Milk production flow-on concerns after Tasmanian floods

MILK production in Tasmania is not expected to take a huge hit immediately due to the ­recent floods, but authorities are unsure about flow-on effects.

MILK production in Tasmania is not expected to take a huge hit immediately due to the ­recent floods, but authorities are unsure what the flow-on effects could mean for farmers.

DairyTas executive officer Mark Smith last week said about five dairy farmers had lost stock, two of which had lost a “fairly significant number”.

He expected 50 to 80 dairy farmers to have suffered “some level of damage”, ranging from $5000-$10,000 to $100,000 when loss of production was accounted for. The damage is still being assessed as the clean up continues.

Mr Smith knew of some farmers who dried-off their herd a few weeks earlier than expected due to the floods.

“The time of the season a lot of herds are going to be dried-off and June production is reasonably low,” he said.

“I don’t think there will be a huge production loss, but it is the impact into the future, the situation of feed availability and cow condition.

“How much of this impact will flow on into (next year)?”

Dairy farmers impacted by the floods are mostly Fonterra, Lion and Cadbury suppliers.

Mr Smith said a couple of the farmers “really knocked around” on the Mersey River were Lion and Cadbury suppliers.

For those Fonterra sup­pliers though, who make up the majority of the farmers ­impacted, it is another worry following farmgate milk price cuts last month, Mr Smith said.