More Than Milk

Brookbora Jersey's has been developing and improving the genetics of the herd for 60 years, with his father and grandfather at the helm, but after the recent death of his dad Robert, it's now Daniel Bacon who is continuing that legacy whilst also forging his own path on the farm. In this chat he shares openly about his time as a nutritionist and his love for fully feeding cows, how an incredible s...

Victoria Mulchay has always known farming was going to be in her life, but what started as a fill in for the herd manager, at their family corporate business 10 years has into evolved into a separation from the corporate business, construction of 2 compost barns and plans for further expansion with water use efficiency, animal welfare and business sustainability at the forefront. In this week's ep...

Jess Gavenlock grew up in the United States, in a large family passionate about cows and was heavily involved in the handling and showing of cattle. But it was whilst on exchange that she met her husband Brad and fell not only in love, but found a home in Australia. They now run Cherrylock Cattle Co in Northern Victoria where they board and manage elite genetics as well as prepping and showing cat...

  Nick Mignanelli is an energetic young farmer who is focused on doing better every day, whether it's pastures, fencing or breeding, he is making small but impactful changes on farm to get the most out of his patch of dirt in South Australia and has such a great outlook on life and farming.  In the spirit of reconciliation we would like to acknowlegde the Traditional Custodians of country througho...

Sally Bethune is from Lake Boga in Victoria and alongside managing a 1000 cow dairy farm, her and husband Paul have value added to the business in the form of a micro milk processing facility producing milk, yoghurt and Bethune Lane Dairy's star of the show belgian chocolate plus milk. Sally joined me before Cream of the Crop at the end of July, sharing all about her non-traditional farming skills...

Emma Poole is a dairy farmer and veterinarian from the Waikato region in New Zealand and joined us at the Cream of the Crop Conference sharing her experience as the first female to win the FMG Young Farmer of the Year in 55 years. In this chat we cover everything from Emma's experience as a vet, the transition to Chris's family farm, their calf rearing & embryo transfer business and the future of...

Rachael McGrath simply loves Jersey cows, and has a real passion for improving the genetics so they're not only great in the paddock but also perform well in the show ring. Although as a teenager a farming accident fundamentally changed the family farm it was obvious to Rachael that the farm was where she wanted to be. In this chat she shares how she found her love for the farm, how she is working...

Kim Wilson and husband Greg are 50/50 share farmers in South West Victoria, where they are running a really successful business that is simple and repeatable and an incredibly positive representation of share farming done well. Kim is managing a large team of staff, but believes it's doing the doing alongside them all, with a focus on communication and teamwork that allows them to achieve what the...

Sammie Smith has a passion for getting people in a room and helping to make dairy the best it possibly can be. Coming from the Bega Valley, she is currently sharing her time between one of the smallest farms and one of the largest in the region, working both on her family farm milking 150 and working at Kimba's down the road milking 1200. And whilst there isn't enough room to return to the home fa...

Jimmy Eggert runs a micro dairy where he is currently milking 30 cows and producing Hastings riverlands, an organic milk and yoghurt, and whilst he might be laid back in nature and very young, he certainly has a work ethic and mindset that is all about making the most of the opportunity he has. In today's chat he shares how he started the business, what goes into pasteurizing and bottling milk, an...

Erica Dibden and husband Nic farm on the South Coast of NSW where they have created Tilba Dairy, producing milk, yoghurt, cream and a mix of soft and hard cheeses to add value and help create a profitable farming business. Although the ultimate goal would be to have a factory on  farm, they've built a brand, processing factory and retail shop that continues to go from strength to strength. In toda...

Mia Ryan struggled to find love as a farmer, and although trying via the normal visits to the pub and other dating apps, she found the apps weren't working especially given her rural location... so she asked the question where is the dating app for farmers??  Her answer, there wasn't one - anywhere in the world! So she created it.  Launching on March 1st, Howdy Global is the dating app for farmers...

Liza Fahey farms in South West Victoria and works at Dairy Australia with a real passion for people, and to see them develop and grow, not only in dairy but also across all of her many interest areas, of which there are many. In this chat she shares her experience completing her apprenticeship and leasing her family farm, the transition to her husband's family farm and what it was like to be a fem...

Max Bond has recently returned home to his family farm in Cooriemungle and to say he is passionate and energetic about farming and the wider industry would be an understatement. In this chat he shares about his school based apprenticeship and studies at Longerenong College, why he made the call to come home and how that fits within the family business as well as his involvement within the communit...

This is the second part of my incredible chat with Aaron Thomas, so if you haven't listened to part 1 yet, head there first and then come back here because you won't want to miss this chat. In this week's epsidoe Aaron shares his involvement within industry and the newly formed Dairy Farmers Victoria, how he has taken on part of the farming business and we delve in the 3 pillars of the business an...

Aaron Thomas farms with Paul & Lisa Mumford in South East Gippsland, starting in a farm hand role and slowly progressing, taking on more responsibility and every opportunity to gain experience and knowledge as a self proclaimed sponge. He believed he was ready to take the next step and when Lisa & Paul purchased a second farm, Aaron was given the full reins to manage the operation. But it was here...

Pia Osborne is an animal lover with a real passion for farming. Currently she is working in Gippsland in a farming family business but her farming career began in large scale corporate farms after working as a vet nurse. In today's chat Pia shares the differences between the farming systems, how she's been able to transfer her skills from vet nursing into farming and shares some ideas about how to...

Brendan Saunders grew up in New Zealand and farming was always going to be what he was going to do. Now if you've listened to Nicole's episode from a couple of weeks ago, you'll have half of the story… but there is so much more to hear. Brendan loves a simple farming system! From the way he grows grass, to the way they breed cows, Simple is his moto. Having a system that is easy to replicate so wh...

This week to celebrate 50 episodes, we are doing things a bit differently - the guest today is me!!! It is the most commonly asked question, when will you share your story? so here it is, why I'm involved in dairy and how and why the podcast came to be. I am joined by my lovely friend Renata Cumming who is guest host for the episode and although we touch on some heavy topics, including pregnancy a...

Nicole Saunders moved to Australia from New Zealand with husband Brendan in 2018 and has been focused on growth ever since. Starting out as sharefarmers, they've grown each year allowing them to be in a position to purchase their current farm, lease another dairy and have multiple outpaddocks along with the very successful hospitality business the Berry Dairy. In this week's chat, Nicole shares th...

Will Ryan currently sharefarms alongside partner Kate in Lardner. But the path to get there certainly hasn't been straight forward. In Part 1 of this incredible chat he shared how after finishing school, unsure of what he wanted to do, he returned home to his parent's dairy farm, who had ridden on the coattails of capital gains. But just as he was about to finish his university degree, his world w...

Will currently sharefarms alongside partner Kate in Lardner… but the path to get there certainly hasn't been straight forward. And as you will notice this is only part 1 of this incredible chat, because it's a big one - so after finishing school, unsure of what he wanted to do, Will returned home to his parent's dairy farm who had ridden on the coattails of capital gains. But just as he was about...

Alanah Moore is an energetic 21 year old who has fallen head over heels for dairy. Working part time on 2 farms in West Gippsland, she is excited by what dairy can bring her into the future. In this chat we cover, how and why she came into dairy, what the day to day looks like working on 2 seperate farms, her desire to continue to learn and be ready for future steps within the industry… and I also...

Sophie Healy is balancing relief milking, aged care and a family run beef herd, but simply just loves milking cows. Throughout this chat we discuss all things relief milking, including how you find a good boss, what her day to day role looks like and why she has chosen dairy. She also openly shares her struggles with depression and anxiety, so just a heads up, we do discuss suicide but how it was...

Gerry & Sarah Kelly are the father and daughter duo are living farm life in the city, or is it city life on the farm… either way they are possibly the closest dairy farm to Metro Melbourne. Milking 250 cows they aim to keep things simple. Sarah & Gerry have both returned home to the family farm, albeit at very different stages, Gerry returned quite a few years ago now, around the time their 200 Ga...