Feedbase & Nutrition Courses

Dairy Australia offers several feedbase and nutrition courses to help farmers learn and improve their skills and management in this area.

All of these feedbase and nutrition courses are designed to complement each other and increase participant understanding of the overall farm system.

For more information on any of these courses or to register interest, contact one of Dairy Australia's regional teams or check our Events Calendar.

Nutrition Fundamentals

Nutrition Fundamentals is a new course that has been delivered by Dairy Australia's regional teams since 2018. It gives farmers an understanding of the basic nutritional requirements of cows, how nutrition affects profitability on-farm, how best to approach purchasing of feed and feed budgeting.

The course is a two-day or three-day program (depending on the region) which may also include an optional half day on a farm to discuss practical application of the learnings.

Nutrition Fundamentals is an ideal course for people who may wish to progress to doing the Advanced Nutrition in Action program.

Advanced Nutrition in Action

Advanced Nutrition in Action is an eight-day program delivered over several months. It is designed for farmers and advisors who already have a solid grasp of dairy nutrition and feeding management, but are looking to take their capabilities to the next level.

The goal of the program is to improve herd nutrition practices on-farm by providing the technical knowledge, problem solving and strategic planning skills and tools to develop and implement appropriate nutrition related management strategies which support personal and business goals.

More information is available on the Advanced Nutrition in Action fact sheet.

Feeding Pastures for Profit

The primary goal of Feeding Pastures for Profit is to educate farmers about best practice for pasture management and feeding decisions.

This project is run over a 12-month period and includes two class room sessions commencing in autumn where the foundation understanding is extended. These are followed by five on-farm days in autumn, winter, early spring, late spring and summer.

TopFodder

TopFodder is a two-day course which looks at the science and economics of silage making. It is usually run in late winter or early spring for farmers and service providers.

A comprehensive range of silage topics are covered, including:

• Selecting the right crop at the right time
• Silage additives
• Feed testing and fitting silage into the system
• Controlling losses throughout the process including cutting, wilting, raking, bailing, storage and feeding out

Transition Cow Management workshop

Good transition feeding is essential for optimising early lactation milk production and fertility and to reduce health problems around calving. This one-day workshop will assist farmers to understand how transition cow feeding works, what needs to be considered when designing a program and practical ways to improve the feeding program.