Dairy NSW Regional Groups
Regional Dairy Groups are located in all NSW dairying regions and work on specialist projects to support the region's dairy farmers.
Understand local farmers, act for local farmers
Dairy NSW provides support and assistance to Regional Dairy Groups (RDG) with resources and funding from its Small Project Applications budget allocation. RDGs also run additional projects for their region’s farmers that are funded by industry organisations and other alternative sources.
Six RDGs operate within the Dairy NSW region:
- Central West Dairy Group
- Far South Coast Dairy Development Group
- Hunter Dairy Development Group
- Mid Coast Dairy Advancement Group
- South Coast and Highlands Dairy Industry Group
- Wagga Inland Dairy Network
For farmers in the Riverina region, please select Murray Dairy as your region in the regional selector at the top of this page. For farmers on the far north coast past Kempsey, see Subtropical Dairy.
All Regional Dairy Groups will continue to provide training workshops to enhance dairy farmers’ skills across high quality milk production, herd health, farm productivity, business profitability, managing regulations and natural resource management.
Participate in upcoming events, with upcoming events published in the Dairy NSW and RDG events calendar.
Central West Dairy Group
Central West Dairy Group (Central West DG) represents the interests of local dairy farming families regarding research, development, extension and education primarily through the provision of locally delivered on-farm services and professional liaison with Dairy NSW, Dairy Australia and key industry stakeholders.
Central West DG regularly delivers a range of industry activities to promote profitable and sustainable dairying, mostly in conjunction with supporting industry stakeholders. Topics of interest range from on-farm production issues, to natural resource management, animal welfare, business management to farmer health and wellbeing.
Geographic area covered
Central West DG supports farms from the Dubbo dairy sub-region through to Forbes and along the river basin from Cowra to Condobolin.
Activities and events
Central West DG supports training workshops to enhance dairy farmers’ skills across these areas:
- High quality milk production
- Herd health
- Farm productivity
- Business profitability
- Managing regulations
- Natural resource management.
Look up current Central West DG events on the Dairy NSW and RDG events calendar.
Contact
Chair
Danielle Chesworth
Email: dans202@live.com.au
Far South Coast Dairy Development Group
Far South Coast Dairy Development Group (Far South Coast DDG) provides support, education and professional development opportunities for all dairy farmers in the region.
In this region, per farm production is well above state average, making it one of the leading dairy farming areas in NSW. The farmers of the region aim to be productive, efficient, environmentally conscious, sustainable and profitable.
The Far South Coast DDG coordinates extension activities, the delivery of projects and opportunities in conjunction with Bega Cheese, Dairy NSW, Dairy Australia, local land services, agribusinesses and consultants.
Strong communication with farmers is a priority. The Facebook page, text messages and email are regularly used to communicate with farmers and employees.
Geographic area covered
Far South Coast DDG covers the dairying areas in Eurobodalla and Bega Valley Shires on the NSW south coast and from Moruya to the Victorian border.
Activities and events
Far South Coast DDG supports training workshops to enhance dairy farmers’ skills across these areas:
- High quality milk production
- Herd health
- Farm productivity
- Business profitability
- Managing regulations
- Natural resource management.
Look up current Far South Coast DDG events on the Dairy NSW and RDG events calendar.
Contact
Chair
Ash Rood
Email: fscddg1@gmail.com
Mobile: 0428 352 403
Facebook: Far South Coast DDG
Hunter Dairy Development Group
Hunter Dairy Development Group (Hunter DDG) represents the interests of local dairy farmers and conducts research and development for the benefit of the local industry.
Supported by Dairy NSW and Dairy Australia, Hunter DDG applies for funding from dairy industry levies to undertake local research projects and extension activities.
Identifying issues of importance to local dairy farmers, Hunter DDG organises trials and training to address these issues. Hunter DDG is strongly supported by Department of Primary Industries (DPI) NSW, milk processors and agribusiness.
Geographic area covered
The Hunter DDG covers milk producing areas of Singleton, Muswellbrook, Scone, Dubbo, Stroud, Gresford, Maitland, Denman, Aberdeen, Tamworth, Bulahdela, Dungog and Paterson.
Activities and events
Hunter DDG supports training workshops to enhance dairy farmers’ skills across these areas:
- High quality milk production
- Herd health
- Farm productivity
- Business profitability
- Managing regulations
- Natural resource management.
Look up current Hunter DDG events on the Dairy NSW and RDG events calendar.
Contact
Chair
Scott Wheatley
Email: wheatley@brooknet.com.au
Mobile: 0427 437 361
Regional coordinator
Warren Baldacchino
Email: hunterdairy@gmail.com
Mid Coast Dairy Advancement Group
What we do
The Mid Coast Dairy Advancement Group (Mid Coast DAG) is the largest and oldest NSW regional dairy group. Mid Coast DAG works to ensure there is a strong communication channel in the region and creates informed opportunities for dairy farmers to meet at field days, farm tours, discussion groups, seminars or meetings.
Objectives of Mid Coast DAG are to:
- Advance the dairying industry in the mid coast area
- Improve productivity of mid coast dairies
- Lower production costs for each litre of milk produced
- Grow overall production of dairies in the mid coast region.
Mid Coast DAG seeks to develop strong linkages across the industry, including all relevant dairy organisations such as Dairy Australia, Dairy NSW and Dairy Connect, local, state and federal governments, agencies and departments, water authorities, regional agribusiness and service providers.
Geographic area covered
The Mid Coast DAG region covers Gloucester, Great Lakes, Greater Taree, Hastings/Port Macquarie and Kempsey. Most dairies in the region are family-owned businesses and operate year-round calving.
Many farms use an annual ryegrass pasture feedbase. Milk from the region is mostly sold into the NSW fresh milk market.
Activities and events
Mid Coast DAG supports training workshops to enhance dairy farmers’ skills across these areas:
- High quality milk production
- Herd health
- Farm productivity
- Business profitability
- Managing regulations
- Natural resource management.
Look up Mid Coast DAGS Events and register on the Mid Coast DAGS website.
Subscribe to the Dairy DROPPINGS fortnightly enewsletter to keep up-to-date on events. To be added to the email list, send your details to: DairyDroppings@midcoastdags.com.au
The hard copy quarterly newsletter, Dairy DOINGS, is also available. To be added to the mailing list for this newsletter, email your details to DairyDoings@midcoastdags.com.au
Contact
Chair
Natasha Yarrigton
Email: bowhilldairy@hotmail.com
Mobile: 0400 136 229
Secretariat
Email: midcoastdags@gmail.com
South Coast and Highlands Dairy Industry Group
The South Coast and Highlands Dairy Industry Group (DIG) was formed in 1991 to:
- Improve the lifestyle and profitability of dairy farmers through promotion and coordination on industry issues.
- Foster industry cooperation between milk producers, processors, regulators, advisors and researchers.
- Maintain, encourage and develop dairy industry research and timely communication of research results.
The original group consisted mostly of representative farmers from each of the Dairy Farmer Association sub-branches in the district, together with representatives from NSW Agriculture, NSW Dairy Corporation and Australian Co-operative Foods.
DIG was incorporated in 1992 and membership grew by additional representation from the Dairy Women's Group, Future Dairy Leaders Group and local farmer regional discussion groups to reflect DIG’s changing role as a Regional Development Group with links in strategic direction and funding from Dairy NSW.
Geographic area covered
DIG’s boundaries are delineated by the boundaries of the five local Councils: Wollongong, Shellharbour, Kiama, Shoalhaven and Wingecarribee.
Activities and events
DIG supports training workshops to enhance dairy farmers’ skills across these areas:
- High quality milk production
- Herd health
- Farm productivity
- Business profitability
- Managing regulations
- Natural resource management.
Look up current DIG events on the Dairy NSW and RDG events calendar.
Contact
Chair
Sam Graham
Email: sam.rach@bigpond.com
Mobile: 0422 271 657
Coordinator
Daniel Arthur
Email: schdig@gmail.com
Mobile: 0406 537 405
Wagga Inland Dairy Network
Wagga Inland Dairy Network (Wagga Inland DN) represents the interests of local dairy farming families regarding research, development, extension and education primarily through the provision of locally delivered on-farm services and professional liaison with Dairy NSW, Dairy Australia and key industry stakeholders.
The Wagga Inland DN has a strong working relationship with Charles Sturt University, particularly in the delivery of on-farm research, technical information delivery and various student support
Geographic area covered
The Wagga Inland DN covers dairy farms in the south west region of NSW, located in the surrounds (30km) of Wagga Wagga and Tumut.
Activities and events
Wagga Inland DN supports training workshops to enhance dairy farmers’ skills across these areas:
- High quality milk production
- Herd health
- Farm productivity
- Business profitability
- Managing regulations
- Natural resource management.
Look up current Wagga Inland DN events on the Dairy NSW and RDG events calendar.
Contact
Rebecca Cole
Email: coledairy@bigpond.com
Mobile: 0409 633 120
Farmer input and feedback
Dairy NSW welcomes farmer feedback directly and through a local Regional Dairy Group.
How we communicate with dairy farmers
The Regional Dairy Group (RDG) in each area communicates the views, needs and feedback from local farmers to Dairy NSW about its research, development, extension and education (RDE&E) programs.
We also encourage direct farmer feedback on all aspects of Dairy NSW activities. Submit feedback.