Bream Creek: Value over volume

There’s always the temptation to be bigger and bolder. But this Tasmanian dairy is focused on a perfectly executed product.

Value over volume.

That’s the motto of the Bignell family of Bream Creek, Tasmania, who farm with a passion and a taste for quality Australian-made dairy with a strong sense of provenance.

For the sprawling Bignell family – spanning three generations, three families with six adults, six children, and multiple districts – making the move from a traditional dairy supplying milk to processors to also producing their own brand of artisan cheeses was a task indiversification and value-adding.

Bream Creek Dairy, based east of Hobart, runs 800 Holstein cattle across 809ha and produces five million litres of milk a year.

Dairy manager and third-generation farmer Jack Bignell said his father and uncle had operated the business for about 40 years in a traditional fashion, milking cows and supplying Coles.

But in 2018, an ever-expanding family with ongoing interest in the business sparked a conversation about what direction to push the enterprise in the future.

“We were just being prices takers for that whole time. And it definitely came with its ups and downs. With the family growing … we were looking at ways to diversify a little bit, and to future-proof ourselves,” Jack said.

“One of the options we look at was releasing our own brand, and we were lucky enough to have a private little processing company in Hobart who we were supplying a tiny bit of milk to come and offer to print a label for us, and start processing our milk for us.”

On the table

Many of the business decisions about the future of Bream Creek Dairy are made at the family dinner table, Jack said, with everyone’s input into the direction of the operation laid out for consideration.

It’s a collaborative process which speaks to the passion and vigour that each member of the team brings to the table, literally.

Bream Creek dairy, Tasmania. The Bignell family. Picture: Supplied.

Members of the Bignell family involved in the business include Jack’s brother Doug who assists with the cropping and irrigation side of the business, father Charles who is a mechanic by trade, uncle Richard, mother Caroline who oversees the book work and OHS for the property, Jack’s aunt Meg who helps with marketing and advertising, and sister Annie who organises invoices.

One of the central focuses for the family in the coming years is to maintain the quality of the milk produced on-farm, while continuing to grow as an enterprise.

The undulating nature of the country they farm on, Jack said, means expanding the herd is not an option.

Nor is changing breeds to boost productivity.

Instead, the aim of the game is to “suck the most value out of (the cattle) as humanly possible”.

“The overall milk price in the past few years allowed us to look at other things we could do to future-proof our cows,” Jack said.

“They’re the main breadwinner. But we’re doing things now like herd testing every two months, genomic testing every heifer calf, and focusing on genetic progress within the herd.”

Jack said cows are tested in order to identify animals which will produce the highest volume and quality of milk.

“These cows should convert feed into milk most sustainably and pay their way in the herd,” Jack said.

Bream Creek dairy, Tasmania. The Bignell family. Picture: Supplied.

The Costs

Bream Creek cattle average about 7500-8500 litres per lactation, for 305 days, depending on the season, with an average bulk mill cell count of 150,000.

In tough years, such as when the milk price was low and the weather was dry, Jack said the family made efforts to cut back on anything “non-essential” to milking cows.

But that conservatism stood the family in good stead when conditions improved, and has allowed the operation to grow.

“The few good years of milk prices have allowed us to solidify those things, to get some measures in place to take out that fluctuation in price,” Jack said.

Heifers are calved off around the 600kg mark, which Jack said is the “sweet spot” for the enterprise.

Nutritionists are also liaised with in order to optimise operations, while cattle are run on a mixed rotation during the spring in order to meet demand from all their related milk brands and commitments.

Calving is split 50:50, with half the stock calving in spring and the remainder in autumn.

This capitalises on “relatively dry” conditions for Tasmania.

During winter, Jack said the focus is on growing a “cracking crop of maize” to contribute as feed.

“In terms of the dairy business, where we’re focusing on is implementing precision ag measures. We have got a lot of irrigation infrastructure in and kind of to look at things like draining and moisture monitoring, things like that where we can just get that extra one per cent of growth.”

Cattle feed and labour are the operation’s two biggest costs.

“We are always looking at options to make the day-to-day tasks more efficient and one day would be nice to look at more automation within all areas of our dairy system,” Jack said.

“We also have a strong focus on streamlining procedures for all aspects of a staff members day. In turn reducing training time, mistakes and fixing mistakes.”

Producing higher quality feed on-farm is a key focus for Bream Creek, in a bid to reduce overheads, while also using new monitoring technology to make educated decisions around water, soil, and fertiliser use.

Pressures such as land availability and cost further squeezes the bottom line for producers like the Bignells, so instead they look at ways of working their existing footprint as efficiently as possible.

“Things we can definitely improve on are our forage, growing grass, making a lot more silage which will allow us to do a lot more feeding up in the dairy, and not having to make the cows walk through so much mud in the cold, horrible months.”

Diversification

Of the farm’s total output, Jack said, about two million litres goes directly to the dairy’s own brand of cheese and dairy products, while also supplying an additional three small scale cheese makers around the Hobart region, including Wicked Cheese, Coal River Farm, Bruny Island Cheese and Hobart Milk.

Cheeses produced under the Bream Creek Dairy label include blue cheese and brie varieties.

“We also supply one little milk processing plant that caters for coffee shops. Among them and us (the dairy brand), we’re doing a third of our milk volume, which is growing year-on-year,” Jack said.

“The rest of our milk goes into Coles.”

While the dairy and milking of cows remains the core of the Bream Creek Dairy enterprise, Jack said with the constant flux of market conditions, poor years in the industry, the addition of a cheese making enterprise provides a buffer against volatile conditions.

But it also diversifies the daily operations for the family and the eight farming employees.

Staff members include a sales manager and a logistics manager.

“It breaks up our day a little bit,” Jack said.

“It’s been very satisfying … rather than a tanker just coming and picking up all your milk and taking it away, not knowing where it’s going to go. We are getting Facebook messages from customers saying how awesome it is, commenting on the cheese … not that you feel like you need a pat on the back for what we’re doing. But it’s very nice and reassuring to know people are liking what we’re doing, and it gives us reassurance we’re going down the right track.”

“We live by value over volume.”

Opportunity

With a continued focus on value, the Bignells see opportunity abundant in the verdant landscape that surrounds them.

Fostering connections with other producers and outlets gives the dairy avenues to further broaden the scope of their business.

Jack said good relationships with a number of independent grocers in Hobart – Hill Street and Salamanca Fresh – has granted them opportunity to sell their produce to the public.

“We sort of branched out into a few local IPAs in the south of the state. And now we’re in a few little coffee shops, and with our relationship with Coles, that has enabled us to get into a couple of their supermarkets,” Jack said.

“It’s slowly spreading, but we don’t envisage our milk taking over the world. We just think of it as a very reliable bit of cash flow for the business.

“To have good consistent quality all the time so that we can we can maintain our customers … that’s the aim of the game.”

Further projects for the family include the promotion of a wine label, Stroud by Bream Creek Dairy, a project which Jack talks about with a laugh.

“My brother and I are looking after the farm for the most part. My uncle and the old man have the energy to go off on these little tangents,” Jack said.

“We don’t make many bottles, there’s only one ha of grapes. But we think it’s a nice drop. Mostly pinot noir. Everyone loves a cool climate Tassie Pinot.”

It is this combination of expectation of the job, and passion for finding avenues of joy and experimentation that keeps Jack and his family excited about the industry.

But the future success of Bream Creek Dairy is no laughing matter, and one which the Bignell’s take very seriously as they set goals for the coming years.