Dairy farming - how can you do it everyday???

One thing that has remained a constant ever since I married a dairy farmer over 35 years ago, is the reaction some people have when you tell them that you are dairy farmers. A lot of people say - "Oh, I don't know how you can do that everyday of the year!' True, it is a life that is a real commitment for 365 days of the year, milking twice a day with few days off and even fewer holidays. Dairy farming these days is a business BUT it is still very much a lifestyle. True , there are times when we are out socially and know we have to head home early to do the milking or other farm chores and wish that we didn't have to. But mostly we accept that this is our life and we have happily chosen to live our life this way.

There are huge advantages for being a dairy farmer, especially if you own your own farm. It is a business and you are your own boss. What you put into your farm reflects very much what you get out of it.We are very much reliant on the weather, especially since our farm is a dry farm with no irrigation. There are times when no matter how hard you work, a dry spell or a major drought controls much of what you can and cannot achieve on your farm. At the moment ,with all the rain we have had and the growth of pastures and feed, farming is probably the easiest we have experienced for many, many years. Plentiful water and pasture grass, healthy cattle, plenty of milk being produced at low cost and most importantly happy farmers makes dairy and beef farming a real pleasure. Sale cattle prices are historically at a record high and milk prices with our processor are solid so farm income is healthy. This, however, is not always the case with farming.  Like everything in life there are highs and lows in all aspects of farming.

Dairy farming is a great place to rear a family. Everyone in the family gets to spend a lot of time together. Children reared on farms are very self reliant, responsible and possess a great skills and knowledge base that their city cousins rarely or perhaps never acquire or encounter. Our farm is a generational farm, so our children spent a lot of time with grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins as they grew up. There was always family around when the children were younger and even now when they come home to visit. Our children learnt to ride horses, drive tractors and utes, entertain themselves and much, much more from fairly early ages. Chores were part of their everyday life and were expected to be done and done properly. 

On a dairy and beef farm one of the great advantages you have is that you eat a lot of food that you have produced and grown yourself. Milk is plentiful, beef is home grown, fresh eggs, fruit and vegetables. You know what you are consuming and have a real appreciation of what it takes to put food on the table. I remember when I was teaching a Year 4 class (at a large town school) about farming and the production of milk in particular. I asked the question - "Where does milk come from?" Unsurprisingly the answer I received back was "the shop"!  By the end of the lesson these children had had a reality check and had a small appreciation of where food really came from.

So whilst there are odd times when I wish we weren't so committed, overall I would not change our life for anything. We have reared 4 great kids on the farm who have become great adults with their own lives and families; have a farm we have worked hard to own (yes - we did have to buy into the farm initially - not all farms are handed on without cost to the next generation); produce excellent quality milk and beef to help feed our country; and live in a rural community that more and more people wish they could move to and experience.

I wonder how many dairy farmers there will be in the future? The average age of dairy farmers is now late 50's - early 60's........

Until next time...

Carol

It's been a while....

 I have been a little slack on the blog front lately. I could say I have been really busy ( which is true) but I just feel like I have had little to say.
There have been lots of socialising and family gatherings happening. We have had three birthdays     ( both daughters and a DIL) and a wedding to celebrate in the family over the past few weeks.

Daughter - in - laws cake  - you can guess who blew out the candles!!

The stunning location where the wedding was held.

On the farm front we have welcomed over 60 mls of rain over the last week or two. This has been well timed for the pastures of oats, rye and clover which DH Farmer has been busily sowing. The seed should come straight up and with further follow up rain the transition of feed from summer to autumn to winter should be smooth and have little effect on the dairy cows. Sometimes when the changeover of feed is delayed we have to supplement feed with the silage we have made on farm. Early autumn is always the beginning of cultivating our winter feed pastures for the dairy herd and there are several more busy weeks of sowing to happen yet.
 We have  also been busily selling vealers to the local saleyards and cows and bullocks direct to the abattoirs before the winter arrives.  Prices for cattle  have remained very strong over the past few weeks but will drop over the coming month if good rain doesn't fall in the dryer parts of the state and Queensland.

A paddock being harrowed - the final part of the sowing process.

Dogs and DH Farmer on foot walking vealers to the yards.

Vealers and their mothers in the yards to be sorted for sale.

Until next time...

Carol

Who does what on the farm....

Our dairy and beef farm is what is called a generational farm. That means that the same family has owned and worked the farm for consecutive generations and in our case it is now the 3rd generation. Ownership has been since the late 1800's. As with all generational farms the hope is that the next generation will take on the ownership and carry on the farming enterprise. Our farm has always been a dairy farm with beef cattle as an extra income. Over the years the dairy has grown in size of up to about 85 to 95 milkers although at times we milk down to 75 cows. In Australia this is now considered a small sized dairy. We have deliberately kept our milking herd down to this size so that we can run the farm ourselves without employing outside labour to do the milking and farm work, labour being one of the largest costs of running any enterprise.

Steers being finished off with bulk feed for  the local meat markets

So the majority of the farm work is carried out by DH Farmer and his brother, with whom we are in partnership. They milk, rear the calves, organise the heifers, check the dry cows and springers, fence, weed control, pasture manage, muster cattle for sale and movement to paddocks on the farm, immunise calves and so on. DH Farmer and his brother also break up this work. Both milk and rear the calves but one tends to check dairy springers and the other the beef springers. DH Farmer tends to do the tractor work, silage and haymaking work, sowing pastures, etc.

Producing milk - the main enterprise on the farm.

We also contract our eldest son to milk for us when we have a holiday or time off farm. This son also owns his own rural contracting business and most weeks he spends at least a day on farm helping with general farm work such as fencing, cutting timber and posts for fencing, mustering, silage and haymaking. He also carries out the  AI ing (artificial insemination)  of our dairy cows.
My role these days is to deal with all the paperwork and accountancy work the farm generates. Things have changed greatly from previous farm generations in that all dairies must be audited  for food safety, in our case by NSW Food Safe. This requires a lot more record keeping of which I apparently do the best. Personally I think the men just simply hate doing it! Like all businesses we also have to keep accurate financial records for income tax purposes and pay GST through our BAS system. Good record keeping also helps us to make informative business management decisions relating to the farm enterprises. I also tend to be the farm "gopher". Trips to town to pick up supplies and repair parts is common place for me. I also like to help with the springers and taking the cows to their night paddocks - a great chance for me to get some exercise done and get outside!

Putting the dairy herd into the night paddock.

A family farm is more than a business - it is a way of life. One I feel fortunate to live!

Until next time..
Carol