Countdown Downunder
congratulates Tasmanian farmers with
bulk milk cell counts in the lowest 5% across Australia
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Tasmania the leader in cutting milk cell count
By:
MONICA JACKSON
Tasmanian
dairy farmers have almost two decades of mastitis prevention programs under
their collective belt, writes MONICA JACKSON
AS THE first state in Australia to adopt incentives for lowering cell counts,
Tasmania continues to be among the nation's leaders in producing quality milk.
The average cell count to the end of April across the state, including King
Island, was 177,000 cells per millilitre of milk, putting 9 per cent of farmers
among Australia's top 5 per cent.
This week, we list the Tasmanian winners of The Weekly Times Countdown
Downunder Milk Quality Awards and take a peek into how they
managed to become Australia's best.
The awards are co-ordinated by Countdown Downunder,
the national program set up in 1998 to equip farmers with information and
strategies to lower their herd milk cell count.
Countdown Downunder Tasmanian project manager
Ian Hubble said the country's first farmer incentives for producing quality milk
were introduced in the mid-1980s by King Island Dairy.
Since then, other companies have realised the advantage of paying premium milk
prices and have contributed to the consistent improvement of milk.
Mr Hubble said the Tasmanian dairy industry realised the importance of keeping a
low cell count and all companies were contributing figures to enable statewide
monitoring.
He said the results were positive with cell counts dropping over the years.
However, like in all parts of Australia, mastitis remains a problem for dairy
farmers.
Mr Hubble said some farmers were still paying a heavy price by using culling to
control mastitis.
And this is where Countdown Downunder courses
could help.
He said the courses tried to move away from culling as a management strategy by
focusing on best management practice to control mastitis outbreaks.
``Farmers get together to discuss how they are controlling mastitis and what
changes can be made,'' he said.
During the six, four-hour sessions farmers examine the major control practices
and develop a mastitis control plan for their own farm.
The course covers how and why mastitis infections occur, teat disinfectants,
calving management, clinical cases, milking routines, the milking machine, Dry
Cow Treatment and building a mastitis management plan.
Mr Hubble said the courses were extremely popular among farmers.
Four courses -- consisting of 22 farmers each -- have been held since they were
introduced last June and several more are planned for next year.
So far, more than 1000 dairy farmers across the nation have completed the
courses which are held regularly in most dairying regions.
For more information about the courses phone 1800 777 530.
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