Volume 29 Number 12 Issue No. 346 December 2014

DEVONDALE MurrayGoulburn hasrelaunched itsDevondale long life

milk (UHT) in China in newbilingual metallic packaging andpack sizes which were designedbased on Chinese consumerresearch and feedback.

The range, which comes in200ml and one litre as well asassociated family gift packs,reinforces MG’s intentions tomaximise the opportunitiesgained by the Australia-ChinaFree Trade Agreement (FTA)signed last month..

The new metallic UHT packshave a premium look and feeland feature a distinctive goldDevondale logo, reinforcing thebrand’s premium positioning inthe market.

The relaunch and expansion ofthe Devondale UHT range inChina is part of MG’s strategy tocapture the value of the increas-ing demand by Asian consumersfor safe, reliable dairy foods.

“We have our sights set firmlyon high value growth markets,like China, where the demandfor dairy foods is very strongwell into the foreseeable future,”said Gary Helou, MG’sManaging Director.

“Our two strategic pillars areoperational excellence and inno-vation. MG is already investingin its manufacturing footprint toprovide world class dairy foodsto China and south-east Asianconsumers.

Labelled with ‘100 per centpure Australian milk’, the pack-aging features clear consumermessaging about the milk’s

DEVONDALE MurrayGoulburn has joined theAustralian Dairy

Industry Council in welcomingthe announcement of theAustralia-China Free TradeAgreement (FTA).

MG’s exports accounted formore than 51 per cent of itsrevenue in the previous finan-cial year, with MG exporting$A1.5 billion including morethan $A200 million to Chinaand Hong Kong in the form of

Co-op welcomes China Free Trade Agreementinfant nutrition, milk powder,cheese and drinking milk.

MG Managing Director, GaryHelou, said an FTA with Chinawas a vital step for the future ofMG’s more than 2500 dairyfarmer supplier/shareholders.

“China is already the world’slargest dairy import market lastyear importing 2.2 milliontonnes, an increase of over 40per cent on the previous year. Itis forecast that China dairydemand and dairy imports will

continue to grow,” he said.“Chinese customers and con-

sumers trust the quality andsafety of Australian dairy prod-ucts and increasingly seek it as apremium choice in both theingredients and grocery dairyfoods. Therefore it is vital thatAustralia has excellent and com-petitive access to the growingand strategic China market,"Gary said.

While MG and the industryneeded to review the full detail

of the FTA, Gary said the dealseemed to tick all the boxessought in a good FTA.

“The first objective in thisFTA was to begin to redress thedisparity between Australia andNew Zealand dairy trade toChina. Second was to achieve apathway to total free trade pro-viding a competitive advantageand protecting Australia’s long-term competitiveness in China. Itseems these objectives have beendelivered,” he said.

Gary said that MG hasplanned to grow in China.

“MG is already investing inits manufacturing footprint toprovide world class dairy foodsto China and south-east Asianconsumers.

“The China FTA will furthercement MG as a first choicedairy foods supplier to theChina market and this will sup-port higher farmgate returns toour dairy farmer supplier/share-holders,” he said.

NEW-LOOK UHT FOR CHINA

The relaunched range of MG UHT milk now available in China. The packaging has been based on con-sumer research and feedback.

country of origin which appealsstrongly to Chinese consumers.

“The Devondale range isknown internationally for itsexceptional quality and safety,which we are clearly communi-cating on the pack, along withour proud Australian dairy-farmer origins, which is a keyselling feature in internationalmarkets like China,” Gary said.

“The recent FTA will improvethe competitive positioning ofAustralian dairy foods intoChina but dairy farmers musthave ownership of the supplychain and brands in order to cap-ture maximum benefit, otherwisevalue will be lost to others in thechain.”

Gary said MG was focused oncapturing the full value of theChina FTA, which would deliverhigher farmgate returns to itsdairy farmer supplier/share-holders. MG is promoting its new range of UHT milk packaging in China.

We have oursights set firmlyon high valuegrowth markets,like China wherethe demand fordairy foods isvery strong wellinto the foresee-able future.

GARY HELOU

DECEMBER 2014 DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN2

INTERNATIONAL MARKET REVIEWRussian import bans play part in lower pricesTHE results of Global Dairy

Trade Event (GDT) 128which concluded on 18

November and produced a GDTPrice Index which was down 3.1per cent.

While prices increased inAnhydrous Milk Fat (AMF),butter, cheddar and buttermilkpowder this was more that off-set by decreases in the remainingcategories which represent themajority of the volume offeredon this event.

The poor result on Skim Milk

Powder (SMP) on this event wasnot entirely unexpected as mar-ket feedback before this eventsupported a weaker outlook forSMP.

This ingredient categoryremains the weakest as it isbears the pressure of increasedmilk flows and the switch fromcheese to SMP/butter productmix in Europe as a direct resultof Russian import bans on dairywhich has had a significant

impact for EU cheese.The reduction in Whole Milk

Powder (WMP) prices howeverwas a surprise against the back-drop of declining volumes on theplatform and an encouraging 1.2per cent increase in priceachieved on the previous GDTevent. This supports the viewthat China continues to be chal-lenged with high inventory ofWMP and/or obtaining somevolumes outside the auctionplatform which would explainreduced participation on thisevent.

Market feedback from multi-ple sources confirms the viewthat major Chinese buyers arewell stocked and will remain so

until March or April 2015. The gains recorded on milk fat

and cheese, while pleasing inthese tough market conditions,remain well below internationalmarket prices achieved outsidethe GDT platform.

While most buyers understandthe disconnect between GTDprices in these low volume cate-gories and general market prices,they do take note of the pricingtrend on the platform as it doesreflect market sentiment.

We are also receiving marketfeedback which suggests thatbuyers are starting to increasetheir interest in securing stock ofbutter which may reflect concernabout availability over the sec-

The Devondaler is publishedby Devondale MurrayGoulburn

Editor: Robert White (03)9846 5188 or 0427 329 815tophill@optusnet.com.au

Advertising and classifiedenquiries: (03) 9040 5000

Murray Goulburn Co-operative Co. Limited,Level 15, 2 SouthbankBoulevard, Southbank,Victoria 3006Phone: (03) 9040 5000

MG suppliers and employeesare welcome to submitphotograps and editorial forconsideration. Deadline is the24th of each month.

Key results MAIN PRODUCTSSMP down 5.7%, averageprice $US2299/MTWMP down 5.1%, averageprice $US2400/MTAMF up 6.1%, average price$US3490/MT

OTHER PRODUCTSButter up 6.0%, average price$US2656/MTBMP up 1.4%, average price$US2511/MTCheddar up 5.0%, averageprice $US2861/MTRennet Casein down 12.2%,average price $US6681/MTSWP (Sweet Whey Powder) –No sale reported

ond half of our current dairy sea-son. This would suggest that theprice outlook in this categoryshould be positive over the bal-ance of this season.

The market sentiment in gen-eral remains weak as a result ofthe supply imbalance caused byincreased global milk productionin the main milk producingregions.

As weaker market returns feedinto lower farm gate milk prices,a correction from the supply sidewill ultimately take effect.

However, this may not trans-late into a broader price recoveryon dairy ingredients until Aprilto June 2015 or possibly later in2015.

The DevondaleMurray GoulburnTwitter account isonline now at@DevondaleMG

IAM unapologetically nostal-gic. Perhaps it’s something todo with the fact that I am

getting older.But I couldn’t help but be both

impressed and emotional aboutcatching up with DevondaleMurray Goulburn’s fivesurviving chairman at lastmonth’s annual meeting.

I first met John Hewlett whenI started the Devondaler in 1986.He struck me as being a bit gruffand reminded me of an old foot-ball coach who could never besatisfied no matter how manygames you won.

But I was soon to learn thatJohn was a man rusted on to theco-operative ideal and who had aheart of gold and a determina-tion to get things done.

Following the Ash Wednesdayfires of 1983, he was one of thefirst to comfort the many MGsuppliers who had lost so muchand then in the bad floods of thelate 1980s, he was there again.

I still catch up with him occa-sionally and I am alwaysreminded that despite his 86

years, he remains as sharp as atack and as dedicated to the co-op as he has always been. Ratherthan a craggy old coach, he isnow more mellow. But he is stillup for a fight if the issuedemands.

Frank Stewart was always areluctant chairman, and hadspent 12 years in John’s shadowas his deputy.

Frank was always the diplo-mat. He underestimated his ownability as a leader but he led theco-op through a prosperous time.Yet he always deflected that suc-cess to others.

Even today he prefers a lowprofile and is almost embar-

rassed to be photographedamong MG’s leaders.

Ian MacAulay was destined tolead the co-op. He spent sevenyears as a board member beforetaking up the role in 1998 andended up spending 11 years inthe position.

I recall being with Ian at hisfirst suppliers’ meeting atLeongatha and a couple ofdisillusioned farmers keptasking questions in a bid tounsettle him.

But he kept his cool, answeredtheir questions and earned agreat deal of respect.

Unlike John and Frank whohave retired from dairying, Ianstill maintains a strong involve-ment with his family andremains proud of the co-opand is determined to ensure itsongoing success.

Grant Davies took over at avery difficult time. The co-opwas going through a transitionperiod with the appointment of anew Managing Director andpublic scrutiny of the gover-nance of the co-op.

Not only that, his farm nearSwan Hill was attacked andalmost destroyed by locusts andthen shortly after the worstfloods in the district’s historyleft the farm inundated.

While he and his family triedto cope with these on-farmemergencies, he also had hisduties of helping to run thebiggest Australian dairycompany.

He stood down from theChairman’s role and retired fromthe Board and the baton has nowbeen passed to Phil Tracy whostarted his third year in the job atlast month’s annual meeting.

Like the leaders of the past, hewill have his own issues to copewith and has already facedmatters such as the bid to buyWarrnambool Cheese and Butter.

It is often very easy to forgetthe past. A modern worlddemands the here and now. Butit is often worth the time toappreciate those who have gonebefore. Because without a soundand successful past, there is nofuture.

Our past can determine our future

International prices $US/MT FOB

DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 3

Chairmen of the Board meet at annual meetingLAST month’s Devondale

Murray Goulburn annualgeneral meeting (AGM)brought together the five menwho have headed the co-opera-tive since 1982.

All five chairmen, JohnHewlett, Frank Stewart, IanMacAulay, Grant Davies andcurrent chairman, Phil Tracy,retain a strong affection forMG and rarely miss an annualmeeting.

John Hewlett is the longest-serving chairman since theco-op was formed in 1950 andled MG for 12 years.

Frank took over from Johnand served for five years aschairman, having been deputyto John for 12 years.

He was followed by Ian wholed MG for 11 years beforehanding over to Grant who heldthe role for two years.

Phil now starts his third yearas the leader of MG.● More stories and picturesfrom the 2014 MG AGM onpages 14-15.

Five men who have chaired MG attended last month’s annual meeting. From left, John Hewlett, Frank Stewart, Grant Davies, Phil Tracyand Ian MacAulay.

Vat cooling critical over summerDEVONDALE Murray

Goulburn Koroit FieldServices Manager (West),

Meaghan Johnston, said it wascritical that suppliers maintainedtheir vat refrigeration units,especially with the onset of sum-mer.

“Milk vats are working veryhard at these times and we can’tafford to have breakdowns andrisk milk quality,” she said.

“It costs the farmer and the co-op money if milk can’t be cooledproperly.”

Meaghan also warned that itcould often take up to two weeksto get refrigeration units fixed atpeak times.

“Maintenance of vats andrefrigeration units can easily beforgotten during busy times butlack of maintenance can provevery costly.”

This was confirmed by KeithHammond, Managing Directorof West Fridge at Warrnambool,who said farmers often ignoredmaintenance until it was too late.

“Farmers usually worry aboutmaintenance on a breakdownbasis only, resulting in limitedtime to repair. Cost is alwaysparamount and at times difficultto control,” he said.

He said problems varied, butgenerally speaking, the extent ofbreakdowns could be minimisedwith the introduction of preven-tative maintenance program con-sisting of 2-3 services per year,providing it could be budgetedon a fixed cost, as an example,over two years.

He said various problems andfaults could occur depending onthe type of system.

“Older equipment is more dif-ficult to maintain because of thelimited availability of parts andthis could prove costly.

“Excessive wear and tearoccurs with age as well asundersized plants with excessiveloads.”

Keith said farmers could dosome things to help avertrefrigeration issues but they

were limited.He said cleaning condensers

regularly, observingoperation/refrigerant levels andcooling performance times aswell as monitoring pre-coolingand service plate coolers at leastevery two years, were some ofthe steps that could be taken.

He said that for a farm pro-ducing 10,000 litres of milk aday, every degree of pre-coolimprovement may result in run-ning cost savings of $130 perquarter. There would also be animprovement in milk quality andless plant running time.

“Dairy farms these days gen-erally consist of large industrialtype plants for milk harvestingand cooling,” Keith said.

“While not necessarily run-ning 24/7, operation is criticalconsidering the limited availabledowntime between milkings forrepairs.”

Keith has recently completeda major overhaul of the milkcooling system at the farm of

MG supplier, Don McKinnon,near Terang.

Don said his old chiller hadbeen designed to milk around300 cows but he was now milk-ing 670 in a 60-unit rotary shed.

“It was about 15-20 years oldand it was packing up,” he said.

“We were getting to the pointwhere we wouldn’t have beenable to conform with MG’s milkcooling requirements.”

He said MG was very support-ive with an interest-free loanwhich made the conversion a loteasier.

Keith said the original 48KWchiller had more than earned itskeep but with productionincreasing over the years, thetime had come for a review.

A 120KW four-stage chillersystem has now been installedand the plate cooler has beenreplaced with one designed onminimum water consumptionbut still precool within 2°-3°Cof water, as well as beingdouble bank.

The new chiller will chill themilk to an average of 4°-5°Cinstantly.

Keith said that like typicaldairies today, milk flows werehigh and if a plate cooler isdesigned to reach peak perform-ance with two to one flow rate,then water consumption wouldbe more than 14,000 litres perhour.

“The new plate cooler isdesigned on 9500 litres per hour.Additionally, a variable speedmilk pump was fitted resulting inmore efficient gains.”

The vat wash control systemhas also been upgraded, incorpo-rating options such as a heatedpre-rinse cycle and improvedplumbing to minimise tempera-ture loss.

Don said the weather had beenrelatively cool since the new sys-tem was installed but he nowhad the confidence that he hadthe right equipment to copewith the hot summer weatherahead.

Devondale Original Butter creams the fieldDEVONDALE Original Butter

has taken out a major prize atthe 2015 Australian Grand DairyAwards.

The prestigious awards are now intheir 16th year and are an initiativeof Dairy Australia recognising andrewarding excellence and innovationin Australian dairy production.

Suzanne Douglas, MG’s GeneralManager Marketing and Innovation,said the honour of being crownedthe Champion Butter or Butter

Blend at the awards was a reflectionof the company’s dedication to cre-ating delicious, high quality dairyfoods.

“We are so thrilled to be recog-nised for our butter and it is a testa-ment to our hard-working farmershareholders and the wider MGteam,” she said.

Farmdale Full Cream Milk, manu-factured exclusively MG for Aldi,also received an honourable mentionin the milk section.

● Devondale Original Butter takes outGrand Dairy Award.

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DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 5

ASTRONG appetite toinvest in Australian dairyreflects underlying

confidence in the future of theindustry and future demand forAustralian dairy exports, accord-ing to Dairy Australia (DA).

The positive outlook is con-tained in the Situation andOutlook report released by DAlast month.

“A number of significant pre-and post-farmgate investments inthe Australian dairy industryhave been announced, or areunder way and these investmentsreflect confidence in Australianmilk production and couldprompt a step-change in industryprofitability and production vol-umes should they realise theirfull potential,” the report said.

The report added that in a fur-ther positive move, the recently-signed China-Australia FreeTrade Agreement (FTA) wouldultimately see the total removalof all dairy export tariffs facedby Australian dairy exports toChina and is a positive develop-ment for the Australian dairyindustry.

“The FTA will also enable theAustralian dairy industry to fur-ther develop its long-term rela-tionship with China and to com-pete on a more level playingfield in the Chinese market.

“As a result of the deal, theindustry can expect positiveflow-on effects throughout thesupply chain, in particularthrough substantially reducedtariffs on dairy products such asinfant formula, cheese, milkpowders, butter and liquid milk,”the report said.

The report also warned thatprices on global markets haddeclined since September fromdisruption by Russia’s ongoingpartial trade embargo and asChinese buyers largely remainout of the market.

The disruption to dairydemand has also combined withongoing supply growth from keyglobal dairy export regionswhich has prevented anysignificant recovery in globalcommodity prices.

“At the farmgate, majorAustralian processors have cau-tioned suppliers not to expectfurther price rises for the balanceof the season given market cir-cumstances and they havewarned against aggressivecapital investment on-farmgiven the weak short-term out-look for commodity prices,” thereport said.

“Processors have suggestedsuppliers manage costs carefullyfor the remainder of the season.”The report said various globalmarket indicators showed pricingin international dairy markets

By SOPHIE BRUNS

SHANE and CindyFlemingham have had abusy nine years since they

bought their first dairy farm atLockington in northern Victorianine years ago.

Since that time, the couplehave bought two neighbouringfarms to have a 184ha landholding. But perhaps theirbiggest investment to date, hasbeen the recent construction ofa 50-unit rotary dairy.

The decision to build thedairy was both a business andlifestyle choice. The family wasspending eight hours a daymilking more than 400 cows ina 15-a-side double-up dairy andwith five sons, they were strug-gling to make time for sportingand family events. They werealso struggling to find workerswho wanted to spend so long inthe dairy.

“Last season stopped usbuilding the dairy earlierbecause the cash flow simplywasn’t there but we havealways been optimistic aboutthe dairy industry and we arecertainly in it for the long haul.

“Why else would we investthat sort of money in our busi-ness?” Cindy said.

The couple has also beenbusy rearing additional replace-ments over the years to getstock numbers up, so when thetime came, they would have a500 cow herd to put throughthe dairy.

The new dairy came com-plete with a DeLaval All ProSystem installed by StonesDairy Service in Lockington,cup removers, auto draft, milkmeters and a 500-cow yard.Construction was completed on

was unlikely to increase signifi-cantly until at least the secondquarter of 2015.

The report added that againstthis uncertain market backdrop,year-to-date national milk pro-duction had been strong withJuly to September milk produc-tion up 2.8 per cent on last yearto 2.34 billion litres.

The Australian milk produc-tion forecast for the current sea-son remains for two per centgrowth to 9.35 to 9.45 billionlitres, assuming average seasonalconditions and the absence ofany further reduction in the far-mgate pricing outlook.

The report also warned thatinput markets were under pres-sure, with elevated pricing forgrain and hay, particularly innorthern regions and WesternAustralia where both prices andavailability are challenging.

Temporary water prices are upon last season, while lower fer-tiliser costs and higher cull cowprices (plus two per cent onaverage) are providing somefinancial relief.

The report said that talk offoreign investment in keyproduction areas had manypeople wondering what theproduction capacity andcompetitive environment formilk would be in coming yearsshould these investment plansfully materialise.

“A significant proportion ofthis pre and post-farmgateinvestment in the Australianindustry is focused on securinginternational market opportuni-ties, despite the reduction in theexportable surplus since rawmilk production peaked in2001/02.

“At the same time, there isalso some renewed interest inexport opportunities fromfarmers outside southeastregions,” the report said.

“In domestic drinking milkmarkets such as WesternAustralia, Queensland and NewSouth Wales it is clear that thelocal industry is facing varyingchallenges in supplying domesticrequirements within current far-mgate price and production coststructures.”

The report said the drop in theAustralian dollar continued todepend on perceptions ofstrength of the US economicrecovery.

“But while the Australian dol-lar is at more favourable levelsfor exporters than it has beenover recent years, recent curren-cy-related developments andexpected movements are not inthe short-term expected to offsetthe impact of lower internationaldairy commodity prices,” thereport said.

DA reportsstrong futurefor dairy

time and the couple cannot com-mend the construction teamenough.

“We made the decision to getour builder, Tony Milne fromKatunga, to organise everything.Because we were spending somany hours in the dairy weknew we wouldn’t physicallyhave the time to do much organi-sation ourselves and it wasmoney well spent.

“The whole process turned outto be a really good experiencefor us and we couldn’t fault anyof the tradesmen,” Shane said.

Before the build, Shane lookedat about 20 different dairies, butthis experience left him scratch-ing his head a bit.

“Every dairy was different andif you looked at another 20 thatwould still be the case. Youwould see something different inthis shed compared to another,but we got there in the end andwe used all local people to buildit as well.”

The Fleminghams had onlybeen milking in the new shed fora couple of weeks when theDevondaler visited so it was stillearly days, but the couple arecertainly pleased with the initialresult.

The first milking took abouttwo and a half hours with helpfrom many family and friends.

“We got every single cowmilked and while production forthe first few milkings wasn’t thatflash, the cows have certainlysettled in well,” Cindy said.

One of the big advantages thecouple see is that the cows arespending far less time waiting tobe milked.

“In the old dairy the cowswould be standing around forhours and we could only fit 100cows in the yard at a time.

“If it was wet they would bestanding or sitting in the mudand we would have to washevery single cow. Now there isno time to sit down. We areexpecting to pick up at leastanother 10 per cent in produc-tion because the cows will beback in the paddock a lot earli-er. But we will have to wait andsee on that one,” Shane added.

When Shane and Cindy firststarted out in the dairy industrythey had nothing but a workethic and a desire. When thederegulation package becameavailable, the couple made thedecision to buy 100 head ofyoung stock and their businesshas really grown from thatpoint.

They have milked in manydifferent dairies, in many differ-ent places but they always knewthat one day they would havetheir own farm.

“We have five sons and thefuture is always hard to knowbut we want to have our busi-ness to a point that if they wantto come home, they can.”

(Cindy is quick to point outthat she will be encouraging theboys to get a job and work forsomebody else or complete adegree before they would evenbe allowed back on the farm.)

The couple have beenDevondale Murray Goulburnsuppliers since they boughttheir farm and they are happy tokeep it that way.

Cindy said they also made thehard decision to sell every headof young stock on the farm toget through.

“At the end of the day we arein it for the long haul and surelyat least one out of our five boyswill want to take the farm on,”she said.

Cindy and Shane Flemingham have expanded their dairy business at Lockington.

Dairy optimism drivesfarm investment

DECEMBER 2014 DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN6

BUTTERFLY’S KITCHENSteamed Orange Blossom Pudding

Grease a 1.25l pudding basinwith extra butter.Beat the butter and sugar untilpale. Sift in flour and bakingpowder.Add eggs one at a time,beating well between eachaddition.Add the milk slowly beatingthen stir through the gratedorange zest.Pour mixture into greasedbasin, smooth top.Cut 2 pieces of baking paperand place each piece over halfthe top of basin so that theymeet in the middle. Allow alittle baking paper to hangover outside of basin so whenyou place the lid down firmlyand lock in the paper holdsfirm in place.

PUDDING125g castor sugar200g self-raising flour1 tsp baking powderFinely grated zest of 1 orange2 eggs140ml Devondale milkORANGE SAUCE250ml fresh squeezed orangejuice100ml cold water250g castor sugar1 orange, thinly sliced

Ingredients

IFEEL compelled this monthto ask you all to take amoment to recognise and

acknowledge the achievementsof the year that’s just been.

I’m not talking about hugeglobal corporate achievements. Iam talking about the little thingsat home on the farm that growand enable greater thingsbeyond. Without our commit-ment at the farm, there are noachievements beyond.

Dairying is as complex as wechoose to make it. There arethose that find themselves in asecure established farming posi-tion and others who are low orhigh input with varying degreesof debt and risk.

For all of us though, seasonalconditions and the decisionsmade for us beyond the farmgate impact us greatly.

Farmers are at times perceivedto be cautious and perhaps thatcomes from the lessons learntfrom our forefathers but mostlybecause we are highly exposedbusinesses where our profitabili-ty is greatly determined by out-side influences.

Farmers look to the futureevery day with decisions theyare making. It’s called foresightand I happily concede in myjourney there are times I havethought in hindsight.

But that’s the case in any busi-ness and it’s acknowledging andlearning that moves you forwardand away from in hindsight.

Our herd breeding programs

Method

take many years to show if wehave made the right choice, asdoes our pasture management,timing fertiliser applications andthe ability to grow and harvestsufficient fodder reserves.

It’s a huge financial and emo-tional commitment and we mustnot ever underestimate the skillsit takes to manage all that isdairy.

So take a little moment and beproud to be a dairy farmer. Beproud of your contribution nomatter how small or largebecause it takes all kinds andshapes and sizes to create andsustain our industry. Now backto my recipe for this month.

Christmas is almost upon usand it’s time for lots of cookingto share with friends and familywhile the giving of presents isalways fun.

Whilst I had intentions to gotraditional with a steamed plumpudding, I came upon this lovelyorange blossom pudding in anold recipe book that belonged tomy grandmother, Minnie.

I was drawn to the tiny news-paper cutting glued inside thebook, so following my instinctsI converted the pounds to gramsand added my own orange sauceto come up with a special pud-ding that brings a little familyspirit to this delightfully simple,yet very tasty, pudding.

It can steam away on thestove-top while you’re entertain-ing family or preparing otherdishes and it’s ideal for thosewho don’t fancy dried fruit.

Serve it warm with a generousserving of Devondale cream andcustard.

Non-stick pudding tins havemade a comeback in kitchen-ware shops and I treated myself

If you haven’t a lid then placetin foil over the top of paper andtie down with kitchen string tohold on firm.Place the basin inside a largepot/pan on stovetop and pour inenough boiling hot water tocome halfway up the sides ofthe pudding basin. Cover with alid and boil on stovetop for 90minutes. Check half waythrough as you may need to addsome more boiling water.8. After 90 minutes removebasin from pot and allow to reston bench for 5minutes before

Check for stress issuesSTRESS can affect many

body functions. A littlestress can keep you on our

toes and help you get thingsdone, but when stress leaves youfeeling like you can’t cope, it’sprobably doing damage some-where.

Stress is also a factor in manyfarm accidents.

Farm life can be stressful andat times a bit depressing. Thereare the everyday issues of familylife, balancing budgets, planningfor the future and keeping upwith developments in your areaof farming.

The added pressures of man-

aging a farm during difficulttimes like floods, market fluctua-tions or droughts can sometimesseem overwhelming.

Watch out for stress signs.If you find you:

● Can’t sleep● Are becoming irritable, angryand bad tempered● Have started drinking morealcohol● Are losing your appetite andjust not feeling well● Feel like you are at the end ofyour tether

If you see or feel these signs,take notice and take action. Ifyou don’t you could become

FARMER HEALTH

to a new one for just $16 so goout and buy one and enjoy thissteamed pudding for Christmasor any time for that matter.

Until next month friends, Ileave you to ponder what themost famous John F Kennedyonce said: “You can milk a cow

the wrong way once and still bea farmer, but vote the wrong wayon a water tower and you can bein trouble”.

depressed or put yourself indanger.

You need to talk about it.Many farmers, who are used to

working things out for them-selves, don’t want to share theirproblems.

But, it’s vital that farmers talkto family or trusted friends aboutissues that are upsetting, stress-ful or difficult. You may be help-ing someone else as well if youopen up and say how you feel.

You need to look after your-self. It’s part of looking afteryour farm.● Source: National Centre forFarmer Health

Devondale Murray Goulburn is on Twitter: @DevondaleMG

carefully inverting puddingonto serving plate.SAUCEWhile the pudding is cooking,place the sugar, water andorange juice into a pan on thestovetop (I use a non-stick fry-pan) and stir over low heatuntil the sugar dissolves.Add the orange slices thensimmer, stirring occasionally,for 45 minutes or until thick-ened and reduced. Pour over the pudding andserve with Devondale Creamand custard.

LEADING Adelaide Hillscheese maker, Saul Sullivan,has created a slice of history byproducing Australia’s first bluecheese from raw milk that hasbeen approved for publicconsumption.

And the milk he uses for theproduct is sourced fromDevondale Murray Goulburnsuppliers in the Adelaide Hillsregion.

Saul has a long associationwith MG to supply milk for hisUdder Delights cheese factory.He also has a store outlet atHahndorf.

He said the ability to sourcemilk of the quality provided byMG suppliers had played an

important role inthe develop-ment of the blue cheese.

“You need quality milk toprovide the base,” he said.

The Udder Delights KingSaul Raw Blue cheese is a pre-mium product that will be pro-duced in limited batches eachyear.

The first vintage of just 250half-kilogram wheels, present-ed in handcrafted woodenboxes, was released last monthafter spending the past threemonths in cheese maturationcaves.

He said the only other rawblue cheese available inAustralia was a French-madeproduct.

Suppliers have rolein new blue cheese

DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 7

By SOPHIE BRUNS

MACORNA supplier,Adrian Dee, is wellknown in dairying cir-

cles for his dedication to farmingand the Holstein breed.

And while he remains humbleabout the contribution he hasmade, the fact of the matterremains, it has been rather sig-nificant.

This October, Adrian retiredfrom the board of HolsteinAustralia (HA), a role he hasheld in various capacities,including federal president, forthe past 14 years.

Current President, RonChittock, said Adrian wouldbe sorely missed by theorganisation.

“Adrian’s knowledge of thebreed, his dedication to theyouth of the industry and thecontribution he has made overthe past 14 years is just phenom-enal,” Ron said.

“He not only has the respectof the board and the association,but the wider Holstein communi-ty too. In fact the whole Deefamily is held in very highregard,” Ron said.

Ron said while Adrian hadmany strengths, his ability tocommunicate with others and hisloyalty to the breed had helpedstand him apart from others.

Adrian said he initiallybecame involved with HA in2000 because he felt it wasimportant to help ensure theintegrity of the Holstein breedwas protected and he also want-ed to reach out to the commer-cial farming sector and promotethe value in registering cattle.

Adrian has always maintainedthe belief that breed societies arevery important to the industryand can offer their members realvalue for money, regardless ofthe breed.

“Initially cattle societies wereviewed as a cattle club for elitebreeders.

“Getting the general farmingpopulation to realise registeringcattle was a good and profitableidea was always one of mygoals,” he said..

“With diligent breeding and abit of extra paperwork, you canachieve an extra $1000 for ananimal. In my opinion the workis certainly worth the effort.”

Reflecting on his time withHA, Adrian said there were acouple of important issues butone that stood out in his mindwas a delegation to China to cre-ate a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MOU) with theChinese regarding exportHolstein heifers.

Adrian was also instrumental

in helping implement the chang-ing of the classification systemto the Canadian hand-held com-puterised classification system.

Over the years Adrian hasattended many events and con-ferences both in Australia andoverseas. He has also visitedmany farms and looked atthousands of cattle.

“I have found black and whitecows are a passport to the world.You can look up the local breedsociety in any country you aretravelling in and it just opens somany doors for you.”

As with anything Adrian saidhe wouldn’t have been able todevote himself to HA for such along period of time without thehelp of his family.

In the early days, his wife,Cheryl, used to milk but thesedays, son Mark and his wife,Mandy, have taken over much ofthe day-to-day running of thefarm.

Retiring from the board meansthat Adrian and Cheryl might beable to have their first non-farmrelated holiday with a Europeancruise being top of the list.

But Adrian is quick to add

there might be a couple ofopportunities to view a fewblack and whites.

Adrian will continue to take akeen interest in the breed andexpects he will have a bit moretime up to help out on the familyfarm.

The farming career of the Deefamily began in earnest in 1974at Clyde North in WestGippsland and not long after thefamily established their Holsteinstud, Clyde Vale.

In 1980, the family purchasedtheir current dairy farm atMacorna in north-west Victoria.The family started out milking90 cows but over the followingyears the operation has grown toinclude 350 milkers, and morethan 1000ha.

It was at Macorna where theybrought up their children, Adam,Mark, Kevin, Colin and Claire.

The Dee family name is wellknown in breeding circles andthe Clydevale prefix has alwaysbeen associated with qualitycows, based on Adrian’s breed-ing philosophy of getting thebasics right - a functional cowwith capacity, a good udder,sound legs and feet and a correcthead and muzzle.

Many bulls have been soldinto AI over the years includingLordpres who will long beremembered as one of the mostheavily used bulls in the GAline-up with almost 14,000daughters in his proof. Otherbulls of note include Lordfargo,Tidalwave and Foremost.

There have been many goodcows bred over the years,including Adrian’s currentfavourite cow Clydevale PlanetFran VG89. Fran placed secondin the five-year-old in-milk classat the 2014 National HerdDevelopment Victorian WinterFair and is also well known onthe local circuit.

Leading Holstein breeder steps down

Adrian Dee and his wife, Cheryl at the family farm at Macorna in north west Victoria.

I have foundblack and whitecows are apassport to theworld.

ADRIAN DEE

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DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 9

MURRAY Dairy will beseeking expressions ofinterest from dairy

farmers to be a partner in itsAccelerating Change Project.

The project aims to improveprofitability for the Murrayregion’s dairy farmers throughimproved pasture production andirrigation.

It has received a $1.45 millionboost from the Victorian andCommonwealth Governments.

The funding for stage one ofthe project (total value $2.9 mil-lion) will see two partner farmsestablished with the help ofproject partner Dairy Australiato accelerate the adoption of thelatest dairy research andtechnology in localisedconditions.

The two, yet to be selected,partner farms will be chosen asleading edge operations thatshow existing on-farmmodernisation and infrastructureinvestment.

This will be conducted throughan expression of interest process.

The farms will be backed by30 satellite farms that willsupport decision making, verify

Farmer researchpartners sought

findings and enable directengagement with farmers whoare planning investment inresearch and technology.

Murray Dairy Chairman,Malcolm Holm, welcomed thefunding announcement and saidthis would help strengthen thedairy industry across the regionwhich included northern Victoriaand the southern Riverina ofNew South Wales.

“The project is a critical linkto enable local and regionalcommunities to gain best advan-tage of the accelerated adoptionof research and technologydirectly on farm,” he said.

Extension and communicationof project findings to farmers isa key part of the project and willsee workshops, open days andfarm walks offered as well asregular updates.

The Murray Dairy region ishome to 1500 dairy farmbusinesses and is Australia’slargest milk producing region,directly employing 10,000people and contributing $4.3billion to Australia’s $13 billionfarm, manufacturing and exportindustry.

Running forfarmer healthMEMBERS of the DevondaleMurray Goulburn Run 4 FarmerHealth took part in theMelbourne Marathon lastmonth.

The group raised more than$4878 through sponsorship,including the bake sale, andover $2605 in raffle ticket sales,making a total of $7483.

Run 4 Farmer Health has nowraised more than $21,000,making it the fifth highestfundraising team at the event inits first year.

A special congratulations toPatrick Flynn who raised $1812.

Members of the Run 4 Farmer Health team after competing in the Melbourne Marathon.

MG’s Patrick Flynn presents Susan Brumby from the NationalCentre for Farmer Health with funds raised by the MG Run 4Farmer Health group.

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DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 11

Making farmwomen countTHE Yarra Ranges Women onFarms Gathering will be heldfrom 20-22 March next year atHealesville.

The theme for the gatheringis “Making Every WomanCount”.

Former Devondaler colum-nists, Ann Creber, is patron ofthe event.

Ann created the recipes onthe 2015 Devondale Countrycalendar, a role she hadundertaken for more than 20years.

The three day Gathering willinclude workshops on diversetopics covering such as busi-ness leadership and skills,practical skills and personaldevelopment and arts, craftsand wellbeing.

By ROBERT WHITE

THREE years ago whenGlen Daly died, the threeremaining members of the

family partnership were left withthe challenge of what to do next.

Glen had been the leader ofthe family farming businesswhich included dairy, beef andsheep.

But with Glen’s untimely losscame the need for his wife,Shirley, and the couple’s sons,Noel and David, to decide thebest outcome.

“We continued the partnershipfor about a year after dad diedand then we sat down to decidethe future of the business,”Noel said.

A key component was toensure that Shirley was finan-cially secure and in the end itwas a succession plan that wasto prove both amicable andfinancially sound for all threeparties.

The Daly farm is at Jingellicon the New South Wales side ofthe border in the Upper Murrayregion.

Following the disolving of thepartnership and the splitting ofthe farm, David took on beeffarming while Noel and his wife,Meaghan, retained the dairy anda few head of beef and sheep.

But with the passing of time,the emphasis is being placedmore on the dairy side of theirbusiness.

And to reinforce that empha-sis, the couple has just complet-ed the construction of a newdairy shed.

It replaces a nine-unit double-up herringbone that was takingup to four hours at a time to

milk 168 cows.The new shed, a 20-unit

swingover system, was first usedin early October and does thejob in less than half that time.

Like all big infrastructure proj-ects on a family farm, it was abig-cost item that required somedeal of thought.

They looked at a number ofother dairy sheds in the north-east of Victoria before decidingon their swingover system. Theyhave also lengthened the pit (andmade it wider than normal) to

take a further seven units to copewith possible expansion.

The couple is looking toexpand numbers to around 200but the timing of when thatoccurs depends on the finance tobuy a much larger vat.

“The decision to allow spacefor seven new units was takenbecause it was cheaper to donow and with the intention ofmilking more cows down thetrack, it was the obvious thing todo,” said Noel.

“We also have three boys and

if one or more of them wanted tocome home, we would need theroom for expansion.”

The shed has stall gates, whichalready have shown benefits asbossier cows are forced to letquieter cattle get their properrations at milking time. Cupremovers have also made it pos-sible for milking to be a one-per-son operation.

“We see so many benefitsfrom building the new shed,”said Noel. “The time factor iscritical but also is the fact that

the cows are back in their pad-docks in half the time so theyare not standing around on con-crete for four hours.

“They are where they shouldbe … in the paddock.

“This not only provides betterproduction but also better cowhealth.”

The family was also able tokeep a lid on building costs withNoel and his sons, Jarrod, 20,who is diesel mechanic, Alex,18, who is an apprentice boilermaker and Cooper, 15, who isstill at school, all playing a partin its construction.

“They were all able to do theirbit and that made a big differ-ence to the overall cost,” saidMeaghan.

Noel and Meghan’s farm cov-ers around 480ha with the herdbeing milked off 120ha. Thisarea is generally regarded as thehome farm with other land onthe Victorian side of the MurrayRiver and remaining propertiesnot directly linked to the homefarm.

It is on these properties thatbeef, sheep and dry and youngdairy stock are run.

Apart from the new dairy,many management changes havebeen made to the farm includingthe introduction of centre-pivotirrigation to replace the older-style flood irrigation. It hasproven to be much more reliableand efficient.

The old dairy will eventuallybe used as a calf shed.

“When we made the decisionto go our separate ways, weknew we always wanted to staywith dairying. I don’t think wewould ever want to give awaythe dairy cows,” Noel said.

New dairy shed sets up the future

Noel and Meaghan Daly at their new dairy shed on their farm at Jingellic.

DECEMBER 2014 DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN12

By SUE WEBSTER

NEXT year, if everythinggoes to plan, newly-retired MG supplier, Anne

Denbrok, will have time to tack-le her knitting, her crochet andget behind the wheel of herblack Mustang Cobra.

The petrol-head granny andher husband, John, will see theresults of a 55-year-old projectthat puts all of their three sonsonto viable dairy farms basedaround Stony Creek in SouthGippsland.

The couple started dairying in1959 on land originally boughtby John’s father and have accu-mulated 687ha that is dividedinto three farms for their sons.

Richard is on the home farm,Robert at Fish Creek and Jasonis establishing a beef-conversionproperty of 150ha. A daughter,Marlene, is married to a dairyfarmer nearby.

Anne recalled: “The boys allshowed interest in the farm froman early age so we said thateverybody had to work togetheruntil everybody has got whatthey wanted. That’s what wedecided to do. And we’veachieved it.”

She and John remain thenominal owners of everything.

“But once this last farm is upand running, we back out,” shesaid. “That’s always been theplan.”

The family herd totals around700 cows with about 200replacements annually, all withcolour-coded tags to signifywhich family owns which.

The families too, are prettynumerous. Richard and Leanneare expecting a fifth child in

September to join childrenBelinda, John, Christine andRachael, while Robert andSonya have Kyle, Nathan, Alexand Josh.

Jason and his wife Kylie mar-ried in 2001. With their threechildren, Mitchell 12, Jessica 10and William, 4, they are witness-ing their farm taking shapearound them.

The dryland property was allbig paddocks when it wasbought in 2003.

“We were using it for a bigturn off block for a couple ofyears and if we couldn’t find anyother dairy farm we thought wewould convert this. And that’swhat happened,” said Jason.

A house has been built,laneways have been made,there’s a new 10ML dam, newtroughs, new fencing, a newmachinery shed and the dairy isstarting to take shape. It’s a3-unit swingover fitted withACRs and a settling pond.

Kylie sees the future calf shedas being her home away fromhome.

The couple is working assharefarmers for Jason’s parentsand are building up equity. Theyown 200 winter-calvers, breed-ing replacements out of cowsbought from their parents’ herd.Most are Holstein Friesians butthey are building up some Jerseycrosses to increase fat.

The herd returns an average300kg fat and 260kg proteinwith supplements totallingabout 6kg pellets/cow/day in latewinter.

In the near future Jason andKylie hope to run 240-250 cowsoff the grey, free-draining soils.

The soil itself has been a job.It was full of root mat, whichmeans ripping up and resowing.Fertiliser use had been non-exis-tent. Renovation is progressingslowly with annuals for the firstresowing and perennials there-after.

The family has been doingmuch of the conversion workthemselves, which helps curbcosts.

“The past six months havebeen pretty busy with peopleeverywhere,” said Jason. “Butit’s spanned a period of years,

and doing things just whenyou’ve got the money free.”

Jason and Kylie’s place isn’tthe only hive of activity. Therehave been improvements to thevarious properties including anew dairy and tracks at Robert’sFish Creek farm.

“And at home we’ve done aheap of work too. We not brag-ging but it has all been done outof cash flow, except the land anda vat and a bit of equipment,”said dad John. “Basically, all theinfrastructure on the three prop-erties has come out of cashflow.”

John said: “People asked ‘whydid you not just buy a dairyfarm’? But how can you buy adairy farm with a perfect set upthat this one will have? Wedecided to start with just a barepaddock and do it this way.

“I don’t know if it’s a goodidea or not. Jason and Kyliehaven’t been able to get ontotheir own farm for a long timebut they’re getting everythingbrand new.

“Everything is state-of-the-artbecause everything we’re doingis the best because we’ve gotcash flow coming in. All thecables are going underground,it’s the best pumps, best damsand best troughs because we’vemade money on the existingdairy farms.”

What’s been the hardest thing?Jason replied: “The amount ofwork basically. It’s not so bad ifyou hire people but we do it our-selves.

“When you’ve got spare timeyou start doing things, but whenthings get busy you just forget itand go back to the day-to-daythings.”

They operate to no plan andno big worksheet. Target dates?They shrug. “Do a bit every dayand you achieve a lot,” saidKylie.

And if there are decisions tobe made?

“Dad usually sorts that allout,” said Jason.

In the meantime, they all pitchin to help run the three farms.For example, the herds arecolour-coded to prevent confu-sion. Jason’s cows are taggedgreen.

The family does all its ownAI. Richard does preg testing,Anne and Jason do the calves,everyone helps milking, Robertcares for about 50 to 60 bullocksand everyone helps with thebulk-bagged pasture silage cut.

How does that get shared out?“Each farm does its own feed.

All have a block each and that’show you sort of sort it out,”said Jason.

“In time that might change,when all the farms are going tohave to work harder.

“The outpaddock blocks sitthere for months with nothing todo.

“But with more cows, thatmeans every farm is going tohave to push a bit harder and allthe blocks are going to have towork a bit harder.”

The family support ensuresthat everyone can claim holidaytime. Jason and Kylie escape ‘acouple of times’ a year andAnne and John, after 41 years asMG suppliers, have a holidayhouse at Cowes that is their reg-ular bolt-hole.

Now a father himself, wouldJason copy his parents’ modelfor the next generation?

“Yeah. It’s worked quite wellso, yes, if they want to comehome to the farm and pursuethat type of thing. “

He said that as soon as thepasture improved he wouldexpand to 240 cows.

“And a few years down thetrack we hopefully will employone or two people to expand to300 and who knows where itwill end up.

“If the kids come back thenbasically we’re going to have tokeep growing.”

Meanwhile, as retirementlooms for John and Anne, both66, their car collection is thenext big thing.

The garage is bursting withcars awaiting renovation – all 14of them. They are almost all V8Fords, including Anne’s twoMustangs.

The Denbroks are headinginto a very comfortable retire-ment with all children well-established on good farms in topdairying country.

Is there anything he wouldhave done differently?

“I think about that a lot,” said

John and Anne Denbrok with Jason and Kylie in the new dairy which is under construction dairy.

Jason and Kylie Denbroke with children, Jessica and Mitchell anda bashful Will.

The boys all showed interest in thefarm from an early age so we said thateverybody had to work together untileverybody got what they wanted.That’s what we decided to do. And we’veachieved it.

ANNE DENBROK

Expanding family builds three farms

DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 13

OBITUARYDairy pioneer was ‘110 per cent MG’

Ray Quigley was a key player in Murray Goulburn moving intoGippsland.

ONE of the key players inDevondale MurrayGoulburn’s move into

South Gippsland, Ray Quigley,has died, aged 86.

A strong and loyal co-opera-tive man, was described byformer MG Chairman, JohnHewlett, as “110 per cent MG.”

John also knew Ray throughhis involvement with the UnitedDairyfarmers of Victoria.

“Ray’s heart and soul were inthe dairy industry and he wantedfarmers to get the best theycould,” he said.

In the MG history book, Just abunch of cow cockies, authorCatherine Watson, spoke withRay about his role with the co-operative and heard the story ofhow in 1966, he, and friend DesBennett, took it upon themselvesto persuade the then ManagingDirector of MG, Jack McGuire,to consider a bringing his co-opto Gippsland.

Jack McGuire has alreadyinstigated a number of mergersand takeovers of dairy co-ops innorthern Victoria and Ray andDes made an impromptu visit toMG’s Cobram factory to

discuss the situation inGippsland.

Ray was supplying the Moedairy company and Des was sup-plying the Yinnar dairy factoryand they were upset thatGippsland factories were collud-ing on price and suppliers werenot getting a fair go.

Ray Quigley remembered themeeting with Jack McGuireclearly: “Our main impressionwas his enthusiasm, the way hewent about things. The way MGwas run appealed to us. It wasentirely different to anything wehad seen.

“The co-ops had been a littleclub until that time. The man-agers rang up one another nowand then to compare prices.There was no competition, noeffort to improve returns.”

Ray joined MG when it tookover the Dumbalk dairy factoryand soon after became an MGdelegate. Both the Yinnar andMoe factories were later to formpart of MG.

Ray was also a great supporterof bio-dynamic farming and alsohad a love for the Jersey dairybreed.

He was also a key player inthe fight against the then StateElectricity Commission whichwas trying to expand its opera-tions into farm land at Yinnarwhere Ray and his wife, Val,farmed for 50 years.

Ray’s son, Peter said his par-ents were from a hardworkingand resilient generation and itwas their persistence and plainhard work that gave us theopportunities we have had.

“I suspect that Dad didn’tcare a lot about what peoplethought and was not afraid to dowhat he thought was right evenif it went against conventional ortraditional views,” he said.

“He would be proud of thefact that the MG dairy co-opera-tive has survived and prosperedin such a volatile industry andthat interest in and practice ofbio dynamic farming is flourish-ing.”

Peter said his father’s role inensuring that Quigley familyland was preserved for the estab-lishment of the MorwellNational Park would remain agreat legacy for the family andthe community.

Making farm women countTHE Yarra Ranges Women on Farms Gathering will be held from20-22 March next yeat at Healesville.

The theme for the gathering is “Making Every Woman Count”.Former Devondaler columnist, Ann Creber, is patron of the event.Ann created the recipes on the 2015 Devondale Country calendar,

a role she had undertaken for more than 20 years. The three day Gathering will include workshops on diverse topics

covering such as business leadership and skills, practical skills andpersonal development and arts, crafts and wellbeing.

DECEMBER 2014 DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN14

MG ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGChairman outlines strong result

Former MG Director, John Vardy, left, with supplier, Mark Wilmsand Greg Allen from Field Services at Maffra.

From left, Leo Argento, Tasmanian Dairy Products Field ServicesManager, Chris Haynes, and Tony Catania.

Gippsland suppliers, from left, Jim Missen, Michelle Axford and Stewart McRae.

Three former MG Directors got together after the AGM. From left,Trevor Ennals, Bill Brown and Lindsay Jarvis.

From left, Lyn Jones, wife of MG Director, Ken Jones, withHeather and Frank Stewart. Frank is a former Chairman of MG.

AFTER coming through thechallenges of recent years,2013/14 was finally a year

where it felt great to be a dairyfarmer.

These were the words ofDevondale Murray GoulburnChairman, Phil Tracy, at lastmonth’s annual general meeting.

“Across the regions, we allenjoyed favourable seasonal con-ditions and overseas strong glob-al demand for dairy food droveprices for key ingredients torecord highs,” he said.

“We even managed to getsome exchange rate relief in theback half of the financial year.Together, these combined todeliver an exceptional year forsupplier/shareholders and theco-op, the likes of which wehave not seen for a number ofyears.”

Phil said that looking at MG’sperformance for the 2013/14year, safety of employees hadbeen a key priority.

“When it comes to safety, weknow that delivering a good

financial performance comeshand-in-hand with a safetyrecord to match and keeping ourpeople safe is critical to us.

“Pleasingly, during the yearthe co-op made significant fur-ther progress towards improvingits safety performance, demon-strating that we are seeing a pos-itive safety culture developacross the business.”

Phil said MG delivered a newrecord final weighted averagemilk price for the 2013/14 sea-son of $6.81, a 37 per centincrease on the previous year.

There was an unfranked finaldividend of 8 per cent on ordi-nary shares and five per cent forB and C class preference shareswas also declared.

“For ordinary shares, thisequates to an average of ninecents per kilogram of milk solidsin addition to the farmgate milkprice paid.

“When combined with thefinal milk price of $6.81, thetotal return to supplier/share-holders was on average $6.90per kg/MS,” Phil said.

He said the net profit after taxwas $29.3 million, slightly downfrom $34.9 million in the previ-ous year, reflecting the Board’spreference to pay the majorityof the company’s profit tosupplier/shareholders in the formof farmgate milk price.

“MG’s milk intake grew byeight per cent to 3.4 billion litreswhich is a strong resultparticularly when compared toAustralia’s national milk poolwhich grew by less than half aper cent.

“It was a fantastic year forMG and I extend my congratula-tions and thanks to Gary Helouand the team for their effortsduring the year.”

Looking to the future, Philsaid the 2014/15 season wasthrowing up some challenges, allof which were beyond MG’scontrol.

“But there have been somevery exciting prospects for ourfuture, thanks to the recentlyannounced Australia-China FreeTrade Agreement,” he said.

Phil said MG was maintainingits opening price and forecast ata weighted-average availablemilk price of $6 per kg/MS in itssouthern milk pool.

“The circumstances impactingglobal dairy trade this season areboth unusual and difficult. No-one could have predicted aRussian trade ban and the flow-on effect this would have forglobal dairy trade,” he said.

“What I can say with certaintyis that international demandremains generally strong forAustralian dairy foods and theoutlook for long-term demandfor dairy foods, particularly fromAsia, is very positive.”

DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 15

MG ANNUAL GENERAL MEETINGBoard considers voluntary assessment of future Directors

DEVONDALE MurrayGoulburn is consideringthe introduction of a

voluntary system by whichcandidates for election can beassessed on their capabilities,experience and qualificationsfor the role of a Director.

This was announced by MGChairman, Phil Tracy, at lastmonth’s annual meeting.

He said the Board had beenlooking at how it could betterassist with developing and

identifying the best possiblecandidates for farmerdirectors.

He said this would help ensurethe Board had the optimum skill,knowledge and experience tobest support the company’sobjectives and strategy.

“During the year, we will beseeking feedback as to whetherthe introduction of such a systemis supported by shareholders,”Phil said.

“In the event that it is, it

would be the intention to intro-duce the system for theGippsland Region DirectorElections in 2015, with arecommendation to be made tosupplier/shareholders as to theirsuitability.”

Phil said the SupplierDevelopment Program was con-sidered to play an important rolein the development and identifi-cation of future farmer directorsand the Board was pleased tobe able to continue the

program in 2015.He added that the Board con-

tinued to actively search for thethird Special Director havingregard to the skills and experi-ence that would best comple-ment those held by existingDirectors.

“This process will continuewith a view to the Boardappointing a third SpecialDirector next year.”

Phil added that from 2015,the co-op’s AGM would be

held in October, rather than thetraditional November date.

“This will allow us to moreclosely align the timing of theAGM with the company’sannual results reported inAugust and Annual Report inOctober.

“Shareholders will continueto receive all relevantcommunication and notice ofthe meeting in accordancewith legal requirements,” Philsaid.

MG reports strong revenue growthDEVONDALE Murray

Goulburn had strong rev-enue growth of 22 per

cent in the 2013/14 financialyear, the co-op’s ManagingDirector, Gary Helou.

He said that in dairy foods,MG had achieved double digitnet sales growth in the domesticmarket.

“Not many companies canboast double digit growth,” hetold the meeting.

“Devondale, Liddells,increased private label sales andfood service growth had all con-tributed to the figure.

“Internationally there was a 77per cent net sales growth withthe Devondale UHT launch inVietnam combined with strongsales in China and the launch ofbutter and cheese products inSingapore, Malaysia and HongKong all contributing.”

Gary added that there hadbeen a net sales growth of 19 percent in the ingredients and nutri-tional sector with increaseddemand across all commoditygroups, strong prices achieved inall categories and increaseddemand for milk powder fromChina and butter from Russia.

There was also a 20 per centsales growth in MG Tradingwith improved store layouts,expanded retail lines, six storesrefurbished and two new storesopened at Colac and Warragulall contributing to the result.

Gary said there had also been$50 million in additional costsavings delivered across the co-op during the year.

He added that there had alsobeen investments in futuregrowth with $38 million beingspent on milk powder productionana further $76 million spent oncheese production at Cobram.

A total of $5 million had beenspent on fats and creams atKoroit and $160 million ondairy beverages such as the twonew daily pasteurised milkplants in Melbourne and Sydneyand UHT expansion atLeongatha and Edith Creek inTasmania.

Gary said he was also confi-dent that MG’s 50:50 mixture ofdomestic and international salesas well as production cost reduc-tions would help shield the co-op and would also enable the co-op to defend its $6 per kg/MSopening price.

Pictured following the AGM are from left, Paul Mundy, Alex Arbuthnot and Chris Nixon.

From left, Bill McGillivray, Gary Spittal and Noel Mitchell.

South-west Victorian suppliers, from left, Peter Musson and John and Glennys Tindall. Ros MacAulay, left, and Ann Jarvis, attended last month’s AGM.

DECEMBER 2014 DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN16

By SOPHIE BRUNS

SOME people may say newDevondale MurrayGoulburn supplier, Brian

Coates, is a brave man.After all, he has upped stumps

from Tasmania and moved 500head of cattle across Bass Straitto begin a farming career atWakool, in the western Riverinadistrict of New South Wales.

Brian, with his business part-ner and sister, Anne, purchasedthe 360ha property with a 15-unit swingover dairy and startedmilking in July this year.

The stock, from calvesthrough to milkers and dry cows,were shipped across Bass Straitand driven straight up to thepropert, a trip which involved 10semi-trailer loads.

“When the milkers got herethe dairy wasn’t running so theymissed their first four milkingswhich wasn’t ideal,” Brian said.

“When we did get the dairygoing we tipped the first fewmilkings down the drain and ourfirst vat load of milk didn’t testtoo great. But we picked out sixcows and got our BMCC countback to 250,000 pretty quicklyand we have been in the premi-um band ever since,” Brian said.

The decision to move toWakool was one based on landaffordability and while it is cer-tainly only early days for thepartnership, Brian is looking for-ward to seeing what the farmcan grow in the future.

Currently the cows are grazingon paddock ‘rubbish’ and 40haof tetilla and shaftal.

“We had a bit of a stuff up atthe start which prevented mefrom sowing what I wanted butwe did manage to get 40ha inand we certainly will be focus-ing on pastures as our first prior-ity,” Brian said.

“I will be looking at annuals,rye grasses, lucerne and somesorghum over summer but I willhave to work out what the cli-

From Tassie to Wakool for dairy dream

Brian Coates and his wife, Yueyin, at their farm at Wakool in south-west New South Wales. Thecouple has moved from Tasmania.

mate is like and what actuallygrows first. And I will be listen-ing to what advice the neigh-bours have for me.”

Brian brought the propertywithout any permanent water buthe is no stranger to irrigation asthe property he last farmed inTasmania had five centre pivots.

“I am the first farmer to comeinto the district for a while and Ihave been welcomed with open

arms,” he said. “I have met most of my neigh-

bours and talking to them aboutthe climate and soil has madelife so much easier. I guess itcould be isolating but we havebeen so busy I haven’t had timeto notice.

“Summer will be the big test. Imight just buy an air conditionerand not venture outside,” hesaid.

“I do know there is not enoughshade on the place and I will belooking at putting shade clothover the dairy yard.

“Expanding the dairy will bemy first priority after we fix thefeed situation. Over the years Ihave milked in some good shedsand some bad sheds so I knowwhat I like – a 25-unit swingoverand I would like to double it upwith another one beside it.

“You would have a two-personunit and I reckon that would beas good as you want.”

Owning his own dairy farmhas always been a dream ofBrian’s but he had almost givenup on achieving this goal.

“It has been a long hard slogto get to where we are today. Ihad the stock and machinery butthe banks refused to value themadequately.

“My sister, Anne, had whatthe bank were looking for interms of security and she wassick of living in the city so weformed a partnership and herewe are today.

“We did miss out on anotherfarm because we were gettingthe run around from the bank.”

Brian said it was very difficultto get into farm ownership inTasmania because land priceswere so expensive.

Brian calls it the New Zealandtake over.He also believes it isgetting harder to even get a footin the door of the industry.

“Years ago you could be on a33 per cent share and just buy afew chemicals. If you got to 50per cent you would buy a fewcows.

“Nowadays if you are on a 20per cent share you are expectedto have machinery and buy fuel.It is getting so hard for peopleto get into the system now.”

Brian joined MG because heliked the co-operative idea.

“MG is Australian, it’s farmercontrolled, and I like that.”

I have met mostof my neighboursand talking tothem about theclimate and soilhas made life somuch easier.

BRIAN COATES

DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 17

DEVONDALE MurrayGoulburn and theGardiner Foundation have

joined the Department ofEnvironment and PrimaryIndustries (DEPI) in the devel-opment of the science basedDairy Farm Nutrient BalanceCalculator.

This web tool can be used tomodel nutrient flow in and outof dairy farms.

Australian dairy farms gener-ally import larger quantities ofnutrients than they export andknowing the nutrient status of afarm provides potential to savemoney, and the calculatorenables the dairy industry todemonstrate it is addressing theresponsible management ofnutrients on-farm.

MG Field Services employeeswere recently trained at a work-

AFTER a combined 14years in the RoyalAustralian Navy, Tim and

Clare Boone were keen to gettheir feet back on solid groundand a dairy business seemed likea good option.

Five years ago the Boonesbought their 80ha farm atKillabakh, north of Wingham onthe New South Wales centralcoast.

Tim’s parents bought a smalllot next door and the Boone fam-ily leases a further 20ha.

Tim and Clare soon found outthat bringing life back to a dis-used dairy was not an easy task.

“No-one had lived here for 25years,” Tim said. “The ownersjust came up once or twice ayear to look at the mountains.The house was pretty tired, therewas no fencing, pasture wasnon-existent and the dairy waseaten by white ants.”

Recently married, Tim had justleft the navy and Clare had ayear of her contract to complete.They lived in Sydney for 12months, travelling on weekendsand in extended blocks to get thefarm into shape.

“It was an old walk-throughdairy and it took us a year to getit operational. We didn’t evenhave a roof on the dairy at thestart,” Tim said.

Tim had lived on his parents’dairy farm at Campbelltown dur-ing his last two years at schooland had helped out since return-ing from the navy.

“After being in the navy for awhile I was keen to run my own

show and not have to followorders. A farm is a good place tostart a family and raise kids.”

But Tim admits he and Clarewere relative novices when itcame to dairying.

“When we first started I knewhow to milk cows and that wasit,” Tim said.

“In terms of running a prof-itable business I didn’t reallyknow what I was doing. I’vebeen slowly learning bits andpieces from a lot of differentpeople over the past few yearsand putting it all together intosomething that works for us.”

Tim was influenced by an arti-cle advising new farmers not totry to change everything imme-diately but to ask nearby farmersabout what works in the area andthen gradually introduce ideas.

“We tried to go to as manyevents as we could and got toknow local farmers and ask themquestions about different thingsthat were appropriate at differenttimes of the season, particularlyin relation to pastures and soils.

“My dad is a dairy farmer andgave us quite a few tips. Wecouldn’t do it if we didn’t have alot of support from family andother dairy farmers,” he said.

“One of the good things aboutthis industry is that dairy farmersaren’t competing against oneanother and everyone is keen onthe industry being strong so theyhelp out.

“In the past year I’ve started torealise more about where I needto spend money to make money.”

The farm now has a 16-a-side

herringbone milking system builtfrom second-hand materialsourced from old dairies thatwere no longer operational.

“Renovating wasn’t the easyway but it was the cheaper way,”Tim said.

“Now we talk about whetherwe should have taken on moredebt and got it running fasterand have the cash flow running,but when the milk price was bada couple of years ago I was real-ly glad we didn’t have high lev-els of debt.”

The farm had no fencing orpasture work done when the firstcows arrived.

“It was pretty much milk thecows and then quickly try to

build a fence for a paddock thatnight. It was full-on and a biglearning process,” Tim said.

The farm was mostly carpetgrass and has been progressivelyupdated with kikuyu and rye-grass. As pasture improves, herdnumbers have built from 50 tothe current 120.

“Trying to match the numberof cows with how much tuckerwe’ve got has been a key for us.We’ve still got a fair bit of coun-try that hasn’t got good pastureso we just run the heifers onthat.”

The Boones keep all theirheifers and aim to build numbersto around 150, which wouldallow them more flexibility.

“I don’t aim to be a megadairy for lifestyle reasons andthat’s why we think 150 cowswould suit. Efficiency is thething we chase, not cattle num-bers.

“With a little more moneycoming in, we could also affordto put someone on for a coupleof days a week and we could getaway a bit more.

“It is a constant job, but itallows me to structure my dayaround family, which would beimpossible if I was doing a9 to 5 job.”

The farm milks mostly Jerseysand supplies Devondale MurrayGoulburn.

“We like the co-op mentalityso we weren’t keen to go to themultinationals,” Tim said.

“It made a big difference forus when MG came to our area.It was the first time since we’vebeen dairying that companieswere actually trying to get youon board and chase milk.”

The Boones take pride inregenerating the old farm.

“A lot of people around heresay it’s really nice to see it upand running.”

Tim is positive about theindustry and supports theLegendairy communicationsinitiative, which is raising theprofile and reputation ofdairying.

“It’s a really positive senti-ment and it’s critical for thecommunity to know that if theywant a strong agricultural sectorin Australia that milk doesn’tjust turn up at the shop.”

Tim and Clare Boone have swapped the ocean waves for a life asdairy farmers.

Couple waves goodbye to navy life

MG FarmC@reCalculated action on dairy farm nutrients

shop at DEPI Tatura to use thecalculator and supporting map-ping tools.

“These tools provide dairysuppliers with a simple andscience-based approach tounderstanding how well nutri-ents brought into the farm (eg.fertiliser, feed and animals) haveactually supported the farm’smilk production,” said MGSupplier Compliance andDevelopment Co-ordinator,Mark Jago.

The nutrient balance calculatordetermines how efficiently anutrient (ie. phosphorus, nitro-gen, sulphur or potassium) isbeing used on-farm.

The amount of a nutrient leav-ing in farm products (milk oranimals) is subtracted fromnutrient inputs to calculate thenutrient balance (kg of nutrient

per ha of land). Cameron Gourley, Dairy Soils

and Nutrient Researcher at DEPIsaid the calculation of nutrientflow in and out of the farm wasthe key to improving whole farmnutrient planning.

The calculator aims to:

● be the first step in understand-ing the individual farm’s nutrientrequirements,● identify and measure nutrientinputs and outputs on a moderndairy farm, ● assess the efficiency of nutri-ent use at a whole farm level,

● explore opportunities to buyless fertiliser,● provide benchmark informa-tion to track improvements innutrient use efficiency.

Contact your local MG FieldServices or Agronomy Team forfurther information.

MG Field Services attended a workshop to study the Dairy Farm Nutrient Balance Calculator.

Devondale Murray Goulburn is on Twitter: @DevondaleMG

*Murray Golburn Employees (and their immediate families) are ineligible to enter the promotion. MUST KEEP RECEIPTS. Starts 12.01AM 29/9/14 AEST; closes 11.59pm 18/1/15 AEDT. Entry open to AU residents aged >13 yo (parent/guardian consent required if >18 yo). Winners

notified instantly on screen & must note prize claim number displayed for verification purposes. 1 entry per purchase. Instant win prizes won at predetermined times. Instant Win

Prizes: 4,000 x $10 gift cards, 1,400 x $25 gift cards and 500 x $50 gift cards. Total prize pool: up to $100,000 (inc GST). Full T&Cs: www.devondale.com.au. Promoter: Murray

Goulburn Co-Operative Company Ltd, L15/2 Southbank Blvd, Southbank, VIC, 3006. Permits: NSW LTPS/14/05031, ACT: TP 14/02214, VIC: 14/4582, SA: T14/1160.

DEVONDALE MURRAY GOULBURN DECEMBER 2014 19

WHAT you have availablein the paddock or shedisn’t always an ideal

cow feed for milk production.But sometimes we have to makedo with what we have.

Mix and matching feeds forthe cows this summer will be amanagement strategy used bymost dairy farmers.

Feeding spring-calving cowsthis summer is about holdingproduction, gaining a little cowcondition back and doing it ascheaply as possible.

By now most would have donea feed budget and should havean idea of what feed is on handand an idea of the amount offeed to be purchased in the com-ing months.

Given this information, fol-lowing is a guide to the variableshortfalls that can happen.

If you have feed-tests availablefor your feeds, it makes it easierto benchmark productionresponses and changes. What sort of ration could wesee in December, January?GIVEN the seasonal conditions Iwould predict grain, summerpasture, ryegrass silage,cereal/vetch/Lucerne hay and anoptional summer crop. (SeeTable A)

If you offer your herd goodsummer pasture, you may befeeding a third of what you werefeeding in the spring.

Depending on irrigation avail-able, you may be able to offermore, but for the exercise we

Table A. Cow requirements/day for a 550 kg LW/cow in calf producing 25 litres in January Litres Milk solids Energy (MJ/ME) Protein (kg) NDF max gut fill (kg)25 1.77 207 3.050 6.6

Table B. Summer pasture, grain, ryegrass silage and bought in Lucerne hay.Feeds As fed Dry matter Energy (Mj) Protein (%) NDF (%) $/T DM $/Hd/DaySummer pasture 35 5.6 10.5 18 43 100 0.84Wheat 6 5.4 13 10 9.8 280 1.51RG silage 12 5.4 9.5 16 43 150 0.81Lucerne hay 4 3.2 9.5 20 42 377 1.22Average 10.75 15.58 37.06 220Total kg 57 19.6 211.08 3.06 6.62 4.10*Note: At $4.10 /cow/day plus additive 19¢, it would cost 17¢ to produce a litre of milk

Table C. Same as above but with the inclusion of a summer cropFeeds As fed Drymatter Energy (Mj) Protein (%) NDF (%) $/T DM $/Hd/DaySummer pasture 35 5.6 10.5 18 43 100 0.56Wheat 6 5.4 13 10 9.8 280 1.51RG silage 10 4.5 9.5 16 43 150 0.68Turnips 20 3.6 13 13 15 125 0.45Lucerne hay 2 1.6 9.5 20 42 377 0.61Average 11.29 14.77 32.58 190Total kg 53 20.7 233.94 3.06 6.09 3.81*Note: At $3.81 /cow/day plus additive 19¢, it would cost 16¢ to produce a litre of milk

Feeding cows is all about choicesMARKBROOKES

have allowed 5.5 kgDM/cow/day. (See Table 2)

Given the cow requirements in(Table A) and what have weachieved in (Table B), the herd isfully fed.

We have enough energy andprotein for the herd.

The practicalities of this exer-cise are that we all know thatfeeding top quality feeds willmake it easy to get cows tomilk.

We just have to make sure thatit stacks up on paper. For farm-ers who have allocated to put asummer crop into the diet oversummer, how will the rationchange and what feeds could weput in or drop out? Having a summer crop available

(Table C) can result in feedingless bought-in feed like Lucernehay which can be fed later insummer when milk prices arehigher. This has also resulted in savingsome silage and has lowered thedaily feed costs per cow per day.This is a saving of $50/day ifmilking 200 cows. Summer nutrition tipsGOOD nutrition is alwaysimportant, but in particular dur-ing hot weather.

Remember hot conditions canresult in suppressed cow appetiteand less feed means less milkproduction.

Hot weather also alters theway nutrients are processed bythe cow.

Summer feeding strategiesSOME points to consider whenlooking at your summer nutritionprogram:● Cows will eat less overall, soincrease the energy density ofyour diet where possible. Morestarch can be a useful tool.● Cows prefer to eat in “blocks”in the cooler times of the morn-ing and evening.● The natural buffering systemthat the cow relies on to combatruminal acidosis does not workas well in hot weather.● Feeding of high quality fibresources in the diet that helpsmaintain a stable rumen, but stillcontributes to energy rather thanjust gut fill, is therefore essentialin hot weather.

● Feed higher quality proteinsources in the diet during sum-mer. Higher by-pass proteinsources that are already digestedin the cow’s small intestine canhelp offset lower yields ofmicrobial protein from therumen during hot weather. ● Make sure a good qualitybuffer is fed to the cow. Acidbufis a superior buffer than bicarbas it has a longer dwell time inthe rumen.● Certain additives are availablethat have potential to assist cows in hot weather. Theseinclude rumen modifiers, yeastmetabolites, betaine andniacin.● Mark Brookes is MG Trading

Nutritionist 0447 500 450

CLASSIFIEDSFOR SALERegistered Holstein bulls. 18-30months old. North east Victoria.Phone: (02) 6071 8583

14 acres, plus house, in ScottsCreek, south west Victoria.Split into 7 paddocks with retic-ulated water. Brick house with garage, ingood condition. Phone: (03) 5594 6282

1500 litre Frigrite vat with3-phase motor in workingorder.5000 litre Anderson vat with3-phase motor in workingorder.Alfa Laval P30A plate coolerwith 2 bar operating pressure.Phone Russell: 0408 843 167Daedong/Kioti tractor, 90hp,4500hrs, new tyres and air

conditioning.Price: $20,000 plus GST.Northern Feed Systems additivedispenser.Price: $1000 plus GST.Feed Miser/WasteNot typefeeders. Will fit approx 200cows.Price: $7000 plus GSTLely Hibiscus rake, single rotor.Price: $3000 plus GST30 Westfalia clusters. Make an offer. All above itemsare in good condition.Phone: Brad 0429 422 227_

Milkaware dairy plant, 20swingover, 3 inch loop line,electronic pulsators, 3rd linewash system, 2 plate coolers,Feed Tech feed system, Larsenentry & exit gates.Best OfferPhone: 0429 723 530

POSITIONS WANTEDLooking for part-time work asrelief milker, 2 or 3 nights perweek, which can be week orweekend nights (exceptTuesday night). I am keen and willing to betrained for the job. Must be inthe Dumbalk or nearby areasPhone: (03) 5664 4362

POSITIONS VACANTSalary Range: $55,000 -$80,000We are looking for aperson/couple experienced inall aspects of dairy farming,working alongside the ownerson a split calving 400 cowfarm. Punctual, reliable and capableof taking full responsibility ofthe property at times as wellas managing additional staff

when required. We are looking for a employeewho has a wide and variedrange of skills, a positive can-do attitude and be a good com-municator. A 3-bedroom house islocated within walking distanceof the dairy. This position maysuit a husband and wife teamor someone who has experi-enced running their ownfarm but wants a little lessstressful position.This position will be vacant inDecember due to retirement. Phone Mark: 0427 832 214

Expressions of interest areinvited to suitably qualified andinterested parties to be involvedin our dairy enterprise.Currently milking 250 cows on88ha river flat and rolling hills

supported by 68ha adjoiningturnout all located in Woodleigh,8kms south west of Loch. Comfortable 3 bedroom brickhome. Dairy is a 1 or 2 person20-unit swingover herringbone. Flexible lease/share arrange-ment to suit the right applicant,3 years plus 2 year option. Toregister your interest andobtain more details please sendyour details and brief history tomarilyn.2312@hotmail.com Successful applicants willrequire a herd and machineryinputs and position will becomeavailable as of July 2015

AGISTMENTQuality dairy agistmentavailable long term in southwest Victoria. References areavailable on request.Phone: 0438 831 526

Devondale Murray Goulburn is on Twitter: @DevondaleMG

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