Dairy Business of the Year Awards
Monday 25 January 2010 | From Dairy Australia
Do you have what it takes to be the Dairy Business of the Year?
The Dairy Business of the Year awards, sponsored by Dairy Australia and Westpac Agribusiness, are now open to all dairy farmers who want to be recognised for their excellence!
Click here to download a Dairy Business of the Year application .
The awards, now in their fourth year, recognise Australia’s most profitable dairy farms.
Why should I enter?
- Win a $6,000 travel voucher and other great cash, seed and semen prizes
- Every entrant receives a comprehensive farm business analysis report which helps you identify your business’ key strengths and opportunities
- Finalists win free entry to the Dairy Business of the Year seminar and awards night
- Finalists are invited to an exclusive retreat where you can rub shoulders with business mentors and peers
- Be recognised for your business excellence and to benchmark themselves against others in the industry.
What do I have to do?
- Complete the entry form
- Provide a set of your 2008/09 and 2007/08 annual accounts
- Provide about two pages of supplementary data on your land, herd and feed use
- Pay the entry fee of $285 +GST, which covers your Red Sky Farm Performance Analysis
- Enter by 12 March 2010
- Attend the event on 23 June 2009.
Sponsors
In addition to the support of Gold Sponsors Dairy Australia and Westpac Agribusines, the silver sponsors are Wrightson Seeds, BOS Trading, Elanco and Intelact, along with media partner The Australian Dairyfarmer.
Activities and timelines
To read more about the design of the competition and the activities and timelines then please download the timetable.
Prizes and awards
As well as the major travel prize of $6,000, awards will be presented to the best farms in each of the eight districts/states and in three farm system categories. There is also a sharefarmer category, a young farmer category, and a most improved farm business award for second year entrants. Finalists will be invited to a weekend retreat to meet with experts in business performance.
What to include in your application
Participants will need to provide a set of their 2008/09 annual accounts plus approximately two pages of supplementary data on their land, herd and feed use. Finalists will also be required to provide accounts for the previous financial year. A Helpdesk is available to assist with the questionnaire, and for a small fee dairy farmers can have someone come out to their farm to assist them to complete the entry form.
What you’ll get out of it
All participants will receive a comprehensive Red Sky analysis of their farm performance including:
- Numerical reports comparing their farm with district benchmarks
- A single page graphical description of your business, outlining your performance in the five key areas that drive profit
- A written report detailing opportunities to improve profitability.
Here is an example of a dot report.
Here is an example of a written report.
What the judges are looking for
The key judging criteria is return on capital; other factors to be considered include profit per hectare, cost of production, milk production per hectare, pasture harvest per hectare, cost of feed, labour efficiency and core cost structure.