The farmer panel is a highlight each year at the South Gippsland Dairy and Farming Expo, held at Korumburra.
Facilitated by farm consultant Matt Harms, it always features a selection of dairy farmers and industry people from the surrounding community.
This year’s panel presentation, on September 6, featured generational, new and retired dairy farmers.
Luke Wallace, of Poowong North, is a generational farmer, and owns a stud and commercial dairy herd.
Faced with the need to make change, they invested in infrastructure and moved from milking in a herringbone dairy to automatic milking systems. He values the AMS for its capacity to generate income as an standalone asset.
“They can be sold independently of the farm,” Luke said.
Nick Leppin, of Wattlebank, was a generational dairy farmer who recently retired from dairying and is now a beef farmer.
Matt Colwill, originally from the United Kingdom and now at Nerrena, was a dairy farmer in two countries.
In Australia, he and his wife were sharefarmers with a leased herd, progressed to property ownership, before selling the farm in 2019. Matt now works within the dairy service industry.
The general consensus from the panel was there was optimism and confidence in the ability to build wealth through dairy farming; particularly in a high rainfall area that favours pasture-based dairy systems, like South Gippsland.
“Dairy is a capital intensive industry,” Matt Harms said.
Some of the considerations were about knowing when and how much to invest to justify business and asset expansion — decisions about the herd, land, or infrastructure.
“At the time of buying the farm in Australia, we had only 30 per cent equity,” Matt Colville said.
“We couldn’t afford to employ a worker and the milk price was a flat line. But we worked hard.
“Eventually we had to make a decision about buying more land, expanding the size of our herd, and investing in infrastructure — or exit the industry.
“There’s a fine line between the decision to over-capitalise in an industry — investing in assets and infrastructure — versus pulling back.
“We chose to exit the industry.”
David and Linda Brumby, of Leongatha, are new to dairy farming, and arrived in the industry after many years working in the corporate world.
They have found the dairy industry to be a capital intensive industry.
“It requires buckets of money,” David said.
“The dairy industry challenges the labour model of progressing from farm worker to sharefarmer to owner of a farm.
“That’s the traditional model, but with land prices so expensive now, farming is much more difficult.”
The couple is focused on building a comfortable income from the dairy farm, understanding that dairy farming is a key industry providing food security to Australia’s northern neighbours. Their challenge in achieving this role, is workforce.
“I have never worked so hard in my life,” Linda said.
“My view is that we need to pay more to attract and retain skilled workers in agriculture,” David said.
Mark and Trish Hammond, of Labertouche, are a mix of generational (Mark) and new (Trish) dairy farmers and lease two dairy farms, milking their own herd of 1100 cows. They recently purchased a 121-hectare turnout block.
Mark had a dream to own a farm, but he and Trish had to reconsider their future in the aftermath of the 2009 bushfires.
Property was burnt surrounding the dairy farm they were leasing. Another dairy farm close by became available to lease, so they changed their business plan to accommodate two leased properties and bought 700 more cows.
“We paid for those cows within two years,” Mark said.
“The scale of what we were doing helped to pay down debt,” Trish said.
They have since taken on a sharefarm, which was sold after a couple of years, and they have reduced their herd size.
Trish keeps a meticulous record of expenses and forecast expenses, and the couple regularly discuss their business plan together and with their landlords.
“So when a red flag comes up, eg, someone needs to invest in new cups, we justify why or if that’s a worthwhile investment, and leave it to the owners to make the decision,” she said.
The couple invests in ongoing maintenance that makes a difference in their working conditions.
They currently have a five-year plan to eliminate the debt on their turnout block, then build their family home on it.