Anthony Eccles likes his cows
And so do a lot of other farmers.
A third-generation farmer from Purnim, Anthony is reaping the rewards from a long-term commitment to breeding productive animals.
They might not win on the show circuit but they do in the dairy, and that’s what counts to Anthony and the farmers that have been buying animals from him over the years.
His Purnim Holsteins stud has been registered since 1988 and has built up a reputation for good quality, year-round milk and good cows to sell to other farmers.
“I’ve had farmers who bought off me say they are crackers, the best calves they’ve ever milked,” he said.
“I don’t mind selling good ones because the farmer talks to another farmer and says he got them from Anthony Eccles and it’s good word of mouth.”
It’s the same with bulls that are reared on-farm until 15 to 17 months and then sold to farmers as mop-up bulls or to genetics companies and regularly praised for their docility and their results.
When you add heifers sent to the export markets, plus a sideline in Angus beef, the sales are another business within the business.
Anthony owns 240ha and leases another 204 for a total milking platform of about 300ha, including about 140ha under irrigation, with two centre pivots and two hard hoses with effluent water.
About 15 years ago every paddock was soil tested as part of the DairySAT program, which led to the paddocks being arranged in five different regions, two based on the pivots, including one for night paddocks that doesn’t need any fertiliser, one for the hard hose system, one dryland area used to milk off and finally the leased land.
“That was amazing because it gave us a base,” Anthony said.
Anthony started leasing extra land about three years ago, all nearby so it’s easy to keep an eye on things.
It had been a beef farm for generations; the Olsen P levels were 5 and there were only two paddocks and a windmill. Anthony added tracks and troughs, turned it into 17 paddocks, and shelter-belted all around the fence.
Don’t tell Anthony that farmers wreck the environment.
“I’ve planted more than two kilometres of native shelter belts a year and I’m still going,” he said. “I treat it as if I’ve bought the farm.”
The Olsen P is up to 28 and Anthony has aggressively planted Italian-type rye-grasses, leading to a lot of silage and more stored feed. This summer Anthony successfully introduced a multi-species crop of radish, millet, rape and chicory.
Making sure the cows are well fed is a priority.
“Years ago, the dry cow went down the back paddock and got crap hay, now I’m growing summer crops for them to graze on,” Anthony said.
“My cows are never off green feed. They have summer crops and then silage and good quality hay.”
He particularly focuses on keeping condition on during pregnancy.
“If you put her down the back paddock and she’s stressing, that’s affecting her eggs. We get them out to a separate paddock when they’re 21 days off calving.
“We lead feed 4kg of grain and as much hay or silage that they want. We concentrate on good feed and keep them full and they don’t seem to want to calve during the night.
“We find out conception rate is a lot better because of that.”
The more consistent paddocks also help. “We found years ago that when they went from dried into irrigation, it was such a big change for them.”
Regular soil tests have led to better use of fertiliser, and a significant drop in expenditure.
“Previously the most fertile paddock next to the dairy was getting the same blend as the one cut for hay and silage from down the back,” Anthony said.
“By separating it into different groups, we’re saving money.
“We soil test every year and now find not much difference between tests. The savings in fertiliser is the biggest thing; why put fertiliser out on a paddock that doesn’t need it?”
Anthony’s father Ray was, alongside Bill Quinlan, the first to use artificial insemination in the region and this early adoption of breakthrough technology is still positively influencing the herd.
“We’re 55 to 56 years of genetics using AI and we’re using the top bulls,” Anthony said.
“We have a very quiet herd, including the bulls. I’ve had the same farmers buy bulls off me every year because they’re so quiet. The walk on a rotary dairy like a cow.”
Anthony was quick to jump into genomics and over the past two years has become more confident in using more sexed semen.
“We had been synchronising the heifers and using sexed semen on them but we’re now doing the same with cows.
“Synchronising the cows makes them more fertile to hold the sexed semen and the success rates are much better. You’ve got to synchronise them to get the sexed to work.
“We were getting 65 per cent conception rate with sexed with the heifers and now we’re 50 to 55 with the cows. When I wasn’t synchronising, I was only getting 45 per cent.”
He genomic tests all the heifer calves to identify the better animals to continue improving the herd.
Anthony likes a nice placid cow so breeds for temperament, good legs and feet, rump, teat length and fat and protein.
“There’s no use having a cow giving heaps of water; you want solids.
“I don’t breed a show cow. I want a profitable cow that will produce well and make money.”
He also looks for pin width for easy calving and relatively small calves that grow quickly.
“Holsteins work better in the colder, wetter conditions. Because we’re rearing so many, they’re a lot hardier calves.
“Over the years because of genomics, you’re not getting those big calves any more. They’re 42-44 kilos at birth; a few years ago, it would be 48-54 and even up to 60 kilos.”
He uses extended lactations, not joining a cow until she’s 75 to 80 days calved, high producing cows might go even further.
They are dried-off in small batches, which Anthony finds is better for the workers and cow health.
With the extra land, Anthony has been able to add Angus calves to the mix while also boosting dairy numbers to capitalise on solid milk prices.
Along with three full-time staff members and two recently introduced casuals, Anthony calved just under 500 cows last year, 60 per cent in autumn, 40 per cent spring, only avoiding the hottest months of summer and the coldest in winter.
Normally the lowest milking number is 360 but this year it’s up to 400. The cows are producing more than 9000 litres, 3.6 protein and 4.2 fat — high solids for a Holstein.
They milk year-round and the farm is on a fresh milk contract with Woolworths, with a high percentage under contract and recognising the farm’s low cell count of 70-90.
“Since we’ve been on the fixed milk contract, we’ve been able to put more money back into the farm, like new tractors, a new calf shed built two years ago and I’m planning to build a house for staff.”