Integrity for dairy farmers explained

Dairy producers have a range of specific integrity requirements they need to uphold – but according to Tasmanian dairy producer, Cheryl McCartie, meeting these requirements can be straightforward with some dedicated support.

Alongside a small group of other Tasmanian dairy producers, Cheryl attended a webinar session held in March to provide personalised integrity system support to the group.

The webinar was hosted by ISC in conjunction with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania (DNRET) and DairyTas, with the support of the Cattle Council of Australia. 

Producers in attendance received a practical update on integrity requirements for Tasmanian dairy producers, including:

• property identification codes (PICs)
• key actions to be performed in the NLIS database
• special integrity requirements for dairy producers
• tips for completing an NVD in Tasmania
• what dairy producers need to do to meet their LPA requirements.

Getting support

Cheryl said the chance to receive dedicated support with meeting her requirements under the LPA and NLIS programs as part of the webinar was something she took great interest in.

“My interest in the webinar was in how to deal with the integrity requirements that I’ve needed support with historically, such as using the NLIS database,” Cheryl said.

“It was a really good opportunity to refresh myself on those integrity requirements.”

Cheryl is the dairy farmer representative on the Tasmanian Red Meat Industry Steering Committee and alongside her husband, Theo van Brecht, manages dairy enterprise ‘Ravenscroft’ in northeast Tasmania.

With Ravencroft’s heifers frequently moved on and off agistment properties around the state, Cheryl said the support provided in the webinar around completing livestock transfers in the NLIS database would prove especially useful to her day-to-day farm management.

“With the Tasmanian dairy industry, there’s a lot of livestock movements – and we’re no exception, as we agist our heifers and are often moving them between different agistment properties,” Cheryl said.

“With all this movement of cattle around the state, understanding the obligations of each party when completing livestock transfers is a significant help.”

Caption: Cheryl and her grandson, Max.

Integrity explained

The information provided in the webinar about LPA audits and what they entail was another key learning from the session that Cheryl said helped put the group at ease with meeting their integrity requirements.

“As dairy farmers, we undergo audits frequently ,” Cheryl said.

“Understanding what LPA audits entail for dairy farmers specifically really simplified it and it was great to see that if an issue is uncovered in an audit, there’s a plan of action and support to help you correct that issue.”

Additionally, the webinar’s explanation of property identification codes (PICs) and how they are managed in Tasmania was something Cheryl expects would also prove useful to those in attendance.

“The clarification given around PICs and managing multiple PICs owned were topics also touched on in the webinar that will further assist dairy farmers with meeting their integrity requirements,” Cheryl said.

“For new share farmers in particular, understanding how PICs work in Tasmania is pretty crucial information.”

Caption: Cheryl and her husband, Theo

Help is here for everyone

Into the future, Cheryl recommends that producers at all levels of experience access the wide range of integrity systems support now on offer from ISC.

“It was really good to sit down and look at those linkages between integrity programs to see how they work together to protect our industry,” Cheryl said.

“It’s critical that people know that help with integrity programs is there – and if new farmers access this support early on, they can do it right from the start.”

“For us old hands, it also can help make integrity easier for us and it can help us catch up on anything new.”