The dairy industry is one of the three leading rural food industries in Australia. Australian dairy products are a significant export earner and the industry is under constant pressure to remain efficient and competitive in the international market place. In the last decade a shift to larger farms and increased competition has required that farmers be innovative and consider technology developments and farm management changes in order to improve production efficiency. The rapid change within the Australian dairy industry also presents a challenge for extension providers, tasked with assisting farmers to achieve practice change outcomes. This study investigates current extension strategies employed by professionals (government and private) and dairy farmers operating in NSW and Victoria, and the perceived desired outcomes of these extension strategies. Eighteen extension professionals and seven dairy farmers across NSW and Victoria were interviewed using semi-structured interview techniques. Reponses were transcribed and then analyzed with the assistance of the qualitative research software Nvivo 9.1. Responses were categorised into two main themes; actions and perceptions. The study indicated the perceived desired outcomes of the extension strategies used by the participants, while the shared desired outcomes were; productivity and profitability, confidence building and decision making, and learning and practice change. The potential for further utilization of web-based technologies for farmer to farmer information exchange is highlighted.

Extension services in Pakistan focus on the application of technology and practices rather than on farmer needs. This is illustrated by the lack of "dairy-specific" staff employed for dairy extension in Pakistan until the recent concept of the 'White Revolution' (PDDC 2006). Consequently, the private and public sectors in Pakistan "operate competing and overlapping" agricultural extension programs, and when providing extension information to farmers, they tend to favour those who are educated and own land. Given the large number of poorly educated and tenant farmers in Pakistan, there is a need for reorganisation, redesigning and restructuring of dairy extension strategies (Davison et al 2001), particularly for the medium size farm sector that contribute some 7% of the country's milk production. This sector needs to be innovative and embraces technological development and farm management changes in order to improve their production efficiency, which is not happening at present. Such a situation poses a challenge for extension professionals to consider new extension strategies that can be appropriate. The extension strategies used in Australian dairy industry have played an important role for extension professionals in information dissemination of new technology (Jock and Gershon 2004) and have for some time involved participant led and group focused approaches which could possibly be adapted in Pakistan. The aim of this study was to investigate extension strategies employed by professionals (government and private) and dairy farmers operating in N.S.W. and Victoria.