Ready to take the next step

The couple and their five children farm at Toolong and over the past decade have built up a strong herd.

As the 2017 WestVic Dairy Sharefarmers of the Year, Todd and Maddy have the runs on the board and they continue to enjoy a good relationship with owners Colin and Russell Cumming.

But there’s a growing yearning to do their own thing.

“We’re happy to stay here but we’re looking for opportunities to lease, buy or a purchase arrangement,” Todd said.

“We have spoken to other people in the area and let it be known we want to buy our own place.

“That’s what drives me. To have your own place, I don’t think you could beat it.”

Although they want to take the next step, Todd and Maddy remain committed to the sharefarming model.

“If you’re starting from scratch, I think sharefarming is the best way into agriculture, whether it’s beef, sheep, cropping or dairy, but you have to want to work and sacrifice your holidays,” Todd said.

“If you’re on the same page with your partner and family, you can build a great asset, but you’ve got to put the time in. It’s taken us 10 years, but now we’re in a good position to buy a place.”

Maddy grew up on a dairy farm near Penshurst and Todd’s grandparents were dairy farmers.

After working in financial planning and as an au pair in the Rocky Mountains in United States, Maddy met Todd who was working at the same farm as her sister. After some time in Geelong, they returned to work on Maddy’s family farm and started to slowly build their own herd.

“Mum and Dad paid Todd’s overtime in Friesian heifers and we started rearing them,” Maddy said.

“We wanted to get to a stage in two or three years that if something came up, we’d have some assets behind us.

“You need to have some skin in the game. It’s very hard to break in if you don’t come from a farming background.”

They started with 60 Holstein heifers and, with prices for Holsteins skyrocketing, bought crossbreds the next year to boost numbers.

They started the sharefarming agreement in November 2014, during a tough period for the industry.

“It was as dry as what it is now and had been for a lot longer,” Maddy said.

“I’m grateful that we did come in at a tough time because it made us be tight. We had to watch every single dollar.”

They entered the agreement with just a Rodeo ute and about 180 cows, with a debt hanging over their heads.

They scoured dispersal sales to buy cows and they were lucky to purchase 50 cows from Russell, who has a separate dairy farm. They now own more than 400 milking cows, and usually peak at 380.

“The last couple of years we’ve been higher numbers compared to where we need to be, but we’re trying to build the asset,” Todd added.

They have reverted to a totally Holstein herd.

“I have a preference towards black and whites,” Todd said.

“They have created other opportunities with export markets in the past, though that has come back a bit now.”

“The cows were our main asset, and Friesian cows are worth more on paper if something went wrong and we had to sell,” Maddy added.

They are producing a bit over 500kg/MS per cow, though “we don’t push them too hard,” Todd says.

They’re happy with progression of the herd, especially with the bull Spock adding to the mix and the use of sexed semen leading to higher conception rates.

“The changes we’ve seen from 10 years ago by being able to stick to a few good bulls has really flattened out the herd,” Todd said.

“We’ve been working with John Pickford from Nationwide — his team has been a great help. Spock has been particularly good with high fertility, fantastic temperament, good udders and a nice medium-statured cow.”

They use split-calving, moving more to autumn where it’s easier to get calves going and they tend to sell better and to avoid birthing during wetter periods.

“It’s good to be at a stage where we have decent cows and your management becomes a bit more confident,” Todd said.

“We bring in 22 to 23 per cent replacements every year and we’re happy with where the herd is at.”

The past few months have been the driest they’ve seen since 2014 and while the farm is generally self-sufficient, this year they’re dipping into reserves.

“We’ve got silage and silage carried over from previous years,” Todd said.

“We’re getting into the reserves a bit and feeding almond hulls to stretch it out.”

He planted about 12ha of sorghum in January and, boosted by rain before it turned dry, has added some good green feed for the milkers.

An extra 30ha of grasses were sown in early March using a centre pivot covering 18ha and a travelling gun.

“It’s going around the clock at the moment to get grass up and going,” Todd said.

“It has been a challenging season. We missed out on quite a bit of rain, especially in September.

“We’re down about 50 per cent on silage compared to the previous few years, though they were above average.

“It’s back to a more average season and you just have to adapt your management.”