Campbell’s approach to organic dairy farming a success
Dairy farmers Ian and Jane Campbell say when they started their organic dairy almost 20 years ago it almost killed them, but all the hard work has been worth it.
DAIRY farmers are renowned as among the hardest workers in agriculture.
But Jane and Ian Campbell take this conscientiousness to a whole new level.
The couple run three dairy farms: Barambah Organics on about 1150ha on the NSW/Queensland border region around Goondiwindi, in addition to a 2830ha property dedicated to growing grain; and East Coast Sustainable Dairy on 430ha at Raleigh, on the NSW North Coast.
With a total herd of about 900 cows, they process an average 6.2 million litres of milk annually at their Brisbane processing plant – with plans to process up to 8 million litres annually – in about 40 products including cheeses, cream, yoghurts and smoothies.
“When we first started processing in 2002 there weren’t many other small processors like us,” recalled Jane.
“It struck a chord but those first years almost killed us. We were farming, processing, then delivering milk in the middle of the night in reusable glass bottles, then washing the bottles before starting all over again the next day, all while living above the factory.
“Some days it’s still overwhelming, there’s so much to do in a day, but luckily now we have great people around us.”
The Campbells have a full-time staff of 14, with about 10 per cent of product exported to South-East Asia and the Middle East, since 2012, with about 10 per cent sold domestically to food services and the remainder to supermarkets and green grocers on the east coast, including David Jones, Harris Farm Markets and IGA.
As a sideline, the couple also grow 10,000 olive trees, processing award-winning oil in their own production plant under the label Barambah Olives.
Committed to sustainability, Barambah encourages consumers to bring their own glass bottles to stores for milk refills.
It is a business decision that underscores their overall farm philosophy, with Ian initially converting to organics in 1999 when he first moved back to the family farm and also married Jane.
“This approach is a way of life,” the 49-year-old mother of two said.
“We don’t want to sound like we’re preaching and we don’t want to be critical of conventional farming, but we think organic is a better way to farm for the planet and for our family.”
BIG SWITCH
JANE grew up on a beef and sheep property in northwest NSW initially worked as a history teacher, and met Ian – a rural scientist specialising in animal nutrition – while they were both working overseas.
In 1999 Ian returned to the fourth-generation South Burnett family dairy, immediately beginning the organic conversion process.
“In his animal nutrition consultancy, he had seen a lot of farms and knew when he returned to the land he wanted to be certified organic by an external body.”
When drought hit the dryland farm, the couple opted to move the operation to the NSW/Queensland border in 2006, buying irrigated land across several properties, which comes under the Barambah Organics brand.
In July last year, they bought the East Coast Sustainable Dairy at Raleigh, which will be certified organic by the end of this year.
Jane said they run the two businesses separately to highlight the different climates and agricultural regions.
“The border area has been hit by the drought and so in addition to being grass fed, we grow additional feed – 1010ha of wheat, 1200ha of triticale – on the sandy loam soil.
“Whereas on the Raleigh property, we get fantastic rain, up to 1750mm average annual rainfall, it’s almost too wet, on rich alluvial soil.
“We needed to buy that extra property not only to droughtproof ourselves, but also because there’s growing demand for organic produce.”
GREEN SALAD
WITH a focus on grass-fed, both properties are renovated to kikuyu, rye-grass and white clover, in addition to chicory on the Raleigh farm. “Because he specialises in nutrition, Ian like to create a salad bowl for cows, choosing pasture species with high protein.”
Soil tests show the properties have a high storage of carbon at 6.5 per cent, due to zero till and added nutrients.
The couple opt for a low stocking rate of one cow per 2ha, with soil nutrition improved from dairy effluent.
With a focus more on nutrition than genetics, the mob is a mix of Friesians and Jerseys, not using artificial inseminations but bulls year-round.
In total there are three dairies across all properties, including a 50-a-side rotary dairy on the border region farm.
Cows milk an average 3.5-3.8 per cent butterfat, 3.5 per cent protein and with an average cell count of 250,000 cells/ml.
“We decided to process our own milk at the time of deregulation because we always had a low cell count and high quality and we wanted to be price makers, not takers.”
If running the business was not gargantuan enough, Jane – who has her pilots’ licence – just this year graduated a law degree, specialising in animal, environment and consumer law, which enables them to write their own employment agreements.
“It’s about being risk averse. Almost in every aspect of the business you have some type of legislation and every action invites a reaction.”
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