Danny Blake does a few things a bit differently on his Nullawarre farm, with two herds, two dairies and a focus on clover-based pastures without nitrogen fertilisers.
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But the big difference is a 250-metre long (and still growing) miniature railway track running around the family home, not to mention an intricate indoor model train system that would be the envy of any rail enthusiast.
Danny’s bankers regularly tell him he’s on the right track with his dairy business — and they could mean that literally.
“I guess it’s the only dairy farm with a train track like this,” Danny quips.
The success of the dairy business has allowed Danny and his wife Sue to pursue their passions — trains for Danny, gardening for Sue, and a joint love of travel.
A lot of the success comes from keeping things simple and not following the latest high-tech trends.
Danny’s parents bought the original 45 hectare farm in the mid-1950s, and things have grown and progressed since then.
“They started out with a generator that Mum had to crank to get the power for the dairy and the house,” Danny recalls.
They added land over the years and it now amounts to about 566ha with two dairies, with Danny and Sue progressing from sharefarming in the 1990s to farm ownership.
They calve down 500-550 cows, but usually keep the two milking herds to 240 each.
This year with the dry season, numbers were cut by 10 per cent.
“We sold cows in April-May when it was getting drier and drier,” Danny said.
“I could see we were going to run out of feed if we kept those numbers.
“I didn’t want to have to buy in any hay. We’re fairly conservatively stocked, and had hay in the sheds, so we were pretty lucky.”
After one of the expansions, Danny’s younger sister Wendy milked about 100 cows on a little six-a-side dairy.
After purchasing more land to link all parts of the second farm, they decided to build a new dairy in 2005.
It’s big enough for 36-a-side, but is operating with 18 units, just under the 20-a-side home dairy.
After Wendy retired, Nicole Fleming managed the second herd and farm for 13 years, and more recently, Matt Stevens has taken on those responsibilities.
Danny and Sue have four children, and while they like the farm, it’s uncertain if they will return home.
While the herds are run separately, they are both 100 per cent Jersey and follow the same health and feeding protocols.
“We do everything identical on the two farms so it’s interesting to compare, but there’s not much difference,” Danny said.
One of the dairies is rested in autumn as production dips and the cows easily make the transition.
“The dairies are only a mile apart, and we get back to full production really quickly.
“We try to keep everything identical so it’s easy to switch.”
The Blakes have two full-time staff and three casual milkers who rotate between the two farms.
They follow traditional autumn calving, starting both herds at the same time in early May.
Danny’s parents milked Guernseys, but Danny switched to Jerseys when he started using AI in the mid-1980s.
“They’re smaller and have a lower environmental footprint,” he said.
“Generally, they have less feet problems and milk quicker, which is important when you’re paying people by the hour.
“They have less litres but they’re more efficient. More from less is my theory.
“It’s a more concentrated product and when you’ve got factories carting milk, I don’t understand why they don’t push for higher components.”
Danny doesn’t focus on production, instead aiming for profit.
“I’ve never herd tested or registered the herd, but I know my bad cows that aren’t producing,” he said.
“I’m pretty basic in what I do, but I suppose in the long term, we’ve done pretty well out of farming.
“Even in bad years, we still make money. We’ve never run at a loss.”
But Danny said it isn’t what he does that leads to success, it’s what he doesn’t do.
“Where I make my money is in the things I don’t do — no herd testing, no nitrogen, no silage for a long time because of the cost and the plastic.”
He has continued his parents’ use of a clover-based pasture system, with no urea or nitrogen-based fertiliser, instead using a super potash blend in autumn and spring.
“There’s never been any nitrogen in the history of this farm,” he said.
“We cut really good clover hay. Last year we had nearly 80 per cent clover in the hay. The cows love it and they do well on it.
“There’s talk now about multi-species pastures, but I’ve been doing that forever with different species of clover.
“The clover takes off and the bulk you get exceeds a lot of the rye-grasses.”
Danny soil tests every second year and aims to keep the Olson P levels around the mid-20s, using lime if required.
He has also planted thousands of native trees.
“When I came here, there was just one native tree; now there are thousands for shelter, and we’ve built corridors to link up about 200 acres of native bush,” he said.
“In every paddock on the farm, there’s shelter and shade.”
At 59, Danny is thinking of the future and the potential for fresh blood to take over.
He will look at electronic collars and ear tags, will consider robots when the dairies need upgrading, and wants a road underpass to bring both farms together.
He’s recently started rearing more Jersey bulls and has found a niche market with farmers as far afield as South Australia buying them as mop-ups.
“They’re not registered, but they’re good bulls,” he said.
Another recent innovation is a new calf shed last year to centralise all calf rearing to the home farm, making it easier to manage.
Danny breeds for good temperament, stature and good udders.
He has used a lot of US genetics over time, initially to increase the size of the Jerseys and get away from their bug-eyed look.
“When I was a teenager just starting out, I was told by a visiting Gippsland farmer, Alan Kline, to use US genetics to get bigger cows and we turned our cows from struggling to do 15-17 litres to doing 23 litres,” Danny said.
“We have a much better cow today. I would rate that as the best decision I’ve made.”
When not running the farm, Danny continues his life-long interest in trains.
When Sue got tired of the track inside their house, he moved it to the shed and expanded it into a spectacular set-up.
Over the past two years, he’s laid 250m of track for the outside miniature railway, complete with bridge and side tracks, and potentially more to come.
The set up is popular with locals, including car clubs, kindergartens and senior citizen groups, but Danny mainly does it for himself.
“I just find it relaxing. I’m creative with woodwork and building things. Sue and I travel when we can, and we’ve done a lot of heritage railways, and Sue gets to see the gardens.”
While he’s backed off milking, usually only filling three shifts a week, Danny has no plans to retire or make any significant changes.
“When I talk to our bank managers, I ask should I be doing this or that and they just say `just keep doing what you’re doing’.
Yep, he’s still on the right track.