Here you’ll find details on how your Farm Dairy Records support milk quality, build trust with customers and regulators, and feed into your Farm Insights Report.
Summary:
Your records prove milk quality and sustainability, and help create your personalised Farm Insights Report.
New – record when it’s relevant to you
You'll now be able to update your Farm Dairy Records throughout the season, reducing double handling and giving you time back on farm
Farm Dairy Records are easy to capture throughout the season on your phone. You can capture records at a time that is relevant to you in the Dairy Diary app or on the Farm Source website.
- Calf fate records
- Stock numbers (including animals grazing off)
- Crops (cultivation and yield events)
Farm Dairy Records will be opened to enter your data towards the start of the season with the submission window opening in May. Your Farm Dairy Records must still be submitted by the 30th of June each year.
You must submit Farm Dairy Records to meet Terms of Supply. This season, you’ll have the option to complete either Full or Basic Farm Dairy Records. If you’re participating in the Co-operative Difference, completing the Full Farm Dairy Records is required. Regardless of the option you choose, you can pre-populate a large portion of your records using data connections.
| Full Farm Dairy Records | Basic Farm Dairy Records |
|---|---|
| 69 questions in the form | 30 questions in the form |
| 6 new questions | 4 new questions |
| Approximately half of the questions are pre-populated | Approximately half of the questions are pre-populated |
Full Farm Dairy Records
These are very similar to what you submitted in previous seasons. To participate in the Co-operative Difference, you’ll need to complete them. Doing so also gives you a more accurate Farm Insights Report, including emissions data. Up to 70% of your records could be pre-populated with the right combination of partners.
Basic Farm Dairy Records
This is a simplified version of the questions from previous seasons. Choosing this option means you won’t be eligible for the Co-operative Difference. You’ll see fewer questions in sections like Fertiliser and Animals.
Below are the new questions that have been added this season.
Where do you source your farm's water, including stock water, irrigation, and shed water?
Your customers have an interest in this to help support current and future claims that our milk comes from farms that use sustainable practices to reverse damage to water, soil, and climate.
Are you part of a catchment group working to improve water quality?
This serves as evidence of the steps being taken to improve water quality.
In addition to the number of mixed age cows grazed away we will ask for your stock movements on and off the dairy platform.
This is so we can calculate the number of grazed away days. If you use CRV's MyHerd and have a data connection set-up this information will be automatically populated.
What percentage of your herd is treated with antibiotic therapy at dry off?
Answer with a percentage of herd treated.
Do you have solids (effluent) separation?
Removing solids from effluent can reduce emissions on your farm.
Do you capture biogas?
Some farmers collect biogas from their effluent to generate electricity or for heating, this can have an effect on a farm’s emissions.
The final two questions above will be used to develop how we calculate on-farm emissions, this data will not impact your 2025/26 season farm footprint but will be included from 2026/27 season. Find out more about how we calculate on-farm emissions here.
Note: To be eligible for Co-operative Difference, you must complete all questions in both the 'Basic Records' and 'Full Records' sections.
For Basic Farm Dairy Records, we’ll just need a few simple details: your total peak milking cow numbers (not monthly), any recorded deaths, and your replacement rate.
Regarding animal numbers, we will only ask you for peak cows. You don’t have to provide monthly animal numbers for basic records.
What percentage of your herd is treated with antibiotic therapy at dry off?
Answer with a percentage of herd treated.
What was the total amount (tonnes) of Nitrogen applied to the dairy farm effective area?
This is the only fertiliser question asked for basic records.
Support land questions: In the 2024/25 season we asked for this to support calculations under the proposed He Waka Eke Noa emissions pricing scheme. The scheme aimed to calculate total biological emissions from both dairy platform and support land. As the government’s deferred the implementation of the emissions levy, we’ve removed support land questions for now. If you’d like to calculate your own GHGs for support land a calculator is available on the government’s environment page here.
You can connect your farm data to your Fonterra farm records using data connections, available with:
- Ballance
- CRV
- FarmIQ
- LIC
- Ravensdown
- Trev
Plus data will automatically pull through from your Dairy Diary app, and from Agrifeeds if you purchase through your Farm Source account.
Please note: If you have a data connection and you manually edit data in your Farm Dairy Records, those changes will take precedence over any pre-populated information from your data connections. The manually entered details will be retained and will not be updated unless you choose to refresh the connection and overwrite your edits.
Need help with your Farm Dairy Records?
Reach out to your local Farmer Support & Relationship Advisor, you can find their contact details in your My Co-op App or by calling 0800 65 65 68.
Thriving in a harmonised, regulated marketplace
When farmers hear the words market activity and regulation, understandably, most just think “compliance”. The underlying reason for why we request certain behaviours or data is often lost.