The laypersons guide to the dairy industry: a guide for new entrants to the dairy industry

The New Zealand dairying industry is about efficiently converting feed into profit. “Efficiency of milk production is the New Zealand dairy industry’s key strategic advantage as it competes against subsidised milk products in the international marketplace … ” (Sir Dryden Spring – Chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Board). To do this well we need to get the basics right and concentrate on doing well what we do best which is using our low cost, low input pasture based system to produce high value products to sell on the overseas markets. The New Zealand Dairy Industry is currently an exciting industry to be a part of. Despite what the critics say there are lots of opportunities for new entrants to the industry – but to succeed you need to know what you’re doing, you need the right attitude, you need to be self disciplined, and you need to be prepared to put in the hard work. The Lay Persons Guide to the Dairy Industry has been prepared as part of the 2nd stage of the Kelloggs Rural Leadership Programme 1997. Having been a recent new entrant to the dairy industry myself I have discovered that there are a few technical (and some not so technical things) that it would have been good to know when I first got involved. To succeed in the dairy industry you need to ‘walk the walk and talk the talk’ and this booklet is designed to help you do that whether you are a young farm worker or if you have entered the industry as a partner, wife, or husband of a dairy farmer.