A Majestic View

WORDS // RICK BAYNE

Theo Bradley (right) looks across the valleys of his Drouin West farm and has no doubt he chose the right name for his Jersey stud.

Majestic Jerseys certainly lives up to its name and Theo was proud to show his herd for the first time during the recent Jersey Australia conference.

A later starter in the dairy industry, Theo was in his early 40s when he and wife Anne used all their perseverance to get a foot in the door - and they’ve been just as determined to make it a success ever since.

“We’re very happy where we are,” Theo said. “We’re having a good year; milk prices are pretty strong and the season has been good.”

Their home farm is just 70 hectares but that is supplemented by leased land for young stock and silage.

The farm wasn’t being used as a dairy farm when it went on to the market in late 2008.

“The GFC had hit so everything had slowed down,” Theo said. “We went to the bank but they said no.” We’d never farmed before and because it was being used for grazing, they didn’t have any figures to show it could succeed as a dairy farm.”

At the time Theo was driving a truck to Melbourne and back every day, while also tending to a few beef cows on a 24ha property.

“The bank was very reluctant but we had three interviews and basically wore them down,” he said.

Getting started wasn’t easy. “We had to replace every pump on the farm and put a herd together from scratch with the help of Barry Monson,” Theo said.

“We put together a nucleus herd, mostly older, sound cows with a little bit of background and we spread from there. Every now and then we would buy a good cow when we could afford it, but mostly they were basic cows.”

Genetically they sourced cows from four or five different places.

They classified and registered the herd and used A.I from the start. “It was fairly intense from the beginning – we tried to hit the ground running but it was a case of having to for the bank.”

Theo looked for type and production when establishing the herd, and it had to be Jerseys.

“I was never a big fan of Jerseys until I worked for a farm that had a registered stud. I was really impressed with them. They were really nice cows that would come in full of milk. That really turned me around.

“I did the maths behind it and Jerseys were the way to go. Pound for pound, I don’t think you can beat them. If you feed them right, they will produce. A 650-700 kilo Friesian compared to a 350-400 kilo Jersey, if you maintain their body weight, they will milk.”

Theo received an award at the AGM for producing just under 6000 litres. “Our aim is to do as much as we can and hopefully that gets better over time,” he said.

“It’s good to gauge how many litres but my aim is to feed a cow properly every day and they will produce for you.”

His herd has constantly improved, especially the Mellow and Belle families.

“We’ve got to the stage where we can’t milk any more on our land,” Theo said. “We go on pedigree and keep a lot of our heifers, but exports to China have also worked well for us.

They run 180-190 cows but the milking platform is only about 160 acres so they push the land fairly hard, though off-farm land means allows good supplies of silage.

With Melbourne only 99 kilometres away, there has been a lot of demand for land, pushing prices upwards.

Theo is happy with the life change and aims to keep farming as long as he can.

“About 30 years ago I did a relief milking course and tried to get into the dairy game then but there was so much money involved,” he said.

“When the opportunity came up in 2008, I was relief milking on the weekends and just loved it. I was in my early 40s and thought if I don’t have a crack now, I never will.

“I’d always wanted to get into it and we just kept persevering.”

Theo and Anne are happy with their choices.

“It has been difficult at times; some years we’ve made no money but seasons come and go and there’s always next year. I love it. It wouldn’t worry me if I’m still milking at 70.”

The Jersey Australia tour was the first time Theo has shown his cows. “I was quite apprehensive,” he said. “Some of the other guys hosting tours have magnificent herds and have been going a lot longer than me but it was interesting.”

Visitors will agree with the Majestic title.

“I was talking to a guy about 15 years ago and he said cows on a beautiful day look so majestic. I thought, he’s so right. You see cows grazing in a paddock and they just look majestic.”

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