News & Events

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Farming Options

The Murray Dairy region is one of Australia’s most productive dairy regions.

Farms are smaller, but carry more cows and produce more milk than the national average. The higher productivity of farms in the region is due to the Mediterranean climate, access to a reliable irrigation supply and proximity to fodder and grain growing regions.

The resources available in the region also allow for flexibility in the type of dairy farming system that can be employed. The region supports high input systems to low input systems, pasture based to feedlot systems, seasonal calving to year round calving, all of which have been demonstrated to be successful with the appropriate level of management employed.

Description	Murray Region	National
SIZE
Number of Cows	253	242
Land Area	167 ha	205 ha
PRODUCTION
Milk Volume	1.48 m litres	1.21 m litres
Milk Solids	104,000 kg	85,000 kg
IRRIGATION
% of Farms with Irrigation	95%	50%
% of Land Irrigated	72%	42%
SKILLS & PEOPLE
Specialized Dairys	78%	68%
Employ External Labour	50%	40%
GRAIN USEAGE
Amount	1.3 t/cow	1.3 t/cow
PRODUCTION SYSTEM
Split & Batch	55%	39%
Seasonal	33%	34%
Year Round	13%	7%

There is a large range of farm sizes within the region that is illustrated in the following graph.

Farms with 200 plus cows represent 40% of the farm numbers but produce greater than 70% of the regions milk. The range of farm sizes provides the opportunity to enter the industry at any level from owner/operator 150 to 200 cow farms to farms milking 1000 cows or more.