Ann: Appendix 4C - quarterly-AHF.AX, page-135

Some questions, from an inner surbanite, who has never milked a cow (and guessing same for AHF directors ), although years ago I did a tour of a working dairy farm.

On basic milking, twice a day I'm told, is equipment washed and flushed?

Does organic require separate equipment, or is wash and flush after previous use ok?

Is organic milk transported in the same milk tankers as non CO milk?

If the Camperdown facility is producing organic butter (Organic Dairy Farmers) is there plant sharing or a completely different set of pipes, vats, stirrers, thingamajibs, etc?

More generally I'm wondering about cost of going organic, apart from presumably lower volume due to no fertiliser, no synthetic herbicides or insecticides (maybe not as important for dairy), pharmaceuticals etc. Seems in the changeover process - if there was to be one - milk would still be produced but non-organic until 3 year qualifying period is up and certification obtained (which is not just a rubber stamping I gather).

Again, not necessarily pushing for or endorsing a shift to organic, at least not at this point, but wondering about some of the costs - and volume versus speciality. I've seen the prices of some organic produce decline pretty dramatically, oranges and apples in particular.