Dairy farmers give back to industry

Movers, shakers: key players in the Foster Focus farm project were (clockwise from top left) facilitator John Mulvany, Kevin, Mitchell and Helen Jones and farm employees Christina Ermolou and Alan Stark.

WHEN Foster couple Kevin and Helen Jones do something, they do it properly.
Already acknowledged as running one of the best dairy farm businesses in the state, they have put themselves under the microscope as Focus Farmers for the past three years.
Once they committed to the award winning project, the Jones’ decided to go all the way by opening up their farm accounts for everyone to see.
Few farmers are willing to expose their books to their neighbours and friends, but for Kevin it was a simple decision.
“If you are going to do something you may as well do it properly,” he said at the final Focus Farm field day last Wednesday.
“The first day we had our meeting, I had two young farmers ring me up and say they couldn’t believe we could do this with that level of debt.
“So instantly someone has got something out of it, they have already learnt something. That’s what you want them to learn and grow from.”
Focus Farms is a highly acclaimed program that examines production methods, financials, environmental issues and farm family needs during the three year period.
Each Focus Farm has an experienced farm consultant acting as a facilitator and a support group made up of fellow farmers and local service providers.
All six Focus Farms in Gippsland are supported by Gardiner Foundation, Dairy Australia and GippsDairy.
The Jones’ introduction to Focus Farms coincided with the milk price drop that saw them with plenty of debt but with a drastically reduced income.
It meant that the focus of the initial Focus Farm meetings turned from how to improve the farm to how to keep it.
“Our goals were to consolidate, reduce debt and survive,” Kevin said.
“The day we took over the new farm was the same day we got the letter saying the milk price has fallen over.”
Once they were back on more solid financial ground, Foster Focus Farm facilitator John Mulvany said Kevin’s attitude to labour and infrastructure issues started to change.
With a desire to spend less time with his cows and more time with his children, Katie and Mitchell, Kevin and Helen took the plunge into updating the dairy.
“It was more the issues of staffing, cow numbers and infrastructure where, as a result of the program, we changed direction,” John said.
“We invested in more infrastructure which wasn’t the plan.”
Kevin’s initial approach was not to invest too much in the dairy, instead using two full-time labour units and stick with his old 20 unit swingover.
“We ended up with a 20 double up, one full time labour unit and a part timer – and that was with no increase in debt,” John said.
It took the input from some of the younger members of the support group to convince Kevin that his dairy infrastructure had to change before his lifestyle would.
“The younger members of the Focus Farm Group were saying that they knew he could milk 400 cows with a 20 cow swingover just by employing more staff, but no one wants to milk 400 cows in a 20 unit swingover,” John said.
“Even though they are being paid by the hour they just won’t want to do it.
“Once we had a one person dairy – a 20-double up with cup removers – it was more attractive to staff. So we broke through that barrier.”
The Jones’ have just returned from a five week beach holiday – the longest they can remember.

Short URL: /?p=3072

Posted by SiteAdmin on Mar 7 2012. Filed under Rural News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry