South Coast Farmer - Spring 2008

Paul Macphail works on mutual respect to get the best out of his sheep dogs. dogs Read his story on pages 6-7.

PAGE 2 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

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“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 3

By Matt Dunn

Noel Fitzpatrick believes South Gippsland could become a Mecca for tourists chasing that most elusive of culinary delights – the black truffle.

With a burgeoning wine industry and some fine restaurants in the region, the area has more in common with another famous truffle-growing region.

“This area, believe it or not, is very similar to the south of France. Very similar in its rainfall, high and low temperatures, soil structure, but not soil PH. In France the soil is more alkaline,” he said.

The difference means growers in South Gippsland are forced to add “massive amounts” of lime to the soil.

“But all the other elements are quite good. The latitude is only about one degree different to the south of France,” he said.

“There’s a bit of a band across the bottom of Australia that is suitable for growing truffles,” he said.

Noel, who is operating from a property near Korumburra, said was it was “no surprise” that Glen Alvie farmer Neville Chapman had found success p by growing the first black truffles in the region.

Noel, who has met Neville, said: “I try and seek out any growers and

introduce myself to them. I’m executive of the Australian Truffle Growers Association.”

Unifying growers and passing on knowledge is a big part of developing the industry.

Western Australia has a booming truffle growing industry and the long term plan, aside from servicing the local market, was to export France’s favourite fungi back to it.

Noel has planted some 400 oak trees – both French and English - whose roots are suffused with a spawn that, if all things go well, will turn into the black gold that is such a sought after commodity in kitchens around the world.

“The truffle is the fruiting body of the fungus that associates itself with the root system. So when we buy the trees they come from nurseries that have the fungus inoculated onto the roots,” he said.

“That’s all done in the seedling stage. They hold them for 12 to 18 months and then they inspect them and make sure the tree is nice and robust and there is a good fungal infection on the roots.”

The truffle develops its own fine root system, extracting nutrients from the soil and helping the host tree’s root system swell to seven times its normal size.

It’s a “symbiotic” relationship that helps the tree grow well.

Even with the right tree, fungal infection, rainfall, sunshine, soil PH levels and all the other myriad circumstances that help make the black gold grow, the success rate is not high. There are many variables when it comes to truffle growing, which is perhaps part of the attraction.

Trees will not produce truffles for about six years and Noel’s trees are years from yielding their valuable prize.

Noel, a horticultural expert, is inspired by the challenge of growing truffles, though quietly confident his undertaking will be successful.

He sees a day when tourists will dig up truffles on his property, watch them being used to make a recipe and eat the resultant dish – while be-

ing served the best of South Gippsland’s wines, of course.

But he said it was not a matter of simply walking around the property and plucking them from the ground.

Truffles cannot be found without a trained animal. Thieves had tried to plunder truffle growers’ stocks, often damaging the roots of the host trees but never finding truffles.

“They’re not necessarily more valuable the bigger they are. Seventy or eighty grams feeds about 20 people. The biggest one found in Australia was about 1.2kg. But one that big is not easy to sell,” he said.

A truffle connoisseur will look for a well formed truffl flee that is extremely aromatic.

“They smell mell unlike anything. Different people describe them in different ways. Different truffles do different things – but they’ll be earthy, garlicy, they might have a hint of wild raspberry,” ry,” he said.

“But itss power is really what hat gets you. You can smell them under the ground. ground.

Nature gave gave them a powpow werful aroma aroma that makes animals want to dig them up, eatt them, scatscatttering them theem again through through the feaces.”

It seems this natural cycle had been de-

Truffle man: Noel Fitzpatrick with his brother’s dog Froggy on the property near Korumburra that is part of a nascent truffle industry in South Gippsland.

stroyed, however.

“A hundred years ago in France the country was producing two thousand tons of truffles per year,” he said.

“It was a fairly common commodity. But due to several things, like global warming, two world wars, droughts, the urban sprawl, old folks dying and not passing the knowledge on, the French produce only 20 ton today.

“They’re not getting the results over there.

We’re tying to figure out the mysteries of the truffle, and I’m not sure we ever will.”

But Noel is getting closer, he believes, and many foodies will be following his progress with interest.

PAGE 4 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

The art of the

By Chris Brown

AT the VLE Leongatha saleyards on a cool winter’s morning a strong voice rises above the din of cattle.

Almost 1000 animals are sold at Koonwarra on this Wednesday and the prices go forth from a man standing on an elevated platform; “46” as in $1.46 a kilogram.

Below him a group of buyers raise their hands or nod when an animal appeals to them.

“Forty-six?”

“Forty-six done,” says the auctioneer as he strikes his cane against the rail and moves on to the next pen of cattle.

Among the auctioneers is Landmark’s Terry Ginnane, who has been doing it for 25 years and still practices all the time.

“You practice your voice, your speed and the things you might want to say,” he says.

Terry never aimed to be an auctioneer; at one stage he was accepted into a law course, which he deferred.

“I was offered a job, took it, and I’ve been in the same job since,” he says.

This particular sale, Terry runs a fastpaced auction, quickly selling Landmark’s pens of cows, prompting one buyer to rue: “I didn’t get a pen down there”.

It’s a long way from where he began, selling bobby calves at Shepparton.

Cattle sale: auctioneer, Terry Ginnane runs a fast paced sale on a Wednesday morning.

Alex Dixon

“Auctioning at the big special sales we used to have at Koonwarra has been a highlight,” he said.

“We’d yard up to 2000 cattle in the 1980s and I’d sell quite a fair few of those cattle.

“To be able to sell 1000 bullocks is something not many auctioneers in Australia get to do.”

Reporter with Meat and Livestock Australia’s National Livestock Reporting Service, Peter Kostos sees plenty of Gippsland auctioneers in action.

Each week he attends and reports on markets at Pakenham, Koonwarra and Bairnsdale.

“In my opinion auctioneers need to have a very good knowledge of cattle and prices, which is an experience thing,” he says.

“A good auctioneer can work the crowd and needs to have some good comebacks, because the buyers will give them a hard time at times.”

An auctioneer should access the situation on the day and then be in control of the sale.

“When buyers are keen to buy cattle, if you can produce a fast sale, knowing what you are doing, you can get prices better than other people; other times you need to slow down,” Peter says.

“You’ll get some auctioneers who, for whatever reason, get up there and have difficulty running a good sale and they don’t

Marty Gleeson

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 5

auction

have their prices right and it can affect the whole sale.”

At other times “heated, hurtful or unwarranted” comments are made.

“An auctioneer needs to try to placate those things, because it can take over the sale,” he said.

Earlier this year Terry judged the State Young Auctioneer title for the first time.

Judges were looking for things like voice, appearance, presence and the accuracy of stock values.

“You notice a number of things, such as whether they command respect or if they do something that makes you sit up and take notice,” he says.

“An auctioneer needs to be able to think fast on their feet and be able to make quick decisions.”

Terry practices a fast sale, which he says keeps buyers interested and honest.

“They all want to buy. If it goes slow they seem to be able to work out that someone’s going to go on this pen and someone on that pen, but if you don’t give them the time they seem to compete a lot better,” he says.

“They like to challenge themselves as well, they’re professional buyers.”

Auctioneers can also create challenges at times as well.

Terry remembers 10 or so years ago when a couple of older agents, who weren’t keen on bookwork, were selling away.

Paul Wilson

“One of them had the book, but they sold the whole lane and didn’t write anything down, that was amusing, but the buyers were very good and gave us the prices and we went back and worked it all out,” he says.

Selling someone’s livelihood is serious business and hard times bring this to the fore.

Warren Clark, who’s on the national board of directors for the Australian Livestock and Property Agents Association, says auctioning cattle during droughts is the toughest.

“One of my dear old clients had magnificent bullocks and we had prices that were pretty ordinary and the poor old fellow cried,” he says.

“But a couple of years later we sold his bullocks for $2.70 (a kilogram), so that’s a high.”

Warren says auctioning hasn’t changed in 150 years.

“The animal has to be auctioned and in Victoria it’s the way the majority of livestock are sold; what this industry is facing is a rationalisation of saleyards and that will be the biggest threat,” he says.

There’s also hope for the future of auctioneering though, according to Warren.

“It’s amazing the quality of the auctioneers coming through,” he says.

Stewart Bryant

PAGE 6 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

By Brad Lester

STEEP hills and silly sheep are the bane of many South Gippsland farmers, but for a Welshpool bloke, the terrain of his land and the nature of his animals shaped his career.

Paul Macphail’s farm extends from the South Gippsland Highway north into the foothills of the Strzelecki Ranges. Sloping faces and deep gullies mean rounding up stock can take longer than it ought to and cause many a furrow on this man’s brow, especially sheep of the “ignorant” variety.

Traversing the land on motorbike was not always practical and chasing sheep on foot sounded like hard work.

But dogs did the trick for Paul.

“A couple of well bred dogs can save you a lot of time and be efficient. When I moved to my Welshpool farm in 1989, I bought 500 ewes and had great difficulty in mustering and controlling them in the steep gullies, so the need for

dogs was very, very alive.

“That’s when I started doing dog trials, which were very bad to start with.”

Having grown up around dogs, his affinity with the animals was always there. But Paul wanted to know more, to build a more insightful understanding of them and so sought the advice of reputable South Australian trainer, Neil McDonald and attended every training school he could.

These days, Paul runs Beloka Kelpie Stud, so named after a favourite place in the mountains near Omeo, and travels around Australia training dogs: working kelpies owned by farmers, as well as Border Collie pets owned by townies and city folk. People travel from Melbourne for Paul’s words of wisdom and even further afield to buy the quality dogs he breeds and trains.

He is a familiar sight at sheep trials and dog events. A kelpie he bred topped the sales at the Casterton Kelpie Festival this year, selling for $7400. Others have gone on to succeed at sheep trials, but at the end of the day, Paul gets his biggest kick from seeing students achieve their goals.

Watching the strapping man and his canine mates in action is a display of a bond between man

and animal - they seemingly know what each other is thinking and work together to get the job done.

“My specialist thing is to use lots of positive exercises instead of the old force-fear method, because if your dogs like you, they will respect you. It’s about you being in the leader role.”

“It sounds easy enough, but part of my training dog courses focuses on making sure that what you think you are communicating to your dog is actually the message it is actually receiving.

“Once handlers understand this, it receives frustration for them, confusion for the dog, and working with your dog becomes the pleasurable experience it should be.”

The first step to a good dog, Paul reckons, is to teach manners and obedience.

“It’s about you being the boss.

You don’t have to be a mean boss but you have to have discipline before you start.”

Next is working with the dog’s instincts and Paul has found that can scare some farmers.

“It’s about positioning yourself to allow your dog to work opposite you. Then it’s about sits and stops and coming from behind. It’s important to get these basic controls working in a controlled area, otherwise they’re just as likely to dis-

Learning the ropes: Grace may be just four months old, but she is eager to learn.

Starting young: at just four months old, Grace shows no fear up close with sheep in the race.

Most photos that appear in The Star can be purchased by calling 5662 2294.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 7

obey you. Some dogs won’t come from behind, some bite, some are just not strong enough.

“You’ve also got to understand how stock think. The instinct of stock is to escape and they think we are predators. If you can harness the escaping leader and get him to go where you want him to go, that is the trick. Usually the ones that cause you the most grief are the most quiet. A lot of the time, it’s reverse psychology.

You’ve got to get stock to think they’re actually escaping.”

Disobedient dogs are the biggest challenge. Often that’s their instinct showing, Paul said, and that’s the time for their instinct to be brought under control.

“To be efficient, dogs need to do what they are told and the owners have got to understand how they work.”

Then there are dogs that won’t listen and owners who are too hard and their dogs too submissive.

“I like a dog that will go around opposite me and control the sheep and bring them back into a mob and control them for me.

They need to have strength and the brains so they can control animals.

And at the end of the day, you have to have some personality in your dogs.”

For that very reason, Paul pre-

fers kelpies in his breeding program, as they are inherently smart.

Sophie is his main breeding bitch, a daughter of one of the oldest dogs on his farm, 16-year-old Max. His kids – Matthew, 10, Jacob, nine, and Chloe, seven – all have their own dogs, reminiscent of Paul’s own childhood on the family farm at Hedley.

“My father Ken always had farm dogs. There were lots of trees and there would have been dogs tied up to every one, just about.

It was dad who taught me the basics.”

Kelpies and border collies remain the two main breeds of working dogs in Australia, developed by hundreds of years of selective breeding for stock work.

According to Paul, collies, Smithfields and Australian cattle dogs are also popular working animals. Other breeds with a history of working stock include the Belgian shepherd, German shephered, Hungarian Puli and even corgis.

“Regardless of what sort of dog you have, all dogs and their owners love the outdoors. Using your dogs for the purpose they were bred for makes both dogs and owners more self-confident and builds stronger bonds between you.”

Close Connection: Paul Macphail established a close relationship with his dogs, such as Spook, to get the best out of them in the yard.

Rounding up: Paul works against a backdrop of the hills at his Welshpool property.

PAGE 8 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

Farm produce: Tina Collins of the Peaceful Gardens Organic Farm at Koonwarra gave students from the Cowes Primary School a taste of some of the delicious jams and sauces made from organic fruit and vegetables grown on the farm.

A JOURNEY from the paddock to the plate saw students from the Cowes Primary School learning the benefits of organic produce and healthy eating at the Peaceful Gardens Organic Farm and Cooking School at Koonwarra.

Getting children to eat healthier is all about education and the Peaceful Gardens Organic Farm opened their farm gate recently and welcomed the two busloads of young Island students.

Farm manager Gayle Archbold and Tina Collins, who is in charge of the farm

Worm farm: Peaceful Gardens farm manager Gayle Archbold explains the benefits of establishing a worm farm to Cowes Primary School students.

animals, tours and the cooking school, took students on a guided tour of the farm that started with the resident pig, an enormous black Berkshire pig. Mr Pig as he is sometimes referred was a stand out favourite.

There was plenty of grunting and snorting, much to the delight of the children as they fed the pig some delicious apples grown of course on the farm.

The children saw the organic Japanese Wagyu beef cattle, English Leicester sheep, Clydesdale horses, huge vegetable garden, orchard and worm farm.

Children enjoyed learning about the benefits of establishing a worm farm and

It’s apples: the gentle Clydesdale horses at Peaceful Gardens were spoilt during a recent visit by students from the Cowes Primary School who got to feed them delicious apples, grown in the farm’s extensive orchard.

had a lot of fun getting their hands dirty, searching delicately through the dirt and holding wriggly creatures.

Following the walking tour of the farm students and teachers were treated to a sampling session of the delicious farm produce, they smelled the aromas of freshly picked herbs and learned what can be made from this fresh organic produce.

Huge baskets of freshly picked strawberries were eagerly devoured by the students who had built up a healthy appetite down on the farm.

During the farm tour, students learned that organic growers aim to produce food as naturally as possible without the use of artificial fertilisers and pesticides.

Organic systems recognise that our health is directly connected to the health of the food we eat and, ultimately, the health of the soil.

Following the farm tour, students were bussed to the Peaceful Gardens Organic Cooking School, the first ‘Certified Organic’ cooking school in Victoria, where chef Maria Stuart showed the children how much fun and how easy it is to cook healthy, nutritious organic meals.

During the demonstrations students tasted the delicious lemon butter cooked using lemons from the farm and other delicious treats.

Students learned the difference between food processed with additives and chemicals as opposed to organic food that has not been altered.

Peaceful Gardens aims to teach children “to understand the difference they can make to the environment by choosing organic food over chemically grown and treated produce.”

Oohy gooey worms: Bree Patrick, a Grade One student at the Cowes Primary School, carefully holds a worm from the compost worm farm at the Peaceful Gardens Organic Farm at Koonwarra during a recent excursion.

“Organic systems recognise that our health is directly connected to the health of the food we eat and, ultimately, the health of the soil.”

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 9

Organic cuisine: budding Cowes Primary School chefs Will Lone, Billy Taylor, Will Semple, Sam Randle and Nicholas Johnson enjoyed helping out during their recent cooking class at the Peaceful Gardens Cooking School.

Fun on the farm: Cowes Primary School teachers Julie Holloway, formerly of Leongatha, and Elinor Hansen enjoyed their recent organic farm excursion to Koonwarra with the Grades one and two students.

All smiles: you couldn’t wipe the smile from the faces of the children from the Cowes Primary School as they toured the Peaceful Gardens farm at Koonwarra with teachers Julie Holloway and Elinor Hansen and cook Tina Collins.

Pig’s life: Tina Collins is in charge of the animals at Peaceful Gardens farm and the 100 kilogram cutey, Mr Piggy always gets the special treatment.

Organic produce: on the Peaceful Gardens Organic Farm at Koonwarra the freshest and best fruit and vegetables are chosen for their superb selection of homemade jams, sauces and preserves.

Sensory tour: Ella Bianchi-Curphy and Marvin Sellers, students at the Cowes Primary School, enjoyed taking time to smell the colourful floral bouquets during their Peaceful Gardens farm excursion.

PAGE 10 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

Marketing farms

By Lauren Malone

IT is well known that the food grown in one’s garden: fruits, vegetables and eggs, taste so much better than those mass-produced and sold at the supermarket.

Sunny skies: when the sun’s out the crowds flock to the monthly South Gippsland Farmers Market in Koonwarra; it’s always the first Saturday of the month.

The problem is, not many people can find or make the time to keep a garden or maintain chooks.

As food prices rise along with everything else, a visit to the local farmers market at the weekend is surprisingly inexpensive, and also a great social outing.

The best part, however, occurs when you get home.

This is because buying produce at the farmers market is just like walking out the back and picking it fresh from your garden - only the farmer has done all of the hard work for you.

Farmers markets offer fresh produce, often harvested within 24 hours of purchase and grown locally.

Whether it is potatoes, herbs or even seedlings, the stall holders are only too happy to share their knowledge about cooking, growing and basically, making the most of your purchase.

Peter Arnold has managed Regional Farmers Markets for more than a decade Curry puffs: always a favourite at the market at Koonwarra are and says they are not only a great option the curry puffs cooked by Daud and Aton Ormond-Allen of Daton for people to buy locally grown produce at a reasonable price, but they also offer

Malay Cuisine, Inverloch.

Native flowers: flowers from Prom Country Flowers are purchased at a recent South Gippsland Farmers Market by Isobel and Clare Duyker of Box Hill.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 11

- pasture to plate plenty to the community.

“Take the Inverloch Farmers Market for example. It is held monthly in the beautiful Glade, and benefits not only those who are there to sell produce, but also local service clubs and the school, which operates a barbecue at the market,” Mr Arnold said.

Operating 11 markets “from Daylesford to Metung”, Mr Arnold says the beauty of the markets, which generally take place monthly, is their ever-changing variety.

“The produce available will depend on what time of the year it is, so while we had stone fruits, berries and salad ingredients during the summer period, this changes with the weather,” he said.

“Not only are the markets great for the locals, they’re also a great way our region’s finest produce is showcased to visitors to the area, particularly as we have some of the best wines around, just as one example.”

Mr Arnold first became involved with markets 11 years ago, at Koonwarra, and this market still operates on the first Saturday of each month.

What sets this particular market apart, aside from the fact that it was Victoria’s fist official farmers market, is the fact that proprietors Juliet and Bill Klaur pay careful attention to the variety on offer from stall holders.

At Koonwarra’s monthly market, the produce available is strictly local, and competition among stall holders is kept at a minimum to avoid conflict or oversupply of a particular product.

Both ways of operating appear to work brilliantly, which is why at any market throughout South Gippsland, it is common to hear “I wish this took place every week”, as a central conversation point among visitors.

Mr Arnold’s response to this is that South Gippslanders, both permanent and weekenders, have taken farmers markets

to heart.

“Everybody wants to live well, and eat well, and the markets really cater to this need,” he said.

Jane Seaholme, the manager of the ever-popular weekly Kongwak Market, agrees.

“Unlike the chore of grocery shopping, fighting through queues and feeling ripped off, visiting the market is like treating yourself to a day out,” Jane said.

“At Kongwak, our visitors can get their week’s worth of veggies and other food products which range week to week, but we also offer music, beautiful Malay food, and the Sunday morning essential coffee.”

“Besides that, there’s plenty of bargains to be had at our food and book stalls too.”

Markets in South Gippsland, whether specifically farmers markets, craft or those operated by service clubs, take place just about every weekend and the best way to find out more is to enquire through the community directories of the South Gippsland and Bass Coast Shires, or simply keep a lookout for roadside signs advertising their next date.

Mr Markets: Peter Arnold is among the movers and shakers behind the success of farmers markets in our region, with 11 years experience and a noticeable passion for his work.

Delicious: Kerry Thornton sells breads and cakes from Thornton’s Bakery, Leongatha.

PAGE 12 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

Beauty and t

By Deborah Lucas SILKA Neist of Devon North has many strings to her bow; strings that have contributed to her being named Gippsland Rural Ambassador 2008.

She loves nothing more than getting out on her parents’ farm and working with the stud Braunviehs and Tarentaise cattle her family breed and show.

For Silka there is nothing like country living and she should know, as she has just returned to the quiet life after spending two years working and managing an exclusive day spa in Sydney. She

studied di d Human Movement iin Canberra b before crossing over to study beauty therapy.

“I just love where I am now, working as a milker for the Staley family morning and night and then coming back home here to Devon North and working with cattle, it’s just great,” Silka said.

As well as her farm work, Silka is in the process of setting up her own day spa in the disused dairy on her parents’ property.

“The day spa is an exciting project and I am looking forward to pampering people again,” she said.

If her days weren’t busy enough, Silka is the masseur at the Woodside and

Watching: Silka watches as her cattle feed peacefully at the Neist’s property at Devon North.

Champion: Silka and the Braunvieh bull which took out the breed championship at Bendigo recently.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 13

the beasts District Football Club on training nights and game days.

Silka was approached to enter the Rural Ambassador competition at the Sale Show where she was showing cattle for her parents.

After winning the local rural ambassador award, Silka went to the next level, where she was up against all the other local show winners throughout Gippsland. Having won that section Silka now looks forward to September and the Royal Melbourne Show where the final judging will take place and the Victorian Rural Ambassador for 2008 will be crowned.

The competition is designed to highlight the talent, creativity and ingenuity of young rural Victorians and in doing so encourage entrants to be role models across local communities.

Enthusiastic, skilful and industrious young people living or having an involvement in rural environments are encouraged and rewarded.

Through their participation, all entrants are assisted to develop strong communication and leadership qualities.

The applicant is enabled to gain greater proficiency in their chosen field and also to develop the applicant’s stature and reputation in that chosen field.

Entrants are judged on community involvement, country show involvement, general and rural knowledge, personality, ambition and goals, communication skills as well as style, grooming and deportment. Public presentation is highly regarded during the judging process.

The Victoria Rural Ambassador will win $8000 of which $2000 will be cash and $6000 will go towards educational based activities. The runner-up will receive $2000 which will also be used for education-based activities.

Silka was in Melbourne last week for the final briefing on what they will be required to do as ambassadors at the Royal Melbourne Show.

“We were fitted for our blazers that we will wear throughtout the two weeks of the show. We will be required to attend the official dinner and attend the presentation in the main arena,” she said.

If Silka takes the title she intends to use her education-based portion of the prize money to travel and study farming practices in France.

The Victorian Rural Ambassador award is sponsored by Kubota, Weekly Times, Department of Primary Industries and the Royal Melbourne Show Society.

Reflection: Gippsland Rural Ambassador Silka Neist takes time out to reflect on what being Gippsland Rural Ambassador will mean for her.

Home: Silka Neist at home on her parents’ property at Devon North

Show what you’ve got The Rural Ambassador Award is conducted annually by the Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria Ltd. and Victorian Agricultural Shows Ltd. The awards identify and encourage enthusiastic, industrious and skilful young people, providing them with a forum to express their views through education and experience.

The award is judged across 12 regions in Victoria with winners at the local level going on to the regional final.

Regional final winners then take part in the State final held at the Royal Melbourne Show each year with the Victorian winner taking part in the National finals.

The aims of the Award are: • To highlight the talent, creativity and ingenuity of young rural Victorians and in doing so, to encourage entrants to be role models across local communities.

• To encourage and reward enthusiastic, skillful and industrious young people living, or having an involvement, in rural environments.

• To assist all entrants, through their participation, to develop strong communication and leadership qualities.

• To enable entrants to gain a greater proficiency in their chosen field(s) and to develop their reputations and statures in those fields.

Applicants must be over 20 years of age and under 30 years of age as of 1st May in the year of the state final.

Rural Ambassador Award winner, Sara-Jane Bowering, said the experience had changed her life.

“The Rural Ambassador Awards is an amazing experience where liked minded enthusiastic youth living in regional Victoria are able to network and

develop available skills that will benefit them for life,” she said.

“The Rural Ambassador Awards to me has been a life changing experience that has allowed me to develop in many ways, especially in the field of public speaking.

“Through the process of the award from local, to regional and then to state finals I have been able to network with interesting and amazing people that all have the same drive and passion for their community and in particular the long jeopardy of their Agricultural shows.

“As a part of winning the state title, I was awarded an overwhelming and generous amount of funds kindly donated by the Department of Primary Industries.

“These funds will see me develop and founder a young professionals committee within the North East of Victoria.

“I envisage the committee to be based on the fundamental elements of what used to be the Young Farmers Committees.”

Sara-Jane said she believed that rural communities need to retain the next generation, as these people are our farmers and leaders in to the future.

“The Rural Ambassador Award title is an honour for any valued and motivated young person living in regional Victoria,” she said.

“The award gives all entrants the opportunity to expand in many ways both personally and professionally. “ I have enjoyed the Rural Ambassador award experience immensely and cannot wait to meet next year’s Ambassadors!”

PAGE 14 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

The straight and narrow

By Matt Dunn

Breaking new ground: Brett Loughridge and Adrian Tilling did well at the 55th World Ploughing Contest in Grafenegg in Austria.

BRETT Loughridge and the aptly named Adrian Tilling recently competed in the 55th World Ploughing Contest in Grafenegg, Austria.

Brett competed while Adrian was coach. The pair came 11th.

While the duo did battle with competitors from all over the world, Brett said: “It was more of a competition against the soil than your competitor.”

According to the organisers of the event it exceeded all expectations, with competitors from 30 countries making the trek.

Quite different to other motor sports, ploughing is all about not speeding. And perhaps this is the reason why ploughing continues to gain popularity. It is the antithesis of other modern competitions.

The Poowong ploughers cut through the competition in Australia in June before making there assault on the world title.

How did they do it?

For Adrian, who had no interest in travelling, the noble art of ploughing has broadened his horizons and taken him all over the world.

While wife Wendy had ventured to exotic places, like the Himalayas, Adrian vowed to stay at home. That was until mate Brett asked him if he’d like to enter a ploughing competition in Ireland.

He has not looked back.

That was 11 years ago.

“I never thought I’d end up travelling around the world to compete,” he said.

“I always hoped, but I never thought I would get there. I was always told that one day it’s going to hit you by surprise and one day it did. And the next year it happened again, and the next year it happened again.

Adrian won national titles in 2004, 2005 and 2006. He was third in this year’s titles. Brett won the Australian title this year and last year, and before that in 1997, 1998 and 1999.

Despite their successes, Adrian said that the pair did not train endlessly.

“Basically we train when we compete,” he said.

“It’s not often we plough outside competition – you’d have to be pretty keen to do that.”

Ploughing is not their day to day business - Brett is a dairy farmer, while Adrian is an auto electrician – but clearly something they love doing nonetheless.

Brett said for him the appeal was working with machinery.

“It’s the skill of being able to adjust your plough to get the best out of it and do the job – and the fellowship,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people who don’t plough who just come along for the fellowship side of things.”

Competitors have three hours to plough a 20m by 100m plot, which is slow by farming standards. However competition ploughers are judged not so much on speed as how well they plough. Judges are looking for near perfection, with completeness of cutting, close furrow slices, uniform furrow slices, and a number of other categories.

Brett and Adrian have stuck to the traditional form of ploughing by favouring the ‘conventional’. Other ploughers have taken up the ‘reversible’ plough, which has another two mould boards.

But for these men, tradition is important.

One day they may be forced to make the jump to ‘reversible’ ploughing, since it seems to be the one manufacturers are producing.

“Eventually we might have to go to reversible. It’ll basically be like when they went from horse ploughing. The tractor came in and the horse was phased out. I suppose it’ll be the same with this,” Adrian said.

“That could be a fair way down the track though, another 10 or 20 years,” Brett said.

Adrian said that being able to concentrate was the most important attribute for a ploughman.

Brett ploughed in Austria at an invitation match in about 1996, so knows the paddocks well enough.

“The soil over there is a lot heavier,” he said.

“It seems to be heavy clay sort of stuff.

They’ve been farming over there for years and years and the soil is worked all the time.

“A lot of the times it’s heavy going in certain countries. The trouble is because there’s a lot of small farms over there and heaps of competitors it could end up being held on 10 different farms. The plot you draw could be completely different to the one your competitor draws.”

Austria is certainly a ploughing nation. The first ploughing competition in the country was held in 1957 by the rural youth.

“Austria is the most successful ploughing nation of the world. Our competitors have won the world ploughing competition 16 times. This of course is a big reason why ploughing is so popular in Austria,” said competition organiser Maria Höblinger.

“The 55th world ploughing competition has a large supporting program; so there is a big party for the members of rural youth, as this is a world record run.

“A countrywoman will sing at the new open air stage in Grafenegg. There will be a stage for square dancing and many things further on.”

Ploughing on: Brett and Adrian have taken their ploughing to the international stage.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 15

Dairy expo time nears STRZELECKI Lions Club members are preparing for their Ninth Annual South Gippsland Dairy Expo on September 24 and 25 at the Poowong Recreation Reserve.

The core of the expo continues to be milk harvesting, but feedback from visitors has encouraged the committee to explore other farming areas and features.

At the expo some of South Gippsland’s dairy industry products will be showcased and children will be able to participate in a cooking activity.

This year the expo committee has been working closely with South Gippsland Shire’s economic development officer, Ken Fraser.

As a result a display area will showcase the Food Investment Prospectus and there will be samples from local cheese maker, Berrys Creek Cheeses.

Ken will also preview a new project regional shires are taking part in called Rural Skills Connect.

Councils involved are encouraging farmers and family members to take advantage of this opportunity to participate in various areas of training and help fill skill shortages in identified industry skill gaps.

Participants will receive formal qualifications that can be used to enable them to earn additional off-farm income.

They will be introduced to Cheeselinks a company that is located in Little River, Victoria, which has been teaching people to make cheese for more than 20 years.

The classes are popular, informative and fun, showing you step-by-step techniques and recipes on how to make delicious cheese from a home kitchen.

Cheeselinks’ core business is to provide and supply quality ingredients and materials to small and medium volume cheese and yoghurt makers.

Live demonstrations will be happening at 11.15am, 12.45pm and 1.45pm both days.

A keynote presentation at 12.15pm on the Wednesday will detail the history of Cheeselinks.

The Four F’s, Future, Farming, Feed and Finance will return this year with John Mulvany promising to take you on an entertaining crystal ball journey to explore what the Gippsland dairy industry may look like in five years time.

A panel made up of industry experts will discuss this topic on September 25 at 11am.

All farmers have the opportunity to attend the Murray Goulburn and Reid Stockfeed breakfast on Thursday morning the September 25, book by phoning Gary O’Connor on 0418 559 506 or Laura Tweddle on 0417 851 855.

Keynote speaker at the breakfast will be Professor David de Kretser, AC, Governor of Victoria.

Alltech will also hold a breakfast on Wednesday morning focusing on overcoming today’s challenges in the dairy industry.

Guest speaker Trish Lewis, a dairy nutritionist from NZ, will interact with participants to look at ways dairyfarmers can increase production on farm. Book by contacting Jessica Duffield on (03) 9767 2800.

Activities for the kids include Poowong’s Charismatic Camels so bring the kids for a ride.

The Gippsland Dairy Youth Group will be providing some lucky secondary school students with the opportunity to be mentored in the art of cattle fitting from 11am Wednesday.

During the last eight years the Dairy Expo has contributed more than $150,000 to the local community. Inquires phone Deanne Kennedy on 03 5659 4219.

Information gathering: chatting to exhibitors about products and solutions for farmers is part of the expo appeal.

Catering team: Angela and Brooke Barrett were helping the Loch Primary School quell growling stomachs at the dairy expo last year.

PAGE 16 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

Lots of Dutch in dairy farming

By Bert van Bedaf

THERE’S a saying here, “You ain’t much, if you ain’t Dutch.”

It was the first time I had heard this expression. Being Dutch-born, I could only chuckle at the idea. After all, you can’t do better than that.

Having lived in Australia since 1971, and mainly in Melbourne, coming to live in South Gippsland five years ago was something of a revelation, discovering there are more Dutch in South Gippsland than daffodils - and that’s saying something.

The Dutch came to Australia well before the first fleet. By 1606 the first skirmish with Aboriginals resulted in Dutch deaths at Cape Keer Weer (Return) on Cape York Peninsula. Dirck Hartog landed on the west coast 10 years later and from then on there were regular Australian encounters throughout Holland’s Golden Age during most of the 17th century.

Already then dairy produce formed a significant segment of the agricultural sector. During the 17th century, farmers also turned to market gardening to supply the burgeoning cities with vegetables.

Many Dutch migrated after World War II. Many families now living in South Gippsland arrived here in the early 1950s as parents with young children and had other children born here, such as the Dekker family, the Zuidema family or the De Bondt family, whose Australian history spans four generations.

And there’s much more. There’s the Verboon family and the memoires of the remarkable Tina Bons, who has written her own record of migration to the district. It has become a valuable document for the Leongatha and District Historical Society as part of its migrant experience project.

Having paid their own fares, the late Frederika and Cornelis De Bondt arrived in Darwin on Australia Day, January 26, 1951, with five children, eldest Kees (Case), second son Fred, Anna, Bastiaan (Bas) and Rita. Leo and George were born in Australia.

Cornelis pioneered IBM punch card equipment in Holland.

But he desired a better future for his family. He was no farmer, yet after two years of hardship in Orange, New South Wales, in 1953, he ended up making cheese in Yarram.

In May 1954, the family began share farming in Tarwin Lower. They later bought a couple of farms. One of which was the Hampton. The 325 acres of land on Powneys Road has culminated in the growth of a major dairy enterprise.

The property was started by Cornelis Snr and his sons Case, Fred, Bas and their wives.

This partnership ended in 1980.

Case and Joan and Bas and Joan bought Hampton and created a partnership that ran for the next eight years. In 1988 the partnership evolved into Case and Joan and his son Con with his wife Deanna, under Benoa Holdings. The partnership lasted 10 years.

Case and Joan now live in Inverloch. They had three children. Con, born in 1961, is the middle son. Debbie was born in 1959 and lives in Churchill. Robyn, born in 1962, lives in Mt Evelyn.

In 1996, the Benoa Holdings business bought an additional 392 acres.

In 1997, a 50-stand rotary dairy was installed, which was a major advancement for its time, following in the footsteps of the original De Bondt partnership that 25 years earlier had built the second 16-stand steel deck rotary in South Gippsland.

The new 392 acres was named

Family property: Deanna and Con De Bondt own a large dairy farm in Pound Creek, which continues their family tradition.

Samen Sterk, which means Together Strong in Dutch. It has become the business motto.

In 1998, a succession plan was formed and Case and his wife Joan retired, giving Benoa Holdings total ownership of the farm.

In the same year, the business acquired the 131 acres that joined the original farm with the Samen Sterk property, which had now grown to 848 acres.

In 2000, the business bought another 300 acres across the road, which brought the De Bondt farm to its present and final size of 1148 acres.

Con milks about 500 cows and the farm carries another 350 animals, including 150 calves, tended by Deanna.

Dutch couple Jurie van den Berg and his wife Kelly work on the farm. Kelly

assists Deanna, while Jurie is Con’s right-hand man.

“Everything on the original 325acre farm has been replaced over the 20 years, except the house, apart from refurbishments,” Con said.

The couple has four daughters.

Dana, 18, is in England at the moment.

Jayde, 16, Kayla, 14, and Sarah, 12, study in Melbourne.

They are the only De Bondt people still farming. But Con believed the name would carry on in the region.

“The name won’t disappear, but how it will go forward, I don’t know,” Con said.

“We never thought of the farm as going to the next generation. We run it as a business first and as a farm second. It would be a bonus if one of our family members would succeed us,”

Deanna said.

However, a cousin Dan, 22, who is a commercial plumber in Melbourne, might just carry on the tradition in years to come.

The De Bondt family has spread far and wide, not only in the district but also to Melbourne, where another cousin, who was raised on the Hampton farm, is a fireman.

But the De Bondt’s Australian roots will remain in South Gippsland.

POSTSCRIPT: Apologies to people who might feel they have been left out.

However, if anyone would like to participate in a more substantial record on the history of Dutch migrants in South Gippsland, feel free to email me on bert@thestar.com.au.

Coming to Australia DUTCH sailors were among the first Europeans to reach Australian shores and meet the native inhabitants.

Most photos that appear in The Star can be purchased by calling 5662 2294.

In 1606 the Duyfken (Little Dove) became the first ship to chart northern parts of Australia’s coast and to make contact with Aboriginal inhabitants. In an ensuing skirmish on land several Dutch sailors died.

Other Dutch explorers followed, discovering the west coast of Australia. In 1616 captain Dirck Hartog, sailing the Eendracht (Unity), set foot on what is now known as Dirk Hartog Island, just north of Shark Bay in Western Australia.

Although Dutch migration began in earnest after World War II, in the early 19th century a few Dutch-born convicts were transported to Australia.

A small number of free settlers also migrated and the gold rushes drew increasing numbers to Victoria from the 1850s. By 1911, 186 Dutch-born people lived in Victoria.

After World War II the Dutch government actively encouraged migration. Hundreds of thousands of Dutch sought a new future in other lands and almost a third chose to settle in Australia.

The numbers of Dutch in Victoria rose substantially in the post-war period. In 1947, 625 Dutch-born people were recorded. By 1954 the number had increased to 15,996.

Within five years the community had more than doubled to 36,284, including people from the former Dutch East Indies who emigrated after Indonesian independence in 1949.

Although the Dutch community is centred in the outer metropolitan areas of Melbourne, Dutch people also settled in large numbers in Geelong, LaTrobe Valley and South Gippsland during the early 1950s.

When the economic situation in the Netherlands improved during the 1960s, migration decreased. Some migrants also returned to the Netherlands. By 1981 the Netherlands-born population in Victoria had fallen to 30,707.

In 2001, the Victorian population had further declined to 23,503, which was still the largest number of Netherlands-born people of any state in Australia.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 17

Calling Australia home LEONGATHA resident Tina Bons, who was born in Holland in the river town of Sliedrecht in 1926, arrived in Melbourne on November 5, 1958, with husband Theo and their children, Peter (Pieter), Bill (Willem) and Corrie (Cornelia).

At home: Tina Bons wrote her memoirs, recalling her life in Holland and her farming experiences in South Gippsland.

Tina wrote her memoirs about two years ago, which are impressively detailed and fabulously anecdotal. The book’s 100 pages are richly illustrated with historical photographs.

She lived through the

Exchange keeps connections alive THE Verboon family have a Dutch migrant tradition that also stretches back to the early 1950s and their connections with the former homeland continue.

Bill (Willem) Verboon, with several brothers and sisters, came to South Gippsland with his parents, who started dairying in South Gippsland. He was eight years old. Today Bill and his wife Leanne run a dairy farm in Ruby.

He has been a director of Murray Goulburn since November 2004.

Bill’s sister Corrie regularly travels to Delft in the Netherlands, where she stays with friends and

relatives. The Verboon family hails from around Delft and Rotterdam in the province of South Holland.

When at home in Leongatha Corrie often has Dutch friends staying over and recently Bill and Leanne had a Dutch exchange student staying with them.

Bill still speaks Dutch, but their student Claudia de Jongh wanted to speak English, so he didn’t get all the practice Bill would have wanted. Claudia, 18, came from Sleeuwijk in the southern province of Brabant.

Members of the Leongatha Lions Club, Bill and Leanne attended a Lions convention in Darwin,

when they put their name down for a Dutch exchange student.

“We have had many exchange students staying with us and they were mostly from Japan. We wanted someone from Holland,” Bill said.

Meanwhile, Claudia had someone from the Dutch Lions organisation visiting her high school, asking if anyone would like to be an exchange student.

“I wrote an email explaining why they should choose me,” Claudia said. “I received a reply, giving me a choice of Australia, Argentina and Iceland. I chose Australia.”

She knew a bit about Australia

before arriving. “I knew about the kangaroos and koalas and I knew the different states and capital cities, that English was the spoken language and that people drive on the left side of the road.”

Claudia arrived on July 11 and stayed for three weeks, exploring the region and learning how to milk as well. She got on well with one of the Verboon daughters, Jess, also 18, who works full-time on the farm. Jess has another three sisters and three brothers.

“I did a lot of things in those three weeks,” Claudia said. “We went to the football and I ate my first pie.”

She went with the family to Stony Creek and watched Aussie Rules and netball for the first time. She had her first footy pie and later tasted gourmet pies in Inverloch. Jess took her shopping in Melbourne.

“We went shopping together and that was fun. We also went swimming at Splash and went to see Mamma Mia and the penguins on Phillip Island. She also helped me out on the farm and learned to drive our four-wheel motorbike,” Jess said.

Claudia left on August 2 and spent a week in Mackay, Queensland, at a student exchange camp, before returning to Holland last Saturday.

Exchange student: Claudia de Jongh (second from left) stayed with the Verboon family, Bill, daughter Jess and Leanne on their Ruby dairy farm for three weeks.

1930s Depression as a child, survived World War II and German occupation of The Netherlands between 1940 and 1945, and experienced the Great Flood in 1953 before migrating to Australia.

During the war, Tina’s parents were hiding refugees in the attic. Few Australians have heard of the Dutch flood of 1953. Spring tide storms caused the sea to rise and burst through dykes in the provinces of Zeeland and South Holland on January 31.

More than a thousand people died. Thousands of sheep, cattle, horses, pigs and poultry drowned.

The storm flooded 500,000 acres of farm land and 300,000 were made homeless. The disaster prompted the Dutch government to build a series of 15 reinforced dykes, sluices and bridges, called the Delta works. They were completed in 1997.

Tina was brought up on a dairy farm. Theo’s family owned a dredging company. Their first farming experience began in Mirboo North in 1959.

Her brother Bill and his wife Iet also migrated in 1959 and settled into farming in Dumbalk.

Other relatives arrived and also settled into there.

Some later moved to Outtrim and Mardan, but

already then the Bons had planted firm roots in the district.

The couple bought the Maddison farm in 1963 and began a long farming career. Their children went to Leongatha High School and family life took on a fully-fledged local dimension. They became Australian citizens in 1965.

The couple was prominent in the Reformed Church. She was a foundation member of the South Gippsland Citizens’ Advice Bureau in Leongatha in 1978 and is still a volunteer at the bureau.

When Theo died in 1992, at 72, Mrs Bons felt an emptiness that she overcame with the support of her family, friends and faith, three great pillars of her life.

She visited Holland in 1996 by herself for the first time. “It was an eerie feeling, as if I had abandoned Theo,” she wrote.

Although she had made many visits to Holland with Theo in the past, she felt their home was here in Leongatha.

“We were always pleased to come back home to Australia. You see, home is where your children are. We proudly call Australia home,” Mrs Bons said.

PAGE 18 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

On a clearing day

By Danny Buttler

THERE’S two types of people at a clearing sale – buyers and talkers.

Happy buyer: Korumburra’s Bob Newton happily shows off the antique shears he bought for $12.

The buyers follow the auctioneers like cattle follow a ute full of hay.

Wherever he goes, they scramble after him, looking for the next bargain they can transfer from a dusty corner of the vendor’s shed to a dusty corner of their own shed.

The talkers gather in groups of two, three or four, paying little heed to the sale, preferring to yarn about the weather, the markets or the state of the world. They might have something in mind to buy later on, but will keep that to themselves until they raise a casual finger to indicate their interest.

Behind the talk is the constant tattoo of the auctioneers call.

“Two dollars, three , four …. do I have five? Four’s the bid, last chance.

Done – number 75.” It takes a couple of seconds for most sales.

Fast and furious bidding creates a level of excitement that can push buyers past the amount they had planned. The competitive atmosphere drives the price higher than even the vendor could have hoped for.

Mardan beef farmer Brian McIlwaine reckons the urge to win often gets the better of bidders.

“People actually pay more for things than what they are worth new,” he said during a recent sale at the Maxwell farm in Leongatha South.

“I’ve seen barbed wire sold for more than you would pay at Murray Goulburn or Col Byatt’s.”

Auctioneer Glenn Wright, who reckons he has sold everything from camels, emus and donkeys at clearing sales, chuckled at the thought of a bidding contest sending an item over its proper value.

“It’s up to them, we are not going to judge them for what they choose to pay,” he laughed.

Having been a clearing sale auctioneer for more than 22 years, Glenn still gets a thrill on sale day, despite the mental and physical strain a big day can take on his mind and body.

“Imagine four and a half hours, with up to 30 or 40 bids on individual items, there’s a lot of concentration involved and I end up sounding a bit

hoarse,” he said.

Glenn reckons for every serious bidder at the auction, there are just as many who come for the sale but stay for the conversation.

“There’s the wheelers and the dealers but there are plenty who just like the social side of the day, it’s a great chance to catch up with people you probably haven’t seen since the last sale.”

Hallston’s Frank Dekker was definitely up for a chat, but he was also keen to chance his hand at grabbing a bargain.

Frank spent $10 on a broken landscape painting and a fabric print of a tiger that was always destined for the wall of the dairy. The sausage he bought later from the Ruby Hall Committee ladies seemed like a much better buy.

Just looking: Brian McIlwaine and dog Daffy looked at everything, including the kitchen sink.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008 - PAGE 19

you can bid forever “I don’t think my wife will be too impressed about the tiger,” he said in a slight understatement.

“The Mayor of Hallston” had his eyes on some fence posts, but didn’t seem too fussed about whether his was the winning bid.

“I go to a few clearing sales. It’s a good chance to meet a lot of people, catch up on the local gossip.”

South Gippsland shire councillor Bob Newton was in the thick of the action, scoring himself some antique sheep shears for $12. Like Frank’s tiger, they too were destined for the shed.

The enthusiastic collector of “old stuff” knows what he is looking for

and sets his price. But like so many others, his bidding limit isn’t set in stone.

“I only plan to got a certain price, but if I really want it, I will pay more,” he said.

It’s the sort of logic that forms the basis of the clearing sale process.

Desire, competitiveness and sheer bloody-mindedness see bidding wars break-out for items that most people wouldn’t look twice at.

Not everything is a bargain. Not everything will even work when it gets home.

But it’s a lot more fun than buying on eBay and the conversation and sausages are a hell of a lot better.

Above.

Knocked down: Auctioneer Glenn Wright prepares to accept the final bid on a box of nuts and bolts.

Left.

On the prowl: Hallston’s Frank Dekker was looking for a bargain, but found this tiger picture instead.

PAGE 20 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, August 26, 2008

Margaret Robson, Rohan Hutchinson-Brooks and Thelma Rogers on clearing sale duty.

Welshpool’s Paul Macphail working with his dogs.

Auctioneer Brian McCormack in action.

Dumbalk’s John Simpson with an antique saw at a clearing sale.

Steve Vagg and Michael Landry inspect a spray unit at a clearing sale.