My wife Brooke and I, along with our 3 daughters Chloe, Hailey and Amelia made the move to farm ownership in 2018 after share farming for 5 seasons at Rushy Lagoon, North East Tasmania. We started milking at our own farm in Sheffield late July 2019, milking 250 cows in a 11 unit swing over on 200 acres. In 2021 we built a new 30 aside double up dairy which we are currently milk 500 cows.
With our farm being able to expand, we currently own 420 acres with another 100 acres in the process. Due to the expansion we were able to build a 11 span pivot which will water 172 acres of the milking platform on the dairy side of road and purchased 260 megalitres off the Barrington water scheme.
Along with two full time staff, we calve down in August/September. We are currently running Holstein jersey cross cows being milked twice a day until about March, when we move to 16hr milkings for rest of season.
As hard as it is sometimes, we always try to find time to spend with family and friends, watch our three girls play sport and also get down to Lake Barrington for some water sports, where we have become members of the local ski club.