WA dairy stability puts industry in good spot

After battling a torrid spring, overseas interest and a healthy relationship with processors has Western Australian dairy farmers in a steady position.

Western Australian dairy farmers have battled one of the worst springs in recent memory, followed by a summer without a drop of rain, but the stability the industry has been working toward in the past few years has it in good stead.

Dale Hanks is a third-generation dairy farmer at Harvey, 140km south of Perth, and supplies about two million litres a year to Bega, one of the three main processors in the state alongside Harvey Fresh and Brownes.

WA dairy farmer Dale Hanks.

With 240-250 cows on 144ha, Mr Hanks said WA dairy had endured a tough spring with farmers clambering for fodder reserves, while the dry summer didn’t break until May.

“We had a pretty dismal spring last year, everyone was down 30-50 per cent of conserved fodder, and we basically had no rain from October until May 2,” he said.

After a good May break, Mr Hanks said WA dairy is currently in a good position.

“There’s a fair bit of stability in the WA industry at the moment. Most farmers are in multi-year contracts (with processors), rather than going on yearly contracts,” he said.

WA Farmers dairy president Ian Noakes echoed these sentiments, saying WA dairy was in the best position it had been for a while.

“We’ve been working really hard to get some clarity for the industry … having processors, farmers and Western Dairy in the same room for the past few years, we’ve given farmers come confidence that their contracts won’t be in jeopardy,” he said.

WA Farmers dairy president Ian Noakes.

WA dairy produced 338 million litres of milk in 2022-23 from about 112 dairy farms, and while there are concerns the small number of farmers won’t be enough to suffice three milk processing plants in the long-term, Mr Noakes said interest from overseas may provide an opportunity to build the milk pool.

“We’ve had a bit of interest from Malaysia looking for milk, it’s one of the few times we’ve had interest from somewhere else. They understand we’re a small state, so they might start with a few million litres, but they’re looking for up to 50 million,” he said.

Both Mr Hanks and Mr Noakes acknowledge that land prices were a serious barrier to bringing young people into the industry, but interest was growing.

“We want to give young people the confidence to embark on a career in dairy, and hopefully they should be able to start seeing a future with the stability we have now,” Mr Noakes said.