Dairy industry top price list: Money flows for genetics

Dairy cow prices have exploded over the last few years. See the top-priced dairy cows of the last six years.

Dairy cow prices have exploded over the last few years as milk prices have risen, allowing commercial producers to reinvest in top-end genetics.

Lightning Ridge Genetics stud owner and new International Dairy Week co-runner Declan Patten has taken a keen interest in the leading genetics of Australia’s dairy industry.

His annual list of Australian dairy cows sold for more than $10,000 showcases how much the milk price boom in recent years has translated into record returns across all industry elements.

While the top end of the sales has stayed relatively consistent, the volume of dairy cows selling for more than the $10,000 threshold has fluctuated significantly with the industry’s strength.

Lightning Ridge stud principal Declan Patten at the “Around the World” Lightning Ridge and Westmuir Holsteins sale with auctioneer Brian Leslie last year.

The total number of cows sold for more than $10,000 in 2021 alone was more significant than the previous four years combined.

“The most interesting thing I’ve found about doing this list year on year is that it’s a massive reflection of where the dairy industry is at that point,” Mr Patten said.

“When we started getting paid (more significantly) for our milk in 2021, we had a record number of animals sell, and that’s such a reflection of how tough going it was for the industry before then,” he said.

Over the past six years, dairy farmers have seen a significant step up in the value of their primary product.

In 2016-2017 dairy processors paid an average price of $5.46 per kilogram milk solids. In 2017, less than 30 cows sold nationally returned above $10,000.

By comparison, when the milk price jumped significantly to an average of $7.19/kg MS in the 2019-20 season, the number of cows that sold for $10K and above more than tripled the following year, from just 51 cows sold above the 10K threshold in 2020 to 189 cows sold above $10K in 2021.

Farmgate milk prices have continued their upward trajectory, pulling dairy cow sales alongside them.

The 2021-22 season averaged historical levels of $7.52 per kilogram milk solids and accelerated past $9.00/kg MS for the 2022-23 season, which saw 133 dairy cows sell above $10K last year.

The renowned International Dairy Week sale recently averaged $9631 for around 40 mixed breed dairy cows – the second highest averaging sale for Dairy Week and almost $2500 above last years’ average of $7157.

The sale topped at $21,000 for a young Illawarra heifer from Eagle Park, NSW, which broke the Australian top-priced record for an Illawarra cow.

“The highest average for the Dairy Week sale was when I sold Gigi for $251,000, so you can imagine how much that boosted the average,” he said.

Mr Patten has topped the Dairy Week sale four years in a row from 2017 to 2020, beginning his record run with 2017 top-priced list topper Lightning Ridge CMD Jedi Gigi.

The Holstein calf holds the Australian dairy cow record at $251,000.

Mr Patten said in the years since the record sale, Australia dairy genomics has been “very widely adapted … and that sale certainly brought it more exposure”.

“I can’t see that dairy record being broken in the next 10 to 20 years. She was number three genomic listed animal in the world and the highest genomic animal to be offered at auction at that time.

“It was such an outlier and so unique to be able to bring that sort of money in this country.”

The current world dairy cow sale record is $1.925 million for a young Holstein cow S-S-I Doc sold in the US last year.