June Brooks, 84, and her grandson Riley Brooks, 27, might be approaching different stages of their lives, but they both share a love and passion for dairying that will see the family farm successfully move into the third generation.
For June, it all began when she married her late husband Frank and settled into a life of dairying on a 130-hectare parcel of land just outside of Barooga — family and cows have been her life ever since.
And she doesn’t regret a thing.
“I remember coming home from our honeymoon to milk 50 cows in an old walk-through dairy and I have been doing it ever since.”
For Riley, his foray into dairying began when he left school looking for something to do and nine years later, he still hasn’t left.
“I love working with animals and I am pretty patient with them,” Riley said.
While he has many roles on the farm, one of his favourites is rearing the 200-odd calves that are born annually in the herd of Friesian, Jersey and crossbreed cows.
“The cows suit our grazing system. We grow a lot of grass and a smaller type cow really performs well for us,” he said.
Riley works with his dad Shane on the home farm, milking 450 split-calving cows through a 50-unit rotary. Just down the road his uncle Jason milks 250 autumn-calving cows through a 22 double-up.
“Running two dairies helps us with management, reduces risk and shares the workload. My uncle’s farm has a two-month break while the home dairy runs all year round,” Riley said.
And June doesn’t sit idle either.
She is usually the first person at the dairy each morning and by 5.30am she has the lights on, the filters in and the computer on, always making sure everything is ready to go.
Most of the time she sticks around the dairy until the end of milking.
“I could go home if I wanted too but most of the time I stay around and help, there is always a sick cow or some other job they need a hand with.
“Frank and I would get up at 5am, have a cup of coffee and he would get the cows up and I would set the dairy up and that was what we did seven days a week — when he passed away I just continued with the same routine.”
Since beginning on the farm, Riley has been focusing on improving the genetic potential of the herd. Over the past seven years he has been using the services of Nu-Genes in Numurkah.
“We are really starting to see an improvement in the quality of the cows in the herd which is really great,” he said.
“We use sexed semen on the heifers, which also allows us to export up to 50 excess heifers a year.”
The family grows all their own fodder, only buying-in grain requirements.
Silage features heavily in the mix.
“We cut and wrap all our own silage and we have round bales, which work better for us than a pit system,” Riley said.
Fodder consists of oats, vetch, rye and clover.
Carryover water gave them a start this season, but great rainfall and good conditions have meant a bumper silage year.
To improve water efficiency the family has invested in a 150Ml recycle dam and a pipe-and-riser system.
“We have some of the best infrastructure here in the Riverina but water security is a huge uncertainty for us moving forward, although I do think there is a great future for the dairy industry,” Riley said.
June on the other hand has weathered her fair share of uncertain times over the years.
“It has been tough but there are always lessons in the hard times — especially around drought and the boys (Shane and Jason) have learnt a lot when it comes to the importance of conserving fodder.
“Frank always said to make hay while the sun shines and we have always tried to have at least a year’s worth of feed ahead of us.”
June despairs at the way water is now managed and she hopes some common sense will return to the water job soon
“I really don’t know what is going to happen with water and if the wheel doesn’t turn, we are in some serious trouble,” she said.
“We are such a productive area but we need irrigation to continue.”
June said despite the ups and downs, dairying had been good to the family over the years.
“Frank said when he married me he had two and sixpence, I have a bit more than that now.”
Both June and Riley are proud of the fact they produce food for the nation, in fact the Brooks family has been farming in and around the Barooga area for many, many decades.
“Farming has been a bit of a legacy in the Brooks family and between us all we feed a lot of people,” Riley said.
“I just hope we continue to get the opportunity to do that well into the future.”