parts of the farm and perform damage assessments. Damage reporting is key in informing state governments on the impact to industry and what level of assistance be made available.

 
Please contact the team at eastAUSmilk if you have any questions or need assistance in filling out a damage report in Queensland or New South Wales.

Lynelle - 07 3236 2955, Abby – 0421 310 626 or Jade - 0437 923 398

Jade Chan, eastAUSmilk Project Manager