WA News

Thousands of litres of milk dumped after South West farmers cut off from Brownes

Harvey dairy farmer Dale Hanks has been struggling for months to keep his milk delivery contract going - but on Tuesday that got flushed away.

Mr Hanks and fellow dairy farmers Graham Manning and Tony Ferrano tipped out thousands of litres of milk after a last gasp attempt to keep deliveries to Brownes going failed.

Three South West dairy farmers have tipped out thousands of litres of milk after talks with Brownes failed to extend ...
Three South West dairy farmers have tipped out thousands of litres of milk after talks with Brownes failed to extend their contracts. Photo: 9 News

"Graham tipped out fifteen thousand litres, Tony was about the same, I've got most of my herd relocated with other farmers and we've begun drying off the ones we still have," he said.

"It's just a disgrace, throwing three good businesses under the bus - it shows that the WA dairy industry is broken."

Mr Hanks has placed his herd with other farmers.
Mr Hanks has placed his herd with other farmers. Photo: @hanks_dale

The massive milk dump came after Brownes informed the trio in May it would no longer pick up milk from their farms from October 1 due to problems with global oversupply. 

No other dairy company has been able to step in and take the men's supply.

Advertisement

The last pick up was on Sunday, and for the past few days the farmers have scrambled in vain one last time to find a solution. 

"We've got to figure out what we do now. We'll shut everything down, maybe take a holiday and just see what we can get together.

"I'm 46, third generation farmer, I should have 15 years of good production ahead of me, but this just shouldn't have happened."

Mr Hanks is warning this won't be the last milk dump WA sees - he estimates there are at least six more farmers facing the chop from major milk producers in the coming months.