LEARNING THE ROPES
Lilly Hammond is keen to step up to more responsibility on her family’s dairy farm and continue a tradition of farming that goes back five generations in Australia. Page 6.
Cobram Cohuna
Chair’s message
Speeding toward 2025
BY SARAH O'BRIEN
2025 IS nearly upon us. I’m always surprised by how fast the last six months of the calendar year go by.
There’s always so much to achieve from the first of July in our spring calving system to keep us busy.
I always look forward to the slower pace of January when the kids are home from school, and we can all relax a little more as a family.
Even the cows look forward to January here — with joining out of the way, the cows settle into a calm flow of milk, eat, repeat.
GippsDairy recently held its Annual General Meeting at Tinamba in the Macalister Irrigation District.
It was a great turnout of farmers and service providers from across Gippsland.
As a board we farewelled and thanked outgoing farmer director Jessica Knight. Jess and her husband Steven dairy farm near Stratford and I thank Jess for her time, contribution, and skills she provided for Gippsland farmers.
We also welcomed Raelene Hanratty to the board as a farmer director. Raelene and her husband Dennis dairy farm near Newry.
Raelene comes with plenty of board experience within and outside of dairy. We look forward to Raelene’s extended experience and perspectives.
This year the board made a progressive change to our statement of rules.
Even the cows look forward to January here — with joining out of the way, the cows settle into a calm flow of milk, eat, repeat.
We want to encourage farmers and dairy industry professionals who may feel they don’t have the skills or capacity to be a full director to still apply for board positions.
To achieve this, we have created Associate Farmer Director and Associate Specialist Director positions.
The associate director positions offer confidential exposure to board papers and conversations that lead to outcomes, however, the individual won’t hold any voting rights.
It is a paid position and considered a stepping stone into full directorship if and when the opportunity arises. The associate director positions will become available during the normal cycle of new applications.
It would seem the past month has been filled with strategy consultation in Gippsland.
It’s been wonderful to see and hear of the number of farmers and service providers that have come out to share thoughts and perspectives that will help shape both Dairy Australia’s five-year strategic plan and ultimately the regionally specific dairy industry strategic plan for Gippsland being delivered through the Gippsland Dairy Industry
Leadership Group.
Both plans are considered carefully and designed to complement both national and regional needs and trends now and over the next five years.
GippsDairy proudly supports the Facial Eczema Spore Count Monitoring Project for Gippsland.
So far this year the season has been drier than conditions this time last year.
GippsDairy has reflected on some helpful changes to the delivery and accessibility of data to help determine decision making for farmers this year.
Lauren Foster is a qualified vet working for GippsDairy and will oversee the spore count monitoring project, to provide more timely information.
Thanks also to Dairy Australia for hosting the results.
We will require farms to sign up to access the results. This can be done through an expression of interest link found in GippsDairy’s fortnightly eNews, or please contact the office directly on 5624 3900.
The program heavily relies on farmers collecting and sending their pasture samples from across Gippsland. Thank you to farmers that have partnered with GippsDairy in this project.
The board have heard from many farmers about the value of this data for decision making and we’re happy to continue supporting it into the future.
–Sarah O’Brien is the GippsDairy chair.
Pumping up the innovation
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
THE LATEST generation of the Gannon family to farm at Tinamba continues the legacy of growth and innovation.
Tom and Melanie Gannon have taken ownership of the dairy farm from his parents, Francis and Elva.
Francis continues to work on the farm when he wants to, but decision making lies with Tom and Melanie.
From the age of 14, Francis worked on the farm with his mother, Flora, after his father, Jack, died at age 48.
At the time, the then 200-acre dairy farm was flood irrigated.
“We have a farm plan from 1939 showing where all the irrigation delvers would go,” Francis said.
“Jack did it all, a lot of it he did with just a basic level and a three-wheeled 14 horsepower tractor.
“And he got it pretty good. He had a good eye.”
Jack had taken over the farm from his father, Austin, who, in 1919, was the first chairman of directors at the local milk processing factory in Maffra.
Eventually, Francis married Elva and the two of them ran the farm together and raised a family.
Tom moved to Melbourne to university and followed a career as a sessional musician travelling the world.
In Sydney, Tom met Melanie and they
Tom and Francis Gannon enjoy working with each other on the dairy farm at Tinamba, and Francis is obviously proud of what his son and Melanie are achieving.
married. Melanie was working in childcare.
“We came to each other during our honeymoon and both said we felt we needed to move to the farm,” Tom said.
“I felt like I was supposed to go back home and work beside my dad.
“We came back to help Mum and Dad out for a little bit, but then we realised we wanted to stay and have a family here.”
Tom worked alongside his father, Francis, while negotiating to take over the eventual ownership (and management) of the farm.
Then, about 10 years ago, Southern Rural Water flagged it was going to modernise the Tinamba irrigation scheme in 2019, replacing open ditches, gates and Dethridge wheels with pressurised underground pipes.
“We hadn’t made much change to how we irrigated the farm, until the news of the pipeline coming through,” Francis said.
“That was what started all the development,” Tom said.
“We did a lot of thinking and planning, and when we knew when the pipeline was coming
MILK PRICES SLIP BUT REMAIN HIGH
The annual Dairy Farm Monitor Project reports a three per cent decline in milk price on average for Gippsland suppliers, leading to a seven per cent decrease in profitability.
Despite facing a wet first half of the financial year, which supported good growing conditions and ample irrigation water in the Macalister Irrigation District, fodder reserves increased, the report found.
A minor reduction in purchased feed costs, coupled with the boost in fodder reserves, helped offset some of the increased expenditures on repairs and maintenance. Notably, these maintenance costs included repairs related to the February storm event.
In 2023-24, nearly all Gippsland dairy
farms (23 out of 25) recorded a positive earnings before interest and tax.
Despite a seven per cent reduction in average profits to $2.53 per kilogram of milk solids, the average earnings before interest and tax per farm was the fifth highest in the 18-year history of the Dairy Farm Monitor Project, after adjusting for inflation.
Climatic conditions largely influenced the range of individual performance year-on-year.
A focus on the pasture base enabled farmers to increase home-grown feed, thereby reducing variable feed costs and have a direct impact on the bottom line.
Variable cost reduced by two per cent to $4.92/kg MS, with large fluctuations in feed
inventory change. Overhead costs were stable at $2.96/kg MS.
The largest cost component increase was employed labour.
Increased interest and lease costs, driven by larger borrowings and rising interest rates, put additional pressure on farm finances.
Victoria-wide in 2023-24, average farm profits fell nine per cent from the previous year’s high and remained strong compared to the long-term average.
There was variability in profit across the Victorian participants with farm returns increasing on average in northern Victoria.
In contrast, the two southern regions (south-west Victoria and Gippsland) had a
through, we were ready to start changing and developing how we did things as a result.
“We had 200 acres we milked off — 120 acres here and 80 acres across the road.”
With two dairies and two herds, Francis and Tom decided to amalgamate the herd and run them through one dairy.
The eight double-up herringbone was converted to 10, then a 14 double-up, then a 27-a-side swingover herringbone dairy.
Two neighbouring blocks of 70 and 130 acres became available, so Tom and Melanie bought those and amalgamated them into the farm’s holdings. A few years later they bought the 100 acres that ensured all the land is joined.
“That meant we were able to put pivot irrigators on paddocks and do full turns with them,” Tom said.
“The level of automation now is very handy and so simple. I can program through Southern Rural Water to send five megalitres at 2am and to stop at 6am.
“Beforehand, we had to open the door manually.”
Six pivot irrigators circulate pressurised water across 90 per cent of the farm.
“The fall from Glenmaggie Weir to my farm enables me to get 20 to 35 PSI pressure from the pipeline,” Tom said.
“So when it comes out on my farm, it goes directly through my pivot, as if it’s being pumped.
“But I don’t have the cost of pumping.”
Continued on page 4
decrease in profits from the previous year.
Across the state, prices received for milk supply and cattle decreased leading to lower average farm incomes.
Total costs (variable and overhead costs) were similar to the previous year on average. Improvements in feed inventory lowered feed costs in northern Victoria and Gippsland, along with lower expenditure on fertiliser.
Dry conditions in south-west Victoria depleted fodder reserves and added to their feed costs.
In all regions, there were increased costs on purchased fodder and all cash overheads, which kept total costs high relative to the longer-term.
Neil Jess Trav Gemma
Pumping up the innovation
doing that. Producing 100 per cent of the silage we use makes a huge difference.”
There is still a small amount of flood irrigation on the property using butterfly valves and pipe-and-riser system.
The irrigation now means Tom is able to harvest silage off genuine excess.
“Sometimes 15, 16 days after irrigation, you almost want to put the herd back into it, but you normally have to wait 21 days to re-graze pasture,” he said.
“The new rye-grass varieties on this red soil with the spray irrigation, it’s just phenomenal.
“We’re growing good feed and it’s a job keeping up with it.”
Tom’s next decision is to invest in bore water, to assist pasture growth through winter, when the SRW pipeline is closed to irrigators.
The solids from the effluent ponds are spread on a case-by-case decision.
“We’ve just spread it coming into spring, on some paddocks that we cut,” Tom said.
“We try to put it where the spray irrigated effluent doesn’t reach.”
Shandied effluent is pumped from a re-use dam and sprayed through the pivots.
A muck spray truck transports effluent to areas where the fertigation doesn’t reach.
Improvements from irrigating with more effluent through the pivot irrigator has created a seven to 10 per cent increase in milk production.
More pasture grown and additional silage produced means Tom and Melanie have substantially reduced the amount of fodder they buy.
“Before I might have bought four or five B-double loads of fodder,” Tom said.
“The additional silage makes up for not
Tom still buys cereal hay.
“We don’t get the sun energy to make good cereal hay. Northern Victoria has the heat and soil type to make good cereal hay,” he said.
The additional pasture growth has enabled Tom and Melanie to build their milking herd to 550 cows.
Their milking herd of Holstein cows is bred favouring Alta Genetics. Everything is joined using AI and Tom has favoured sexed semen.
“The Holstein cow that looks like a Jersey, that milks like a Jersey. We’re breeding for components and for lower stature,” Tom said.
“We join for spring and autumn calving, and we only join for six to seven weeks and we’ve got the in-calf rate up to 89 per cent.
“So having that shorter and more efficient cow, it’s well fed on the pasture we grow, because we make the time to focus on growing pasture. The cows are fully fed.”
Cows that don’t get in-calf are sold.
“That was something we changed,” Tom said.
“We were keeping cows that were inefficient, because she was a good cow.
“I realised the cost of not having cashflow to do things, because of avoiding the hardcore decision to get rid of those cows that were inefficient.”
Tom and Francis enjoy working with each other, and Francis is obviously proud of what his son and Melanie are achieving.
“Tom and Melanie do it totally themselves now. I’m the gofer,” Francis said.
With both sets of grandparents living on the property, childcare assistance is also guaranteed.
The dairy has been updated over the four generations of Gannon family ownership.
The cows are milked twice a day in the 27-a-side swingover herringbone dairy.
Pivot irrigators have improved the application of water and effluent across the farm, leading to significantly more pasture growth and up to 10 per cent more milk production.
Irrigation means pasture growth is well ahead of the herd’s production needs. Surplus pasture is regularly harvested as silage.
CLEANING UP THE STICKING POINTS
Ineffective filtration systems are a bugbear of many spray irrigators because they block easily, preventing the valuable nutrients in effluent from reaching the soil.
Tinamba dairy farmer Tom Gannon trialled a self-cleaning effluent pump on a pontoon in his effluent pond, to increase the effectiveness of dairy effluent application through a pivot irrigator.
Tom hoped the self-cleaning pump would result in less time spent cleaning the filtration system and more effluent flowing through the pivot irrigator onto his pastures.
Because his farm is on a floodplain of the Macalister River, he also wants to reduce the risk of run-off when he applies fertiliser to his paddocks.
In particular, Tom wants to minimise the risk of effluent impacting the surrounding environment during high rainfall events, and regularly fertigating from the two effluent ponds located near the dairy.
Tom and Melanie Gannon milk 500 cows twice a day, off 500 acres, 90 per cent pivot irrigated and 10 per cent flood irrigated.
Investing in pivot irrigators has enabled more efficient use of the effluent water as fertigation — and this has led to improved pasture growth, with up to 10 per cent more production.
“The main challenges with irrigating effluent through the pivot irrigation system is blockages of the filter,” Tom said to a group of farmers at an open day on his farm.
Fine grass particles from manure washed from the dairy yard into the effluent pond tended to block the filtration system on the pump that moved liquid to the pivots.
This caused a pressure drop at the pump of 20 PSI after 10 minutes of irrigating. This lowered the supply pressure for the centre pivots and they operated at lower pressure than they are designed for.
The effluent blockages also had a flowon effect in the pivot sprinklers, negatively affecting irrigation uniformity in the paddock.
“The sticking point was the filtration — the filter would actually block up a lot,”
Tom said.
“I had to pull it apart all the time and it was a frustrating job.
“With flood irrigation, the fine grass particles aren’t a problem. But with switching over to pivot irrigators, it became a problem.
“The filter needs to protect the pivot sprinklers from blocking up with these fine particles.”
Tom invested in an inline filter for the effluent pond pump that automatically filters, brushes and backflushes as grass particles build up.
Initial results filtering grass particles were good, but sediment build up on the filter led to a return to the previous regime, where Tom had to manually clean the system before he could irrigate.
With time at a premium, this meant he wasn’t fertigating as often as he wanted to. The blockages in the pivot sprinklers also affected how much he was able to use clean irrigation water.
This had a flow-on effect to pasture growth and production.
The second plan was to install a rotating self-cleaning pontoon and brush that minimises the amount of dirt and manure that leaves the effluent pond as fertigation.
Very fine mesh stopped grass particles entering the suction line. Because the self-cleaning filter rotated, this action prevented solids from sticking to the mesh – they return to the effluent pond.
A jet of water helps to clean the filter.
Blockages and pressure drops have significantly reduced, and fertigation is now able to be applied regularly to about 80 acres of the farm.
“What I hoped to see through this project, is more effluent going through the pivots, going onto the pasture and growing more grass,” Tom said.
“Effluent is important to get nutrients back into the soil that you’ve already harvested off, from the cows grazing pasture and turning that into milk in the vat.
“But it’s also important with the way we put effluent onto the paddock, so it doesn’t enter the waterway.
“I can rely on the system to put the effluent on the paddocks, and not have to worry about it getting into any waterways, particularly in high rainfall events.
“It also needs to save me time against how often I have to clean the filter.”
An assessment in March 2024 of pivot application and uniformity showed the pivots were running at correct pressure and the area under irrigation had improved by 22 per cent.
“I’m irrigating more, growing more grass and we’ve increased the number of cows we’re milking while maintaining the same stocking rate,” Tom said.
Tom is also using a muck spreader to spread solids on his paddock a couple of times a year, to reduce the build-up in the solids pond. That helped improve flow of liquids and reduce solids moving between the two effluent dams.
The project was part-funded by the Victorian Government’s Sustainable Irrigation Program, and administered through Agriculture Victoria and West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority.
“We’re partnering with irrigators to help tackle some the region’s greatest challenges like maximising water use efficiency and improving nutrient management,” said Anthony Good, land programs coordinator with West Gippsland CMA.
“These farmers are paving the way for sustainable irrigation by trialling technology that we hope will lead to better on-farm productivity, improved water quality in waterways and less greenhouse emissions from irrigated agriculture.”
6 // GIPPSLAND REGION
Next gen learning the ropes
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
LILLY HAMMOND wants to continue a family tradition of farming that goes back five generations in Australia.
She is the third generation of her family to work on the family farm at Buln Buln, returning a couple of years ago after studying a double degree at university and working in hospitality.
She now works full-time on the farm.
Lilly’s siblings Adele and Finn have responsibilities as well — Adele is involved in the finances and Finn becomes more involved with the farm during harvest season.
Geoff and Helen Hewson were milking with a 20-a-side herringbone dairy with automatic cup removers when their daughter Trudi and her husband, Darryl, took over the farm.
Trudi and Darryl have been milking their herd using a Lely six-unit robot dairy system since 2015.
“Mum had me in a pram at the age of day dot, out getting cows,” Lilly told Dairy News Australia
“There’s not a time in my life where I don’t remember working on the farm.
“I started working in the calf shed at about eight years old, when I could carry a grain bucket. It just kept going from there.
“I started milking when I was tall enough, I was a teenager by then.”
The robots were installed when she was 15 years old.
“At that time it just got a lot easier on the farm, so I started doing more. My siblings and I would take it in turns on the roster to clean, wash, sort the cows, all that sort of stuff.”
Lilly went to university and studied a double degree in arts and science, majoring in archaeology and psychology.
After that, she worked in hospitality for a year, then realised farming was her true calling.
“I wanted to do university because I thought I wanted to do something else,” Lilly said.
“I really enjoyed it, but then I realised I actually like the life and culture of farming.
“I know how to farm, I’ve done it for a while. But also, with family farms, when you lose them, you don’t get it back.
“You have to put the effort in to keep going, and I couldn’t imagine, like, not having that to go home to.”
Lilly realises there are challenges to farming, including climate and weather, commodity prices, environmental care, and input and maintenance costs.
“My dad, he’s an excellent farm manager, he does it very well,” Lilly said.
“I’ve always done a more maintenance sort of
role, but I’m learning a lot about what’s involved with managing the farm by working with him.
“I’m now the shed manager and I’m responsible for the cattle, getting them up to the shed, making sure they’ve been milked every day, and keeping an eye on their health.
“We get health reports on the computer that I need to check, and note any cow who is dropping production, or has risen production, and the cows cell counts. I also change the collars if one of them is broken.
“I do a lot of cleaning, like hosing down the robots, and making sure that everything that supports the robots is clean and working.
“I can do pasture management to an extent. I make sure the cows are on new pasture every six
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the milking herd.
“Dad makes the decisions about where they’re going, and I make sure it happens.”
With her parents’ support, Lilly has become the person representing the family farm at discussion groups and participates readily.
She has also completed some short courses to improve her skills, including chemical handling certification, a business management course through GippsTAFE, calf rearing, and pasture 101 and lameness workshops provided by GippsDairy.
“I’ve taken on going to a lot of the discussion groups and the Young Dairy Network.
“I’m keen to improve my knowledge, because my role has to expand on the farm.”
Lilly has been left in charge of the farm a couple of times, a position she relished.
“I managed the farm by myself for a month or up to not quite two months, and that’s enabled Mum and Dad to actually have time off the farm every year for holidays.
“My poppy, who is 80 years old, is still very active on the farm, and Adele and Finn are usually around unless they’re on holidays as well, and we have an amazing set of neighbours around here that really help out with any stuff that falls through the cracks.
“But usually it’s all right.”
Lilly has recognised her shortcomings and is keen to address them.
“I’m not mathematically minded, so I didn’t do the second business management course because it involves finances,” she said.
“But I can’t be like, I can’t do it. I need to just shake that, because I have to learn about the financial management if I want to take over the farm one day.
“My next step is to become a part of the actual business. At the moment I’m still just working, but I would love to be able to make more of those bigger decisions.
or so hours, because we use the three-way grazing system.
“I can do a lot of basic tractor work, feeding out and stuff like that.
“And then you’ve got your seasonal jobs too.
“We’ll be going into pregnancy testing. I’m the one who’ll be getting in the cows and making sure everything is ready for when the vet arrives to preg test. I’m also responsible for making sure the data entered is up-to-date for that job.
“Mum looks after the calf shed, which is a big job, and we’ve recently moved to once-a-year calving to take the pressure off her.”
Lilly also implements the paddock rotation of dry cows, young heifers and beef cattle, as well as
“Dad has given me a lot of freedom and he’s very encouraging of me to make decisions on the farm.
“I want to have a financial stake in the business as soon as I can.
“I’d like to focus more on genetics. I think that’s something we can do better.
“And I want to learn more about different crops. We get those parts of the year when it’s a little drier, and I want to set the farm up for any kind of weather, because the weather is weird now.
“We also plant a lot of trees on the farm for protecting the cows from heat and looking after their health, and I’ll continue doing that.
“Dad’s ordered a lot more trees for next year and I’ll be planting them.”
SUMMING UP THE SEASON
The season across Gippsland has been good for irrigators and those with surplus pasture. But gale winds and lack of rainfall in some districts has seen the season tighten.
Sarah O’Brien, who farms at Dennison and is chair of GippsDairy, suggests farmers contact Agriculture Victoria and ask for the expertise of staff in developing water and farm budgets.
Sarah and her husband Mike O’Brien did just that this season, and it is helping drive their decision making.
Ch ris Ca meron Mobile:0418 512 503
Sarah and Mike, Wilco Droppert at Clydebank, and Fiona and Simon Mitchell from Cowwarr are among those farmers who will reduce herd numbers for the summer.
Many farmers are preparing to sow a summer crop. Tom McMillan of Bundalaguah, Peter Jennings of Buffalo and Fiona and
Tom and Ian McMillan, of Bundalaguah, flood-irrigate their farm. “We will be keeping a close eye on our water allocation,” Tom said. “Rain has been meagre, and we’ve had a lot of wind and a few hot days.”
Simon Mitchell of Cowwarr are among those who are sowing summer grazing crops. Go to www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au for Jeanette Severs’ full story from the perspective of Gippsland dairy farmers.
Lilly Hammond sees a future for herself working on the family farm, progressing to managing then eventually owning it.
Geoff (pictured) and Helen Hewson are still involved with the family farm they established.
Learning new skills
dairy cows.
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
The Young Dairy Network in Gippsland recently hosted three hoof trimming workshops.
Large crowds of farmers attended the workshops, held across three dairy farms in Gippsland recently.
Dean Rowley, from Gippsland Foot Care, demonstrated how to deal with various lesions, ulcers and nail growth issues in dairy cows. He also discussed safety, when working with
To see more pictures from the workshop at Macalister Research Farm, go to: https:// www.dairynewsaustralia.com.au/news/gallery-hoofing-it/
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Dean Rowley explained the importance of hoof care on cows in three workshops in Gippsland.
Brenton Annells, Robbie McKillop and Nume Heritier, Willdarben Farms, Nambrok.
Luke Balfour and David Mellon from Willow Grove.
Mariel Padre, Wai Nui Farms, Nambrok, and Marchie Villanueva, Aurora Dairies, Nambrok.
Cooper Martin and Owen Mezenberg, both from Dennison.
Robots rule at eld days
BY JEANETTE SEVERS
GIPPSDAIRY HOSTED a recent discussion group about automatic milking systems (AMS), on the farm of Peter and Larissa Joyce, at Strzelecki, in Gippsland.
GippsDairy established the AMS discussion group a couple of years ago, and it meets periodically on member’s farms, as a learning and networking group.
Peter and Larissa retrofitted two Lely robot units into their herringbone dairy.
They discussed their reasons for adopting AMS infrastructure and how the new system has changed the way they manage their herd.
Peter said they were feeding less grain to the herd now, because the cows were being fed to production. Previously, all cows received the same amount of grain.
Peter and Larissa and their children are also able to spend more time together as a family.
To see more pictures from the workshop, go to: https://www.dairynewsaustralia.com. au/news/gallery-robots-rule/
Effectively managing facial eczema
Understanding how and when facial eczema occurs in cattle helps dairy farmers better manage the impact on animal health and welfare.
Facial eczema can occur as a result of cows ingesting fungal spores found in ryegrasses often between the moths of January to May.
The Facial Eczema Spore Monitoring program is a free resource available to farmers and advisors to support decision making on:
• When to start and stop facial eczema prevention measures for animals
• When and how to prevent spores through pasture management.
For more information about symptoms, treatment and prevention, visit dairyaustralia.com.au/animals/ health-and-welfare/facial-eczema or contact Lauren Foster, GippsDairy at lauren.foster@gippsdairy.com.au or 03 5624 3900
Scan the QR code to subscribe for regular Facial Eczema Spore Monitoring updates and alerts for your region.
Peter Joyce discussing how the dairy retrofit occurred.
Fabian and Rachael Apps, dairy farmers at Meeniyan who are interested in automatic milking systems.
Jack Woods from Browns Fertilisers and Benjamin Vagg, who is installing a GEA automatic milking system on his farm at Leongatha South.
Dale Serong, Lely Center Gippsland, with Grant Williams, Athlone, who was an early investor in Lely automated milking systems.
Tom Hastings, DeLaval, and Lindsay Anderson, Kings Way Jerseys at Athlone, who invested in Insectec Astrea automatic milking systems.