A farm complex covering 1600 ha and 2500 cows needs teamwork to run smoothly — and the Parkinson brothers at Kirkstall make sure that happens.
During the past two years their herd has increased by 500 and more land has been added to the set-up.
It’s a long way from the 200-cow enterprise started 40 years ago by David and Shirley Parkinson. Today, the five farms in the Kirkstall area are run by brothers Xavier, Vin, Adrian, James and Daniel, with David and Shirley overseeing.
There are three dairies on separate farms and one heifer-rearing shed, and they effectively work without boundary fences and all brothers have equity in the business.
Xavier recently hosted a WestVic Dairy Young Dairy Network (YDN) Getting Ahead in Dairy field day, with a focus on career pathways, developing staff and planning to achieve goals.
The Parkinson family’s business has been built up over the years and now requires staff as well as family to run the operation.
The Parkinson family’s expansion was needed when the five boys decided over time to return to the farm.
Since 2005 there has been constant change and expansion. In 2005 David and Shirley were milking 900 cows on their home farm plus they had a 283 ha run-off site. In 2007 they built a dairy on the run-off site and went from 900 to 1600 cows in two herds.
This was a conversion from grazing to dairy and Xavier said it took about five years of heavy fertiliser applications to get Olsen P levels up to scratch.
By 2014 all five boys had returned home and it was time for more purchases with another 400 ha dairy farm added in 2015, followed by a sheep farm conversion.
Xavier, who is on the YDN leadership team, says the economies of scale have allowed one major calving period, especially with a calving shed that all farms can use.
They start with heifers in late February and the cows a week later, and March, April and May are the big months when about 2000 cows calve, with a few stragglers going into June and July.
“It allows the cows to calve and get settled and then catch the whole pasture season,” Xavier said.
Having more cows means there is the need for more people.
“We take a team approach and that works really well for us,” Xavier said.
“We’ve got three teams of five people at each dairy and a constant presence on each farm. Whenever a stressful situation comes up, such as a platform breaking down, we have someone to call on.”
As in any farm, not everything is a bed of roses. The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 meant many planned developments had to be put on hold, but with careful spending they didn’t need to borrow any further.
There was further “battening down the hatches” in 2016 when their supplier Murray Goulburn cut prices.
“This taught us a lesson; if you think you’re breaking even, you’re actually going backwards because your assets are constantly depreciating sand at some point you will have to catch up,” Xavier said.
They switched to UDC and enjoyed that relationship but recently took up an opportunity to supply Coles.
Purchasing some cattle with one farm was also problematic as they had a bad strain of mastitis, Strep Ag, that was costly and stressful to overcome.
Like many farms, the Parkinsons sometimes need to search for staff.
They pay hourly rates based on age, experience and responsibility, and make sure everyone has their days off and holidays.
“We all have to be here for calving and harvest in October-November but otherwise we’re flexible when they take leave,” Xavier said.
“We look for people to be reliable, turn up on time and can be flexible and help out if someone else is sick.”
They also offer access to South West TAFE and RIST courses so young staff members can get a formal qualification.
“Working for two years on a farm will look good on your resume,” Xavier said.
“It beats avoiding work.”
He admits a farming enterprise led by five brothers has long-term limitations for other staff.
“You can hit a bit of a dead end with career pathways because of the five brothers, but over the years many staff have moved on into farm management or started their own farm businesses,” Xavier said.
The farms previously used backpackers but lost that source of workers. Last year they rang all the local secondary schools for staff but never got a response.
They don’t have the capacity to house workers on the farms and Xavier admits the split shifts can be challenging.
“If you live a fair way away, that can be a problem,” he said.
“During the day the place is a ghost town.”
The brothers run the enterprise to their style of farming, but are happy to give staff experience in areas such as crop rotation.
“Usually if someone approaches for a job, we try to make room for them,” Xavier said.
He sees farm workers as an important part of the system.
“Your role is important in delivering high-quality food to our supermarket shelves and improving our country’s export trade.”