A DAIRY LEGACY
Jacob (left) has joined his parents Raelene (right) and Dennis Hanratty on the family farm at Upper Ma ra West. PAGES 3 & 8
Cobram Cohuna Colac
Corryong Dumbalk Eskdale Finley Foster Heywood Kiewa Koroit Korumburra
Leongatha Maffra Numurkah
Orbost Rochester Simpson Swan Hill Wangaratta Warragul
Wonthaggi Yarram
Chair’s message
Safety is our priority
BY SARAH O'BRIEN
AND JUST like that the holiday season comes to a close and it actually feels like Christmas was months ago. How does that happen?
I finally managed to pack away all the Christmas decorations and cart the fresh tree out the door, only to have it taken from me and repurposed by our son. He is an avid designer of fishing lures and saw great potential in the trunk of the pine tree.
Josh has managed over the last few years to secure space in the shed by making his own workbench and has now earned rights to the incredible toolbox used to keep things in prime condition around here.
I am so grateful for the many opportunities available to children’s brain and skill development growing up on dairy farms. They undeniably are given the best opportunity to thrive, especially under safe and measured boundaries.
‘Safety first’ is a strong motto we hold to here in everything we do.
As wonderful as it is working with helpful machinery like tractors and bikes — also occasionally cows that aren’t willing — under a beautiful sky that brings all sorts of weather conditions, we need to be vigilant.
Safety, and safe work practices, is the responsibility of everyone that works in the business,
including employees, managers and owners. It takes effort to create a culture of ‘safety first’ on a farm. We utilise the Dairy Australia Farm Safety Manual. It is thorough and easy to use, giving you a clear picture of what you do really well and where you could focus more.
Please reach out to the GippsDairy office if you would like a copy. Everyone needs to go home to their families at the end of the day.
Just this past week an incredible thunderstorm came through Gippsland with some much-needed rain relief. It was wide and varied across Gippsland, so hopefully you received some.
For us, we received 20mm over two days. It was a great refresh and will help extend our irrigation interval by a few days, with the added bonus that the flies seemed to stay away for a few days.
This weather is a good indicator to be mindful of facial eczema in your cows.
We have had a high reading here in the MID of 65,000 spores/gram, and the Spore Count Monitoring Program run through GippsDairy is signalling different counts throughout the region.
We guard against facial eczema by adding zinc to the pellet concentrates fed to the cows, and we’ve had great results from this practice. Don’t forget to consider your young stock also.
The Spore Count Monitoring results are updated every fortnight and available for
viewing at: https://dairyaustralia.com.au/ gippsdairy
Thank you to the many Gippsland farmers regularly willing to submit their samples for the good of all. This program is necessary in managing the continued health and productivity of our cows here in Gippsland.
I’m certain with the dry conditions we’re experiencing, more time is spent in tractors feeding out to our cows.
It’s a great opportunity to plug into an inspiring podcast or two. With technology at our fingertips these days, it’s never been easier to ‘plug into a pod’.
The dairy industry is filled with great podcasters offering wide and varied topics that will interest you.
In fact, GippsDairy launched the inaugural DairyPod back in 2019, an innovative idea put together by then GippsDairy team members Allan Cameron, Danny Butler and Ruairi McDonnell.
John Mulvaney and Ruairi McDonnell (working as a regional extension officer) discussed marginal milk. This created a great response and ultimately launched DairyPod nationally. This innovative thinking took Australian dairy conversations to a new platform allowing farmers to connect to great discussions at the tap of a button wherever they were. Tune in, it’s worth it.
– Sarah O’Brien is the GippsDairy chair.
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Sustaining a dairy legacy
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
RAELENE AND Dennis Hanratty milk a predominantly Jersey herd on their 194 hectare irrigated family farm at Upper Maffra West. Dennis is the second generation of his family to own the dairy farm, and third generation to be a dairy farmer.
His grandfather was a dairy farmer at Toora. Raelene is a first generation dairy farmer.
When Dennis and Raelene married, they briefly became sharefarmers before returning to work on the family farm, alongside his parents.
In 2004, they became sharefarmers on the family farm; then they bought the farm in 2008. The couple has raised seven children, most of them have worked or are working in the dairy industry.
Most recently, their youngest, Jacob, has left school to work on the family farm and learn how to eventually run it himself one day.
Alongside the home farm, Dennis and Raelene also have 30ha of irrigated country at Newry where they run their young heifers,
which graze here from weaning.
They keep 70-75 replacement heifers each year, and sell the surplus calves.
The Newry farm is also used to harvest silage.
Dennis and Raelene can access 430 megalitres of high reliability water to flood irrigate the Upper Maffra West and Newry farms.
The water comes from the Lake Glenmaggie system, in the Macalister Irrigation District.
A 40.1ha of dryland country at Flynn is where the rising two-year-old Jersey heifers graze.
These cattle are joined naturally to Jersey bulls. This block is also good for harvesting hay.
The couple also leases 28ha which is where the in-calf heifers graze so the Flynn country can be rested in readiness for harvest.
“This means we harvest enough hay and silage in an average year to be self-sufficient,” Raelene said.
Dennis said he aimed to harvest 300 rolls of pasture silage and 300 rolls of hay.
“If we end up with a shortfall, if it’s been a tough year for growing enough feed, we’ll buy silage and hay,” he said.
“We also feed 360 tonne of grain pellets each
PIPELINE WILL DELIVER
In recent years, Southern Rural Water, the key manager of irrigation water for farmers in southern Victoria, undertook modernisation of key infrastructure in the Newry Channel system.
The Hanratty farm at Upper Maffra West is at the head of the system, and the first of many farms among about 2300 hectares of country serviced by irrigation from this system.
The 36km system of irrigation channels, constructed in the 1920s, demonstrated high seepage and leakage, as well as evaporation. About 20 per cent of outflows was estimated lost to evaporation, seepage and leakage.
In the past few years, the channels have been replaced with a gravity pipeline system, reducing water loss and improving water delivery.
While it meant farming land was imposed upon for major works, the benefits have been substantial, in saving water and more efficient and effective delivery of water for stock, domestic and irrigation use.
Raelene and Dennis Hanratty’s dairy
farm is the first customer on the new, and old, pipeline, so they have always benefited from pressure from the Glenmaggie Lake headwater that supplies the Main Northern Channel and flows into the Newry pipeline.
But one of the key benefits realised during the modernisation project was farm planning, offered to all farmers through SRW and the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority.
Dennis and Raelene continue to flood irrigate both their Upper Maffra West and Newry farms. The irrigation season extends from August 15 to May 15, subject to the level of Lake Glenmaggie.
But when the irrigation water is turned off, the stock and domestic supply is still available.
“The Newry Pipeline Project created opportunities for us,” Raelene.
“Being at the head of the works, pressure has never been a problem for us.
“During the couple of years of works, there was a lot of machinery on our property for a long time, and we had to incorporate that into how we farmed.
year.”
Dennis relies on a rye-grass and clover mix that is suitable for irrigation, and undertakes an annual fertiliser program that includes super potash, urea and lime.
The effluent pond is also shandied and used as necessary as fertiliser on the paddocks.
“Grass is king,” Dennis said.
“Irrigation is turned off on May 15, and returns on August 15. So we dry the milking herd off over winter.”
The herd of 350 cows — 370 in a good spring and summer — is milked in a 40-bail rotary dairy on the home farm.
“It was the second rotary dairy built in the district. It was built in the 1970s,” Raelene said.
“With regular maintenance, it still works great.”
When the season tightens, and irrigation water becomes unavailable, Dennis and Raelene reduce their herd numbers.
It is several years since Dennis and Raelene bucked the trend for artificial insemination and started buying bulls to join with their cows.
“That’s given us some herd bulls to use on the heifers,” Raelene said.
“And an off-take had to be moved.
“We had a farm plan done, and that enabled us to reconfigure laneways and paddocks.”
While they had troughs in some of their paddocks, they have since invested in water troughs for cattle in every paddock.
“When the new pipeline was built across our farm, it was installed with regular outlets along it,” Raelene said.
“So we’ve been able to connect clean water from the Weir to troughs in every paddock.
“It’s also reliable for stock year-round, because the cows can’t drink it dry.
“That gives us water security for the cattle.”
In 2024 Dennis and their son Jacob made it a priority to install two-inch pipe underground, along fencelines, to connect all the troughs, in readiness for the new irrigation season.
“We started calving on August 1 and then the irrigation season opened on August 15,” Dennis said.
“We had to do it now [in winter] while we have time.”
The bull is put in with the heifers in October, when they are at least 14 months old.
Their focus when using AI was to source semen from bulls that complemented their herd.
Then they started buying bulls from studs.
“We rely on visual confirmation in the dairy of which cows are in heat, and the herd’s fertility rate means that in any year we have a maximum of 20 cows that are not in-calf,” Raelene said.
Their latest bull purchase was from a local farmer.
“At the end of the day, we have a commercial herd and we’re looking to make as much milk as we can,” Raelene said.
Their regime is now to use bulls and AI with conventional semen in their herd.
The 9000-litre vat in the dairy shed means collection can skip a day, except in peak season.
The herd’s production to the end of May was 1.5 million litres, or 125,000 kg milk solids.
The herd is dried off from June 20, for calving on August 1.
Jacob has his own story. See page 8 of the Gippsland section.
Jacob and Raelene Hanratty. Jacob started working full-time alongside his father, Dennis, on the family farm on July 1. He is also keen to learn business management from his mother, Raelene.
The junction on the Hanratty farm, prior to works beginning in December 2021; showing where the Northern Channel brings water from Lake Glenmaggie into the Newry Channel irrigation system.
The Hanratty farm is the first property on the Newry Channel system, where the Northern Channel flows into, bringing water under strong pressure from Lake Glenmaggie.
Calendar supports wellbeing
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
THE GUEST speaker at the launch of Gippsland Jersey’s calendar said he had made mistakes in the past that meant he didn’t look after himself.
Because of how he feels about his behaviour, he nearly didn’t make it to the launch of the 2025 Gippsland Jersey calendar.
Joe Meggetto, a dairy farmer at Warragul, was Mr September in the first calendar released by Gippsland Jersey, seven years ago.
The calendar is a compendium of dairy farmers’ stories, and focuses on mental health and wellbeing journeys.
After the first calendar was published, Joe quickly received inquiries about speaking at events to tell his story.
He was interviewed by this journalist for Dairy News Australia in 2019 https://www. dairynewsaustralia.com.au/news/joe-urgesfarmers-to-talk-about-mental-health/
Joe has been active advocating for support in the mental health reform space https:// www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au/news/ farmer-calls-for-mental-health-reform/
But this year has been an epiphany for Joe. He realised he was looking after other people at the expense of his own mental health and relationships with those people close to him.
His message at the 2025 calendar launch on December 6, was to first look after yourself — by being brutally honest.
“It takes bravery to put your story out there in public,” Joe said.
“I’ve been suffering from my mental health since the mid-1990s.
“Telling my story at events is good therapy for me. And it’s meant I’ve been invited to many places.”
Some issues with a neighbour came to a head in 2024, and Joe found himself in crisis.
“A few months ago, a few issues became overwhelming,” he said.
“The biggest mistake I have made was breaking my promise to Michelle [Joe’s wife] and things got heated at home.
“I took off.”
Joe spent some time driving around the district, knowing he was in a bad place psychologically.
“I got a text message from [his 14-year-old son] – ‘I love you Dad and I want you to come home’.
“A while later, I went home and [son] was waiting for me at the dairy shed.”
That was in October. Since then, Joe has sought help through an online support group for men.
He also saw his GP.
“I’ve been so keen helping everyone else instead of helping myself,” Joe said.
“People ring me and I go and help them.
“Michelle told me to start looking after myself.”
Joe said his excuse had always been it was hard to find a therapist to talk to who understood dairy farming.
He still thinks that’s the case, but urges people to keep looking for someone who understands them as an individual.
That is what Joe has found with the therapist he was referred to through TradeMutt.
“Try hard to find the approach that suits you,” Joe said.
He was really daunted when he phoned the TradeMutt assistance line and got an automated response. With Michelle’s urging, Joe left a message.
“They phoned me back within 30 seconds,” he said.
“We spoke on the phone for 20 minutes. I cried.
“The first counselling session was pretty tough.
“And we worked out a path to go forward and deal with my issues.”
He has since completed three counselling sessions, by phone, with a therapist in
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“I’m committed to fixing myself because I need to fix things at home,” Joe said.
“Don’t be scared of trying again and again. Keep taking one step forward.”
The theme of the 2025 Gippsland Jersey calendar is mateship, but it could as easily be ‘keep going forward’.
The 12 interviewees, a mix of individuals and families, highlight the importance of having family and friends for support.
Death, divorce, disability, disagreements, injury and stress are common themes among the calendar ‘stars’.
“The weather and prices are out of my control, but I’ve learnt that how I deal with it is within my control,” Dean Turner of Lang Lang said, who is profiled in August 2025.
This year’s calendar profiles some young dairy farmers who are committed to working hard for their future.
The calendar also highlights a number of dairy farmers who have entered the industry after working in other careers, or from experience of other parts of agriculture.
The calendars are distributed free to dairy farmers in Gippsland through the support of milk processor companies.
They can also be delivered to other regions for the cost of postage or cartage.
ONLINE AUCTION FOR MID WATER
An online auction of 475 megalitres of allocation water for the Macalister Irrigation District was held on Wednesday, January 29.
It is the fourth of six auctions to be held on the Southern Rural Water Exchange, managed by not-for-profit water broker, Water Partners.
The previous auction, held on January 13, saw 475 Ml of water sell for an average price of $189/Ml.
The first and second auctions saw water sell for an average of $165/Ml and $168/Ml.
The 475 Ml was made available on Wednesday, January 29 in six parcels of between 50 Ml and 100 Ml each.
Water Partners CEO Donna Mulcahy said the online auction format provided an equal opportunity for every interested party to secure water.
Two more auctions will be held on Wednesday, February 12 and Wednesday, February 26. Each auction will have 475 Ml available, in parcels of between 50 Ml and 100 Ml each.
Any water not sold at these auctions will be offered at a supplementary auction on March 5.
Visit the Southern Rural Water Exchange auction site at https://srweaux.waterpartners.org.au to register for the upcoming auctions or contact Water Partners on (03) 5853 2333.
Many of the dairy farmers profiled in the 2025 calendar were at the launch held at Gippsland Jersey’s processing factory in Lakes Entrance.
Joe Meggetto said he had to learn to look after himself ahead of other people.
Gippsland Jersey co-founder Steve Ronalds said the business’ commitment to supporting the dairy community continued through the annual calendar.
Gippsland Jersey co-founder Sallie Jones coordinates delivery of the calendar each year as a “passion project”.
Gallery | Sharing stories
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
ANOTHER GROUP of farmers have stepped up to tell their stories as part of the annual calendar produced by Gippsland Jersey.
This is the seventh year the calendar has been produced, with sponsorship support from Gippsland Lakes Community Health and RB Sellars.
The launch was attended by dairy farmers and representatives of support agencies.
The calendar is distributed with the support of milk processor companies to dairy farms throughout Gippsland.
Suzie Bady, mental health and wellbeing local, with Kate Twining, RB Sellars.
Kaila Britton, Rural Financial Counselling Service, and Ann-Marie Kaiser, CEO of Gippsland Lakes Complete Health.
Mylee Tuner, Lily MacGregor and Kirby Turner, Lang Lang. Dean and Bek Turner, with Toby Turner, of Lang Lang.
Gregor Allen, Saputo, and Trudi Laing, Rural Financial Counselling Service.
Fran and Peter Langley, Labertouche, with Christian and Melissa Hall, Officer.
Karen McLennan, GippsDairy, with Matt Moss, Kernot.
Sallie Jones, Gippsland Jersey, Joe Meggetto, Warragul, and Steve Ronalds, Gippsland Jersey.
Kelly Burroughs, Latrobe Regional Health, Krish Dhayalan, Wellways, and Kristen Rabbitt, Wellways. Mitch Jones, Foster, and Fiona Baker, Leongatha.
Alan Light and Beth Light, of Drouin, and Janette James of Hallora. Ginny and Bob Hewett, Nicholson.
Fiona and Simon Mitchell, Cowwarr.
LOGO DEPICTS WOMEN IN DAIRY
This year’s Christmas gathering of Gippsland’s Women in Dairy group was the launch day to acknowledge the new logo, designed by veterinarian and member Dr Alex Boileau.
The competition for a new logo was launched at last year’s Christmas gathering.
The group is three years strong and a joint initiative between dairy farmers, GippsDairy and industry service providers.
The logo is hand painted and depicts a background of hills, and foreground images of a woman, child and calf.
Alex also acknowledged her mother’s
involvement in designing the logo.
“My inspiration was the environment of Gippsland’s dairy farms and the many roles of women in the industry,” Alex said.
“The first thing I thought about Gippsland is the rolling hills, early morning sunrises, and sunsets often when I’m driving home from jobs.
“So that was the inspiration for the backdrop, when I think about Gippsland.
“When I think about women, and in my role as a vet I meet a lot of women in dairy, I’m often blown away by how amazing women are and the multiple roles they have on the farm.
“They’re often raising a family and balancing that with their farm roles, and they are often involving the children in the farm.”
The child represents inspiring the next generation into the dairy industry.
“Bringing on the next generation whether you have children or not, it also represents friends, neighbours, students, whoever it is that you’re training and trying to inspire,” Alex said.
“It was really important to acknowledge that next generation.”
The calf is included as a dual role.
“Many women in the dairy industry are exceptionally good at raising calves and
working with calves,” Alex said.
“Women commit so much time, patience and nurturing for our little babies, both four-legged and two-legged.
“The calf also represents the next generation in the industry.”
Alex painted the scenery background, then drew the figures. Her mother transferred it to computer to be produced as a digital copy.
The logo has been screen printed onto shopping bags, key chains and clothing, to help build a brand and identity around the women in dairy group.
Women are inspiring women
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
GIPPSLAND IS one of the largest geographic regions for dairy farms in Australia.
For the past three years, women working in the dairy industry in Gippsland have been gathering for an annual end-of-year social activity.
This year Gippsland’s women in dairy joined together on Friday, November 29, at Moe, to share lunch and to hear from a panel of inspiring speakers.
Led by GippsDairy’s Kim Price, dairy farmers Chris Anderson, Lyn Hornby and Thelma Hutchison, discussed their histories in the industry and provided advice about longevity.
Chris grew up in Heyfield, moving to Melbourne to work as a computer programmer and systems analysis.
She returned to the family dairy farm when she married Graeme Anderson.
Chris’ father built one of the first 28-unit rotary dairies with a steel deck in 1974, on their farm.
Chris said Graeme was keen to be a dairy farmer, so long as the role took second place to his sport interests — local cricket and football.
Chris and Graeme raised three children and that focus on sport continued for the family and expanded to include local theatre. As adults, one of their sons has taken over the farm.
Thelma Hutchison was a kindergarten teacher before she began working as a sharefarmer with her new husband, John, in 1977.
Five years later, they purchased John’s parents farm and continued dairy farming until 2009.
Thelma has mentored many young people in the dairy industry.
When they were in their late 40s, Lyn and Les Hornby decided to change their careers and they leased a dairy farm at Mountain View.
Lyn and Les have sharefarmed on a number of dairy farms in South Gippsland, and now milk 600 cows on a leased farm near Lang Lang. They also own a dairy farm at Monomeith.
Lyn remains hands-on with their farm business, raising calves and managing the administration and finances, while mentoring the next generation in the industry.
The three women discussed the challenges of balancing budgets against unexpected weather conditions and machinery and maintenance needs on the farm.
“Know your area of expertise and trust people to do their job,” Lyn said.
“Plan jobs around the environment and weather conditions.”
Lyn gave her insights into dealing with situations where the milk cheque doesn’t cover the expenses for that month and the next consignment of calves are not ready to sell.
“I learned the value of phoning people and telling them they were going to receive a part-payment,” she said.
Chris said when Graeme and herself had to make important decisions, they would go away from the farm for a couple of days, giving themselves the space and time to have deep conversations.
“There is always going to be a crisis, so you manage a dairy farm in that environment,”
Chris said.
Thelma said dairy farming taught her there were differing learning and communicating styles, even among family members.
She would manage tasks by making a list of jobs that needed doing and allowing people to nominate themselves to them.
But Thelma would insist on every job being shared.
“Most jobs on farms need more than one person to do them. On your rosters, make sure there are at least two people working on a job,” Thelma said.
“Having at least two people working on a task is also a safety aspect of farming.”
Thelma said a quad bike was the best investment she made on the farm.
It enabled her to travel across the farm, regardless of weather or conditions.
With her background in the computer industry, Chris appreciates how data systems and technology can help farmers manage their dairy businesses.
“Know your bottom 10 per cent of cows, and sell them in a tough year,” she said.
“Technology has taught us which are our profitable cows and gives us the tools and knowledge to make better decisions for our
business.”
All three women recommended having personal interests that take them away from the farm every week.
Lyn is a member of a walking group and enjoys gardening.
“Stay true to yourself and your values, feel safe and supported to express your concerns,” she said.
“Get involved in the community,” Thelma said.
Chris recommended counselling as a matter of course.
“It’s important for everyone to acknowledge they need to talk with other people, spending time at activities we enjoy, and making sure we’re checking in with each other,” Chris said.
The women in dairy group is three years strong and a joint initiative between dairy farmers, GippsDairy and industry service providers.
The organising committee includes dairy farmers Belinda Griffin, Rose Atherton, Leesa Williams, Rosalie Coleman, Sarah O’Brien, GippsDairy’s Karen McLennan, Dairy Australia’s Robyn McLean,
from Bulla
and
The organising committee aims to hold a few social activities throughout the year based on local area requests, and host the major end-ofyear gathering.
Allison Potter
Foods,
Jen Williams from Bega Cheese.
Lyn Hornby recommended being proactive about budgeting in the business, and taking time away from the farm.
Thelma Hutchison said dairy farming taught her there were differing learning and communicating styles, even among family members.
The organising committee includes dairy farmers Belinda Griffin, Rose Atherton, Leesa Williams (absent), Rosalie Coleman (absent), Sarah O’Brien, GippsDairy’s Karen McLennan, Dairy Australia’s Robyn McLean, Allison Potter from Bulla Foods and Jen Williams from Bega Cheese.
Gippsland women gather
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
GIPPSLAND’S WOMEN working in the dairy industry came together on Friday, November 29 to share lunch together and to hear from a panel of inspiring speakers.
Led by GippsDairy’s Kim Price, dairy farmers Chris Anderson, Lyn Hornby and Thelma Hutchison discussed their histories in the industry and provided advice about longevity.
Dozens of sponsors meant there were many ‘door prizes’ for participants to take home.
It was also the launch day to acknowledge the new logo for Gippsland’s women in dairy group, designed by veterinarian Dr Alex Boileau.
The competition for a new logo was launched at last year’s Christmas gathering.
The group is three years strong and a joint initiative between dairy farmers, GippsDairy and industry service providers.
ProDairy veterinary student Alessia Travaglini, Veronica Penfold from Willow Grove and Penny Cervi from Trafalgar East.
Subtropical Dairy board member Elke Watson from Conondale, GippsDairy board member Raelene Hanratty from Upper Maffra West and GippsDairy board of directors president Sarah O’Brien from Dennison.
Kim Price from GippsDairy, MC Allison Potter from Bulla Foods and dairy farmer Rose Atherton from Drouin.
Nicole Beattie and Sammy Smith from CommBank, with two of the panel speakers, Lyn Hornby from Monomeith, and Chris Anderson from Denison.
Kathy Cross from Leongatha South, Bec Verboon from Ruby and Jess Price from Leongatha.
Karen McLennan from GippsDairy and Stephanie Pettau from Fish Creek.
Jen Williams from Bega Cheese, Hilary Lunn from Livestock Improvement and Trish Hammond from Labertouche.
Cathy Cole from LIC, with Kayla Britton from RFCS.
Sophie Droppert from Clydebank, Rosalie Coleman from Riverslea and Stephanie Burrows from Drouin.
Lilia Coleman from Riverslea with Sandra Jefford from Clydebank.
Lauren Clyne from Dennison with Jean Malmo from Tinamba.
Anneka Pellet from Hill End and Marlene Orton from Tanjil South.
Jacob’s learning the ropes
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
TEENAGER JACOB Hanratty is on a pathway to fulfil his ambition to take over the family farm.
Jacob has recently started working full-time on the family farm, at Denison, with his parents, Dennis and Raelene.
In this, he has followed in the footsteps of his older brothers, Gerard and Luke. Gerard went on to buy his own dairy farm in northern Victoria, and Luke works in another role in the agriculture industry.
Jacob was already the relief weekend milker and had a regular role milking on Wednesday afternoon after school.
For this, he completed the cups on cups off course offered by Dairy Australia.
Prior to taking up his new full-time role, Jacob was at school. He began working on the farm on July 1 this year, just as the herd was dried off, prior to calving.
The timing meant he has continued playing football on the weekend and training two nights a week.
But he thinks it will be a challenge to learn how to balance his sport obligations when calving begins, and he starts milking twice a day.
“He’ll be learning life skills as well as dairy farming,” Raelene said.
“He’ll have to learn how to balance his responsibilities and work here on the farm, with what he wants to do in the community.”
Fortunately for Jacob, his parents support community involvement, as they lead by example.
But one of his frustrations is already showing itself – he can drive a tractor on the road between the Hanratty farm’s paddocks, but is underage for holding a car licence.
When he was at school, stopping at football training on Tuesday and Thursday was convenient for Jacob.
Until next year, he will rely on his parents for transport beyond the farm gate.
“After the local football season ends, I’ll be milking Tuesday to Sunday,” Jacob said.
“I’m working in the milking shed because we all want Dad to get out of the milking shed.
“I’m already worried about how that will affect training next season.
“But on Tuesday, I was laying pipes with Dad and he reminded me that footy training starts in half an hour.
“I told him: No Dad, let’s continue and get this job done. When Dad and I work together, we get things done faster.”
In the first six weeks of his new job, Jacob has been working out in the paddock alongside his father, learning how to lay irrigation pipes.
“Our next job is to build a new ringlock fence along the laneway to the dairy,” he said.
He has been given the responsibility of feeding heifers on the out-block. This involves driving the tractor, with hay onboard.
Jacob has also been part of the twice-daily
checks on the dry cows.
“I don’t know how to tell if they’re getting close to calving,” he said.
“We’ve been drafting springers from the later-calving cows, and checking those two herds daily.”
Jacob knows he has a lot to learn.
“Dad knows just by looking at a cow if she is okay or not,” Jacob said.
“During milking, I can recognise mastitis and other signs of sickness.
“Working alongside dad, I’m learning animal
How to pass on the family farm
health is very important and the welfare and wellbeing of the cattle is a big factor in the stress of farming.”
Jacob recently completed a calf rearing course, offered through the Macalister Research Farm.
It has given him the knowledge to work alongside the farm’s calf rearer when calving begins on August 1.
“I did the course with her and I can already see the advantages for animal welfare in employing women on dairy farms,” Jacob said.
He wants to study business management and is helping Dennis and Raelene to develop a plan that incorporates Dairy Australia courses to help build his skills.
“He’s already learning how to order fencing materials and equipment,” Raelene said.
“Working with us, he’s learning a lot about planning the time around jobs and how long they take.”
When the Burra Foods field officer visited to negotiate the supply contract, Raelene and Dennis invited Jacob to sit in on the meeting.
“He learned about the legalities of the contract,” Raelene said.
“We believe it’s important he knows the farm’s liabilities, in case the worst happens and Dennis and I are no longer here.”
Jacob has also been attending events organised by the Young Dairy Network, including a hoof care workshop.
Read about the family farm on page 3 of the Gippsland section.
Fair or equal?
Join our Succession Planning Day exclusive to dairy farmers where guest speakers Colin Wright from Phillipsons and Matt Harms from ONFARM Consulting will discuss:
• tips and tricks to succession planning
• business structures
• tax implications
• role changes
• transferring assets.
Registrations essential.
For more information or to register, scan the QR code or contact Jessica Russell, Extension Advisor at GippsDairy on 03 5624 3900 or jessica.russell@gippsdairy.com.au
Friday 21 February 2025
10:00am-2:00pm
Traralgon Bowls Club, 50 Liddiard Road, Traralgon
Jacob Hanratty has recently started working full-time on the family farm.