Regeneration breeds success

The results have left Simon and his wife Linda with a highly profitable business with a gross margin well above the regional average, and a farm that is producing more feed for less environmental impact.

Simon recently hosted a Dairy Australia and University of Melbourne field day to look at the success of his multispecies cropping and to compare the farm’s performance today to when it was a Focus Farm in 2014-16.

The farm, which has been in the family since 1939 and has grown to 275 hectares over the years, has been totally transformed since its stint as a Focus Farm.

Back then they were milking nearly 400 cows and were basically conventional, with a rye-grass-based system, plenty of urea and split calving. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the herd of mostly Kiwi cross cows.

Today they milk about 210 and will peak up to 240 this year, but expect to return to closer to 300 with 90 heifers to calve in the next 12 months.

They have been running about 140 beef cattle for a few years, but are reducing that to about 50.

Simon admits he hated split calving on the traditionally wet farm, and is pleased with that change.

In fact, he’s totally embraced his new farming regime and despite a few tweaks, isn’t planning to return to conventional operations.

The farm has been accredited organic since 2020 but first went down the regenerative path.

“We’re organic, but our number one focus is regenerative farming,” Simon said.

“They are complementary, but organic comes second.”

Last year they went to three-in-two milking, at 7am and 4pm and the next day about 8am, but this year they are only using the 3-in-2 system for a 20-week block at the end and start of lactation, returning to twice daily for the rest of the year.

“We did 3-in-2 for the whole year and in that time, we transitioned the spring calving cows to April, so we had a big dip in production to about 75,000 kg/MS from about 105,000, but this year we’re on track to do 120,000,” Simon said.

“We knew that was going to be a cost to restructure the calving system, but we went back to twice a day because the milk price is good and the company wanted more milk.”

At the moment production is 62 per cent up on last year.

“I’d milk 3-in-2 for the whole year if we could get similar production, but there was a hit during the peak period,” Simon said.

One of the big changes following the switch to regenerative farming has been the fat and protein content of the milk — up from 3.63 per cent for fat in 2015 to 5.03 in 2023 and the 2015 level of 3.35 protein has grown to 4.0 today.

The cows are producing about 21 litres per day, lower than 2015, but recently increasing with the shift in the milking routine.

He has also achieved a 93 per cent in-calf rate, higher than previous mid-80s.

In 2015, the milk price was at a worrying low, but today income per cow is $17.53 compared to $8.12 eight years ago, while supplementary feed costs are lower at $1.80/cow compared to $2.33.

The proportion of home-grown feed has increased from 55 to 82 per cent, and the grazed feed per hectare from 4.5 to 5.6.

In 2015, Simon was using 108.2 kilograms of nitrogen per milking hectare, this year it’s just 3kg, dropping the fertiliser bill from more than $100,000 to about $5000 a year for bio stimulators, not conventional fertiliser.

Last year they herd tested every month and the cell count was low, between 120 and 140. The rare cases of mastitis are treated with apple cider vinegar mixed in the grain. Vet visits to the farm are rare.

As part of the conversion, Simon has adopted a new pasture mix, and has opened his farm to University of Melbourne and Dairy Australia multispecies trials.

He sold his hay making equipment and no longer cuts hay or silage, instead buying organic hay and he has enough feed from summer crops.

The introduction of multispecies crops is designed to flatten out production across the year. About 40ha are dedicated to multispecies.

He uses about 14 different varieties, including chicory, plantain, lucerne, rape, fescue, prairie grass, clovers, but generally no rye-grass apart from what persists from before the changes.

There are also four different summer crop mixes.

“The idea is if we plant a big variety, we cover all bases,” Simon said.

“We can grow a lot more crop biomass with no fertiliser.

“When we were conventional, we couldn’t get over three BRIX levels in the plants, now we’re up to 15.

“There has been a lot of trial and error, but now I think we’ve got pretty good mixes.

“We’re getting the biology on the roots when we plant. We get more grazings on the multispecies and we want these pastures to be there for years — there’s less disc work required on the multispecies pastures.”

The farm’s grazed feed per milking hectare is now 5.6 — above the regional average of 4.6 and up from 5.0 before the shift to regenerative and organic farming.

The total home-grown feed per hectare is slightly lower than average due to not cutting hay and silage, but the proportion of home-grown feed is higher.

It all adds up to a successful venture. Earnings before interest and tax sits at 4.97 in 2022-23, compared 3.24 across south-west Victoria and 2.87 across the state.

Simon attributes the high in-calf rate, low cell count, high fat and protein tests to the changes.

The nutritive density of their milk is higher than most and Simon again thanks his system.

“We grow vegetables, grow our own meat, and have a separator to make some of our own butter; we are trying to get more nutrient-dense food,” he said.

“I’m dead against the use of urea for what it does to the environment. Australia is probably 10 years behind everywhere else — we need to shift away from nitrates.

“The more research that goes into the biology of the soil and how it works, it’s pretty convincing that regenerative farming works, even though conventional systems are still the foundation of what we do.”