Ron Paynter
Until recently, Ron had been a managing partner of a family-owned dairy business milking up to 350 cows at Ellinbank in Victoria, Australia. After graduating from La Trobe University with a Degree in Agricultural Science, Ron worked in agricultural research before he completed a Graduate Diploma in Education at Bendigo CAE and taught at schools in the Mallee
and Gippsland regions of Victoria. While teaching secondary science, business management and economics, he took on a wide variety of co-ordination positions across faculty and whole school curriculum and professional development roles.
Ron left teaching in 1994 to take over farm management and expand the family business. He quickly became involved in dairy industry related off-farm activities which have seen him working with organisations such as Victorian Department of Primary Industry, GippsDairy and Dairy Australia, the Dairy Extension Centre, National Centre for Dairy Education, state dairy advocacy group United Dairy-Farmers of Victoria & national advocacy group Australia Dairy-Farmers. Ron’s roles have been as a member or leader of a range of advisory groups and governance bodies across a variety of areas of research, extension, education and training. Over the 25 year lifespan of the business, he has had responsibility at the farm level for hosting paid tour groups and industry related national and international delegations. In 2009, he was Tour Leader for the UDV Apprentices New Zealand Study Tour.
Ron represents the Victorian Industry on the State Government Intensive Animal Industries Reference Group and is an industry appointee to the Federal Agriculture and Production Horticulture Industry Reference Committee advising on competency standard for Australian agricultural training.
Ron continues to be engaged by Universities for undergraduate student training, and is called on by industry bodies on an ‘ad-hoc’ basis to provide advice on strategic and policy issues or to act as industry mentor or spokesperson. With the sale of the family dairy business in mid-2019, Ron has been busy transitioning to a dairy heifer rearing and agistment business on the reduced land area under management. He hosts pasture seed trials for a New Zealand company on his Ellinbank property, and maintains his practical dairy skills via casual calving, fencing and AI work at the neighbouring State Government Ellinbank Research Dairy.
He is a Fellow of the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and enjoys exploring the Australian outback with his camera when not engaged in dairy activities.
