OCTOBER, 2022 ISSUE 144
WEST VIC REGION
Living off the land THERES AND Jamie Drake believe they were
called to work on the land, whether that be milking cows or planting vegetables. Although Theres was born in Switzerland and Jamie in New Zealand, they have come to call Australia home and they are carving out two successful businesses and a self-sufficient lifestyle at Boorcan. It’s a real family affair spread over several sites, but it’s all working well. The Drakes moved into the former Model Barn site on the Princes Highway at the start of August where they will concentrate their fresh produce business, while the dairy business will continue from one leased farm and two leased out-paddocks. They also have chooks and beehives, bake and preserve just about everything, and homeschool their three children — ensuring it’s a sustainable family affair. Theres was an exchange student when she met Jamie working on a New Zealand farm. They travelled together to Australia in 2003 after Theres obtained another visa. She started working with Barb and Jeff Collins at Ecklin and Jamie got a job with a stockfeed company. They also lived for 18 months in Switzerland, giving Jamie an opportunity to experience where Theres was raised, and they married in August 2005. Theres worked in an orchard picking apples and pears and later in landscape maintenance, while Jamie got a job in a horizontal directional drilling business In February 2007 they returned to the Southern Hemisphere after Theres gained permanent residency in New Zealand and were head-hunted back to the farm where they met. However, the long hours on a 1400-cow farm proved too much so Theres got a job at a cut flower nursery, returning to her horticulture roots, and Jamie moved to a nearby farm. In May 2010 they returned to Australia to take up a farm management position with the Collins family. During this time, they were supported to attend programs learning more about dairy and to build their own herd, rearing calves and buying a few heifers. However, when Barb and Jeff ’s son Brad returned home and the milk price crashed, they
Theres and Jamie Drake enjoy raising their children Tim, Gemma and Rebecca on the land.
needed to look for other options. “Buying a farm wasn’t an option, we weren’t keen on sharefarming so working for someone else or we were happy to pursue leasing because of the cows we had,” Theres said. A chance meeting with a hairdresser whose brother wanted to lease his Boorcan farm was the turning point. “We saw the potential of the farm and the opportunity for us,” Jamie said. “It was suitable for 120 cows and we were very close to having that number so it was a good stepping stone.” They leased the Roycrofts Rd farm and house
on July 1, 2013, milking 120 head. “We bought a few heifers and budget cows to get to the 120; that was a good time to buy cows,” Jamie added. They milked on that farm for five years before being approached by the owner of a nearby farm, their current landlord, and leased that property in Bateman’s Rd in 2018, while retaining the original property as accommodation and an out-paddock. They grew the herd to about 240 crossbred cows using their own breeding program rather than going to the market. They also leased another out-paddock north
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of the Princes Highway and more recently added another out-paddock where they run all of their young stock, replacements and a small herd of beef. Jamie follows Dairy Australia’s Feeding Pastures for Profit system and regularly creates a rotation tool to set out the paddocks to graze. “We wanted to get bigger so we could employ someone, so Jamie wasn’t 24/7 on the farm,” Theres said. “It wasn’t because bigger is better, we just wanted more time as a family.”
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