Andrews, RJ; Cowan, RT; Callow, MN; Chataway, RG; Bake, GK; Lowe, KF; Moss, RJ; Ehrlich, WK; Buchanan, IK; Busby, GJ; Hetherington, GD
Abstract:
Over the past 20 years there has been an average increase of 4% per annum in farm milk production in Queensland. As result of deregulation it has been estimated that the northern Australian dairy industry will need to make productivity gains in the order of 100% over 5 years. There are limited opportunities to reduce the costs of production so most of this gain will need to be achieved through a 2- to 3-fold increase in milk output. A comprehensive farmlet experiment was established at Mutdapilly in 2001 to investigate the production, water use efficiency, sustainability, economic and social aspects of options to combat the effects of deregulation.