Farmer of the Year 2024: Dairy farmers Cheryl McCartie and Theo van Brecht

A decade-long journey chasing continual improvement is paying off for Tassie dairy farmers Cheryl McCartie and Theo van Brecht.

Russell Crowe, Brian Henderson, Rebecca Gibney – Australia has a habit of taking Kiwi success stories and making them honorary Aussies.

What’s true in the world of entertainment has long been the case in Australian dairy.

Hundreds of Kiwi farmers have flown west across the Tasman Sea for move room to move across the spacious pastures Australia provides.

Cheryl McCartie and Theo van Brecht are one such success story.

The Tasmanian farmers have operated their 297ha dairy business since 1998, and currently milk 500 cows.

Cheryl and Theo moved from New Zealand to Australia 25 years ago, starting as sharemilkers in northeast Tasmania before purchasing their own farm at Ringarooma, 55km northeast of Launceston.

“Because we started out in sharemilking, as sharefarmers, our cows have always been our livelihood,” Cheryl said.

“So when we progressed to farm ownership, it was always about our herd.”

Cheryl McCartie and Theo van Brecht, with daughter Shaelyn Rockcliff and grandson Max. .

Cheryl said sustainability is a key theme in their farming practices.

The couple have been on a decade-long journey of continual improvement, including planting trees, fencing off waterways, and managing waste and effluent efficiently.

They are also exploring regenerative farming techniques and have converted former forestry land back into pasture.

“Many years ago, we actually applied for a $5000 grant to fix up our effluent system and it started us on a journey of seeing the benefits of small investments in environmental work on the farm.”

RICH SOIL A KEY

Getting the right balance between ecological and economical has been an award winner for Cheryl and Theo.

Located not far from several picturesque forests, the couple’s Ringarooma farm forms part of a district known for dairy, beef and potato cropping.

Their total farm area covers 297.8ha with dams, laneways and bushland making up 35ha and 30ha devoted to bull paddocks, meaning they have an effective milking coverage for 232ha.

Cheryl said the rich Tasmanian soil of their property had been a key factor in their prosperity.

“Our farm is predominantly red-brown ferrosols, with some variation across the farm that includes red-brown dermosols and on alluvial flats more black hydrosols,” she said.

“The pastures are predominantly rye, red and white clovers with older pastures containing some cocksfoot.

“Newer pastures have included more plantain and summer active red clovers. The farm has a renovation plan of 10-15ha per year.”

At this year’s DairyTas Awards, Cheryl received the Dairy Environmental Award and the Dairy Service Award.

Getting the right balance between ecological and economical has been an award winner for Cheryl and Theo.

The accolade was in recognition of Cheryl and Theo’s work with the University of Tasmania tracking the health of the endangered Tasmanian devil population.

The UTAS project installed cameras on their property to look at the impact of the Tasmanian devil Facial Tumour Disease, which has wiped out a substantial slice of the marsupial’s population in the past decade or two.

As a result of their planting and improvements to natural biodiversity, 18 months later they saw Tasmanian devils had returned to their property.

Cheryl said they’re passionate about leaving the land better than they found it, and are motivated by seeing the results of their efforts.

“If anyone is considering doing a farm environmental plan, it isn’t an onerous process at all, because a lot of (farmers) are doing the work unconsciously,” she said.

WEATHERING CHANGE

Cheryl and Theo’s Tassie property has been dry this year and it has hit feed reserves.

“Our average rainfall is 1000-1100mm annually, mostly between July and September, however usually we get good rain in autumn and late spring,” Cheryl said.

“We average 150 to 160 days of rain per year.

“More recently, we’ve had periodic heavy rain events rather than showers over a number of days with longer drier periods in between.

Cheryl said an Antarctic blast meant the mercury has dipped lower for longer this winter.

“We’ve just experienced the most extended cold period on farm, 10 days of -4C,” she said. “Normally, the minimum temperature is 0C to -2C over July and up into the high 20Cs over late January and February at the other end of the scale.”

DAIRY WHERE IT’S AT

Cheryl and Theo lease 72ha for silage as well graze yearlings and winter cows.

Their herd size is 500 cows, with all seasonally set for spring calving.

The long-term Fonterra suppliers conduct herd testing every year with TasHerd and have recorded cell counts averaging between 120,000–180,000.

The couple aim for 500kg of milk solids per cow per year, which translates to an average 5800-5900 litres per cow.

“Having recently increased our borrowings to purchase land in a time of higher interest rates and with inputs still reasonably high it is going to be a year of conservative management,” Cheryl said.

Theo and Cheryl have been assisted on-farm by their daughter Shaelyn for the past nine years, while they also have one full-time and one casual worker with son Josef recently returning.

“We’re in our consolidation phase. We’ve recently had on-farm infrastructure investment that was done to set the farm up to be more efficient and reduce that reliance on off farm costs.

“We reckon dairying in Tassie has a bright future and one we’re proud to be part of.”