South Coast Farmer - Summer 2009

Looking better: the dairy industry has been buoyed by recent increases in the price of milk. Korumburra dairy farmer Colin Dowel welcomed the second Burra Foods step up since the end of August while Murray Goulburn also announced a step up recently. The South Gippsland economy stands to beneďŹ t especially as the busy pre-Christmas trading period begins.

PAGE 2 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009

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“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009 - PAGE 3

Big picture: Geoff Charman believes in feeding beef cattle as well as dairy cattle to maximise his bottom line.

Tripling carrying capacity

By Brad Lester BULLOCK fatteners Geoff and Pam Charman have thought like dairy farmers to triple production.

The Alberton couple is paying attention to improving pastures, selecting crops and rotating herds to maximise carrying capacity on their 297 acres of river flats.

Their attention to pasture quality has resulted in fine bullocks destined for the particular Jap ox market.

“The productivity has jumped out of its skin. I’m pretty sure we will be carrying 200 two-year-olds through the winter once we get all the paddocks finished,” Geoff said.

When the Charmans took over the farm three-and-a-half years ago, many pastures were root-bound, the ground was compacted and fresh pastures needed.

The eastern end of the property grew largely poor pastures such as sorrel, onion grass, fog grass and cape weed.

“Being dryland farmers, we needed to be looking at a forage crop each year and work the farm through so that it all would be worked over, over time.

We plan to sow a forage crop and then sow with pasture the following year,”

Geoff said.

“We will plant a crop in two paddocks every year until we have done the whole place. There are extra costs involved but we can carry more cattle to compensate for our costs.”

This season, a large paddock has been planted to forage barley, grazed once and now shut up for hay to be cut as round bales.

Tetila ryegrass has produced spectacular yields over winter, enough for three grazings by 86 head and then a silage crop of 84 bales.

“I’m really impressed by how much it grows once it’s established. I’ll definitely be doing tetila again. It costs less than other annual ryegrass varieties and for the amount of time I want it, tetila is ideal,” Geoff said.

“Some ryegrasses will grow to Christmas and beyond, but I want to plant something else before then.”

Geoff sowed tetila for the first time in April 2008 and grazed the crop until the middle of September when the paddock was shut for silage.

“But being so dry, it started going brown and so I let the cattle in and grazed it right down to stubble in the middle of October,” he said.

“Then we got all that rain in late November, early December and away it went again.”

The crop was then shut for hay and

70 bales were harvested in January.

“It might not sound like much but it was 70 rolls of hay that I wasn’t going to get. I was just amazed by how much it grew again,” Geoff said.

“Without the tetila and barley this year, we would have been in real trouble. We finished up with only three rolls of hay left.”

The tetila was planted while increasing PH levels by applications of lime (three tonnes to the acre over two years) and gypsum. Already levels have risen from 4.9 to 6.1. Super, potash and DAP (phosphorous and nitrogen mix) was spread to aid growth.

“This country is lacking in phosphorous and potassium, so we have to build those up to ensure we get the best results,” Geoff said.

“You have to feed your beef cattle as well as you feed dairy cattle if you want to get the best out of them.”

Geoff had planned to plant lucerne this year but has delayed that decision by 12 months after soil tests revealed high levels of magnesium and sodium at a depth of 600mm.

As lucerne is deep rooting, the crop would have died after 12 months when roots reached 600mm and so the Charmans will wait and re-assess their plans.

If later tests show the magnesium and sodium is leaching away and lev-

els are improving then lucerne will be sown.

The paddock destined for lucerne will instead this year be planted with Winifred rape with chicory and plantain to reduce the risk of bloat in cattle often associated with rape.

To ensure efficient rotational grazing, a 90 acre paddock was transformed to three, 30 acre paddocks.

“That enabled us to give the cattle a fresh paddock more often and grow more grass. Most dairy farmers do that and a lot of the beef farmers are doing it now,” Geoff said.

“Because there is nothing walking over it and nipping it all the time, the grass grows quicker. You can notice the difference in the paddocks.”

Where 80 cattle once grazed 90 acres over a week, they were now grazing 30 acres for the same period, effectively tripling production.

Other paddocks of 50-60 acres have been divided into 25-30 acre lots to ensure cattle graze all pasture, not just select grass.

Cattle are strip grazed over the crop paddocks by using a system of electric fences ahead and behind the mob, preventing them from returning to previously grazed crop, allowing it to regrow unhindered.

Water is supplied by a 1000 litre portable trough fed by 400m of inch

Making agritourism pay in Gippsland LANDOWNERS and tourism operators from Bairnsdale to Healesville visited Maffra to learn how to make agritourism work recently.

Hospitality trainer and agritourism expert Pauline Porcaro shared her insiders’ knowledge at a forum organised by Agribusiness Gippsland and Wellington Shire Council.

She recently completed a study tour of Europe and presented a case study of a remote,

mountainous region of Italy, only two-fifths the size of Gippsland, which attracts more than double our visitor arrivals and lists 2500 agritourism ventures.

She discussed the Italian Governmentbacked program seeking to stop farm families leaving the land from the Alto Adige region.

The Gallo Rosso (Red Rooster) campaign saw farmer unions backing the idea.

Since the program started in 1999, the area now boasts 2506 accommodation providers, 34 farm

bars and 37 farms offering food/wine products.

Training and exacting accreditation, conviviality and a slab of Italian food and wine has helped, she said.

Pauline stressed the need to lobby for backing to see similar industry growth.

A couple of highly successful Gippsland agritourism ventures include llama treks, deer shooting (for Asian clients paying $1500 a day) and quirky accommodation such as a Japanese Zen cabin.

pipeline running along the fenceline and fitted with three outlets servicing two 30 acre paddocks.

“There are four shifts of the electric fence in each paddock and each shift lasts two to three days, so it would be three weeks before the cattle get back to the start again.”

Bullocks are run in two mobs of 85 head over winter and “they’re not going hungry”, Geoff said. Another 60 head were recently bought from western Victoria.

The Charmans have developed a laneway system to allow for easy movement of stock and to keep animals quiet, producing better quality meat for Japanese clientele.

Bullocks are turned off at 24 to 30 months, ideally 650-700kg live weight.

The Charmans moved to the property from Leongatha, in search of flatter country after running properties in hillier terrain at Hallston and Wooreen.

“I got to know this area while working as a supervisor with the West Gippsland Catchment Management Authority,” Geoff said.

The property borders the Albert River and the Nooramunga Marine and Coastal Park.

PAGE 4 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER�, November 24, 2009

Sandals with care AS Robert Sage herded his cows up a steep hill on their way to be vaccinated, Sandals was pushed back into Robert’s motor bike.

Her foot snapped and the leg dangled.

The usual end for a cow with a broken leg is a trip in the knackery truck, but Robert and his wife Ruth swear by the alternative therapies they employ to treat their animals and decided Sandals needed a chance.

Their vet said “put her in the shed and see what happens�.

Ruth told The Star the cow was given Rescue Remedy for a week to ameliorate the shock and trauma, arnica for bruises, comfrey tincture and half a litre of silver colloidal every day.

The remedies were mixed with water.

The comfrey and silver are used to speed up cell growth.

The cow panted and the Sages were worried that she might have pneumonia, but they found out later that the pain of her broken bone would have made her puff.

Sandals was bedded on soft sawdust and fed three or four times a day with grain, hay and silage. As she improved, Robert and Ruth cut grass for her and fed that to the cow. She loved it.

Robert checked on Sandals every night before going to bed.

As Ruth explained, injured animals can become depressed and lie down to die.

Not Sandals, she is made of sterner stuff.

After four weeks of nursing the cow, Robert and Ruth went away on holiday, leaving their son Andrew and his wife Linda in charge of the farm – and Sandals.

A couple of days before their return, Linda gave Ruth the good news by phone, “That heifer is starting to stand on her leg!�

Ruth, who said she had prayed for the cow every night, was delighted.

Six weeks after the accident, Sandals was returned to the paddock to see how she would take to her old surroundings.

She responded with true pluck, although it did take her a week for the muscle to build up and for her to become accustomed to walking again on her bad leg.

The story became complete when Sandals calved, giving birth to a small heifer dubbed Little One. The calf will go to a new farm and Sandals has returned to her place in the Sage’s herd. “It’s such a good story,� said Ruth. “It’s not the end of the road if a cow breaks a leg – nature heals, it can happen!�

Ruth has had particular sympathy for Sandals because she broke her arm some weeks after Sandals had her accident. “Now I understand why she was pufďŹ ng with the pain,â€? said Ruth, “it hurt a lot!â€?

And the name Sandals? “We’ve got a footwear family!� said Ruth, explaining it probably all began with a cow called Socks.

Nursing care: Robert and Ruth Sage are pleased that their nursing care saved Sandals from the knackery.

A miracle: Sandals has recovered from a broken leg and produced a heifer calf.

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“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009 - PAGE 5

The pointy end

By Jane Ross PHIL Poulton sees it as a seminal moment in his veterinary career.

He was tending a cow with a back injury on Robert and Ruth Sage’s Leongatha farm.

The poor creature couldn’t stand because of the pain in its back and the knackery loomed.

Phil had developed an interest in acupuncture and he asked Robert and Ruth if he might try it on the stricken beast. He’d only used it once before.

Ruth, who is open to the value of alternative therapies in treating animals thought it a good idea. Robert was as sceptical as most of the rest of the South Gippsland farming community.

Nevertheless, Phil positioned the acupuncture needles – and waited.

“The cow got up and ran away and didn’t look back!” he recalled.

“Robert’s eyes popped out and his jaw dropped to the ground.

“I haven’t done anything quite a spectacular as that since!”

But Ruth, who loves her animals, talked about the incident for a long time afterwards, acting as an unofficial marketing manager for Dr Poulton.

Phil came to Leongatha as a vet in 1981. His specialty is large animals.

He believes he is probably the first vet in Australia to use acupuncture on cattle and he is now eagerly sought as an expert in the field.

He will speak on the subject at next year’s Cattle Veterinarians’ Confer-

Down but not out: Phil Poulton works on a sick cow last week near Leongatha. ence in Alice Springs.

He said he became interested in the use of acupuncture for animal ailments after hearing Dr Ian Gawler speak.

“I heard him a few times. He told his story that largely, alternative treatment saved his life.”

Dr Gawler was a young vet with terminal cancer, who recovered thanks to a mixture of alternative therapies

which included radically altering his diet and daily meditation.

He has since devoted his life to spreading the message that taking control of one’s lifestyle following a diagnosis of cancer, can result in a better quality of life.

Dr Gawler spoke recently to a packed yet hushed gathering of 250 people in the Meeniyan Hall.

Because he was a vet, Phil found the story fascinating.

In 1991, he went to Sydney to do post graduate work on acupuncture which, he said, armed him with enough information to begin to use it.

He followed that initial training with a full certificate in veterinary acupuncture, which he undertook through the International Veterinary Acupunc-

ture Society.

It was, he recalled, fairly radical in a community like South Gippsland.

After his remarkable success with the Sages’ cow, Phil began to use acupuncture more frequently, especially with cows down with paralysis from calving or other back injuries.

He concludes now, that acupuncture helps in combination with nursing and anti inflammatories.

The more he came to learn, the more he realised the importance of nursing. If a cow is down for more than 24 hours, it can get secondary damage in the muscles.

“Acupuncture is very good for treating that and for fixing primary nerve damage.”

Phil hasn’t convinced everyone.

“One of my partners (in the Tarwin Veterinary Group) is very sceptical and laughs at me still.”

But a lot of his clients today are tuned in to alternative therapies and like him to try acupuncture. It’s useful for horses, especially those that do dressage because they are very sensitive to back injuries.

He’s also done a post graduate chiropractic course and with that, the acupuncture and conventional methods, Phil said he is in a good position with “a lot more tricks I can use”.

“It helps me because I can work out what’s appropriate.”

But he won’t force it on a non believer.

“I respect the fact that some people don’t like it.”

PAGE 6 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009

Dairy’s ups and downs Seeking greener pastures: Poowong share farmer’s Brent and Kim Mitchell moved from central Victoria to South Gippsland.

By Chris Brown BRENT Mitchell had a pale face and shaking hands after feeding hay at Poowong for the first time.

He’d just moved to escape water allocation worries on the family farm about half an hour north of Bendigo with a move to South Gippsland.

After stepping down from the tractor he told wife Kim; “I really didn’t enjoy that”.

“The locals keep telling me I’ve got a flat farm,” he said.

The couple had moved to the region on June 10 to share farm on Jim and Jenny Watson’s property.

They’d been milking 130 cows up north at Dingee with Brent’s parents, but they wanted to move to an area that didn’t rely on irrigation.

Farming elsewhere had been on the Mitchells’ radar for some time and at one stage Brent had researched milk prices and rainfall in New South Wales.

When they became serious about a move to greener pastures at Christmas time last year the Western District was at the top of their list.

One condition on a move was that the Mitchells wanted to milk their own cows, which would allow them to pursue their passion for cow breeding.

They worked through budgets with a farm consultant and then a bloke Brent had played cricket against told him about

Jim and Jenny.

“It fell into our lap a bit,” Brent said. “It was the only farm we looked at.”

Brent and Kim’s first impression of South Gippsland was the same.

“Hilly,” they both said and laughed.

Kim said it is “dead flat” where they are from.

They also noticed that there was a bit of green grass around.

“Even though it was getting really dry the base of the grass still had this green tinge,” Kim said.

Back at Dingee the Mitchells were farming on 150 acres with a 200 acre block for young stock and feed.

Brent came home to work with his Dad and Mum five years ago after a 10 year stint in the herd improvement industry.

In that time they received a 100 per cent water allocation from the Eildon system once.

“We were relying on spring rainfall, so we didn’t get our allocation until late in the year,” Brent said.

It wasn’t early enough to make the most of the spring growing season. Kim also worked in the AI industry.

The couple married two years ago.

Kim said the first thing that scared them was bringing the cows down to Poowong in a truck.

“They got down here safely and then it was making sure they were coming into the shed,” she said.

“That was the biggest issue just making sure that the cows were settled.”

“Then they had to get used to eating grass after a diet of mainly hay and grain,” Brent said.

“They had a little bit of grass just prior to coming, but through the summer they hadn’t had any at all and that was my biggest worry, how to adjust them especially when there was so much grass when we got here,” he said.

They more than doubled the number of milking animals to 280 with about 110 purchased and 30 of Jim’s.

It takes them three hours to milk every morning and night now.

“It’s a matter of the cows getting used to the shed and it’s taking an awful long time for that to happen,” Kim said.

“So the flow in and out of the shed has been hard.”

A new shed means new concrete and gravel, which in turn has meant some cows with sore feet.

Handling machinery on the hills has been a further challenge for the flat land people.

“Instead of putting your foot on the clutch to stop you have to put your foot on the brake,” Kim said.

“And I rolled the motorbike down into a hill and into a fence,” Brent added.

“I got off, it turned around and it disappeared. I didn’t park it in the right spot or put the handbrake on.”

The move has resulted in some recognition for their business, Mitch Holsteins.

They came second in the two-year-old category with Mitch Blitz Jemma in the South Gippsland On Farm Challenge.

Brent has always had an interest in breeding and began by buying the odd stud cow with a focus on strong cow families.

They have about 20 head of registered milking cows.

Brent and Kim are missing their family and friends back home.

“You really notice it more when there’s been functions back at home in the last month we’d really have liked to have been to, but you can’t get there,” Kim said.

There hasn’t been time for much socialising in South Gippsland yet.

First they needed to settle in, then it was calving season and Jim and Jenny went away.

Without extra labour, becoming involved in the football club or playing cricket haven’t been possible this year.

Brent did find time to join the Poowong and District Apex Club soon after the trek south though.

It’s proved itself a valuable forum to gain local farming knowledge.

The Mitchell’s moved to Poowong with the intention to stay five years.

Heading back north will be determined by practical things like milk prices and water security rather than the beauty of South Gippsland’s green hills.

Indeed the plan at this stage is to make enough money at Poowong, so they can develop the land at Dingee.

“I doubt we’ll be here in 10 years,” Brent said.

It’s a bit early to say whether the shift to South Gippsland has been a success.

“We’ve been through the worst and it’s only going to get better from here,” Kim said.

The pair have learnt some lessons they’d share with others contemplating a move though.

They’d suggest cattle are fed to harden up their feet, practice driving on hills and have a four wheel drive motorbike.

“We had a two wheel motorbike I bought from up north and I’ve had to walk home a couple of times and then go back and pull the motorbike out,” Brent said.

“It just doesn’t climb wet hills. “ It’s a lesson learnt on the green hills of South Gippsland and there’s sure to be more to come.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009 - PAGE 7

Labour of love: Cheryl and Barry are all smiles after their big win.

By Matt Dunn BERRYS Creek Gourmet Cheese’s ‘Tarwin Blue’ blue vein cheese was judged world’s best at the 2009 World Cheese Awards in Spain recently.

Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese is run by Barry Charlton and his partner Cheryl Hulls.

“First of all we entered in the Melbourne Show and got two silver medals there for our blue cheeses.

The Tarwin Blue was very close to winning gold, but there were no gold medals issued in that class,” Barry said.

“Then we entered in Spain. It’s the biggest cheese competition in the world, and we won a gold medal.”

The couple could barely wipe the smiles from their faces. They were chuffed that a variety of cheese they had only been making for two years was, according to the world’s best judges, without peer.

The annual competition, run by the UK’s Guild of Fine Food, was staged this year in Las Palmas, Gran

Barry Charlton: the master cheese maker with his now famous creation.

Canaria.

More than 150 judges from 24 countries, including Mexico, South Africa and Australia, sampled 2440 entries in a marathon tasting session before choosing the winners.

The couple said they would have been ecstatic to have been placed in the top 20.

Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese manufactures nine varieties of cheese.

Like all stories of triumph, Barry and Cheryl have been plugging away for many years.

While the company is only in its infancy, Barry has been making cheese for most of his life and has been responsible for dozens of prizes.

“I’ve been making cheese for 35 years. We started our own company in 2007 and sold our first piece of cheese in October of that year,” Barry said.

In 2002 Barry’s brie cheese was judged the world’s best cheese. He was working for Jindi Cheese at the time.

“This is why we went out

on our own, to give Barry some acknowledgement for himself,” Cheryl said.

The move has started to pay off and the recent gong for Tarwin Blue has led to massive interest from distributors around the country. The couple has spent most of its time interstate, doing deals with people in the trade. Keeping up with demand will be Barry’s next big challenge.

Berrys Creek Gourmet Cheese is producing in the vicinity of 300kg to 400kg a week, but that total may be set to rise dramatically.

Cheryl said the accolade was “wonderful”.

“I can’t comprehend it,” she said.

There are only a few cheese makers in the South Gippsland region, despite the massive dairy industry.

“The reason we entered the competition was to get an idea of where we rank in the world. We wanted to look and see where we stood. We’ve done quite well against the local cheese makers in Australia,” Cheryl said.

“My aim was to see where we ranked on the international arena.”

It was a simple plan, with little thought for the coveted gold medal.

But Barry had a dream, with an inkling the company could be richly rewarded if things fell into place.

“I was quietly positive to myself we could be among the top in the blue vein section,” he said with a smile.

Cheryl is proud of the company’s achievements and those of her partner.

“Barry only began making blue vein cheese two years ago when we got out on our own,” she said.

Barry said making the blue vein was “a lot more complicated than many of

the other varieties”.

The intricacies of the process are too difficult for the layman to understand, but oxygen is all important in creating the blue vein.

“It’s not an easy cheese to make. We tore our hair out when we first started,” Barry said.

The couple persisted, though, with their eyes on the big prize.

“It’s fantastic. We’ve been working seven days a week for the past two years.

To have this happen has been absolutely brilliant,” Cheryl said.

PAGE 8 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009

Established as an agricultural high school 96 years ago, the Leongatha Secondary College still maintains a substantial farm to teach students agricultural and horticultural practices. In charge is agricultural and horticultural teacher Margy Wright. She has an agricultural degree (research) from Adelaide University, majoring in animal science and natural resource management.

She worked for National Parks South Australia and lectured at Adelaide University before coming to Victoria.

Farming out education

By Bert van Bedaf THREE alpacas strain their necks as soon as strangers wander into their domain.

The big brown fellow is threeyear-old Milo, the breeding male.

Little Maisie, the two-year-old brown female, has one more year to go before she is ready to become a mum, and there’s Sam with the white coat. He is a wether (de-sexed male) and at five the elder statesman.

Also on the farm live several Dorper-cross ewes, a pure bred stud Dorper ram and Dorper lambs. In June a couple of dairy calves were present.

The college farm has enjoyed success outside the region. Bozo the steer was a hit at the Royal Melbourne Show. Not only was he liked by the kids, the judges thought “he had very good meat characteristics,” Ms Wright said.

The college’s agricultural program has a wide-ranging educational approach, giving students the widest possible knowledge range.

“Global food shortages and a shortage of agricultural teachers have provided many career opportu-

nities,” Ms Wright said.

Students may enter the practical world of rural life, work for aid organisations fighting famine or decide to enter the academic side and make a career in research.

There’s an equal mix of boys and girls in Years 9, 10 and 11, but in Year 12 there are only three girls and 13 boys. Year 9 students tend to dairy calves for a term and move into horticulture for another term.

Year 10 students look after the alpacas. They are designing a shelter belt, using native trees where possible. Year 11 and 12 students learn how to run a small enterprise, which involves plants and animals. They have to run this as a business.

We give the kids a semester project and the money it brings in pays for feeding the animals,” Ms Wright said. “They learn how to set it up, about research and production and the financial side.”

The business can incorporate a wide range of products, including vegetables, fish, lambs, chickens, ducks and rabbits. There’s also a beehive to market honey. Poultry is a significant part of the farm. The students raised 100 chicks to sell as pullets.

There are pure bred Barnevelder chickens. The Dutch-origin chickens lay brown eggs. The Bantam Australorp variety is Australian bred, while the Araucana chickens hail from Chile. They are recognised for laying blue eggs. When crossed with a Barnevelder, the egg shells turn an olive colour. The Araucana roosters are known to be very protective of their hens and aggressive enough to withstand a fox attack.

The college students also maintain several large milk vats which have been converted to fish tanks.

In one they breed Guppies, a tropical fish that breeds fast, and in others they breed yabbies, trout and such natives as silver bream or perch, which are also for sale when available.

The horticultural centre is in the process of having a garden bed put in. Students will be growing vegetables. There will be fruit trees, including apples, pears, peach and plums.

The students are also considering growing berries and more pasture plots may be added to their growing knowledge of rural production of plants, produce and animals.

Callan cuddle: Callan Pratt cuddles Cutlet, who was attacked by a stray dog.

After a visit to the Tarwin Vets, he got a colourful bandage.

Early birth: Cutlet and Fillet are two of three lambs who were born to a ewe in September. Unfortunately they were born about eight days premature, and had to be removed from mum as they were unable to suck properly. Here Aimee Charleton, Nikya Swan, Callan Pratt and Brenton Savage are feeding them at lunch time.

Feeding Milo: teacher Margy Wright not only looks after a term full of students, she also cares for various animals, including Milo the alpaca.

Great achievements STUDENTS at the college are rapidly moving into the rural industry or already have achieved some success.

Equine delight: Rhiahn Barclay, Lisa Browning, Brook Finch and Tiffany Baker are spending time with Derek the ex-racehorse as part of equine studies.

Calf feeding: Toby Goss is showing Jess James how to feed a calf.

Ben Davison will start an apprenticeship in turf management at the MCG after his Year 12 exams are finished.

A keen pony rider, Becky Klingenberg wants to work in the horse industry. The college has a small class doing equine studies.

Lisa Browning has represented Australia overseas at international pony competitions.

Blue eggs: Araucana chickens, who come from Chile, are recognised for laying blue eggs.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009 - PAGE 9

PAGE 10 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009

By De Deborah Lucas IF farming wasn’t hard enough with drought dro and low commodity prices, wool growers are now faced with another probgro lem, lem getting the wool off the sheep’s back.

The lack of shearers in the area has wool growers worried.

Woodside wool grower Greg Foat and his wife Jenny Woodsi sheep on 2500 acres. Greg’s family has run 8500 merino m been in the th industry for generations.

Years ago the family employed a local shearing Year team, also Foats, to shear their sheep. Shearing would go for around three weeks, now they shear up to four times a year, making the job easier and providing cash flow throughout the year.

“We “W shear whether and wether lambs in the winter, ewes ew in spring around October and then another in the autumn around the end of February,” lot of ewes e Greg said. sa The ffamily has just finished shearing the ewes but is worried that th in the not too distant future they will be strug-

gling to get a crew to shear their sheep.

“Wool production is our livelihood and we need to be able to get the wool off the sheep’s back.”

“We have always used Woodsider Murray Foat and his team,” he said “But it is getting harder to find people to work in the shed so I don’t know what we will do when Murray retires, he can’t go on forever. Even finding a rouseabout is getting hard.”

Murray Foat’s team consists of himself, his son Ben and young Tom O’Connor. Two years ago Murray indicated that he would like to ease back a little, but the shortage of shearers in the district has meant he is still on the boards with no retirement in sight.

Being a shearer is hard work; wrestling sheep for eight hours a day would test the strongest person. Murray Foat has been doing it for 41 years, starting out as a rouseabout when he was just 15 years of age.

At 17 he was shearing alongside his three brothers Joe, Jeffery and Sonny.

Murray has travelled throughout Victoria, NSW and even New Zealand shearing sheep.

“Nothing much has changed in the 41 years I have been

All hands: Greg Foat, wool and sheep grazier lends a hand during the shearing on his property.

Rousing: Ryan Foat throws a fleece during shearing on his father Greg’s property.

Shearing: Tom O’Connor, Yarram shearing at Woodside recently.

Helping scholarships in tough times THE Gardiner Foundation will again offer dairy scholarships for entry to university undergraduate and TAFE courses starting in 2010.

The foundation recognises that Victorian dairy farming families are operating in very difficult climatic and economic conditions.

The reality in such tough conditions is that dairy farming families may be forced to forego their children’s higher education because of the considerable costs involved.

They will allow scholarship winners to pursue their choice of higher education and the long term career opportunities that flow from that education.

The Gardiner Dairy Scholarship Program offers scholarships of up to $10,000 for entry to university undergraduate studies, and up to $5,000 for entry to TAFE programs of a minimum two years’ duration.

Scholarship applications close on December 18.

For further information contact Michael Tippett, Manager Community and People Development at the Gardiner foundation, email Michael.Tippett@gardinerfoundation.com.au or phone 03 9606 191.

“SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009 - PAGE 11

shearing,” Murray said.

“I was there when the Lister narrow comb was replaced by a wide tooth, but that’s about the only big change,” he said.

“It is still hard work wrestling sheep for eight hours a day,” he said.

In his heyday Murray would shear 314 sheep per day.

“I did that in a shed in New Zealand when I was about 19 years old,” he said “Now it’s around 200, while the boys can average between 160 and 200 sheep per day.”

“Coming off a farm it was only natural that we would get work in the sheds,” Murray said.

“Nowadays things are different.”

Murray agrees with Greg that shearers are a dying breed. “There are only a couple of shearers from my early years still shearing, around this area,” he said.

According to Greg the wool industry has researched other ways to get the wool off the sheep’s back, with

little success.

“The Australian Wool Industry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars researching and developing a robotic shearing plant, but that didn’t amount to anything and seems to have gone by the way,” Greg said.

“Some have tried the wool harvest method, whereby you inject the sheep with a drug.

“With this you put a net on the sheep for a few days. This was costly and labour intensive and provided mixed results.

“Most farmers who have tried it haven’t repeated it, so that is not really an option either, so we (wool growers) will really start to think about how we can attract young people into the shearing shed.”

According to Greg, the shearer shortage is just not restricted to the Gippsland area.

“Wool growers all over are having the same problem we are,” he said.

With no short term answer in sight, Click Go The Shears Boys may soon be just a memory.

Helping: Stephanie O’Connor has been working in the shearing sheds for many years both as a rouseabout and presser.

Wool classing: Property owner Greg Foat helps skirt the fleece with classer Kendal Byrnes.

Teamwork: Woodside shearer Murray Foat and son Ben on the boards at Greg Foat’s shearing shed at Woodside.

PAGE 12 - “SOUTH COAST FARMER”, November 24, 2009

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