Nick Dornauf has been able to double his dairy’s productivity after building a $300,000 stock underpass and laneway on his Moltema property.
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St Omer has been in his family for 60 years, but was extended 18 months ago when Mr Dornauf bought an adjoining property to make 165 hectares.
The two land parcels were separated by Railton Road.
“The purchase of that land allowed us to expand our dairy business [to 600 cows] and the underpass program has allowed us to be able to increase our productivity on this farm and get the cattle off the roads at the same time,” Mr Dornauf said.
The underpass was the first built under the Tasmanian government’s Stock Underpass Pilot Scheme, which was launched in August 2017.
Primary Industries Minister Sarah Courtney and Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association policy manager Nick Steel inspected the new underpass on Monday.
While at the Moltema dairy Ms Courtney announced an increase in the program funding cap to $80,000.
“We think boosting safety and productivity on Tasmanian farms is so important we’ve allocated an additional $600,000 for this purpose,” Ms Courtney said.
Mr Steel said the association supported the cap increase because underpasses were an important way to improve farm safety for farmers, farm employees, livestock and road users.
“The additional funding will certainly be an incentive for farmers to consider building an underpass, which is a way to improve efficiencies and productivity,” Mr Steel said.