New guidelines for dairy feedpads

A joint project by Agriculture Victoria and Dairy Australia has provided guidelines for feedpads and dairy housing.

A comprehensive set of guidelines to help dairy farmers investing in feed and housing infrastructure will be released today.

The 245-page ‘National Guidelines for Feedpads and Contained Housing’ has been developed specifically for Australian conditions in a joint project by Agriculture Victoria and Dairy Australia.

Dairy Australia farm systems leader Karen Romano said changing land use to intensive farming was a significant investment.

“(Making that change) requires more complex decision making, planning and a longer term vision for the farm,” she said.

“To assist farmers in carefully assessing the right intensive system for their farm, Dairy Australia has worked closely with Agriculture Victoria to support the production the first-ever National Guidelines for Feedpads and Contained Housing as a decision-making resource.

Pictured: (L-R) Scott McDonald (Agriculture Victoria), Karen Romano (Dairy Australia) and Mt Jaggard dairy farmers, Rod Walker, and his daughter and son-in-law Steph and Mat Campbell on their dairy farm “Cloverlea”.

Agriculture Victoria dairy services manager Scott McDonald said the guidelines were the first of their kind anywhere in the world.

“The guidelines draw on the insights of international, Australian and Agriculture Victoria’s experts to provide Australian dairy farmers with a global best practice approach,” he said. “They will be an invaluable resource for all Australian dairy farmers.”

The guidelines will be available on the Dairy Australia website from today.