Fonterra's one-off South Island winter milk offer of $1.40/kgMS has been slammed as “a complete insult to dairy farmers” by a long-time out-of-season supplier.

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.

Fonterra says it is hitting the sweet spot with a spate of new products in its New Zealand brands business.

Every time the milksolids payout drops, the industry starts talking about reducing production costs.

For the past four years the Okaihau property of Alister and Lyn Candy and their daughter Christine has been Northland’s DairyNZ focus farm.

The first stage of Westland Milk Products’ new Farm Excellence (FarmEx) programme is almost complete, with 97% of farms having undergone their first assessment.

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.

Dairymen in California see themselves as the “star model for dairying” but they are far from creaming it.

Union boss Helen Kelly has dairy farmers in her sights over pay rates and work conditions, naming and shaming a Taranaki cocky last week and going on Radio Live to lambast dairy farmers as poor employers.

The need for farmers to have a sound strategy to avoid flip-flopping from year to year is now more important than ever.