Colleen Laws and Garry Cook manage one of the Thexton Farms properties, at Cobains, in Gippsland, Victoria.
The farm title and infrastructure has an equity owner, and is leased by Colleen and Gary in partnership with the directors of Thexton Farms, Benn and Peta Thexton.
The Cobains’ farm was sold a couple of years ago by Thexton Farms in a six-year lease-back arrangement.
The partnership between Colleen, Gary, Benn and Peta also own a 471 megalitre irrigation licence on the property.
They retained this asset when the property was sold.
Initially, Colleen and Gary managed this farm, but after a few years, and after completing Dairy Australia’s Our Farm Our Plan to identify their goals, they entered into a business operations partnership contract with Thexton Farms.
Their earnings are now a mix of management income based on cents/kg milk solid production and annual dividends.
“I wouldn’t want to be a sharefarmer after experiencing this type of arrangement,” Colleen said.
“We used the Our Farm Our Plan program to inform our decision-making and help us identify how to grow the farm’s profitability.
“Our Farm Our Plan has demonstrated we’re achieving asset growth within this business arrangement.”
Garry also works as a fodder harvest contractor for the Thexton Farms group.
“We started working as managers in 2018 on wages, and in 2023, we bought into the operating business,” Colleen said.
“When we were working for wages, there would be incentives every now and again, that met the type of things we were each passionate about.
“What drives Garry and me to work well are totally different things.
“Garry is all about the machinery, and I’m all about the money, and I love looking at graphs and analysing everything.
“Benn identified those things about us, and I am happy to spend time having conversations about the business with him.”
The working and business relationships are underpinned by written contracts.
“It’s a bonus having those contracts,” Colleen said.
“There’s no confusion and it provides security for all parties.”
The couple now operates as Oakdale Farms.
The Cobains’ farm has a 114-hectare milking platform, running 500 milkers, producing 580kg milk solids.
Colleen said they were aiming to increase production to 600kg/ms, through feeding management, animal health management and identifying the best cows for their system.
A key change in 2025 was improving infrastructure, with some time in 2024 spent building a new 44-unit rotary dairy with automatic cups on and off.
It was operational by January 2025 and enabled the herd to include larger cows.
Infrastructure improvements are based on clearly articulated advantages for the business and approval of quotes from the owner of the land.
Alongside the new dairy are new silos and a loading ramp.
Colleen said her focus was on improving the cross-bred herd, focusing on lactation longevity, producing components, and matching the size of the cow to the rotary unit.
Cows are dried off from mid-June, with heifers starting to calve from August 1.
Colleen said reducing the AI joining period from 10 weeks to seven weeks has improved the calving rate.
“We’ve reduced the empty rate to 25 per cent of the herd,” she said.
Collars are taken off empty cows so they are easy to identify when it comes time to sell, and to ensure they are not part of the re-joined herd.
The calves of heifers are not kept.
“We join heifers to Angus and Jersey semen,” Colleen said.
Cows are also shifted off the farm if they are chronic mastitis sufferers.
“Three strikes with mastitis and they’re gone,” Colleen said.
This season, 180 heifers entered the herd, up from an average of 120 replacements, to help facilitate their herd growth.
Colleen and Garry employ a young full-time farm worker, and casual labour.
“Jake came on board in December 2024 from a non-traditional learning path,” Colleen said.
“He was also off a family dairy farm, and during the school holidays, he worked milking cows alongside his grandfather.
“We’re keen to help him increase his capacity to be involved in decision making, because he’s got the potential to be 2IC on this farm.”
Future plans for Colleen and Garry include discussions with Benn and Peta about buying a second farm in partnership, and putting a farm manager on at the Cobains’ property.
“I have absolutely no desire to own a farm on my own,” Colleen said.
“We have too good a deal in our roles at the Cobains’ farm, and this model works for us.
“I also have issues with letting go.”
Colleen said she has cried when she has had to sell cows because of a downturn in seasonal conditions.
“But if there’s something else for us to go to, I think we have to do it, and put someone in here to manage this farm,” she said.
In the meantime, the co-owners are working together to mentor Jake and help him reach his own potential.