The search for dairy's Holy Grail - sustainable low-cost milk production - recently took a group of farmers to seven farms across Victoria and South Australia.

The "search" was organised by cow leasing company, CowBank, with the aim of checking out what methods profitable farmers are employing.

Cowbank founding director Rod Banks said it was important for farmers to understand the features of a sustainable low-cost milk producer.

He said the farms visited ranged in size, number of cows and tunover, but all had certain things in common.

This included very dense pasture, high pasture consumption per cow, large framed cows that were both fully fed the whole season and minimal spending on all costs except for fertiliser and feed.

Mr Banks said the farms employed the following key characteristics of successful farming:

 

• The operator is ready to manage every aspect of his business.
• The farm will grow more than four tonnes of quality grass per cow per year.
• The herd is large-framed, weighing an average of 580kg-plus and has no unprofitable cows.
• The infrastructure allows cows to move freely from feed to shed and through the shed.
• Supplementary feed is at least two tonnes per head per year.
• The operator has a good adviser who helps keep focus on farm business goals.