MURRAY REGION
MAIZE ON THE MENU
Pioneer Seeds brought its Appetite for Success to Shepparton, with a focus on growing and harvesting maize silage. Page 4.
Chair’s message
Where did autumn go?
BY RACHAEL NAPIER
WHAT A crazy start to what should be autumn!
Warm and dry are not the ideal makings for securing a good winter feed base.
Temporary irrigation water has seen a sharp spike in price per megalitre, essentially due to a last-minute cropping gamble.
True as it is, May can be a dangerous time to be splashing water about — if it rains, you’re off to a wet start, but if it’s dry, you’re absolutely winning.
We may not be at the Crown Casino, but big gamblers we are.
I have had the pleasure over the past 12 months to be involved with collating a report — a collaboration including Murray Dairy, City 4 Greater Shepparton, processors and Gardiner Foundation with the Murray-Darling Basin Steering Committee.
I’m sure I’ve missed a couple but you get the magnitude of the cohort.
The focus is on the entire dairy supply chain in the Murray-Darling Basin. ‘From the titty to the city’, to steal a popular phrase.
Its purpose is to showcase and impress upon its reader the magnitude, scale, importance, diversity and economic success of dairy in the Murray-Darling Basin.
It also shows how dairy needs community and community needs dairy for both to not only survive, but thrive.
Nearing its completion, I’m looking forward
As the end of financial year approaches, now is a good time to check in on your dairy farm’s financial performance. Knowing your profit drivers and understanding your costs can help you be even better prepared for the season. For support, contact your Dairy Australia Murray team on 03 4811 6008 or visit dairyaustralia.com.au/farmbusiness.
to poring over the finished document.
The commitment of the contributors is a testament to the professionalism, conviction and strong belief of our region’s leaders to see the entire dairy chain represented at the level it deserves.
Powercor has been collecting insights and input into its next five-year strategy.
My fellow skills-based director Phil Candy and I participated in an interview representing dairy.
This is an interesting time for energy providers, given the increased demand for (reliable supply) power and the push for green energy.
Given the emerging issues with what we’ve been calling ‘green energy’ I wonder where things are going to land.
We have a passion for John Deere machinery at our place, and John Deere has been busy manufacturing zero emission tractors.
They have three prototypes on-farm in
Fresno, California, which means they aren’t far away from the showroom and our next toy collection on-farm.
All they need is 3phs power to charge. And that’s where I come unstuck — our 3phs power is $60,000 to $100,000 away at the highway.
I’m keen to see how agriculture lands in their strategy — it should be in the top five.
I’m hoping that between my writing and this being published we’ve had some widespread brag-worthy rain before it gets too cold to kick things along.
Don’t forget to provide a few creature comforts to your staff — most people work better when they are warm and dry.
Make a cuppa and have a look at www.thepeopleindairy.org.au — there have been some changes to the FHL1a and FHL1b which you need to know about.
– Rachael Napier is the Murray Dairy chair.
All roads lead back north
BY SOPHIE BALDWIN
LIFE AS a dairy farmer can lead you down many roads, but sometimes they can lead you back.
And for Rob Campbell and his partner Jo Harper, that road has led them back to northern Victoria and a 45ha farm at Leitchville.
The couple had been sharefarming a property and milking 300 cows in Carpendeit in south-west Victoria, but together, decided it was time to reduce their commitment and downsize their operation to a more sustainable size.
“We decided to prioritise our health and cut back our workload after Jo hurt her back,” Rob said.
“We were getting sick of milking all the time, useless labour and running an operation that gave us no time off — ultimately, we hope to milk about 75 cows and calve once a year.
“It is essential we operate a one-person system as I am also planning working offfarm driving trucks and excavators.”
Currently, the couple is milking 108 cows – a mixed herd of Holsteins, crossbreeds and a few Brown Swiss in a 13-a-side swingover.
“I would have a whole herd of Brown Swiss if I could,” Jo laughed.
The dairy had been gutted when the family moved up in January, and Rob has spent the last few months rebuilding it from the ground up.
He has been able to source most of the materials second-hand, excluding the vat and milk pump which they brought with them.
“There is second hand dairy stuff everywhere if you know where to look. I reckon I have spent about $70,000 rebuilding the dairy and we have kept that as simple as possible as well.
“I hope to have the other side up and running pretty soon, and once that happens we will milk the cows in no time.”
Rob said when it came time to purchase a farm, there were a few things they had to take into consideration, including size and cost.
“We didn’t want to take on too much debt and the whole idea was to downsize and do things a bit easier.”
Part of that downsizing besides reducing the milking herd even further is to move calving to once a year so they can take some time away from the shed.
“We also want to be self-sufficient and grow most of our own feed,” Rob said.
“Controlling inputs and costs is the best way forward for us because we certainly can’t control the milk price, but we can control our costs and keeping them low will be the key.”
It had been many years since the Leitchville farm had been a working dairy, so the couple have had to fix channels, re-fence and sow down pastures which has included some millet and sorghum for quick feed, lucerne and other species including sub, plantain, chicory and zoom.
“We are looking at mixed species plantings and regen agriculture. High input costs are pushing farmers into changing the way they do things.
“We stopped using phosphorus fertiliser, and it was interesting to see the improvement we experienced in foot health.
“Actually, I am expecting the overall health of our herd to improve with the move up here.
“For six months of the year it’s cloudy and overcast at Carpendeit, which is no good for anyone, the climate is much better in northern Victoria.”
For herd health, Rob uses the Cow Manager program by World Wide Sires which he finds cost effective and affordable.
This system measures ear temperature combined with behaviour to accurately measure herd health, fertility and nutrition.
“The good thing about this program is you only pay for what we use, which for us is fertility and health.
“You can turn things on and off as needed, and you just attach the sensor to the NLIS ear tag.”
The couple uses conventional semen as Rob breeds his cows for longevity and prioritises in calf rates.
“I have a few old girls in the herd, and we don’t need too many replacements at the moment, but that might be different when we start calving once a year,” Rob said.
Growing up on a dairy farm has led Rob down many roads and to many places and different experiences, which even included a stint on the UDV policy council.
“The dairy industry needs a state membership organisation as part of the structure of ADF [Australian Dairy Farmers],” he said.
to monitor Dairy Australia — it is essential we have the right people in these roles to be effective, though.”
Looking to the future of his own operation, Rob is hoping to lease some additional land down the track to improve self-sufficiency and grow more fodder.
and someone also needs
“We need ADF because there is a lot of industry pressure from overseas and domestic
“It’s good to be back in northern Victoria and I am looking forward to seeing what we can grow our business into,” he said.
red tape
Rob Campbell is looking forward to seeing where the industry takes him after moving back home to northern Victoria in January.
Photos: Sophie Baldwin
One side of the 13-a-side swingover dairy is working .
The mixed herd is bred for longevity and prioritises in-calf rates.
Appetite for Success satis es
BY DJEMBE ARCHIBALD
INTENSIVE SYSTEMS are on the rise in the dairy industry, producing a fifth of the nation’s milk, but the movement is facing challenges.
This was one of the topics discussed when about 100 people attended the Pioneer Seed’s Appetite for Success event in Shepparton on Thursday, May 15.
Farmers, dairy consultants, agronomists, nutritionists, resellers and contractors were invited to hear from keynote speaker, Pioneer Global nutritional sciences manager Bill Mahanna.
Agriculture Victoria program manager and dairy development specialist Scott McDonald joined Dr Mahanna for the Shepparton seminar.
Mr McDonald began his presentation by talking about the current dairy landscape.
“The Australian dairy industry is a grazing one,” he said.
“Most Australian dairy farmers graze and will continue to graze, but in the last 10 or so years there’s been a transition to what we call intensification, a word that the industry hasn’t particularly liked over the years.
“People often ask what percentage of the industry is going to be intensive ... at this stage I would say six per cent of Australian dairy farms are farming an intensive system.”
Mr McDonald said these intensive farms, where there is no grazing, were producing 20 per cent of Australian milk.
The challenge with intensive farms is intensive farming structures require permits with council approval.
He talked about a dairy farm in Gippsland that was bought by a foreign investor with the plan to expand, but when the permit application was lodged, it received 460 objectors with 600 complaints.
“The council lost $66,000 processing a failed application and one dairy farm disappeared. They
couldn’t farm the area, so they lost a dairy farm.”
Of those concerns, the most common was the impact of effluent on local water systems.
Mr McDonald said the management of manure is a top priority for Agriculture Victoria, which is actively seeking solutions.
“We had a a national manure summit three months ago and 40 people around Australia who specialise in manure, we put in a room and said these are our challenges coming forward, how do we re-engineer our future design?”
Another challenge is the line between a factory farm and an intensive farm is a grey area when it comes to safety requirements.
Mr McDonald spoke about a robotic dairy farm, that had the milking plant in the shed with the animals, which sparked conversation about the fire system.
“The fire system [for a factory] is a $250,000 plus system in case the the concrete, the manure, the shed, steel, catches fire, but with common sense, a bit of planning ... it was decided this is not a factory, it’s actually a farm.
“The fire system [for a farm] is a $20,000 tank so being a pioneer was good because he [the farmer] sort of blazes the trails.”
Pioneer Seeds also hosted the seminars in Sale, Inverloch and Warrnambool.
MAIZE SILAGE IS ON THE MENU
BY DJEMBE ARCHIBALD
DAIRY FARMERS are moving to maize over grazing, but harvesting the best quality for silage is tricky to achieve says an international expert.
When to harvest maize for a high starch content balanced with digestibility for cows was one of the key points at the Appetite for Success event in Shepparton.
Pioneer Global nutritional sciences manager Bill Mahanna spoke about how maize is grown and processed in the United States.
When looking at the yield, starch content and fibre digestibility of maize, Dr Mahanna said there were a few key contributors to look out for.
“Planting accuracy is really, really, really important,” he said.
“Fertility, growing weather or moisture and plant height as well.”
He said it may not be as simple as the variety or hybrid, so managing variability in a yield is important.
“It may not have been the genetics, it may have been the growing environment.
“Thank God our cows are quite resilient to some of this variability.
“I know we want to have as consistent a diet as we possibly could have, but the point is that there’s a lot of variability coming from our fields.”
In his presentation, he also talked about maize processing, with four main factors highlighted: chop length, roller mill wear, roller mill gap setting, and roller mill differential.
Dr Mahanna said each of these factors would impact quality and should be top of mind when harvesting.
Honing in on fibre digestibility, he said although it is out of farmers’ control, weather played a big role in increasing maize digestibility.
“The growing environment during the vegetative stage affects corn plant height, biomass yield and [fibre digestibility],” he said.
“Dry conditions lead to a shorter plant and more digestibility, wet conditions lead to taller plants and lower digestibility.
“Once the plant gets to the reproductive stage, the fibre digestibility is set. It will not change.”
The main change a plant that is passed the reproductive stage would see, was starch content, Dr Mahanna said.
“Starch yield is highly dependent on maturity of the kernel at time of silage harvest.”
Pioneer Seeds dairy specialists Greg Morris and Leighton Hart took the mic to introduce the benefits of maize silage over grazing.
The benefits included reducing milk fever, a high-quality forage, a high yield and controlling feed costs.
Following a lunch, the event concluded with a question and answer session with all of the speakers from the day.
About 100 people attended the Pioneer Seed’s Appetite for Success event in Shepparton on Thursday, May 15.
Farmers, dairy consultants, agronomists, nutritionists, resellers and contractors made up the crowd.
Scott McDonald talked the audience through on-farm infrastructure. Photos: Djembe Archibald
Agronomists Jono Nicoll and Luke Allison were part of the crowd.
Bill Mahanna (centre) with friends of Pioneer Seeds Scott Rathborne and Ian Sawyer.
Photos: Djembe Archibald
Bill Mahanna spoke all things fibre digestability and starch in silage.
Jackie Jones with Rushworth sheep and cropping farmers Charlie McLean and Grace Barlow.
Cohuna dairy farmer Gregory Quinn and Pioneer Seeds farmer services consultant David Smyth.
Petition to extend support
BY GRACE CARTER
A PETITION has been launched to support farmers who were left out of the recently announced Victorian Government drought support package.
State Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland launched the petition to recognise drought conditions in northern and northeast Victoria.
Ms Cleeland said the decision to start the petition came after farmers in northern and north-east Victoria weren’t included in the government’s latest drought relief measures.
“The Allan Labor Government’s recent drought support package completely excludes north-east Victoria, leaving our farming communities behind during one of the toughest seasons in recent memory,” Ms Cleeland said.
“Farmers in our region are dealing with bare paddocks, empty dams and skyrocketing costs to transport hay just to keep their livestock alive.
“The pressure on saleyards and freight is immense, and morale is at a breaking point.”
The petition was put online on Tuesday, May 20, and as Dairy News Australia went to print it had received more than 4000 signatures.
Agriculture Minister Ros Spence announced an extra $15.9 million in drought support to help more farmers and communities over winter, on Thursday, May 15, expanding on the $13.5 million package announced in
September 2024.
Support will continue in the original 11 local government areas in south-west Victoria, and will expand to West Wimmera, Horsham, Northern Grampians, Hepburn, Moorabool, Ballarat, Towong, Mornington Peninsula,
Bass Coast, Cardinia, Baw Baw, Casey, South Gippsland and French Island.
Ms Cleeland’s petition asks for a formal drought declaration for northern and north-east Victoria — including the Greater Shepparton, Campaspe, Benalla, Strathbogie,
Mitchell and Mansfield local government areas — and the immediate inclusion of the region in all relevant drought assistance programs.
Being eligible for support would also mean farmers can access rebates under the new Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund when it comes into effect on July 1.
Ms Cleeland said the petition wasn’t about asking for handouts.
“It’s about ensuring farmers in our region are treated fairly and given the support they need to keep going,” she said.
State Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe said dry conditions in the Goulburn Valley — the fruit bowl of the nation — would affect all Australians.
She said the “serious rainfall deficiencies across northern Victoria” were being felt by every single farmer.
“The impact of drought conditions on farmers is impossible to overstate,” Ms O’Keeffe said.
“The current situation is untenable for our farmers as paddocks become unseasonably bare, and dams begin to run dry.
“While the financial strain is severe, the toll on mental health is just as serious, and it’s growing.
“At the very least, the Allan Labor Government must extend the same drought support currently available to south-west Victoria, to farmers in the north.”
The petition is available to sign until June 19 at: tinyurl.com/ykemxhxt
A petition has been launched to recognise drought conditions in northern and north-east Victoria.
Photo: Megan Fisher
Closure shocks community
BY OWEN SINCLAIR
COMMUNITIES ACROSS the Goulburn Valley have been left reeling following the shock announcement the Bega Cheese factory in Strathmerton will close.
In a statement to employees and the ASX on Tuesday, May 6, the Bega Group said it would be closing its Strathmerton factory in mid-2026, citing cost savings per year of $30 million by consolidating processing and packaging operations to its site in Bega, NSW.
The news came as a shock to Maree Hodgson, who has counted 31 years of working at the dairy factory.
“I think everybody’s jaws hit the floor in the room, including middle and upper management. No-one seemed to have been aware of it, there’d been no rumours, nothing,” the Numurkah resident said.
More than 300 employees, who live across the Goulburn Valley, are set to lose their jobs in the phased closure, which Bega Group chief executive Pete Findlay said would likely start at the end of this calendar year.
Ms Hodgson, 63, had plans to retire in the next couple of years, but those have now changed.
While the closure means she will have to bring her plans forward, Ms Hodgson said some of her colleagues at the Bega factory faced even more uncertainty over their futures.
One of those colleagues, who is pregnant, has just gone on maternity leave after purchasing a house.
“Some are quite calm about it, but I’m not sure whether it’s sunk in properly, you know, that this is going to happen,” said Ms Hodgson, who is also a United Workers Union delegate.
“Some are just so distressed because they’re young, they’ve got young families.
“Your head just starts running at 100 miles an hour. You’ve got all sorts of thoughts, like when, what, why — all that stuff running through your head.”
Despite the shock of the announcement, Ms Hodgson said she had been treated well by the company.
“They’ve been very helpful. They’ve got all the services coming in, we’ve got counselling services if people require it. I can’t really say, other than that they’re shutting the place, that they’re doing anything wrong,” she said. Ms Hodgson said she and her colleagues were still awaiting further information on what would come next for them.
Meanwhile, the long-term future of Strathmerton itself has been thrown into question amid declining student enrolments at the local primary school.
Strathmerton Primary School principal Joanne Paton, who has held the top role at the school for almost three years, said she was devastated for the families affected by the factory’s closure.
“I was worried, straight away, for the future of the school, the future of the town, and the future of the external towns, too,” she said.
“When I first started here, we had 110 children enrolled. And now we’re down to 58.
“And with the closure of Bega, that’s four families I know who work there who I’m worried about — the fact they’ll have to relocate to find employment somewhere else and therefore bring our numbers down even more.”
The school employs a number of external support staff, including a psychologist, speech pathologist and occupational therapist.
If the closure of the factory goes ahead, Ms Paton is concerned a drop in school funding
will mean it will need to reduce numbers across both its teaching and support staff.
Fewer staff means the school would have to increase its class sizes, which Ms Paton said were currently small.
“They’re probably going to be higher because we just wouldn’t have the money to have those smaller class sizes, like we do at the moment,” she said.
Strathmerton Football Netball Club president Michael Keane said it was a realistic prospect the club would lose both senior and junior players because of the closure.
“It’s definitely going to have a flow-on effect. But I don’t think it will just be our footy club. I think there will be a few local clubs that are in the same boat,” Mr Keane said.
“We have a few senior players who work down at the factory, and some of our juniors have parents who work at the factory,” Mr Keane said.
“So employment for them, what it looks like, whether that means moving away from the area and potentially losing those families from the club, remains to be seen.”
Moving the Strathmerton production north will create 100 new jobs in the factory in Bega.
Mr Findlay said the Bega Group would begin discussions with employees on potential redeployment across its other factories, such as those in Tatura and Bega.
“We’d like to look at options there, but similarly, if people were going to shift to anywhere in the future, to where one of our other
sites are, we would look into that as well,” Mr Findlay said.
But Ms Paton said even if employees chose to work in Tatura, that wouldn’t preserve Strathmerton’s future.
“They’re not going to live here and work in Tatura,” she said.
“It’s too far, they’ll be paying petrol prices and the price of living. They’re not going to drive down there every day. They’ll relocate.”
United Workers Union national dairy co-ordinator Neil Smith said the union’s more than 260 members who worked at the factory were shocked at the announcement.
“In the latest enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations, workers won a community consultation clause,” Mr Smith said.
“So far the company has not kept their end of the bargain and the union expects genuine consultation with the Strathmerton community to occur in good faith.
“Bega needs to stick to the agreement and engage in genuine consultation with workers and the community. And if there is an ability to keep Strathmerton operating as a viable dairy plant, then Bega should be open to that.
“For workers to see their years of devoted service boiled down to a redundancy figure means there will be a lot of very hard kitchen-table conversations over the coming days and weeks.”
More stories at www.dairynewsaustralia. com.au
Maree Hodgson has worked at the Strathmerton factory for almost 31 years.
Photos: Owen Sinclair
Principal Joanne Paton is worried what the factory closure means for the future of enrolments at the school.
Strathmerton Football Netball Club president Michael Keane says the closure will have a flow-on effect around the district.
Plan to drive pro tability
AS THE 2024-25 financial year draws to a close, dairy farmers in the Murray region are presented with an opportunity to reassess their management strategies and refine business plans for the year ahead.
A key component of this process is by conducting a robust end-of-financial-year (EOFY) analysis.
A key area farmers will be scrutinising this year will be their feed cost, in particular the balance between irrigation water availability/cost and the comparative cost of purchasing of external feed such as hay and grain.
In the Murray region, where water is both a vital asset and a considerable expense, farmers must navigate fluctuating water allocations, price volatility and seasonal uncertainty.
Water prices in the southern MurrayDarling Basin have ranged from $90/Ml to more than $200/Ml in recent seasons
Conversely, while purchased feed offers flexibility, it also comes with price exposure.
For example, in the 2023-24 season, average prices for cereal hay in northern Victoria ranged from $300/tonne to $400/tonne, and grain costs fluctuated based on both domestic and global market pressures.
Developing a farm-specific strategy that integrates water availability with feed planning is essential.
Farm business analysis tools, such as DairyBase, offer valuable benchmarking insights and allow farmers to model financial outcomes based on different feed and water use scenarios.
Feed Budgeting tools can also be used to forecast demand and identify potential shortfalls early, supporting proactive
purchasing decisions and risk mitigation.
This EOFY period is also a timely moment to reflect on broader farm performance — reviewing milk income, input costs, labour efficiency and environmental stewardship.
Integrated planning that connects water, feed and financial data not only supports
profitability but builds the resilience of the farm system heading into the 2025-26 financial year.
Dairy Australia continues to support dairy businesses in the Murray region with evidence-based tools and advisory support designed to help farmers optimise input
HELP TO RECRUIT OVERSEAS WORKERS
The Gardiner Foundation and Dairy Australia have partnered to launch a project specifically supporting dairy farms employing workers from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) backgrounds.
ATTRACTING AND retaining skilled staff has been a long-standing challenge for dairy farm businesses.
With other industries also facing labour shortages, competition for workers remains high.
One increasingly common solution has been hiring overseas workers seeking employment opportunities in Australia.
However, while this may seem like a straightforward fix, the reality is far more complex.
The process involves navigating various visa categories, legal regulations, skill requirements, language barriers, housing needs and training demands.
Unsurprisingly, many farm managers find the system difficult to manage.
To help address these challenges, the Gardiner Foundation and Dairy Australia have partnered to launch a project specifically supporting dairy farms employing workers from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse
Give pastures a boost with e uent
BENEFIT YOUR pastures by emptying your dairy effluent ponds.
The extra water and nutrients can kick-start growth, ready for follow-up rain.
Effluent ponds are designed to contain effluent over winter, so must be emptied before the start of the wet period.
Although it is getting closer to winter, if soils are still dry, now is the time to ensure your storage ponds are relatively empty.
Effluent is a great resource, however, if the pasture plants are dead, an application of
effluent will not revive them.
If the plants are a honey colour with some sign of green leaves, then an application of effluent will provide a great boost.
Consider the following when applying effluent:
Avoid grazing paddocks until at least 21 days after an effluent application to reduce the risk of nitrate poisoning.
Transition cows shouldn’t be grazed on high potassium paddocks to avoid metabolic problems – this includes paddocks where
(CaLD) backgrounds.
The initiative provides tailored assistance to help dairy farmers successfully integrate overseas workers into their operations.
Leading the project in the Murray region is Shane Byrne.
“The success of integrating culturally diverse workers into existing farm teams varies greatly across the farms I’ve visited,” Shane said.
He said the two most significant hurdles were recruiting the right candidate and managing the visa process.
“Even once you’ve found the right person, there are still issues such as skill gaps, language barriers, training needs and helping new arrivals settle into the community.”
Some farmers have shared frustrations about investing time and resources into the immigration process, only to find the new employee is not a good fit or leaves the job shortly after arriving.
This highlights the importance of a
use and respond to seasonal pressures with confidence.
To explore the full suite of water and feed planning tools, visit bit.ly/4iYyApJ and for tailored assistance, contact the Dairy Australia Murray team on 4811 6008. – From Dairy Australia Murray.
effluent has been applied.
Young stock shouldn’t have access to adult stock areas or areas where effluent is stored or has been applied.
When applying effluent to new pasture or crops, wait until the crop is established, as effluent is often high in salts that can burn the seedlings.
Rotate effluent application paddocks regularly to make the best use of nutrients contained in effluent and avoid overloading a small area.
robust recruitment strategy and ensuring that workers feel supported, welcomed and included both in the workplace and the local community.
To assist with this, the program has produced a workbook and a handbook.
These resources guide farmers through each step of the employment process — from identifying knowledge gaps and improving recruitment strategies to onboarding and retention.
The handbook also includes cultural insights, visa and legal information, policy templates, and practical advice for keeping quality workers.
If you’re interested in participating in this initiative or would like a personalised visit to your farm to discuss hiring and supporting overseas workers, contact Shane Byrne at Dairy Australia Murray via shane.byrne@ dairyaustralia.com.au or phone 0402 971 593.
– From Dairy Australia Murray.
Soil test effluent application paddocks and modify fertiliser applications as appropriate. An effluent test is recommended before application, as nutrient levels vary depending on several factors and this way the effluent can be applied at appropriate rates to benefit your pastures.
For more information about drought and dry seasonal conditions support, visit: agriculture.vic.gov.au/dryseasons
– From Agriculture Victoria dairy industry development officer Rachael Campbell.
Sale achieves golden glow
BY SOPHIE BALDWIN
CLYDEVALE’S GOLDEN Anniversary
Sale, celebrating 50 years of breeding Holsteins by the Dee Family at Macorna, was well-supported by a large crowd. It was held in-person on the northern Victorian property and online on Wednesday, May 21.
Dairy Livestock Services auctioneer Brian Leslie said it was an outstanding offering of young milking cows and joined and unjoined heifers, who were all presented in fantastic form.
Topping the sale was Clydevale Lambda Cleaver, a VG 85 two-year-old from the 2024 Reserve Intermediate Champion of IDW Clydevale Doc Cleavage, 11th gen EX, she was purchased by Jock Culton of Katunga for $18,000.
Rick and Tina Wishart from Rowlands Park Holsteins, Cohuna, purchased second top priced lot Clydevale Surgarush Integral for $10,000.
Rick said the nine-month-old daughter of the 2024 winning Semex on farm champion Clydevale Doc Integrity, EX 92 took his eye from the very beginning.
“I think she is going to be cracking cow and she really intrigued me. I thought she might be out of our league, but I thought I would have a go and see where she landed, and lucky for us, we got her,” Rick said.
The couple also selected Clydevale Lambda Sunsilk, a 10-month-old granddaughter of Bolton Sundae, EX 95 for $6000.
“The sale was an opportunity for us to get in and to buy some great cattle from some great people, and if you are going to support anyone, it might as well be your neighbours — it was a classy line of cattle right through the catalogue.
“We are looking forward to taking them both to the Winter Fair in July,” he said.
Other local buyers included Gorbro Holsteins, who paid $9000 for the classy yearling Clydevale Davinci Vera backed by the Jacobs Goldwyn Valana, EX 95 cow family.
Master Breeder herd, Clydebank of Ross and Linda Somerville, purchased Clydevale Davinci Sunburn, a spring calving daughter of the EX 90 Piston Sunsmart cow for $8000.
Adam Dee said the family was happy with the support and happy with the sale result, considering the current situation of the dairy industry.
“The sale has been a great way to celebrate all of Mum and Dad’s hard work over the years,” Adam said.
“We were extremely happy with the support, particularly from the local members of our sub-branch, which was really great to see.
“Over the last month or so it has become pretty tough out there in the dairy industry with fodder becoming scarce and prices going through the roof.”
He said many people commented on the quality of the animals presented.
“I am sure there were some people out there that wanted to buy, but couldn’t due to the season,” Adam said.
“We will get through this lull and there will always be more animals for sale in the future.”
Adam said the family had been working on the sale since February.
“It’s a lot of work to first pick out the animals for sale, organise the catalogue and pedigrees, prepare the animals and then get everything else ready,” he said.
“We are just so glad it went well and we had a good crowd.”
Across the sale, 61 Holsteins averaged $4587, with buyers putting their hands up from all mainland states, including Western Australia.
Established in 1975 by Adrian and Cheryl Dee, Clydevale has developed into a dual Master Breeder herd, featuring cows from some of the best cow families in the country.
Adrian and Cheryl grew their registered herd by select stud purchase and registering their commercial cows via the Holstein appendix system.
The family is proud many of these foundation families remain in the herd today and they have managed to breed 155 excellent cows over the past 50 years.
In 1980, Adrian and Cheryl moved their dairy operation from Clyde North to Macorna, starting out with just 60 cows and 206 hectares.
Supported by their children Adam, Mark, Colin, Kevin and Clare, Clydevale has grown to 1092ha and 1300 registered females, including a milking herd of 500.
A few years ago, the family’s long-held dream to build an eight-unit robotic system was realised.
Clydevale is one of the most respected Holstein herds in the country, and the family has taken home a ribbon from every big show in the country.
Notable wins include International Dairy Week, Winter Fair, On Farm Challenges, and of course, many agricultural show society wins.
“One of the best purchases our family ever made was to buy into the Sunspot family when we purchased the pregnant heifer Hullabaloo Bolton Sundae EX 95 at the North West Stars of the Future Sale in 2012,” Adam said.
Descendants of Sundae have gone on to win many accolades over the years, and buyers, for the first time ever, will have the opportunity to purchase her progeny across nine lots.
Investing in the Irene family has also been a big winner, with the popular cow family a firm favourite.
“We have been able to breed high type and production cows, AI Bull dams, show winners, All Australian winners and state on-farm challenge winners from the Irene family, and we have seven lots available in this catalogue,” Adam said.
“It will be hard to see some of these animals go, but it will also be rewarding to watch them in the future.”
Clydevale’s Golden Anniversary Sale averaged $4587 across 61 lots.
The sale was well-supported in person and online.
It all began with Cheryl and Adrian Dee’s passion.
Lot 23 Clydevale Rubels Juno Red VG 85.