Victorian farmer Don Holland still milking dairy herd at 82

Don Holland and Paul McCartney are still playing bass into their 80s. But only one is up before dawn to milk the cows too.

What do Harrison Ford, Joe Biden, Paul McCartney and veteran farmer Don Holland all have in common?

Answer: all four blokes were born in 1942 and still putting in the work.

While Hollywood heart-throb Harrison is not as active as his Indiana Jones days and President Joe is set to go from the Oval Office, farmer Don is more like the former Beatle — still playing bass guitar and working a Hard Day’s Night.

“My view of life is keep on, keeping on,” the Colac region farmer says.

Mr Holland works alongside his son Pete in the dairy most days, setting his alarm for before daybreak and regularly returning home to wife Heather at dusk.

The octogenarian’s wife says that’s just the way the 82-year-old operates, having started dairy farming before leaving school in the mid-1950s.

“When he turned 80, he had both knees replaced — and he was back farming only a fortnight or so later,” Mrs Holland said.

Don Holland, dairy farmer at Alvie, still milking at 82-years-old. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“He likes to help out and keep active.”

Working off two farming properties at Alvie and Coragulac, Mr Holland has since witnessed many changes in the dairy sector over his seven decades.

“It was a simpler time in the 1950s and 60s — you could make a decent living from dairy supplying the local butter factory. These days, the big corporates have got into it and farmers are struggling,” he said.

The octogenarian is also a living witness to the highs and lows of the changing seasons.

“The funny thing is, we’ve had some of the best years recently and now we’re going through one of the worst,” Mr Holland said. “For a couple of years in the 2020s, we had great prices, good rain. Now we’ve got this drought, which some have said is bad as 1967 but I reckon it’s been worse.”

On a lighter note, Mrs Holland often noted her husband singing in the dairy in his 20s. She decided to buy him a bass guitar five decades ago and the rest is musical history.

“I enjoy a bit of Dire Straits and plenty of country music. Listening to the wireless in the dairy has always helped pass the time too,” he said.