Farmer of the Year 2022: The best dairy farmers in Australia
Passion, hard work and smarts are essential in today’s dairy industry. These three family dairy farms exemplify those traits and are in the running to be named the nation’s best.
Meet the three dairy farms that have been named finalists in the dairy category of The Weekly Times Coles 2022 Farmer of the Year awards.
Stay tuned for the announcement of the six category award recipients and overall winner on Friday 24 February.
Meet the rest of the finalists here.
JAMES AND SOPHIE GREENACRE
ROSEMOUNT AGRICULTURE
CRESSY, TAS
When it comes to following your passion it is hard to beat James Greenacre’s journey into dairy farming.
For starters, the 34-year-old was born into a white-collar family on the NSW south coast and is a lawyer.
But his childhood dream of living the muddy life lingered, so he quit an agribusiness analyst job in 2014 to study medicine – solely to be a part-time rural doctor and part-time farmer.
But, after two years study, it simply made more sense to trade the stethoscope for gumboots and take a full-time job as a dairy farmhand.
A year later he accepted a farm management role offered by Rob and Jo Bradley and shifted with bride Sophie across Bass Strait to settle in Cressy, in Tasmania’s Midlands.
The four have since created an equity partnership called Rosemount Agriculture.
Aware of how crucial it is for first generation farmers to make every post a winner, James’s first step was bold in switching the farm’s cropping for pasture land to create a high-capacity dairy.
Livestock numbers have since increased from 780 to 1300 spring-calving Holstein, Jersey and Scandinavian Reds, through natural growth and purchasing, and the dairy produces seven million litres of milk annually.
His methodology is a continual honing of pasture and stocking rates, driving growth with technology and sensitivity analysis and adjusting variables and systems to feed cows less grain and more grass.
Or, in layperson’s terms, James spends a lot of time pondering how to grow grass on the farm’s 350 hectares under pivot irrigation.
“Research indicates that for every extra tonne of grass utilised a hectare, profitability increases by $500 a hectare. Over a 350-hectare farm, improvements in grass utilisation above the current level of 13 tonnes a hectare adds serious profit to our bottom line,” James says.
“Dairy farmers do not usually collect data. But comparing that minutiae on a day-to-day and yearly basis reaps some real benefits.”
Data is also key to the partnership’s genetic program that assists in breeding and culling decisions, the ultimate goal producing a 500kg liveweight crossbreed herd that produces its weight in solids.
While watching the grass grow is not for everyone, for James it is a burgeoning career.
JOANN AND CRAIG MORGAN-FRENCH
MONTAGU, TAS
It’s a winning game plan that Joann and Craig Morgan-French have honed on battle fields, sports fields, and the green fields of northwest Tasmania, where they run more than 2000 dairy cows across two properties.
The strategy? Teamwork, camaraderie and uncompromising standards.
The sharefarmer couple met as soldiers in the army, and moved to Tasmania in 2013. Having grown up on dairy farms in New Zealand with sharefarming parents, Joann had a clear understanding about how much hard work it would take to succeed in dairying.
“I also knew the opportunities financially; if you can do the work and employ people you can build yourself a little bit of an empire to look forward to in retirement or pass on to the kids,” Joann says.
She and Craig have given it their all, and now manage 11 staff across two properties at Montagu, near Smithton.
“The team that we’ve got is probably the best team that we’ve had throughout our careers, and they are the backbone,” Joann says.
They are achieving hugely impressive results from their herds and their workforce.
Milking 600 cows twice a day for Circular Head Farms, and 1450 cows once a day for Field Ag, they have implemented a meticulous hygiene routine that helps maintain the highest milk quality, and healthiest cows.
Their average bulk milk cell count – which measures mastitis infection in a herd – is impressively low at 90,000 cells/ml in the 600-cow herd. And they have made huge improvements since taking on the 1450-cow dairy, lowering the cell count in that herd from 250,000 to 110,000 cells/ml.
In-line milk filters pick up early cases of mastitis, so animals can be treated immediately. Staff take big precautions to stop bacteria being passed to the herd. They wear gloves during milking, empty every cow’s udders completely, and swear by teat spray.
They aim to produce nearly 800,000kg of milk solids this season, using the good season and lush grass growth to make more silage on-farm.
Their regimented discipline, and team approach will ensure they come out winners in the end.
NICOLE AND BRENDAN SAUNDERS
BNS AG
MAFFRA VIC
The cardinal rule in dairy is to make sure the numbers stack up, and Maffra farmers Nicole and Brendan Saunders have aced their sums.
The young guns run an impressive enterprise across three properties, totalling 780 hectares with 450 hectares under irrigation, milking 1600 cows in the heart of Gippsland dairy country.
Starting as sharefarmers in 2018, Nicole and Brendan have expanded their herd dramatically, made production and profit gains, and boosted turnover by 10-fold.
Their winning formula has been to keep costs under control, while not scrimping on important things, such as labour, pasture and livestock health.
To show for their efforts, in May last year they bought a 95-hectare dairy at Maffra, then snapped up a second block, to now milk 700 cows on 150 hectares of their own land.
“To be able to achieve what we’ve done, we are really happy with ourselves and it shows that we are a really strong team and are excited about what the future holds,” says Nicole, who has been a driving force behind the expansion plan.
Their stellar trajectory started five years ago, when the Saunders relocated to Victoria, from New Zealand, to sharefarm in a 40:60 arrangement. It was a tough start, with the high-rainfall region in severe drought.
“There was no feed on farm, none available for purchase, grain prices were at a record high and milk price relatively low in comparison,” Nicole says. “So we made the strategic decision to run at a low-cost system.”
They bought 350 cows that year, then made knuckled down and worked hard to improve profitability. First they shifted the entire herd to calve in spring, so they could build a wedge of green feed more easily. Pasture renovation and targeted fertiliser application helped boost productivity.
Brendan has been the driving force behind producing milk as efficiently as possible, and generating profit from trading in dairy cattle, which has contributed significantly to their equity.
They now employ 15 staff with production expected to hit a whopping 800,000kg of milk solids this year, for a turnover of more than $9 million.
Their ambition doesn’t stop there, with a pick-your-own strawberry paddock in the works, to be planted next to their on-farm cafe, called The Berry Dairy, due to open in October.
“Our goal is to make sure we don’t necessarily just have a sustainable, profitable, resilient dairy business, but also one that is diversified,” Nicole says.
As their record shows, the odds are in their favour.
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We are searching for the best farmers from across Australia to be honoured in The Weekly Times Coles 2024 Farmer of the Year awards.