Interest in NSW and Australia in intensive dairy systems has grown significantly in the last decade due to many factors. These systems require significant capital investment, so it is important that if this is a system that interests you, you really do your homework. 

Through DairyUP, a large research, development and extension program in NSW, NSW DPI with joint funding from Dairy Australia, has undertaken an economic and social science project looking at the profitability of intensive farms in NSW and why people are considering and adopting them. 

This month Sheena discusses the project with Nikki Reichelt, a Research Fellow from the University of Melbourne’s Rural Innovation Research Group who undertook the farmer and consultant interviews to understand the ‘why’ of the interest and adoption in NSW and Karen Romano, National Feeding Systems Lead at Dairy Australia. Karen is responsible for a program that is providing farmers with excellent information and resources to help them in their decision making and implementation of system intensification and has a strong background in extension and farm systems. 

Useful resources related to this podcast: 

Adapting Dairy Farm Systems website (includes links to the National Guidelines for Dairy Feedpads and Contained Housing Systems and the Farm System Evaluator) 

DairyUP website - further information on the Intensive Dairies project and others R,D & E programs funded by this initiative. 

This podcast is an initiative of the NSW DPI Dairy Business Advisory Unit  (further information and resources are available here) 

It is brought to you in partnership the Hunter Local Land Services 

Please share this podcast with your fellow farmers and colleagues and feel free to contact us with suggestions or comments via this email address [email protected] 

Further NSW DPI Dairy channels to follow and subscribe to include; 

NSW DPI Dairy Facebook page 

DPI Intensive Livestock Twitter feed 

NSW DPI Dairy Newsletter 

Transcript here 

Produced by Video Lift 

The information discussed in this podcast are for informative and educational purposes only and do not constitute advice.