Dairy farm in focus: Tasmania’s Chris and Suzanne Cowley

Located near the northwestern tip of Tasmania, the Cowley family’s focus on protecting the natural assets on their dairy farm has proved a winning formula.

A tree change has become common parlance for urbanites switching the city for a bush block, riffing on the popular Sigrid Thornton drama SeaChange.

But Tasmanian dairy farmers Chris and Suzanne Cowley have proven you don’t need to uproot your agricultural lifestyle to have regard and responsibility for the environment.

In fact, you can do it from the comfort of your own farm.

Operating across more than 200ha at Mengha in the Circular Head region of far northwest Tasmania, the Cowleys run primarily a dairy operation with recent expansion into a small dairy-beef enterprise since last year.

The husband-and-wife team work alongside one full-time and two part-time employees, with firm focus on protecting the natural assets on their farm.

All up, the Cowley farm milks 400 crossbred cows through a 25-aside herringbone.

By changing their calving pattern, increasing the area under irrigation and through the recent purchase of an out paddock, they can now manage wet winters and dry summers and are well on their way to achieving their business objectives.

“We have made a conscious decision to cut off certain parts of the farm, to protect them,” Mrs Cowley said.

“It would have been easier to cut everything down, but we didn’t. We felt they were marginal areas anyway, so there was more to be gained by fencing them off.”

Chris Cowley and his daughter Elise Cowley. Pictures: Supplied

CAPITAL GAINS

The Cowleys purchased a 141ha dairy farm at Mengha in 2004.

Before their South Forest purchase, they had been sharefarming and contract milking in the surrounding districts of the northwest of the Apple Isle.

“We’ve been farming since 1997 in Tasmania, starting off contract milking for three years,” Mr Cowley said.

“Then it was 50:50 sharefarming for five years before we purchased a dairy farm at Mengha in 2004.”

An additional 32ha was added to the dairy farm in 2009 and two support blocks purchased, first 40ha in 2007 and an additional 160ha purchased in 2022.

“We’ve have always been a 100 per cent dairy farm until 2023, with the addition of a small dairy-beef operation,” Mr Cowley said.

“We now rear about 40 to 50 dairy-beef cross calves — Hereford and Charolais sires. We run them through to 20 months to be sold for slaughter.”

Their milking herd produces 480kg of milk solids per cow a year.

Mr Cowley said their herd usually runs below 100,000 cells/ml somatic cell count and has received several Countdown Down Under awards in the past.

22-year-old Elise Cowley is no longer living at home and now works with the Royal Australian Navy in NSW.

WATER WISE

The Cowley farm is predominantly flat with two plateaus and a rolling bank east-west through the property.

Mr Cowley said there was a 20m difference in altitude from the lower part to upper part of the landholding, which is 60-80m above sea level.

“We have a mix of clay, loam, sand and red basalt soil types,” he said.

“The average rainfall is 1200mm – mostly May to November, but varies from year to year. “The season looked uncertain pre-Christmas with a cold dry spring but some timely summer rainfall has taken the pressure off of irrigation.”

Approximately 90ha of the Cowley property is under irrigation with a mixed system of K-lines, laterals and pivots.

The property also has several springs, small creeks and drains that lead into the Sedgy Creek.

There is a large 80 million-litre dam on the property, which is filled from paddock run-off. This water is used for irrigation and supplemented by bore water.

With 68 paddocks all up, they measure in at roughly 2ha each.

“Our pastures are predominantly rye grass, perennial with red and white clover,” Mr Cowley said. “They’re renovated every five to 10 years, or as required.

“We’re roughly 13km inland from Stanley, which means we have a temperate climate with less exposure to extreme weather events.

“That means we have up to 10 frosts per year and summer temperatures rarely exceed 25 degrees.”

Two years ago, they planted a new shelter belt with a diverse range of native species.

ENVIRONMENTAL SIDE

Tasmania is famed for forests and the Cowleys have been recognised for their efforts in adding to the Apple Isle’s green canopy.

At the 2022 Tasmanian Dairy Awards, they won the Farm Environment Award for their work.

They say maintaining and enhancing native vegetation on their property has provided shade and shelter benefits to the herd.

“About 20 hectares of remnant bush has been left intact with pivots located in and around the bush,” Mr Cowley said.

“We’ve also got native shelter belts planted alongside existing conifer hedges.

“Further plantings will be undertaken on the new support block, which has 40 hectares of existing bush.”

The Cowleys have shared their story of sustainability via Dairy Australia on several occasions since the 2022 award win, with daughter Elise also helping out with the tree planting efforts.

Their 22-year-old daughter is no longer living at home and now works with the Royal Australian Navy in NSW.

Two years ago, they planted a new shelter belt with a diverse range of native species.

Mr Cowley said the 2022 project increases the biodiversity on their farm, added shelter for their herd as well as improving the appearance of the landscape.

Adding to their conservation work, the Cowleys have previously received two rounds of Dairy Australia funding from the Cows out of Creeks project.

With these funds, they were able to fence off areas where tributaries were starting on their property.

Chris and Suzanne Cowley’s irrigation infrastructure.

PRODUCTION FOCUS

While conservation objectives win awards, the Cowleys are like any other dairy farmers in that they are also focused on the financial bottom line.

Figures released by Dairy Australia last year outlined each state’s average farm earnings before interest and taxes and Tasmania topped the list — at $1.6 million per farm.

The average farm profit figures were deduced through each state’s Dairy Farm Monitor Project during the 2022-23 financial year.

Mr Cowley said the family farm had supplied Saputo since they bought out Lion Dairy and Drinks back in April 2019.

Lion enjoyed strong links with Tasmanian suppliers throughout the 2010s, having acquired a portfolio from the Dairy Farmers brand, which includes household names such as South Cape, Tasmanian Heritage, Mersey Valley and King Island Dairy.

While the current farmgate price in Tasmania is well past the $9 per kilogram milk solids mark, Mr Cowley said electricity, fertiliser and other costs had risen substantially too.

“The current milk price is adequate given the increase in the cost of inputs over the past two years,” he said.

“Our annual budgets for the forthcoming season are finalised once the milk price has been announced.”

While they may be known in the sector for their tree planting works, closer to home, a significant operational change has been a switch from autumn to spring calving.

“Autumn calving suited the previous farm where we were 50:50 but didn’t suit the farm we bought,” Mrs Cowley said.

“We stayed autumn for a few years but found we were doing too much pasture and soil damage in the winter.”

With all their success in the conservation stakes, the Cowleys say 2024 is a year to take stock and focus on working with what they already have.

The couple say they have no plans to increase their herd size but aiming to boost production to 500kg milk solids per cow.

“We don’t have further plans for expansion with the recent purchase of a larger support block,” Mr Cowley said. “Our plan is to consolidate and reap the benefit of developments carried out over the four years.”