Westland Milk Products has confirmed its payout for the 2014-15 season will remain unchanged at $4.90 - $5.10/kgMS but its prediction for the 2015-16 is more positive.

Most people’s bucket list has things like skydiving, walking the Great Wall of China or owning a special car. But atop Levin dairy farmer and contractor Graham Bagrie’s list was something quite different. 

The Chinese bought a one year supply of milk powder from world markets then suddenly stopped buying, Alltech’s chief innovation officer, Aidan Connolly, says.

Westland Milk has opened a company in China to market products in the lucrative market.

It could be be two years before the mess in dairy prices regains some sort of equilibrium, according to Brent Love of KPMG who specialises in dairy agribusiness.

Cow don't know it’s Christmas, says Brian Larson, plant manager of JD Heiskell Ltd’s Pixley branch, a big feed mill in the major dairying region of Central Valley, California.

Shanghai Pengxin subsidiary Milk New Zealand Holdings has expressed a desire to build its own factory here.

Dairy farmers will be bracing for sombre news from Fonterra this Wednesday.

To call it a perfect storm trivialises the difficulties primary producers are facing in the balance between environment, welfare (human and animal) and economics. 

Australian sheep farmers are banking on strong prices lamb in the coming years, but are warning of headwinds.