How Max Begely realised his childhood dream to be a farmer

A passion for the lifestyle and animals has kept Simpson dairy farmer Max Begely busy for the past 70 years. Nominate other long-serving farming legends here.

Max Begely and grandson Nathan Stevens work together on their Simpson dairy farm.

FARMING was all Simpson dairy farmer Max Begely, 86, ever wanted to do from a young age. And after nearly 70 years on the land, it seems to have been the right decision.

As a schoolboy in Orbost, Max would join his father, who was a sharefarmer, milking cows before school

“When I was going to school I always wanted to be a farmer. Dad was a share farmer and I used to help him milk cows before school. When I was 10 or 12 I used to milk 25 cows by hand before school, eventually we got milking machines,” he recollects.

After finishing school he spent three years in Queensland for a working holiday when he was 18.

When he returned to Victoria, Max was a share farmer for 12 years in Orbost before receiving a farm in Simpson as part of the Heytesbury settlement scheme in 1970.

“It’s been the best thing. I’ve never regretted it. The highlight of my time on the land is getting the farm and seeing it grow and develop,” Max said.

“When we first started we were only allowed to have 40 cows. Now we are milking 350.”

While Max now share-farms with his daughter and her husband, who he said now did most of the work, he still likes to get out on the farm to help as much as he can.

Whether it’s hosing down the yards, checking on the calves, or getting out on his four-wheeler to keep an eye on contractors putting down gravel for new roads.

And the thing that has kept him going all these years he said was the lifestyle, caring for the animals and having pride in your farm.

He also is proud to have passed on his passion for farming to yet another generation of the family, with his grandson Nathan recently returning to the farm and is now the main calf rearer.