More Than Milk

Tania Luckin and husband Stephen moved from New Zealand to Australia 26 years ago, and whilst Stephen was from a farming background, Tania had NO dairy experience. But as you will hear, she has thoroughly enjoyed learning and working alongside Stephen and certainly has had a wonderful career in dairy.  In today's chat she shares the experience of moving to Australia and learning a whole new indust...

Klaudia Douglas fell into a career in dairy, with an opportunity from Kevin & Brodie Game that was simply to good to refuse after finishing school & losing her licence. She began feeding calves and helping with the occasional milking, but has since started to take on more roles and responsibilities. You can certainly hear the excitement Klaudia now has for dairy, finding a passion for her cows and...

Brodie Game believes hard work will beat talent every single time, but I think she has plenty of both. As first generation farmers, she and husband Kevin were determined to fight for their dream of being dairy farmers and they certainly have had a number of setbacks along the way.  With limited financial options, dry seasonal conditions, a fire wiping out a large portion of their land and some ver...

Natasha Yarrington farms on the mid north coast of NSW and has a real passion for cows, but the transition onto her husband's family farm hasn't been all smooth sailing. In this episode of the podcast Tash shares her experience with farm succession, questioning when did she become a farmer, or did she ever stop? The gradual process of upgrading the business to be more efficient and streamlined inc...

Ross Anderson farms in Heyfield, in the MID of Gippsland, where he milks 500 crossbred cows which he likes to think of as really efficient factories, making the best use of their water allocation and keeping them fully fed and healthy to provide for the multiple families that they support.  Just a heads up this chat was recorded a little while ago, and since then the farm has certainly been wet, b...

Gemma & Tom Otton, farm in the Bega Valley at Candelo. Although they are both first generation dairy farmers, agriculture has always been in Tom's blood. But entering into dairy isn't always an easy process. How do you get a loan for cows and pay it back, manage cash flow, what do you include in a share farming agreement, how do you juggle farming and raising kids, and prepare yourself for fires,...

Sallie Jones is the co-creator of Gippsland Jersey, who alongside farmer Steve Reynolds started the milk brand in 2016, shortly after the milk price crash and the death of her father to suicide. Growing up, Sallie's father was an early adopter of value adding to his farming business, producing ice cream and selling it in a store in Lakes Entrance, and building a processing factory on his farm righ...

René Dedoncker joined Fonterra 18 years ago, beginning in food service and bringing skills in international trade to lead a team, growing and connecting chef's from across the world to innovate products, solve problems and better utilize dairy in their restaurants. But in 2016 he moved into the Managing Director role for the Australian business, just after the decision was made to step down the mi...

Renae Connell and husband Scott both came from dairy farming families and were very young when they decided to go into partnership with her in-laws, purchasing the farm, in Dorrigo NSW, via vendor finance with Scott's parents still owning the machinery and the cows. Initially to complete the succession plan Renae & Scott would buy the calves and machinery after 5 years to transition the business c...

Michael Armstrong farms in Korumburra, where he has been share farming for the last 18 years and is currently milking 900 cows on a 50/50 share. Although it hasn't been easy, the asset growth they've seen has certainly allowed them to build their dairy farming business. They have recently purchased their own farm, and built a new herringbone dairy where they milk another 400 cows, but has the capa...

Glenys Zucco is the Head of Marketing at Dairy Australia, a job for her that is more than just a job, it's part of her identity. She grow up on a dairy farm and studied nutrition dietetics and health promotion at uni, loving the role food plays in sports performance and overall health. In the early days at DA she was helping to rebut incorrect claims and promote the nutritional benefits of dairy p...

June Tarlinton spent her childhood as a timber cutter, living in the bush from the age of 9 traveling down the NSW coast clearing trees as they went before ending up at Wandella, when she was 16. It was there she met Richard, her now husband, who was a local dairy farmer. And it's Cobargo that she's called home for the last 40 years.  The original farm milked 80-100 cows with a mixed herd and a lo...

Joe Meggetto farms in Warragul, where he purchased his farm in 1991, before combining with his father, down the road in 1994. And for the last 26 years worked alongside his father Mario until his sudden death last year. Throughout those years he has taken every opportunity as it presented to purchase land and expand the business, working with the very simple farming philosophy, to make milk as che...

Rob Howell is the director of Supply Chain and Operations for Fonterra Australia, starting out as a Chemical Engineer he never imagined he would be in charge of 8 sites across Victoria and Tasmania.  In this chat he gives a great insight into the various processing and manufacturing sites and how they all work together to ensure a diverse and profitable product mix making the most of each litre of...

Chris is a Senior lecturer at Charles Sturt University based in Wagga Wagga, teaching in the veterinary science degree as well as animal production subjects. But before becoming an academic, he first became a vet, hoping it would help him ultimately become a sheep farmer. His first job was in Corowa, in mixed practice which was his first exposure to the dairy industry and it wasn't until he was ov...

Simone farms in Wagga Wagga, where she is one of only a handful of dairy farms  left. She and husband Neil purchased the farm, through succession from Neil's family after starting out as sharefarmers. In those early days, they increased cow numbers and even went to 3 milkings per day, wanting to increase production and ultimately cash flow to help with debt load.  But it was around 2010, 2011 the...

Cindy Lucas will certainly be a familiar name for those interested in Calf Rearing. She became a contract calf rearer in Mudgegonga, in North East Victoria, after she retired from teaching and working in the Mining Industry. Although the plan was never to become a calf rearer, it was only after she purchased a property in 2009 with a calf shed, specially designed for contract calf rearing on it, t...

Roger Heath has the Jersey & Illawarra Stud, Wanstead and a real passion for cows. In this week's epsiode of the podcast he shares his passion for genetics, how he uses embryo transfers and IVF to speed up the improvement & genetics of his herd and shares his experience with classifying cows, what goes into scoring a cow and shares the highest peak so far with one of his cows just going 95 points....

Meaghan Johnston is currently the milk supply manager for Bega based at the Koroit Site. This is Part 2 of her incredible story!!!  In Part 1 she gave an insight into her experiences getting into the dairy industry, her passion for Murray Goulburn, what the industry looked like in those days, the impacts of deregulation and the drought and sets the scene for the eventual demise of Murray Goulburn....

Meaghan Johnston is currently the milk supply manager for Bega based at the Koroit Site. Although as you may have noticed, this is only Part 1 of this incredible story!!! Meaghan grew up in Melbourne and undertook an Ag Science degree specializing in Milk Quality. Undertaking work experience at the Murray Goulburn Factory in Koroit. It was here she fell in love with dairy more broadly as well as m...

Brooke Lane farms in Alvie, near Colac. She wanted to undertake a dairy apprenticeship in year 10, but her mum wouldn't let her. She could never have imagined that just a few short years later she would fall in love with a dairy farmer. Alongside partner Clint, they have progressed over the last 9 years to leasing their farm, where they currently milk 400 holsteins, over 3 calvings.  In this chat...

Jodi Probert and partner Brett farm in Curdievale, having progressed through the industry, starting on a ⅓ share, moving to a 50/50 share before building enough equity to purchase their current farm. Jodi openly shares her dislike of mornings and milking, even in the new dairy and how having a great team around her allows for self appointed sleep-ins. She also shares the reasons behind building th...

Mel McDonald is a 4th generation dairy farmer, who farms alongside her husband Will in Bessiebelle. Mel never thought she'd return to her family farm, she never imagined her life the way it turned out, but would't change it. She shares the decision from Will to become a farmer and the move home to the farm. She shares her roles within the business and her belief that although she has all of the ca...

Tom Newton works for Maxum Foods, and whilst you may not recognise the company name I'm sure you will recognise the calf milk powder brand, Maxcare. Tom grew up in Queensland and although was surrounded by agriculture with his family involved in wool production and horticulture, notably stone fruits. He had no dairy knowledge before taking up a role with Maxum, but over the last 16 years has becom...

Sarah Chant milks about 270 Jersey cows, on her family farm, which she took over from her dad 7 years ago after he passed away from Cancer. Although taking over the farm hasn't been easy, especially amongst so much grief, Sarah always knew she was going to be a farmer!  In this chat we discuss the transition from it being her dad's farm to Sarah's own farm, her passion for breeding jersey's and he...