Dairy News Australia - August 2019 - With West Vic Region

AUGUST 2019 ISSUE 106

WEST VIC REGION

Dedicated to dairy A DECADE ago, Grayden and Lachie Russell knew a lot about the heat and dust

of Mildura but nothing about the green grass and farms of south-west Victoria.

Now Grayden, 23, and Lachie, 19, are firmly entrenched in the dairy industry, working together on Brendan Rea’s dairy farm near Allansford.

“Before we moved here, I’d never even seen a dairy cow,” Lachie said, but a twist of fate introduced them to the industry.

Continued page 4

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA AUGUST 2019

2 // WEST VIC REGION

introducing the

Original Series Christopher and Colin Haberfield.

Efficiencies and innovations

BY RICK BAYNE

MEPUNGA FARMER Colin admits he’s not

a stats man, but he knows the value of being efficient.

From introducing irrigation to a third of his farm 15 years ago to recent updates to his dairy, Colin always has an eye for a good investment.

That business nous has led him to shift suppliers to find a better deal, access more land, and to call in the vets whenever there’s a hint of a problem with the herd.

- 3 sizes - 1000, 1700 and 2500 bale - 4 to 6 week delivery - structural steel shed - take advantage of ato 100% tax write off The result is a successful farm business that’s The first thing I did was sell the bulls because I “I’ve always liked Friesians,” Colin said. “They - Christopher. from $49,980 couldn’t keep them anywhere.” well primed to hand soon to son have big robust calves and are good producers, Colin and his wife Tracy celebrated their 30th anniversary on the farm on July 1. He bought the 120 ha property off a Tattslotto winner who had decided to dabble in dairying.

“I was on the home farm about eight kilometres away at the time but we heard second-hand that it was for sale and Dad rang him up. I was about to get married so the timing was good.”

He set about putting his stamp on the place.

“When we came here it was pretty much a blank canvas, not many fences or laneways.

Five years later he upgraded the “terrible” 10-a-side dairy to a 20-a-side swing-over herringbone, perfect for the farm’s peak of 240 Friesians, increased about five years ago from 200 when Christopher returned to the farm.

They also bought a 40 ha block fronting nearby Great Ocean Road, and lease about 50 ha from a neighbour, using both for young stock, silage and running some beef.

In 1989 the farm came with a mostly Friesian herd and it has stayed that way.

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about 8000 litres and 526 kg/M per cow.

Although the farm gets good rainfall, Colin says the introduction of irrigation on 36 ha in 2003 has been a huge bonus.

“We now calve 40 per cent in February-March on the irrigation, then start again on August 1 for the next two months with a few stragglers going into Octobera” he said.

“That was the main use for the irrigation and we now rear about 120 calves. We started it in 2003 and went with fixed sprinklers. They’re not

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA AUGUST 2019

WEST VIC REGION // 3

The dairy’s new rubber mats have made it easier for the cows.

Christopher and Colin have stuck with the Friesian herd, preferring their robust calves and good production.

“The concrete was 20 years old and getting a bit shiny and slippery. We had it grooved and that helped but didn’t stop all the cows from slipping on the ramps. The mats have made a massive difference; you don’t want them to get injured.” perfect but I’m really happy with them.

“It has definitely been a good investment.

We’re not far from the coast and don’t really have drought but we have dry periods and this has basically drought-proofed us.”

Prior to irrigation, they calved from mid-May but the change better suited payment structures at the time.

The February-March calving is a straight eight weeks of AI, August-September finishes with bulls.

“A few later cows don’t worry me now because I can milk them on the irrigation,” Colin said.

The irrigation produces excellent summer crops of turnips.

“The cows are on turnips from late December to the end of April. We don’t have to buy much.

We get grain, but not a lot, and feed about a tonne of wheat per cow.”

Likewise, Colin has been flexible in choosing processors.

He was with Fonterra but joined Saputo after the price drop.

“It hurt everybody but I was in full production when they dropped the price and it cost me a lot of money,” Colin said.

From August he will supply Bulla for a $7.20 flat rate across the year. “It’s a business decision — what’s best for us.”

Recently the focus has been improving the dairy. Solar panels were installed last November to battle “astronomical” power costs.

“It’s a big investment and next summer we’ll get a better idea of the impact. They’re definitely helping but this isn’t the time of year you’d make the biggest gains.”

Colin expects a five-year payback period, with a predicted $800 a month power bill reduction during summer.

New Daviesway milking machines were installed six months ago, and the Milkrite triangular liners and lighter cups and claws are making a positive difference.

“It’s all about being light weight,” Colin said.

“They up the vacuum and suck a little harder.

We never had trouble with our cell count — around the 150–200 mark — but in the last few months it’s been under 100.”

Rubber mats were also added.

“The concrete was 20 years old and getting a bit shiny and slippery. We had it grooved and that helped but didn’t stop all the cows from slipping on the ramps. The mats have made a massive difference; you don’t want them to get injured.”

Cow health is always a priority.

“I’m a vet man,” Colin said.

“I see a cow with a runny nose I ring the vet.

We probably pay more for vets per cow than the average farm but we have a very low mortality rate. The knackery bloke said to me he’d go broke if he was relying on us.”

Colin says being efficient is the key to farming success.

“If something’s not working, I’m pretty quickly onto it. You have to be efficient.”

Now 52, Colin has started planning to handover to Christopher.

“It gets a bit harder as you get older, but we’ve got it pretty well set up.”

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA AUGUST 2019

4 // WEST VIC REGION

Brothers in farms From page 1 WHEN THEIR father moved to Warrnambool

Brothers Grayden and Lachie Russell working side-by-side.

for work nine years ago, the family rented a house on the Rea farm.

“It was a bit different; a lot colder than Mildura,” Grayden said.

“We didn’t really see a lot of green grass in Mildura,” Lachie said. “We came down this time of year and there was green grass everywhere.”

Grayden, 15 at the time, was asked if he wanted to milk once a week.

Over time he started doing a few more shifts and helping with other farm jobs and when one of the full-time staff members left, he was offered a traineeship.

When Grayden had a year off Lachie took his position, after the 12-month break Grayden was again offered a job.

Neither brother had previously considered dairy as a career option.

“I never had any intention of working on a dairy but then Brendan offered me a milking on a Friday afternoon,” Grayden said.

“Dad used to pick me up from school at lunchtime and I’d come out here and milk. I liked the

cash and enjoyed the work.

“On school holidays I might do four or five milkings and it got to the stage when I was about 16, I’d do all the school holidays. If they were busy, I’d help fencing and other jobs.”

After branching out for a year to work on a beef and sheep farm in South Australia, Grayden has come full circle and sees his future in dairy.

“I’d never leave again; this is my life now,” he said.

Working together isn’t a problem for the siblings. “We’ve always been pretty close so working together is good,” Lachie said.

“We get along, no problem.”

Grayden and Lachie’s parents have now moved to Melton for work but the boys are staying put.

Grayden and his partner are expecting a baby and last month moved out of the farm house but Lachie remains on site.

Another trainee has just joined the crew and the brothers work alongside a veteran of more than 20 years on the farm.

There are no designated titles and Brendan Rea encourages the four to work together to manage all the jobs.

Chair’s message

Spring into open day AS THE days are starting to get a little longer,

we can begin to believe that another winter is almost over, and hope we have a spring full of grass and growth just around the corner!

Spring is always an important time on farm.

Each year we hope that the weather will be kind to us and set up the rest of the year with plenty of silage and/or hay done.

With purchased feed continuing to impact heavily on farm profit, managing the excess of grass this spring will be more important than ever.

September will see the first open day held on our latest Focus Farm — Shannon Notter’s property at Carlisle River.

Shannon and her business support group have been busy over the past six months or so, working through ideas and developing plans together.

I look forward to attending to see how it is all going and learn some more about Shannon and her business. Thursday, September 26 is the date to mark in your diary for the open day — it’s a great chance to see and learn from another business. Hope to see you there.

In more Focus Farm news, we are almost in a position to announce a new farm business that will start the project this year.

As always, we are very grateful to those businesses that choose to take part in the program, they provide a great learning opportunity for all of the region’s dairy farmers.

Our Farm — Our Plan A new workshop that you will have seen being advertised is Our Farm — Our Plan. After running

a successful pilot, we will be rolling it out across the region.

The role of the new program is to assist farmers develop a clear understanding of their longterm business and personal goals, get them down on paper, turn these ideas into plans, then the plans into actions.

Whilst we all love farming (well most of the time at least!), we can have differing goals for the future. This program will help you set out to achieve your plans, whatever they may be.

As you know, I’m always keen to ensure that you are aware that WestVic Dairy has much to offer you and your business. If you can’t find what help you need please give the office a call and our friendly extension staff will be able to assist.

Farmers skills diverse I had the chance to run solo in our business with the support of our staff whilst my husband took a well needed break for a few weeks in July.

It was a real eye opener and made me realise that juggling many hats is harder when you are the only day-to-day decision-maker in the business. I couldn’t do my role at WestVic without his day-to-day support.

We really do underestimate as farmers what skills we draw on and how super capable in so many diverse areas we are.

I salute my fellow farmers and look forward to catching up with many of you around the region very soon.

· Simone Renyard WestVic Dairy chair

DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA AUGUST 2019

WEST VIC REGION // 5 “Running an 800-cow farm when you bring in so much feed is a big thing. Farming changes and we can bring back that new knowledge from doing those courses.”

“Brendan doesn’t put titles on us and likes to think of us as one unit,” Grayden said.

“We’re all happy with that. We just chat about what we’re doing, do it and then catch up to decide what we’ll do next.”

It’s a busy high-production farm, with a maximum 800 cows on 325ha. It runs smoothly, achieving solid figures.

“We max out at 800 then we start drying off again for spring,” Grayden said.

The herd is virtually all Friesian with only a small number of crosses.

Although in a high rainfall area, 40 ha of the farm is under irrigation.

“While we’re drying off, we still only get down to 400 to 450 so the irrigation is handy over summer,” Lachie said.

They feed year-round to maintain production and the high stocking rate of about 2.5 cows per hectare.

“We’re a high production farm and we’re pumping the feed into them,” Grayden said.

“We’re flat out with urea and ProGibb.”

Production sits about 21 500 litres a day at the moment while drying off cows for spring calving but can get up to 23 000 when things are perfect.

The herd average is about 32 litres per cow.

They feed about five tonnes of grain per day across the herd when at full stocking rate, plus hay depending on amount of pasture in each paddock.

The herd is divided into high production

and low production groups based on statistics obtained from the dairy computer system, installed as part of the 60-unit rotary built about nine years ago.

“That makes it a lot easier; we can adjust the feed to fit what she’s producing,” Grayden said.

Over summer in particular the cows are fed near the dairy to avoid lost production from excessive walking, with summer crops being drilled heavily to cope with the high stock numbers.

Heifers usually calve from February 14, and the cows start a week later and calve till the last week of May. About 100 to 150 cows start spring calving in early August. The farm achieves a 70 per cent in-calf rate with AI and then uses bulls for four weeks to clean up.

The brothers are keen to learn and contribute more.

Grayden has completed his Certificate IV in Agriculture and Lachie his Certificate III, and both are encouraged to attend field days.

“If we’re learning, Brendan’s happy to pay for it because it progresses us as farmers,” Lachie said.

“Running an 800-cow farm when you bring in so much feed is a big thing. Farming changes and we can bring back that new knowledge from doing those courses.”

Although it wasn’t in the initial plans, their parents accept their career choices.

“I think Mum and Dad are happy now; we’re keeping busy and happy,” Grayden said.

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA AUGUST 2019

6 // WEST VIC REGION

Back from the brink

BY RICK BAYNE

THE SKINNY tree branch mounted on Ash Barr’s

Ash Barr and partner Narla Saunders.

garage wall doesn’t look like it could cause too much damage, but it nearly killed the Drumborg dairy farmer.

Ash was feeding calves on November 4, 2016 when the branch fell 11m, spearing him in the head.

“It was an absolute freak accident,” he said.

“If I was half a second either way it might have got me on the shoulder or missed altogether but instead it speared straight through my skull.

“I was basically gone; it was only luck that a friend from up the road called in to get some colostrum and found me. If he hadn’t found me, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Photos taken not long after the accident show the huge indentation on Ash’s head.

“I could fit my fist in there!” he said.

“People think it must have been a big branch but it’s not. It’s thin and only about eight-foot long so I’ve got it mounted on the wall of my shed.”

Ash was airlifted to Melbourne and was in a coma for two days. Doctors feared he’d never walk

or talk again due to the severity of the head injury.

However, he defied the odds and started the long road to recovery after returning to his farm in far south-west Victoria about six weeks after the accident.

“I had to learn all the basic stuff,” Ash said.

“I couldn’t hold anything in my hand. My speech was absolutely gone; I couldn’t walk and talk.

“The amazing people at the Royal and Richmond Epworth hospitals got me up and going.”

For four months Ash had to wear helmets to protect the indentation until a titanium plate was made and inserted into his head.

“They removed the shattered skull and had to wait till they made the plate and inserted it, so I had to wear a helmet all the time.”

The trauma of the accident couldn’t have come at a worse time. Ash’s partner Narla Saunders had been diagnosed six weeks earlier with breast cancer and was preparing for chemo when the accident happened.

“She had her ordeal and I was there to look after her, then I was out to it,” Ash said. “But she was so strong and has fully recovered. She didn’t

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DAIRY NEWS AUSTRALIA AUGUST 2019

WEST VIC REGION // 7 “I had to learn all the basic stuff, I couldn’t hold anything in my hand. My speech was absolutely gone; I couldn’t walk and talk.” even stop work.”

And, of course, there was a farm to run and cows to milk.

Ash grew up on the property. He joined the army at 18 as an apprentice carpenter.

Six years later he returned to the farm, initially as a worker then as a sharefarmer before taking over from his mother, milking 250–260 mainly Friesian cows on a 200 ha main farm and 60 ha out-paddock.

In typical country fashion, the community rallied to support the stricken farmer.

“The farm survived thanks to a lot of great friends and family and the community,” Ash said.

“We have a part-time milker, Julie, but other people put their hands up to help out and we’re so grateful for that, but it’s pretty hard to sit in a hospital bed and not be able to do anything.”

Ash started easing back into farm work in September 2017, around the same time as Clint McKenzie joined the team.

“Because I’d had a major head accident, I had to look after myself,” Ash said.

“I basically followed Clint around and pottered around.”

With support from WorkSafe, Ash started building up to work three or four hours every second day, but on the anniversary of his accident he suffered a seizure.

“Until that seizure I was back driving and my speech was probably where it is at the moment, but I was diagnosed with epilepsy,” he said.

“After the seizure I couldn’t drive for a year or so, it made it hard to do the little things like driving to the out-block or ducking into town for farm supplies.”

Despite a few setbacks along the way, Ash, 42, is able to smile as he poses for a photo with the offending branch.

The farm is in good shape. “The cows are milking well and production has been good since the weather came through,” Ash said.

“I’m very lucky to have Clint and Julie to keep the farm going.

“We’ve been able to rejig the farm, changing little things to make it easier for Julie and especially Clint. For example, we changed calf feeding from twice a day to once, using a milk and powder combination.

“We’ve also changed AI aiming for more heifers, using more sexed semen and clamping down on who gets it, avoiding older cows and those who’ve had trouble in the past.”

The 24-a-side swingover dairy is basic but efficient and suitable for a one-person operation.

Ash helps with some of the farm work but mainly takes a farm management role.

“If I didn’t have Clint and Julie I couldn’t be here. I’d be lost without the farm.

“At the moment I still just want to get back on the road to take the pressure off Narla driving the children and myself everywhere. I just have to look after myself.”

A photo of Ash Barr taken shortly after he was hit be the tree branch, showing the damage it caused.

Focus Farms Expressions of Interest WestVic Dairy is seeking expressions of interest from dairy farmers across our region to participate in the Focus Farm project.

Focus Farms operate over a two year period and are designed to improve farm business management practices.

Participants recieve advice from an experienced farm consultant of their choice, as well as a support group of local farmers and service providers. This helps to guide the on-farm decision making process.

If you would like further information, or an Expression of Interest form, please contact Laurie Hickey on 0439 833 484.

"Having a constant line to other farmers and mentors through the program has been very helpful. We've been able to draw on their varied experiences."

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