The Business of Dairy
Episodes
Tegan Gilfillan – Growing with the herd
01 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Starting out as a milker and rising to herd manager of 900 cows, Tegan Gilfillan’s career is a true dairy success story. With more than 18 years spe...
Revisiting heifer management in dry times
08 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This month we revisit one of our very early episodes which was released on the 1st December 2023 which was a particularly dry period across most of NS...
NSW Farm Performance in a Year of Extremes
04 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The 2024-25 financial year was one of extremes for NSW dairy farmers with extraordinarily wet conditions in the North and significantly dry conditions...
Development approvals made easier - myFarmPlanner
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This month we continue the theme of planning, not business planning but farm development planning and approvals. My guest, Wendy Goodburn, a NSW DPIRD...
A Farm Business Plan – What is it? Do I need one?
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything.” This is a quote from Dwight D Eisenhower who was the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in ...
Rural Assistance Authority – Support for NSW farmers
04 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Farm businesses in some parts of NSW have experienced some very challenging weather events throughout 2025 including ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred in Mar...
Insights that still matter: Over-capitalisation revisited
31 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What is over-capitalisation, what does it look like on a dairy farm and how does it impact your business performance? It is important to be aware of h...
MiniMilkBiz - a tool to check business health
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you tell if your dairy business is heading in the direction you want it to? Is it ‘gut sense’ or can you quantify it? MiniMilkBiz is a tool...
Employing overseas workers on Australian dairy farms
03 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As Australian dairy farms have expanded and herd sizes grown, the demand for skilled labour has increased —but finding local workers can be challeng...
Producing milk with less lactose - why?
03 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Producing milk with less lactose – why might this be important? Our guest this month is Juan Garguilo, one of my NSW DPIRD colleagues. Juan has been...
New Season Milk Price Outlook
01 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We are now entering milk pricing season in the Australian dairy industry, which means there will be plenty of headline news as we head into milk proce...
Lameness and Mastitis in the Wet – Mark Humphris and Ruth Kydd
31 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Over 170 dairy farms across SE QLD and the North Coast of NSW were impacted by severe flooding and wet conditions as a result of Tropical Cyclone Alfr...
Drought Forecasting and Seasonal Conditions
01 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Too hot, too dry, too wet - seasonal conditions can be challenging to manage for those on the land. Forecasting for the season ahead can be difficult ...
Tips and tricks for dairy developments in NSW
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Are you a farmer or interested party looking to undertake a development on your dairy farm? Planning farm developments is complex and involves plann...
Ups & Downs of NSW Dairy Farm Monitor 2023-24
01 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The 13th year of the Dairy Farm Monitor Project in NSW was one in which strong milk prices managed to hold gross farm incomes relatively stable. Incre...
Impacts and adaptations for our 2050 climate
30 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Very hot – that is the forecast for the summer ahead. Heat has immediate impacts on the performance of our dairy herd and pastures, but it also impa...
Revisiting profitable pasture management and silage production
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Feed costs are the highest operational costs in a dairy business, so it is vital that we manage these well in order to enhance our farm’s profitabil...
Responses and Decision Making in Natural Disasters
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Late in 2023, a group of dairy farmers from across NSW were interviewed about their experiences, decisions made, support networks and lessons learnt f...
Moving and Managing our Dairy Business
31 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
NSW dairy farmer Brad Winzer shares his journey, moving their well-established family farm from Northern Victoria to the Mid Coast of New South Wales ...
Intensive Dairying - Profitability and Risk Insights
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This month’s episode focuses on a project looking at intensive dairy systems in Inland NSW and Northern Victoria over the last 7 years. This has pro...
Feed Conversion Efficiency – at What Cost?
30 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Feed costs are typically the largest component of operational costs in a dairy business, typically making up 50 – 60% of total costs, depending on f...
Decision Making and Risk Management with a Family Board
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The use of a structured approach within a NSW dairying business to assist with decision making and risk management, is discussed this month with Kay S...
Financing Dairy Farm Infrastructure
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This episode follows on from episode 35 “Successfully navigating farm loans” but focusses specifically on financing for large infrastructure proje...
Successfully Navigating Farm Loans
31 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
My guest for this episode is Greg Kuchel, Senior Insights Manager at Rural Bank who spoke recently at the “Raising the Roof” conference in Hunter ...
Features of the Most Profitable NSW Farms in 2023
29 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What were some of the features of the Top 25% of NSW Dairy Farm Monitor farms in the 2023 financial year? This month’s podcast provides insights int...
Lifting the Lid on NSW GHG Emissions
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With a national focus on reducing dairy GHG emission intensity by 30% by 2030, farm greenhouse gas emissions are currently getting a lot of attention....
Highs and Lows of Dairy Farm Monitor 2023
31 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The 2023 financial year saw the highest average profit for the Dairy Farm Monitor participants in the 12 years of the project in NSW. Jess Bell hosts ...
Heifer Management in Dry Times
30 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Rearing heifers well is an extremely important aspect of herd management. Selecting the right heifers and ensuring they reach target weights in a spec...
Dry Times – Fodder Supply Outlook
03 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
With much of the State of NSW currently experiencing very dry conditions NSW DPI reached out to Tim Ford, Director at Feed Central to provide an updat...
Supporting Your Dairy Business
30 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dairies are complex businesses requiring a very broad range of skills to manage. In today’s environment, good business management skills are more im...
Economics and Risks of Raising Non-Replacement Calves
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Recently a farmer reference group was formed in the Mid Coast region of NSW to provide information and guidance on an economic and risk analysis of re...
Intensive Dairies - Drivers of Adoption and Profitability
31 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Interest in NSW and Australia in intensive dairy systems has grown significantly in the last decade due to many factors. These systems require signifi...
Dairy and Carbon Emissions – What Does it all Mean?
30 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Greenhouse gases, carbon emissions, carbon credits, mitigation strategies, emission reduction targets - these are terms that are bandied about regular...
DairyUP – Fast Tracking the NSW Dairy Industry Through RD&E
31 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
NSW dairy farmers have faced many extreme weather and climatic challenges in recent years from severe and prolonged drought to bushfires and then wide...
The Economics of Silage Making
30 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Silage is used to varying degrees and in different ways on NSW and Australian dairy farms, depending on the type of feeding system the farm has. It ca...
Breeding Better Kikuyu with Bill Fulkerson and Ken Bryant
31 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Guests Bill Fulkerson and Ken Bryant speak with Zita Ritchie about a new cultivar of kikuyu which has shown resistance to fungal infections, particula...
Five Things to Get Right for Autumn Sowing
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
It is coming up to a key time of the year for many of our dairy businesses, that being the autumn sowing period. There are many things to consider now...
How Can Genomics Benefit Me?
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Genomics - to some farmers this is an amazing innovation that they have embraced with open arms. For others, it may be a bit of a scientific mystery b...
A Profitable Year With Challenges
31 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
NSW Dairy Farm Monitor results were recently released for the 21/22FY. Analysis of the performance of the 36 farms involved in the project showed a wi...
Managing Well in Wet Conditions
30 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
NSW dairy farmers have been faced with some incredibly challenging seasonal conditions over the last 2 years which has seen one in one-hundred-year fl...
Real Farmers Managing Climate Risk
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This month, Zita Ritchie interviews Paula Gray. Paula is a farmer form Rolland’s Plains on the Mid North Coast of NSW who farms with her husband Mic...
Technology – Hype or Reality?
30 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This month our focus is on technology and my guest is Dr Nicolas Lyons, who is Leader Dairy with the NSW DPI dairy team. Nico has had a career shaped ...
The Game Business Journey
31 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kevin and Brodie Game with their young family, dairy at Bemboka on the far south coast of NSW and have worked hard at achieving their goals over the l...
Profitability Insights From 10 Years of Dairy Farm Monitor in NSW
31 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we take a look at features of the Top 25% of NSW Dairy Farm Monitor Farms in terms of their profitability and productivity over the la...
Creating a Time and Labour Efficient Farm
30 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Clear, simple systems to help you manage tasks and people on your farm can help with business efficiency and productivity.An aspect that is commonly s...
Understanding My Milk Price
31 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the 1st June - an important date in the Australian dairy calendar. Most listeners will know that under the dairy Mandatory Code of Conduct, pro...
Setting My Business up for Success
30 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This month we take a look at business planning – getting clarity on what your business is about, what you are trying to achieve and how you are goin...
The Art of Tax Planning
31 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Farm profits will be interesting this financial year with strong milk prices and milder seasons being in our favour but then on the other side of the ...
Fall Armyworm Impacts and the Feed That Gets Better With Time
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The potential for reduced yields and fodder quality in corn and sorghum crops is something that now has to be proactively managed by farmers as a resu...
Covid-19 Impacts on Dairy Supply Chains and Pricing
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Covid-19 continues to impact how we live and operate as individuals, communities and businesses. This month we look at the impact it is having on farm...
Highest Profit in NSW Dairy Farm Monitor in 10 Years
31 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
This year marks the tenth year of the Dairy Farm Monitor Project in NSW and the most profitable we have seen in that period with an average operating ...
Managing High Fertiliser Prices
30 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nitrogen fertiliser is a key input for pasture and fodder production in dairy businesses. In the last eight months we have seen urea prices increase o...
Are Automatic Milking Systems Profitable in Australia?
31 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Commercially operating automatic milking systems (AMS) have been in Australia since 2001. While this system currently makes up less than 1% of the Aus...
Tocal Dairy Breeding & Herd Reproductive Performance with Year-Round Calving
30 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Breeding and reproduction targets in a year-round calving system are the focus this month. Matt Brett from Tocal Dairy joins us again to talk about th...
Over-capitalisation – is my business at risk?
31 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What is over-capitalisation, what does it look like on a dairy farm and how does it impact your business performance? It is important to be aware of h...
Lowering Total Feed Costs with Good Spring Pasture Management
31 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Growing high quality feed and utilising it in the Spring period is a key opportunity to lower your total feed costs across the year. Agronomists, Josh...
Is My Business on Track with Justin Walsh
30 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we talk to dairy farmer Justin Walsh about his business structure, resources and goals and how he uses his Dairy Farm Monitor Report ...
The Magic and Metrics of Tocal Dairy
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Brett, Manager of Tocal College’s dairy in the Hunter Valley region of NSW, talks about margin over feed costs, nitrogen feriliser use, and ...