Queensland dairy on the decline as industry leaders call for action

The number of dairy farms in Queensland has dropped by 80% this century — but there is hope to turn around the startling statistic.

Kay Tommerup has found a unique model to keep her husband’s family’s 150 year old tradition alive. Pics Adam Head

Since the turn of the century more than 1200 Queensland dairy farms have disappeared — an 80 per cent fall in the number registered from roughly 1500 to 230.

Farmers have left the industry in droves, and the next generation has been less likely to pick up properties from their parents.

But amidst the backdrop of this steep dairy decline, one farmer decided less is more in her bid to keep her family’s 150 year tradition alive.

Kay Tommerup’s farm has produced award winning dairy products for their region. Pics Adam Head

Kay and Dave Tommerup run a micro dairy farm in the Kerry Valley region of the Scenic Rim, south of Brisbane supplying high end Brisbane and Scenic Rim restaurants while selling their own produce on the farm.

While it’s meant they’ve had to take on the burden of pricing and processing their own milk to sustain a business, it’s allowed them to focus on quality milk for a local market, rather than the quantities of the supermarket game.

Dairy Farmer Ms Tommerup and her kids Harry and Georgia and husband Dave on their micro dairy farm in the Kerry Valley region of the Scenic Rim. Photo: Supplied

“We were already supplying somebody and my husband’s family had been for over 30 years that same supplier, same processor, but financially it just didn’t stack up for smaller farms like ours,” Ms Tomerrup said.

“The model is not set for farms like us and we had no interest in increasing our herd and going into debt to build new infrastructure and all the things that we would’ve needed to do.

“We didn’t fit the mold. We felt like we needed to make our own.”

But it’s a model she acknowledges not all farms can enjoy as regions such as Mackay have been left without a dairy industry.

Last week, Eungelladale Dairy west of Mackay became the region’s last to close up shop after years of expense hikes and extended monsoon seasons.

Owner Dale Fortescue will instead pivot to the beef industry.

Dale Fortescue, owner of Eungelladale Milk announced his farm’s closure last week.

“We’re losing people within our community and supporting the local businesses and I think at some point we have to draw a line in the sand and decide if we actually want a local dairy industry or not,” she said.

“If we start to see all these farms shut down we start to lose the fabric of our rural communities where we’re losing those people who have been here for generations.”

Dairy Farmer and head of eastAUSmilk Joe Bradley says there is no reason family dairy farms can’t weather the storm battering the industry.

Dairy farmer and President of eastAUSmilk, Joe Bradley. Photo: Supplied

“The climate in Queensland does not lend to huge farms but it still lends to family farms and if family farms are profitable, they will stay and would have stayed over the years,” he said.

Industry leaders drafted the first Queensland Dairy Plan late last year ahead of the state government’s 2025 Blueprint to boost primary industries.

The plan, established by eastAUSmilk, DPI, Bega, Norco, Lactalis, DFMC, and Sub-Tropical Dairy, is asking for a $4m investment over three years to help grow Queensland’s milk pool after it said 60 per cent of farms producing milk in 2011 switched over to other primary industries.

Mr Bradley said the funding would go towards new technology grants and farm business resilience programs and resources to support implementing the plan.

With a date target set for 2032, the plan hopes to increase Queensland dairy herds by three per cent and increase milk production by five per cent per cow.

“This should be the first cab off the rank because we’re ready to go,” Mr Bradley said.

A spokesman for the Queensland Department of Primary Industries said it is “committed to partnering with the Queensland dairy industry”.

“As one of Queensland’s traditional primary industries, the Queensland Government will continue to work closely with the dairy industry to ensure the Primary Industries Prosper 2050 Blueprint supports its goals as outlined in the draft Queensland Dairy Industry Plan,” the spokesman said.

“Between 2021 and 2024, the department directly allocated nearly $6.7 million to targeted dairy research and development projects.”

Harrisville dairy farmer Ross McInnes said he was devastated to see the end of Engelladale Dairy and fears expensive entry point costs, such as the cost of cattle, will prevent new farmers from taking Mr Fortescue’s place.

A 2023 Qld Dairy accounting scheme priced a new cow at $18,364 of which 75 per cent was in the land value.

Harrisville dairy farmer Ross McInnes and Northern Regional Manager of Dairy Farmers Milk Cooperative Damien Tessmann. Photo: Supplied

“If you’re looking at a herd of 200 cows with an average type of system, you’re looking at an investment of $4m,” he said.

“If you’re not in a farming family and it can somehow be progressed through the generations, it can be extremely difficult.”

Even for those currently in the mold, continuing the family farm isn’t always an exciting prospect.

“Young ones these days have watched mum and dad, watched grandma and grandpa go through hell. The younger ones are saying to me, why the hell would I do that?” Mr Fortescue said.

“An old farmer said to me, ‘there’s an easier way to lose money than milking cows’. And it’s very true.”

Originally published as Queensland dairy on the decline as industry leaders call for action