DAIRY farmers from across Gippsland enjoyed a celebratory lunch and saw out the year in style at a recent GippsDairy event.

The event – organised by discussion group members and GippsDairy – provided Gippsland ladies with an opportunity to meet, network, and hear from inspirational women.

“We put a call out to see if women would like to come and network together and meet new women that all dairy farm in Gippsland – and we had over 140 responses,” Sarah O’Brien, Macalister Irrigation District dairy farmer and Women in Dairy discussion group member, said.

Celebrating the dairy industry was the key theme to the Women in Dairy Ladies Lunch.

Attendees heard from a panel of four local dairy farming ladies, including Nicole Saunders, a Macalister Irrigation District dairy farmer who is diversifying her dairy business; Emily Pendlebury, a new dairy entrant who recently completed her Certificate 3 in Agriculture; Amy Cosby, a South Gippsland dairy farmer and Associate Professor in Agricultural Education and Extension at CQUniversity; and Rosemary Atherton, a West Gippsland dairy farmer and 2022 Dairy Ambassador, ensuring a great variety of discussion.

The panel session was facilitated by consultant and South Gippsland dairy farmer, Gillian Hayman.

Female farmers from across the wider Gippsland region attended the event at Traralgon Vineyard. Photos: Contributed

According to organisers, the aim of the ladies lunch was to shine a light on dairying women in Gippsland, celebrate their successes and to acknowledge the hard work they do to produce quality milk.

“I think it is really important for women to know that they’re not just doing what they do every day by themselves in isolation, we’re all in this together,” Ms O’Brien said.

The amazing generosity of the industry was a standout on the day, with sponsorship and also gift donations.

Local businesses and dairy farming ladies donated many lucky door prizes, hampers, and gifts, ensuring no-one left empty handed.

“It was a wonderful event today – we had a lot of fun and there were really great, inspirational dairy farmer speakers,” attendee and dairy farmer, Lucy Young, said.

Given the “great success” of the booked-out lunch, GippsDairy hope to make this celebration of women in dairy an annual event.