By Dominique Tassell
Dairy farmers are finishing up production in droves, with two locals finishing up this month, while others say they’ll always find a way to keep going.
Ian Brown finished up on 5 July, but still has a few young ones left.
He says we’ll be drinking milk from down south soon, with half a dozen closures in Gympie recently.
The number of dairy farms in Queensland is falling fast, he says, and some smaller dairies might be closing without anyone hearing about it.
Ian says a number of factors have contributed to his farm’s closure.
The weather has been “absolutely disgraceful,” for starters.
“We’ve had 20-something inches in six months of this year,” Ian says. “Which is more rain than we get a lot of years on average.”
The cost of everything has gone up, including fuel, seed, and spray.
Ian says they had a huge store of feed last year, but have “blown through it”.
“We’re meant to be storing for a drought, not floods and wet weather.”
He says the wet season is “going to hurt a lot of things”.
Ian says their cows were better off during the drought.
“We spent a lot but we were better off.”
While the cost of milk is going up, Ian says it’s “just far too late”.
“If we’d been paid better for milk we’d have been better off,” he says. “We’ve been done over for years on milk price.”
The combination of the drought and current wet season was too much, Ian says.
“To come out of a drought and get this wet season,” he says. “We’re running our heads up against a brick wall.”
“We were all dedicated and doing a good job, but it’s just gone backwards for the past 16 to 18 months”.
Ian finished up his contract in time to close and said he left on a good note.
“The dairy is still fully operable,” he said. “We’ll see what happens in the next year or two.”
Bill Lester is selling off the majority of his herd of St Andrews Illawarras today.
“A problem I guess is that we’re getting a bit old,” he says. “Dairy farming is a job for a family.”
He says that with the amount of work the flooding brought in, he and his wife decided that they wouldn’t continue dairy farming.
His family has been breeding cows for 106 years.
Bill says he will keep on farming, but is looking forward to a bit of a rest.
“My wife would like to go travelling,” he says.
Their property will continue in the family and it should take about two years to wind down from producing dairy.
The sale will be held on the Lester’s Glengallan property from 11 am.
Phil Christensen isn’t going anywhere but says there will be more closures in future.
“The trouble is can’t get the young ones in,” he says. “It’s a responsibility seven days a week.”
“You have to keep an eye on quality or you lose huge amounts of income.”
He says it’s also hard for young people to come in because of the cost involved.
Phil says many young people don’t want to take over the responsibility of running the whole thing.
“I’m expecting a lot to give it up in the next three or four years.”
All three farmers emphasise the skills required by staff on a dairy farm and the lack of funds available to pay them what they deserve.
“We do biosecurity, quality assurance, everything,” says Ian.
He says it’s hard to get anyone willing to put in the work the job requires.
“You’ve got to be 24/7 when you’re calving cows,” he said. “You’ve got to do it to understand how dedicated a dairy farmer is.”
Bill says the labour simply isn’t available.
He says supermarkets dominate the dairy market and make it very hard for farmers.
“They have devalued the industry,” he says. “As a result families have left.”
“We aren’t growing or training young people to take it over.
“It’s left us with nowhere to go.”
Phil says price has been an issue for years, and for people born into it “it’s in our blood so we put up with it” but newcomers may not.
“For us to have a better lifestyle it needs to be a dollar a litre,” he says.
Phil says he goes on holidays every few years, but to have people who he can trust to look after the dairy when he’s not there they need to pay them well.
“People who work here need to be on over $30 an hour,” he says. “You have to pay for quality people.”
He says if people could take their weekends off, and pay people to look after the dairy, more people might be attracted to the industry.
But weekend rates cost more, and wages are expensive enough as is.
It’s very skilled labour, Phil says.
“You have to be a vet, a nutritionist, and a mechanic to fix problems on the farm.”
“You have to be everything, and do as much as you can.”
Phil says while it’s a big commitment running a dairy, it can be a good lifestyle for families.
“You’re still with your family even when you’re working long days,” he says.
Ian echoed this, saying he always made it to his daughter’s sports games.
Phil says there are about 280 dairy farms left in Queensland, and three left in Freestone still supplying milk.
“There used to be about 13 in Freestone,” he says.
“I probably wouldn’t be here but I’m a stubborn old fella,” he says. “I won’t give it up.”
“I’ll always find a way.”
