Three years after almost walking away from the dairy industry, Beverford farmers Neville and Julie Rogers are not just surviving but thriving — thanks to some well-timed help from Fonterra’s Farm Source team.
It was a tough time for the Rogers, with the north-west Victorian farm held in the family’s hands for four generations.
“My father and grandfather had both owned the property,” Julie said.
“It was 96 acres (38 hectares) with a six-bay walk-in dairy when Dad sold the property. I was only 15 at the time but always wanted to buy it back one day.”
The Rogers ran a nearby stockfeed mill before buying the farm in 2001.
Since then, Neville and Julie, along with son Matthew, have grown the property to 141ha of predominantly summer and winter pastures as well as a 1011ha turn-out block.
“We pretty much knocked down everything except for the dairy and started again, including new fences, new pipe-and-risers and a 44-stand rotary dairy,” Neville said.
By 2018, however, the Rogers had hit a wall.
“We were nearly ready to quit,” Neville said.
“The drought had hit; water was dear. Things were pretty tough.”
That’s when Fonterra area manager Kelly Mathers brought in Farm Source paddock specialist Glenn Murrells and profit specialist Matt Trevaskis.
“The farm had all the ingredients there,” Glenn said.
“It was just a matter of putting everything together.
“They needed to either make the decision to move out of the industry or grow the herd.
“We ran scenarios to determine the best course of action and our initial planning identified a [cow] number that the feedbase, the land and the available labour could support.
“We were looking to get as much as we possibly could out of the business. So, we recommended increasing the herd from 120 to 300.”
After making that decision, Glenn changed the Rogers’ feed mix.
“They were feeding straight grain in the dairy, and that doesn’t work for high-performance cows and doesn’t drive maximum production, so I formulated a canola mill-based additive,” Glenn said.
“As a result, we’ve seen per cow production improve significantly, in-calf rates are much better, and production overall from the herd has increased significantly,” Neville said.
He said Glenn also helped to manage his pasture better.
“He swung me more into silage. I had never been a silage fan, but I’m starting to lean towards it only because you can get your protein energy off your paddocks quicker.
“Now, instead of being purely pasture-based, we’re using a mixing wagon and putting the cows on a pad in the evening.
“The cattle are actually gaining weight, we’re getting more cows in-calf quicker, and the cows are a lot happier. We’ve gone from 750,000 litres to well over two million.”
In addition to the improvement in production, the Rogers are now working with Farm Source to consolidate their future.
“With the increased herd size and intensive planning they’re doing with Glenn, the business is now in a much more secure position financially,” Matt said.
“It’s given them the freedom to look at options as to whether they stay put or keep growing. Either option is perfectly fine for this farm.”
In addition to the financial relief, it’s created a much happier atmosphere on the farm.
“Neville and Julie were in a pretty bad place stress-wise, and you could see the strain,” Glenn said.
“Now when we come up here everyone’s happy and smiling. You can see the business growing, and there’s a really solid future here.”
Julie and Neville have become advocates for other farmers to use the expertise on offer from the Farm Source team.
“They have been a fantastic help to us over the last three to four years, and they’re an integral part of our dairying operation now,” Neville said.
“We’ve tripled our enterprise, we’re off and running again, and it looks like we’ll be sitting here for a little bit longer.”
For Julie, it’s peace of mind that her family farm has the support needed to succeed.
“If you have any issues, you can contact the team at any time,” she said.
“Before Farm Source, we didn’t have this sort of thing available.They have set us up with all the support we need.”