Dederang dairy farmer Scott McKillop manages changing climate conditions

But for Scott McKillop, who runs a dairy farm in the Kiewa Valley with his wife Belinda and their three children, while the North East is seeing a slight change in conditions, it could be a positive for farmers.

"The North East is strongly linked to home-grown pasture production and we have a strong history of working collaboratively in discussion groups and farmer-to-farmer interaction," he said.

"But you have to be able to apply what you learn from others' farms to your own farm and understand the context with which their decisions were made.

"Climate forecasting is not a precise science. And you can't farm to the calendar.

"When you see a window, you have got to go.

"Having the ability to pivot means having good relationships with those people who supply you, for example, our silage contractor."

Mr McKillop returned to the North East to farm in 2009.

He said the climate is changing year to year with less reliable seasonal patterns and greater extremes of dry conditions and rainfall.

But that change in the North East alpine valleys may also yield some positives. "Slightly warmer and drier means we would be able to grow more grass," he said.

"We expect the summer to be hot and dry but we may be able to grow more feed across more months of the year."

With that in mind, over the past 10 years, he and other farmers in the area have embraced more tropical species of crops such as sorghum in their feed programs.

Right now, the McKillops, who have three full-time staff working with them, and believe their operation is in a "sweet spot".

"We had 22 millimetres of rain on Saturday night and 13 millimetres the week before," he said.

"Terms of trade are good with a pretty solid milk price; this season that's nearly 10 out of 10 in terms of growing grass with rain from March until now, cheaper grain and good cow prices.

"We are looking at a little more on-farm storage of grain, giving us the opportunity to take more grain off the header at harvest time when it is the cheapest because grain purchase is one of our main costs."

Mr McKillop said their investment decisions are now focused on improving operational efficiency.

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With 80 per cent of their energy costs focused on heating hot water and cooling milk, the McKillops installed a 63 kilowatt solar system in September 2019, aimed at reducing their reliance on the electricity grid.

There is also a focus on animal welfare, with the installation of more sprinklers in the dairy yards to keep cows cooler during the summer months, as well as another water trough to provide immediate access to water for the cows as they leave the dairy.

"We are also looking to provide more shelter belts and purpose-built feeding areas with concrete troughs for silage, enabling use to control effluent off those areas and minimise feed waste," Mr McKillop said.

An $80,000 investment in activity collars for the dairy herd in March 2019 now also provides insights on how animal health is impacted by extreme weather conditions including summer heatwaves.

"The collars store information every 10 minutes," Mr McKillop said.

"During one extremely hot night over the summer, their inactivity went through the roof.

"Being able to pre-empt these conditions means next time you have that extreme weather you may change what you feed the cows, where you put them and increase their access to water."

The North East Catchment Management Authority is undertaking a number of case studies on how leading farmers from North East Victoria are managing the risks associated with climate change.

This project is supported by North East Catchment Management Authority, through funding from the Australian Government's National Landcare Program.

The project is working with the region's farmers to determine how the use of climate projections supports their farm management.