About Dairy News Australia

Dairy News Australia

Overview

Dairy News Australia is a monthly national newspaper for Australia's dairy industry, published in print and online by McPherson Media Group (MMG). Based in northern Victoria — the heartland of Australian dairying, where the Goulburn Valley's irrigated pastures support one of the country's largest concentrations of dairy farms — the publication serves dairy farmers, their families and the businesses and organisations that supply and represent them.

The website at dairynewsaustralia.com.au describes itself as "the digital extension of the monthly national publication published by McPherson Media Group." While the print edition appears monthly, the website is updated far more frequently, carrying farm-level news, milk price developments, industry politics and practical management features for a national readership of producers. Content is written for working farmers rather than for consumers or investors, and its tone is that of a rural community newspaper devoted to a single industry.

History

McPherson Media Group acquired Dairy News Australia in June 2017, a fact recorded on the publication's own About page. MMG is an independent, family-owned media organisation based in Shepparton, Victoria, which publishes newspapers and digital services for audiences throughout northern Victoria and southern New South Wales. Adding a national dairy title to its stable of regional publications placed the group at the centre of an industry that is headquartered, in production terms, in its own backyard: the Murray–Goulburn region is one of Australia's most important dairying districts.

Since the acquisition, MMG has continued to publish Dairy News Australia as a monthly print newspaper backed by an increasingly active digital operation. The group's About page states that it has continued to invest in supporting dairy farmers and the industry, and the website's rolling news coverage — with stories published and refreshed on a near-daily basis — reflects that investment. The title has also become syndication material for the international dairy press: global dairy news services such as eDairyNews regularly republish or cite Dairy News Australia stories, extending its reporting on Australian genetics, milk prices and industry affairs to an overseas audience.

Content and Coverage

Dairy News Australia covers the full working life of the dairy farm and the industry around it. Milk pricing is a staple: the site reports closely on processor "step-ups" and farmgate price announcements, and on the friction they can cause — including the criticism from Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett that a round of step-ups "did not come close to acknowledging improved market conditions," set against a cost of production of around $9 per kilogram of milk solids reported by Gippsland producers.

Farm management and technical content runs alongside the industry news. A recent feature examined how to balance maize silage-based rations with digestible fibre and rumen-protected fats, quoting Volac Wilmar's global technical manager on rumen health and milk fat depression. Another followed Colac farmer Mark Billing's first use of DataGene's selective dry cow therapy tool, which cut antibiotic treatment to 20 per cent of his herd — a practical case study tied to new antimicrobial stewardship rules applying from September 2026 and to European Union recording requirements for dairy exports.

The newspaper also chronicles the industry's people and institutions. In October 2026 it reported on Warrnambool farmer Chris O'Keefe being recognised as a Victorian Farmers Federation life member for more than three decades of volunteer service to the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria — the kind of community record-keeping that regional newspapers have always provided. Genetics, animal health, pasture and feed, farm business, and state and national advocacy round out the coverage mix.

Dairy genetics and breeding form a further specialist strand. Dairy News Australia's reporting on Genetics Australia — the farmer-owned breeding co-operative — and its plans across dairy and beef genetics has been picked up and republished by international dairy news services crediting the newspaper as their source, an indication of the specialist authority the title carries within the sector. Seasonal coverage follows the rhythm of the production year: the annual round of opening milk price announcements and subsequent step-ups, seasonal outlooks for feed and water, and reporting from field days and industry conferences across the dairying states.

Audience and Reach

The primary audience is Australia's dairy farming community — owner-operators, sharefarmers and farm workers — together with the service providers, processors, genetics companies, veterinarians, nutritionists and industry bodies that work with them. Distribution is national through the monthly print edition, while the website and social channels carry the content to readers between issues.

McPherson Media Group's own description of the title is promotional in tone: its About page calls Dairy News Australia "arguably the most popular dairy publication in Australia" and says it "delivers the largest monthly audience for its advertisers." Those are the publisher's own claims and are recorded here as such; no independently audited circulation figure for the title was published in the sources consulted. What can be observed directly is the breadth of the readership the content assumes — reporting addresses farmers in Victoria's north and west, Gippsland, Tasmania and beyond — and the engagement of international dairy outlets that pick up its stories.

MMG also promotes a "Dairy News" electronic newsletter to subscribers of its sister publications, described as delivering industry news from Australia's dairy sector twice a week, giving the title a regular email presence between print editions.

Digital Presence

The website is the title's daily face. News stories are posted frequently — multiple items were published in the 48 hours before this profile was checked in October 2026 — and are organised under a simple news structure with feature articles on farming practice. Stories include farmer case studies, technical explainers and advocacy reporting, and are written in the plain style of the group's regional newspapers.

The About page notes the publication's "strong relationship with dairy farmers across the country in print and online, including social media," and the title maintains social media channels through which stories are distributed. The website also serves as the entry point for print subscriptions and advertising enquiries, and its content is indexed and redistributed by international dairy news aggregators, which credit Dairy News Australia as their source.

Ownership and Organisation

Dairy News Australia is owned and published by McPherson Media Group, an independent, family-owned company headquartered in Shepparton, Victoria. MMG has published newspapers for communities across northern Victoria and southern New South Wales for generations, and its portfolio spans regional mastheads, agricultural publications and digital services. The group acquired Dairy News Australia in June 2017 and publishes it as a monthly national title from its northern Victorian base.

Editorial production sits within MMG's regional newsroom structure, drawing on the group's journalists in dairying districts as well as contributed technical material from industry organisations, research bodies and suppliers. Advertising is sold by the group's commercial team, with the title positioned to advertisers as a direct channel to dairy farm decision-makers.

Contact and Availability

Dairy News Australia is published monthly in print and distributed nationally; subscription and advertising information is available through its website at https://www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au/. The website carries the latest dairy news free to read, and its About and contact pages provide the publisher's details for reader and advertiser enquiries.

The publication is produced by McPherson Media Group in Shepparton, Victoria, and enquiries can be directed to the group through the Dairy News Australia website.