The name Crole seems to be a permanent fixture on top of the milk quality award lists for the WestVic Dairy region.
For the past seven years, Andrew and April Crole have topped the list, achieving a string of gold awards — and over the past year their figures were even better.
The success is no surprise, considering their emphasis on herd health as their number one farming priority.
Andrew and April, who have two children — Archer, 9, and Ayla, 7 — milk 340 Holstein cows on their Simpson farm.
They own 80 per cent of the herd — Andrew’s parents Wayne and Vickie own 20 per cent — but will move to full herd ownership in the next two years.
Andrew started on wages at the farm in 2011, before they entered a sharefarming agreement in 2015 that reached 50 per cent in July 2020.
Andrew’s brother Aaron and his wife Cassy farm next door on a similar sharefarming arrangement.
Wayne and Vickie are still involved with the business and day-to-day operations of the two adjoining farms.
For Andrew and April, the key to milk quality success centres on animal health.
“Animal health is our number one focus,” they say.
They rear 90 to 100 calves each year and 90 to 100 replacement heifers, and have total production of 215,000 kg of milk solids — about 630 kg MS per cow or 9200 litres average per cow.
The herd is fed 2.5 to 2.7 tonne of grain per cow each year. The milking platform is 190 hectares, with 1.7 cows per hectare stocking rate. They also have two 50-hectare out-paddocks for young stock.
The bulk milk cell count (BMCC) average for 2020-21 was 58,000 — a new record.
“This year has been incredibly low; last year we averaged 75,000. We’ve had lower scores on individual days, but this was our lowest average,” Andrew said.
“Maintaining a low cell count helps you to quickly recognise when cows are sick,” April added.
“We use less drugs now. Because the cell count is so low, we know as soon as a cow is sick and can treat her before she cross-contaminates another cow.”
A young herd has helped but there are other factors at play in the farm’s outstanding record.
Nutrition is important and a well-balanced diet is fed throughout all stages — from dry-off, transition to calving and lactation in consultation with nutritionist Ben Boyd from Ridleys Terang, who provides custom dairy mix grain to top up the home-grown silage and purchased cereal and vetch hay, along with grass.
Heifers are teat-sealed four to six weeks prior to calving through the Timboon Vet Group tipping crush.
A calving shed constructed in January 2019 has been a great investment, with cows now calving on dry bedding straw as opposed to the muddy conditions they previously encountered.
“We had an old outdoor calving area that held about 25 to 30 cows, but it was pretty bad when the weather was ordinary,” Andrew said.
“We had bad mastitis one year in the heifers so we teat-sealed from then on which improved things and then we decided to build the shed.”
“Every year it was a mess and we needed to make it bigger,” April said.
“We basically put a shed over the existing area, made it bigger and re-concreted it and added bedding straw for the cows, which has made a huge difference,” Andrew added.
The enclosed shed can now fit 50 cows.
Andrew and April also ensure the dairy is in top condition, with 12-monthly milk plant testing for vacuum and pulsation checks.
Milk Rite inflations are changed in February-March before the start of calving, with milk meter diaphragms replaced for a fresh start to make sure cows are being milked out and ACRs come off at the right time.
During the past two years, improvements in the 40-unit rotary dairy ensure it can be a one-person operation if needed.
Most times Andrew and April share milking duties, but his parents are always willing to help and some relief milkers help over harvest and to allow for time away.
Retention bars have been installed along with a Waikato smart spray system.
“The spray system has been exceptionally good, with each individual cow being teat-sprayed five seconds after the cup removers come off,” April said.
SCR ALLFLEX cow collars have been “a game changer”.
“They help to detect cows earlier if they have any drop in rumination and health, with alerts to indicate something is wrong, whether it be low temperature, high temperature or milk fever,” Andrew said.
“If rumination declines, we’re alerted and cows can be stripped at milking to check mastitis.
“You still monitor your cows by eye, but the technology will alert you to any problem. The technology takes the guess work out of it.”
Those looking to pass the Croles’ achievements might be facing more challenges, with new initiatives on the way to further improve their management practices.
The base has been laid for a new concrete feedpad and it should be ready for use next winter.
“It has been a real test managing wet paddocks this winter,” Andrew said.
“Aaron built a feedpad two years ago and it made a huge difference to his feed wastage and pasture damage.
“Watching over the fence, it has been good to see the benefits he’s had so we decided to do one ourselves.
“If we can get cows off wet paddocks next winter, it should help to reduce pasture damage and in turn grow more grass.”
Average rainfall is about 850mm but this has been the wettest year in memory.
Andrew and April managed the challenge by splitting the herd and putting them into different paddocks.
The next innovation is likely to be genomic testing of calves next autumn.
“We like 90 replacements every year. If we rear 120, we can use the technology to pick the best 90 and sell the rest,” Andrew said.
They have been doing corrective mating with Semex to select bulls to improve certain traits and Andrew expects that to continue and match with the genomics.
With seven consecutive gold awards under their belt (Aaron and Cassy also got a silver award this year), Andrew and April aren’t about to brag.
“It’s nice to achieve it, but it doesn’t make any difference to what you get paid,” April said.
At the moment, the awards sit in a cupboard but they hope to put them on a wall display at some stage in the future. They might need a big wall.