The Heath family has encountered lots of challenges since buying a dairy farm at Bookaar near Camperdown three years ago but its enthusiasm for the dairy industry remains strong.
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The family hit two years of well below average rainfall and then had its milk price slashed by Fonterra early last year.
Roger Heath said the family was “down in the dumps” after the price cuts but its excellent harvest of feed crops since then had lifted spirits.
He said Fonterra’s price cut had prompted it to switch late last year to supply Australian Consolidated Milk (ACM), a small operator that supplies a number of dairy processors.
Mr Heath said ACM was paying $5.30 a kilogram milk solids (kgms), higher than Fonterra.
The family had borrowed money from Fonterra to cope with the big price cuts and had to pay it back before it could switch to ACM, he said.
It was able to switch because ACM paid out the loan and the family was currently repaying ACM, Mr Heath said.
Despite such travails, Mr Heath said he was optimistic about the industry’s future.
“There are positive signs it is heading in the right direction,” he said.
He said the milk price needed to reach about $6 kgms for farmers to get a decent recent.
Mr Heath said the family hoped it would provide a fruitful career for daughter Tayla, 16, who had expressed interest in a career on the farm.
Chris Hoffman from south-west farm machinery dealer Agrimac said inquiries at its Sungold Field Days exhibit this year had been “steady.”
He expected the region would need another spring and summer season similar to the current one before orders increased significantly.
Many dairy farmers had held off buying machinery because of last year’s price crash, he said.
South-west rural financial counsellor Wayne Stephen said demand for the service had eased after a big increase last year.
Mr Stephen said farmers in financial stress should not self-assess whether they would be eligible for government assistance but let counsellors undertake that task.
