Last autumn, Dairy Australia once again organized the Farmers' Forum. A three-person panel of farmers spoke about adapting livestock farming to climate change. This requires professional knowledge and flexibility, according to the Australian Commission.
Dairy farmers Deanne Hore of Leitchville and Jacob Gardiner and Dustin Kemp of Lockington explained how they are responding to changes on their farms.
Drought problems in Australia
They grazed the cows until dry in 2019. Due to the drought in Australia, they switched to full TMR feeding. Over the next few years, a sort of compromise emerged between TMR in the summer months and grazing in the winter months.
In addition to grass, it grows and feeds other forages, Dustin Kemp said. He now feeds on a mixture of clover, perennial ryegrass and fescue. “My goal is to be water efficient and store as much feed as possible,” Kemp says. “If water costs for irrigation become too high, I stop feeding alfalfa in the summer and continue with stored feed.”
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