Gardiner Foundation 2020 New Zealand trip: Larpent’s Melanie Ackerley wins scholarship

She may have grown up on a beef farm but Larpent’s Melanie Ackerley is now a firm fan of the dairy lifestyle.

Melanie Ackerley, Larpent, will go to New Zealand on a scholarship tour this year. She is pictured at her family's dairy. Photo: DANNIKA BONSER

ON a New Zealand holiday a few years ago, Melanie Ackerley was intrigued as to how her Kiwi counterparts operated over the farm fence.

Fast forward to next month and the Larpent farmer is set to get a first-hand look at farm life in the ‘Land of the Long White Cloud’.

Mrs Ackerley is one of eight participants in the Gardiner Dairy Foundation and United Dairyfarmers Victoria New Zealand study tour, scheduled for next month.

“We went as a family on holiday to the North Island of New Zealand. It was January, so it wasn’t the lush, green New Zealand you see all the time in photos but it was pretty mild compared to the summers we have here in Australia,” she said.

“We drove past quite a few farms and it would have been interesting to pop in and have a look but it’s something you don’t do unless you’ve got an invitation, which is what this scholarship’s all about. Our holiday was in the North Island and the (scholarship trip) is focused on the South Island, so the climate their is even cooler.”

Mrs Ackerley grew up on a beef farm at Connewarre, a short drive south-east of Geelong near Barwon Heads.

After meeting now husband Paul, they established a dairy farm at Larpent, just west of Colac.

“Five years ago, I’d never reared a calf. So I started from the ground up, in a way. We’re now milking 170 cows,” she said.

While establishing their dairy operation, two future farmers arrived in the form of four-year-old son Harrison and one-year-old daughter Connie.

“It’s been challenging for most dairy farmers for the past few years but it’s been worth it,” Mrs Ackerley said.

“What I’d really like to see in the coming years particularly, is for the Australian public to value milk more, value food more and acknowledge the work that goes into making that food on the kitchen table.”