Brett Smith has been milking cows since he was 12 years old.
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He’s a third-generation dairy farmer, who in the last five months, has bought his own land, started a dairy business and is now producing quality milk for Saputo Dairy Australia.
Brett knows what it’s like to work in a huge dairy operation — he was second-in-charge of a large dairy, with responsibility for milking 1270 cows.
“I didn’t like the big farm feel,” Brett said.
“I wanted to be in a small operation.”
That meant buying his own farm.
After purchasing 44 hectares of land in Tarra Valley (Gippsland, Victoria) and leasing an additional adjoining 60ha from his uncle (the old family farm) and then leasing another 40ha turn-out block nearby, Brett knew it was time to jump.
After leaving the big operation, Brett needed a herd to start.
That’s where Saputo suppliers, Doug and Ellen McCormick, came in, offering to sell some excess cows to Brett.
“They said, if you want to have a go, we’re happy to help,” he said.
“So they let me come to their farm and pick some cows.
“They’ve really helped me get my feet on the ground.”
With an initial 50 cows purchased from the McCormicks and more acquired from local sales, Brett has now built his herd up to 100 milkers, predominately Holsteins, Jerseys and crossbreeds.
He also had to ‘fire up’ the old family dairy (eight-double-up) on the leased property, which had been dormant for years as the family had switched to beef.
His challenge was to keep capital costs to a minimum.
“There was no technology in it whatsoever, so we kicked things off by replacing and repairing the essentials which only set us back about $7000,” he said.
“It shows you don’t have to fork out big money to get started.
“These improvements were very achievable and left us room to grow.”
In his first month of operation, Brett’s milk ranked in the top 10 for cell count in SDA’s Gippsland region and has averaged under 90,000 every month since.
That’s a point of pride for any dairy farmer, but especially satisfying for Brett who’s achieved it without technology.
“When I was milking 1270 cows, technology was essential,” he said.
“Now, it’s just me milking, so my fingers are on the pulse all the time.”
He’s also managing all other aspects of the daily farm work, yet compared to his previous job — which also had 404ha under irrigation — he’s found his workload has dropped.
This has enabled him to strike a good balance between working and enjoying family time with wife, Jessica, and their three young daughters, aged eight, six and two-and-a-half.
Their close proximity to school and their local community also mean his daughters are thriving.
“I now get to watch my kids grow up, not just hear about it,” Brett said.
He said his decision to supply to SDA was a no-brainer.
Having supplied other processors throughout his milking career, he said he’d never before received the level of support and advice he gets from the local field services team.
“I had to put in a generator to run the vat and cool the milk as our power drops in and out,” he said.
“Through Saputo’s Milk Cooling Rebate, 30 per cent of the net cost of a new generator was covered — for someone like me that’s starting out, buying a herd and needing essential equipment, every cent counts."
As to the future, he wants to scale up to 150 cows over the next two years.
The couple has access to another farm (that belongs to his in-laws) which has a 25-a-side dairy, so there’s opportunity to continue to grow.
For now, Brett and his family are enjoying farm ownership and reaping the lifestyle rewards.
“I absolutely love every bit of this industry,” he said.
“There’s been overwhelming support for us since we started milking so I keep coming back to the people who just want to help.
“That’s the thing that’s really shocked me.
“They want to see new blood in the industry and are happy to see young people do well.”