{"id":499973,"date":"2026-02-24T01:40:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499973\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T01:40:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T01:40:27","slug":"queensland-dairy-industry-celebrates-an-end-to-decades-of-decline-with-new-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/499973\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland dairy industry celebrates an end to decades of decline with new plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

After decades of dramatic decline, the number of dairy farms in Queensland has stabilised, and the industry is starting to rebuild.<\/p>\n

Advocacy group EastAUSmilk said that since 2021, between 15 and 20 new farms had entered the Queensland industry.<\/p>\n

Chief executive officer Eric Danzi estimated the state’s fresh milk production had increased in that period by up to 30 per cent to more than 282 million litres.<\/p>\n

“Dairy farmers have expanded substantially in the last five years, some doubling and tripling production,” Mr Danzi said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Eric Danzi is happy to see Queensland’s dairy industry growing. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Farmers have collaborated with processors and the state government to develop a new Queensland Dairy Plan to support growth over the next six years.<\/p>\n

It aims to develop a climate and natural disaster program, identify expanded feed options, improve pasture productivity and management, adopt automation and new technology, and improve support for industry entry and exit.<\/p>\n

“We don’t know what’s in front of us and being prepared and having help is very important,” EastAUSmilk president Tim Bale said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

NSW dairy farmer Tim Bale was elected president of EastAusMilk in 2026. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

When Australia’s dairy industry deregulated in July 2000, there were 1,580 dairy farms in Queensland; now there are 220, running more than 66,000 cows.<\/p>\n

In 2016, the industry was in crisis when Lisa and Jason Rozynski joined the march through Brisbane’s CBD to protest the major supermarkets’ dollar-a-litre milk discount war.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Angus, Lisa, Payton and Jason Rozynski are committed to the dairy industry. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

World leaders<\/p>\n

Now the Mary Valley family is among the industry’s success stories, proudly supplying Maleny Dairies with milk from nearly 600, predominantly Brown Swiss, cows.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/p>\n

The Rozysnki family is proud of the quality of their Brown Swiss milking cows. (Supplied: Jason Rozynski)<\/p>\n

“Last year, Jason went to a meeting with some people from Switzerland who said that we’re possibly in the top five biggest farms in the world for Brown Swiss,” Lisa Rozynski said.<\/p>\n

“For a little country farm in the middle of Imbil, for us to have that, we’re just like, ‘Wow’, so we were a little bit shocked with that.”<\/p>\n

\"Cows<\/p>\n

The Rozynskis have two dairy farms in the Mary Valley. (Supplied: Jason Rozynski)<\/p>\n

This year, the Rozynskis will celebrate 80 years on their home farm below Borumba Dam, having survived industry turmoil, successive floods, and droughts.<\/p>\n

Their 14-year-old son, Angus, has expressed an interest in working on their farms, while their 16-year-old daughter, Payton, who is topping her subjects at Gympie State High School, aims to become a large animal vet.<\/p>\n

“What I like about growing up on a dairy farm is it teaches you a lot of ethics and lifelong skills that you’ll have forever,” Payton Rozynski said.\"A<\/p>\n

Lisa Rozynski is proud of her daughter Payton, who plans to become a large animal vet. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Daughter and mother agreed that consumers did not understand the work that went into producing milk.<\/p>\n

“We only ever have like a week off farm once a year,” Ms Rozynski said.<\/p>\n

“I think Jason and I were saying it has been well before we had kids that we actually took a two-week holiday.”\"People<\/p>\n

A new Queensland Dairy plan has been launched to grow the industry. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

Her work can start at 3am and finish well after dark, raising calves, children, milking when needed, and doing the bookwork.<\/p>\n

Queensland Primary Industry Minister Tony Perrett said it was crucial to give the industry confidence to borrow and invest.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Tony Perrett says extension work and research is vital. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

“I want to see fresh milk production in this state grow and in doing so, the department will play its role, particularly in research and development and extension,” Mr Perrett said.<\/p>\n

Modern approach to farming<\/p>\n

At Cedar Pocket, near Gympie, where the new dairy plan was launched on Friday, the Gear family is held up as a model of modern dairying.<\/p>\n

Barb Gear’s father-in-law, Ivan, started the farm in the 1970s, and two of her four children are currently working on it, with a third considering returning.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Barby Gear shows guests, including Tony Perrett, the farm. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

To see Ms Gear confidently driving across her land, you would not know she was still recovering from breaking several ribs a few weeks ago when a young cow backed over her.<\/p>\n

The challenges are real on the land, and they get three to four hours’ warning if the Cedar Pocket dam overflows.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/p>\n

The Gear family is constantly adding to its holdings. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

“Weather’s changing all the time, our property is half of it goes under flood,” Ms Gear said.<\/p>\n

“In 2022, we lost 20 head through floodwaters.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Barb Gear had a big clean-up after flooding killed cows and wiped out fences in 2022. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

In spite of the hurdles, they have continued to expand, milking 470 cows, mostly Holstein Friesians.<\/p>\n

An investment in ear-tag identification technology can detect when cows are ready to mate, with a focus on introducing international genetics to improve herd health.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

The Gear family’s cows all wear high-tech identification tags in their ears. (ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols)<\/p>\n

From the milking pit, a push of a computer screen can automatically swing gates to draft milkers into pens.<\/p>\n

“It’s the love of the cows that gets you in,” Ms Gear said.<\/p>\n

“Seeing that little baby calf be raised up, and they know you.<\/p>\n

“They’re all my kids basically.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After decades of dramatic decline, the number of dairy farms in Queensland has stabilised, and the industry is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499974,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[6634,64,63,99,95203,139434,251514,251515,11942],"class_list":["post-499973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-agriculture","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-dairy-farmer","tag-dairy-farm","tag-eastausmilk","tag-queensland-dairy-farming","tag-sunshine-coast"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499973"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499973\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499974"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}