A Welcome Leap Into Jerseys

WORDS // RICK BAYNE

THE McGrath family’s plans to slowly transition to a Jersey herd took a sudden leap forward last October.

When Bernie and Carol McManus’ Bercar jersey herd at Lockington in Victoria’s Goulburn Valley came on the market, the opportunity was too good to pass up for the Orford dairy farmers.

Bercar Jerseys has been one of the industry’s great success stories, with Bernie and Carol selling while at the top of their game with their herd ranked number two for BPI, HWI and TWI.

The 140 cows were just what the McGraths needed. At 17, Leo McGrath has joined the family operation working alongside his sister, 27-year-old Rachael, who now manages the farm with support from their father Eddie and uncle Andrew.

Leo says that the move to Jerseys has been a profitable success.

Previously the farm had cross-breds plus about 100 Holsteins and 100 Jerseys. They have sold all but a few Holsteins and cross-breds and swapped in Jerseys, while keeping about 20 Brown Swiss.

“Our plan is to go full Jersey,” Leo said. “I don’t think you could find a more efficient cow and they are better for our land because they don’t pug it up as much, especially this time of year.”

The McManus cows will retain their Bercar name but as their progeny come into the herd, they will be named after the McGrath’s Wootanga Park Jerseys.

“It was going to be a gradual, slowprocess but when the herd became available it went a bit quicker than we expected,” Leo said.

The new cows arrived on October 1, 2020 and they struggled at the start. “Three days after they arrived, we had 350 mm of rain; they’ve probably never experienced anything like that,” Leo said.

“We knew they were going to need a lactation to get used to the new environment and we planned for that.”

A few died from a shipping fever disease but they were quickly on to it and with vets were able to treat the disease.

There wasn’t much trouble getting them in calf and they’re starting to calve again now with no major problems.

“They’re really great cows; they’re more of a production herd which was what we wanted,” Leo said.

With the addition of the Bercar herd, the milk fat content went up to 5.3 kg/ Ms. “That pushed us into a higher band with our processors UDC which meant a boost to our income,” he added.

This year has been a big one for Leo who left school to start his dairy career. “I did six weeks of Year 12 and then decided to stop. I worked on the farm over the holidays and then went back to school until the first lockdown.

“I didn’t want to do Year 12 if it was going to be in and out of lockdown and working on the farm over the summer holidays made me realise this is what I really want to do.”

Leo has defied his age and taken over the breeding program, choosing the bulls this year.

Our plan is to go full Jersey. I don’t think you could find a more efficient cow and they are better for our land because they don’t pug it up as much, especially this time of year.

“When dad and Andrew did it, they would go to an A.I. company and pick a bull. I had already started choosing for the show cows, Dad and Andrew chose for the others.”

Last year Rachael, who is now on the committeeof Western District Jersey Breeders Club, chose the bulls in discussion with Leo, this year Leo led the discussions.

“We knew what we wanted to improve. With our herd, we need to bring our front teats in a bit because they were getting too wide and with Bernie’s herd, we wanted to make sure we kept strength in them so we chose bulls that would add some more grunt.

“We went through individual cows and selected about six bulls to suit them, using the Good Bulls App and catalogues.”

Despite being fresh out of school, Leo is hardly a novice. He started showing cows about six years ago at local shows and then progressed to Camperdown and Heytesbury shows and International Dairy Week in 2019 and 2020, learning from fellow competitors.

“We always met new people who helped us along. We didn’t go that well at Dairy Week but we learnt a lot. One of the good things about the dairy industry and showing is that everyone is keen to help you.

“As soon as I started showing, I started looking at the genetics and the different numbers and data,” Leo added.

At Dairy Week they also purchased three cows; Wallacedale Melvera Melanie, Wanstead Davids Ella and Jugiong Illagay to start different bloodlines.

Melanie founds success at the Heytesbury Show and Ella has just calved again and is looking really good.

The addition of the Bercar cows has taken the farm to about 480 milkers, up from 430.

The McGraths bid on quite a few lots at this year’s Jersey Showcase sale, coming home with the last lot – Bushlea Beaut Belle.

“She’s by an older bull and that’s what we liked about her. Backed by the Belle family, we thought she would be a great heifer and she is. She’s since had a heifer calf to Madill and she’s great.”

Leo wants to continue to learn and to implement a gradual program of change.

They have awaiting preg tests from the first embryos purchase from Avonlea Genetics in Canada, and in the next two or three years will look at flushing some cows.

The farm was used for sheep before the family converted to dairy in 2011. Rachael is overseeing the conversion of pastures from fescues to ryegrasses and clover.

The McGraths also have a property further south that is used for heifers, dry stock and a small flock of sheep introduced last year by Rachael.

They had been dairy farming until 2007, milking mostly Holsteins and crossbreds.

Leo is pleased with the big changes in his life over the past 12 months.

He now owns six cows in the herd, Rachael has 30-40 and older sister Maureen, who lives off-farm but does the bookwork, has two.

“We’re 100 per cent happy with the Jerseys. We’ve seen the results in production with our fat content going up and our income going up, and Mum (Anne) milked Jerseys as a kid and she loves seeing them here.”

“Looking back, it was a good idea to leave school. I just wanted to be here and implement the breeding program and make a difference.”