The Burrungule Dairy, which has been owned by Ray, Marg, Adrian and Shaun Pearson for more than 50 years, has been through a big transformation over the past 18 months.
Formerly a 30-aside swing over, the Burrungule Dairy is now an 80-unit rotary dairy under a large 40×30 metre shed, with key technology including a 40,000 litre milk silo and robotic teat sprayer, auto drafter and Del Pro software and cup removers.
Adrian Pearson is the third generation on the farm, and he says while the decision to build a new dairy was a big one, the investment is already paying dividends in efficiency and milk quality.
It’s a world away from the farm that Adrian’s grandparents developed in 1973. “My grandparents and father Ray built the first old dairy near the roadside and milked about 70 cows at that time,” he said. “As a teenager, I would go down there on the weekends and help with the milking.”
But Adrian’s dad wanted him to learn other skills, so when Adrian was 16, he got a plumbing apprenticeship in Mount Gambier. “I spent 10 years working as a plumber. Then when I was 26, my grandparents retired, and I came back to the farm,” he said.
That was 20 years ago, and much has changed over that time. Between the original dairy and new one, Adrian’s parents Ray and Marg bought a second-hand 30-aside swing over and operated out of that for about 14 years.
“It was good for about 500 cows, but we grew the herd to 700 plus cows and we outgrew it. It was near the end of its lifespan, so it was getting pretty worn out and we had to do something about it,” Adrian said.
“Before COVID hit, we started looking around at dairies and doing our research to work out what would be best for us. We needed a system that would cope with up to 800 plus cows at peak season.”
The Pearson family had plenty of room to grow – the farm is 1,650 acres in total. After 18 months of research, they drew up plans for a 60-unit rotary with the help from Chris and Leigh from Agri Dairies and James Green from Greencon Constructions.
“James took us for a drive one day. We looked at a few new dairies and spoke to all the farmers to see what they thought. One of the older farmers said, ‘Build as big as you can afford’,” Adrian said.
“And even though we’d had all the plans drawn up for a 60-unit rotary, we decided to allow for future growth and go to 80. It was a big decision though – jumping up to 80 was a massive financial outlay. The shed price alone grew quickly and there was so much more concrete and infrastructure involved.
“Although it was not cheap, it was definitely worth it. We’ve already cut down milking times by about three hours per milking.”
There is a Full Herd Management System including auto drafting, which automatically separates cows with milk withhold or health alerts from the rest of the herd.
“At the end of milking, you can treat the drafted cows. Previously, drafting was all manual,” he said.
“We also have a teat spray robot. As soon as a cow passes it, it scans and sprays the cow. It can do one cow every five seconds or so. It’s impressive to watch. The robot provides an accurate and consistent amount of teat spray after milking.
“The robot and cup removers save on the costs for almost a full-time job. I still have two people in the shed and one person outside. The robot just gives the workers more time to monitor the cows and the milk quality and get other jobs done.”
There is also a new DeLaval 40,000 litre milk silo and chiller unit, which replaced a 25,000-litre vat.
“It was only seven years old but was near capacity some days. If the milk tankers had a breakdown or something went wrong, we had occasions where we had to put the hose in the top while pumping out the bottom of the vat, just to keep things flowing,” he said.
“At this time of year, we can put two days’ worth of milk in there and not have to worry, but through the summer, it’ll give us three milking shifts and we’ll still have time up our sleeve.”
Adrian said a key feature of the new dairy was the benefits it offered for good hygiene and food safety.
“The DeLaval milking system gives us a variety of data about our milk quality and cow health. It has alarms for various issues, such as blood milk, dry cows and conductivity,” Adrian said.
“For example, an alarm sounds if a cow has high conductivity, and you can check to make sure they haven’t got clinical mastitis. It’s helped us detect mastitis cases that we might not have found otherwise.
“The automation is definitely helping us achieve more consistent milk quality results. Although we still do herd tests every five or six weeks for backup.”
Cleaning of the plant and the vat is also automated. “And the general dairy cleaning is a lot easier too because of all the concrete surrounds and splashbacks,” Adrian said.
“For example, an alarm sounds if a cow has high conductivity, and you can check to make sure they haven’t got clinical mastitis. It’s helped us detect mastitis cases that we might not have found otherwise.
“The automation is definitely helping us achieve more consistent milk quality results. Although we still do herd tests every five or six weeks for backup.”
Cleaning of the plant and the vat is also automated. “And the general dairy cleaning is a lot easier too because of all the concrete surrounds and splashbacks,” Adrian said.
“We used a special commercial paint that’s easier to clean. We go around every week with a hot steam cleaner and blast the concrete and surrounds just to keep it all tidy.”
The Pearson family sells their milk to Coles and have just signed another three-year contract. “We have a good relationship with Coles, and they were the best price at the time when we signed up two years ago,” he said.
“Milk prices are the best I’ve ever seen and it’s great for the dairy industry. It gives farmers confidence to invest in their dairies.”