Prime Dairy tops 10,000 milking cows, aims for 50M+ litres in milk across Tasmania and Victoria, boosting scale and efficiency.
Prime Dairy, the agribusiness fund managed by Prime Value Asset Management, has officially crossed the 10,000-head milestone in milking cows—cementing its position as one of Australia’s largest dairy operations. With this scale, the company expects to produce more than 50 million litres of milk and approximately 4 million kilograms of milk solids this year, supplying dairy giant Fonterra.
The rapid expansion began in 2018 with property acquisitions in southwest Victoria, but the game-changer came with the purchase of 11 dairy farms in Circular Head, northwest Tasmania, in 2021. Now, 85% of Prime Dairy’s herd is located in Tasmania, while the remaining operations are divided between Aringa and Condah in Victoria, with 550 and 650 cows respectively. Senior investment analyst Harrison Stewart emphasized that reaching 10,000 cows has been a strategic goal over the past few years.
Stewart highlighted the transformation of underperforming, fragmented farms into high-efficiency operations. Prime Dairy merged neighboring properties, centralized dairy infrastructure, and significantly boosted irrigation capacity. These infrastructure investments, combined with operational consolidation, have driven both productivity and cost efficiency, aligning with the company’s long-term growth targets.
Despite Fonterra’s initial opening price of $8.60 per kilogram of milk solids—one of the lowest this season—Stewart noted optimism as it rose to $8.90 before July 1. While the company can’t control milk prices, he emphasized the importance of managing production costs and improving margins through scale and efficiency.
On the labor front, Prime Dairy has managed staffing challenges by proactively using visa programs, offering competitive wages, housing, and flexible work conditions. This strategy has positioned the company as a preferred employer in Tasmania, ensuring consistent workforce availability across its operations.
Source – The Weekly Times
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