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Running a Dairy Industry

Decent Essays

A) Primary Production To achieve a well run dairy that is efficient and profitable there are many factors and resources that contribute. Planning and operation management are tools in which farmers use to accomplish the objectives (Brand, Noordhuizen and Schukken, 1996, p.7). There is a lot more involved in managing a dairy farm other than the milking process, farmers have many roles to carry out to ensure a successful operation for example: financial management, land management, maintenance, health care, crop production, reproduction and herd replacement. Financial management and recording (including bookkeeping), help farmers to keep track of cash flow, payable and receivable. Aspects include borrowing and investing money, buying feed, fertiliser and temporary water, income from milk sales and payment for external services such as consultants and agronomists (On the Farm - Dairy Australia, 2011). Land management includes pasture growth, sprinkler irrigation systems, fixing fences and fertilising paddocks. Farmers are more aware these days about environmental impacts caused by agricultural practices and implement ways to prevent degradation such as planting trees and shrubs to increase river bank stability to reduce soil erosion and fencing off river banks so the soil and plants will not be spoilt by a herd trampling on them. Settling ponds for water runoff from dairies are set up to prevent the contaminated water entering the rivers, dams and streams (On the Farm -

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