Dairy News Australia Gippsland Region October 2022

Photo: Jeanette

Sharing the joy of dairying

Chair’s message

SPRING IS upon us. The daffodils are out and the birds are letting us know that it’s breeding season.

Outside my office window, two magpies and a crow have been having an argument that’s lasted for weeks. The crow appears to have the upper hand, but the magpies are persistent. I am grateful that the crow is keeping them occupied with something other than me!

I recently read an article in the Cattle Vets journal, where instead of the usual ‘How I treat ...’ column, vets were invited to contribute to ‘What I enjoy ...’ about cattle practice.

On a particularly cold, damp and muddy day, I enjoyed reading the positive thoughts, and there were three common themes that stood out to me.

Firstly, the beauty and stoicism of cows. If you’re a cow person like me, I’m sure you’ll agree that cows are just more beautiful than any other animal.

I can still remember meeting my first dairy cows on work experience, and being amazed at how quiet they were compared to the beef cattle I was used to. Their ability to come to work day-in, day-out, without complaint, is remarkable.

The second theme was the satisfaction that comes from delivering a healthy newborn calf. We farmers are spoilt with seeing many more healthy births than vets do, so it doesn’t hurt to be reminded of the miracle that a new life is.

I’m sure every farmer can identify with the days when it just seems to rain calves. When you turn your back for five minutes and three more are born. When they pop out on the cow yard, and on the platform, too.

I wish I could have bottled the look on the face of a visitor to our dairy who witnessed a cow going round the platform with two small feet poking out the back.

OUT AND ABOUT AT THE EXPO

When it rains calves and they are all heifers, the calf sheds fill quickly. From nothing to full in about four weeks these days.

We have had a good run with calving this year, except for some early teething issues with the new shed and milk fever as a result. We’ve hardly assisted a cow and had almost all happy and healthy calves.

When Simon and I first ventured out sharefarming, 50 heifer calves was all we would get and it took us a couple of months to collect them. We treated calves with scours and heifers with mastitis.

We had lots of practice at pulling milk fever cows out of creeks and fences, and the smell of retained membranes was in the dairy all through calving. We had surprise calves in the dry cow mob, and some massive calves from the mop-up bulls.

Calf scours vaccine, colostrum management and teat sealant have been game changers. Heat detection collars and AI have eliminated

mop-up bulls, (most of) the surprise calvings and big calves.

And finally this year, we have a dairy that can effectively lead feed cows without back-breaking physical effort.

Maybe our good run this year is a result of a good season. Or maybe it’s the result of 15 years of continuous investment and improvement. We’ve come a long way in that time, almost without realising it.

And the third thing that the cattle vets enjoyed? Their relationships and conversations with the farmers.

So next time you have the vet out, take the opportunity to share your thoughts about the next game changer for your farm, and listen to some of the great ideas they have seen in their travels.

With exotic diseases on our doorstep, the relationship with our vets is as important as ever.

Lauren Finger GippsDairy chair

When it rains calves and they’re all heifers, the calf sheds fill quickly.

Farmers flocked to the exhibitors of machinery and equipment at the South Gippsland Dairy Expo last month, looking for big ticket items like tractors, quad bikes, side-by-sides and automated milking systems, as well as hayfeeders and supplements.

Photos: Jeanette Severs

Shelley Walker, of South Gippsland Dairy, was looking to recruit additional suppliers as business is booming in the biocolostrum market.

Joe McCormick, GE Silos, manufactured in Goornong, was at the South Gippsland Dairy Expo.

Sarah Osborne was working on the Tow and Fert trailers site.

Clare, Terry, Felicity and Trevor Porter, of Yarram, were asking Brett Charlton about the New Holland tractor.

Lucy (3), Evelyn (6) and Matilda (6) dropped by with their mum to visit their dad, Jake Frecklington, who was working on the DLF Seeds site.

James O’Connor, Mountain View, was enquiring about generators with Jarrod Faoro, East Coast Generators.

Evan and Sheriden Williams, Yannathan, with Clint Newcombe from Burra Foods and Jason McRae, Tarwin.

Wise words from footy star

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

IT’S IMPORTANT to be selective about what advice you take when achieving your own goals, whether those are personal or business.

That was the message from Nathan Burke, ex-AFL player and now AFL women’s coach, at the South Gippsland Dairy Expo in September.

The South Gippsland Dairy Expo is an annual field days event aimed principally at the dairy farmer.

After two years’ hiatus because of pandemic lockdowns, this year’s event attracted a bigger field of exhibitors, according to organiser Deanne Kennedy.

The event also had more sponsors this year. There were 15 gold sponsors, with Reid Stockfeeds the sole platinum level sponsor. Reid Stockfeeds has been a sponsor of the expo since it began in 2000.

A new sponsor this year was Westpac, and the bank combined with Reid Stockfeeds to pay for Nathan Burke to attend and present a workshop on setting and achieving goals.

His presentation was broad and focused on more than connecting with the audience through a few football-themed analogies.

In fact, he only referred to his AFL career when he mentioned that his AFLW team had a banner on the wall stating ‘2 by 25’ — setting the goal of two premierships won by 2025.

Nathan said achieving this goal meant ensuring that everyone understands what success

looks like, on a daily and long-term basis. It included hiring team members who complemented the team but who also contributed different skills that benefited the team overall.

Success was also dependent on good communication.

“Does everyone know what your business goals are?,” Nathan said.

“Does every decision you make as a farmer build on your goals, or detract from them?

“If the decision takes us away from our goal, how do we rethink it?”

He said the culture of the workplace should be an active decision-making process, rather than allowed to evolve or be shaped by the

loudest or most dominant personality.

Cultural levers that help design success in the workplace included leadership, structure, behaviours, communication and mindset.

“Is leadership shared and are you training people in leadership in your workplace? Leadership is a shared practice that helps spread the load in your workplace,” Nathan said.

“How are you rewarding people for their work and commitment to your workplace? Recognise who is doing the extra work in your workplace. Give people a pat on the back.

“Give people the opportunity through pathways and structure to feel a valued part of your workplace.

“Tell them what success for the business looks like and the goals and timelines you have in mind to achieve that success.

“Notice people’s behaviour in your workplace. Be aware you can learn how to design good behaviour in your workplace. Teamwork is about every team member supporting each other.

“Communicate well, both in written form and verbally. Be clear. Be honest. Be supportive. Tool box conversations enable everyone to be part of conversations and decision making.

“Mindset is a hard thing to change. If you, the boss, don’t want to grow your business, why would you expect employees to bother working hard in your workplace?

“Successful people choose how they want to think, feel and act. Reflecting your attitude into your workplace affects how productive your team is.

“People react or respond to the attitude that others bring into your workplace.

“They may fear making mistakes, which causes them to continue making mistakes. Or they build confidence in themselves and each other, based on your response as their boss.”

In summary, Nathan said positive behaviours included taking personal responsibility, ownership and accountability for behaviour in the workplace.

“If there’s a problem in the workplace, don’t dwell on who’s to blame,” he said.

“Identify what system failure led to the problem, and work together to resolve that.”

Lisa Dickinson and Cameron Shaw, both from Reid Stockfeeds; keynote speaker and ex-AFL player Nathan Burke; and Phillip Ould from South Gippsland Dairy Expo organiser Strzelecki Lions Club.

“Dairy has multiple career pathways, and people working in dairy often want to see you [as an employee] progress in the industry.”

An apprenticeship in agriculture, and more specifically in the dairy industry, was a step towards farm ownership.

Tamara said the family farm was an ideal vehicle for promoting people upwards.

“I’ve seen a lot of trainees come through as a stepping stone to a bigger career,” she said.

Andrew and Matt — both with young families — have identified a local student who is keen to work as a milker and in the tractor.

They have designed a workplace roster that enables the student to continue at school and work in regular weekend and school holiday shifts, to learn the skills to become a reliable casual employee.

“We pay the junior at the rate he’s worth, not at the junior rate,” Andrew said.

“He adds value to our farm and every other employee’s role, so we made a decision to pay him what he’s worth.”

Other workplace values and practices included ensuring everyone took their scheduled breaks during their shift, rather than work through.

There was no better way to wear down someone’s enthusiasm for the workplace, than ensuring they didn’t take their lunch break, Matt said.

“How we work as employers, should model good behaviour and work practices for our employees,” Shiona said.

“I don’t want to get up at 3am to milk, so I value those people who we employ who do want to do that.”

Her business has purchased houses in the local town to ensure employees have secure housing and a place to live that is away from the farm.

Red flags and green flags

There are issues around recruitment that were considered ‘red flags’.

Matt was a carpenter before he started working on dairy farms. He is now in the secondin-charge role on Andrew Perry’s dairy farm,

and used TAFE training as a pathway into agriculture.

He said how jobs were advertised and the interview process conducted could either attract or turn off a prospective employee. Lack of basic information in an advertisement included where the farm was, the payment rate, acknowledging the shift work status of a lot of the work on farm, and how the farmer modelled work-life balance.

“I like to do my own research about the farm, and a background check on the farmer, before I apply for a job,” Jasmine said.

“There are too many anonymous advertisers. You don’t know where they are or who they are. Ads aren’t clear about hours, roles and responsibilities and wages.”

A poor interview process was another red flag.

“When you ask questions and the employer is unclear about the role and responsibilities, and they don’t seem to have direction and passion for the industry and their farm, they’re red flags,” Lachlan said.

No contract was another red flag. Contracts set out conditions of employment and the responsibilities of the role.

Contracts can also be modified to identify pathways within the workplace.

“You want to know if you’ll be supported to go to courses, or build equity in the herd,” Jasmine said.

Shiona said it was important to have those regular conversations with employees about what they wanted to learn and how to support that.

Another major red flag was a lack of concern about safety in the workplace.

‘Green flags’ included clean dairies, farms with maintained fences, and the farmer speaking with passion and pride about their workplace and how they want to grow their farm.

Green flags prioritised farmers who want to increase milking numbers and improve facilities to make jobs easier to do.

“If the farm looks like the farmer loves it, I want to work there,” Jasmine said.

“That’s the standard I want to work within, and an employee is more likely to maintain the standard that’s set for them from day one.”

Shiona said employees had a right to work within safe workplaces, including knowing the cows are quiet and well behaved, and equipment is maintained.

Andrew recently had a new shed built over the dairy, while still milking the herd, and he is grateful his staff stayed with him given it was a stressful process.

“It’s now a better facility for all of us to work in,” he said.

“We’ve also discovered we don’t have to have as many people working in the milking shed.

“But employing just as many people enables us all to have time off and spend time with our families.”

Shiona Berry says employees have the right to know they work in a safe and secure workplace, where they are valued for their contribution to the farm. “The employer’s focus is on building wealth. We need to stop treating employees as a cost,” she says. “Employees help us to spend time working on the business. Employees are part of the asset creation in our business. They deserve our respect.”

The South Gippsland Dairy Expo hosts a panel every year of dairy farmers and workers to discuss current issues. On the panel this year were Tamara Loughridge, Shiona Berry, Matt Harms (facilitator), Jasmine Kneebone, Lachlan Harms, Andrew Perry and Matt Taylor.

Highland fling pays dividends

market for the calves among small landholders around here,” he said.

“The first year I put Highland bulls in with the heifers, only three of them were empty. They have a very good conception rate.

“The woman who breeds the bulls produces quiet cattle, which suits me too, because my cows are quiet.”

He also uses the Highland bulls as mop-up bulls for the spring-calving cows but carries autumn-calving cows through if they scan empty after AI.

The milking platform is 115ha, with two turnout blocks of 46ha and 40ha respectively, with 10ha of bush that is fenced and protected.

The farm is in a very high rainfall district, close to 900mm, and soil type is shallow dark topsoil over white clay on a mix of flat and undulating country.

“So the soil retains a lot of water and makes the farm waterlogged. There are no dry paddocks when it’s raining,” Peter said.

BY JEANETTE SEVERS

PETER YOUNG consolidated his assets this year, when he bought the last piece of the family farm from his parents.

Now he’s looking forward to a future in dairy as a sole owner.

Peter’s dairy farm at Buffalo, in South Gippsland, has a mixed herd of Swedish Red, Jersey and Friesian cattle. Herd numbers peak at 320, in a split-calving system.

AI enables him to join Swedish Red to Swedish Red, Jersey to Jersey and Friesian to Friesian, and he uses this as a tool to track milk production.

“Joining the cows by AI and type with type enables me to assess milk production against cow families,” he said.

Peter also has a small herd of Highland bulls. For the past three years he has used the Highland bulls for joining to his heifers.

“I was using Angus, but I get smaller calves from the Highland bulls, and there’s a keen

Peter spent 11 years working for his parents, including completing a dairy apprenticeship. He also undertook a financial skills course and a dairy farm management course, both of which he recommends.

During that time he began leasing paddocks and investing in assets by building his milking herd numbers and buying machinery.

He began buying the farm with the purchase of one title financed by a bank loan and leasing some of the farm from his parents, followed by vendor terms for more of the property — that included

Heifers growing out on Peter’s farm at Buffalo. Dairy heifers are joined to Highland bulls for their first calves.

the milking infrastructure, which enabled him to begin improving it. At the start of this financial year, he took on ownership of the entire farm.

He employs two permanent part-time milkers and one permanent full-time milker.

In the past year, Peter has invested in a new concrete pad around the dairy shed. It includes a pregnancy testing area, which will soon be undercover. He has also invested in a non-slip concrete walking and standing area for the cows.

Three years ago, fed up with dealing with successive power outages, he invested in a second-hand generator that hooks up to his tractor and keeps the dairy working.

“It’s off a rotary dairy and I can run it for 14 hours a day to ensure the dairy is still working,” Peter said.

“It also powers the milk vat, chiller, electric fences and water pumps, and one of the houses.

“There are very few dairies on this line now, so it always seems a fault is a low priority for repair.”

Peter has had to use it for up to a week at a time, because local storms have brought the power grid system to a standstill.

Milking numbers are down to 260 cows, from a peak of 320. Peak production is 450kg MS/cow, but is down to 300kg MS/cow because of wet weather conditions.

When the 20-swingover herringbone dairy with automatic cup removers was installed, the old dairy was deconstructed but the roof, walls and floor were retained. This area now provides an undercover area for the cows to gather while they wait to be milked.

A wet winter and spring last year, followed by a dry autumn and wet winter this year, have seen Peter feed out more hay and silage than usual, because the wet weather conditions have reduced grass cover in the paddocks.

“I normally feed from April, but I’ve been feeding silage since before Christmas last year.”

Having fed out the hay harvested in 2020 and the silage harvested in 2021, he is chasing hay for his cows.

Grazing rotation has been affected by this year’s wet and cold conditions. Optimally it is 30 days grazing rotation, but Peter has had to push it out to 60 days this and last year.

“I’ve needed to keep the cattle moving because the ground is so boggy,” he said.

“They go onto fresh grass every time they’re milked.”

Peter uses the effluent slurry to provide a high fertility input to push pasture growth along. Every six months he mixes Bio-K into the effluent pond using an agitator and, after the bacterial processes are completed, he uses a Muckrunner to spread the slurry.

He also mixes Watchet-Gro with gibberellic acid and it’s applied to his pastures six monthly, via a boom.

These applications replace what was a traditional high input system.

“The effluent replaces urea,” Peter said.

“This is naturally acidic soil, and I do a soil test every year to help prescribe the application of both mixes.

“I also apply lime every year, where it’s needed to get the pH right.”

Milking numbers are down to 260 cows and production is down to 300kg MS/cow, because of ongoing wet and cold weather in South Gippsland.

Using AI, Peter joins Swedish Red cows with Swedish Red semen, Jersey to Jersey and Friesian to Friesian. This enables him to track production against cow families.

Peter has been joining his dairy heifers to Highland bulls for the past three years and found a ready market for the calves among local landholders.

Ongoing wet weather has pushed grazing rotation out to 60 days on Peter Young’s farm at Buffalo, in South Gippsland. Peter uses biological agents and gibberellic acid to encourage pasture growth.

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