Cheeky Cow Dairy: A dream for financial sustainability

An enterprising first-generation farming couple from Busselton, WA is boldly treading a new path in the micro-dairy industry.

Hayden Russell, of The Cheeky Cow Dairy, Busselton, WA, milking cows. Picture: Kira Price

The Cheeky Cow dairy is named after Hayden Russell’s charismatic herd but if cheeky means bold, gutsy and audacious then it equally applies to Hayden himself.

The 28-year-old first-generation farmer at Busselton, WA, has established the micro-dairy by converting an old hay shed into a bottling plant and value-adding his own milk product to create an enterprising business within a business.

It was a dream born out of necessity.

“We had no future supplying the conventional milk companies in Western Australia,” Hayden said.

“We had to do something.”

Milk prices were at an unsustainable 48 cents a litre when Hayden and his partner, Beth Gallagher, made the decision to build their own factory on the farm six months ago. Now their milk price averages 62 cents a litre.

“We started with $700 in the bank and a lot of dreams. We don’t have a lot more in the bank now but we have a herd of cows and a bit of a future hopefully,” he said.

Hayden Russell and partner Beth Gallagher, of The Cheeky Cow Dairy, with daughter Marnie Russell, three and a half, on their dairy farm at Busselton, WA. Pictures: Kira Price

A FINANCIAL STRETCH

Hayden and Beth process 2000 litres a week in their on-farm facility, producing flavoured milk, yoghurt, cream, butter and ice-cream for outlets in Perth and the southwest.

The factory, which they were able to build from second-hand equipment for $250,000, is able to process 10,000 litres a day and the couple hopes to reach that capacity in the next 12 to 18 months to turn a profit.

“The financial outlay has been very frightening, very stressful,” Hayden said.

“It has stretched every single financial system we have. It hasn’t been ideal and that’s why we need it to push along or who knows what the future will hold, but I’m confident we will come out the other end.”

They recently attended Perth Royal Show, clinching multiple silver and bronze medals for The Cheeky Cow Dairy products and showcasing their business.

“Next week we are taking on a couple of new restaurants – one has ordered 10kg of butter and another 7kg so that’s a lot of milk on its own. A mining company with camps all over Australia also wants our range of products in their camps because we will be the world’s first dairy to have fully compostable bottles right through to the lid, which is exciting,” Hayden said.

Currently The Cheeky Cow produces 500 units of yoghurt, 500 units of flavoured milk, 700 litres of milk, 50kg of butter and 60 litres of cream.

“Within 18 months we’d like to be 10 times that amount for each product if we hit our targets. We need to get there to make all the efficiencies in the factory so it is worthwhile doing it all,” Hayden said.

A LOVE OF FARMING

When Hayden was 10 years old he went to live with his aunt and uncle on 60ha at Serpentine, WA, where his love of animals grew.

“I had a troubled upbringing before that and I found cows in particular comforting and that’s where my love for it started. When I was 15 I started working at dairy farms on weekends and after school and the rest is history,” Hayden said.

He and Beth, 25, who is halfway through a veterinary degree, began sharefarming at Margaret River and acquired their herd in 2016 before leasing their own property at Busselton and going it alone 3.5 years ago.

They currently lease 243ha where they run 350 Jersey and Holstein cows, milking on a 10-aside Herringbone dairy.

Calving has changed from two to four times a year – every three months – so there is a steady supply for the factory preventing dips in production.

“We are potentially looking at leaving calves on the cow during their lactation. We are trialling that with 20 cows at the moment to monitor both how the calf and cow respond as well as how production goes,” Hayden said.

The idea being to reduce labour, increase animal welfare and improve herd health outcomes.

All heifers go back into the herd as replacements and steers are currently sold at 16 weeks but in the next 12 months Hayden and Beth are planning to retain steers and launch a beef element to The Cheeky Cow, allowing consumers to buy meat that is a by-product of the milk.

Sexed semen is used to get as many heifer calves as possible and to help grow the herd. They currently run 240 replacements.

“The export market was so lucrative we did sell some heifers to help fund The Cheeky Cow but it’s something that was built out of necessity and not something we want to continue,” Hayden said.

“Sending cows to slaughter is quite conflicting for us, the stress of trucking, unfamiliar smells, and the mixing with different cows, we could only begin to imagine how that feels. In the future we are wishing to build an on farm abattoir to take control of the process, and give the consumers the choice to buy on farm processed milk and beef.”

KICKING REGEN GOALS

The couple farms regeneratively and are seeing big improvements in soil quality.

They plant multi-species pastures every year with rye-grass and a clover mix of 12 different varieties across each area of the farm, much of which is sandy.

Applications of liquid fertilisers and worm castings are achieving good results as Hayden and Beth try to move away from conventional methods.

“It all goes hand-in-hand. If you get the soil right, you tend to get the grass right and if you get the grass right then the cows are right. I’ve never seen the cows as good as they are now,” Hayden said.

“They are currently getting 5kg of grain each a day and there are cows doing 40 litres. They are doing all the right things putting on weight and getting in calf. I’ve noticed a massive difference in my business and that’s from the way we are farming.”

Cell counts average 200,000 and Hayden and Beth are focusing on lowering that to between 130,000 and 150,000 by increasing herd recording and pinpointing problem cows.

They currently produce 8000 to 10,000 litres a day across the herd with cows averaging 29 litres a day, 4kg of butterfat and 3.3kg of protein.

INPUT COST HOPE

Their cost of production has risen 50 per cent in the past two years to 59 cents a litre.

“We are working on a one or two cent margin. It is very high because we are leasing everything and we bought our cows,” Hayden said.

Major costs include the farm lease, labour, fertiliser and diesel.

“Feed is also a big cost. Hopefully as we improve the pastures and soil health we can conserve more fodder and reduce our feed bill,” Hayden said.

“We want to reduce our input costs as much as we can without compromising on animal health and welfare. Hopefully with genetics and herd testing our cows will improve and we can get the herd average up to become more efficient and viable and get more milk into The Cheeky Cow and turn it into a profit not just covering costs.”

READY SET GOAL

Hayden said their immediate goal was to focus on The Cheeky Cow and establish a solid labour force to free up his time on the farm.

“I’ve got a plan for the next two years. Hopefully The Cheeky Cow goes well and that will then give us more money in the system that we can get a bank loan and buy our own farm and set up a better processing facility,” Hayden said.

“We want to grow our herd to 500 cows and hopefully keep growing our business. If we can change the attitude towards dairy as a valued product in the food chain again that would also be amazing.”