South-Western Victorian dairy farmers at the Terang Farmer Power meeting say they’re pleased it highlighted the ongoing dairy crisis to people outside the industry.
Wyena Holsteins Donna Edge, Carpendeit, said she felt “betrayed” by the decision of Murray Goulburn and Fonterra to slash prices.
But she said the meeting appeared to have gained publicity for the plight of dairy farmers.
“The more publicity we can get, the better,” Ms Edge said.
“It doesn’t just affect the 5000 dairy farmers, who have one vote each, it affects everybody in rural Victoria.”
Ms Edge said her milk cheque, backdated to April 1, contained a 20 cent cut.
“We lost thousands of dollars, after all the expense we went through in April thinking we were getting 50 cents a litre.
“Fonterra is giving farmers 13 cents a litre – why would you turn your milking machines on ?”
Ms Edge said while recent rain would help, there would be no grass for another month.
“We are going to have to cut our grain bill drastically but have got to try and maintain production,” she said.
The cut in the milk price had exacerbated a sharp drop in dairy cattle prices and, with it, the value of land.
“Do they want to have an industry in this country that provides food, or not,” Ms Edge said.
“Do they want to import it from everywhere else ?”
Bullaharre dairy farmer Craig Dwyer said he was happy to see “a bit of fire in the belly” from farmers at the meeting.
“I am not Farmer Power or UDV, I was there as more of an observer,” Mr Dwyer said.
The election campaign was an excellent time to bring the issue into focus.
“I would also like to see us mobilise a bit and get on the streets of Melbourne and make it known dairy farming in Victoria is in crisis,” Mr Dwyer said
“If we want a future, we have to fight for it.”
He said individual farmers could support industry organisations “get their feet under the table with the suits” by highlighting the issues facing dairy.
And Mr Dwyer said customers could do more by buying branded milk.
Ms Edge said one government department which had been very helpful was Centrelink, on 13 2316.