Why is milk production continuing to drop in the southern states?
Will McDonald, Bessiebelle, says he doesn't believe there will be a lift in production any time soon.
National milk production has dipped by more than 3 per cent in the first two months of this season compared with the same time last year.
The latest figures from Dairy Australia showed that the country's dairy farmers produced 3pc less milk in August than they did last August, while production has also decreased 3.4pc since the start of the season on July 1.
South Australian farmers are doing it toughest, with production down nearly 8.8pc this season and 8.2pc compared with August 2024.
South Australian Dairyfarmers Association president Robert Brokenshire said while the figure was disappointing, it wasn't unexpected.
Mr Brokenshire said the SA's dairy regions were going through their worst drought in a century.
"It's 18 months since that drought started and farmers have had to destock, so that has obviously had an impact straight away," he said.
"There are quite a few farmers who have had to sell their replacement stock to have enough cash flow to be able to buy fodder for the existing herds.
"That's now having an impact because they aren't able to bring as many replacement heifers into the herd."
Mr Brokenshire said farmers were also facing severe feed shortages and high costs.
"I am not aware of a dairy farmer who has sold and got out, so I think it can all be attributed directly to the drought," he said.
He said he was keen to see milk production grow in SA by 200 million litres by 2029.
"There are some rays of sunshine coming through," he said.
"We have Golden North setting up in Murray Bridge, SA, and they will be looking for extra milk, and there is possibly another processor coming in, so that should keep the competitive price up.
"We are not out of the drought yet, but we are hoping there are small signs of it starting to break.
"If we can get a kind, late finish to the spring, a mild summer and an early start, we will be back into increasing production again as a state."
He said it had been harder bringing dry cows back into milk because of the quality of the feed.
"That causes metabolic problems," he said.
"The drought compounds the whole dairy situation."
NSW (up 1.1pc) and Queensland (up 3.3pc) are the only two states where production is up so far this season.
In Victoria, production is down 4.3pc for July and August.
It's the second month where production has slid in all three Victorian regions.
Production continues to lag by 3.6pc in northern Victoria and 6.3pc in the west.
Bessiebelle dairy farmer Will McDonald said there weren't many signs of production turning around.
"I think it will take a while to recover," Mr McDonald said.
"After herd numbers were reduced with the drought, production is not going to recover overnight."
He said there were some green shoots of recovery, but farmers were "hanging on" for rainfall.
"If we miss out on good spring rain, it's not going to amount to much," he said.
He said his farm was about "on par" when it came to production.
"If we get good rainfall, the next cost shift will be to preserving any surplus grass," he said.
He said his biggest costs were grain and fertiliser.
Bamawm dairy farmer Ann Gardiner said she didn't think there was one factor contributing to the drop in production.
Ms Gardiner said wind, heat and a lack of rain in the next few days would tip over any crops that were "on the edge."
She said some producers would have turned off chopper cows due to the high price they were achieving.
"We are making $2400-$2700 a head on some of our choppers," she said.
"I know the grain price has gone down, but hay is still an issue."
She said another factor was when cows came back into milk.
"There are more herds that are spring and autumn, compared with the old days," she said.
"We were down in July-August, but we are well up now, and the cows are individually milking very well.
"It's a bit of a moving feast, but it's a big region-wide drop."
Ms Gardiner said she and husband Mark were going to make round bale silage out of a lot of the farm's cereals.
"The irrigated stuff is looking magnificent, so it will get chopped and baled because we need some hay," she said.
"But it's still difficult to get people to arrive at a price if you want to buy feed."
She said the drought in the south affected the rest of the state.
"They've emptied south-eastern Australia of hay," she said.
"When you are bringing hay in from Western Australia and the Northern Territory, it tells you there isn't much in the cupboard."
She said the other issue was fodder quality, with some canola crops being chopped for silage.
"They may have left it too late to make good-quality feed out of it," she said.
"If they leave it too late, the hay is not worth the money they think they are going to get.
"The feed source is pretty ordinary, so there is not a lot of milk in that."