Investing in dairy’s future

When Simon and wife Pep purchased their Panmure farm from his parents Tony and Anne in 2010, they were milking about 380 cows.

Today, with only a small increase in milking area, they are at 550 and would have been 600 if not for this year’s difficult autumn.

During their 15 years of farm ownership, Simon and Pep have made two big investments aimed at more intensive and productive farming.

The first major upgrade was a new dairy, replacing a 31-year-old rotary system that was on its last legs.

“With the old dairy you were knocked up after each milking and needed to sit down with a cup of tea for half an hour,” Simon said.

“The new dairy made everyone’s job easier. Getting milk out of cows is hard work … you’ve got to be smart about it.”

The time savings were supplemented in the washing process with an automatic system saving another half an hour.

The new dairy was also valuable in attracting good staff.

At the time, they were milking 380 cows and planned to increase to 420, but two years later in 2015 another initiative led to higher cow numbers and better conditions for cows and workers — not to mention a new side career for Simon.

Frustrated by the wet winters, Simon and his vet David Colson travelled to New Zealand to look at clear-roof, deep-litter shelters.

They were impressed with what they saw and started Dairy Shelters Australia to help the Australian dairy farming community to get cows in light-framed shelters during difficult farming conditions.

“I was sceptical at first about woodchip flooring and cows with mastitis, but sitting here 10 years later with BMCC under 100,000 for 95 per cent of the time, the cows are coping very well with one of the biggest challenges facing dairy.”

Simon, who grew up on the farm with two sisters and brother Eugene, who now farms at Purnim, describes the shelter as a game-changer.

“We use it a lot to maintain a good winter grazing system on the farm,” he said.

“We can extend rotations, reduce stocking rates on the paddocks, while at the same time we’re milking more cows on farm than I’d ever imagined we would.

“It has been a game-changer on farm and psychologically for me, because it helps me cope with wet, depressing winters.

“It has gone beyond wherever I thought it would go.”

Simon farms on a philosophy of looking after cows and people and the shelter is a key part of that.

“People appreciate that, and so do the cows. Our cows are exceptionally well looked after.”

After the initial construction, a second shelter was added in 2023, mainly for young stock.

Simon has continued the family’s Holstein tradition and the herd now averages about 2.3 kg/MS a day.

“We don’t aim massively high,” Simon said.

“I think you can end up chasing your tail sometimes if you try to get that extra bit out of them. I’m not saying it is the right balance, but it suits this farm.”

They are milking about 550 this year, with plans to hit 600 curtailed by the drought.

“You’ve got to be flexible with the seasons in the south-west,” Simon said.

“This is the toughest season we’ve endured without a doubt. I’ve realised we have to forfeit any high expectation of the year and adjust our target to get through, but we can’t really complain because we’ve come off three exceptional seasons.

“I’m fortunate and pretty sure we can get feed all year off our long-term and loyal hay supplier.

“If that wasn’t the case, it would be massively stressful.”

The farm has used quite a few almond hulls; cotton seeds and cereal hay mixed with home-grown silage to bulk out a full diet for the cows.

They’ve culled a few to cope with the conditions and feed costs, but kept a core number to quickly rebound.

“I know how far down we can go in order to bounce back with the heifers we’ll have next year,” Simon said.

“That’s where the shelter has been useful during the drought.”

Consultants advise that in a drought you can keep the herd, but not feed them as well and let them lose weight, unload cows or buy in feed and keep the herd in good condition.

All are valid options, but the farms that rebound quicker are the ones that keep their herd in good shape.

“We’ve put ourselves in a position where we’ll get through this season, but you can’t really plan for something this bad.”

With the shelter, they are swinging to full autumn calving, shifting from the previous 75 per cent autumn, 25 per cent spring, with the aim of streamlining work and keeping the growing herd as one mob.

“We used to avoid over-stocking the farm in winter, but now we can run a higher number because of the shelter,” Simon said.

There is now a green tinge to the farm, but nothing much is growing. They have done a lot of re-seeding and the shelter has been handy to allow paddocks to be free of cows while they’re trying to establish.

The farm ran out of its water irrigation entitlement in January, the first time that has happened, but it isn’t all doom and gloom.

The long-time Saputo supplier said milk prices were good and farmers would recover.

Simon sees the industry becoming more intensive and he’s happy to be part of that, not only on his own farm, but through his Dairy Shelters Australia role.

“I think there will be a lot more housing of cows in one form or another, which is a form of intensification” he said.

“Not often in agriculture does intensification come where the animal is better off, but it is in this case.

“It’s all about how we produce more off the same area. With the shelter, we can settle them down, feed them well and then flip around the next day and have them in a nice free-range paddock on grass.

“They’re getting the best of both worlds.”