Yannathan farmer Evan Campbell describes himself as a bit of a reluctant dairy industry advocate, but he knows better than most the importance of standing up for farmers.
Evan’s father Noel is a former Australian Dairy Farmers president, and when it came time to put his hand up for dairy advocacy, Evan was happy to take on the challenge.
“We need to remain relevant, that’s why advocacy is so important,” he says.
“I’d describe my dad’s leadership style as driven by duty, rather than ambition, and I’m probably the same. I don’t like public speaking and putting myself out there, however I see the importance of representing the industry.
“There’s a history there for my pathway to advocacy,” he said.
“But I didn’t necessarily want to follow down that path.
“I took part in the UDV-Gardiner New Zealand Study Tour in 2017, and got exposed to fellow farmers from all across Victoria, the wider dairy industry and all its different acronyms – ADF, VFF, ADPF to name a few.
“When there was a vacancy on the UDV policy council a few years later, some mentors suggested I should consider running for West Gippsland.”
Evan was on the UDV policy council for two years, followed by three years on the committee of Dairy Farmers Victoria. With the recent unification of both bodies, Evan has now returned to the UDV policy council.
“Dairy Farmers Victoria served its purpose,” he said.
“We (the committee) saw it through, but still want to be involved. All of us on the policy council have got the best interests of the dairy industry at heart.”
While elevating to the top ADF job is not on Evan’s bucket list, he doesn’t rule out higher callings, believing his empathy for fellow farmers can help the industry.
He says advocacy needs to be better funded, and he would like Victoria to consider other models, perhaps similar to SADA with fundraising through local products made in conjunction with supermarkets and processors.
“We need to be open to different opportunities as they present themselves, not just levies and membership. It wouldn’t be easy to get off the ground, but something like that could help fund advocacy for the whole industry.”
Evan is a big believer in Thomas Sowell’s famous insight: ‘there are no solutions; only trade-offs’.
“There’s no silver bullet out there. You’re never going to get it perfectly right, but you need to get it right enough and you might be able to stop a much worse outcome just by being involved.”
While he grew up on the family dairy farm in West Gippsland, Evan was also a bit of a reluctant farmer.
“If you asked me as a teenager, I didn’t imagine I was going to be a dairy farmer,” he said.
After school, Evan completed a double degree of engineering and commerce and worked in Saudi Arabia for five years in the upstream oil and gas industry.
“As a teenager I was bought into the idea that most people have a 9-5 job, and that dairy farming isn’t just a job, it’s a lifestyle choice. The cows need you every day of the year.
“As I started my career in my 20s, working in a bottle shop or being stuck on an oil rig for a month at a time in the desert, I ultimately realised that any job you choose is a lifestyle choice. It is what you make it.”
Whilst working in the Middle East was a bit of an adventure, Evan returned to the family farm in 2015 seeking greener pastures.
“What didn’t appeal to me as a teenager appeals to me more now that I’m older. Kellie and I have four young children and enjoy the challenges and opportunities that the dairy lifestyle provides.”
After returning, Evan worked for his parents’ sharefarmer for two years before the group expanded with a nearby leased farm, which Evan managed for five years. His younger brother Vaughn later took over that property, and Evan returned to the home farm in July 2022.
As part of succession planning, Evan and his wife Kellie started as 33 per cent sharefarmers in the first year, before moving to 50 per cent and owning the cows in 2023.
In June this year, they bought about a third of the land from his parents Noel and Ann, and have progressed to a 70-30 hybrid sharefarming model.
Noel, who recently turned 70, is not active in the day-to-day operations, but is central for strategic planning and helping with the unavoidable repairs and maintenance that comes with a farm.
“I can’t imagine Dad will ever retire, but he might slow down a bit,” Evan adds
Like many dairy farms, the Campbell business has been growing over time.
“There has been a long-term trend in all ag that farms are getting bigger, it’s not just a husband and wife or two brothers with 120-130 cows anymore.
“As you grow, you need staff and that adds complexity to your business, but it also means you can structure some time off if you have good staff and systems in place,” Evan said.
Evan and Kellie, supported by one full-time and two part-time staff members, milk about 500 cross-bred cows, mixing Holstein, Jersey, Reds and Montbéliarde.
The Jersey-Holstein cross has been running for decades, with Red genetics being introduced into the herd about 15 years ago, and Montbéliarde was added in the past few years as a dual-purpose breed to add carcass weight potentially for beef.
Evan and Kellie mainly breed for fertility, liveweight efficiency and longevity.
“We don’t want enormous cows, which looks after itself if you’re breeding Jerseys in with them. We’re looking for an average 500kg animal and a relatively uniform herd. You don’t want too much difference in terms of size in your dairy.”
They use split calving, 40 per cent in March-April, the balance of the herd in July-August.
There are two herringbones on the home farm – one supplying Coles, the other Burra.
It’s an unusual situation, and Evan says it has both pros and cons.
“When we start drying cows off, we shut one dairy for a couple of weeks, rather than milking minimal numbers through two dairies,” he said.
“So, for nine months of the year, we’ve got two herds with two rotations, and for the other three months just one combined herd. If you wound the clock back 20 years, maybe you would just build a rotary in the middle, but the decision was made at the time after buying a neighbouring farm.
“We’ll keep all 300 spring cows in the larger dairy, and we can have the 200 autumn cows in the smaller dairy and the option to feed them a different ration.”
The season is looking pretty good, though with the usual levels of uncertainty.
“A lot of farmers had zero fodder reserves coming out of the 2025 autumn,” Evan said. “We had a half-decent spring last year, everyone aggressively made as much silage as they could because they had no reserves, and then this autumn was much kinder.
“Many farms are carrying fodder reserves going into this season. Some areas might be too wet but we’re doing okay. We have to wait and see in spring and summer if El Nino has a large impact on this area.”