Robert Reid, who milks more than 650 cows with his wife Sue on their Kyabram dairy farm, said looking after employees well including paying them above the award wage was part of the key to labour retention.

And Mr Reid has retained one employee for a long time - one of his Sunday milkers has been working for him for 22 years.

He said although he had been "down the path of trainees and apprenticeships" he found that older people were more stable.

"Young people don't want to take on the commitment," Mr Reid said.

A more positive self-talk for the industry was also very important for Mr Reid who said although he understood where it was coming from, negativity was giving the industry a bad image.

Mr Reid's farm has two permanent employees who work a 10-day fortnight with a four-day break, meaning there was always one working on the weekend.

There are also two young men who milk his evening milking, with one being a school student, who milks after he finishes school for pocket money.

Then there are the two weekend employees who do four milkings as well as the dedicated Sunday long-time employee.

Mr Reid said he did not have trouble attracting causal labour because of his close proximity to Kyabram and said a career in dairying was still an attractive option.

"I don't know of a another job where you can pay off and develop assets like the dairy industry," Mr Reid said.