So where are we up to in this dairy crisis......

Last night DH Farmer and myself (along with many other fellow dairy farmers) attended a meeting with our processor Murray Goulburn. We knew that what we were about to hear was not going to make us feel very positive about our farming future. At this point in time we will be paid the pre agreed price for our milk for the months of May and June. We are lucky in NSW as we supply to the Sydney white liquid milk market.  Our milk pricing system is different to our southern farming families who work on a tier system with step ups and step downs depending on what is happening in the milk market. However, like our southern neighbours we will take a price hit starting July. We have not been told this price or by how much it will fall. That news will come at the end of June.We will make the big decision about our dairy farming future once we have more information. In the meantime we will buffer down and prepare for at least three hard years ahead.  We will fill our silos with grain, pre buy fertilizers, and other farming essentials as much as possible.

I would like to say that both DH Farmer and myself felt that Rob Poole who is Executive General Manager of Supplier Relations Murray Goulburn and a representative of the Board of Directors both were genuinely and sincerely sorry and concerned for what was happening to us farmers at this meeting. They admitted that a huge marketing mistake had been made and that this had resulted from a number of factors - sales to  China for Adult Milk Powder was over calculated; the fluctuating Australian Dollar; the global milk markets to mention a few. In the 65 years that this co-operative has existed they have only got their pricing to farmers wrong twice. The last being in 2009 with the GFC and now in 2016. Murray Goulburn has actually borrowed $30 million dollars ( the amount they have overpaid us farmers) which they will repay over the next three years by paying us farmers less over that period of time.  Hopefully global markets will at least stay as they are or even improve over these years. Apparently there is a world over supply of milk and until this balances out things will not improve.

So where to from here? Well we are use to ups and downs. It seems like there have been more downs than ups at the moment. Over the years we have experienced many various kinds of setbacks - droughts; floods; poor milk prices; companies who should never have bought into the world of milk processing and so on. We will be patient. We will wait and see. We will be grateful for what we have - our family; our farm which we fully own; the fact we also have beef cattle income; our good health.

What can you do to help? Please don't buy the cheap $1 a litre milk. To us in dairy farming this is the bane of our lives. It is a supermarket ploy to get you to walk into their store and purchase other more expensive products. But not our valued product - branded milk.
Think about what you do for a living. How would you feel if your work you produced was not truly valued by your employer, your friends and society as a whole? Do you get up at 5 o'clock EVERYDAY of the year and go and milk cows - rain, hail or shine, in sickness and health??? Do you sit on a tractor for endless hours ploughing the ground to sow pastures to feed the cows through the cold winter months??? Do you milk the cows every afternoon EVERYDAY of the year?? Even the days your children are born, your children get married, Christmas Day, New Year's day? Do you have to buy a tractor worth $60000 plus countless pieces of machinery to sow those pastures to do your work??? Is your fuel bill over $1500 a month? How big are your vet bills each and every month??? Do you have to dig holes and put up endless kilometres of fences??? Do you get disgusted when your work is under valued by being paid $1 for a litre of milk which costs you almost that amount to produce??? This is what truly breaks the heart of dairy farmers.

We are angry. We are hurt. We are disillusioned. BUT we are resilient. We are tough. We are survivors!!! We will get through this!

In our part of the world our milk is the Devondale brand owned by Murray Goulburn. Murray Goulburn is a farmer owned co-operative owned by us the farmers who supply to it. 100% Australian owned. Do some research on the food you are buying.Think about what you are buying. So it costs you a bit more money to buy branded milk and products and Australian products. We produce some of the best quality food in the entire world. Isn't that worth something to you and your family? Believe me ,we are grateful when you do buy our branded products.

We are a 5th generation dairy farming family - will we have another generation of farmers??

Until next time.....
Carol

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

This week...

Sometimes people ask you - "what have you been up to this week?" and on reflection you know you have been busy but it is difficult to tell them just exactly what you have been doing. I actually love weeks like this where you realise you have spent a fair bit of time at home doing the normal day to day living things to run a household, a farm and connecting with family.
 On Mondays I always look after my 3 year old grand daughter. It is a wonderful and tiring day. I took Claire on an outing to Newcastle to visit my eldest daughter  who is on holidays. We visited Blackbutt Reserve for an hour or so to see native animals and birds.

Claire and Nicky at Blackbutt Reserve

On Tuesday I went to our local town doing farm jobs and some food shopping, a book club meeting and then home to spend several hours working on the computer doing farm accountancy and then  mowing the lawn in the cooler part of the day. Wednesday was general house cleaning day - all that boring but necessary stuff like washing, vacuuming, washing the car and so on. I also went to Maitland to pick up bulk meat from our butcher who cut up one of our vealers to fill our freezer for the next few months. On Wednesday night my son, daughter in law and grand daughter, and daughter came for dinner. Thursday is my day. For years now I have visited a close friend and we quilt, stitch, chat and drink coffee and tea and eat. It is a day we solve the world problems, laugh and natter of family things. It is a day where I don't think about the farm and feel relaxed and sort out how to move forward on any issues bothering me. It is a day to spend with a very dear friend. And now it is Friday - I need to get ready to leave the farm for a few days next week. I am visiting with my son, his wife and new baby as my son is returning to work after the birth of their new baby.
 None of this is overly exciting but it is a wonderful way to spend your life. It is about being busy and feeling fulfilled and happy with how you spend your days! Being contented with your day to day living is calming. It allows you an equilibrium so you can relish the highs and exciting times and also to cope with the lows that life throws to us all at times.
On farm the usual has happened - milking twice a day, cows have been sold, silage is again in the process of being made, cattle have been moved, spraying of weeds and numerous other tasks have been undertaken.
 One day I will write a blog on how DH Farmer spends his week. It puts my week to shame with his hours of hardwork and dedication that he has for a farming life . But I know he feels the same as me - life on the land is mostly  happy and fulfilling and one we would not choose to change.

Putting away for a rainy, or rather, a not so rainy day!

Since the rain began falling again in December last year we have experienced one of the best summer seasons on the farm that we can ever remember.  The pay off for the wonderful season we are having is that we can make and store feed and fodder from the excess pasture we currently have on farm. This feed can then be fed to our cattle when there is a lack of feed in the paddocks. This is not only  when there is a lack of rain and therefore little natural grass growing for the cattle to feed on but also in the transition period between summer pastures to sown winter pastures. We can also feed our dairy herd late winter and early spring to produce more milk when milk payments are at their highest for us on farm.
So last week on returning home from visiting our new grandson, DH Farmer turned his attention to the weather to decide on the optimum time to cut our pasture for silage. As an aside here - it is true to say that one of a farmers favourite topics for discussion is the weather. In our house we listen to the weather on the radio early every morning prior to starting the day, check on various weather sites on the internet throughout the day and then watch several different TV channel weather segments every evening. When your entire livelihood is so reliant on weather and what work is going to be done that day, it is easy to understand why it is like this.
DH Farmer decided that the end of last week was a good window to cut and make silage. Silage has a high moisture content whereas hay has minimal moisture content. Silage, unlike hay, can be cut one day then raked the next and baled and wrapped that same day. Silage can also take a good shower of rain on it once cut without destroying the quality of the feed. Hay on the other hand requires dry, sunny weather to dry out the pasture prior to baling. Hay shed fires are caused by hay being baled with too high a moisture content or from being rained on once baled. Whilst we own our own mower and rake we do not own a baler or wrapper and so contract out this work. Some machinery is just not economical to own. Late last week we managed to bale 92 large round bales to be fed out to our cattle when needed. We intend to cut more pasture to be baled for silage at the end of this week again. Silage and hay is as good as, if not better than, money in the bank to a farmer. It is like an insurance policy for a farmer!

Mown pasture being raked into rows prior to baling.

Round baler .

Bales of silage prior to wrapping.

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