Farmer of the Year: Champions Matt and Alli Reid praise dairy’s bright future
The overall winners of The Weekly Times Coles 2020 Farmer of the Year awards reveal the winning formula that has made their Carlisle River herd profitable.
The Weekly Times Coles 2021 Farmer of the Year awards celebrates the best producers from across Australia. If you know a farmer who deserves to be recognised, nominate them here.
Farmgate clawbacks, loss-leader milk, farmers leaving for greener pastures — Australian dairy hasn’t enjoyed its fair share of positive news in recent years.
But you only have to have a quick chat with Matt and Alli Reid to find out that behind the headlines, dairy is making a comeback.
The winners of The Weekly Times Coles 2020 Farmer of the Year award didn’t accept last year’s honour for 15 minutes of fame and a trophy, as nice as that may be.
“One of the things I’m most uncomfortable with is the title: ‘Matt Reid – Farmer of the Year’,” Matt says.
“I take it as an award for the whole business. I’m just one of the cogs in a bigger machine. We don’t see ourselves as any better or any worse than any other farmer.”
Instead, the Reids wanted to show that in the post-clawback era it’s not only possible to survive in dairy, but thrive.
Operating on the lush pastures of Carlisle River, near Colac, in southwest Victoria, the Reids run a streamlined dairy operation, milking 675 cows on 650 hectares.
Since relocating to the edge of the Otways from drought-ravaged irrigation districts of northern Victoria less than two decades ago, the Reids have more than doubled the size of their business.
Judges of last year’s awards were impressed by how the Reids switched from supplying the global to domestic fresh milk market to reduce risks associated with fluctuating prices and lifted annual returns on assets to almost 10 per cent — nearly double the average of local herds. Not only did they take out top honours, they also took out the Dairy Farmer of the Year title at the February awards.
STEADY CREW
THE Reids say one of the key chapters in their success story is staff retention.
“When we’ve gone to different industry functions, a lot of farmers have complained about (labour shortages),” Alli says.
“When it comes to retention (of staff), the longest has been here 12 or 13 years; the next is 10 years coming up next year and we’ve got a couple who have been here four and three years.
“Even the last people we put on were by word of mouth.”
Regular consultation is part of the Reids’ not-so-secret formula.
“Good communication is important,” Alli says.
“We haven’t turned over staff regularly. It helps with the staff meetings and safety meetings we do. Our rosters are set — you know when you’re working, not working and we’re more than willing to change hours to suit their lifestyle.”
Matt is the son of a farmer, growing up on a dairy property between Rochester and Kyabram. But he initially didn’t think he would pull on the paternal gumboots and make a living out of milk.
In their formative years, Matt undertook a boilermaker apprenticeship and Alli completed a traineeship at a local retail store. Then they decided to travel.
“When I was in my early 20s, Alli and I went around Australia and at the ripe old age of 23, I thought, if we didn’t go home to the family farm, we’d be too old to retrain and do something else.”
After making the move to the southwest in 2003, the Reids added to their property with strategic land purchases in 2006, 2008, 2011 and 2016.
All country adjoins in the tightly held district, which once had about 30 farms, but is now down to three or four. They haven’t regretted the shift in dairy regions, although the picture in the north is better than it has been for some time.
“Talking to friends still in the Goulburn Valley, this winter is similar to winters when we were kids. I think it’s been a good season pretty much everywhere (across Victoria),” Matt says. “We often say hindsight (in moving) has made us look smarter than we actually are.”
SHARED RISK
THE Reids’ farm was the first to sign up when Coles announced its direct supplier contracts three years ago. According to Coles’ online supplier portal, milk prices for dairy farmers in western Victoria are locked in at $7.03/kg of butterfat and $8.73/kg of protein from January to August and $5.06/kg of butterfat and $7.02/kg of protein for September to December, for the next two seasons.
“I look at it this way: Is there an opportunity for the farmer and the milk buyer to share the risk? And Coles do that by offering longer term contracts,” Matt said.
“It has completely changed our business for the better.
“The old model, in our opinion, had the farmer wearing all the risk while the milk buyer would give a price at the start of the year, allow the farmer to wear all the risk of any potential upside or downside. It gives our business certainty that we hadn’t had before.”
So if Matt and Alli didn’t participate in the Farmer of the Year for the accolades, what was their intention?
The parents of teenagers Elijah, Angus and Rylee wanted to encourage the next generation of farmers — those born in the 1990s and 2000s — to see that the dairy sector has a bright future after a string of gloomy seasons.
Prices have bounced back, seasonal conditions are favourable and most market factors are finally blowing the way of the dairy farmer.
“There’s a lack of celebrating success in the dairy sector, I reckon. Growing up, farmers complained about the weather, complained about the prices, complained about everything. There wasn’t a lot of positives. That’s why we’re happy to be part of (Farmer of the Year) to show that there is a strong future. To show it’s a valid career opportunity.”
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