Dairy excellence recognised in Australian competition

In November we launched the fourth year of the Australian Dairy Business of the Year Competition where farmers have the chance to benchmark their business against their counterparts at a considerable saving and with some great prizes to be won.

Entries for this competition that recognises business excellence among dairy farmers were accepted through until 12 March 2010.  Between 70 and 95 farms entered the competition in the first three years and the response by the entrants in previous years has been overwhelmingly positive.

On Wednesday 23 June in Melbourne, the Westpac Agribusiness & Dairy Australia Dairy Business of the Year Seminar and Awards will culminate in the confirmation of the winners of this year's competition.  In addition the winner of the 3rd Trans-Tasman Dairy Business Challenge will be announced.  There is an exceptional line up of speakers for the Seminar plus Grant Hackett speaking at the evening awards.  To read more about the Seminar & Awards please click here .

In addition to the support of our Gold Sponsors, Westpac and Dairy Australia, we have continued to receive strong support from our Silver Sponsors including Wrightson Seeds, BOS Trading, Elanco and Intelact, along with our media partner The Australian Dairyfarmer.  In addition we are very pleased to welcome a new Silver Sponsor this year in Gardiner Foundation.

To download an entry form for the Westpac Agribusiness & Dairy Australia Dairy Business of the Year competition please click here . To read more about the design of the competition and the activities and timelines then please click here.

The Dairy Business of the Year competition, which features a major travel prize of $6000, was developed by Red Sky Agricultural and Intelact Australia. This fourth year of competition will again be open to farmers in Victoria, Tasmania, southern NSW, South Australia and Western Australia.

Red Sky director David Beca said the competition was unique in its focus on dairy business management and absolute profitability, and would seek to promote positive change on dairy farms.

“A combination of rewarding excellence in business and providing information to allow entrants to benchmark their performance will help the industry as a whole to become more successful,” Mr Beca said.

As well as the major prize, awards will be presented to the best farms in each of the eight districts/states and in three farm system categories. There is also a sharefarmer category, a young farmer category, and a most improved farm business award for second year entrants.

Finalists will be invited to a weekend retreat to meet with experts in business performance.

Dairy Australia managing director Mike Ginnivan said the competition is a chance to recognise the nation’s best dairy farmers.

“It’s great to be able to highlight profitable businesses and to understand what makes them profitable under different conditions and management systems.

“The Dairy Service Levy lies behind many sources of knowledge and advice taken up by farmers sometimes as a result of ideas and issues identified by leading farmers.

“Benchmarking and training are some of the tools that help them make better business decisions and this competition provides a great opportunity to tap into those benefits,” Dr Ginnivan said.

He said that by supporting business excellence in dairy farming the competition will improve the business culture of the industry and increase the demand for business management information services by generating interest through opportunities such as regional field days associated with the competition.

All participants will receive a comprehensive Red Sky analysis of their farm performance including numerical reports comparing their farm with district benchmarks and a single page graphical description of their business, outlining their performance in the five key areas that drive profit (click here to view 'dot' report).  They will also receive a written report detailing opportunities to improve profitability (click here to view written report).

The key judging criteria is Return on Capital; other factors to be considered include profit per hectare, cost of production, milk production per hectare, pasture harvest per hectare, cost of feed, labour efficiency and core cost structure.

The entry fee of $285 plus GST covers the Red Sky Farm Performance Analysis.