A number of Australian dairy regions sit in the most fire-prone areas in the world. To help prepare for bushfires, dairy farmers can use Dairy Australia's Dairy Farm Fire Plan. This plan can help to best protect family, staff, livestock, dairy and machinery from all types of fire threat.
In the Preparing your dairy farm for fire threat toolkit produced by Dairy Australia and the Country Fire Authority, Gippsland dairy farmers share the lessons they learned during the 2009 bushfires.
By using this toolkit and/or the Dairy Farm Fire Plan, dairy farmers can create their own fire preparation plan.
The toolkit helps farmers to develop a fire preparation plan using the following three steps:
This video below explains the planning tips step by step.
A comprehensive directory of all support and recovery services, funding and technical advice relevant to dairy farms affected by bushfires is available from Dairy Australia's Dairy Industry Bushfire Recovery Directory.
More detailed fire planning resources, including a Fire Fighting Equipment for Farms brochure and information about FireReady Victoria meetings, are available at CFA offices or on the CFA website.
A bushfire can also affect farm power supply. Preparing for power outages helps farmers develop a contingency plan that will save time and keep the dairy operational during a power outage.
If the power does go out, Dairy Australia's tips for Milking through power outages will help minimise recovery efforts by keeping the farm working during a prolonged power disruption.
The information on this page has been developed to provide a comprehensive directory of all support and recovery services, funding, and technical advice relevant to dairy farms affected by bushfires. State specific information can be found for NSW, Victoria and SA.