For Kevin and Brodie Game, it’s the name of their dairy operation at Bemboka, on the south coast of NSW, that says everything about their bold plan to become first-generation farmers.
“Blackjack Holsteins; because when we started it was a bit of a roll of the dice, so we put it all on Blackjack,” Kevin said.
“It is unusual to be first generation. It’s just so hard to get into farming if you don’t have that generational farm, or money.”
But what Kevin and Brodie had in spades was determination.
“My dad always said horses cost money and cattle make money, so I took that to heart,” Brodie said.
They started with two cows, and grew it to six, while rearing bull calves on their milk.
“We came down here one day (to Bemboka) to buy bull calves and I called into a bloke’s place and asked him to lease his farm,” Kevin said.
“He didn’t really want to lease so we sharefarmed, then the milk price crashed. He was losing money, but we had just put our life savings into 60 crossbred heifers and didn’t want to get out.
“We went to the bank with everything we had, literally everything, and we got lucky. So, we went from six cows to 180 cows pretty quick and now we’re at 450.”
On a typical day on the farm, Brodie heads out at 3am to run the morning milking while Kevin gets their two boys ready for school.
Brodie then does the school run before working in the office until the afternoon milking, while Kevin is in the paddocks sowing, irrigating silage and feed crops or seeding, depending on the season.
Adding an extra layer of complexity to their business is that dairying is classified as food production, and in NSW, farms are audited by the Food Authority, in the same way as cafes and restaurants.
“Our records have to be spotless, right down to the batch numbers on the chemicals we use on crops and in the dairy,” Kevin said.
“If we lose that food licence, we don’t have a business.”
Pivotal to accurate record keeping has been their investment in two John Deere utility tractors, a 6175R and 6110M, fitted with automatic guidance and JDLink, which provides seamless data exchange between the machines and the office.
John Deere’s online management systems, John Deere Operations Center and JDLink, have been life-changing for the farm, Brodie said.
“I didn’t realise John Deere technology was so powerful until we bought the tractor,” she said.
“Now, when our audit processor comes through, everything is ready to go. I literally print the data off the Operations Center.
“I used to have to rely on Kevin and the workers to write all the details into a little notebook. This is so much simpler, so much safer. It gives me peace of mind and it means Kev and I can plan things out.”
For Kevin, the initial drawcard for buying John Deere was JDLink, which provided connectivity in an area with unreliable service.
“To have the John Deere techs able to remotely log on to our tractors and tell us what to do is great, rather than waiting for a technician to come,” he said.
“With Ops Center, our whole farm is mapped now and Brodie can set jobs from the office. So, a worker can drive into the paddock, the plan will come up on screen, and away he goes.
“The record keeping is fantastic. With audits they require batch numbers, which way the wind was blowing on the day you sprayed the paddock, and it's printed out on the little ticket at the bottom. There’s no argument.”
Before they bought the R Series four years ago, Kevin and Brodie thought investing in a John Deere machine would be too expensive.
“When we were at a very high-risk level in terms of debt, buying a John Deere seemed like a big jump,” Brodie said.
“But we know the cost that comes with second-hand machinery if there’s a breakdown and you don’t get your grass cut on time, or your silage baled or seed in.
“In terms of investment, you can’t go wrong. These tractors are so easy to maintain, easy to work with, we don’t have breakdowns. If we have questions, there are so many support services to get us back on track.
“Ops Center just makes everything so simple and streamlined, and I can work from the comfort of my office.
“Where we're contracting out to another smaller farmer, we can see the fuel usage, exactly what the tractor did, and then cross-reference that with what I'm charging them. There’s no guessing.”
Now that they’ve achieved their dream of buying the farm, the couple has set new goals.
“There are so many ways that we can improve our operation, our management and the farm itself to make us more efficient, more productive, more sustainable, and Operations Center is a part of that. It has made our life so much easier,” Brodie said.
“It's very similar to the cows. They're our heart and soul, our liquid gold.
“So, to have assets like our John Deere tractors that are going to last and be value for money, it’s definitely worth it.”
Watch the Game family story at: https://youtu.be/VUBEySSn384