Yambuk Dairy at Port Fairy for sale for $10m

A dairy farm in Victoria’s South West, owned by the same family for 15 years, has been listed for sale for millions.

Yambuk Dairy has hit the market.

It is the reliability of seasons combined with low-cost production systems which have proved to be a winning formula for one South West Victorian dairy farm.

The owners of Yambuk Dairy have focused on a grass-based production system bolstered by feeding of barley to create a profitable dairy operation near Port Fairy.

David Marshall, a New Zealander, said his group had bought the land when it was a sheep and beef farm about 15 years ago and saw its potential to be a dairy farm.

“We liked that it was close to the coast, so the location was important as it was cooler for the livestock and the seasons were not as hard,” Mr Marshall said.

“We also knew we had the ability to get groundwater, and this played a part in us deciding to establish a dairy farm.”

So began the process of conversion, which has resulted in an operation that milks 500 cows producing 255,000 kilograms of milk solids, production which depends on the high-quality grass grown on the property.

The level of development is extensive. It includes the division of the property into 32 paddocks, serviced by a laneway system and watered by large troughs.

A large dairy was built with the 60-unit rotary including a 24,000 litre-vat, a cow identification system, a 550-cow yard with an auto flood washing system, an internal office, kitchenette, and bathroom.

Extensive calf rearing facilities were also built, to add to the machinery and other shedding.

Another of the big tasks was to establish irrigation. Mr Marshall said they applied for and received an 875-megalitre groundwater entitlement, which now supplies two centre pivots covering 123 hectares, and 15 hectares watered by hydrants.

Pasture and pasture management is king and to this extent, pastures include ryegrass, fescues and clover with fodder beet used as a break crop in the rotations.

There are two residences – one is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house with views, while the other is a three-bedroom brick cottage with a large veranda.

Mr Marshall said his accounting background showed that this was a profitable operation, with the cost of production kept at about $5 a kilogram of milk solids.

He said the production system was “robust and we would not expect a production variation to budget of more than 2-3 per cent in any year”.

“I like the saying that production is for vanity and profitability is for sanity,” he said.

“Certainly, we could have pushed the system more and run more cattle, but this was a system we were comfortable with and could grow all our own haylage and supplement the cows with some barley.