Dairy pioneer puts the industry under a spotlight at annual conference

Mr Pyle was the keynote speaker at the FUTURE Dairy conference, hosted by the Dairy Industry Association Australia, on Friday, May 10 at Flemington Racecourse.

Mr Pyle, who turns 90 in the coming weeks, first entered the dairy industry's agripolitics in the 1960's after 20 years of subsidies resulted in overproduction.

The United Dairyfarmers of Victoria was later formed with Mr Pyle at the helm in 1976.

He recently released a book with author Kevin Carmody, Australia: Land of Milk and Politics, detailing his career and work in dairy, and for Australia's dairy farmers.

Mr Pyle started as a sharefarmer with his wife Bev in about 1957, and introduced artificial insemination (AI) to the farm in 1959.

He joined the Warragul AB Co-Op Board in 1962, and within 10 years was the president of the then-newly formed United Dairyfarmers of Victoria.

"I happened to win the election by 10 votes and Doug Miles became my deputy," he said at the conference.

"We did a lot of things, we had to make a lot of changes, and you can't beat economic pressure for motivation."

He said they were able to achieve their goals and help support Australia's dairy industry.

"She is the reason we're all here, the cow," he said.

"The Friesian cow and the Jersey cow are the two most prominent breeds in the nation.

"A cow has to be beautifully built because she walks twice a day up to the dairy, and twice a day up to the paddock."

He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2002 for his work in the dairy industry, development of new markets, and his encouragement of education, training programs and technological advancement.

"Our dairy has changed rapidly," he said.

Mr Pyle spoke on the changes and technical advances from back out bails, walk through bails, herring bone milking sheds, rotary sheds, milking machines, on-farm refrigeration

He discussed the industry's growth including herd improvement, artificial insemination, and pasture development.

Decades of change included the margarine manufacturers campaign, peak milk production in 1970, UK enters European Common Market in 1972, a subsidy phaseout, then ADC formation in 1975 and UDV in 1976, and Big M launching flavoured milk in 1978.

He said by 1979, milk production had lowered and the Australian Dairy Herd improvement scheme was launched.

"These men (dairy farmers) all discovered they could earn a living and it was a better way of living life, so we had a massive change," he said.

"We dropped a billion litres, and we did not get back to that level until 1992."

He said he expected the dairy industry's future changes to include farm and herd size, dairy beef, technology, impacts on milking sheds, staffing levels and pasture management, production and exports, and education.

"Today, the average herd is about 350," he said.

"Many of the farmers are now also turning to beef, simply because they can't get labour.

"A robotic machine is milking the cows, the cows come in at their own leisure, they're tagged.

"The future is going to be different."